ake little baggage beyond the necessary food and one of
my host's guns. I cannot tell how impatient I am feeling.

"Feb. 1st.--My journey to the Peak is over. Whether from fatigue or
excitement I am feeling strangely light-headed to-day; but let me
attempt to describe as briefly as I can my adventure. We set out
from Colombo in the early morning of Jan. 26th. For about two-thirds
of our journey the road lies along the coast, stretching through
swampy rice-fields and interminable cocoanut avenues until Ratnapoora
is reached. So far the scenery does not greatly differ from that of
Colombo. But it was after we left Ratnapoora that I first realised
the true wonders of this land. Our road rose almost continuously by
narrow tracks, which in some places, owing to the late heavy rains,
were almost impassable; but Peter and Paul worked hard, and so
reduced the delay. We had not left Ratnapoora far behind when we
plunged into a tangled forest, so dense as almost to blot out the
light of day. On either hand deep ravines plunged precipitately
down, or giant trees enclosed us in black shadow. Where the sun's
rays penetrated, myriads of brilliant insects flashed like jewels;
yellow butterflies, beetles with wings of ruby-red or gold, and
dragonflies that picked out the undergrowth with fire. In the shadow
overhead flew and chattered crowds of green paroquets and glossy
crows, while here and there we could see a Bird of Paradise drooping
its smart tail-feathers amid the foliage. A little further, and deep
in the forest the ear caught the busy tap-tap of the woodpecker, the
snap of the toucan's beak, or far away the deep trumpeting of the
elephant. Once we startled a leopard that gazed a moment at us with
flaming eyes, and then was gone with a wild bound into the thicket.
From tree to tree trailed hosts of gorgeous creepers, blossoming in
orange, white and crimson, or wreathing round some hapless monarch of
the forest and strangling it with their rank growth. Still we
climbed.

"The bridle-track now skirted a torrent, now wound dizzily round
the edge of a stupendous cliff, and again plunged into obscurity.
Here and there the ruins of some ancient and abandoned shrine
confronted us, its graceful columns entwined and matted with
vegetation; or, again, where the forest broke off and allowed our
eyes to sweep over the far prospect, the guides would point to the
place where stood, hardly to be descried, the relics of some de