Chai'. v.] botanic gardens. '-^07 



at the Pavilion, or lounge in front of tlie chief civil 

 officer's cutcherry, are even more curious tlian those of 

 the lo^v-conntry Singlialese at Galle and Colombo. The 

 priests of Buddlia, moody and abstracted, draw their 

 yellow robes around them, and walk with downcast 

 eyes, their ears appearing unnaturally large, from their 

 heads being closely shaven. The coralles and other 

 petty headmen are distinguished only by a flattened 

 cap of white calico, but the great chiefs, the Eate- 

 inahatmeyas \ and the nearly extinct rank of Dissave, 

 wear a singularly ungraceful dress of stiffened Avhite 

 muslin, with gigot sleeves, a goffred Vandyck, and their 

 waist girt by an embroidered belt. Each is accompanied 

 by an attendant bearing an umbrella of state, or an 

 ornamented fan of the talipat-leaf inlaid with talc, as 

 an emblem of his dignity. 



From Kandy to the Eoyal Botanic Garden at Pe- 

 radenia, the road for nearly four miles passes through a 

 continuous suburb, in wdiich almost every house is sm- 

 rounded by a httle garden of coco-nut palms, bread-fruit, 

 and coffee-trees. The Rajaratnacari records that in the 

 year 1371 "the king, Wikrama Bahu III., ascended the 

 throne, and kept his court at Pira-deniya, situated near 

 the river Maliawelh-<2;anfi'a," ^ but no traces now remain 

 of the buildings of that period. 



A large tract by the banks of the river has been con- 

 verted into a sugar plantation, originally stocked with 

 canes from Mauritius ; but the experiment has not 

 been attended with the anticipated success, the produce 

 barely sufficing for the supply of the central pro\TLnce. 

 The mediocrity of the soil, and the necessity of frequently 

 changing the plants, coii])led with a superabundance of 

 merely watery fluid in the canes, and disproportionate 

 jdeld of saccharine, have liitherto contributed to dis- 

 courage the extension of the enterprise. The same mi- 

 satistactory result has unfortunatel}^ characterised all 

 similar attempts in other parts of the island. 



' Literally, " c-ountiy gentlemen. " * Rajaratnacari, \i. 111. 



