Chap. V.] FORT OF MOELETIVOE. 515 



he looked round cunningly, and made a rush towards 

 the water, but on a second blow he lay again motionless 

 and feigning death. We tried to rouse him, but without 

 effect, pulled his tail, slapped his back, struck his hard 

 scales, and teased him in every way, but all in vain ; 

 nothing would induce him to move till accidentally my 

 son, a boy of twelve years old, tickled him gently mider 

 the arm, and in an instant he drew it close to his side 

 and turned to avoid a repetition of the experiment. 

 Again he w^as touched under the other arm, and the 

 same emotion was exhibited, the great monster twisting 

 about hke an infant to avoid being tickled. The scene 

 was highly amusing, but the sun Avas liigh and we pur- 

 sued our journey to Moeletivoe, lea\ing the crocodile to 

 make his way to the adjoining lake. 



The Fort here was built by the Dutcli, to keep the 

 Wannyahs m check. It is merely a quadi'angidar earth- 

 work thrown up on the wild sea beach of the Bay of 

 Bengal, without harbour, shelter, or other advantage to 

 recommend it. In the general insmTCCtion which fol- 

 lowed the massacre of Major Davie's garrison at Kandy 

 in 1803, the fort was captured by the insurgents, but 

 quickly recovered by the British.^ Its remains at the 

 present day consist of bastions at the angles on the land 

 side, a pile of Dutch barracks, and a Commandant's 

 quarters, which are now the residence and offices of the 

 Assistant to the Government Agent of the northern pro- 

 vince. It is a solitary place, no European behig hving 

 on any side within fifty miles. 



A formidable surf bursts upon the shore dining the 

 north-east monsoon, and has piled it higli with mounds 

 of yellow sand. The remains of shells upon the water 

 mark show how rich the sea is in mollusca at this point. 

 Amongst them were prodigious numbers of tlie ubiqui- 

 tous violet-coloured lanthiiur, which rises when the sea 



^ See ante, Vol. II. Pt. vi. cli. iii. I ^ lanthina communis, Ivi-auss. L. 

 p. 84. I 2i>'ohn(/ata, Blainv. 



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