PLATE XI. 
Ascending the steep and fatiguing mountain of Adams Peak from Pelmadula or Ratnapoora 
the traveller feels delighted when he first enters the shady forests of the higher regions. Numerous 
climbing plants, called jungle-ropes by the natives, hang in graceful festoons between the taller trees, 
while bamboos, large ferns and many other plants cover the ground with their lovely foliage. 
But while the vegetable riches of nature are developed to such а degree in those forests, nothing 
can be more striking than the nearly complete absence of animal life and the melancholy calmness 
resulting therefrom. The numerous land-leeches abounding there would alone seem to interfere with 
the quiet reverie of the rambler and remind him that he is not allowed to intrude upon their 
territory without molestation and pains. 
In order to enable the draughtsman to remain with impunity for a couple of hours in those 
forests, leech-gaiters are not a sufficient preservative. Further precautions are indispensable. The 
underwood must be cut down some yards around and the boots of the artist as well as the legs of his 
stool, have to be rubbed round with lime-juice. These magic circles soon stop the dangerous assaults 
of the tiny blood-thirsty creatures and induce them to begin a blocade en masse, which proofs equally 
unsuccessful. 
