Chap. VII.] DAY I.V TIIK .TUXGLi:. 257 



jaw.s, takes low and rapid circles above the plains and 

 pools. 



Darkness at last descends, and every object fades in 

 niglit and gloom ; l)ut still the murmnr of innumerable 

 insects arises from the glowing earth. The fruit-eating 

 bats launch themselves from the high branches on which 

 they have hung suspended during the day, and cluster 

 round the mango-trees and tamarinds ; and across the 

 grey sky the owl flits in ]:)ursuit of the night moths on a 

 wing so soft and downy that the air scarcely betraj's its 

 pulsations. 



The palm-cat now descends from the crest of the 

 coco-nut w^here she had lurked during the day, and 

 the glossy genette emerging from some hollow tree, 

 steals along the branches to surprise the slumbering 

 birds. Meanwhile, among the grass already damp witli 

 dew, the glow-worm lights her emerald lamp \ and from 

 the shrubs and bushes issue showers of fire-flies, whose 

 pale green flashes sparkle in the midnight darkness 

 till day returns and morning '• \)i\\es their ineffectual 

 fires." 



Still ascending towards Neuera-eUia, the road from 

 Pusilawa winds through the valley skirting the bases 

 of the hills till it reaches an apparently insurmountable 

 barrier of mountains in the glen of Eangbodde. Here 

 the accUvities that bound the ravine are overcome by 

 a series of terraced windings cut out of the almost pre- 

 cipitous hill, and so narrow is tlie gorge, that the road 

 enters between two cataracts that descend on either 

 side of the pass. Some of the finest coffee in the island 

 is produced at Eangbodde, and the estate of General 

 Fraser presents a suitable illustration of the splendid 

 scenery amidst which these ])lantations have been 

 formed. 



^ The o^low-worm of Ceylon, tlie i without a proportionate increase of 

 female of the Latiipj/ris, attains a .size | splendour. It feeds principally on 

 far exceeding anything I have heard i ."^nails, making its way into the shells 

 of elsewhere. I have seen it near j and devouring tlie .soft parts. 

 Pusilawa three inches in IcngUi. liut | 



VOL. II. S 



