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A VISIT TO CEYLON
BY .’ -:-
|\º. , ºv P {{ is is s V
ERNST HAECKE
PROFESSOR IN THE university OF JENA
AUTHoR of “THE HISTORY OF CREATION,”
*THE HISTORY OF THE EvoluTION OF MAN,” ETC.
TRANSLATED BY CLARA RFT,I,
S ECOAVIO A.J.IFI? ICAN EA) ITION.
B O S T ON ---
S. E. CASSINO AND COMPANY
1883
(All rights reserved.)
C O N T E N T S.
CHAPTER I.
EN ROUTE FOR INDIA.
A naturalist's voyage to India—From Jena to Trieste—The good ship
Helios—From Trieste viá Brindisi to Port Said—The heat in the
Red Sea—Aden—Medusae in the Indian Ocean... to e - e e Q
CHAPTER II.
A WIEER IN IBOM 13 AY.
Arrival in Bombay—The town and island — Malahar FIill—The Hindous
—Parsi fun, ral rites—The Palm-Grove of Mahim—The village of
Valukeshwar—Fakirs—Elephanta-Tropical vegetation —An ex-
cursion to the Dekhan—The Palmyra palm—Temple-cave of IWarli
CIIAPTER III.
COLOMBO.
Arrival in Ceylon–Cinghalese canoes—The town and suburi is I uttian
gardens—The population of Ceylon ... & ºt * * tº e e
CHAPTER IV.
“WIIIST BUNGALOW.”
Mutwal—The history of the bungalow—Mangrove thickets—The garden
of “Whist 13ungalow ’’—The museum at Colombo—I’recautions
against the tropical climate—Indian meals © gº º
W2A G).
42
93

vi CONTENTS.
CHAPTER. W.
EADUWELLA.
Horses and carriages in Ceylon–The outskirts of Colombo—The situa-
tion of Kaduwella on the Kalany River—Rest-houses—The jungle
—A large Iguana—The cocoa-nut palm •es •,• tº gº º
CHAPTER WI.
PERATOENIA.
Botanical Garden—Railway from Colombo to Kandy—IXaduganawa—
The talipof palm—Dr. Trimen—Indiarubber trees—Dr. Marshall
Ward—Huge bamboos—Land lecches--Flying foxes—A spectacled
Snake tº º º tº e Q e e ſº tº º º tº tº ſº. º ºg e tº º gº
CHAPTER VII.
RANDY.
The capital of the hill country.-The old palace of the Kandy kings—
The Temple of the Tooth—Dr. Thwaites’ bungalow C O O tº egº
CHAPTER VIII.
TFIE ROAD FROM COLOMEO TO GALLE.
Schemes for work—The harbours of Trincomalie, Galle, and Telligam—
Bullock-carts—The “Royal Mail Coach *—Cocoa-nut woods and
Pandanus—Caltura—The price of a White skin... tº e g tº º o
CHAPTER IX.
POINT DE GALLE.
The Tarshish of the East—Queen’s House—Mr. Scott—The native
town–Captain Bayley's bungalow—The doom palm—Buona Vista–
The coral banks of Galle—The predominance of green hues in
Ceylon–Divers—Life among the coral reefs ... ... to G &
CHAPTER X.
BELLIGAM.
Daybreak in the tropics—A drive across country—A solemn reception
by the natives—The headmen—The rest-house—Socrates and Gany-
mede–Rodiya caste—The cook and William ... tº e G tº gº &
FAG p.
114
126 .
144
l:49
173
J 91
CONTENTS. vii
CHAPTER XL
A ZOOLOGICAL LABORATORY IN CEYLON.
- PAGE
..My domestic arrangements and difficulties — The canoe—Aretshi
Abayavira—Fishing near Belligam—Native curiosity–Insects and
other foes ... © e Q • tº O O. © & © © e Q ... .206
CHAPTER XII.
wº SIX WEEKS AMONG THE CINGHALESE.
Plan of a day at Belligam–Curry and rice—Various fruits—Fish–
Roast monkey—Disturbed nights—Coloured prints for barter—A
Buddhist festival –Christmas feast at the Wesleyan Mission house
—The cremation of a Buddhist priest ... - e. e. © C & ... 226
CHAPTER XIII.
BASA MUNA AND MIRISSA.
The harbour of Belligam —West Cape—The red cliffs of Basamuna—
Delicious evenings—least Cape—Mirissa—Cinghalese children—A
splendid sunset •-- - - e e Q . . e. e. e. © e º . ... 246
CEIAPTER N IV.
INOGALLA AND BORALU,
The rocky lake—-The pebbly lake—The natural wonders of Dina Pitya
—Enormous snakes—The Aretslui's garden–Cinghalese sports ... 20.
CHAPTER XV.
MATURA AND DON DERA.
The “Star-fort’” at Matura—Ruins of a temple at Dondera Head—The
southern point of Ceylon–A sail to the southwards—Treasures of
the deep—Farewell to Belliguln tº e G e e - to e Q ... 267
CHAPTER XVI.
THE COFFEE DISTRICT AND HILL COUNTRY.
The extent of the highlands of Ceylon–Coffee culture—Adam's Peak
—A walk through the plantations—Tamil coolies—The hospitality
of English plauters ... . - - - • e ∈ … - - e. ... 274
VIII CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVII.
NEWERA ELLIA.
The climate of the plateau—Newera Ellia as a sanatarium—The flora
of the hill country—Expeditions from Newera Ellia—The highest
point of Ceylon–Rangbodde aud Hackgalla ... tº ſº ſº © C &
CHAPTER XVIII.
AT THE WORLD's END.
Horton's Plain—The patenas—The primaeval forest—Nilloo jungle—
Horton's Plain rest-house—Prairie burning—The inhabitants of
the wilderness—The ravine at World's End—Wild elephants—Non-
pareil—Tree-ferns tº gº tº tº º º tº e º © e O tº º º © tº gº
CHAPTER XIX.
* THE BLACK RIVER,
Mountain torrents—Marvels of tropical vegetation—Log bridges—Land
lecches—Journey to Ratnapoora—Down the Black River to Caltura—
Shooting the rapids ... tº º º tº gº & e C & to gº e ſº tº º
CHAPTER XX.
HOME THROUGH EGYPT.
The last week in Colombo—Farewell to Ceylon—A delightful voyage
—Two days in Cairo–The petrified forcst—A comparison of Egypt
with Ceylon–The date and cocoa nut palms—English policy in
Egypt—English colonial government—Home to Jena
PAGL?
288
300
313
326
A VISIT TO CEYLON.
CEIAPTER I.
EN ROUTE FOR INIDIA.
“WHAT | Really, to India?” So my friends in Jena exclaimed,
and so I myself exclaimed, how often I know not, when at
the end of last winter (1880–81), and under the immediate
influence of our dreary North German February, I had finally
made up my mind to spend the next winter in the tropical
sunshine of Ceylon, that island of wonders. A journey to
India is no longer an elaborate business, it is true; in these
travel-loving and never-resting times there is no quarter
of the globe that is spared by the tourist. We rush across
the remotest seas in the luxurious steamships of our days
in a relatively shorter time and with less “circumstance"
and danger than, a hundred years since, attended the much-
dreaded “Italian tour,” which is now an every-day affair.
Even “a voyage round the world in eighty days” has
become a familiar idea, and many a youthful citizen of the
world, who is rich enough to do it, flatters himself that he
can, by a journey round the world occupying less than a
B
2 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
year's time, acquire a more comprehensive and many-sided
education than by ten years spent at the best Schools.
A voyage to India can lay no claim to any special
interest, particularly as an abundant supply of the best
literature exists on that wonderful land; and I Ought
perhaps to offer some exceptional excuse for inviting the
reader to accompany me on my six months' journey to and
through Ceylon. You who do so, worthy or fair reader,
must permit me to initiate you into my own personal in-
terests as a student and lover of nature, since these and
these alone gave occasion to the expedition on which we are
about to start. -
That every naturalist who has made it his life-task to
study the forms of organic life on the earth, should desire to
see for himself all the marvels of tropical nature, is self-
evident ; it must be one of his dearest wishes. For it is
only between the tropics, and under the stimulating in-
fluence of a brighter sun and greater heat, that the animal
and vegetable life on our globe reach that highest and most
marvellous variety of form, compared to which the fauna
and flora of Our temperate zone appear but a pale and feeble
phantom. Even as a boy, when my favourite reading was
an old collection of travels, I delighted in nothing so much
as in the primaeval forests of India and Brazil; and when,
somewhat later, Humboldt's “Aspects of Nature,” Schleiden's
“Plant Life,” Kittlitz's “Aspects of Vegetation,”; and
Darwin's “Naturalist's Voyage,” incited and determined
my tastes and influenced my whole life, a voyage in the
* Translated by Mrs. Sabine. Lond, 1849.
f The Plant : translated by A. Henfrey. Lond. 1848.
† Vegetaliong-Ausichton. Wicsbaden, 1854.
EN ROUTE FOR INIOIA. 3
tropics became the goal of my most eager desires. At first
I could only hope to make such a journey as a medical man;
and it was principally with this view, that, as a young
student, now thirty years ago, I determined on adding
medicine to my favourite studies in botany and Zoology.
But many years were to pass by before the cherished dream
was to be realized.
When, twenty-five years since, I had completed my
medical course, all the endeavours I made to carry out my
project of travelling as a doctor fell to the ground. At last
I thought myself fortunate when, in 1859, I was able to
make a prolonged tour in Italy, and to spend a year on the
beautiful shores of the Mediterranean, which I learnt to love
while devoting myself to the study of the multiform in-
habitants of its waters. After my return, a regular avocation
and a sudden alteration in my private circumstances threw
all further projects of travel into the background. At
Easter, 1861, I was appointed to a professorship in the
University, which I have now held for twenty years,
spending my vacations, after the example of my illustrious
master and friend, Johannes Müller, in excursions to the sea
coast, for purposes of study. A special passion for the most
interesting branch of Zoology: the lower orders of marine
creatures, and above all Zoophytes and Protozoa-to which
Müller himself had directed my attention in Heligoland, in
1854—led me in the course of the next twenty years to
visit the most dissimilar shores of Europe. In the preface
to my work on the Medusae, I have given a brief account
of the various spots on the coast where, during this period,
I fished, dredged and observed worked with the microscope,
and made drawings. But still the varied shores of the
4. A VISIT TO CEYLON.
peerless Mediterranean, in many respects unique, always
proved the most attractive.
Twice, however, I was enabled to outstep the limits of
this delightful province. I spent the winter of 1866–67 in
the Canary Isles, for the most part in the volcanic and
almost barren rock of Lancerote ; and early in 1873, I
made a wonderful excursion in an Egyptian man-of-war,
from Suez to Tur, to visit the coral-reefs of the Red Sea,
and I there wrote my monograph on the corals of the Arabian
coast.” On both occasions I very nearly reached the
tropical zone, and lived at a few degrees only to the north
of it; but in each case I was within reach of a region which
is but meagrely endowed with its principal charm, the
glory of tropical vegetation.
The more the naturalist sees and enjoys of the beauties
of Nature on this globe, the more he longs to extend the
domain of sight. After a delightful autumn visit, which
I paid in 1880 to the castle of Portofino, near Genoa--a
pleasure I owe to the kind hospitality of the English
consul, Mr. Montagu Brown—I returned loaded with a mass
of interesting Zoological and botanical experiences to the
quiet little town of Jena. But, only a few weeks later,
accident threw into my hands—not for the first time—the
beautiful work on Ceylon, by Ransonnet, the Viennese
painter, and my recollections of the charms of Portofino
made the more splendid marvels of the cinnamon island
seem doubly and overpoweringly attractive, though I had
often before dwelt on them with wistful yearning. I looked
* Arabische Korallen. Berlin, 1875.
f Ceylon, Skizzen seiner Bowohner, Thier-und Pflauz-Leben. Braunsch.
weig, 1808
EN ROUTE FOR INIDIA. 5
up the various routes to India, and discovered, to my joy,
that “the struggle for existence” among the various lines of
steam-packets had, within the last few years, considerably
reduced the high fares, and had probably also diminished
the various discomforts of the voyage. But tempting above
all was an announcement that the Austrian Lloyd's Cora-
pany had now opened a double service of steamships to
India from Trieste, both of which touched at Ceylon. I
had the most favourable recollections of this company's
vessels from many passages on the Mediterranean, and by
their agency I could hope to attain my end most safely,
comfortably, and easily.
The sea voyage from Trieste to Ceylon, vić Egypt and
Aden, occupies about four weeks; six days are spent in the
passage from Trieste to Port Said, two in the Suez Canal,
six in the Red Sea, and eleven in crossing the Indian ocean
from Aden to Ceylon. Three or four days are spent at
the different ports touched at. Thus, if I could obtain six
months' leave of absence, I might allow two months for the
voyages out and home, and reckon on four months’ stay in
Ceylon itself. With its fine climate and the good order
prevailing in this beautiful island, the journey offered no
prospects of danger. Besides, I reflected that I was already
eight and forty, and that consequently it was high time to
undertake the journey, if it was ever to be accomplished at
all. Various circumstances, which are of no importance
here, favoured a prompt decision; so by Easter, 1881, I had
sketched a plan of my journey, and at once began my pre-
parations for carrying it out. The leave of absence, as well
as a considerable sum of money for beginning a collection
of the Natural History of India, was liberally granted by
6 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
the grand ducal government of Weimar. In order to qualify
myself to make the best use of the short time at my dis-
posal, I read all the most important works on Ceylon and
its natural products; above all, the admirable description,
which to this day retains its value, in Carl Ritter's classical
work “ and Sir Emerson Tennent's important book, “Ceylon,
an account of the island, physical, historical, and topogra-
phical.” f I also looked through a number of traveller's
narratives, old and new, which contained some account of
the island. -
I then inspected, repaired, and completed the various
instruments and apparatus for examining and collecting
specimens which always formed part of my paraphernalia
in my voyages along the coast, and I added considerably to
their number. I took advantage of the summer months to
learn and practice various arts which I deemed might prove
especially useful and desirable on this journey—such as oil-
painting, photography, the use of a gun, of nets and traps,
soldering metal, etc. As the climate seemed to render it
advisable that I should not start before the middle of Octo-
ber, I spent the autumn holidays in Jena, busied in making
preparations and in packing my very considerable appa-
ratus. Although the special object of my journey was to
be restricted within the limits of my own departments of
study, more particularly animal and plant life, there were
many other questions in natural history to which I might
be able to render subsidiary aid, and which I must be more
or less ready to investigate.
The naturalist who in these days betakes himself to
the coast to carry on his studies of animal and plant life
Erdkunde: Ostasien, vol. iv. pt. ii. f London, 1860.
EN ROUTE FOR INDIA. 7
no longer finds his microscope, his dissecting knife, and a
few other simple instruments a sufficient equipment, as he
would have done twenty or even ten years since. The
methods of biological, and more particularly of micro-
scopical research, have been developed and perfected within
the last decade in a very remarkable degree; an elaborate
and extensive array of instruments of the most various
kinds is indispensable to enable him at all to meet the
requirements of the present day.
In fact, no less than sixteen trunks and cases were
shipped at Trieste as my luggage. Two of these were filled
with books—none but the most necessary Scientific works;
two others contained a microscope and instruments for
observations in physics and the study of anatomy. In two
other cases I had apparatus for collecting and materials for
preserving specimens; soldered tins, containing different
kinds of spirit and other antiseptic fluids, carbolic acid,
arsenic and the like. Then two cases contained nothing
but glass phials—of these I had some thousands—and two
more were packed with nets and appliances of every kind
for smaring and catching the prey; trawls and dredging nets
for raking the bottom of the Sea, sweeping and landing nets
for skimming the surface. A photographic apparatus had
a chest to itself, and One was filled with materials for oil
and water-colour painting, drawing and writing; another
was packed with a nest of forty tin cases, one inside the
Other, and so arranged that when I should have filled one
With specimens I could myself easily solder down the flat
tin lid. Then another contained ammunition for my double-
barrelled gun—a thousand cartridges with different sizes of
shot. Most of these fourteen cases were covered with tin
8 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
and soldered down in order to protect their contents from
damp, come what might, during the long Sea voyage.
Finally, in two tin trunks I had clothes and linen to last
me during my six months' wanderings.
In view of this somewhat considerable outfit, which it
had cost me no small care and trouble to prepare and pack,
even before I left Jena, I may think it particularly for-
tunate that one wish that I had eagerly cherished at the
beginning of my enterprise failed of fulfilment. It is a well-
known fact that among all the recent investigations of
marine life none have yielded such grand and surprising
results as the deep-sea soundings which we owe to the
English naturalists, Sir Wyville Thomson, Carpenter, John
Murray, Moseley and others. While, twenty years ago, the
depths of the ocean were supposed to be devoid of life, and
an universally accepted dogma asserted that organic life
ceased at a depth of two thousand fathoms below the sur-
face of the sea, the brilliant researches of English voyagers
during the last ten years have proved the contrary. It has
been found that the bottom of the sea, as far down as it
could be investigated—to a depth of twenty-seven thousand
feet—is thickly peopled with animals of various orders; for
the most part with creatures hitherto unknown to science,
and displaying at different zones of depth a variation
corresponding to that of the Zones of vegetation at different
levels on mountain heights. -
All deep-sea soundings, however, and, particularly the
very remarkable and unprecedented researches of the
“Challenger expedition,” had been made in the Atlantic
Ocean and some Small areas of the Pacific; the immense
province of the Indian ocean, on the other hand, remained
EN ROUTE FOR INIDIA. *: 9
unexplored, or excepting at most a small tract at the very
south. An undreamed wealth of new and unknown deep-sea
creatures no doubt remained to be discovered by the happy
naturalist who should be the first to cast the improved
deep-sea net now in use in the unexplored depths of the
Indian ocean. It was, therefore, certainly excusable if a
wish to find these hidden treasures influenced my first
sketch of my journey. Why should not I be the first to
make the trial—perhaps to fail, like so many others—
still, at any rate to try 7 Deep-sea sounding is, to be
sure, a very expensive amusement, even when it is under-
taken in the simplest and least expensive manner possible,
as I should have done it. I could not, in any case, think of
making such an attempt out of my own modest private
resources. However, I might try to obtain means for such
a purpose from different institutions founded for the en-
couragement of scientific discovery. The most important
and influential institution of this kind in Germany is the
Academy of Sciences in Berlin, and many travellers have
received considerable assistance, partly out of its own ample
funds and partly out of the Humboldt endowment of which
it has the control. -
When, at Easter, 1881, I took the opportunity of a short
visit to Berlin to discuss my approaching journey to Ceylon
with my friends there, I was strongly urged by them to ap-
ply for the travelling allowance granted out of the Humboldt
fund, at that time unemployed; particularly as it had then
accumulated to a very considerable sum. I must confess
that it was with much reluctance that I consented to act on
my benevolent friends' suggestion. For, on One hand, I had
hitherto achieved all my scientific excursions, during more
10 - A VISIT TO CEYLON.
than five and twenty years, without any help of the kind,
and had learnt the art of carrying out the object of my
journey, even in very narrow circumstances, and with the
most moderate private means; and, on the other hand, the
most influential members of the Berlin Academy were, as
was well-known, the most vehement opponents of the doc-
trine of evolution, while I, for many years, had been deeply
interested in its advancement and development. It was
there that an attempt had been made to set a barrier to its
irresistible progress, of which the motto should have been
“Ignorabimur et restringamwr,” to which I had re-
torted, “I’mpavidi progrediamwr;” and I knew beforehand
that this challenge would never be forgiven. I was there-
fore not surprised when, a few months later, my Berlin
friends were informed that the Academy had simply refused
the application. -
This annihilated my hopes of deep-sea discovery in the
Indian ocean; it is still left to another and a more fortunate
man to raise its treasures of Zoology from “the vasty deep.”
I could only hope that the surface of the tropical seas
might yield so much that was new and interesting that the
short time granted me might not exhaust them; and, at
any rate, standing entirely on my own feet, that first of
blessings would be mine on which I had long since learnt to
set due value, perfect freedom and independence.
In contrast to these and other unpleasant experiences in
preparing for my journey, I am so happy as to be able to
express my most heartfelt thanks to the far more numerous
circle of those kind friends who, so soon as they heard of
my scheme, accorded me their warmest sympathy and did
all in their power to encourage and promote it. Foremost
EN ROUTE FOR INDIA. 11
of these I must name Charles Darwin and Dr. Paul Rotten-
burg, of Glasgow; Sir Wyville Thomson and John Murray,
of Edinburgh; Professor Eduard Suess, of Vienna; Baron
von Königsbrunn, of Gratz; Heinrich Krauseneck, and
Captain Radometz (of the Austrian Navy), of Trieste. I feel
no less bound to express my grateful acknowledgments to
the grand ducal administration of Weimar for its generous
encouragement of the objects of my journey, and especially
to his Royal Highness the Grand Duke Carl Alexander of
Saxe Weimar, Rector magnificentissimºws of the University of
Jena, and to the prince his son. By their kind offices I had
an introduction from the English Colonial Secretary to the
Governor of Ceylon; I was also abundantly supplied with
other recommendations. Finally, let me here offer the right
hand of friendship to my many good friends and colleagues at
Jena, who all in their several ways command my gratitude
for their assistance in my undertaking.
