138 The Rljle and Hoiatd in Ceylon. 



The intense heat and the glare of the sun rendered the 

 journey most fatiguing. I at length descried a long line 

 of noble forest in the distance, and this I conjectured 

 to be near the river, which turned out to be the case ; 

 and we were soon relieved from the burning sun by the 

 shade of as splendid a forest as I have ever seen. A 

 few hundred yards from the spot at which we had en- 

 tered, Yalle river rolled along in a clear stream. In the 

 wet season this is a rapid torrent of about a hundred 

 and fifty yards in width, but at this time the bed of the 

 river was dry, with the exception of a stream of about 

 thirty paces broad, which ran directly beneath the bank 

 we were descending. 



An unexpected scene now presented itself. The 

 wide bed of the river was shaded on either side by 

 groves of immense trees, whose branches stretched far 

 over the channel ; and not only beneath their shade, 

 but in every direction, tents formed of talipot leaves 

 were pitched, and a thousand men, women and chil- 

 dren lay grouped together ; some were bathing in the 

 river, some were sitting round their fires cooking a 

 scanty meal, others lay asleep upon the sand, but all 

 appeared to be congregated together for one purpose ; 

 and so various were the castes and costumes that 

 every nation of the East seemed to have sent a repre- 

 sentative. This was the season for the annual offerings 

 to the Kattregam god, to whose temple these pilgrims 

 were flocking, and they had made the dry bed of Yalle 

 river their temporary halting-place. A few days after 

 no less than 18,000 pilgrims congregated at Kattregam. 



I was at this time shooting with my friend, a Mr. H. 

 Walters, then of the 15th regiment. We waded up 

 the bed of the river for about a mile, and then pitched 



