CHAPTER XVIII.

EXCURSION TO CANDELAY LAKE IN CEYLON.

The fervid activity of our excellent admiral, Sir Samuel Hood, in whose flag-ship I served as lieutenant, from 1812 to 1815, was unceasing.  There was a boyish hilarity about this great officer, which made it equally delightful to serve officially under him, and to enjoy his friendly companionship.  An alligator-hunt, a sport in which the Malays take great delight, was shared in by the Admiral, who made the place ring with his exclamation of boyish delight.  Scarcely had we returned from the alligator-hunt, near Trincomalee, when Sir Samuel applied himself to the collector of the district, who was chief civilian of the place, and begged to know what he would recommend us to see next.

“Do you care about antiquities?” said the collector.

“Of course,” replied the Admiral, “provided they be genuine and worth seeing.  What have you got to show us in that way?  I thought this part of the country had been a wild jungle from all time, and that the English were only now bringing it into cultivation.”

“On the contrary,” observed our intelligent friend, “there are manifest traces, not very far off, of a dense and wealthy population.  At all events, the inhabitants appear to have understood some of the arts of life, for they formed a huge tank or pond for the purpose of irrigation; so large, indeed, that there still exists, in one corner of it, a sheet of water extensive enough to deserve the name of a lake.”

“Let us go and see it,” exclaimed the admiral.  “Can we ride?  Order the horses; who minds the heat of the sun?”—­for, like almost all new-comers, Sir Samuel cared nothing for exposure, and laughed at the precautions of more experienced residents.

The collector of Trincomalee soon satisfied the Admiral that an expedition to Candelay Lake, as the ancient tank of the natives was called, could not be undertaken quite so speedily.  Boats and horses indeed were all ready, and tents could easily be procured; but it was likewise necessary to prepare provisions, to pack up clothes, and to send forward a set of native pioneers to clear the way through brushwood, otherwise impenetrable.  The Admiral was in such ecstacies at the prospect of an adventure which was to cost some trouble, that he allowed nobody rest till everything had been put in train.  Early in the morning of the next day but one, we accordingly set out in several of the flag-ship’s boats, accompanied by a mosquito fleet of native canoes to pilot and assist us; Lady Hood, whom no difficulties could daunt, accompanied Sir Samuel; the captain of his ship, and his flag-lieutenant, with the collector as pilot, and one or two others, made up the party; and our excursion, though nearly destitute of adventures vulgarly so called, proved one of the most interesting possible.