391 
to the Court of Candy. 
iiira, deserted. Before we could proceed, the general found it 
jiecessary to send to Mr. North for others to replace them. 
The Adigar and his people lay at about two miles from us 
on the opposite side of the river. 
Within a mile of the place where we were encamped, and 
towards Columbo, rose a hill of a most uncommon and striking 
appearance. It was situated in the midst of immense and steep 
rocks, interspersed vdth plantains and cocoa-trees, reared there 
by the liand of nature. Under one of these rocks lay a cavern, 
in which was a temple dedicated to the god Buddou. The 
accounts which I had heard of this place induced me to seize the 
first opportunity of visiting it. After crossing a little well-watered 
plain, we came to the foot of a perpendicular rock, of a very 
great height, and surrounded by others of an inferior size. 
The ascent to the cavern is about forty feet, and is made by 
a narrow winding path composed of fragments of rocks and 
stumps of trees. On arriving at the entrance of the cavern, 
the wild appearance which it presents, the ascent by which it 
is gained, and the scene which surrounds it, present together a 
group of objects which rivet the eye, and produce an effect 
on the mind much easier to be conceived than described. On 
entering the temple, which is a very low and long apartment 
cut out of the rock, the first object which presented itself 
was an immense figure of a man carved in wood, and upwards of 
twenty feet in length. A bed and pillow had been hewn for him 
out of the rock ; and here he lay on his right side, with his right 
hand supporting his head. His hair was frizzled like that of 
a negro ; and his serene and placid countenance was dawbed 
all over with red paint. See a rude representation in fg. 5 of 
the plate at page \l%. The inside of the temple was rudely 