When, at last, all my preparations were completed, and
twelve of my cases, which had been forwarded some weeks
previously, were reported safe at Trieste, I left my quiet
home at Jena on the morning of October the 8th. The
parting was no trifle; I felt keenly what for many weeks
had been growing upon me with increasing anxiety—that
a separation for six months from wife and children, with
five thousand miles of land and sea to part us, was no
light matter for the father of a family at the age of eight
and forty. How differently could I have started, without
a shadow of care, in the vigour of youth twenty-five years
since, when such an expedition was the height of my hopes
and I would have dared everything to achieve it. Twenty
12 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
years of teaching had of course made me familiar with the
problems of my own department of Zoological research, and
being acquainted beforehand with the special questions on
which my journey was to throw light, I could no doubt
solve them better and in a shorter time now, when I had
cxperience to aid me, than a quarter of a century earlier;
thus I might look forward to fuller results. But was not
I myself by so many years older ? Had I not lost so much
of my elasticity of mind and vigour of body ? And would
the actual living wonders of the most luxuriant tropical
scene make as vivid impression on me now, when I had
so far mastered the more abstract generalizations of natural
science, as they undoubtedly would have made then Z Had
I not once more reached a stage—as I had often done before
—where my excited imagination had conjured up a magical
picture which, when I approached the sober reality, would
vanish into vacancy, like the Fata Morgana Ż
These and similar reflections, mingled with sadness at
parting from my family and home, floated across my mind
like dark clouds as I was carried along the Saale railway
ſrom Jena to Leipzig, early on the 8th October; and a cold,
dim, autumn fog hung round me, filling and shrouding the
pretty Saale valley. Only the highest points of our Muschel
halk hills stood out above the rolling Sea of mist—on the
right the lengthy slope of the Hausberg with its “redly
gleaming summit,” the proud pyramid of the Jenzig, and
the romantic ruins of Kunitzburg; on the left the wooded
heights of Rauthal, and farther on Goethe's favourite
retreat, delightful Dornburg. I registered a solemn promise
to my old and beloved mountain friends, that I would
return in spring, in good health and loaded with treasures
EN ROUTE FOR INDIA. 13
from India ; and they, in ratification, sent me back a morn-
ing greeting, for even as we swept past their feet, the haze
rolled away from their heads and sides before my eyes, and
the victorious sun mounted in golden radiance, while the
clouds cleared from the sky; a most exquisite autumn
morning Sun shone out in all its beauty, and the dewdrops
twinkled like beads on the delicately fringed cups of the
lovely dark blue gentians which abundantly gemmed the
grassy slopes on each side of our iron road.
I took advantage of a few hours' detention in Leipzig
to fill up Some deficiencies in my outfit, and to refresh myself
With gazing in the picture gallery at the masterpieces of
the landscape painters, Preller, Calame, Gudin, Saal and
others. In the afternoon I proceeded to Dresden, and from
thence, by the night express, reached Vienna in twelve
hours. After a short rest I set out again by the southern
line of railway for Gratz. It was a splendid autumn
Sunday, and the Alp-like scenery of Semmering smiled in
perfect beauty. Here, in the wooded gorges and on the
flowery downs of lovely Steiermark, I had botanized,
tWenty-four years before, with really passionate zeal; every
height of the Schneeberg and of the Rax-Alp was fresh in
my memory. The young M.D. had devoted himself far
more eagerly to the interesting flora of Vienna, than to
the learned clinical lectures of Oppolzer and Skoda, of
Hebra and Siegmund. When drying the prodigious
quantities of exquisite and minute Alpine plants which
I collected on the hills of Semmering, often had I dreamed
of the widely different and gigantic flora of India and
Brazil, which display the plasmic force of vegetable vitality
With such dissimilarity of form and size; and now, in a
14 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
few weeks, that dream would be realized in tangible
actuality
At Gratz, where I spent a day, I found capital accommo-
dation at the Elephant Hotel. The first imm where it was
my fate to put up on my way to India could have had no
more appropriate name; for, not only is the elephant one
of the most important and interesting of Indian beasts,
but it is the badge of the island of Ceylon. And I took
it as of good omen for my future acquaintance with the
real elephants which I hoped so soon to see, both tame and
wild, that the Elephant at Gratz should, meanwhile,
entertain me so hospitably and comfortably. I will take
this opportunity of introducing an incidental remark for
the use and benefit of such travellers as, like myself, look
rather for kind attention at an inn than for a crowd of
black-coated waiters. During my many years' wanderings,
having had occasion to pass the night in hotels and
inns of every degree, it has struck me that the character
of these public refuges may be, to a certain extent, guessed
at, merely from their name and sign. I divide them into
three classes: the Zoologico-botanical, the dubious, and the
dynastic. Now by far the best inns, on an average, are
those with Zoologico-botanical signs, such as the Golden
Lion, the Black Bear, White Horse, Red Bull, Silver Swan,
Blue Carp, Green Tree, Golden Vine, etc. You cannot
count so confidently on good and cheap entertainment in
such inns as I have designated as dubious, belonging
neither to the first class nor the third; they have a
great variety of names, often that of the owner himself,
and are too miscellaneous as to quality for any general
rules to be given for judging of them. On the other hand,
EN ROUTE FOR INDIA. 15
I have had, for the most part, the saddest experience—more
especially of the converse relation of bad entertainment
and high prices—of those hotels which I call dynastic;
such as the Czar of Russia, King of Spain, Elector of Hesse,
Prince Carl, and so on. Of course I do not pretend that
this classification is of universal application; but, on the
whole, I believe that all judicious and unpretentious
travellers, particularly the young, will find it justified,
especially artists, painters, and maturalists. And the Ele-
phant at Gratz was perfectly worthy of its place of honour
in the Zoological class. -
I had been tempted to spend a day in Gratz by the
friendly invitation of a distinguished landscape painter
residing there, Baron Hermann von Königsbrunn. He had
written to me some months since, saying that he had heard
of my proposed voyage to Ceylon, that he had passed eight
months there of great enjoyment, twenty-eight years before,
and had made a large collection of sketches and pictures,
more particularly studies of the vegetation, which might
perhaps prove interesting to me. This kind communication
was of course most welcome. I myself could have no better
preparation for sketching in Ceylon than looking through
the Gratz painter's portfolios. He had made a tour through
the palm forests and fern-clad gullies of the cinnamon isle,
in 1853, in the society of Captain von Friedan and Professor
Schmarda, of Vienna. The professor has given a full account
of his residence in the island in his “Voyage round the
World.” Unfortunately the numerous very admirable
drawings which Baron von Königsbrunn made on the Spot,
and which were intended to illustrate Schmarda's travels,
have never been published. This is the more to be regretted
16 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
because they are among the best and most highly finished
works of the kind that I have ever seen. Even Alexander
von Humboldt—certainly a competent judge—who laid
them before King Frederick William IV., spoke of them in
terms of the highest praise. Königsbrunn's studies in
Ceylon combine two qualities which almost seem incom-
patible, and which unfortunately are very rarely met with
together in works of this kind, though both are equally
necessary to give them the true stamp of perfect resem-
blance: On one hand, the greatest truth to nature in render-
ing with conscientious exactitude all the details of form; on
the other, a delightful artistic freedom in the treatment of
each part, and effective composition of the picture as a
whole. Many works by our most famous landscape painters,
which fulfil the second of these conditions, utterly fail in
the first. On the other hand, many studies of vegetation, as
represented by practised botanists, are painfully devoid of
the artist's independent feeling for beauty. But one is just
as necessary as the other—the botanist's analytical and
objective eye, the artist's synthetical and subjective mind.
If a landscape is to be a real work of art it must, like a
portrait, combine perfect truth and nature in the details
with a broad grasp of the character of the model as a whole;
and this is conspicuous in the highest degree in Königs-
brunn's pictures of Ceylon. In these respects they quite
come up to the mark of Kittlitz's famous work, “The Aspects
of Vegetation,” which Alexander von Humboldt declared
to be, in his day, an unapproachable model beside which
few could hold their own. I may, perhaps, venture in
this place to express my best thanks to an artist who is as
amiable and modest as he is original and gifted, and at the
EN ROUTE FOR INIDIA. 17
same time a hope that his noble works may ere long find
their way out of the peaceful obscurity of his studio and
meet with public notice and the recognition they deserve.
After taking an affectionate leave of many old and new
friends in Gratz, I set out southwards again on October
11th for Trieste direct. An elderly man took his seat
opposite to me in the carriage, whom I recognized as an
Englishman at the first glance, and who, in the course of
half an hour's conversation, introduced himself as a person-
age of the greatest interest to me—Surgeon-General Dr. J.
Macbeth. He had served for thirty-three years as surgeon
to the English forces in India, had taken his share of toil in
several wars and in all parts of India, from Afghanistan to
Malacca, and from the Himalayas to Ceylon. His wide
experience of the country and people, as well as his observ-
ations as a medical man and a naturalist, were to me of
course highly interesting and instructive, and I almost
regretted that, at ten o'clock that evening, our arrival at
Trieste put an end to our conversation.
The three days in Trieste before the Lloyd's steamer was
to sail, were for the most part taken up in anxieties concern-
ing my outfit and luggage, which I had deferred till the last.
I stayed at the house of my dear and honoured friend,
Heinrich Krauseneck (a nephew of my father's old friend
and comrade, the Prussian general, famous in the war for
liberty). The warm and friendly reception which I had
already found here on many former occasions was now
especially comforting to me, and greatly softened the pain
of quitting Europe. Other kind friends also met me with
their wonted heartiness, and once more I bid farewell to
the great Austrian port and emporium with a feeling of
- C
| 3 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
leaving a portion of my German home behind me. And th:
hours flew by so quickly that I could not even pay a visit
to the poetic site of Miramar, that matchless castle by the
Sea, whose beauty and situation seem to point it out as the
most fitting scene for an act in the tragedy of the Emperor
Maximilian of Mexico. What a subject for Some dramatist
of the future -
Nor was there time even for an excursion to the neigh-
bouring bay of Muggia. This lovely bay, teeming with
marine life, is rendered famous to naturalists by Johannes
Müller's discovery of the singular univalve Emtoconcha mira-
bilis, which lives inside the Holothuria. On former visits
to Trieste I had often dredged there, and almost always with
success; but now the prospect of Indian fishing threw the
Mediterranean into the background. Besides, my ponderous
baggage absorbed all my attention. By the day before the
start all the cases were safe on board the ship, and all my
preparations were complete. With regard both to the
packing and transport of all this luggage, as well as in all
that regarded my personal accommodation and comfort as
a passenger, I met with the kindest attention and most
efficient aid from the directors of the Austrian Lloyd's Com-
pany, particularly with reference to the Scientific aim and
object of my journey. That liberal and intelligent body
having already afforded special assistance and facilities to
other scientific voyagers, I hoped for Some such help in my
own expedition. This I received to the very fullest extent,
and I am doing no more than my duty in recording here
any heartiest and sincerest gratitude to the chairman of the
company, Baron Marco di Morpurgo, as well as to the
board of directors, and among them particularly my distin-
* EN ROUTE FOR INDIA. 19
guished friend, Captain Radonetz, of the Austrian navy.
Not only was I provided with a special and most effective
letter of recommendation to each and all of the company's
agents and officers, not only was one of the best first-class
cabins on board the ship I sailed in devoted to my exclusive
use, but a considerable reduction in expense was allowed
me and every possible comfort ensured.
And now on board at last ! on the fine, safe steamship
which is to carry me in four weeks to the shores of India.
I had my choice of two first-class vessels belonging to the
company, both starting on October 15th from Trieste for
India vić the Suez canal. The first, the Helios, touches
only at Aden and proceeds direct to Bombay; there it
remains for eight days and then goes on to Ceylon, Singa-
pore and Hong Kong. The second steamer, the Polluce, on
its way from Suez down the Red Sea, touches at Djedda, the
port for Mecca, and then proceeds from Aden to Ceylon and
on to Calcutta. I selected the Helios, as this would give me
an opportunity of seeing Bombay and a part of the Indian
peninsula, which I otherwise could scarcely have accom-
plished. Moreover, the Helios was the finer, swifter, and
larger vessel, quite new, and of a most inviting appearance.
Finally, the name of the ship attracted me strangely, for
could the good ship which was to transport me within
the short space of one month, as if it were Faust's magical
cloak, from the grey and foggy shore of my northern home,
to the sunlit and radiant palm-groves of India, have a name
of better omen than that of the ever-youthful Sun-god
Was it not my very purpose to see what the all-powerful
and procreating Sun could call into life in the teeming earth
and seas of the tropics 2 Nomen. Sit Omen / And, after all,
20 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
why should not I cherish my scrap of superstition like any
other man 2 Moreover, I could surely count on the good
graces of the Helios, since I had already called a whole class
of humble phosphorescent Protozoa. Heliozoa-creatures of
the Sun—and only a few weeks previously, when completing
my new system of classification of the Radiolaria, had named
a number of new genera of these elegant atoms in honour of
Helios: Heliophacus, Heliosestrum, Heliostylus, Heliodry-
mus, etc. So, I beseech thee, adored Sun-god, that this my
Zoological tribute may find favour in thine eyes | Guide me,
safe and sound, to India, that I may labour in thy light, and
return home under thy protection in the spring !
The Austrian Lloyd's steamship Helios is one of their
largest and finest vessels, and as that floating hotel was for
a whole month my most comfortable, clean and hospitable
home, I must here give some account of her build anºl
accommodation. She is long, narrow and three-masted;
her length being 300 feet (English), her breadth 35 feet,
and her depth, from deck to keel, 26 feet. Above this a
saloon is built, nine feet high. She registers 2380 tons; the
engines are of 1200 horse-power (400 nominal). The forc-
part contains the second cabins with a saloon ; and Over it,
the stalls for our floating cattle farm, including a few cows
and Galves, a flock of fine Hungarian sheep with long
twisted horns, and a large number of fowls and ducks.
The middle portion of the vessel is occupied by the mighty
engines, which work not only the screw, but the rudder,
the various cranes, and the machinery for the electric light;
the apparatus for distilling drinking water is also con-
nected with them, and behind is a large hold for storing the
passengers' luggage. The after-part of the ship is princi-
EN ROUTE FOR INDIA. - 21
pally occupied by the best cabins, which have two spacious
and airy saloons, one above and one below the deck; an
open gallery runs round the upper saloon, and the cabins
open into the lower one. Half a dozen sleeping cabins,
more roomy and pleasant than the others, adjoin the upper
saloon, and one of these was assigned to me. All the cabins
are well furnished, have good-sized windows and electric
bells. Behind the upper saloon there is a Smoking-room;
there are baths and other conveniences, which are absolutely
indispensable to the luxury-loving travellers of the present
day, more particularly a large ice-room at the bottom of
the hold. The kitchen and apothecary's stores, and most
of the officers' cabins, are in the middle. Comfortable
divans, fitted with leather cushions, run round the upper
saloon, with two rows of wide tables, where some of the
passengers are engaged in eating, playing games, writing,
painting, and other occupations. In fine weather they sit
for the most part on the upper deck or roof of the saloon,
which is shaded from the fiery shafts of the Helios of the
tropics by a double canvas awning, and by curtains at
the sides. Here they can walk up and down, or lean over
the railing and gaze into the blue sea, or lie at full length
in the long Chinese cane chairs, and dream as they stare at
the sky. -
On the very first day of the passage, with a somewhat
rough sea, we discovered that the vessel rode the waves in
capital style, and particularly that she hardly rolled at all.
The perfect cleanliness on board was a pleasure in itself,
and the absence of that horrible smell, compounded of the
Odours of the kitchen, the engine-room, and the cabins,
which is a prevailing characteristic of the older vessels, and
22 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
contributes far more to produce sea-sickness than the rolling
or pitching of the ship; and in fact I, as well as most of
the other passengers, escaped sea-sickness throughout the
voyage. The weather was uninterruptedly fine, and the sea
calm. Of all the many voyages I have ever made, this
which was the longest, was also the pleasantest. Excellent
company contributed in no small degree to make it agree-
able, and the friendliness of the amiable and cultivated officers
of the ship. I have the pleasure of expressing my warmest
thanks to them all, and particularly to Captain Lazzarich
and Dr. Jovanovich, the ship's surgeon, for their obliging
kindſness during the whole passage. The service and enter-
tainment also left nothing to be desired, as I have usually
found to be the case on board the Austrian Lloyd's steam-
ships. -
The regular service by steam between Europe and India
is carried on by four different companies. First, the Austrian
Lloyd's ships from Trieste; secondly, the Italian Rubattino
Company from Genoa to Naples; thirdly, the French Mes-
sageries Maritimes of Marseilles; and fourthly, the English
Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, which
carries the weekly overland mails from England, vić Brin-
disi and Suez. It is also used by most of the English, and
by all to whom the highest possible speed is a matter of
importance. The regular mail steamships of the P. and O.
make from eleven to twelve nautical miles an hour, while
the other companies make at the most from eight to ten;
the Helios averaged nine. This considerable difference in
speed is simply a question of money. The additional cost
of high speed is out of all direct proportion. A steamship
which makes twelve instead of eight miles an hour— one-
EN ROUTE FOR INDIA. 23
third more—consumes, not one-third more coals, but three
times as many; not twelve loads of coals instead of eight,
but twenty-four. This enormous disproportion is covered
in the case of the P. and O. by a special subsidy from the
English Government, since it is, of course, of the first im-
portance that the weekly mails between England and India
should be conveyed with the greatest possible dispatch.
Other companies, who have not this compensation, cannot
compete with the P. and O. But then a first-class through
ticket from Brindisi to Bombay costs £66, and by the
Austrian Lloyd's £44–-a difference of one-third, making a
difference in the double journey of £44; and for that sum
a pleasant little tour may be accomplished in Switzerland
next autumn, after the return home. -
Greater speed is, however, the only advantage offered by
the English company. The service and comfort are con-
spicuously inferior to those on the vessels of the other three,
and the officers and men—from the captain and the first-
lieutenant to the steward and cabin servants—are not, as a
rule, distinguished by their polite and obliging conduct.
Besides this, these ships are usually crowded, and the
passengers' servants are chiefly native “boys,” who are
officious rather than helpful. This is an inconvenience also
met with on board the French Messagerie vessels, which, in
other respects, are admirable. The Italian Rubattino vessels,
on the other hand, leave much to be desired as to comfort
and cleanliness in the cabins. I give these remarks for the
benefit of other travellers to India, from information derived
from several passengers whom I asked, both on this and on
former journeys, and whose reports agreed, though much
more than half of my authorities were themselves English.
24 A VISIT TO CEYLON
Thus the Austrian Lloyd's ships are the most to be recom-
mended, and next to these the Rubattino line, or the Messa-
geries Maritimes; the P. and O. standing lowest on the
list.
The party who had assembled on board the Helios by
noon on October 15th–and who were all going to disembark
at Bombay, with the exception of a Hungarian count who
was bound for Singapore, and myself—-consisted chiefly of
English, some being officers and civil servants, and others
merchants. The smaller half were Germans and Austrians,
some of them merchants and some missionaries. The fair
sex was but feebly represented by one German and five
English women. Our amiable countrywoman contributed
materially to the pleasures of conversation, and her
singing in the evenings to the piano delighted the whole
company. She had been spending the summer with her
children at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, and was now returning
for the winter to her husband at Bombay—a half-yearly
alternation of her affection as a mother and as a wife,
which, unfortunately, is a duty with most English and
German women in India, who watch over the growth and
education of their children. Most families of the educated
class are forced to send their children to England or Ger-
many after the first few years of their life, not merely on
account of the unfavourable effects of a tropical climate
on the delicate constitutions of European children born in
India, but, even more, to avoid the evil moral influence
incurred at every moment through intercourse with the
natives, and to gain the benefit of a well-directed education.
Besides my charming fellow-countrywoman, there were
English ladies on board who, like her travelled regularly
EN ROUTE FOR INDIA. 25
between Europe and Bombay, passing the summer with
their children and the winter with their husbands. But,
quite irrespective of the two months spent in travelling,
this must be a very uncomfortable mode of family life, and
it is very natural that a European merchant should strive
above everything to shorten his residence in India as much
as possible, and gain as quickly as may be such a fortune as
will enable him to return to his northern home. A passion
for that home is to almost all of them the guiding star of
their indefatigable activity, however much they may become
spoilt in some respects by the ease and luxury of a residence
in India.
As is always the case on long sea voyages, the passengers
were fairly acquainted within a day or two, and segregated
into groups who settled into closer intimacy. The German
and English missionaries, and with them an American, Mr.
Rowe, who has written a capital book called “Everyday
Life in India,” formed a party by themselves; a second
consisted of the English officers, civilians and merchants; a
third of the German and Austrian passengers, who were
joined by the captain and doctor and myself. The weather
was almost always serene, the sky bright and cloudless, the
Sea calm or but slightly ruffled, and our good ship reached
its stopping places punctually to its time. Sea-sickness
claimed but few victims, and those only for a short while; but
then, on the other hand, the very monotony of a perfectly
calm passage increased for most of the passengers the inevit-
able tedium. Every occupation usually taken up as a
remedy had lost its effect by the end of the first week :
reading and writing, chess and cards, piano and singing; and
the five meals which, on board Indian steamships, divide
26 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
the day into five periods, gained in importance every day.
