CEYLON. L93 



when the little city suddenly comes into view. The 

 beauty of Kandy and its environments have heen greatly 

 exaggerated by sentimental writers. The town is noted 

 for the Temple of the Tooth, an old, crumbling pile 

 of stones which contains in its most interior and not 

 accessible part a tooth of the famous prophet. (Fig. 

 36). I happened to be in the city on the day when the 

 Buddhists turn out in masses to do honor and homage 

 to their deity — Buddha. 



THE ANNUAL BUDDHA CELEBRATION. 



For three days the little city was packed with a seeth- 

 ing mass of humanity. In many places standing room 

 was scarce. The great event took place at 9 o'clock 

 Saturday evening, August .27. The procession, headed 

 by a band of native musicians and three elephants abreast 

 with their riders, was made up of 26 other ele- 

 phants, an army of chiefs gorgeously arrayed, and bare- 

 headed yellow-gowned priests, dancers with faces dis- 

 figured by white stripes, screaming and yelling boys and 

 the faithful followers of the god of whom at least one 

 tooth had remained to testify that he once inhabited 

 this earth ; the tooth that was carried in the proces- 

 sion in a shrine carefully guarded. The most solemn 

 celebrants were the 29 magnificent elephants, who 

 marched with slow, thoughful steps, their sly little eyes 

 peeping through small holes in their masks of royal 

 red, casting a glance now and then on the sea of hu- 

 manity on either side of the road. The great mass of 

 people who took an active part in this celebration and 

 the enthusiasm aroused when the hiding place of the 

 tooth of Buddha came into view showed only too clear- 

 ly that this deity has not lost his influence and power 

 among the natives of Ceylon. 



BOTANICAL GARDEN. 



The botanical garden four miles from Kandy is the 

 most interesting spot in this part of the subalpine region - 



