THE TOM-TOM. 
small hot bedroom at Gampola, where, even if you 
did manage to dose off, you would speedily be 
aroused by the barking and yelling of paraya dogs, 
which lasted the whole night. And as if this was 
not enough, there was always sure to be some reli- 
gious ceremony going on at the Buddhist temples or 
the swami house. The chief points in the devo- 
tion of the devotees apparently seemed to consist in 
the residents at the temple, or priests in charge, 
making as much noise during the whole of the night as 
they possibly could. The raptap of the tom-tom drum 
never ceased, although it sometimes ceased being 
heard, being utt'^rly drowned in a louder one, and 
this louder one was the blowing of horns. And just 
as all the noises seemed combined and you would say, 
“They cannot be worse,” the louder noise in its turn 
was also put down by one or rather a great many 
louder still ! — and this king of noises was jackals 
howling and shrieking close to the verandah of the 
resthoLise. We exclaim, “Oh! if we had only set 
off after dinner, during the fine moonlight, we shoi^ld 
have been home by this time, in a fine cool climate, 
and an hour’s doze on the couch would have been 
more refreshing than tossing about here, sleepless, 
eaten up with mosquitoes and other insects, and 
nearly driven mad by the beating of drums and 
blowing of horns.” And Gampola in these times cer- 
tainly was about the noisiest place on earth one ever 
tried to sleep in, not only from these causes but as 
it was on the great highway to Kandj from all the 
coffee districts ; visitors would be constantly arriving 
all hours of the night, calling out for something to 
eat a -id drink both for themselves and horses, which 
of course disturbed those who required and desired 
a good night’s rest. The lamp in the centre room 
was kept lighted all night, and the boys slept on 
the floor, ready to start up and open the door to 
any arrival, but the boys were heavy sleepers, and 
before they were started up all the sleepers in the 
bedrooms would be awaked out of sleep. Yet again, 
although the next forenoon we did fall asleep on- 
the couch, and did not turn out to work, what 
matter, the conscience was easy — it had received a 
sop or sleeping draught, we were on the estate : 
time had not been exceeded, we had returned within 
the usual allowance of time! We were on the estate 
if we were wanted, but as well, far better, have 
stayed away, for there was nobody wanting us, only 
a chetti sitting on his hind legs at the bot'^om of 
the corner verandah post, with a whole lot of small 
papers tied up in his front cloth, which he wished to 