Unfortunately the limited capacity of a poor German pro-
fessor's stomach is in my case aggravated by a weak con-
stitution. Although I am rarely sea-sick, and then only in
very rough weather when the motion of the ship is con-
siderable, I always lose my appetite on a long sea voyage,
while most other passengers find theirs increase in direct
proportion to their days on board. However, I could with
the greater ease constitute myself an impartial observer of
the colossal capacities of others, and of the incredible pitch
which what physiologists style hypertrophy can reach at
sea; the absorption, that is to say, of Superfluous quantities
of food and drink absolutely unnecessary for the mainten-
ance of a healthy frame. I had long wondered with silent
envy at the amazing powers in this respect of our more
fortunate cousins on the other side of the English channel,
on land as well as at Sea, far transcending those of most
Germans; but what I saw an English major accomplish
on board the Helios surpassed everything I ever saw before.
Not only did this worthy gentleman consume a double
allowance at each of the five regular meals, and wash it
down with a few bottles of Wine and beer, but he contrived
to fill up the short intervals between them, in a most in-
genious manner, with snacks and biscuits and a variety of
drinks. This gastronomical marvel appeared to me to have
reached the extreme limits of Such development as consists
in the uninterrupted activity of the Organs of digestion;
and I am inclined to believe that this activity was kept up
throughout the night, for quite early in the morning I have
seen him reeling, totally incapable, out of his cabin-door.
Tndeed, 1 repeatedly heard it asserted that most of those
EN ROUTE FOR INDIA. 27
English who sicken and die in India incur their fate
through such intempeiance.
The five grand meals on board the Indian steamships
constitute a far too important—indeed, to many of the
passengers, the most important—incident of daily life for
me to feel it less than a duty to acquaint the curious reader
with their composition according to contract. In the
morning, at eight, coffee and bread are served; at ten, a
serious breakfast with eggs dressed in two ways, two kinds
of hot meat, curry and rice, vegetables and fruit; at one, the
Indian tiffin—a meal of cold meat, with bread, butter,
potatoes and tea; at about five, dinner, consisting of Soups
three varieties of meat, with concomitants, puddings, and
dessert of fruit and coffee; finally, at eight, tea again, with
bread and butter, etc. I limited my own gastronomical
efforts to the first, third, and fourth of these tasks, and
could never fully perform even those. Most of the
passengers, however, never missed one of these entertain-
ments, and after each would go to the upper deck and there
promenade for half an hour, or throw themselves into a
cane chaise-longwé and, while they stretched their limbs,
contemplate surrounding nature—the clouds in the sky or
the blue waves. A most welcome excitement is occasioned
under such circumstances by the sight of some creature
breaking the monotonous level of the waters; schools of
dolphins, which tumble round the ship in graceful sport,
raising their backs high above the water; sea mews and
petrels, soaring in wide circles and dipping suddenly for a
fish ; flying-fish, skimming the Smooth surface in shoals, and
fluttering like ducks for a longer or shorter space on the
glassy water. I myself was delighted above all to recognize
28 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
my old favourites, the fragile Medusae, whose floating
swarms I never failed to find in the Indian seas, as well as
in the Mediterranean. I only lamented, as I had so often
done before, that the rapid course held by the ship pre-
vented my bringing the lovely sea-nettles on board in a
bucket. I met with two large Medusae (Rhizostomae), which
are extremely numerous in the Mediterranean—the blue
Pilema pulmo, and the golden-brown Cotylorhiza, twber-
culata ; in the Indian seas, on the other hand, two fine
Semostomae were particularly abundant, a rose-coloured
Awrelia and a dark-red Pelagia.
Our twenty-four days’ passage from Trieste to Bombay
Was, under these favourable conditions, so normal and un-
eventful that there is little to be said of it on the whole.
The Helios weighed anchor at four in the afternoon of
October 15th, and, bidding an affectionate farewell to our
Trieste friends, we steamed out in a most beautiful autumn
evening and away down the blue Adriatic. On former
voyages on this sea. I had for most of the time had a view
of the picturesque coasts of Istria and Dalmatia, and the
rosemary-scented isles of Lissa and Lesina, where, in 1871
I had spent a delicious month in the romantic Franciscan
convent with the worthy Padre Buona Grazia. But on this
occasion the Helios took a more westerly course at Once,
towards the middle of the gulf, since we were to put in to
Brindisi to take up some more passengers. Over the
heights of Canossa hung a black cloud; the shadow, per-
haps—but politics are out of place here.
By the morning of the 17th we reached Brindisi and lay
there till noon. I spent two or three hours on shore, visited
the few insignificant traces of ancient Brindusium and
EN ROUTE FOR INDIA. 29
wandered along the ramparts to the railway station. This
is no more worthy of the importance of the place than the
modern town itself which, since the opening of the Suez
Canal, has risen to be the focus of the world's commerce
with the East. Immediately after the arrival of the mail
train at Brindisi, the overland post-bags are transferred on
board the mail-ships, and even the passengers, whether
going to or returning from India, appear to feel no desire to
stop in Brindisi, even for a short rest. At any rate, the
only hotel is generally empty and deserted. It was quite
characteristic of the place that silence as of the grave
reigned in the station, and that excepting the telegraph clerk
and one porter, not a soul was to be seen at ten o'clock
on a Monday morning. The flat coast near Brindisi, with
its market gardens and cane plantations, and here and there
a few scattered date-palms, offers little of interest. An
ancient convent to the south of the town, with a tall, slender
tower and a fine cupola, is the only subject for the sketch-
book, forming a pretty picture, surrounded as it is with a
garden run wild and a foreground of opuntias and agaves.
An English general with his family and servants, whom
we were to have taken up, failed to appear, their luggage
having been left behind by the railway officials; so we
steamed away again without them, the same afternoon. On
the following morning, in the same calm and sunny weather,
we passed the Ionian Islands. I was glad to send a greeting
to stately Cephalonia with its forest-crowned head, the
proud Monte Nero. I had spent a never-to-be-forgotten
day in April, 1877, under the guidance of the kindest of
hosts, the German Consul Tool, of Argostoli—on its snowy
summit, lulled by the rustling branches of the spreading
30 . A VISIT TO CEYLON.
Pinus C. phalomica, while we encamped among the huge
trunks of this noble fir, which is found on this island and
nowhere else. Farther on we sighted Zante, “Fior di
Levante,” and steamed so close to its picturesque southern
shores that we could plainly see the long row of vaulted
caves and chines in the riven red marble cliffs of its rocky
coast. In the afternoon the highlands of Arcadia were
visible to the left, and to the right the solitary island of
Stamphania; late in the evening we passed Navarino,
famous for its battle. No less lovely and picturesque were
the views we had of the fine island of Candia, along whose
deeply indented southern coast we were steaming almost the
whole day of October 19th, still under the most beautiful
lights. Thin white clouds, chased by a fresh breeze, swept
across the deep blue sky, and threw fleeting shadows over
the huge rocky mass of the noble island. The snow-crowned
peak of Ida, the many-fabled throne of the gods, looked
down on us, sometimes veiled in clouds and sometimes clear
of them. After passing the two Gaudo Islands the same
evening, on the following day there was only sea in sight.
The proximity of the African coast made itself felt by a
considerable increase of warmth, and we exchanged the
warm clothing we had hitherto worn for light summer
garments.
When we came on deck on the morning of the 21st,
nothing was as yet to be seen of the Egyptian coast; but
the Mediterranean had already lost its incomparably pure
deep-blue colour, and was faintly tinged with green. The
farther we advanced the stronger did this green hue appear;
by midday it passed into a dirty yellow-green, the effect of
the muddy waters of the Nile. At the same time we came
EN ROUTE FOR INDIA 31
among a crowd of little sails belonging for the most part to
Arab fishing-boats. A large sea turtle, Chelomia Caowana,
swam in front of our vessel, while numerous land birds flew
on board. At noon we saw the lighthouse of Damietta; at
four o’clock the Arab pilot came out to us in a small steam
launch, and an hour later we were at anchor at Port Said,
the northern station of the Suez Canal. As the Helios was
to take in coals and provisions to last till Bombay was
reached, it lay here a whole day. I went on shore in the
evening with some of the passengers, and amused myself
with watching the gay outdoor life of an Egyptian town.
I met in a café with the doctor and some of the passengers
of the Pollwce (Austrian Lloyd's), which was to proceed to
Ceylon and Calcutta direct, and which had arrived here at
the same time as ourselves. r
On the following morning, the 22nd, I climbed to the
top of the lighthouse of Port Said. It is one of the highest
in the world—160 feet high—and its electric light is visible
at a distance of twenty-one nautical miles. Its strong walls
are built of blocks of the same concrete as the mole of the
harbour—immense cubes of artificial stone, composed of
Seven parts of desert Sand and one part of French hydraulic
lime. The view from the top did not in any respect answer
my expectations, for, beyond Port Said itself and its imme-
diate neighbourhood of flat sand, nothing is to be seen but
water on every side. I next visited the magnificent artificial
harbours which have been constructed at enormous cost
and pains to secure the northern entrance of the Suez Canal.
Not only was it necessary to dredge out the harbour basin
itself to a great depth, but two colossal dams of stone run
parallel far out into the sea, to defy the two arch-foes of the
32 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
hardly-won possession: the muddy sediment which is
carried eastward from the mouths of the Nile by the strong
current from the west, and the clouds of sand which are
blown into the sea by the prevailing north-west winds.
The western mole is, therefore, about three thousand metres
(more than a mile and three-quarters) long, and much more
strongly constructed than the eastern, which is of about
half the length. Above thirty thousand blocks of concrete
were used in making it, each measuring ten cubic metres
(or thirteen cubic yards), and weighing twenty thousand
kilogrammes (between nineteen and twenty tons). -
From the harbour I walked to the Arab quarter of the
town, which is divided from the European settlement at Port
Said by a broad strip of desert; but both alike consist of
parallel streets, regularly crossed by others at right angles.
The motley and picturesque bustle of the dirty Arab quarter
offers the same variety of quaint and original pictures as
every other small Egyptian town, such as the suburbs of
Alexandria and Cairo. The European quarter consists
chiefly of rows of shops; the whole population is about
ten thousand. The hopes formed at the first building of
the town, that it might blossom into magnificence, have not
been altogether realized; the splendid and palatial Hôtel
des Pays Bas, opened in 1876, is already neglected and
unfrequented.
So much has already been said and written about the
Suez Canal, the modern wonder of the world, that I will
devote no space to repeating well-known facts, but limit
myself to a few remarks on its present condition. When I
was in Suez in 1873, three years after the passage had been
opened, pessimist views as to its success were in the
FN ROUTE FOR INDIA. 33
ascendant; it was believed that the cost and difficulty of
keeping it open must always be greater than the probable
revenue. Eight years have entirely reversed this; not only
has the solvency of this great work been amply proved, but
its income has reached an unexpected figure, and continues
to increase steadily. The English Government, when, in
1875, to the great consternation of the French, it acquired
the larger portion of the shares, did a great stroke of
business, not merely from a political, but from a financial
point of view. The maintenance of the Canal, however,
particularly as regards the dredging which is perpetually
necessary, is at all times very costly ; but the increase of
revenue is so steady and so large that it may be expected in
a short time to yield a considerable surplus. One great
obstacle to rapidity of transit lies in the fact that for most
of its length the breadth of the Canal allows of only one large
vessel navigating it, and that drawing not more than
twenty-four to twenty-five feet of water. At intervals,
however, deep bays have been constructed, where ships
meeting each other find room to pass, and here one vessel
has frequently to lie several hours till the other has gone by.
It is probable that in the course of the next century the
Canal will either be dug out to more than twice its present
width, or even be divided into two, so that two trains of
ships, one proceeding northward and the other southward,
may constantly pass without delay or interruption.
The whole length of the Canal is 160 kilomètres, about
99 English miles; the width at the surface is from 265 to
360 feet, but at the bottom of the trench it is no more than
72 feet. The passage generally occupies from sixteen to
twenty hours, but it is prolonged when several ships have to
|)
34 - A VISIT TO CEYLON.
be allowed to pass at the different stations, or when a ship,
as not unfrequently happens, sticks in the mud. We our-
selves lost a whole day not far from Suez, because an English
steamer had run aground and could not float again until
she had partly unloaded. Every vessel that passes through
the Canal is guided by a pilot, whose chief duty it is to see
that the speed at no time exceeds five miles an hour, as
otherwise the heavy wash would seriously damage the
banks. As a rule, ships navigate the Canal by daylight
only, or, under a full moon, during part of the night. The
Helios had to pay about two thousand francs in tolls (£80);
ten francs per ton, and twelve francs per head for passengers.
We got through the greater part of the Suez Canal in
the course of the 23rd. Morning rose over Lake Menzaleh
refreshingly cool and bright, and the sandbanks in the lake
were crowded with pelicans, flamingoes, herons, and other
water-birds. Beyond Lake Ballah we got into the nar-
rowest part of the Canal, which is cut through El Gisr, or
“the threshold.” This is the highest ridge of the Isthmus
of Suez, lying at an average height of fifty feet above the
level of the sea. The high sand dykes on each side of the
Canal are here densely covered in spots with grey-green
tamarisk shrubs. Numbers of naked Arab children made
their appearance, begging for bakhshish, and some of the
boys played the flute and danced with a good deal of grace.
About noon we passed the deserted town of Ismailia, founded
by Lesseps, and in the evening cast anchor in the large
Bitter Lake. - -
After dark the chief engineer of the Helios made some
experiments with the electric light, which were a brilliant
success. In obedience to his kind bidding, I inspected his
EN RouTE FOR INDIA. - 35
newly constructed apparatus in the lower engine-room ; its
motor was worked by the steam engine that also worked
the screw. I here met with a slight accident, which
might have had very serious consequences. While the
details of the apparatus were being explained to me, in
taking a step nearer to see it better, my right foot slipped
on the smooth floor, and at the same moment my left leg,
which was lifted to move, was struck just below the knee
by the motor of the electric apparatus, making 1200 revo-
lutions in a minute. I fell, and was afraid the bone must
be broken; however, I happily had only received a severe
contusion. But if I had fallen in the other direction, the
machine must inevitably have pounded me to atoms. I
immediately applied compresses with ice, and continued to
do so for two days, which to a great extent averted any
Serious consequences; still, the limb remained much swollen
for fully a fortnight, and I did not recover the use of it till
shortly before we reached Bombay. Of all the imaginable
perils of a voyage in the tropics such an accident as this
was the last I should have thought of, and it was all the
more vexatious, because it occurred just as we were entering
the Red Sea, and compelled me to lie below in my cabin for
Several days.
The Red Sea is dreaded by all Indian voyagers as the
hottest and most unpleasant part of the passage; and
although we were already at the coolest season of the year,
we had ample reason to be convinced of the justice of this
opinion. The northern third of the Red Sea, or Arabian
Gulf, lies, it is true, outside the tropic, but for all this it
must be regarded throughout its whole length as a truly
tropical sea. Its character is invariable from Suez to Perim,
36 - A VISIT TO CEYLON.
from 30° to 18° N. lat. ; its flora and fauna are almost the
Same, and its physical peculiarities identical throughout.
The difference between the two extremes of the gulf, which
is three hundred miles from north to south, is far less con-
spicuous in every particular than that between the Red Sea
at Suez and the Mediterranean at Port Said, although they
are divided only by the narrow bridge of the isthmus. But
this narrow bridge which joins Asia to Africa has existed
for inillions of years, and, as a consequence, the animal and
plant life in the two neighbouring seas have developed quite
independently of each other. Those of the Mediterranean
have affinities with the creatures of the Atlantic; those of
the Red Sea, on the other hand, belong to the Indian Ocean.*
Both the shores of the Red Sea, both the Eastern or
Arabian coast and the western or Egyptian, are for by far
the greater part bare of all vegetation, and everywhere
desolate, parched, and barren, nor does any large river shed
its waters into the gulf. Beyond the coast on each side lie
long stretches of mountains, which likewise are among the
wildest and most desolate on the face of the earth; and
between these high, sun-baked parallel ranges lies the
narrow Arabian Gulf, like a ditch shut in between high
walls, so that the intense heat which is radiated from the
waterless sand-hills and cliffs gives rise to no vegetable
products. In the hot summer months the thermometer in
the shade at noon rises to about 50° centigrade, and the
officers of the Helios, who had made the voyage at that
season, assured me that this infernal heat had seemed so per-
fectly unendurable that they had feared it might affect their
reason. Even now, at the end of October, it was bad enough.
* See “Corals of the Red Sea,” 1876, pp. 26, 41.
IEN 3
ROUTE FOR INDIA. 37
For the greater part of the day the thermometer on deck
stood at 28° to 31° under the double awning, rising once to
40°, and in the airy (?) cabins it marked 30° to 35° night
and day. At the same time the hot breeze itself was oppres-
sively sultry, and every attempt to find refreshment was
vain. To have such a draught, at any rate, as was possible,
every window and port-hole was open day and night; air
was conveyed from the deck to the lower part of the ship
by means of chimney-like ventilators, and, finally, the
Indian punkah in the saloons was kept in constant motion.
This was very effectually contrived on board our ship by two
rows of fan-shaped frames stretched with stuff, which swung
on horizontal poles that ran along the whole length of the
saloon and were moved by the engine. The air given by
these huge fans, and an enormous consumption of iced water,
considerably mitigated our sufferings from the tremendous
heat.
Our vessel was detained for a day shortly before we
reached Suez by a steamship having run aground, so it was
not till noon on the 25th that we were lying in the Suez
roads, and we remained but a few hours. By next morning
we found ourselves opposite Tur, an interesting Arab town
lying at the foot of Mount Sinai. In March, 1873, I had
derived infinite enjoyment from an examination of the fine
coral reef hard by. I had then been on board an Egyptian
man-of-war, generously placed at my disposal for this de-
lightful trip by the Khedive, Ismail Pasha, and I was so
enchanted by the glories and wonders of this submarine
coral-garden that my old longing to see the not remote
splendours of India had come over me with aggravated
force—“Ah l if only I could see the marvellous shores of
38 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
Ceylon, surrounded with corals | " And now, eight years
afterwards, here I was on my way thither
In the bright gleam of dawn I saw the picturesque peaks
of the Sinaitic peninsula glide by, which I had before seen
in the purple glow of the evening Sun. Of the six days of
misery in the Red Sea which now ensued there is little to
be said. Our vessel kept steadily to the middle channel,
so we saw very little of either coast. At seven in the even-
ing of the 27th we crossed the tropic of Cancer, and I
breathed for the first time the glowing atmosphere of
tropical nature. While the starry sky bent over us in un-
clouded brilliancy, a heavy black storm-cloud hung over the
Arabian coast to the eastward, parted every instant and
alumost incessantly by vivid flashes or broad pale sheets of
lightning. No thunder was heard nor did any refreshing
rain pass over us. The same spectacle was repeated every
evening over the eastern horizon, while to the west it was
perfectly clear, and day after day only light fleecy clouds
ever floated across the deep blue sky. During the first three
nights in the tropics the thermometer never fell below 32°
centigrade in the saloons or cabins, while all stood open.
I and most of the other gentlemen slept on deck, where the
temperature was at least four degrees lower and we also
had a breath of air. We passed the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb
in the night of October 30th, and the island of Perim, for-
tified by the English—the Gibraltar of the Red Sea. By
ten in the morning of the 31st we had cast anchor in the
Gulf of Aden.
Aden, as everybody knows, is built on a rocky peninsula,
connected with the mainland of Arabia by a narrow isthmus,
just like Gibraltar. It was taken and fortified by the
RN ROUTE FOR INIDIA. 39
English so long ago as 1839, and of late years this great
emporium on the route to India has grown to immense im-
portance, particularly since the opening of the Canal. The
population already numbers more than thirty thousand. Most
ships stop here to take in coal and victuals; we were already
provided at Port Said, for we did not know whether com-
munication with Aden was considered safe, an epidemic of
cholera having broken out there about two months since.
We were told, however, that all danger was now over. No
sooner had we arrived than the Helios was surrounded by
Arab boats, whose dark-brown passengers clambered on
board to offer the produce of the country for sale—ostrich
feathers and eggs, lion and leopard skins, antelope horns,
huge saws from the sawfish, prettily woven baskets, bowls,
and so forth. But the sellers were far more interesting
than their merchandise : some of them genuine Arabs, some
negroes, some Somalis and Abyssinians. Most were dark
brown in colour, verging in some on copper-colour or
bronze, and in others nearly black. Their black curly hair
Was in many cases stained red with henna, or white-
washed with chalk. The garments of most consisted merely
of a white cloth round the loins. Most amusing, too, were
the swarms of little brownish-black boys from eight to
twelve years old, who came out singly or in pairs in little
canoes formed of a tree-trunk burnt hollow, and displayed
their diving powers. We threw small silver coins over-
board, which they dived for and caught with amazing skill,
and struggled under water for them with the greatest
energy.
