122 



SOUTIIEEX AXD CENTRAL PEOVINCES. [Part VII. 



gratefully honoured, in close association with that of his 

 illustrioiis chief. ^ 



In its pecuhar style of beauty, notliing in the world 

 can exceed in lovehness the road from Point de Galle 

 to Colombo ; it is hterally an avenue of palms, nearly 

 seventy miles long, with a rich under-gi'owth of tropical 

 trees, many of them crimson with flowers, and over- 

 run with orchids and climbing plants'-^, wliose tendrils 

 descend in luxuriant festoons. Bkds of gaudy plu- 

 mage dart amidst the branches, gay butterflies hover 

 over the shady fohage, and insects of metallic lustre 

 ghtter on the leaves. Bright-green hzards dash over 

 the banks and ascend the trees, and the hideous but 

 harmless iguano^, half familiar with man, moves slowly 

 across the high-road out of the way of the traveller's 

 carriage, and hisses as it retreats to allow him to pass. 

 Where a view of the landscape can be caught through 

 an opening in the thick woods, it is equally grand and 

 impressive on every side. On one hand is seen the range 

 of purple hills, which form the mountain-zone of Kandy, 

 and stretch far as the eye can reach, till they are 

 crowned by the mysterious summit of Adam's Peak. 



" Olha em Ceilao, que o monte se alevanta 

 Tauto que as nuvens passa, ou a \'ista engana : 

 Os naturaes o tern por cousa santa, 

 Por a petba em que esta a p^gada humana." * 



To the left ghtters the blue sea, studded ^vith rocky 

 islets, over which, even dming sunny calms, the 

 swell from the Lidian Ocean rolls volumes of snowy 



* Since the above was wi-itten, lier 

 Majesty's Secretary of State for the 

 Colonies, on the recommendation of 

 the governor, Sir Ileniy G. Ward, 

 has confeiTed on Major Skinner an 

 appropriate recog-nition of his gi'eat 

 ser\'ices by raising him to the rank of 

 a Member of Coimcil, with the im- 

 portant appointment of Auditor- 

 General of the colony ; an office for 

 which his previous experience in- 

 vested him with paramoimt qualifica- 

 tions. 



^ One of the most wonderful of 

 these, the (7/0/7'o.srt superba, is abundant 

 near Galle, and such is the splendour 

 of its red and amber flowers, that 

 even the most listless stranger cannot 

 resist the temptation to stop and 

 wonder. 



2 3£(mitor dracccna, Gray. For an 

 account of this large lizard, see Vol. 

 I. Pt. II. ch. iii. p. 182. 



^ Camoens, Ltmud, canto x. st. 

 13G. 



