582 



TH?: RUIXRI) CITIES. 



[Fart X. 



tain of brickwork, are as consi)icuoiis as the liills tlieiu- 

 selves in the distance. 



Li this part of our journey liuman habitations Avere 

 rare ; and where they existed they were so closely con- 

 cealed by the trees that the whole scene appeared a 

 leafy solitude. The only road within miles was the one 

 we had left at Enamahia ^ ; and it is characteristic of 

 the people of this region that, on traversing the forest, 

 they calculate their march, not by the eye or by 

 measures of chstance, but by sounds. Thus, a " dog's 

 cry" indicates a quarter of a mile ; a " cocts crow" 

 something more ; and a " /wo," imphes the space over 

 Avhicli a man can be heard when shouting that particu- 

 lar monosyllable at the pitch of his voice.- As all these 

 tests are more or less conjectural, the rephes of the 



' A cm'ious circumstance con- 

 nected with the rebellion which was 

 imminent at the moment when I was 

 traversing this portion of Ceylon, was 

 reported to me by the piincipal civil 

 officer, in whose district it occmTed. 

 Preparatory to the maix-h of the 

 Pretender to .Vnarajapoora, the mass 

 of the population were observed to 

 tmn out and address themselves 

 earnestly to clear a road through the 

 forest, to the north of Komegalle in 

 the dii-ection of Dambool, and when 

 inten'ogated, they replied that a gi-eat 

 personage was expected to an-iA-e from 

 India to be crowned at the temple. 

 Does not this recall the summons of 

 the prophet, " Prepare j/e the tea;/ of 

 the Lord, make Ilis path straif/ht,'^ 

 Isaiah iv. 4 ; Matthew iii. 3 ; — a cry 

 which is rendered palpably intelligi- 

 ble when traversing a " wilderness " 

 such as this ovcr-nm with jvmgle 

 and trees. It is remarkable that a 

 similar expression occurs in the 

 Maluncanso, ch. xxv., in describing 

 the march of Dutugaimimu to recover 

 the sacred city from the usm-per 

 Elala, when " havinff had a road 

 cleared thruw/h the n-iMeme.ss, he 

 mounted his state elephant and took 

 the field," p. loO. 



- This seems identical with the 



Scotch expression of " a far cry to 

 Loch Awe." It is a cmious coin- 

 cidence that the Singhalese concur 

 with the most ancient people of the 

 East, the Chalda?ans, Arabs, and 

 Egyptians, not only in coimting time 

 by periods of seven days, but by dis- 

 tinguishing the days of the week by 

 the planets whose names ha^e been 

 coufeiTed on them. Thus Saturday 

 by the Romans and all modem 

 Em-opean nations has been called 

 from Satiini ; Sunday fi'om the Sun ; 

 Monday from the 3Ioon ; Tuesday 

 from Mars ; AYednesday fi'om 3Ier- 

 citri/ ; Thm'sday from Jupiter ; and 

 Fiiday from Venus. Amongst the 

 Singhalese the names are as follows : — 

 Smiday " Irida," fi-oni *' iru " the 

 Smi, and da a contraction of dawasa 

 a day; Monday, "Sanduda" from 

 " Ch(indu)/a," tlie Moon ; Tuesday, 

 '^ Angaharuwada" fi-om Anr/aharuua, 

 the planet Mars ; Wednesday '• J}ad- 

 adada," from " Buda," the planet 

 MercuiT ; Thursday •' Brahiispatinila ' 

 from '* Brahaspati," the planet Ju- 

 piter ; Friday, " Sicurada " from 

 " Sikura " the planet Venus ; and 

 Satm-day, "Senasurada" from " Sen- 

 asura,'^ the planet Saturn. For this 

 remark I am indebted to Mr. Mercer, 

 late of the f'evlon Civil Service. 



