cocoa-nut topes, arekas, plantains, and banyan
trees. An ocean of human heads filled up
the space around the building, from which
proceeded the well-known sounds of the reed
and the tom-tom. Gay flags fluttered from
the four corners, and the lofty pinnacle in the
centre; wreaths of flowers, plaited leaves
and ribbons of many colours, waved jauntily
from roof to door; whilst round the pillars of
the walls and door-posts clustered rich bunches
of most tempting fruit.

Close by this busy scene, another group
was forming under a large and lofty Pandahl,
or open bungalow. Forcing my way to one
corner of the shed, I found a company of
Indian jugglers consisting of two men, a girl,
and a child of perhaps three years. The
men were habited in strange uncouth dresses,
with large strings of heavy black beads round
their necks; the girl was simply and neatly
clad in white, with silver bangles and anklets,
and a necklace of native diamonds. It would
be impossible to detail all their extraordinary
performances, which far exceeded anything I
had ever read of their art. The quantity of
iron and brass-ware which they contrived to
swallow was truly marvellous; ten-penny
nails, clasp-knives, gimblets, were all treated
as so many items of pastry or confectionary,
and I could but picture to myself the havoc
a dozen of these cormorants would commit
in an ironmonger's shop. Not the least
remarkable of their feats was that of producing a
sheet of water upon the sand close at our feet;
and, after conjuring upon its clear surface
half-a-dozen young ducks and geese, suddenly
causing it to freeze in such a solid mass as to
allow of our walking across it without causing
so much as a crack in its crystal body. One
more feat I must relate; which was that of
suspending the girl while seated on a sort of
ottoman, to the ridge-pole of the shed; and,
at a given signal, removing the rope by which
she hung, leaving her still suspended in the
air—not with a regular apparatus, such as is
used by the performers of a similar trick in
London and Paris, but apparently with no
apparatus at all! For, to my exceeding
amazement, a sword was given to me, as the
only European of the company, and I was
told to cut and slash as much as I pleased
above and around the girl. After some
hesitation, I hacked and hewed the air in every
direction, around and close to the suspended
maiden, with a vigour which would inevitably
have cut asunder any means of support; yet
there she swung unmoved, without any sort
of apparent agent of suspension except the
air itself! Snake-charming and dancing
completed the entertainment. When I left the
place it was night.

Near the temple, all was noise and
confusion, and it was with some difficulty that I
forced my way through the dense crowd, and
reached the steps of the venerated shrine.
The priest stationed at the entrance made a
way in for me as well as he could, but the
pressure inside was intense. Hundreds of
men and women pressed eagerly forward
to reach the flight of huge stone stairs
which led up to the sacred depositary. It
was as bad as a crush to get into the
Crystal Palace. My passage was so slow
that I had time to examine and admire the
fine antique carved work on the pillars and
ceiling of the entrance-hall, as well as on
the tall pilasters which lined the ample
stair-case. There was a beauty of style and
a high degree of finish about this work
that could not be attained in Ceylon in
the present day. Arrived, at length, at the
inner temple or sacred shrine above, I
passed with the rest, between a
richly-brocaded curtain which hung in folds across
the entrance at the top of the stairs, and stood
before the famed relic of Buddha, or rather
the jewelled casket which contained it. I felt
disappointment at the spectacle here, arising,
perhaps, from my taking no interest in the
exhibition as a religious ceremony, and looking
at it merely as an empty show, not far
removed from the status of Bartholomew Fair.
The strong glare of a hundred lights, the heat
and crowd of so many in so small a place, the
sickly perfume of the piles of Buddha flowers
heaped before the shrine by the pilgrims, the
deafening discordant din of a score of
tom-toms, and vile screeching pipes, made me glad
enough to descend the stairs, and, flinging a
rupee into the poor-box of the god, to escape
once more into the open fresh air.

From the votaries of Saman I entered
another crowd, assembled round a gaily
decorated building, which I at once perceived
was a Hindoo temple. Here, to the sound of
much music, and by the light of many lamps,
a group of young dancing girls were delighting
the motley crowd. There were but three of
them, one a finely-made, tall, sylph-like creature,
with really graceful movements; the others
younger, stouter and far less pleasing. A good
deal of pains had evidently been taken with
their dress, which sparkled at all points with
what I was assurred were precious stones.
I have heard that it is not uncommon for
these Nautch girls to have jewellery about
their dress to the value of twenty thousand
pounds. The graceful little jacket which the
chief dancer wore over her flowing white
robes sparkled and glistened with something
which was quite new to me as articles of
ornament: along the edge of her pure white
garment, shone a whole host of fire-flies, which
by some ingenious arrangement had been
secured to the dress, and gave a strange and
pleasing novelty to the appearance of her attire,
as she swept gracefully around in slow and
measured steps. The music to which these
people dance is anything but pleasing to an
English ear: indeed, there is scarcely a trace
of rhythm in it; yet they contrive to measure
their mazy and difficult dance by its notes
with admirable precision. Long custom has
so attached them to their empty meaningless