TO THE COURT OF CANDY. 
391 
26th. Remained in our encampment. A number of the 
coolies supplied by the moodeliers around Columbo, Ni~ 
gumbo, and Caltura, deserted. Before we could proceed, 
the General found it necessary 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 im- 
mense and steep rocks, interspersed with plantains and cocoa- 
trees, reared there by the hand of nature. Under one of 
these rocks lay a on, 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 visit- 
ing it. After crossing a little well-watered plain, you come 
to the foot of a perpendicular rock, of a very great height, 
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 rock and stumps of trees. 
On arriving at the entrance of the cavern, the wild ap- 
pearance which it presents, the ascent by which it is gained, 
and the scene which surrounds it, present together a groupe 
of objects which rivet the eye, and produce an effect 011 the 
mind much easier to be conceived than described. On enter- 
ing 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 
