FROM KAKDY to CALTUllA. 419 
The temperature of the water of a spring situated a few- 
yards without the wall was at 6 a. m. 53°. The water of 
this well is supposed to be a sovereign remedy in cases of 
sterility. Female pilgrims, who have been disappointed in 
regard to children, make a point of drinking from it before 
they leave the top of the Peak. 
Immediately without the encircling wall, and for a few 
yards only down the declivity, there is a species of rhodo- 
dendron found growing. It bears large crimson-coloured 
flowers, and its leaves are remarkably thick. These flowers 
are offered at the shrine of Buddhoo ; but indeed almost 
every other flower which the vegetable creation produces 
in Ceylon is thus honoured. The priests did not object to 
our plucking the flowers of this tree. The limited extent 
of the space upon which it grows is remarkable. 
From the foot of the wall, the declivity of the mountain 
is excessively abrupt on all sides. The upper portion of it 
is a large cone of granitic rock, resting upon a very high 
mountain belonging to the range of hills which form the 
rampart of the upper country. 
April 4. — From Sri Fade to Palepattoola. 
At about half past 6 a. m. we left the top of the Peak. 
The descent of the cone is much more abrupt by the route 
from Salfragam than by the one which we ascended. At 
several places the track leads over a bare, smooth, precipi- 
tous rock. The more difficult places of ascent are furnished 
with iron-chains, which have been put there by Buddhists, 
who, by charitable acts of this kind, expect to enjoy a 
higher state of existence after their next birth. These 
chains assist in ascending and descending. There are no 
steps cut in the rock on this side of the cone. At two or 
three places of the pathway, the viev/ downwards is remarks 
ably grand and awful The cone at these spots seems in 
