Town and Harbour of Columho, 127 
t 
r;iit]y indeed, as I have had occasion to remember from ex- 
perience. During the rainy season most of them admit water 
in such a manner that it is dilhcult to find a dry spot to 
place one’s head under. I have frequently been obliged to 
exert my ingenuity on such occasions ; and, after all, could 
barely make a shift to sleep a whole night in one place with- 
out getting drenched. The chief cause of these disasters to 
the tiles arises from the crows, wdio are in the habit of pick- 
ing up bones and other things from the streets and yards, and 
carrying them to the tops of the houses, where a stout battle 
usually ensues for the plunder, to the great annoyance of the 
people below, and the continual destruction of the tiles. The 
monkies also, a number of whom run wild about the fort, are 
often very troublesome, and lend their assistance in demolish- 
ino; the tiles. Both the crows and monkies know how to avail 
themselves of any entrance, which they find or make into the 
bouses ; and it requires no small attention to prevent them 
from picking up loose articles. While I was at Colombo, I 
recollect a very mischievous monkey who used to run wild 
about the fort, and was so very cunning, that it was impossi- 
ble to catch him. One day he suddenly made his entrance 
into my apartment, carried olf a loaf of bread from my table, 
and made his escape. I immediately gave the alarm to an 
officer I observed standing at the next door ; upon which he 
ran in to secure his own breakfast ; but, to his great morti- 
fication, found that the monkey had been before-hand with him, 
and was already scrambling up to the roofs of the houses with a 
loaf ill each paw. Next day the same monkey snatched off a 
very fine parrot before the gentleman’s face to wliich it belonged, 
tore it to peices, and then Ifeld it out to the gentleman, 
4 
