At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, we
drove over two draw-bridges and through two fortified gateways into
the town, which is far more pleasantly situated than Pointe de
Galle, on account of its nearer proximity to the beautiful mountain
ranges.
I only stopped a night here, and on the following morning again
resumed my journey in the mail to the town of Candy, which is
distant seventy-two miles.
We left on the 20th of October, at 5 o'clock in the morning.
Colombo is a very extensive town. We drove through a succession of
long, broad streets of handsome houses, all of which latter were
surrounded by verandahs and colonnades. I was very much startled at
the number of persons lying stretched out at full length under these
verandahs, and covered with white clothes. I at first mistook them
for corpses, but I soon perceived that their number was too great to
warrant that supposition, and I then discovered that they were only
asleep. Many, too, began to move and throw off their winding-
sheets. I was informed that the natives prefer sleeping in this
manner before the houses to sleeping inside of them.
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