52 journal, r. a. s. (ceylon). [Vol. VII. , Ft. L 



Up the Peak or Mount of A flam one has to climb by an iron chain, 

 serving for the pilgrims and travellers who wish to make the ascent. 

 This chain is made with shackles, by the help of which one can 

 climb as if by the rungs of a ladder. 



On the top of the mountain is a plain, 150 paces long and 110 

 broad, in the middle of which lies a stone nine palms high from the 

 ground and twenty-two long, whereon they say the footprint is ; 

 although others testify, on the contrary, that they found there nothing 

 but a dirty depression be-oiled by t' e lamps which the pilgrims leave 

 there, who as they go down always take a little of the earth, which 

 they consider sacred. Although many Sinhalese ascribe it [the foot- 

 print] to Buddha, Herr Baldaens states that not only they, but also 

 the people of Siam, are in the habit of talking about Adam, and to this 

 day shew his footprint impressed upon a stone on the summit of a 

 mountain (of which we have spoken before), being 1^ ell long, J ell 

 broad, and the sole of the foot going \ ell down in the stone. It is 

 set round the edge with silver, and there is an elegant temple built 

 near, around which many Siamese priests and other people of the 

 country dwell. These priests shewed a party of our people in March, 

 1654 . . . . . a gold plate representing the length and breadth 

 of the foot, on which were various figures which they said were to be 

 seen formerly in the footprint itself, but that after the priests allowed 

 them to be engraved on the gold they disappeared from the stone. 

 These figures were 68 in number, «nd may be seen figured by Baldaens 

 in his description of Coromandel, Vol. 1 54, with several other matters 

 relating thereto. 



Compare the Sri Pada stones engraved in Fergusson's 

 " History of Eastern Architecture." Valentyn then describes 

 in great detail two galleries of rock-cat chambers containing 

 figures of Buddha ("Adam"), and minutely specifies the 

 dimensions of eyes, nose, mouth, head, hands, arms, fingers, 

 nails, &c. In the lower gallery were two chambers hewn out of 

 the cliff, and each containing one colossal figure in the usual 

 Nirwana attitude, with various smaller erect and sitting figures. 

 In the upper gallery were four chambers, the largest called 