As we did not land we saw but little of the town and
fortifications. The barren volcanic rock on which the
4() A VISIT TO CEYLON.
houses are scattered seemed to be deeply riven, and in some
places highly picturesque; the prevailing colour of the bare
lava is dark brown. No form of vegetation clothes its
stark and naked sides to qualify the heat of the tropical
sun, though here and there isolated and meagre plantations
were to be seen. A residence in this scorching rock-settle-
ment during the summer is the purgatory of the English
garrison, and it is not without reason that the officers call
it the “Devil's Punch-bowl.” The aspect of the naked lava
cliffs reminded me forcibly of Lancerote in the Canary
Islands. -
After a stay of six hours the Helios quitted inhospitable
Aden to proceed on her way to Bombay. The eight days'
passage across the Indian Ocean again offered no incident
worthy of record. We all rejoiced in the exquisite autumn
weather; the refreshing north-west monsoon told upon us
more and more every day. We perceived its influence
with keen satisfaction as soon as we were out of the Red
Sea. Although, even now, the thermometer never fell
below 25° centigrade, and generally stood at 28° at noon,
the fresh breeze felt like a different atmosphere, and, above
all, the nights were no longer Sultry, as in the Red Sea, but
deliciously cool. The sea was in constant motion under
the fresh breath of the monsoon ; its colour was a delicate
blue-green, or sometimes a greenish lapis-lazuli, but never
the pure deep blue of the Mediterranean : in the Red Sea
the blue had verged on violet. The sky was sometimes
quite clear, sometimes dappled with light clouds. At noon
numerous masses of clouds invariably gathered and packed,
towering above each other, and riding from the north-east
towards the south-west. The Indian Sunset afforded the
EN ROUTE FOR INDIA. 41
most gorgeous effects of light, an ever new and ever splen-
did spectacle, vanishing only too quickly before Our eyes.
For hours together I could stand forward by the bowsprit
and watch the shoals of flying fish which constantly
fluttered up close to the ship and shot across just above
the water, like swallows.
Still, nothing could prove so strongly attractive as my
beloved Medusae, which appeared in the mornings between
nine and twelve, at first singly and then in swarms: blue
Rhizostoma, rose-coloured Awrelia, and reddish-brown
Pelagia. I regretted extremely being unable to fish up
and examine the remarkable social Medusae or Siphono-
phorae, called Porpita, and of which numerous fine speci-
mens were seen, though always singly, on November 4.
On some evenings the beautiful phenomenon of a phos-
phorescent sea was finer than I ever had seen it. The whole
ocean, as far as the eye could reach, was one continuous
and sparkling Sea of light. A microscopical investigation
of the water in a bucket showed that the greater number
of the phosphorescent creatures were minute crustaceans,
and the rest were Medusae, Salpae, Annelidae, etc., but the
brightest light proceeded from the Pyrosoma. I spent the
greater part of three weeks of enforced idleness in writing
this account of them.
CHAPTER II.
A WIEER IN BOMBAY.
NOVEMBER 8th, 1881, was the glorious and memorable day
in my life when I first set foot in a tropical land, admired
tropical vegetation, and gazed in astonishment at tropical
life in man and beast. Exactly a month before, on the
8th of October, I had left my home in Jena, and here I
was already brought by the Austrian Lloyd's steamship
Helios across thirty-four degrees of latitude—four thousand
miles away from my German home—standing on the
wonder-teeming soil of India. By an hour before sunrise I
was already on deck, and saw the deeply indented coast
of Bombay grow gradually out of whe filmy mist of dawn,
with the weirdly shaped outline of the hills known as the
Bhor Ghauts. These form a boundary wall between the
broad tableland of the Dekhan—the highlands of the penin-
sula of Hindostan, lying at about two thousand feet above
the sea—and the narrow flat strip of the coast of Konkan,
the littoral lowland. The steep rocky walls which stretch
away in a long chain, consist of basalt, syenite, and other
plutonic rocks, so that the horizontal line of the high plateau
appears to be guarded by a number of colossal fastnesses,
forts, towers, and battlements.
The twilight eastern sky over the Indian shore was
A WEEK IN BOMBAY. 43
º
swiftly dyed with the most delicate and tender hues, and
then, suddenly, the Indian Helios appeared in all his splen-
dour, sending his burning shafts from between two broad
strata of clouds to greet the vessel that bore his name.
We could now distinguish the details of the coast we were
approaching; first, the extensive groves of the Palmyra palm,
and then the vast harbour of Bombay, affording shelter to
thousands of ships. Of the town itself, the detached houses
of the Kolaba quarter were now visible on the projecting
south-eastern point of the island of Bombay; presently we
saw the noble buildings of the fort in front, and in the
background the long green ridge of the Malabar Hill, form,
ing the south-western rampart of the island, and covered
with villas and gardens. But, more than these, what riveted
our eyes was the strange concourse of ships in the wide
harbour, which is one of the best in India. Here, close
before us, lay the two iron-clad monitors, painted white,
which very effectually complete the fortifications of the
place; there, hundreds of English soldiers were standing
on the decks of two gigantic troop-ships carrying from
three to four thousand men. As we went on we passed
through a whole fleet of different steamships, which convey
passengers and freight from Bombay to every country under
heaven; and strangest of all was the motley swarm of
small boats and canoes manned by the natives, whose bare
brown bodies are generally clothed only with a white apron
or loin-cloth, and their heads protected against the tropical
sun by a coloured turban.
Soon after sunrise our ship was at anchor close to the
Apollo Bund, the usual landing-place for passengers; officers
of health and custom-house men came on board, and as
44 . A VISIT TO CEYLON.
soon as they learnt that all the passengers had never left
their floating hotel for twenty-four days since leaving
Trieste, we were free to land. A few last friendly greet-
ings were hastily exchanged, address-cards and good wishes
for the rest of the journey, and then each one went down
the ship's side as fast as possible with his belongings, and
into a boat that was to convey him to the longed-for land.
I myself accepted the kind invitation of a worthy fellow-
countryman, Herr Blaschek, of Frankfort-on-the-Maine,
who came on board to meet his wife, our amiable travelling
companion. He begged me, for the week I was to spend
in Bombay, to stay at his villa on Malabar Hill, and I
accepted the invitation all the more readily because the
English hotels in the great Indian cities, with their incon-
venient hours, their stiff etiquette, and their swarms of
tiresome servants, hamper the movements of travellers in a
very disagreeable manner.
Although in the Villa Blaschek, among palms and bananas,
I was surrounded by the elaborate comforts which are a
matter of course to all wealthy Europeans residing in India
—though to a German stranger they seem almost too luxu-
rious—I at once felt myself perfectly at home; and I owe
my delightful recollections of this week in Bombay as
among the pleasantest in all my travels, at least as much
to this hearty and liberal hospitality as to the endless suc-
cession of wonderfully various and beautiful scenes which,
during these eight days, passed before my eyes.
A week, of course, cannot in the remotest degree suffice
to make the traveller fully acquainted with such a city of
wonders as Bombay, and I do not in the least pretend in
these pages to give a complete description of it, nor even
A WEEK IN BOMBAY, 45
a general sketch ; I must, on the contrary, confine myself
to a meagre outline of the deep and grandiose impressions
made on my mind during my brief visit. I had heard
and read but little of Bombay; I knew scarcely anything
about it beyond the fact that, next to Calcutta, it was the
largest and most important city of British India, with an
extensive commerce by land and sea, and a very mixed
population. Nor do I remember ever having seen any
views of this city, or of its suburbs, in our picture exhibi-
tions. I was therefore greatly surprised to find here a
wealth of beautiful and magnificent views which, so far
as my own experience serves, I can only compare with those
of Naples in Europe, or of Cairo in Egypt, or, better still, a
singular combination of both those famous capitals, dis-
similar as they are. Bombay may be compared to Naples
in regard to its magnificent situation on a deeply indented
and hilly coast, beautified by a glorious vegetation, and its
chain of islands and rocks enclosing the wide and splendid
bay; on the other hand, Bombay resembles Cairo in the
motley aspect and picturesque figures of its inhabitants—a
mixture of all the most dissimilar races of the south—in the
amazing crowd and bustle of its street-life, and the vivid
colouring in which nature and art alike clothe their
creations.
The town of Bombay covers a little island of twenty-two
Square miles (English) in extent; it is in 18° 56' N. lat.
and 72° 56' E. long. The island was first discovered by
the Portuguese in 1529; they took possession of it and
named it Buona Bahia (Bonne-bay), on account of the fine
harbour formed by its connection with other neighbouring
islands and the coast of the mainland of India. Some
46 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
writers, it must be added, derive the name of Bombay from
the Indian goddess Bambé-Devi, or Maha Devi. In 1661
the Portuguese ceded Bombay to the English, who at first,
however, did not make much of it; extensive swamps and
the consequent unhealthy climate were a serious hindrance
to any extensive settlement. As soon as these swamps were
drained and the conditions of life improved, Bombay de-
veloped rapidly—chiefly since 1820, when the illustrious
Mount-Stuart Elphinstone was appointed governor; and
during the past half century it has grown to be the third
commercial city of Asia, next only to Canton and Calcutta.
The population now amounts to about 800,000, including
8000 Europeans and 50,000 Parsis; whereas in 1834 there
were but 234,000 inhabitants, in 1816 160,000, and in
1716 only 60,000. With respect to the commerce and
traffic generally of the Indian Peninsula and the intercourse
between Asia and Europe, Bombay now holds a position
as important as that of Alexandria at the time of its
ancient prosperity. The most important staple of its
trade is cotton ; in this commodity it is surpassed only by
New Orleans, U.S. The extensive harbour, which is as
safe as it is spacious, is the finest trading port in all India.
It is open to the south, and protected on the north-east by
the mainland, on the west by the island of Bombay, and to
the north by a group of Small islands lying in close
2Ontiguity.
The shape of the island is a long square, its greatest
length lying north and south. The northern end is con-
nected by several bridges with the large island of Salsette,
and this again with the mainland. A large part of the
uorthern half of the island is occupied by the palm-wood of
A WEEK IN BOMBAY. 47
Mahim. The southern end runs out into two long hilly
points which have been compared to the unequal claws of a
crab's nippers, and which enclose a finely curved but shallow
bay—Back Bay, as it is called. Of these parallel promon-
tories or tongues of land the western is the shorter and
higher, a good deal like Posilippo. This is the Malabar
Hill, the beautiful suburb of villas. Here delicious gardens,
luxuriantly full of all the glorious plants of the tropics,
enclose the numerous elegant villas or bungalows in which
the richest and most important residents live—some
Europeans and some Parsis. A pretty road, leading between
these gardens along and up the highest ridge of the basalt
back-bone of Malabar Hill, affords a series of magnificent
views— now to the west over the palm-crowned shores of
the open ocean, and now to the east over the wide stretch of
Back Bay and the noble city which is built round it. The
most southerly extension is towards the point of Kolaba,
which is the eastern and longer cape of the two. This is the
chief scene of the cotton-trade, and principally occupied by
tents and barracks for European troops. . -
At the north end of Kolaba Point, between it and the
contiguous Fort, lies the much-talked-of Apollo Bund, the
handsome quay where most passengers disembark, and where
I myself first trod Indian soil. This busy landing-place is
not named after the splendid Sun-god, but from a corruption
of the Indian word Pallow, fish, into Apollo. The Pallow-
bund was originally the Indian fish-market. Here there is
now an excellent restaurant, the only large or elegant place
of the kind in all Bombay; and out on the balcony, which
has a glorious view over the harbour and hills, I eat my
first breakfast in India, at the invitation of a friendly fellow-
48 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
countryman. The open square of the Apollo Bund, like
Santa Lucia at Naples, offers the most exciting and busy
scenes in the evening. Military bands often play, and all
the beauty and fashion of Bombay meet here. Numbers of
fine carriages are to be seen, in the cooler hours, returning
along the strand by Back Bay to Malabar Hill, and on the
open grass-plots the busy doings of the natives are to be
seen, who after their fashion enjoy life here too, squatting
round fires and gambling.
The wide expanse of the southern half of the island
between Malabar Hill and Kolaba Point is occupied by the
two most important quarters of the town, the Fort and the
Native Town. The Fort, as it is called, was formerly an
isolated citadel; it lies at the north end of Kolaba, and
includes by far the larger part of the European settlement.
Here we find, in the first place, most of the public build-
ings, erected on spacious squares ornamented with fountains,
and, in the second place, most of the counting-houses
and offices of the Europeans, all close together; these
constitute the “city" properly speaking—a scene of eager
bustle. Most of the great public buildings—the govern-
ment offices, post-office, university, Schools of art, bank, town
hall, etc., have been erected at a great expense within the
last twenty to thirty years. They are all fine structures in
the Gothic style, with pointed arches and colonnades; most
of them in the peculiar style which is seen in many old
palaces in Venice. These grand Veneto-Gothic buildings
form a strange contrast with the luxuriant tropical vege-
tation which surrounds them and the motley Indian low
life which surges in the streets at their feet.
The chief centre, however, of this national ºf "ies in the
A. WEEK IN DOMIBAY. 49
Native Town, as it is called. This is perfectly distinct both
from the Fort which lies to the south of it, and from Malabar
Hill to the west, and its vividly coloured and strangely
foreign population is to every European highly attractive
and interesting. The open booths of the natives, which stand
in close rows, the gay-coloured clothes or the half-naked
figures of the struggling crowd, the cries of the sellers, the
turmoil of vehicles and horses, is very much the same as in
the bazaars and shop-streets of Cairo.
But the longer the stranger lingers in the busy city the
more he is struck by certain characteristic differences
between the Indian and Egyptian capitals. For instance,
the north-west quarter of the Native Town, called Girgaum,
has a very distinct and far more beautiful aspect. Here
are small detached native houses and gardens scattered
through a noble forest of cocoa-nut palms, and all the
accessories—naked children, gaudily dréssed women, and
Swarthy men, with graceful Zebus, horses, dogs, monkeys, etc.,
in gay confusion—supply an endless choice of subjects for
the genvºe painter.
The population inhabiting these different quarters of
Bombay is composed of such heterogeneous elements, and
wears such a variety of costume, that it would far transcend
the powers of my pen to attempt even to sketch its multi-
ſarious manners and customs. The largest proportion is of
Hlindoos, a small and delicate race, with a dark bronze skin,
in some cases verging on coffee colour and in others on
chestnut brown. The children of these natives are charm-
ing; they run and play about the streets perfectly naked,
never wearing any clothes before their ninth year. The
F.
50 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
men too, indeed, of the poorest class are generally almost
naked, wearing only a loin-cloth or apron like swimming
drawers; thus the painter can study their graceful forms
and curiously slender limbs at every step and turn, and in
every conceivable attitude. Among the lads of from sixteen
to twenty he will meet with beautiful models. In fact, they
here constitute the fair, or rather the handsome sex; their
features at that age are often finely moulded and noble, and
distinguished by a certain cast of melancholy. Among the
women, too, slender and graceful figures are to be seen, and
the simple drapery in which they robe themselves is gene-
rally worn with much grace; but pretty faces are rare.
Most of the girls marry very early, at from ten to sixteen,
soon lose their bloom, and in old age are exceptionally
hideous. Added to this, they practise the disfiguring custom
of wearing a large silver ring through the left nostril, with
stones, glass beads, and other decorations attached; this
appendage, in many cases, covers a large part of the mouth
and chin. Their lips are also stained with chewing betel,
which gives them and the teeth a bright reddish-yellow
colour. The foreheads, too, of men and women are painted
with streaks and patterns of various hues, the sign of their
caste; their arms are tattooed with blue, and both sexes
wear silver rings on their toes, and silver anklets. Thus the
naked figures of the Hindoos give a strange and strong
impression of their being real savages, though, in point of
fact, they are descended from the same “Mediterranean,” or
Aryan, stock as the various races of Europe. The institution
of caste and the Brahminical religion are preserved among
them very generally, to the present day. They burn their
dead, ard driving in the evening along the beautiful
A WEEK IN BOMBAY. 51
strand of Back Bay from the Fort to Malabar Hill, close to
the railway station, we see the fires in the huge furnaces
where Hindoo corpses are consumed on gratings, in a far
simpler, cheaper, and more effectual manner than the new
and costly process of cremation introduced into Gotha.
According to the census of 1872, the whole population ef
Bombay amounted at that time to 650,000 souls, of which
more than three-fifths were genuine Hindoos of various
castes, all under the spiritual control of the Brahmins, while
140,000—about a quarter of the whole—were Moham-
medans, and only 15,000—scarcely one forty-fifth part—
were Buddhists. Then there were a few thousand Jews,
Chinese, and negroes, and a large hybrid population of
various mixed races. It may be fancied, therefore, how
miscellaneous the crowd appears which fills the streets of
Bombay, and what a variety of types, customs, opinions,
and traditions come into constant and peaceable contact.
Perhaps there is no city in the world where a greater con-
fusion of many tongues is spoken than in Bombay, particu-
larly as in the European colony every Western language has
its representatives. -
One of the most remarkable and important elements of
the population is afforded in Bombay, as in the other great
towns of India, by the Parsis or Guebres. Their number
amounts only to about 50,000—not more than a twelfth
of the whole population—but their indefatigable energy.
prudence, and industry have gained them so much influence
that they play an important part in every respect. If, as is
often done, we classify the Europeans in Bombay in one
class, in contradistinction to all the other subdivisions of
the mixed indigenous or native inhabitants, we find that the
52 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
Parsis constitute a third important class, standing, as it
were, between the other two. They are descended from
those ancient Persians who, after the conquest of Persia by
the Mohammedans in the seventh century, would not accept
the new religion, but clung to that of Zoroaster. Being in
consequence driven out of their own country, they first
retreated to Ormuz, and thence dispersed over India. They
marry only among themselves, keeping the race unmixed,
and, irrespective of their peculiar costume, are recognizable
at a glance among all the other races. The men are tall
and stalwart figures with yellow-olive faces, generally some-
what heavily built, and far finer and stronger men than
the feeble Hindoos. They dress in long full white cotton
shirts and trousers, and wear on their heads a high black
Cap or tiara, something like a bishop's mitre. Their expres-
sive faces and, not unusually, fine aquiline noses reveal energy
and prudence; and at the same time the Parsis are saving and
frugal, and, like the Jews among us, have managed to absorb
large sums into their own hands. Many of the richest
merchants of Bombay are Parsis, and they are also capital
hotel-keepers, ship-builders, engineers, and artisans. Their
domestic life and virtues are highly spoken of The Parsi
women are generally tall and dignified, their expression
discreet and resolute; their colour yellowish, with the
blackest hair and eyes. Their dress consists of a long
gown of Some simple but bright colour—green, red, or
yellow. The children of wealthy Parsis are often to be
seen out walking in dresses embroidered with gold or silver.
Many of them live in handsome villas, like to have beauti-
ful gardens, and by their easy circumstances excite the envy
of the Europeans. At the same time, the rich Parsis are
º
A WEEK IN BOMBAY. 53
often distinguished by their noble public spirit, and many
have founded useful and benevolent institutions. Some
have been raised by the English Government to the dignity
of baronets, in recognition of their distinguished merits.
Another circumstance which has undoubtedly contributed
in no small degree to the remarkable energy and success
of the Parsis is that they have remained, to a great extent,
free from the dominion of the priesthood. Their religion—
the doctrine of Zoroaster—is in its purest form one of the
loftiest of natural religions, and founded on the worship of
the creative and preserving elements. Among these the
first place must be given to the light and heat of the pro-
Creative Sun and its emblem on earth, Fire. Hence, as the
Sun rises and sets, we see numbers of pious Parsis on the
strand at Bombay, standing, or kneeling on spread-out rugs,
and attesting their adoration of the coming or departing
day-star by prayer. I have never looked on at the religious
exercises of any nation with deeper sympathy than at those
of these sun and fire worshippers. For we, the students
of nature, who duly recognize the light and warmth of the
sun as the source and origin of all the glorious organic life
on our globe, are also, in point of fact, nothing else than
Sun-worshippers
The religious ceremonies of the Parsis are, indeed, ex-
tremely simple, and in some measure based—like those of
the Moslems—on sound sanitary principles, as, particularly,
their dietetic rules and numerous daily ablutions. Their
stalwart bodies enjoy, in consequence, excellent health as a
rule, and their bright and eager children make a much more
pleasing impression than the pale-faced, languid European
children who fade into debility in the overpowering heat.
54 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
The funeral ceremonies of the Parsis are a most
remarkable usage. High up on the ridge of the Malabar
Hill—indeed, on one of the highest and finest peaks, where
a splendid panorama of Bombay lies at the feet of the
admiring spectator, like the Bay of Naples from the sum-
mit of Posilippo-the Parsi community possess a beau:i-
ful garden full of palms and flowers. In this cemetely
stand the six Dokhmas, or Towers of Silence. They are
cylindrical white towers, from thirty to forty feet in
diameter and about the same height. The inside is divided
like an amphitheatre, into three concentric circles, sub-
divided by radiating walls into a number of open chambers.
Each of these divisions holds a body, those of children in the
centre, those of women in the second circle, and men in the
outer one. As soon as the white-robed servants of the dead
have received the corpse which the relatives have escorted
to the cemetery, they carry it, accompanied by chanting
priests, and place it in one of the open graves, where they
leave it. Flocks of the sacred bird of Ormuz—the fine
brown vulture-–at once come down from where they have
been sitting on the neighbouring Palmyra palms. They
fling themselves on the body inside the roofless tower, and
in a few minutes the whole of the flesh is devoured.
