iron chains, still used by the pilgrims
and visitors to assist them up the last weary flight of steps, are
said to have been placed there in the time of Alexander the Great, and
are mentioned by successive historians.

After lunch I went to rest, thoroughly tired out with the hard work of
the last two days, whilst the gentlemen went into Kandy, to see
Buddha's tooth and a Brahmin temple.

Just before sunset we went to have a last look at those lovely
Botanical Gardens. They were more beautiful than ever in the afternoon
light, and I saw many things which had escaped my notice before. I
have made acquaintance with the taste of all sorts of new fruits while
here, more than in our former journey; but this is to be explained by
the proximity of the Botanical Gardens. I expected to revel in fruit
all through the tropics, but, except at Tahiti, we have not done so at
all. There is one great merit in tropical fruit, which is, that
however hot the sun may be, when plucked from the tree it is always
icy cold; if left for a few minutes, however, it becomes as hot as
the surrounding atmosphere, and the charm is gone.

On my return, when I went to dress for dinner, I found on my table a
nasty-looking black beast about six inches long. It looked very
formidable in the half-light, like a scorpion or centipede. It turned
out, however, to be quite harmless, and a sort of millipede, and
rather handsome, with jet-black rings, and hundreds of orange-coloured
legs. There are a great many venomous snakes in Ceylon, but they
always get out of the way as fast as they can, and never bite
Europeans. All the roofs of the thatched bungalows swarm with rats,
and in every house is kept a rat-snake, which kills and eats these
rats. I more than once heard a great scuffle going on over my bedroom,
which generally ended in a little squeak, indicating that the snake
had killed, and was about to eat, his prey. One of the snakes came out
one day in front of my window, and hung down two or three feet from
the roof. If I had not been previously assured that he was perfectly
harmless, it would have been rather an alarming apparition in the
dark, and, even as it was, I must confess that for a moment I did feel
rather frightened as I watched him spying about, darting his forked
tongue in and out, and looking quite ready for a spring at my face.

_Thursday, April 5th_.--Another early start by the seven o'clock train
to Colombo. We were very sorry to say go