414 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap, 
from the 28th November to the 4th December, very hospitably 
received by the citizens of the town, both European and Asiatic, 
who seemed to vie with the inhabitants of Hong Kong in 
enthusiasm for the voyage of the Vega. A Babel-like confusion 
of speech prevails in the town from the men of so many different 
nationalities who live here: Chinese, Malays, Klings, Bengalees, 
Parsees, Singhalese, Negroes, Arabs, &c. But our stay was all 
too short for independent studies of the customs and mode of 
life of these different races, or of the rich vegetable and animal 
worlds in the neighbourhood of the town. I must refer those 
who are interested in these subjects to previous descriptions of 
that region, and to the abundant contributions to a knowledge 
of it which have been published by the Straits Branch of 
the Asiatic Society, which was founded here on the 4th 
November, 1877. 
We arrived at Galle on the 15th December, having during 
our passage from Singapore had a pretty steady and favourable 
monsoon. While sailing through the Straits of Malacca strong 
ball-lightning was often seen a little after sunset. The electrical 
discharges appeared to go on principally from the mountain 
heights on both sides of the Straits. 
I allowed the Vega to remain in the harbour of Point de 
Galle, partly to wait for the mail, partly to give Dr. Almquist 
an opportunity of collecting lichens on some of the high moun¬ 
tain summits in the interior of the island, and Dr. Kjellman 
of examining its algae, while I myself would have time to 
visit the famous gem-diggings of Ceylon. The return was as 
good as could have been expected considering our short stay 
at the place. Dr. Almquist’s collection of lichens from the 
highest mountain of Ceylon, Pedrotalagalla, 2,500 metres high, 
was very large; Kjellman, by the help of a diver, made a not 
inconsiderable collection of algas from the neighbourhood of the 
harbour; and from an excursion which I undertook in company 
with Mr. Alexander C. Dixon, of Colombo, to Katnapoora, 