Numbers of black ravens finish off the slender remains of
their meal. The bones are afterwards collected in the
centre of the tower. -
To most Europeans this mode of disposing of a corpse is
simply horrible, just as in the classical times it was regarded
as a peculiar mark of scorn to throw out a body to be food
for the vultures. But to the student of comparative Zoology
it seems that it may, perhaps, be more aesthetic and poetical
A WIEEE IN BOMBAY. 55
to see the remains of one we have loved destroyed in a few
minutes by the powerful beaks of birds of prey, or, like the
Hindoos, to know that it is burnt to ashes, than to think
of it as undergoing that slow and loathsome process of
decomposition into “food for the worms” which is inevit-
able under the present conditions of European culture, and
which is as revolting to feeling as it is injurious to health—
being, in fact, the source of much disease. However, what
is there that dear habit will not do, and that mighty lever
Propriety 2 -
It was a never-to-be-forgotten evening when, on the
14th of November, I, with my fellow-passengers from the
Helios, Frau Blaschek and Count Hunyadi, went up to
the Towers of Silence. The sinking sun was just painting
the western horizon with the gorgeous and too transient
hues of a tropical sunset, which no brush nor pen can repre-
sent or describe. Opposite, in the east, huge masses of
clouds were piled in the mysterious purple light, each edged
with gold, and lower down, in a violet glow, rose the singular
crests and towers of the Bhor Ghauts, the ramparts of the
tableland of the Dekhan. At our feet the unruffled waters
of Back Bay mirrored the flaming glory of the sky, and
beyond stood the noble buildings of the fort, overtopped
by the forest of masts in the harbour. To our right the
eye was led along the villas and gardens of Malabar to
the farthest spit—the projecting rock of Malabar Point,
where Lord Elphinstone once lived in his simple lonely villa,
and where the Governor's summer residence now stands.
To the left, under the dense shade of the cocoa-nut trees of
Girgaum, the busy life of the Native Town lay hidden. And
as a foreground to all this, the Towers of Silence, surrounded
56 A VISIT TO CEYLON
by tall fan palms—on their heads the satiated vultures,
settled to their evening repose; at their feet the white-
robed Parsi priests. It was a picture worthy of a great
painter.
Very different from the deep and mournful mood roused
by this evening scene was the impression I received next
morning in gazing from the neighbouring Belvedere on
Kumbala Hill. I was on my way thither an hour before
sunrise, alone in the still morning twilight; passing the
Towers of Silence, a quarter of an hour more brought me
to that highest northern peak of Malabar Hill on which
the “flagstaff” is planted. This is the name given to
the watch-tower of the signal-man who looks out into the
distance from this highest point of all, to give notice of the
arrival of big steamships, and whose duty it is to announce
the mail steamer by firing two shots from a cannon. The
steep rocky slope is here overgrown in places with a thorny
brake, and in some spots there are groups of date palms
under which nestle native huts. In the immediate vicinity,
and in a lovely situation, equally high up, is the residence
of the German consul, who was at this time in Europe.
From this point the eye not only surveys the whole city
and bay, but, glancing northwards, can take in the great
palm-grove of Mahim, at the northern end of the island of
Bombay, the larger island of Salsette, and the mainland
beyond. A tender grey haze veiled this splendid panorama
when I reached the summit shortly before sunrise, but
scarcely had the Sun mounted above the battlemented rocks
of the Bhor Ghauts, when the mist rolled off and by degrees
the beautiful picture grew clear before my eyes.
An excursion to the palm-grove just named, which I
A. WEEK IN BOMBAY. 57
made on the 13th in company with Blaschek, is one of my
pleasantest memories of Bombay. It was a glorious Sunday
morning, my first Sunday in India, and I shall never forget
all the schsations of that day. In the tropics you must
start before the sun is up if you wish really to enjoy the
freshness of the morning, and the first rays of the sun on
that lovely and cloudless Sunday found us sitting in a light
carriage among the stems of giant and primaeval banyan
trees on the northern side of IKumbala Hill. The Indian
huts under the shadow of these huge figs, often hidden
among their aerial roots and supported by the trunks ormed
by these roots, were the stage for numerous quaint domestic
scenes, such as must delight the European novice. Whole
families were sitting by the wayside in the costume o
Paradise, giving their brown skins an extra polish by
rubbing in cocoa-nut oil, and at the same time ai.uctionate
relatives, parents and children, reciprocated kind and neces-
Sary attention to each other's long black hair; though, as the
Hindoo may never take life, they carefully released the
prisoners they took. Others adopted a more efiectual remedy,
having their heads entirely shaved. Many were bathing in
the tanks by the roadside, and others, be re putting on
their white loin-cloths, stretched themselves comfortably
either under or among the shady branches.
The cocoa-nut grove of Mahim—the first I had ever seen
—offered a yet further variety of pictures. Toddy-gatherers
climbed the immensely tall trunks with the agility of apes,
to collect the palm-Sap which had trickled during the
night into jars hung to receive it; they scrambled most
nimbly from one tree-top to another, along ropes which had
been stretched across from trunk to trunk. Others were
58 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
gathering the fruit of the noble banana (or plantain) trees,
while others, again, were busy preparing breakfast. I could
never tire of admiring the magnificent effects of light pro-
duced by the play of the Sunbeams on the broad, quivering
feathery leaves of the fine cocoa-nut palms, and on their
white gracefully bent trunks, as well as on the tender pale
green leaves of enormous size of the bananas at their feet.
And besides all this there was an abundance of beautiful
flowers, and butterflies sporting and vying with each other in
size, brilliant colouring, strange forms, and aromatic Smell
Here and there stood a waving clump of the elegant bamboo,
and strewed in every direction were little huts built and
roofed with this cane. The roads were full of domestic
animals, pigs and dogs, fowls and ducks; and among them
all, dancing and playing, were the delightful, naked Hindoo
children with their big black eyes.
After we had wandered about for more than an hour in
the winding cross-roads of the wood of Mahim, we tried to
make our way to the left, down to the sea-shore, which was
not far off; but the narrow path between two walls brought
us out at a huge puddle. A two-wheeled bullock-cart came
towards us from the other side in the very nick of time; we
Scrambled into the vehicle, which was clean, in the merriest
mood, and made the Hindoo lad who drove it carry us
across through the puddle, though, as it was, we nearly
stuck in the deep mud at the bottom. Once safely over, we
Soon reached the Sandy shore, which is here planted for a
long distance with a beautiful wood of cocoa-nut. We
came upon fine groups of the curious Pamdamus, known as the
Screw-pine, whose twisted stem forks into two candela-
brum-like brºnches, each bearing a large tuft of leaves like
A WEEK IN BOMBAY. 59
an agave growing in a spiral, while the main trunk stands
perched above the soil on aerial roots, as if it were on stilts.
Between the branches hung enormous spider's nets, the
home of a finely marked and gigantic spider, with a thick
body 2% inches long, and thin legs of nearly 4 inches in
length. The monstrous beast was not difficult to catch,
and found his last home in my spirit phial. The firm
threads of its net, which was more than a yard across,
astonished us by their strength, which was almost like that
of linen thread. While we, below, were busy with this
exciting spider-hunt, a shrieking flock of green parrots rose
from among the palm leaves overhead—the first I had ever
seen wild. -
A number of zoological surprises were awaiting me on the
Sandy shore of Mahim, which happened to be laid bare for
a wide space by a very low tide. Enormous specimens lay
stranded of a splendid blue Medusa,—a species of Crambessa
—more than a foot across, and there was a curious sea-urchin
—Diodom—with a thorny coat and its laryngeal-sack blown
out to a large size. In the sand itself I found a great number
of various bivalves and univalves, of characteristic Indian
forms which I had hitherto met with only in museums:
large Seºpulce, numerous crustacea, notably the swift-footed
Sand-crabs that make pits in the sand, and many fragments
of the skeletons of fish mixed with skulls and other por-
tions of human skeletons. * These were the remains of
Hindoos of the lowest class, who are not burnt, but simply
buried on the Sandy shore. My wallet was quite filled with
Zoological treasures when, towards noon, we turned our
steps homewards.
60 Y. A VISIT TO CEYI,ON.
To me one of the most interesting features of Bombay
was the sacred Brahmin settlement of Walukeshwar, at a
few minutes' distance only from my hospitable friend's
bungalow, between it and Government House on Malabar
Point. I paid several visits to this remarkable village, and
at all hours of the day, and was always struck by the
various and original pictures it afforded of Hindoo life
among the highest caste; for none but true Brahmins reside
in this sacred spot, and no unclean Hindoo of lower caste
dares to defile it by his presence. A square tank consti-
butes the focus and centre of this, as of many similar sacred
places scattered about the Native Town. There are flights
of steps down to the water on all four sides, and it is sur-
rounded by a number of little temples and shrines, between
which the tank is approached by narrow alleys. The
temples are distinguished by characteristic white towers,
some in the form of a bishop's mitre, others like thick and
stumpy obelisks. The interior of the temples, which, like
the houses scattered between them, stand open to the Street,
is simply a hall or room, and in the midst of it, or in a sort
of forecourt under a colonnade, lies a sacred bull. Other
objects of worship are there, decked, like the bull, with
flowers, chiefly emblems of fertility carved in stone and at
once obscene and grotesque. These are also to be seen in
many places by the wayside, both within and without the
town, and painted red. They are an object of worship more
especially to childless couples, and the reddened portions are
stuck all over with scraps of gold paper and Wreathed with
flowers in the hope of winning the blessing of children by
such votive offerings.
In front of the temple-steps and on those of the sacred
A WEEK IN BOMBAY. 61
tank, pious penitents squat or pray with the most extraor-
dinary and various gestures and devotional exercises. Most
of these Fakirs are accomplished hypocrites, who give them-
selves up to a dolce fºr miente at the expense of their pious
and benevolent fellow-believers. Their naked bodies are
smeared with oil and ashes, their long hair matted in
unkempt knots which, never being cleaned, exhibit a pecu-
liar form of Plica polomica, and are always a crowded zoo-
logical preserve. The sole virtue of most of these Fakirs
consists in the mutilation of some limb. One has held his
fist convulsively clenched for a number of years, so that his
mails have grown deep into the palm of his hand ; another
has held his arm stretched out straight up from the shoulder
so long, that it has lost all sensation and power of motion,
and sticks up withered and atrophied like a dry branch; a
third has cut himself in a number of places, and by rub-
bing in ashes has kept the wounds open and disfigured his
body and face in the most hideous manner. It is a well-
known fact that there is no madness nor perversity too
great to result from religious famaticism, particularly when
it goes hand in hand with the universal mendacity of priest-
craft; still, few forms of religion, probably, engender such
monstrous births of this class as the Brahminical.
While I spent many hours in the Brahmin village of
Valukeshwar, on the margin of the tank under the shade of
a sacred banyan tree, in Order to record these strange scenes
in my sketch-book, I had ample leisure to study the strange
life and manners of this privileged caste of idlers. The
principal occupation of these high-class Brahmins, who
live like regular mendicant friars upon the lavish offer-
ings of the superstitious and devout Hindoos of lower
62 A VISIT TO CEY LON.
caste, is simply doing mothing, a philosophical contempla-
tion of the world and its follies; this is occasionally inter-
rupted by some outward formalities of religion, of which
frequent ablutions are certainly the most to the purpose.
The sacred tank is almost incessantly occupied by bathers of
both sexes. I had great sport with the merry children,
absolutely superior to any kind of clothing, who came in
crowds to gaze at my water-colour drawing, and made eager
comments upon it. They appeared to be particularly
delighted at a caricature of a howling and perfectly mad
Fakir in the tank, for the Hindoo youth in general do not
seem to have caught the Orthodoxy of their elders.
A Brahmin school at Valukeshwar afforded many
interesting pictures ; the grey-haired old schoolmaster
seemed disposed to look on the bright side of this weary
life, and was evidently delighted when I introduced myself
by signs as one of his own profession. Hard by this temple
of wisdom I had an opportunity of Seeing something of
the medical practice of the Hindoos: an accouchememt of
peculiar difficulty was proceeding in the open street, assisted
by the most extraordinary instruments; a Hindoo constable
or policeman kept the assembled multitude in order, and
was good enough to explain the transaction to me. Not
far off another Hindoo doctor was exorcising the devil from
a poor wretch crippled with rheumatism, by a process of
kneading and squeezing. In these branches of the profes-
Sion, and particularly in torturing animals, the pious Hindoos
are indeed adepts, while they take the greatest care never
actually to kill any living thing, not even the smallest or
most noxious insect.
On the very first day of my arrival in Bombay I had
A WEEK IN BOMBAY. 63
an opportunity of joining in an excursion to the famous
island of . Elephanta, where the most perfect and most
highly decorated of all the many cave-temples of India are
to be seen. As this temple of the Brahmins has been made
familiar to all by pictures and descriptions without number,
I will content myself with confessing that it disappointed
my excited expectations; I had fancied the general impres-
sion would be far more grandiose and imposing. What
we regard as beauty is, in the first place, quite out of the
question in the extravagant arabesque sculpture of the
Hindoos ; the repulsive and monstrous combinations of
human and unusual forms, the divinities with three heads—
Thºm wrii—the distorted apish faces, the bodies with a multi-
plicity of breasts, arms, legs, etc., were to me simply
disgusting, and I am one of the small number of heretics who
think that our great master Goethe's judgment was sound as
to the “disjointed elephants and grotesque temples.” At the
same time, the rock-temples of Elephanta are extremely
remarkable, both for the finished workmanship of the details,
and for the way in which the whole temple, with its three
pillared halls and numberless figures, has been cut out of
the living rock—a black and very hard trap rock. The
position, too, of the temple on the steep western slope of the
verdurous island is splendid, and the view over the bay of
Bombay so extensive that an excursion thither well repays
the trouble.
We made it in a steam launch, starting from the Apollo
Bund. The passage takes only an hour, and gives a delight-
ful succession of views of the harbour; I here saw quite
close to me Indian ships and boats of every size and shape.
The view of the high tableland, the Bhor Ghauts of the
64 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
Dekhan, is very fine too, as well as the lowland of Konkan
at its foot, with its crowds of palms, between which and
the island of Bombay lies the little isle of Elephanta. The
larger island of Bombay is conspicuous by the gorgeous
red colour of its bare cliffs. -
In another way, too, my excursion to Elephanta proved
to me of the greatest interest, a day never to be forgotten.
|For it was on this 9th of November that I first saw the
marvels of the tropical flora in its free and unfettered glory.
I had, to be sure, on the previous afternoon taken advan-
tage of my first hours in India to go by the tramway north-
wards through the Native Town to the Victoria Gardens.
This is a very pretty but not very carefully kept botanical
garden. It cannot certainly compare with other botanical
gardens in India; however, I saw there for the first time a
great number of the handsomest and largest growths of the
tropics, especially the typical forms of the Indian palms and
bamboos, banana and Pandanus, bread-fruit and Papaya,
lotos and Pistia, etc. But enchanted as I had been in the
lovely Victoria Gardens on my first evening in Bombay, glori-
fied as it was, too, by the gorgeous colouring of a splendid
Sunset, my delight was immeasurably greater when, the
next day, I saw at Elephanta all the most characteristic
plants of India growing wild under natural conditions, and
in that free and unchecked luxuriance which will endure
no gardener's hand.
Here, wreathing creepers and climbing ferns cling to the
trunks of the gigantic teak trees; there, tall cocoa-nut
palms bend their slender stems and grand crowns or shiming
plumes over the seashore, which is fringed with clumps o
Pandanus, and held up by a wall of mangrove with its roots
A WEEK IN BOMBAY. 65
in the water. Enormous parasitic figs, convolvulus, and
other creeping plants, covered with large and gaudy flowers,
climb to the very top of the perpendicular trunks of the
tall Palmyra palms, and even their proud heads of many-
fingered leaves are garlanded with blossoms. Here, too, are
huge primaeval specimens of the banyam, the Sacred Indian
fig. The colossal main trunk diverges below into a regular
net-work of thick roots, while from the dense dark greenery
above the branches send down a tangle of aerial roots;
many of these reach the ground and, taking hold on the soil,
form new props to support the parent roof of leaves. Out
there, see—a stalwart parasite of the fig family is choking
the noble palm it holds in the tight embrace of its twining
stems, and a few paces farther stands another, its very
brother, now a mere cylindrical trellis of plaited stems bare
of leaves; the throttled palm first died and decayed, and
now the same fate has overtaken its murderer. Among the
palm-trunks the graceful bamboo reeds grow in huge tufts,
beautiful broad-leaved bananas and Strelitzias unroll their
bright green foliage, large gaudy flowers open their per-
fumed cups, the delicate feathery acacia casts a broad pro-
tecting shade, and cactus-like Euphorbias form dense and
thorny thickets.
Thus, here in Elephanta, I saw, for the first time in
living actuality, a quantity of the most curious and lovely
forms of that tropical vegetation of which I had read and
dreamed for thirty years. Amid them thousands of most
gorgeous butterflies fluttered in the sunny air, brilliant gold
beetles whizzed through the shrubbery, hundreds of startled
lizards and smakes hurried off into the undergrowth, noisy
flocks of gaily painted birds flew from tree to tree—all
F
(36 - A VISIT TO CEYLON.
creatures that I had never seen alive before, though for the
most part old acquaintances. I rushed like a child to seize
all these new wonders, and could not help touching the
palm-trunks and bamboos to assure myself that it was not
a fairy vision.
And I went home, dream-possessed, in the exquisite
evening glow, from Elephanta to Bombay, and through a
sleepless might, my first in India, saw again in my “mind's
eye” thousands of dazzling pictures.
Unfortunately one short swift week in Bombay allowed
time for no more than a single excursion of any length
towards the interior of the Indian continent. It was, how-
ever, a very interesting one, and gave me a very good idea
of the character of the plateau of the Dekhan. By the kind
advice of a friendly fellow-countryman, Herr Tintner—
whom I take this opportunity of thanking heartily for
many good offices—I chose, from among a variety of expe-
ditions feasible within the space of two days, that to
Lamaulie and the rock-temples of Carli. I started from
Bombay at noon on the 11th, in the company of Count
Hunyadi, my fellow-voyager of the Helios. We had the
loveliest weather during this excursion, as indeed during
the whole week in Bombay ; it was only a little too hot,
37° centigrade in the shade at noon, and from 27° to 32°
during the chief part of the day. The nights, too, were
very sultry, and once the thermometer stood at 32° at
midnight.
The railway journey to Lanauli, the first portion of the
great Bombay and Madras Railway, lasted five hours, giving
rise to many sighs on our part under the scorching sun, as
A WEEK IN BOMBAY. 67
well as distilling from us a great deal of sweat; and yet the
first-class carriage in which we rode was extremely comfort-
able, and supplied with the most elaborate protection against
the tropical sum : a double roof with projecting eaves,
Venetian blinds and green screens to the windows, inside
and outside curtains, cool and easy leather cushions, in-
genious devices to secure ventilation, and—greatest luxury
of all—little bath-rooms with cooled water, in which I took
a refreshing plunge more than once during our hot journey.
Each first-class carriage is composed of two spacious Saloon
compartments, licensed to carry only six passengers, while
in Europe we should cram in three times, or at least twice
as many. There are three seats in each compartment, two
along the sides and one across; at night another seat or
shelf is suspended over each, at about four feet above it ;
thus six beds are formed, much roomier and more comfort-
able than the berths in a cabin. Besides this, a portmanteau
can be conveniently stowed and unpacked in the little
Saloon, and passengers can walk up and down, or gaze
Out of the many windows on each side at the landscape
as it flies past.
This occupation was to me supremely attractive, and
during our short five hours' journey I noted a number of
interesting Indian scenes in my sketch-book. The railway
passes at first through a considerable portion of the town of
Bombay itself, by Byculla, Parell, and Sassoon; then across
a bridge over a narrow arm of the sea to the island of Sal-
sette, and by a second bridge to the mainland of Western
Hindostan. The line is on a level for several miles through
the low coast-plain of Konkan. Several villages of wretched
cane-huts, and a few little towns of small extent, give the
68 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
traveller some idea of the Mahratta population of this dis-
trict. All through the rainy season, from June till Septem-
ber, this wide plain is covered with luxuriant tall grasses,
and cultivated to a considerable extent with rice, maize,
etc. At this time of year the vegetation had all been burnt
\lp for a month past, and the wide grass-fields were straw-
coloured. But the evergreen plants, which are numerous,
remained fresh—the banana plantations and fig-groves round
the houses, and, above all, the finest representative of the
flora of the Konkan, the splendid Palmyra palm, Borassus
flabelliformis. Thousands, may millions, of this stately fan-
palm, with its perfectly straight black trunk, are to be seen
on every side, here singly, there in clumps, and give the
flat coast-land a highly characteristic physiognomy. The
Palmyra, like the cocoa-nut and date palms, is one of the
Inost useful trees of its tribe; almost every part of it
serves some purpose in domestic economy or manufacture.
The groups of these palms that stand on the margins of
the numberless reedy tanks, look strikingly elegant as we
rush past them ; the picturesque foreground consisting of
clothes-less brown natives with their two-wheeled bullock-
carts, buffaloes bathing, and Square bamboo hovels; while in
the background rise the singular peaks of the Bhor Ghauts,
the castellated rock-wall which forms the rampart, two
thousand feet high, of the extensive plateau of the Dekham.
