FROM KANDY TO CALTURA. 41S 
or Great Palace ; in like manner, as the Ottoman emperor 
is styled the Sublime Gate. 
Some of the pilgrims worship at the shrine of Vishnoo, 
and propitiate his good will by a small poojah, or offering. 
Vishnu's favour is courted for the purpose of averting from 
his supplicants the evils of this world, such as poverty and 
sickness, and that he may bestow upon his devotees happi- 
ness and prosperity. Sterile women solicit his interference, 
that they may become mothers ; and pregnant women im- 
plore his aid in the hour of child-birth. The ofiPerings 
made to Vishnoo are generally small sums of money. 
The pilgrims, in general, finish the requisite ceremonies 
in about twelve or fifteen minutes, when they instantly pro- 
ceed to the opening in the surrounding wall, and abruptly 
descend the cone. The Singhalese, for the most part, evince 
much indifference to romantic views and sublime scenery ; 
on this occasion, their want of taste for the contemplation 
of natural objects is very remarkable. By far the greater 
number of the pilgrims never cast a look beyond the wall 
which surrounds the area all the time they are on the top 
of the mountain, from which the view is so grand and ex- 
tensive. 
The veneration which the inhabitants of Ceylon show to 
the ceremonies of Buddhoo is very surprising. Shortly 
after we reached the Sri pade, all our native followers 
joined the pilgrims in the ceremonies usually performed 
before the holy impression. The professed Christian Ca-^ 
tholic, as well as the Christian reformado^ made offerings 
to the Sri pade apparently with as much zeal as the Bud- 
dhist did. The Mussulman of Hindoostan make pilgrim- 
ages to the Peak; and, according to report, the rea- 
son they assign for visiting this mountain is, that they 
VOL, IV. EC 
