Chap, v.] GEEAT TANK OF PADIVIL. 503 



yeasty foam, tliat remains after the subsidence of an agi- 

 tated flood. 



The bed of the tank was difficult to ride over, being 

 still soft and treacherous, although covered everpvhere 

 with tall and wa\dng grass ; and in ever}^ direction it was 

 poched into deep holes by the innumerable elephants that 

 had conojreo;ated to roll in the soft mud, to bathe in the 

 collected water, or to luxuriate in the rich herbage, under 

 the cool shade of the trees. The ground, too, was thrown 

 up into hummocks like great molehills, which, the natives 

 told us, were formed by a Inige earth-worm, common in 

 Ceylon, nearly two feet in length, and as tliick as a small 

 snake. Through these inequahties the water Avas still 

 running off in natural drains towards the great channel in 

 the centre, that conducts it to the broken sluice ; and 

 across these it was sometimes difficult to find a safe footing 

 for our horses. 



In a lonely spot, towards the very centre of the tank, 

 we came unexpectedly upon an extraordinary scene. A 

 sheet of still water, two or three hundred yards broad, and 

 about half a mile long, was surrounded by a hue of tall 

 forest-trees, whose branches stretched above it. The sun 

 had not yet risen, when we perceived some white objects 

 seated in large numbers on the tops of the trees, and as 

 we came nearer we discovered that a vast colony of peh- 

 cans had formed their settlement and breeding-place in 

 this sohtary retreat. They literally covered the trees in 

 hundreds ; and their heavy nests, hke those of the swan, 

 constructed of large sticks, formed great platforms, sus- 

 tained by the horizontal branches. In each .nest there 

 were three esrijs, rather laro;er than those of a ^oose, and 

 the male bird stood patiently beside the female as she sat 

 upon them. 



Nor was this all ; along with the pehcans prodigious 

 numbers of other large water-birds had selected this for 

 their dwelling-place, and covered the trees in thousands, 

 standing on the topmost branches : tall flamingoes, 

 herons, egrets, storks, ibises, and other waders. We 



K K 4 