The station of Kurjut, beyond Noreb, lies at the foot of
the ascent, and the light locomotive which had brought us
So far was exchanged for a powerful mountain engine. The
gradient is in Some places very considerable, as much as one
in thirty-seven ; in a few hours' journey the line ascends
above two thousand feet. Numerous tunnels and viaducts,
A WEEK IN BOMBAY. 69
with sharp turns round steep cliffs, remind us of our pic-
turesque Alpine lines of railway near Semmering and the
Brenner. Even there the steepest gradient is not more than
one in forty.
The surrounding landscape meanwhile assumes a quite
different character. The palms which grace the lowlands
in such vast numbers entirely vanish quite at the beginning
of the ascent ; huge forest trees take their place, some colum-
nar in their growth, some thickly branched. Among these
are the lofty teak, and cotton-trees with very large leaves.
The steep slope of the Dekhan highland, which in some
places forms steps or terraces, is deeply furrowed with
many water-courses, and these ravines with their dense
undergrowth give the mountain-like slope a European
aspect. Still, the structure and shapes of the huge cliffs of
d
the Bhor Ghauts are quite peculiar, and wholly unlike any
European range known to me. They appear now as colossal
and almost perpendicular black walls more than a thousand
feet high, and now as broad low table-rocks with their
peaks cut off horizontally ; again as riven bastions, their
turret-like battlements looking from a distance like a
gigantic fortress with numerous pinnacles and watch-towers.
Although the Plutonic formation of the Bhor Ghauts—
principally consisting of blackish trap-rock and a syenite
resembling basalt.—differs essentially from the stratified
freestone of the Saxon Switzerland, the general appearance
of the table-rocks is often strikingly like it.
In the same way as the aspect of the wooded mountain-
side, with its many fissures and total absence of the gorgeous
vegetation of the tropics, seemed to transport us from
the nineteenth to the fifty-third degree of latitude, so
70 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
also the air we breathed seemed altogether different. In-
stead of the oppressive heat there was a delicious coolness,
and we inhaled the strong fresh mountain breeze with de-
light—one of the blessings of a temperate climate which we
do not duly appreciate till we miss it painfully under the
debilitating influence of a tropical sun. The higher we
mounted the more we felt at home; but this illusion was
Somewhat disturbed by the information that in the deep
water-course by the side of which we were travelling, an
English captain had, two years since, been killed by a tiger.
Here two waterfalls tumbled down from a considerable
height. Such cataracts are very numerous during the
rainy season, but they were now generally dried up, and
thin, yellow grass covered the surface where it was not
overgrown with trees or with jungle.
Shortly before reaching Lanauli we passed the station
of Matheran, a favourite summer resort of the richer
residents in Bombay. Several beautiful sites in its im-
mediate neighbourhood afford lovely panoramas, with wild
and romantic peeps into the mountain ravines on one side,
and on the other, wide views over the level coast and the
Sea as far away as to Bombay. A remarkably curious rock
close to the station next before this Reversion station, is
known as the “Duke's Nose,” in honour of the Duke of
Wellington. It was quite dark when, after seven hours'
journey to a height of 2100 feet above the sea-level, we
reached our destimation, and found very miserable accom-
modation in a little hotel kept by a Parsi.
The next morning we had determined to make an
excursion to the famous Buddhist rock-temples of Karli,
which are said to exceed all that are known in extent and
A. WEEK IN BOMBAY. 71
in the richness of their sculptured ornament. We had
ordered ponies to be round by five o'clock, to carry us up a
bit of mountain road and very near to the caves. But when
we were prepared to bestride our mountain steeds there
appeared, instead of these, a fine carriage with two horses,
which our wily host had thought it more advantageous
to provide. There was nothing for it but to get in, and
it conveyed us not more than half an hour's drive further
along a good high-road; then we were forced to get out and
proceed on foot for another hour over fields and meadows.
Finally, we had a good half-hour's climb uphill to the
caves. They lie about half-way up the western slope of a
hill of trachyte which stands up more than a thousand feet
above the plateau of Lamauli, which is on a level with the
rest of the table-land of the Dekhan.
The Buddhist cave-temples of Karli are much larger and
far more ancient than the Brahminical temples of Elephanta;
the sculpture, too, is simpler and less grotesque, and the
figures of the men and animals more natural. They are
considered the finest Works of the kind known. Like the
caves of Elephanta and many others in India, these at Karli
are hewn out of the very rock that forms the mountain,
and so are all the sculptured figures of men and animals
which decorate the walls in immense variety. The grand
central hall or chaitya of the temple at Karli, a vast semi-
circular vault, is divided into a nave and two side aisles by
two rows of pillars. All the figures, male and female, with
elephants, lions, etc., and the pillars and door-post as well,
are chiselled out of the black trap-rock with great skill, and
Simoothly polished; they are said to be superior to most of
the other Indian temples, both in taste and in careful
72 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
execution. Above the principal temple, and on each side of
it, at 2550 feet above the sea, small chambers have been
hewn out of the rock, out of which we scared immense
swarms of bats. Outside the entrance to the cave-temple
are a few smaller temples or shrines, overshadowed by fine
trees of the sacred fig. A few Buddhist priests who spend
their lives there asked for alms. While they were mutter-
ing prayers in gratitude for our charity, we heard a loud
Screaming at the top of the cliff, and, looking up, Saw.
Several large black apes, or wanderoos, which sprang away
with long leaps. These were the first creatures of the kind
I had ever seen wild; and, comparing them with the dirty
and naked begging priests at our feet, they seemed to me a
highly respectable ancestry for them.
The view from the door of the temple of Karli—or, even
better, from the projecting rock above, up which we
Scrambled after the apes—commands the whole plateau of
Lamauli. This extends, a level plain, for some distance to-
wards Poonah, and it is surrounded by an amphitheatre of
low hills, mostly barren. Here begins the great table-land
of the Dekhan, which occupies the larger part of the penin-
Sula of Hindostan, sloping gently to the sea. On the eastern
or Coromandel coast, while to the west, above Konkan and
the Malabar coast, it is almost everywhere abrupt and
steep. -
We left Lanauli at noon on the 12th, greatly pleased
with our excursion, which had enabled us to see one of the
most interesting bits of the highland, and found ourselves
in Bombay before sunset.
CEIAPTER III.
COLOMBO.
IT was on the 21st of November, in the glorious light of a
cloudless tropical morning, that I first set foot on that ever-
green island of marvels, Ceylon, where I was about to
spend the most instructive and delightful months of my
life. The Austrian-Lloyd's steamer Helios, which had
brought us hither from Bombay in five days, through lovely
weather and over a glassy sea, was in sight of the island by
midnight. I was on deck by the earliest dawn, to catch
sight at the first possible instant of the longed-for goal of
my voyage—the promised land of my desires as a naturalist.
There, in the east, a narrow streak was visible on the
dark mirror of the Indian Ocean, a little thicker in the
middle than at the ends, with a point standing up. The
brief tropical gloaming vanished swiftly before the coming
day, and the narrow streak lay revealed as an extensive
shore covered with cocoa-nut groves fringing the west coast
of Ceylon, the thicker middle being the high chain in the
centre, above which the cone of Adam's Peak, the famous
and legendary mountain-summit of the island, towered
conspicuously. The outlines of the dark blue mass stood
out sharp and clear against the bright and cloudless morn-
ing sky, and when the fiery ball of the rising Sun mounted
above it, we could distinguish a chain of lower hills ill the
74 A VISIT TO CEYLON
foreground between it and the coast. The white trunks of
the cocoa-nut palms on the shore were distinctly visible, and
as we steamed nearer we could see the different quarters of
the chief town, Colombo: straight in front of us the Fort
and the harbour; to the left, northwards, the native town—
Pettah; to the right, southwards, the suburb of Kolpetty.
I accepted it as a good omen for the happy issue of my
expedition that I first saw the longed-for isle under the
happy radiance of an unclouded sky and the perfect clear-
ness of the pure and balmy morning air, and all the more
because, even in the early part of the day, clouds more or less
remote generally veil the mountains, partially if not entirely.
The first boat which came up to the vessel brought the
pilot on board to steer us into the harbour. This boat, like
all the others which soon crowded around us, was of that
very singular form which is widely used throughout the
islands of South-Eastern Asia, and which in Ceylon–its
most Westerly limit—has reached a peculiarly strange de-
velopment. It is a tree-trunk about twenty feet long,
and hollowed out ; the two sides are raised about three
feet by perpendicular boards lashed on, but the width
between them is scarcely a foot and a half, so that a fully
grown man cannot sit in these canoes without arranging
his legs one behind the other. On one side of the boat two
parallel, curved bars or bamboo-canes stand out at a
right angle, and their ends are connected by another and
stouter came parallel to the canoe itself. This outrigger lies
On the surface of the water, and gives the frail and narrow
bark a considerable degree of Security. When, at a later
date, I made my various zoological expeditions almost
exclusively in these singular boats, I had ample oppor-
COLOMBO. 75
tunity of judging of their merits and demerits. On my
first arrival they excited my interest principally by their
picturesque aspect, particularly as their Cinghalese navigators
were no less original and peculiar than the boats themselves,
Our ship was soon safe in port and covered with Cing-
halese offering fruit, fish, and other eatables for sale, as well
as various small products of native industry. Most of them
were naked brown figures, their only item of clothing being
the comboy or Sarong, a strip of red woollen stuff which is
tightly wound round the hips under a girdle, and covers
the greater part of the legs like a large apron. Others,
again—particularly the boatmen—restrict their garments
to a short and marrow waist-cloth, like swimming drawers.
All, however, wore their black hair long and elaborately
dressed, and generally twisted into a thick knot, with a large
tortoiseshell comb stuck in at the back of the head. This
gives them a curiously feminine appearance, which is in-
creased by their slender and fragile proportions. Their hands
and feet are particularly small, and their features weakly
moulded. The naked black Tamils who row the coal-boats
are, on the other hand, far stronger and more manly; and
different, again, from either are the Indo-Arabs, or “Moor-
men’—stalwart figures in long white caftans and white
drawers, their brown and bearded faces crowned with tall
yellow turbans. They bring precious stones, shells, silver
filagree, and other ornaments on board to sell; while the
Cinghalese deal in cocoa-nuts, bananas, pine-apples, fish,
and crabs, or in the characteristic products of their own
industry, such as images of elephants, or of Buddha carved in
ivory or ebony, basket-work and mats of plaited reed or
palm fibre, little boxes and sticks of variegated woods, etc.
76 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
The prices they ask for these things is, as a rule, twice or
three times, often indeed ten times, their value; and one
of my fellow-voyagers purchased for a rupee a handsome
stone for which the owner at first asked eighty rupees
This costly gem, it need hardly be added, like most of the
“precious stones” from the “isle of rubies,” was neither more
nor less than a specimen of European workmanship in the
form of a bit of cut glass; they are imported annually in
large quantities. -
While this amusing scene was taking place, in the still
early morning, on board our vessel, the Austrian Lloyd's
boat had come out, bringing out their agent for Colombo,
Herr Stipperger. I was specially recommended to this
gentleman's care, not only by the Company's Board at
home, but by personal friends in Trieste and Bombay, and
was most kindly welcomed by him. He at once invited
me to spend my first weeks in Ceylon at his house, and did
everything that the greatest attention and politest care
could do to render my stay in the island as pleasant and
profitable as possible. I owe him a debt of gratitude, and
do no more than my duty in here expressing my warmest
thanks for the indefatigable kindness he showed me during
the whole four months of my visit to Ceylon. If I was
enabled to make the best use—so far as in me lay–of this
short time, and to See and enjoy, learn and work more than
many travellers accomplish in a year, this was, in first
degree, due to my “Ceylon Providence,” as I jestingly
named my worthy friend Stipperger. He was a Viennese
by birth, and a few years younger than myself, and had
been an officer in the Austrian navy; subsequently, after
many vicissitudes of fortune, he entered the service of the
COLOMBO. . 77
Company. I only hope that his employers adequately
appreciate and remunerate his remarkable capacities and his
extensive information.
Bidding a hearty farewell to the officers of the Helios
and my fellow-travellers proceeding to Singapore and Hong
Kong, I quitted the noble ship which had brought me so
safely and easily from Trieste, and was conveyed in the
Company's boat–for I was treated as under their special
protection—with Herr Stipperger to the shore. By this
gentleman's good offices, and with the assistance of the
official introduction I held from the English Government to
the Governor of Ceylon, my vast collection of luggage was
passed duty free, and I was spared the odious chaffering
attendant on the opening of sixteen cases and trunks. & We
at once got into a carriage and drove to the office of the
Austrian Lloyd's Company, whence we went to breakſast
at the club. I then made use of my first few hours to pay
some necessary calls and deliver several valuable letters of
recommendation most kindly given me by the German consul
in Colombo, who at that time was in Europe.
In this way I spent the morning and part of the after-
noon, and on this my first day in Ceylon, under the guidance
of my kind and remarkably well-informed host, I made
acquaintance with a great part of Colombo, the chief town
of the island, and with its inhabitants, who to me personally
were its most interesting feature. By five o'clock I had
paid all my first visits and started in Stipperger's light
two-wheeled carriage, behind a Swift black Australian horse,
for his residence, “Whist Bungalow,” at an hour's walk—
about three miles—from the Fort, the business quarter of
the town.
78 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
Colombo, like Bombay and most of the great towns in
British India, consists of an European business quarter,
known as the Fort, and of several Suburbs which surround
it, and are the head-quarters of the native population. The
Fort of Colombo was erected and strongly fortified by the
Portuguese in 1517, as being their most important factory
in Ceylon; they were the first European occupants of the
island, having landed there in 1505, and retained their
footing there for a hundred and fifty years—about as long
as the Dutch, who forced them to quit. Under the Dutch,
as under the English, who, on the 18th of February, 1796,
took Ceylon from the Dutch, Colombo remained the capital,
although in many respects other sites, and particularly
Punto Galla (now known as Galle), offered superior ad-
vantages. During the last few years, the English Govern-
ment have made every effort to confirm Colombo in its
pre-eminence, and So, in spite of many drawbacks, it is
still the capital, at any rate for the present.
The first obvious essential for a sea-port town is a good
harbour. In this respect, Colombo fails, while at Galle
there is a fine One. In these days, to be sure, an artificial
harbour can be constructed at almost any point on any
shore, by dredging where the sea is shallow, and by build-
ing up breakwaters of stone on the sides most exposed to
dangerous winds and heavy Seas. Nothing is wanted but
the money ! This is how the artificial harbour of Port Said
was made, at the northern outlet of the Sucz Canal. In the
same way, the English Government has, within the last few
years, constructed a stupendous breakwater, at a great
cost, on the southern side of the harbour of Colombo, which
is naturally Small and poor. It runs out a great distance
COLOMBO. 79
*
to the sea, in a north-westerly direction, protecting the
port against the fury of the south-west monsoon, while it
considerably extends the space for shipping. But it is
thought very doubtful whether this breakwater can be
permanently kept up without constant expense for repairs.
It is certain that the fine natural basin of Galle could have
been considerably improved, and made Superior in every
respect at much less cost. The rocks and coral reefs which
impede the entrance of vessels, could, with our present com-
mand of explosives, be removed at a small outlay in
dynamite.
However, the old capital has hitherto triumphed over
Galle in the competition between the two ports, though
this is the more favoured by nature, and deserves the pre-
eminence alike by its climate, geographical position and
surroundings. The climate of Colombo is particularly hot,
oppressive and debilitating; indeed, one of the hottest in
the world, while that of Galle is tempered by refreshing
breezes. The pretty hill country in the neighbourhood of
Galle, part under the richest cultivation, and part covered
with woods, make a residence there both pleasant and
healthy; while round Colombo the country is flat, with
many swamps and stagnant pools. Galle lies in the direct
sea-route between Europe and the Indies, and so, till within
a short time, was naturally the central station of all ship-
ping communication with Ceylon. Now, on the contrary,
when all the European trade has been absorbed by Colombo,
vessels have to go out of their way, into Colombo and out
again, as the straits of Manaar are not navigable. In spite
of all this, Colombo still triumphs, and the largest and
most influential of all the Indian shipping companies—the
80 A. VISIT TO CEYLON.
P. and O.-are transferring their offices and warehouses
from Galle to Colombo, most of the other companies having
in fact preceded them. The serious disturbance and upset
incurred was a constant subject of eager discussion during
my stay in Ceylon.
The Fort of Colombo is on the south side of a bay, and
on a low rocky promontory of small extent, visible at a
great distance as a landmark on the flat western coast.
This eminence was marked on a map of Ceylon–Salike—
made by the ancient geographer Ptolemy, in the second
century, A.D., and really admirable under the circumstances.
He named it. Jovi's eactremum—Dios Acrom. The walls
of the Fort, which was strongly fortified by the Dutch, are
armed with cannon and almost entirely surrounded by
water; two-thirds of this is sea, and the rest, to the south-
east, a wide lagoon crossed by several dykes and bridges
which join the fort to the main land. The streets in the
Fort, which are few and narrow, crossing at right-angles,
chiefly consist of the offices and warehouses belonging to
European merchants; there are, however, a number of
public and government buildings. Among these the hand-
some residence of the governor, known as the Queen's House,
is the most important. It is surrounded by a perfect garland
of tropical vegetation, and has large pillared halls, fine
airy reception rooms, and a noble staircase. I visited this
palace a few days after my arrival, when the governor
received me on the delivery of my letters of recommendation
from the English Government. The interior decoration is
in excellent taste and worthy of the Oriental state of a
British despot; for such the governor of the island is to all
intents and purposes. Numbers of Indian servants in gay
COLOMBO. - 81
and fanciful liveries perform the service of the house, while
English soldiers in scarlet and gold mount guard.
Chatham Street, the street in the Fort in which the
Austrian-Lloyd's office is situated, and which was the first
I became acquainted with on landing, is decorated like
many others in Colombo and Galle, with shady avenues of
a fine mallow, Hibiscus; the large yellow or red blossoms
strew the earth in every direction. Chatham Street also
contains those shops which alone possessed any interest for
me in all Colombo—windows full of photographs, and stalls
with living animals.
Within a few hours of my arrival in Ceylon, I had the
very great pleasure of forming an idea, from the photo-
graphs in the windows, of the finest points in the wild
highlands and the picturesque coast, as well as of the as-
tounding marvels of its magnificent vegetation: palms and
Pisang, Pamdam w8 and Lianas, tree-ferns, banyans, etc.
Nor did I, maturally, find less attraction in making myself
acquainted, before I had been many hours in the island,
with some of its most interesting animals; above all, the
apes, the dappled Axis deer, the parrots and the gorgeously
coloured pigeons.
South of the Fort are the barracks for the English
troops, fine airy buildings and tents extending in some
places to the shore of the lagoon. Farther south again is
the military hospital, and beyond it a green esplanade
called “Galle face,” because the long tract of coast lying
towards Galle begins here. Between five and six in the
evening, the broad green lawn of the esplanade, stretching
Southwards between the lagoon and the sea, is the rendez-
vous for all the rank, beauty and fashion, of Colombo.
G
82 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
Here, during the season, as in Hyde Park in London, is the
spot where every one meets every one else; and the world
refreshes itself in the cool evening breeze after the burden
of the moon-tide heat, while enjoying the gorgeous spectacle
of the sunset, often made still more splendid by the most
varied and singular cloud-scenery. The gilded youth of
Colombo exhibit themselves on horseback—some of them
on miserable hacks indeed—the ladies, with bouquets in
their hands, recline languidly in their carriages, in the
lightest and most elegant toilettes. But no sooner is the
sun gone down than all hasten home; partly in order to
escape the fever-laden evening air, partly to go through an
elaborate process of “dressing for dinner,” which is usually
at half-past seven, and of course in the indispensable black
tail-coat and white neck-tie, as in “Old England.”
The first time I happened to cross the esplanade under
a midday-Sun, I understood the whole fierceness of that truly
infernal heat which Helios can produce on these unsheltered
flats in Ceylon. The outline of objects at a very small dis-
tance floated and trembled in the undulating light of the
rising current of heated air, and over the red gravel path
dividing the green lawn, I saw a Fata Morgana, which is
frequently observed here. This mirage showed me a spark-
ling pool of water in the roadway, which parted before the
vehicles and foot-passengers exactly like a ford. The
thermometer marked 30° centigrade (86°Fahrenheit) in the
cool and reviving atmosphere of the club; outside, in the
un, it must certainly have risen to 45° or 50°.
Adjoining the Southern end of the esplanade is a suburb
which lies between the sandy sea-shore and the high-
load to Galle --Kolupitya or Kolpetty. On each side of the
COLOMBO. 83
road stand a number of beautiful villas, shaded by lovely
gardens, and to the west they extend into the Cinnamon
Gardens, as they still are called. At the present day, and
ever since the English Government found itself compelled to
give up its lucrative monopoly of the cinnamon trade, these
groves have been for the most part divided into lots, and
turned into private grounds for the wealthiest merchants.
