great Indian Ocean. As the monsoon draws near, the days become more overcast and hot, banks of clouds rise over the ocean to the west; and in the peculiar twilight the eye is attracted by the unusual whiteness of the sea-birds that sweep along the strand to seize the objects flung on shore by the rising surf.

"At last the sudden lightnings flash among the hills and sheet through the clouds that overhang the sea, and with a crash of thunder the monsoon bursts over the thirsty land, not in showers or partial torrents, but in a wide deluge, that in the course of a few hours overtops the river-banks and spreads in inundations over every level plain.

"All the phenomena of this explosion are stupendous. Thunder, as we are accustomed to be awed by it in Europe, affords but the faintest idea of its overpowering grandeur in Ceylon, and its sublimity is infinitely increased as it is faintly heard from the shore resounding through night and darkness over the gloomy sea. The lightning, when it touches the earth where it is covered with the descending torrent, flashes into it and disappears instantaneously; but when it strikes a drier surface, in seeking better conductors, it often opens a hollow like that formed by the explosion of a shell, and frequently leaves behind it traces of vitrification. In Ceylon, however, occurrences

of this kind are rare, and accidents a e seldom recorded from lightning, probably owing to the profusion of trees, and especially of cocoa-nut palms, which, when drenched with rain, intercept the discharge and conduct the electric matter to the earth. The rain at these periods excites the astonishment of a European. It descends in almost continuous streams, so close and so dense that the level ground, unable to absorb it sufficiently fast, is covered with one uniform sheet of water, and down the sides of acclivities it rushes in a volume that wears channels in the surface. For hours together, the noise of the torrent as it beats upon the trees and bursts upon the roofs, flowing thence in rivulets along the ground, occasions an uproar that drowns the ordinary voice, and renders sleep impossible.

"This violence, however, seldom lasts more than an hour or two, and gradually abates after intermittent paroxysms, and a serenely clear sky supervenes. For some days heavy showers continue to fall at intervals in the forenoon, and the evenings which follow are embellished by sunsets of the most gorgeous splendour, lighting the fragments of cloud that survive the recent storm.

"So instantaneous is the response of nature to the influence of returning moisture, that in a single day, and almost between sunset and dawn, the green hue of reviving vegetation begins to

tint the saturated ground. In ponds from which but a week before the wind blew clouds of sandy dust, the peasantry are now to be seen catching the reanimated fish, and tank-shells and waterbeetles revive and wander over the submerged sedges. The electricity of the air stimulates the vegetation of the trees, and scarce a week will elapse till the plants are covered with the larvæ of butterflies, the forest murmuring with the hum of insects, and the air harmonious with the voice of birds."

CHAPTER XVII.

BOB MEETS SOME QUEER FISH, AND GETS INTO HOT WATER, AND FOS MEETS WITH A RELATION.

ALTHOUGH the monsoon had expended its greatest fury at its outbursting during the night, so frequent and heavy were the showers the next day, that we were compelled to postpone our departure till the succeeding morning; then, however, we were so anxious to get away, for fear of being pursued by the followers of the treacherous headman, that notwithstanding a drizzling rain, we broke up our encampment, and again set forthbut for where? Well, where chance alone might direct; for as that part of the island was strange to Fos, our guide, we were literally lost in the woods and the wilds. In our perplexity as to which point of the compass to direct our steps, the boy said

"Now rain falls fish come out, and many people come catch 'um; so we not long 'fore meet people to tell Excellency where find Kandy."

"That head o' yourn's too good for a mahogany nigger; it's good enough for a Christian," said Bob.

"Aye, aye," said I at once, to prevent an angry reply from Fos at being called a nigger. "So it matters but little which path we take; for doubtlessly we shall not be long without meeting some of the natives."

And so we penetrated through the jungle, till in about an hour we came upon a clearing, and by some groves of cocoa-trees in the distance, could tell that we were not far from a village; nay, I believe I could see the smoke arising from the huts; but, oh! how different, how delightful, by comparison with our previous journey, was this one. No burning sun or ground cracking with heat, and painful to the feet. The air was cool, deliciously refreshing. The earth, lately consuming to its last gasp, seemed moved; nay, called back to life, and was now swarming with fish. Never did I before or since see such multitudinous swarms of the finny creatures. The land had been deluged, every crack and cranny was full of water; and in these hollows-whether ponds, ditches, or little rucks-were alive with fish.

How singular, how wonderful, the phenomenon: full-grown fish alive, swimming, gambolling in places which, but a couple of days previously, had been encrusted with hardened clay. What would have been the astonishment, the surmises of the king, who wondered "how the apples got into the dumplings," at such a phenomenon. Yet Mr.