start
to-morrow. I in the meantime went to our former hosts for one night to
pick up Mabelle and the waifs and strays of luggage.

On my way from the station to the house, going over the Satinwood
Bridge, from which there is a lovely view of the Peacock Mountain, I
saw an Englishman whom we had observed before, washing stones in the
bed of the river for gems. He has obtained some rubies and sapphires,
though only of small size, and I suppose he will go on washing for
ever, hoping to find something larger and more valuable. On one part
of the coast of the island near Managgan the sands on the side of one
of the rivers are formed of rubies, sapphires, garnets, and other
precious stones washed down by the current, but they are all ground to
pieces in the process, not one being left as big as a pin's head. The
effect in the sunlight, when this sand is wet with the waves, is
something dazzling, and proves that the accounts of my favourite
Sindbad are not so fabulous as we prosaic mortals try to make out. The
island must be rich in gems, for they seem to be picked up with hardly
any trouble. At Neuera-ellia it is a favourite amusement for picnic
parties to go out gem-hunting, and frequently they meet with very
large and valuable stones by the riverside or near deserted pits,
large garnets, cinnamon-stone, splendid cat's-eyes, amethysts, matura
diamonds, moonstone, aquamarine, tourmaline rubies, and sapphires.

[Illustration: Peacock Mountain, Ceylon.]

On my arrival at the house I found that Mabelle had just returned
with some friends, who had kindly taken charge of her during our
absence, and that a very old friend had arrived almost directly we
left on Monday, and had departed early this morning to climb Adam's
Peak, the ascent of which is a long and tedious affair, but it cannot
be difficult, as thousands of aged and infirm pilgrims go every year
to worship at the Buddhist or Mohammedan temples at the summit. The
giant footprint has been reverenced alike by both religions from the
earliest ages. Its existence is differently accounted for, however, by
the two sects. The Buddhists say it is the footprint of Buddha, and
that an account of its origin was written 300 or 400 years B.C. The
Mohammedans say that it is the first step Adam took when driven out of
Paradise. They do not quarrel about it, however, but live very happily
close beside one another in their respective temples on the very small
summit of the mountain. The