CHI LOW. 
32,9 
completely keep off the air, and assist in rendering it extremely 
unhealthy. After dressing, I visited the village and Catholic 
church : the latter is neat and large. The Padre, who is a half-cast 
Portuguese, informed me, that he had three districts under him, 
and his congregation amounted to five hundred souls. The church 
is finishing by subscription. The high altar is ornamented with' 
Madonas and other images. At the foot of one of the smaller is 
thePadre*s bed. Mr. Campbell presented me with a large Cingalese 
manuscript, written, as usual, on the leaves of the talapot, with an 
outside of wood, handsomely painted in arabesque. He had taken 
it in a pagoda, and called it a bible. Its relative size to the other 
books I have seen may intitle it to that character. He informed 
me that there were some very curious temples of Buddah at a small 
distance, and we were tempted to go to them, accompanied by a new 
guard of sepoys. The road led through an extensive open field, 
covered with high grass, where numerous cattle were grazing. 
This, at one season, is a perfect swamp, and being never mown, 
adds, I have no doubt, to the unhealthiness of the place. The pa- 
godas were surrounded by some very noble specimens of the Ficus 
bengalensis and Caryota urens ; but we were much disappointed on 
finding that the buildings were Malabar, dedicated to Mahadeo, 
with numerous brazen statues of Seeva, Vishnu, and the triad of 
figures. The Brahmins were miserably poor, and were thankful 
for a few dollars that I gave them. 
Much vexed at this unprofitable delay, we hastened back, and 
passed the fort at three o'clock. Our road wound through an ex- 
tremely close jungle of the Rhizophora and other swampy plants. 
We passed several branches of the river, or salt lagune, and at 
