On inquiring of Father Miliani, in the course of conversation, whether he had any acquaintance with the plants to which the natives ascribe healing properties, he sent for a phial containing an oily substance, which; according to the Cingalese herbalists, is composed of 57 different roots and as many flowers, and has already been wonderfully efficacious in cases of persons bitten by poisonous serpents. It is called by the natives, Visanili-Katail (oil against poison); and the priest of Makùn remarked to us, he had himself had an opportunity of satisfying himself as to the marvellous curative qualities of this vegetable substance, in the case of persons who had been bitten by the most venomous snake in the whole island, the Cobra di Capello, who had entirely recovered by the copious use of this antidote. The application is very simple. The mouth is rinsed out with it, and the patient further takes from 15 to 20 drops of the oil internally. Unfortunately, we were not able to inquire more particularly as to the ingredients from which the Visanili-Katail is compounded, of which we eventually got a small quantity to carry away with us, after much entreaty; but by way of compensation, Father Miliani was able to give us much valuable information as to the manners, customs, and traditions of his flock. He regretted, however, that they were all of a highly impassioned strain, and that they constantly passed from one extreme to the other. The following trait, which was pointed out to us by the Father in the course of conversation, may serve to indicate the modes of thought and observation of the natives. When the Cingalese perceived how eagerly and with what warmth of friendship the Father received us, they inquired of him whether he had been previously an acquaintance of ours, as they were unable to conceive the existence of such hearty good-will between persons who were utter strangers to each other. The priest, readily appreciating the results which must flow from the reply he should give, in confirming the devout souls of his children, replied that the reputation of his name had long since penetrated to us, and we were unwilling to ride by without turning aside to salute him, to which he had readily expressed his assent, and had also long since been apprized of the important mission of the Austrian ship of war, whose commander was termed by the natives, with the bombast of their native tongue, "King of the Sea." At our departure, the kind Father presented us with several interesting articles, as souvenirs of Makùn, while we, on our part, left with him a donation in money to defray the expenses of erecting his church.
Father Miliani, the band of musicians, consisting of ten or twelve wild-looking fellows, with all manner of barbarous musical instruments, of which they made not less barbarous use, together with a laughing, yelling, gesticulating crowd of half-naked Cingalese, with long raven locks floating over their shoulders, accompanied us to our travelling chariot. Here we took leave of the hospitable Father, the vehicle set out on its route, and the whole brown retinue at once dispersed.
Hardly had we left the Mission of St. Sebastian Makùn behind us, ere our troubles began afresh. At almost the very first station we came to, we had to hire a horse from a resident at an exorbitant rate—the animal belonging to the station, and which had been engaged for us, being utterly useless. This gave occasion for fresh delays. The party letting the horses was what is called a native doctor, who assumed the title of "native vaccinator," and bitterly complained, that for his attendance four days in every week, as required by the law, for the purpose of inoculation, he only received from Government a monthly salary of £2 5s. sterling. Whatever deficiency existed in his salary, he seemed determined to make up for in the hire of his horse, which he charged for at the rate of ten shillings for six miles! On the cash being forthcoming, our "native vaccinator" did not disdain himself to take the reins, and, with his own hands, apply the whip to his mare between the shafts of our vehicle. But this mark of distinction was destined, ere long, to cost us dear. Hardly had we proceeded a couple of miles under his care, when the hind-wheels of the vehicle sunk into a rut, whence our Æsculapian steed lacked the strength to extricate us. To complete the sum of our misfortunes, at the very moment we were using our utmost endeavours to replace the waggon on the regular track, it came on to rain heavily, and we were, in a twinkling, wet to the skin. Some thirty young Cingalese, in the full dress of Adam before the Fall, who were standing open-mouthed round the waggon, could only be roused by threats from their passive attitude; and when, finally, they lent a hand to assist, they, in their ill-timed zeal, came near oversetting the waggon into the ditch on the opposite side. Next, we exchanged this stubborn brute for one that was blind. For a brief space we hoped the latter might probably be the more easily driven in consequence of his not seeing what was going on around him; but these anticipations were speedily dispelled, and in a rather unpleasant manner. The short distance that now separated us from our destination seemed as though it would never have an end; and, in a word, it was already verging on midnight ere we reached Galle, where we had been expected to dinner five hours before, by our hospitable friend, the Consul for Hamburg. Some of the invited guests had already left this agreeable house, while others were still seated at the whist-table, as, wearied and exhausted, we entered the drawing-room. The circumstances that had so seriously delayed our arrival were explained by way of apology, and proved the subject of some goodnatured quizzing on our misfortunes by the guests present; and in such agreeable society, and over a sumptuous supper, we speedily forgot the trifling annoyances of our latest experiences.
In the course of a desultory agreeable conversation about the natural beauties of the island, many were the plans of more distant excursions which we projected this evening—which, however, upon more mature consideration, all proved impracticable, owing to the scanty time at our disposal. Thus we found ourselves, much against our wishes, compelled to forego a visit to Kandy, and its beautiful environs, in which is situated the renowned temple that enshrines the tooth of Buddha, the occupation of which by the English was, in the eyes of the Cingalese, the most manifest indication of their being the legitimate conquerors of the kingdom.[94] Neither were we able to take part in an elephant hunt, although these animals are found in the island in such quantities, that it is related, with every appearance of accuracy, of a single elephant hunter, the late Major Rodgers, who was struck dead by a flash of lightning a few years since in the midst of the forest, that he had, in the course of his life of active exercise, laid low fifteen hundred elephants with his own hand! But permission was granted by the commander of the Expedition to the geologist and one of the zoologists to remain in Ceylon, and rejoin the frigate at Madras by the steamer which runs fortnightly, so as to enable them to ascend the world-famous Adam's Peak, 7000 feet high, one of the loftiest peaks in Ceylon, where, according to tradition, the founder of the Buddhist doctrine, when last he visited the earth, in answer to the supplications of a priest, left behind the print of his footstep (Sri-pada), as a visible sign of his presence.
