Chap. V.] 



THE OLD PALACE. 



195 



The palace, a wing of Avliicli is still uccupiud by the 

 chief civil officer of the province, is popularly beheved 

 to be much older than it really is. It was built by 

 Wimala Dharma, about the year IGOO, and Spilberg, 

 the Dutch admiral, who \4sited Kandy in 1602, says 

 that the king employed the services of his Portuguese 

 prisoners in its erection ; — a circumstance which may 

 serve to account for the European character which 

 pervades the architecture of some portions still remain- 

 ing ^ ; such as the towei' adjoining the Malagawa temple, 

 in which the sacred tooth is deposited. 



TEMPLE OF THE DALADA, KANDY. 



As to the streets and the dwelhngs of the natives, they 

 were wretched at all times ; the barbarous etiquette 

 of the Kandj^an kings reserving the luxury of "win- 

 dows, whitened walls, and tiles for the members of the 

 royal family, and prohibiting then* use to subjects.^ 

 One quarter of the to^vn, leachng from the Lake to the 

 Maliawelli-'|>'anga, contained houses of this privileged 

 construction ; and Boyd, on the occasion of his embassy 



* " Don Juan a ftiit batir uii 

 niagnifiqiie palais a Candy, et plu- 

 sionrs tours et pagodes a quoi il a 

 eniploit! k's Portugais qti'il avait fait 

 prisonniers." — SriLBERO, Voya()c, 

 torn. ii. p. 443. There is no I'eason 

 to believe that any vestige now re- 



mains of tlie original lemph' built for 

 the reception of the Tooth by Pan- 

 dita Prak^una Bsihu III., a.d. 17(37. 

 — 3I(i/i(iir(nt.so, ch. Ixxxiv. 



2 ^'ALI•;^■TYN, 0ml en KicKW Ovd- 

 Itidicu, ch. iii, p. 4G. 



o 2 



