I, who have wandered where fair rivers glide Of nature ever beautiful,-beside Bold mountains now am journeying. A wide Ravine, and jungle,-forest, in this isle Of beauty, and sublimity, and pride, Iview. Deep valleys, where both flower and tree Blossom and fade unseen,--whose streams are fed From bills, by distance hung in mystery, B. II. CEYLON. In Eastern climes these wilder beauties glow, III. KANDIAN BOUNDARY. Mark those few spare and spiral cotton trees, On breathing wings mild airs invisibly O'er Nature's serene face; Sublimity Was throned among the mountains, lone and high; God's Angels, as in visionary dream, Trod Heaven's high ladder, lost in the blue sky. IV. WARAKAPALI. Above the neighbouring hills one mountain stood; It looked a sovereign rock, whose frown could chase Heaven's drops with darkness did this mountain stain TALIPOT TREE This tree is crowned; with a tall spiral flower, To indicate that, like the sun's last ray, Away and die, presignfies the life Which, fearless, can defy death's darkest hate, And will survive the body of the dead. VI. KADEGANAVA PASS. A mountain pass! Before the wondering eye, Black clouds upon the mountain summits brood; Of primal beauty. Here the fountains broke Of the great deep, avenging human crime,→ VII. KANDY. Tis twenty years since I beheld the throne, Of Kandy's captive king. I had no thought Of that which time and sorrow since have wrought; That in this idol city, sad and lone, To soothe my grief for a dear spirit gone, Poetical Sketches, &c. & PART I. NOTES. I. I shall not attempt a prose description of a country, which has already been partially described by Dr. Davy and others, and which will become more familiar to European readers generally, as it is more known to individuals. The traveller takes his reader along with him every step of his journey. The sketcher professes only to go from spot to spot, and to invite the attention to such objects only as have peculiarly forced themselves upon himself, which have given birth to reflection or emotion, or have excited the fancy or the imagination. To illustrate his text is the duty of the writer of the forgoing verses; to do it unconstrainedly in the form of notes, his privilege. "And the silent shade, Where the huge elephant sleeps peacefully." The Author of Rasselas-though I did not think of the passage when the above was written-speaks similarly of the elephant. "The sprightly kid was bounding on the rocks, the subtile monkey fro. licking in the trees, and the solemn elephant reposing in the slude. Chap. I. In the Italian translation, the sound of the words is more pleasing to the ear. "Il grave elefante riposando all 'ombra." The habits of the Elephant, however, are not thus solitary. He is gregarious, and is never found alone, except when driven from the herd; and then he is dangerous. Elephants are wont to repose in herds in open Spaces, especially at night. Their tracks are frequent, in this gregarious habit, in the interior of this island, II. "The utmost Indian Isle TAPROBANE." It was TAPROBANE was the ancient name of Ceylon among the Greeks and Romans. This has, indeed, been controverted; and the name of Taprobane has been assigned to Sumatra. Ancient coins, however, found in Ceylon, prove it to have been one of the Roman marts of commerce. doubted by the ancients whether Taprobate was not the beginning of another continent. It is not improbable; from the narrow and shallow strait which separates the northern extremity of Ceylon from the southern extremity of the continent of India, that Ceyion was once part of that continent. Pliny has recorded what was known in his time of the ancient Taprobane. He affirms, on the authority of Onesicratus and Megasthenes, that it produced elephants larger and more warlike than any countries of India; * Hist. Nat. vi. 22, p. 309. Etzevir: Edit. 1635. |