I, who have wandered where fair rivers glide
Through France's vine-clad valleys,—to beguile
One dear and patient sufferer with the smile

Of nature ever beautiful,-beside

Bold mountains now am journeying. A wide
And varied amphitheatre of hill,

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,
With lucent waters,-and the silent shade
Where the huge elephant sleeps peacefully,-
Around me now are prodigally spread.

B.

II.

CEYLON.

In Eastern climes these wilder beauties glow,
"The utmost Indian Isle TAPROBANE."
He who would feast his spirit blamelessly,
The world of sense and worldly joys forego,
And feel the sabbath of the soul, may know,
Amid the might of mountain scenery,
And all the glories which the eye may see,
How to be blest, or soothe his bosom's woe.
Here Nature's hand so curiously hath wrought
Her web of wonder, beautiful and bright,
That even the spirits of another world
Were with the sense of admiration caught,
Which now my grosser spirit doth delight,
And from me hath my darker feelings hurled

III.

KANDIAN BOUNDARY.

Mark those few spare and spiral cotton trees,
On either side the road, a natural gate:
You now are in what was the Kandian state;
Whose despot wrought, his sullen soul to please,
Dark deeds of blood and horror. Yet the breeze,
Is soft and balmy. When the tyrant sate
In self-willed sovereignty, on whom did wait
All other wills obsequious, with like case,

On breathing wings mild airs invisibly
Floated as now; soft Beauty reigned supreme

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;
As a tall column shooting from the base.

It looked a sovereign rock, whose frown could chase
The clouds when on his brow they wished to brood,
One side was shrowded with thick jungly wood,
Which hung like hair around his giant face,
Whereon, with blackness weather-stained, no trace
Of gentleness was seen. And nothing good
And loveable did this dark hill inspire:
Its blackness seemed the action of fierce fire,
Rather than impress of the softer rain;
Huge stones, as gloomy as their awful sire,
Lay at his feet, like infants. Surely in ire

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,
In its bright beauty it will pass away;
Asserting over death undying power
In that light crest, like an aerial bower,
Which is the presage of the tree's decay.
It is the image of that glorious day,
When spirits shall inherit the blest dower
Of immortality,-and end the strife,
The grief, the turmoil of our earthly state.
This flower, although it be about to fade

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,
More distant and involved than can be viewed
By the intensest gaze,-behold these rude
And rugged mountains, and this cloudy sky
To such huge masses fitting canopy.

Black clouds upon the mountain summits brood;
The mountains on the cloud-wrapped sky intrudej
Deep thunders mutter loud and angrily.
Here human hands have cleft the massy rock
Arching above. Around is spread the ruin

Of primal beauty. Here the fountains broke

Of the great deep, avenging human crime,→
Creation's works of loveliness undoing,
By stroke of the ETERNAL, Hot of time.

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,
The lot of life would cast me. Dull, untaught,
And savage was this king; or he had caught
Some loftier feelings when the bright sun shone
On this majestic scene that round me lies.
The hand of nature scooped these vallies deep;
The Voice of God bade those tall mountains rise:
A holy calm broods here, and loves to keep
Still watch in this lone dell, whose gentle sleep
Is soothed, not broke, by bird's sweet melodies.

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.