106 KAXin' AND I'KRADHNIA. [Past VII. 



ill 178!^, found the principal street so broad, that it 

 afforded space for elephant-fights, which were held 

 there to aimise the king. To avoid mischief from 

 tlie enraged animals, the houses were approached by 

 flights of steps, which gave them the appearance of two 

 stories, although they consisted of but one.^ The 

 British, on tlieu^ entrance into the city in 1815, were 

 astonished at the misery of the place - ; — but the 

 wretched buildings have since been replaced by others 

 more indicative of the unproved civihsation and increas- 

 ing prosperity of the inhabitants. 



The Palace originally covered a considerable area, 

 but its builchngs were mean, its passages intricate and 

 dark, and its chambers gloomy, confined, and filthy in 

 the extreme. Of the rooms which still remain, the 

 principal have been altered and adapted to European 

 tastes, but their style of decoration, and the frequent 

 recurrence of the sacred goose amongst the ornaments 

 on the walls, bespeak their Biiddhistical origin. Ex- 

 ternally, the fa9ade is rather imposing ; the space 

 wliich it occupies is screened by a crenellated wall, 

 connecting it with the temple and its octagonal tower. 

 In front is a moat, which has been recently levelled, 

 but was formerly filled with water ; -^ this was crossed 

 by a bridge, that led to the grand gate ; it was flanked 

 by elephants sculptured in granite, and communicated 

 with the palace by a broad flight of stone steps. 



The only existing structm^e which seems worthy 

 of its original destination, is the Audience Hall, at 

 present used as the district comt-house ; a spacious 

 apartment supported on richly carved columns of teak- 

 wood, the bracketed capitals being admirable specimens of 

 florid Hindu architecture. Pubhc receptions were held 

 by night ^, when the hall was lighted with wax, the co- 

 lonnades on each side crowded with crouching comtiers ; 



' Boyd's Emhasn)/ to Kanrly. I ^ Asiat. Journ., vol. i. p. 44. 

 Miscell. Works, vol. ii. p. 200. ) ' Davy's Cei/lon, p. 176. 



