506 THE NORTHERX FORESTS. [rART IX. 



still glowing from its exposure to many previous suns. 

 It was covered with vegetation, springing vigorously 

 from every handful of earth that had lodged in the 

 interstices of the stone ; and, amongst a variety of 

 curious plants, we found the screwed Euphorbia^, the 

 only specimen of it which I saw in the island. The 

 view from this height was somethinsj \vonderful — it 

 w\^s, in fact, one of the most memorable scenes I 

 witnessed in Ceylon. Towards the west, the moun- 

 tains near Anarajapoora were dimly visible in the ex- 

 treme distance ; but between ns and the sea, and for 

 miles on all sides, there was scarcely an eminence, and 

 not one half as high as the rock on which we stood. 

 To the farthest vero-e of the horizon there extended one 



o 



vast imbroken ocean of verdure, varied only by the tints 

 of the forest, and with no object on which the eye could 

 rest, save here and there a tree a little loftier than 

 the rest, that served to undulate the otherwise uniform 

 surface. 



Turning to the side next the tank, its prodigious area 

 lay stretched below us ; broken into numerous ponds, 

 and diversified with groves of trees. About lialf a mile 

 from where we stood, a herd of wild buffaloes w^ere 

 lumbering through the long grass, and roUing in the 

 fresh mud. These, with the birds, and a deer, which 

 came to drink from the watercourse, w^ere the only liv- 

 ing creatures to be seen in any direction ; but the natives 

 regard the tank and the surrounding jungle as the great 

 breeding-place of most of the wild animals, elks, elephants, 

 and bears. 



As to human habitation, the nearest was in tlic village 

 where we had passed the preceding niglit ; but we were 

 told that a troop of unsettled Veddahs had lately sown 

 some rice on the verge, of the reservoir, and taken their 

 departure after securing their httle crop. To feed a -few 

 wanderino: outcasts — such is the sole use to which this 



Euphorhifi tortilis 