The elegant houses which nestle among them, are surrounded
by the choicest growths of the tropics, trees, shrubs and
flowers. These residences are the dearest and most luxu-
rious in the neighbourhood, and Cinnamon Gardens is con-
sidered the best and most fashionable quarter. However,
its remoteness from the shore and the refreshing sea-breeze,
as well as its low situation close to the lagoon, are great
drawbacks. The oppressive and enervating heat is here at
its worst, and dense clouds of mosquitos in the evenings
make a residence there most uncomfortable, while crowds of
frogs, and treefrogs of different kinds, disturb the night with
their noisy concert.
All this is equally true, and in a worse degree, of the
adjoining quarter of the town, Slave Island, so called
because in the last century the Dutch imprisoned the
state slaves there every night. The natural scenery of this
part of Colombo is, however, the prettiest in Ceylon. The
little bays of the wide lake are covered with lovely and
carefully kept gardens, over which the cocoa-nut palms
bend their slender stems and feathered crowns. Villas
belonging to Europeans, and huts inhabited by natives, are
scattered among them ; and in the blue distance the moun-
tain chain of the central ridge forms a magnificent back-
ground, where, in the midst, towering above its neighbours,
84 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
\
rises the tall cone of Adam's Peak. An evening sail in
a canoe on this calm lagoon, with its lovely shores, is one
of the delights of Colombo.
To the north of all this lies the crowded native town of
Pettah. It runs along the shore for above a mile, as far as
the mouth of the river that waters Colombo—Kalany Ganga,
or Kalan Ganga. From this, indeed, the town originally took
its name, Kalan Totta, or Kalan-bua. So long ago as in
1340, Ibu Batuta,” mentions it under the name of “Kalambu,”
as the “finest and largest town in Serendib,” the old Arab
name for the island. The Portuguese changed this to
Colombo. -
It is here, where the noble Kalany rolls into the Indian
ocean, forming a large delta, that the house stands, near the
picturesque outlet, and close to the sea, in which my friend
Stipperger lives, and in which I spent my two first and
delightful weeks in Ceylon. Here I took my fill of the
enjoyment of those new, stupendous, and astounding sensa-
tions, which in Ceylon crowd upon the newly-come
European, or Griffin.
And this most northern outskirt of Colombo, which is
known as Mutwal—at the farthest end being called Modera
—is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful and interesting
spots in the neighbourhood of the capital.
Never shall I forget the many-hued splendour of the
strange Indian scenes which passed before my astonished eyes
like the changing pictures in a magic lantern, when, in
the evening, I drove out from the fort to “Whist Bungalow.”
As I passed through Pettah, all the mixed and motley popu-
* Muhammad ibn Abd Allah (called Ibn Batuta) Travels; translated by
S. Lee. Published by the Oriental Translation Fund, London, 1829.
COLOMBO. 85
lation of every type characteristic of Colombo were out of
doors, collected in knots at the open doors of the little houses,
or mingled in busy confusion under the shade of the cocoa-
nut trees that tower up wherever you turn. Here, as every-
where else between the tropics, the life and labours of the
natives are for the most part carried on in public; and
while the fires of a tropical sun reduce men's requirements
in the article of clothing to a minimum, the heat makes
them leave their houses and stalls wide open, neither doors
nor shutters interfering with a free view of the interior.
In the place of a door there is simply an opening closed at
night or in stormy weather, with Screens of matting, or
latteen shutters pushed across. All the handicraftsmen may
thus be seen at work in, or in front of their stalls, or simply
in the open streets; nor are the most intimate scenes of
domestic and family life veiled from the curious eye.
The particular charm which these native homes certainly
possess for the European, consists partly in this naïve publicity
of their domestic life, partly in the primitive simplicity of
their wants, as shown by the limited number of barely
necessary chattels, partly in their harmony with the nature
among which they live. The little garden-plots which
always enclose these hovels are so unpretentiously laid
out, and the few useful plants they contain—which yield
the chief income and sustenance of their owners—are so
quaintly grouped round them, that the whole settlement
looks as if it had sprung from the earth together.
The most important of these natural products are those
princes among plants, the palms, and of these, on the
southern and western shores, the cocoa-nut palm, every part
of which, as is well-known, has its use, often constituting
86 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
the whole fortune of a Cinghalese. It is in consequence the
all-pervading tree which, in every town and village, as well
as in the country, first and most constantly strikes the
eye, giving the landscape a character of its own. The
number of cocoa-nut palms in the island is nearly forty
millions, each producing from eighty to a hundred nuts,
yielding eight to ten quarts of oil. In the northern
half of the island, the cocoa-nut is absent, and in many
parts of the eastern coast. Here the not less valuable
Palmyra palm (Borassus ſ.abelliformis) takes its place.
It is the same species that grows On the hottest and
dryest tracts of the main peninsula, and which I saw in
such numbers on the coast of Konkan, near Bombay. These
palms are conspicuously dissimilar, even from a distance.
The Palmyra is a fan-palm, and has a stout and perfectly
straight black trunk, crowned by a thick sheaf of stiff,
deeply cut pinnate leaves. The Cocos, on the contrary, is
a feathery palm : its slender white trunk, sixty to eighty
feet high, is always gracefully bent, and bears a dense crown
of immense pinnate leaves. The elegant Areca-palm (Areca
catechu) has similar leaves, only smaller and stiffer, but its
reed-like stem grows perfectly upright; it also is to be
found near the huts of the Cinghalese, and yields him the
indispensable nut which all the natives chew with the leaves
of the betel-pepper, and which dyes the saliva and teeth red.
Another palm, the Kitool (Caryota wrems), is largely culti-
vated for the sake of its abundant Sugary Sap, from which
palm sugar, or jaggery, and palm wine, or toddy, are pre-
pared. Its straight, strong stem has a crown of bipinnate
leaves, somewhat resembling those of the maiden-hair
(Adiamtwm capillw8 Veneris) on a large scale.
COLOMBO. 87
Next to the palms the most valuable trees in the
native plots are the bread-fruit and the mango. Of the
first there are two distinct species: the true bread-fruit
(Artocarpus imciscº) and the Jack-fruit (Artocarpus inte-
grifolia). Splendid specimens of both are everywhere to
be seen, and between them not unfrequently the curious
silk-Cotton tree (Bombaa). Among and under these trees,
the huts of the Cinghalese are always surrounded by
their constant companion, the beautiful banana, or pisang
trees (Musa Sapientwmv), which have worthily earned the
name of “figs of paradise.” The handsome yellow fruit,
whether raw or fried, is a wholesome and nourishing food,
and many varieties are to be seen. The elegant sheaf of
huge, drooping, pale-green leaves crowning a slender stem
often twenty to thirty feet high, is one of the greatest
Ornaments of the native gardens. Hardly less necessary to
the Cinghalese are the Aroids, with great arrow-shaped
leaves, particularly the Caladium, which is very generally
cultivated for the sake of the farina procured from the roots,
for which, too, the graceful manihot is grown, one of the
Euphorbiaceae with digitate leaves of a beautiful green, which
is equally conspicuous as a contrast with the brown earth
buts, and with the bright red colour of the soil, which
is strongly impregnated with oxide of iron. In perfect
harmony, too, are the cinnamon-hued Cinghalese themselves,
and the blackish-brown Tamils.
In Colombo itself, and throughout the southern and
western coasts of the island (excepting part of the north-
west), by far the greater portion of the population consists
of true Cinghalese. By this name are distinguished the
descendants of the Hindoos from the mainland, who—
88 A VISIT TO CEY LON.
according to the Pali chronicle the “Mahawanso,” the prin-
cipal authority on Cinghalese history—wandered hither
from the northern part of Hindostan under King Wijayo
and expelled the primitive inhabitants. The Veddahs, or
Vellahs, are commonly regarded as being the dispersed
remnants of this race; a few wild hordes still linger in the
remotest parts of the interior and in the most primitive
state. But, according to others, the Veddahs are, on the
contrary, debased and degenerate descendants of the Cing-
halese, outcasts that have reverted to Savagery, like the
Rodiyas.
In the northern part of the island, on the eastern coast
and throughout a large extent of the central highlands, the
genuine Cinghalese were in their turn driven out by the
Malabars, or Tamils, who crossed over from the south of the
peninsula, chiefly from the Malabar coast. They differ
from the Cinghalese in every respect—in stature, features,
colour, language, religion, manners, and customs—and
belong to a totally different branch of the human tree, the
Dravida race. The Cinghalese are assigned by most anthro-
pologists, and no doubt correctly, to an ancient offshoot of
the Aryan race. They speak a dialect which seems to have
sprung from a branch of the Pali, and the Malabars have
a perfectly distinct language, the Tamil. The Cinghalese
again are generally Buddhists; the Malabars are Hindoos,
that is, Brahmins. The brown hue of the smaller and
slighter Cinghalese is generally perceptibly lighter, Verging
on cinnamon colour, or a dark tan; that of the tall and
brawny Malabars is very dark, coffee-coloured or blackish.
The Cinghalese occupy themselves principally with agricul-
ture, growing rice, planting palms, bananas and other trees
COLOMBO. 89
needing culture, and shunning all hard or severe labour.
This is undertaken by preference by the Malabars, who find
employment as road-makers, masons, porters, coachmen,
etc., in the low country, and as labourers in the coffee
plantations in the higher districts. At the present time, the
Tamils, or Malabars, compose about one-third of the whole
population, and their numbers are reinforced every year
by fresh immigrants from the peninsula. The Cinghalese
constitute about three-fifths, and number at the present
time about two millions and a half.
After the Cinghalese and the Tamils, the most impor-
tant item of the population of Ceylon, both as to numbers
and industrial worth, are the Indo-Arabs, here known as
Moors or Moormen. They number about 150,000, a tenth
of the Cinghalese. They are descended from the Arabs
who, as much as two thousand years ago, Sct a firm foot in
Ceylon as well as in other parts of Southern and South-
Eastern Asia, and who, from the eighth to the tenth cen-
turies—until the incursion of the Portuguese—had almost
all the commerce of the island in their hands. Indeed, to
this day all the petty trade, and a considerable part of the
wholesale trade of Ceylon, is almost exclusively carried on
by these energetic and thrifty foreigners. They here play a
part amalagous to that filled by the Jews in Europe, being
enterprising, calculating, and even crafty, with a special
aptitude for money matters. In other respects, too, they
take the place of the Jews, whose congeners they are, and
who are entirely absent from Ceylon. Their language and
writing is to this day half Arabic and half a hybrid of
Arabic and Tamil; their religion is Mohammedan and
Sunni. They are of a brownish yellow colour, and their
90 A VISIT TO CEY LON.
features are unmistakably Semitic; their hair and beard
black and generally long. Their powerful figures, robed in
the long white bournous and full white trousers, tower
above the Cinghalese and Tamils all the more conspicuously
as they generally wear a high yellow turban, something
like a bishop's mitre.
In comparison with these main elements of the popula-
tion of Ceylon–Cinghalese sixty, Tamils thirty-three, and
Indo-Arabs six per cent. — the remainder, scarcely one-
hundredth of the whole, are, as to numbers, quite insignifi-
cant. Of these twenty-five thousand souls the wild primi-
tive race of the Veddahs are not more than two thousand;
eight thousand—or according to some authorities about half
that number—are immigrants from all parts of Asia and
Africa—Malays and Javanese, who enlist as soldiers; Par-
sis and Afghams, most of them money-lenders and usurers;
Negroes and Kaffirs, who are soldiers, servants, etc. The
mixed breeds of all these native races and the European
settlers, about ten thousand, include every possible com-
bination, and offer very interesting problems to the am-
thropologist who should try to classify them. Then there
are the burghers, as they are called—the descendants of the
Portuguese and the Dutch--generally with some infusion
of Cinghalese or Tamil blood. Most of the clerks and
accountants in the Offices and counting-houses, and the in-
ferior government officials, are of this mixed race, and they
are thought highly of in these capacities. The number of
Europeans, the non-native lords of the island, is altogether
not more than from three to four thousand, English and
Scotch of course preponderating. All the higher govern-
ment offices, and the great merchant houses, are in their
COLOMBO. . 91
hands. In the mountains they compose the large and in-
fluential class of “planters,” whose curious existence I
subsequently learnt something of in my journey through
the hill-districts. º * •
According to the census of 1857, twenty-five years
since, the whole population of Ceylon amounted only to
1,760,000. By 1871 it had increased to 2,405,000; and at the
present day it must be considerably more than 2,500,000.
If we take it at two millions and a half in round numbers,
at the present day, the different elements may be cstimated
somewhat as follows:—
Cinghalese—chiefly Buddhists ... tº e º ... ... 1,500,000
Tamils, or Malabars—chiefly Hindoos © tº º S20,000
Indo-Arabs, or Moormen—chiefly Mohammedans tº º º 150,000
Mixed races of all kinds e g tº tº gº e tº º sº. e º 'º' 10,000
Asiatics and Africans—Malays, Chinese, Raffirs, Ncgroes S,000
Burghers—Portuguese and Dutch half caste ... tº e g 6,000
Europeans—mostly English ... • e º * & tº tº º º 4,000
Veddahs—the primitive inhabitants tº ºn tº tº gº tº 2,000
2,500,000
The extent of the island is not less than 1250 square
miles (geographical), so that it is scarcely one-sixth less
than Ireland, and with its wonderfully favourable conditions
of climate and soil it could easily support six or eight times
as many inhabitants; indeed, according to ancient chronicles,
the population would seem to have been much larger two
thousand years ago—perhaps more than double. The
depopulated and in many places utterly deserted northern
half of the island was at that time thickly peopled; where
enormous jungles now afford a shelter to bears and apes,
parrots and pigeons, wide stretches of cultivated ground
were fertilized by an admirable system of irrigation. The
92 - A VISIT TO CEYLON.
remains of the hill-tanks and the ruins of their abandoned
towns—Anarajapoora, Sigiri, Pollanarrua and others—
testify to this day, to their former greatness, and show what
this “island of jewels,” the “rarest pearl in India's crown,”
the “ruby isle,” may again become in the future.
The various races which compose the medley population
of Ceylon differ as widely in faith and religion as in origin,
build, colour, language, Writing, character and occupation;
and their creed for the most part is an inheritance of their
race. The Cinghalese, sixty per cent., are almost all Buddhists;
the Tamils, thirty-three per cent., chiefly Brahmins; the
Indo-Arabs, six per cent, almost all Mohammedans. A con-
siderable number of all these races have, however, become
converts to Christianity, and the remainder of the popula-
tion is for the most part Christian. In round numbers the
adherents of the different creeds may be estimated as
follows:— -
Buddhists—mostly Cinghalese ... © º e © e & ... 1,600,000
Brahmins—Hindoos, mostly Tamils ... tº ſº º © tº º 500,000
Mohammedans—Sunnites, chiefly Arabs ... tº e e © e tº 100,000
Roman Catholics—many Tamils and Cinghalese ... I80,000
Protestants – chiefly Europeans ... tº 6 & tº º G tº e e 50,000
Of no denomination, and of various classes ... e - e. 10,000
*- -
2,500,000
CEIAPTER IV.
“WHIST BUNGALOW.”
THE delightful residence in Colombo in which I passed the
two first weeks of my stay in Ceylon, stands, as I have
said, at the north end of the town, or, to be accurate, in the
Suburb of Mutwal, precisely in the angle made by the
Kalany Ganga, or Colombo river, at its junction with
the sea. Starting from the Fort, it is a good hour's walk
among the brown mud-huts of the natives, through Pettah
and its northern outskirts, before reaching “Whist Bun-
galow.” Its isolated position, in the midst of the most
luxuriant natural beauty, far from the business quarter of
the town, and farther still from the fashionable southern
suburbs of Kolpetty and the Cinnamon Gardens, was one
Source of the extraordinary charm I found from the very
first in this quiet country retreat. Another reason, no
doubt, was the hearty and homelike hospitality which the
masters of “Whist Bungalow *—Stipperger himself and
three other friendly countrymen—showed me from the first
hour of my arrival. I woke on the first morning of my
stay with the happy sense of having found here, on this
unknown island of wonders, six thousand miles from home,
a friendly roof to dwell under. The few days which were
all I at first intended to spend there soon stretched into a
94 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
fortnight; and as I again spent a week there on my return
from the south, and another at the end of my stay in
Ceylon, nearly a month out of my four months in the
island were passed in this delicious country-house. There
was ample room in “Whist Bungalow " for arranging my
numerous cases and collections, and I found it the most
convenient head-quarters from whence to make my several
excursions; and after much fatigue and hardship in my
labours on the south coast, and my excursion in the hill
country, I came back thither with the comforting sense of
being at home, a gladly suffered guest on a visit to faithful
friends and fellow-countrymen. It is only meet and right
that I should devote a few pages to a description of this
lovely spot of earth ; all the more so, since it was there that
I first made acquaintance, from personal observation, with
the life of man and nature on the island.
2
“Whist Bungalow ’’ owes its extraordinary name to the
circumstance that its first owner, an old English officer, at
the beginning of the century, used to invite his friends out
to this remote villa to play whist on Sunday evenings. As
the strict observance of the English Church is, of course,
strongly averse to such an employment on Sunday, these
jovial meetings were kept a profound Secret; and the whist
parties and drinking bouts in the isolated bungalow seem to
have been uproarious in proportion to the satisfaction of
these jolly comrades at having escaped the dreary tedium
of an English Sunday and Orthodox Society.
At that time, however, “Whist Bungalow " was a small
plain house, buried in its shrubbery; it was enlarged to its
present handsome diſ hensions by its next owner, a certain
lawyer named Morgan. He, too, seems to have made the most
aſ:* “WHIST BUNGALOW.” 95
of life, and spent a large part of his fortune in building
and decorating this villa in a manner worthy of its
beautiful situation. The large garden was planted with
the finest trees and ornamental shrubs. A handsome
colonnade and airy verandah were erected round the
house, which was much enlarged, and the spacious and
Jofty rooms were fitted with every luxury in a princely
style. For many a year dinners and wine-parties were
given here, more luxurious and splendid—if not noisier and
more riotous—than formerly at the whist-playing officer's
less pretentious drinking-bouts. It would seem, however,
that Mr. Morgan at last failed to balance his enormous
outlay on his residence and his magnificent style of living
against his large income. When he died suddenly, a con-
siderable deficit was discovered in his accounts; his
creditors seized the bungalow, and, when it was finally sold
under the auctioneer's hammer, were thankful to recover a
small proportion of their money out of the proceeds.
Now came a crisis in the history of this pretty residence,
Which must have proved highly unsatisfactory to the new
owners. Rumour, which had attached many legends to
this romantic spot, now declared with confident asseveration
that there was something uncanny about “Whist Bunga-
low,” and that the ghost of the suddenly deceased Mr. Morgan
“walked” there every night; that at about midnight—
moon or no moon—a hideous uproar and thumping were to
be heard; that forms in white glided through the rooms,
Winged demons flew along the colonnade, and fiends with
fiery eyes held sabbath on the roof. Mr. Morgan, as master
of the fiends, was supposed to conduct and direct the revels.
It was asserted that his enormous fortune, now melted into
96 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
thin air, had not been earned by quite honest means; and
that he, like so many other lawyers, had used his knowledge
of the law, not so much to vindicate his clients' rights, as to
divert the flow of their gold into his own wide money-bags;
that he had embezzled large sums, made away with trust
moneys, etc., etc. As a punishment for these sins, he was
compelled to haunt the scene of his former Orgies all night,
a restless ghost. And so many Cinghalese in the immediate
neighbourhood of Mutwal had themselves heard these
bogey noises, and seen the apparitions, that the purchasers
of “Whist Bungalow" would not live in it themselves, and
could not find a tenant. -
The pretty villa, therefore stood empty, when our friend
Stipperger heard of it, and on seeing it, determined at once
to take it. Dut then he met with the greatest difficulties,
for he could nowhere find a scrvant who would go with
him to the banned and haunted house. Nor did he succeed
till he had proved on scientific grounds that the ghosts had
a simple zoological origin. He waited for the fiends the
first night, well armed with weapons and revolvers, and he
found, as he expected, that they were true quadrupeds of
flesh and blood, to which the late Mr. Morgan had certainly
stood in no close relationship. The mysterious climbing
ghosts, when shot, were wild cats; the gliding forms were
huge bandicoots, and the flying fiends were flying-foxes
(Pteropus). Henceforth, and face to face with these con-
vincing trophies of the night's sport, the doubts of the most
timorous servants were dispelled, and my friend moved in
all confidence into “Whist Bungalow.”
The garden, which had run wild, was newly and better
arranged, the empty rooms refitted; and when some Germans
“WHIST BUNGALOW.” 97
saw the restored bungalow, it pleased them so much that
they begged the new tenant to cede them part of the
spacious house for a residence. This he did; and when I
arrived, I found the quartett of Germans—a four-leaved
shamrock—with whom I chatted through so many pleasant
evenings. Nor was there any lack of individuality in our
several views; indeed, I have never found it absent in spite
of the much-talked of “German uniformity.” Herr Both, of
Hanau–to whom I am indebted for a nice collection of
reptiles—represented Frankfort; Herr Suhren, of East
Friesland—who gave me a beautiful collection of butter-
flies—represented the extreme north-west of Germany; and
Herr Herath, of Bayreuth, our Bavarian member for South
Germany, delighted me with a contribution of birds of
paradise, parrots, and honey-birds.
