ndian
Experience.--Elephants as Farm Laborers in Place of
Oxen.--Tame Elephants as Decoys.--Elephant Taming.--Highest
Mountain on the Island.--Pilgrims who ascend Adam's
Peak.--Nuera-Ellia as a Sanitarium.--A Hill Garden.

From Kandy to Neura-Ellia--"Royal Plains"--(pronounced Nuralia) is a
pleasant drive of fifty miles through the Ramboda Pass, which is
justly celebrated for its series of beautiful waterfalls and
boisterous rapids, affording frequent views of great magnificence. It
is safe to say that in this respect it is the most remarkable part of
the island. The entire route is about six thousand feet above sea
level. At first the course of the Maha-velle-Ganga is closely
followed, the river being crossed at Peradenia by a somewhat
remarkable bridge, consisting of a single arch or span of a little
over two hundred feet, built of satinwood, with stout brick and stone
abutments. The bridge was erected in 1832, without the aid of a single
nail or bolt, and is apparently in perfect condition to-day. The
railway bridge crosses the stream below this point not far away,
resting upon three substantial stone piers. The centre of the
first-named structure is raised between sixty and seventy feet above
the ordinary flow of the water, which is generally of quite a placid
character, but at certain seasons of the year its volume and force are
such as to form a sweeping and dangerous torrent. When this is the
case, there are often borne upon the flood large cocoanut and other
trees, which have stood for many years upon the river's banks, until
thus undermined by the swift-flowing waters. The effect is then very
singular. The trees, which have thus been suddenly transported from
their birthplaces in a growing and often fruit-bearing condition, pile
themselves up after a most extraordinary fashion, forming what is
technically called a "jam."

The hillsides, as seen from the satinwood bridge, are terraced with
rice-fields, while in the distance stands the Allegalla Peak, an
isolated mountain thirty-four hundred feet in height, in connection
with which there are several Singhalese legends, each one more or less
impossible. This element, however, only makes the stories all the more
palatable to the native appetite.

This route takes one through Gampola, which, though it is
insignificant enough at the present time, was the native capital of
Ceylon nearly five hundred years ago. The place is situated amid a
gr