JOURNEY TO KANDY. 165 



is a. clean town, has Its government-house and clock- 

 tower, and the view from its southern extremity is 

 worth a moment's pause. On the one side is the 

 roaring ocean, on the other a number of lakes, the 

 largest but a few miles in circumference, surrounded 

 by gardens of considerable beauty, cottages and bridges. 

 The European residents live in handsome buildings, 

 amongst most luxuriant vegetation. One day, en route 

 to visit a friend, I was caught by, what is very un- 

 usual at that time of year, a tremendous tropical 

 shower, as if the clouds were coming down bodily ; 

 •everything became drenched in a moment, and there 

 was no escaping it. The rainy season here, as in India, 

 is from the middle of May until September during the 

 south-westerly, and in November and December during 

 the north-easterly monsoon. After a short stay, there 

 is little to interest one at Colombo, and I was longing 

 for a nearer view of the mountains and their hidden 

 treasures, a journey now easily accomplished, since a 

 railway has been made to run up as far as Kandy, a 

 wonderful work of engineering. 



Nothing can be compared with the magnificence of 

 the ever varying scenery foi- the entire distance of 

 seventy-two miles, as we are running over swamps, 

 along edges of precipices, and in zig-zag fashion up 

 steep sides of mountain passes, with glimpses of fertile 



