190 AROUND THE WOULD VIA INDIA. 



law of segregation came recentty in force, but the au- 

 thorities find it difficult to carry it out with the strict- 

 ness for which it is intended. 



LEPER BUDDHIST CELEBRATION. 



The day I visited the asylum was the annual celebra- 

 tion to the memory of Buddha. It was a gala day, the 

 walk leading from the entrance to the little Buddhist 

 temple was decorated with palm leaves. The proces- 

 sion was formed outside of the gate. There was no 

 elephant to draw the shrine of Buddha perched on a 

 rude cart, but a little humpbacked bullock answered 

 the purpose very well, and he performed his part of the 

 celebration with credit to his kind. A brass band with 

 native instruments headed the procession, then came 

 the shrine followed by a number of bronze-colored yel- 

 low-robed priests, and lastly the Buddhist lepers in all 

 stages of the disease. Explosives were thrown against 

 the stone wall, where they exploded with a terrible re- 

 port, emitting at the same time a blue-black smoke 

 which enveloped the slowly moving procession. The 

 bombardment, with the ear-splitting music of the native 

 band, imparted to the whole affair a weird appearance. 

 When the procession entered the temple silence was 

 restorer!, and only the murmurings of the priests could 

 be heard outside of its sacred walls. 



CITY OP EANDY. 



This little city of 20,000 inhabitants, the former resi- 

 dence place of the kings of Ceylon, has degenerated 

 into a dilapidated mountain village. It is located in 

 a valley in the subalpine region, surrounded by verdant 

 hills and nestled around a little artificial lake of the 

 same name. It is accessible from Colombo by rail, 

 the road passing the first fifty miles through rice fields, 

 marshes, then ascending for thirteen miles in a zigzag 

 line to the height of 1,600 feet above the level of the 

 sea, and then through a valley nine miles in length, 



