■48 



JOURNAL R. A. S. CEYLON. 



[EXTRA NO. 



presented to the Sultan of the Island, as we have related in the 

 first part of these Voyages {Tome II., p. 81): then we marched to 

 the place called f the house of the old woman,'* which is at the 

 -extreme limit of the inhabited region. We left that for the cave 

 of Bdhd Thdhir, who was a good man ; and then for that of 

 Sebfc. This SeMc was one of the idolater Sovereigns, and has 

 retired to this spot to occupy himself with the practices of devo- 

 tion, f 



Of the Flying Leech. 



At this place we saw the flying leech, by the natives called 

 zolou. It lives upon trees and herbs in the neighbourhood of 



water, and when a man approaches, it pounces upon him. 



Whatever be the part of the body upon which the leech falls, it 



draws therefrom much blood. The natives take care to have 



ready in that case a lime, the juice of which they express over 



* " A steep and rough ascent, for a considerable distance from Batapola, 

 ■ — midway in which a stone tumulus has been erected on the spot where the 

 remains of an old priest were burned — brings the pilgrim to Palabaddala, ' the 

 house of the old woman,' according to Ibn Batuta, and ' the farthest inhabited 

 part of the island of Ceylon' [Lee's version], that is, when he travelled 

 through it, about five hundred and thirty years ago. * * * * 



" The following legend is connected with the place, and accounts for its 

 name : — Long, long ago, a very poor woman was desirous of performing the 

 pilgrimage to the Sri-pada, but, owing to her extreme poverty, could take 

 nothing with her except some common jungle leaves, which in times of distress 

 the natives occasionally resort to for food ; these she boiled, and rolled up in a 

 plaintain leaf ; and having arrived thus far, when about to partake of her food, 

 she found the boiled leaves had been miraculously turned into rice. Thence- 

 forward it was called Pald-hat-dola, i the place [rill] of rice and vegetables,' a 

 name which it has ever since retained." (Skeen, he, cit. p. 147, 154-5.) — B. 



f " An ascent of some fifty feet brings the pilgrim to the crest of the 

 ridge of which the Dharmma-raja-gala forms a part. On the other side there is 

 a rapid descent of some hundred and twenty feet, to the Gangula-hena-ella, mid- 

 way to which is the Telihilena, a rocky cave, where tradition says an ancient 

 King ( ? King Sibak), who had forsaken his throne for an ascetic life, took up 

 his abode." (Skeen, loc. cit, pp. 176-7. )— B. 



