which is, doubtless, a comparatively
modern addition. The whole looks more like a spacious stable than an
oriental shrine. This temple has made Kandy the Mecca of both India
and Ceylon, attracting great numbers of pilgrims annually. It is
regarded with such universal reverence that the priests of Burmah and
Siam send a personal envoy bearing gifts to it every year, besides
furnishing a large sum annually as tribute money. A few years since,
an earnest effort was made to gain possession of the alleged tooth, a
special mission having been dispatched from Siam for the purpose.
These agents came prepared to pay a quarter of a million dollars for
the coveted prize; but the Kandian priests would not part with it at
any price that could be named. The temple of Malagawa is a curious
establishment, with its gardens, shrines, and fish ponds, the latter
well-filled with plethoric turtles and fish of a "sacred" kind, which
come eagerly to certain points at the call of the priests, to be fed
by pious pilgrims.

The inner walls of the temple are decorated with designs that are
anything but cheerful, consisting of paintings intended to depict the
various sorts of hells which will be awarded to erring mortals for
their special earthly sins. The place absolutely smells of brimstone.
The interest of our little party centred most upon some old manuscript
books written upon talipot palm leaves in the Pali, Sanskrit, and
Singhalese languages. The pages were here and there illustrated with
what appeared to be appropriate designs, very odd to be sure, but yet
not without a certain crude artistic taste. The books were bound in
silver open-work covers or frames.

The famous tooth which is made so much of in this mouldy old temple is
far too large to have ever come from the mouth of a human being, and
is probably that of some defunct elephant or crocodile. Indeed, the
original article which it is supposed to represent is proved to have
been destroyed centuries since, when by the fortune of war it fell
into the hands of the unbelievers. The author did not see the tooth.
It was described to him as being deposited in a small apartment upon a
silver table beneath a bell-shaped cover, the latter heavy with
precious gems. Here, lying within the leaves of a large golden lotus,
is the resting-place of the much-venerated piece of ivory. The tooth,
duly guarded and with great pomp, is carried about the town once a
year, just as the Indian idol, Juggern