80 
Island of Ramiseram. 
ill the island of Ramiseram, considering it as altogether sacred. 
The contributions of those who visit it are indeed suflEicieot for 
the support of the temples. Several of the neighbouring Poli- 
gar chiefs contribute largely, and some of those Rajahs have 
statues erected to them for their gifts. Some of these tributes 
of gratitude are ludicrous enough in their costume and ornaments, 
and the rank of those for whom they are designed is marked 
by the enormity of their size. The chief pagoda has several 
of those statues in its different squares. 
It is remarkable that though the sand lies very low on this 
island, good water is easily procured; for on scooping it up 
the water collects immediately in the holes. This is not the 
case on Manaar and the west coast of Ceylon. 
The guardianship of this sacred isle belongs to a family of 
devotees called Byragees, the chief of whom is always doomed 
to celibacy ; the succession being carried on by the sisters or 
the collateral branch, who only are permitted to marry. This 
institution is similar to that of the sovereignty of the Travanco- 
reans and Nairs of the Malabar coast. The clothes and tur- 
bans of the devotees are of a tawny red colour, decorated with 
large black beads of a particular kind of wood. From the pa- 
godas I mentioned, there runs out a long narrow piece of sand 
terminating in a point, within a mile of which is a choultry 
at Tona Goody. This is a square of houses with a court in- 
closed for the accommodation of pilgrims, who come to the 
furthest point of the island to perform their last ablutions in 
the sea, the most sacred and the purest of their ceremonies. 
A brahmin takes care of this choultry, and a pole with a light 
is hxed at the end of the point to direct the pilgrims. 
The Dutch built a fort on the island of Manaar, with a view 
