ClIAP. I.] 



MATELLE. 



571 



by expressions of their entire satisfaction, and after- 

 wards attested the sincerity of their assurances by 

 refusing to take any share in the rebellious movements 

 that eventually broke out ; — but the Kandyan priests and 

 those of the chiefs, by whom the obnoxious taxes had 

 been used as a mere pretext for arousing their followers, 

 on finding theu^ de\dces exposed, abandoned all subter- 

 fuge, avowed their impatience of British rule, and took 

 up arms to restore a national sovereignty. The means 

 adopted by Lord Torrington to meet and stifle this dan- 

 gerous movement are too recent and famihar to require 

 recapitulation ^ here ; and the circumstance is adverted to 

 merely in explanation of the objects of the tour during 

 which I visited the ruined capitals of Ceylon. 



After an interview with the people in the great hall 

 of the Pavihon at Kandy, on the 11th of July, 1848, 1 

 crossed the MahaweUi-ganga at the ferry of Katugas- 

 totte, near the tree which marks the scene of the 

 massacre of Major Davie's party in 1803, and proceeded 

 by the TrincomaHe road in the direction of Matelle. 

 The \dllage on the opposite side of the river is inhabited 

 by the Gahalayas, a race less degraded in blood, but 

 more infamous in character than the Eodiyas. They 

 acted as pubhc executioners during the reign of the 

 Kandyan kings, and being thus excluded from the 

 social pale and withdrawn from the healthy influences 

 of popular opinion, they became in later times thieves 

 and marauders, and subsisted to a great extent by the 

 plunder of travellers. 



For seventeen miles the highway runs generally 

 within sight of the Pinga-oya, a tributary of the Maha- 

 welli-ganga, and as it approaches Matelle the road tra- 

 verses luxuriant forests, now partially converted into 

 flourishing plantations of coffee. The mountains over 



^ Seo EvTDKN^CE taken by the Select 

 Committee of the I£ouse of Commons 

 on the Affairs of Ceijlon, 1850 and 



1851, and Papers laid before Par- 

 liament, 1849, 1851, 1852. 