[94] The legend relating to these relics, about which so many wars were waged, goes back as far as the third century of the Christian era, when Mahasana, a true believer, having become King of Ceylon, purchased these teeth for numerous valuable presents, of one of his kindred, a Calinga king in Bengal, who sent them over by his princes. The tooth Dahata Wahansa immediately achieved a miracle—it illumined the entire island, and supplanted all heretical teaching. It was forthwith enveloped in a hundred cloths, and a temple erected to enshrine it, since which it has been regarded as the Palladium of Ceylon. When, in 1560, this tooth was transferred to the temple at Manaar by the Portuguese under Constantin de Braganza, the king offered the Portuguese bigots 600,000 pieces of gold by way of ransom. Braganza judged it more advisable to destroy the tooth. But he little knew the adroitness and subtlety of the Buddhist priesthood. The very next morning the tooth, that had been supposed to be destroyed was marvellously found in a Lotos leaf in the temple, where it had been deposited by Buddha himself!
We cite, in the following extract, the most prominent features of this venture, as supplied by the two members of the Expedition who undertook it, so as to complete the description of the Novara's visit to Ceylon:—
"On 13th January, 1858, we proceeded from Colombo to Ratnapoora, en route, to visit Adam's Peak, a tolerably long and tedious journey. On the margin of a river we encountered an elephant, who was engaged in assisting the labourers on the public roads in that vicinity. While our car and the baggage were being embarked here, and again put in order, this animal went through a number of tricks, such as swaying to and fro, lying down, raising his trunk, and trumpeting, the latter of which, at a sign from his driver, he did with a vengeance, and for so doing was rewarded with a few plantains. These exercises seem to constitute the first steps in taming, as they were gone through in a similar manner by all the elephants we afterwards saw, whether employed like this one in task-work, or maintained for show, or made use of in the Temple service.
At mid-day we reached Ratnapoora, and as we were anxious to shorten as much as possible our next day's journey, we decided on pushing forward in the course of the afternoon, as far as the little village of Gilli-Mali, seven miles further on. We had been provided by C. W. Layard, Esq., the Government Agent in Colombo, with letters of introduction to his deputy, Mr. Mooyart, at Ratnapoora, who, however, we unfortunately found was absent from home. Next day, however, we had unmistakable evidence that our letters had, very shortly after our departure, reached the hands they were intended for, by a variety of precautions which the hospitable gentleman must have at once arranged with a view to our greater comfort. While yet on the second-half of our road to Gilli-Mali, night overtook us, and we prosecuted our march by torch-light through the dense jungle. Our guides and porters had shown some reluctance to enter this jungle, partly on account of the swarms of land-leeches (litchies, as they are termed here, doubtless by a corruption of the English name), which are especially active during the night, partly from other causes of anxiety. Accordingly, they kept reciting Cingalese ditties, alternated with shrill yells, or shouted, so as to be heard at a distance; whether to drive away evil spirits, or to frighten the chetah or leopard, we could not ascertain. No long time elapsed ere we ourselves began to perceive traces of having been victimized by that most uncomfortable of guests, the land-leech. The naked Hindoos were incessantly occupied with pulling off these painful blood-suckers, and we had to call a halt from time to time, in order to loosen and carefully fling them away, as they had succeeded in reaching the skin, through the trousers immediately above the boot. They are found up to an elevation of 4000 feet above the sea on the mountains, chiefly in damp or wet localities, and are most active during the evening and night in the selection of a victim.
At Gilli-Mali, we fell in with Mr. Braybrooke, an English engineer, who most hospitably invited us to his bungalow, and with whom we conversed upon topics relating to Ceylon, till far into the night.
Next day we had to ascend the Peak itself; which is in so far a difficult undertaking on the side from which we approached it, that one has gained no vantage-ground at Gilli-Malli, our last night's resting-place, towards reaching the summit, so that one sees it in its entire colossal height of above 7000 feet directly in front; whereas, in ascending from Kandy, one has already, at Neuwera Ellia, attained an elevation of 4000 feet, which can be performed in a carriage. We set out at 7 a. m., and after an hour-and-a-half's march, gained the last village, Balahab-a-Dullu, in the Buddhist temple of which is kept a flat metal dish, adorned with silver rosettes, with which the imprint of the holy footstep is covered over at the season of the annual pilgrimage. On the table, before a colossal figure of Buddha, were strewn, as usual, a quantity of flowers presented by the faithful; these were the flower-shrubs of the Areca palm, Hibiscus, Alamanda, Tagetes; also, close to the wooden statue, are placed several small figures of silver or wood, 3 or 4 inches long. The priest also showed us a magnificent manuscript of at least 1000 palm leaves, closely and beautifully engraved on both sides with Cingalese characters, which belonged to the temple, and was guarded with great care.