114 SOUTHEKX A^'D CENTEAL PEOVmCES. [Part YII. 



The temple, they say, was so vast, that from the sea it 

 had the appearance of a city. The pagoda was raised on 

 vaidted arches, richly decorated, and roofed with plates 

 of gilded copper. It was encompassed by a quadrangular 

 cloister, opening under verandahs, upon a terrace and 

 gardens with odoriferous shrubs and trees, whose flowers 

 were gathered by the priests for processions. De Souza 

 entered the gates without resistance ; and liis soldiers 

 tore down the statues, which were more than a thousand 

 in number. The temple and its buildings were over- 

 thrown, its arches and its colonnades were demolished, 

 and its gates and towers levelled T\dth the ground. 

 The plunder was immense, in ivory, gems, jewels, sandal- 

 wood, and ornaments of gold. As the last mdignity 

 that could be offered to the sacred place, cows were 

 slaughtered in the comls, and the cars of the idol, with 

 other combustible materials, being fired, the shrine was 

 reduced to ashes. -^ A stone doorway exquisitely carved, 

 and a small building, whose extraorchnary strength 

 resisted the violence of the destroyers, are all that now 

 remain standins; ; but the inbound for a considerable 

 distance is strewn ^vith ruins, conspicuous among which 

 are numbers of finely cut columns of granite. The 

 dagoba which stood on the crown of the hill, is a mound 

 of shapeless debris. 



Still farther to the east are the towns of Tangalle 

 and Hambangtotte, in the vicinity of which he the vast 

 marshes or leways, whence the island derives its principal 

 supplies of salt. 



The fire-flies and glow-worms were kindhng their 

 emerald lamps as we retm^ned after sunset, from our 

 evenhig drive, to the fort of Galle. We had our 

 first Singhalese dinner at the Queen's House, T\dth 

 seir-fish and poultry (for which latter the adjoining 

 district of Matm'a is fiimous), followed by a dessert 



1 Fakia y SovzA,Po7f tiff uese Asia, I De Cono, Asia, Si-c, dec. x. ch. xv 

 ^■c, \o\. iii. pt. i. cli. vi. p. 5.3 ; | vol. \i. pt. ii. p. G4i<. 



