CALTURA. ^13 
by a native to his cast. It was of wood painted, very large and square, 
rising on the outside, Hke a pyramid, to a point. The old priest 
was at the door, with his head uncovered, to make his salaams. 
The procession of natives was moving towards it, every one with 
his basket of fruit ; and at their gates were the Dutch and other 
inhabitants. My guard cleared the way for me without difficulty, 
and the native boys gave us cocoa-nut torches as we passed. Many 
at length joined the party with torches of their own, so that before 
I entered the town the road was perfectly illuminated. The cry 
of the bearers, the crowd, the splendour of the lights, rendered it 
altogether a most enchanting fairy scene, and left me no reason to 
regret that the darkness prevented me from examining the country 
around. I was received at the end of the town by Captain Mac- 
dowal, who commands there. He had a dinner prepared, and we 
were not sorry to clean ourselves and partake of it. We also pro- 
cured twenty new bearers, and sent back the Galle boys. About 
eight we set off, Captain Macdowal attending us to the bank of the 
Caloo Gunga, which runs beneath the fort. It is one of the four 
rivers that take their rise from Adam's Peak. I understand that 
Galtura is one of the most beautiful places in the island ; but the 
night permitted me only to observe that the fort is situated on a 
hill, that the river was broader than any other we had passed, and 
that the trees on its banks were of a very noble size. TheColumbo 
boys made but little way during the night, as they were far in- 
ferior to those from Galle. 
December 5^. — It is but twenty four miles from Caltura to Co- 
lumbo, yet it was eleven o'clock before we arrived at a place where 
a road turns off to the cinnamon garden, three miles from the fort. 