The special charm of “Whist Bungalow,” above others
near Colombo, consists partly in its delightful situation, and
partly in its really magnificent garden. The out-buildings,
servants' rooms, and stables lie behind it, hidden among
shrubberies, while the house itself stands in front on the
shore of the fine expanse of water that stretches away west-
wards. The airy verandah commands a view of the sea,
the mouth of the river, and of a pretty, thickly wooded
island that crowns its delta. Northwards, the eye follows
a long strip of cocoa-nut groves, that fringe the shore as far
as Negombo. To the south, and adjoining the gardens of
the bungalow, is a picturesque tract covered with fisher-
men's huts scattered in delightful disorder under tall cocoa-
palms, in their midst a small Buddhist temple, and farther
off the rocks on the shore with clumps of Pamdanºws, etc.
Beyond, a narrow sandy spit projects, bending northwards
H
QS A VISIT TO CEY LON.
towards the mouth of the river, and embracing a little bay
in front of our garden, in such a way that it forms a small
land-locked lake. .
The promontory which parts this lagoon from the open
sea is densely overgrown with a lovely red-flowered con-
volvulus (Ipomoea pes-Caprče) and the curious hedgehog-
grass (Spinifew squarrosus). There are a few fishers' huts
on it, and all day long it affords a series of entertaining
pictures with a constant change of scenery. Very early in
the morning, to begin with, before sunrise, all the families
inhabiting these huts assemble to take a bath in the river;
then the horses and oxen come down to the stream. Busy
washermen are often at their work there the whole day
through, beating the linen on flat stones, and laying them
out on the Sands to dry. Numbers of fishing-boats pass out;
and when, in the evening, they are drawn up on land,
their large square sails stretched out to dry, the promontory
has a most picturesque appearance, with its long row of
motionless barks with their sails set, particularly when the
evening breeze fills them out, and the setting sun, as it dips
behind the waves, floods the whole coast with a glory of
flaming gold, Orange, and purple.
My friends informed me that this sandspit has altered in
shape, and considerably in extent, in the course of years.
It is, in fact, a shifting bar, such as is to be seen at the
mouth of all the larger rivers of Ceylon. They bring down
with them, in their wild and tumbling course through the
mountains, a mass of Sand and fragments of rock; then,
during their slower flow through the flatter coast country,
the abundant rains daily carry into them great quantities
of earth and mud, so that, when these are at last deposited
“WHIST BUNGALOW.” 99
at the river's mouth, in a short time they form banks of
considerable thickness. But these bars are constantly
changing in size, form, and position, depending on the
position of the channels cut by the river as branch outlets
through its flat delta. Thus the main outlet of the Kalany
is said to have been formerly a mile farther to the south, by
the Cinnamon Gardens. The lagoons there, which now
communicate with the river by little canals only, are the
remains of its old branches; and the chief part of Colombo
itself must be built on what was its delta. Our picturesque
bar, just opposite “Whist Bungalow,” has been connected
with the land now by its northern and again by its southern
extremity, and the wooded islet at the principal mouth has
been sometimes a peninsula and sometimes an island.
The strand of this islet, as well as that of the garden of
“Whist Bungalow,” and to the north of it, are overgrown—
like the banks of the estuary itself—with wonderful man-
grove plants, and in my first walk in the immediate
neighbourhood I had the pleasure of examining these
characteristic and important forms of tropical vegetation
with my own eyes. The trees which are included under
the general name of mangroves belong to very different
genera and families, as Rhizophora, Sommeratia, Lommitzera,
Avicemnia, etc. But they all agree in the peculiar manner
of their growth, and a typical physiognomy which results
from it; their close bushy crown of leaves, generally more
or less spherical, grows on a thick stem which rises from a
clump of many-branched roots, rising directly above the
surface of the water, often to a height of six or eight feet.
Between the forks of this dome-shaped mass of roots the
mud and sand accumulate which the river deposits on its
I ()0 - A VISIT TO CEYI,ON.
i
shores, and particularly at its debouchure; so that a man-
grove wood is highly favourable to the extension of the
land.
But quantities of organic matter, corpses and fragments
of dead animals and plants, also get caught among this
tangle of roots and decompose there; whence a mangrove
thicket is, in many parts of the tropics, a dreaded source of
dangerous fevers. But in most of the mangrove woods of
Ceylon—including those of the Kalamy river—this is not the
case; and the various well-watered districts of the islands
are by no means unhealthy, not even the stagnant lagoons
of Colombo. Although I slept many mights in such spots I
never had an attack of fever. This probably results from the
fact that the frequent and violent storms of rain constantly
renew the water in the stagnant or stream-fed pools, so that
all decomposing matter is carried away before it has any
injurious effects.
On the sandy shore of our garden, the mangrove is Sup-
planted by a number of beautiful shrubs of the Asclepiadeae
–Cerbera, Taberno-montana, Plumiera—all characterized
by large white oleander-like flowers, growing at the ends of
the candelabra-like branches in great abundance, among
shining tufts of large dark-green leathery leaves. Most of
: these Asclepiadeae yield a poisonous milky juice. They are
among the commonest and most characteristic ornaments of
the roadside and boggy meadows in the swampy districts
in the south-west of Ceylon. Between them and on other
parts of the shore, grows the elegant bamboo, like enormous
bunches of feathers, as strange as it is beautiful, with its
tall bending clumps.
The garden of “Whist Bungalow * itself has, under the
“WHIST BUNGALOW.” 101
careful and loving hand of Stipperger, become one of the
most enchanting spots in the paradise of Ceylon, containing
specimens of almost every important plant characteristic of
the flora of the islands; thus it is not merely a pleasure-
ground of blossoms and perfumes, but an instructive
botanical garden on a small scale. As I wandered, intoxi-
cated with delight, under the shade of palms and figs, of
bananas and acacias, in the garden itself and in the im-
mediate vicinity, I acquired in one morning a very good
general idea of the elements composing the flora of the low
country. First in rank, of course, the noble family of
palms, with their stately columnar trunks—Cocos and Tali-
pot, Areca and Borassus, Caryota and Palmyra ; then the
beautiful banana, with its delicate but gigantic leaves, split
into feathers by the wind, and its masses of excellent golden-
yellow fruit. Besides many varieties of the common banana
(Musa Sapientwm), our garden boasts a fine specimen of
the curious fan-shaped travellers' tree from Madagascar
(Urania speciosa); it stands exactly where the path divides,
leading to the right straight to the bungalow, and to the
left to a magnificent banyan, or sacred fig-tree (Ficus Benga-
lensis). This, with its large pendant aerial roots, and the new
stems formed by such as have struck the ground, is a very
extraordinary object; numbers of Gothic arches are formed
between the root-stems which support the canopy of
branches like pillars.
Other trees of various groups, as Terminalia, laurels,
myrtles, ironwood, bread-fruit, and others, are embraced
and overgrown by gorgeous creepers, that endless variety
of lianas which play so conspicuous a part in the flora of
Ceylon. These belong to the most dissimilar families; for
102 - A VISIT TO CEYLON.
the teeming vegetation, with the favourable condition of
constantly moist heat in the densely crowded woods of this
land of marvellous verdure, have induced a number of highly
diverse plants to become climbers and to twine round others
till they reach light and air.
Among other ornaments of our lovely garden, I must
particularly mention the broad-leaved Callas or Aroids, and
the elegant ferns, two groups of plants which play a
prominent part in the undergrowth of the Ceylon flora.
Among these are scattered many of the handsomest tropical
foliage-plants and flowers, some indigenous to Ceylon,
and some natives of other lands, particularly of South
America, which thrive here to perfection. Above them
rises the tall mallow (Hibiscus), with splendid yellow or
crimson blossoms; or acacias (Caesalpimia), with branches of
brilliant flame-coloured plumes; mighty tamarind trees,
with aromatic flowers; while from their boughs hang the
huge purple bells of Thumbergia, and Aristolochia with its
singular brown and yellow funnels. Other families, too, dis-
play blossoms of strange size and beauty, as many madders,
Rubiaceae, lilies, orchids, etc.
I will not, however, weary the reader with a vain
attempt to give him anything approaching to a true idea of
the intoxicating splendour of the Indian flora of Ceylon, by
mere description or a dry list of names. I gained my first
conception of it in the garden of “Whist Bungalow” and the
neighbouring shores of the Kalany river. I will confine
myself instead to remarking that, on the first morning I
spent in this paradise, I Wandered for hours, dazed with
admiration, from One plant to another, from one clump of
trees to the next, incapable of deciding to which of the end-
“WHIST BUNGALOW.” 103
less marvels before me I should direct my particular atten-
tion. How meagre and scanty now seemed all that I had
seen and admired a fortnight since in Bombay !
The animal world which peoples this Eden does not, on
the whole, correspond to the extraordinary variety and
beauty of the vegetable world, particularly as regards its
wealth of ornamental, large, or singular forms. In this
respect the island, from all I could learn, is far behind the
mainland of Hindostan and the Sunda Islands, and still
more behind tropical Africa and Brazil. I must confess that
I was from the first a good deal disappointed in this par-
ticular, and that my disappointment increased rather than
diminished later, when I made a closer acquaintance with
the fauna of the wilder parts of the island. I had hoped to
see the trees and shrubs covered with monkeys and parrots,
and the flowering plants Swarming with butterflies and
beetles of Strange shapes and gaudy colouring. But neither
in number nor in splendour did what I now saw, or found
afterwards, answer to my highly strung expectations, and
my only comfort at last was that every Zoologist who had
ever visited the island had been equally disappointed.
Nevertheless, a closer Search brings to light an abundance
of interesting and remarkable objects, even for the zoologist;
and, on the whole, the fauna of Ceylon is no less strange
and peculiar than its flora, though it is far from being so
splendid or so striking.
The vertebrate animals which most immediately attracted
my attention at “Whist Bungalow ’’ and in the neighbour-
hood of Colombo were the various reptiles of bright colour-
ing and extraordinary form, particularly Snakes and lizards;
there was also an elegant little tree-frog (Ia'alus), whose
104. A VISIT TO CEYLON.
strange, almost bell-like croak is to be heard on all sides in
the evening. Of birds, the gardens principally attract
numbers of starlings and crows, wagtails and bee-eaters,
and especially the honey-birds (Nectarinia), which here take
the place of humming-birds; then, on the river-banks, there
are blue-green kingfishers and white egrets. Of mammalia,
by far the commonest is a charming little Squirrel (Sciurus
tristriatus), which bustles off at every turn through the
trees and bushes, and is most friendly and confiding; it is
of a brownish grey, with three white bands on its back.
Among the insects ants must be regarded as the most
important, from the incredible numbers in which they are
everywhere to be found, from the very tiniest to really
gigantic species, particularly the hated termites, or white
ants as they are called; but other families of the Hymenop-
tera—the wasps and bees—are amply represented, and the
Diptera, no less so—gnats and flies. On the other hand,
those insect tribes which display the largest and most
beautiful species, the beetles and butterflies, are not seen in
such abundance as might be expected from the character of
the flora. The Orthoptera, however—the locusts and grass-
hoppers—are very remarkable, various, and peculiar. But
for the present I will enlarge no farther on this strange
world of creatures, as I shall have occasion to speak of it
more fully.
The families of the Arachnidae, or spiders, here form a
very interesting group of the Articulata, from the minutest
mites and ticks to the monstrous bird-catching spiders and
scorpions. Their near allies, the Myriapoda, are also both
common and colossal; some of them being as much as a foot
in length, and much dreaded for their venomous bite: I saw
“WHIST BUNGALOW.” 105
a few magnificent specimens on the very first morning of
my stay at “Whist Bungalow,” but I could devote no time
to them just then ; my whole attention was riveted by the
marvels of the plant world.
I would gladly have devoted months and years to a
thorough study of this flora, to which, as it was, I could give
up only days and weeks. Besides, the Indian Sun beat
down from the cloudless sky with such brightness that the
intense light and colour were almost too much for my unac-
customed northern eyes, and the heat would soon have been
quite intolerable but that a light cool sea-breeze came to
mitigate it. It was the 22nd of November, my good father's
birthday; he had died at the age of ninety, just ten years
since. He would on this day have completed his hundredth
year, and as I inherit my love and enjoyment of nature
from him—he particularly delighted in fine trees—a pecu-
liar holiday sentiment took possession of me, and I accepted
the keen and rapturous feelings of this unique moment as a
special gift in honour of the day.
Such delights of nature as these have one inestimable
advantage over all the pleasures of art, or even all other
pleasures in life, for they never weary, and the mind that is
open to them can return to them again and again with
new interest and with enhanced appreciation, which ever
increase as a man grows older. Thus it was that I repeated
my morning walk in the paradise of the “Whist Bungalow."
garden and its vicinity, sometimes on the river bank, some-
times on the sea-shore, every day while my good fortune
allowed of it; and that even on the last morning I spent
in Ceylon, March 18, 1882, I took leave of it with a sense
of quitting Paradise lost.
106 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
My botanical knowledge was still farther increased
within the next few days, as the visits which I paid to
English families, to whom I had been introduced, gave me
admission to several gardens in the southern suburbs of
Colombo, Slave Island, and Kolpetty. Certain days linger in
my memory as especially delightful which I spent in “Temple
Trees Bungalow.” Temple tree is the name here given to
the Plumiera, of which the beautiful, fragrant blossoms are
everywhere strewn by the Cinghalese in the Buddhist
temples, with those of the jasmine and the oleander, as
sacrificial flowers before the images of Buddha. Two old
and splendid specimens of the Plumiera stand, with a few
gigantic Caswarimas, on the broad grass-plot which divides
the villa named after them from the Galle Road, in Kolpetty.
The owner, Mr. Staniforth Green, invited me in the
most cordial manner to spend a few days there with him,
and I found him a most amiable man, taking a deep and
hearty interest in the study of nature. He devotes all the
leisure allowed him by his business, as owner of a great
coffee-factory, to the cultivation of his beautiful garden, and
to collecting and observing insects and plants. Mr. Green
has for years more particularly turned his attention to the
life and development of the minutest insect forms, with that
patient and loving care which distinguished the naturalists
of the last century, but which is growing daily more rare
among the “aspiring” investigators of the present day. He
has made a number of elegant observations, some of which
have been published in English journals. He showed me a
great number of most carefully preserved curiosities, and
made me a present of some of the most interesting. His
ephew also, who assists him in his business, shares these
“WHIST BUNGALOW.” 107
favourite pursuits of his leisure hours, and showed me a
very pretty collection of insects. He gave me, among
other things, several specimens of the huge bird-catching
spider (Mygale), which he himself had frequently seen in
pursuit of small birds—Nectarimia—and the small gecko
(Platydactylus). -
Mr. Green's garden, which contains some old and noble
specimens of Caesalpinia–Flamboyant, as it is called here
—fine Yuccas (Adam's needle), and reed-palms (Calamus),
adjoins on the east a pretty bay of the large lagoon lying
between Kolpetty, Slave Island, and the Fort. One fine
evening we rowed in a canoe across the mirror-like pool,
covered with magnificent white and red water-lilies, to the
house of Mr. William Ferguson. This friendly old gentle-
man, who for many years has filled the post of Inspector of
Roads, also gives up his spare time to Zoological and botani-
cal studies, and has enriched these branches of science by
many valuable contributions. I am indebted to him for
much interesting information. He must not be mistaken
for his brother, the Ceylon Commissioner, who edits and
publishes the most influential paper in the island, the
Ceylon. Observer. This paper is conducted by him in the
spirit of stern and gloomy Orthodoxy and conservative
rigidity which unfortunately characterizes so many pro-
fessedly liberal English journals.
Another day, Mr. Green took me to the Colombo
Museum, a handsome two-storied building in Cinnamon
Gardens, intended for collections of all the literary, historical,
and matural treasures of the island. The ground floor con-
tains on One side a fine library, and on the other the
antiquities, ancient inscriptions, sculptures, coins, ethno-
[08 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
graphical collections, etc. In the upper story is a rich
collection of natural history, particularly of dessicated and
stuffed animals, exclusively Cinghalese. Insects are re-
markably well represented, being the special study of the
director, Dr. Haly, who was absent at the time ; and next
to these, birds and reptiles. In most departments of the
lower animals, however, much remains to be done. Still,
the Colombo Museum, even now, affords a good general
view of the rich and peculiar fauna of the island. The
Zoologist who comes here direct from Europe will, no doubt,
find the state of a large part of the collection unsatisfactory;
the stuffed and desiccated specimens are in many cases
badly prepared, mildewed, decayed, etc. But only a new-
comer will criticize this, in his ignorance of the extreme
difficulties that stand in the way of the formation and
maintenance of any cºllection of this kind in the damp hot-
house climate of Ceylon. It was my fate ere long to have
Some bitter experiences of this. -
Just as all kinds of leather and paper work mildew
and drop to pieces, and everything made of iron and steel
gets covered with rust in spite of the greatest care, so the
chitinous bodies of insects and the skins of vertebrate
animals sooner or later perish under the combined influence
of a constant temperature of 25° to 30° centigrade, and an
amount of moisture in the air which quite beats all our
European powers of conception. Still worse in many cases
are the combined attacks of myriads of various insects :
ants both black and red, some two and three times as large
as ours, others about the same size, and others again almost
microscopically small; white ants or termites, the worst
foes of all; gigantic cockroaches (Blatta), paper-mites
“WHIST BUNGALOW.” I09
(PSOCMs), museum weevils, and such small folk, seem to vie
with each other in the work of destruction. To protect a
collection against the attacks of these minute and innumer-
able enemies is, in Ceylon, not merely difficult, but in some
cases impossible ; I myself, in spite of every precaution, lost
a large portion of my dried collections.
The effecº of the tropical heat, at only seven degrees
from the equator, and combined with the excessive
humidity, On Our European manufactured articles, as well
as on the natural products of the island, is a thing of which
we at home can form no idea. After the first delightful days
of seeing and wondering were over at “Whist Bungalow,”
I set to work to unpack my paraphermalia and instruments
from the trunks and cases; and in what a state did I find
them . In every scientific instrument those portions that
were made of steel or iron were rusted; not a screw would
run smoothly. All the books, all the paper, all the articles
made of leather, were damp and mildewed; and—what went
most to my soul—that famous black dress-coat, which plays
as important a part in English Society here as it does at
home in Europe, was, when I took it out of its box—white
It, and all my cloth clothes, was covered with layers of
delicate forms of fungus, which only disappeared after many
days of exposure to the sun. For this reason, in every
European house in Colombo it is the special duty of a
servant, known as the “clothes-boy,” to air the clothes
beds, linen, papers, etc., every day in the Sun, and keep
them free from mould.
Worse even than this was it to find that a new photo-
graphic camera, made by one of the first firms in Berlin, of
what professed to be “the best seasoned wood,” was abso-
110 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
lutely useless, every part of it having warped. The lids of
almost all the wooden cases had sprung; the empty en-
velopes were all stuck down; various boxes of powdered
gum arabic contained a stiff glutinous mess; while in a
tin of peppermint lozenges I found nothing left but syrup.
Stranger still was the condition of the boxes of effervescent
powders. The tartatic acid had disappeared from all the
blue papers, and the white ones, instead of carbonate of
soda, contained sodic tartrate; the tartaric acid had melted,
had mixed with sodium and released the carbonic acid.
Thus, even before they were unpacked, the damp heat
had destroyed a quantity of things which we never think
of as destructible. And yet the four months I spent in
Ceylon fell during the dry season, as it is called, of the
north-east monsoon, which blows from November till April.
What must the state of things be in the rainy season, from
May till November, when the cloud-laden south-west mon-
soon is blowing 2 My friends, indeed, told me that they
gave up all idea then of keeping anything dry, and that the
water trickled down the inside walls.
It seems self-evident that such a hot-house climate, so
utterly unlike ours in Central Europe, must have a very
different effect on any human frame accustomed to more
temperate conditions; and, in fact, the struggle with the
inimical climate is everywhere, every day and at all times,
a theme of conversation. I must confess I was somewhat
anxious as to how I myself should endure it. During my
first week in Colombo I began to feel a great deal of the
inconvenience and lassitude which are inseparable from
it; particularly during the sultry nights, when the thermo-
meter rarely fell below 25° centigrade, never down to 23°,
“WHIST BUNGALOW.” 111
while during the day it often rose to 30° or 33° in the shade
(from 86° to 90° Fahrenheit). However, it was more en-
durable the second week than it had been the first, and
later, not even on the south coast at not much above 5°
N. lat., I never suffered so much as during those first
sleepless nights and exhausting days in Colombo. .
Under these conditions, of course, the frequent baths
which, to Europeans and natives alike, are the greatest
refreshment of the day, are quite indispensable. I commonly
took two: one on rising at about six, and a second before
the meal here called breakfast—in reality a luncheon—at
about eleven. When in the south, I commonly indulged in
a third bath in the evening, before dinner, at seven or half-
past. I also at Once adopted the usual garb of Europeans
here, made of thin white cotton stuffs, a comfortable gauze
jersey under a light loose coat. Precious above all as a
constant head-covering was a Calcutta hat, or sola, helmet,”
which I had bought in Port Said for three francs. This
incomparable helmet is made of the very light and tough
wood of the Sola or Sho'd plant, resembling elder-pith; it is
constructed with a double dome-like crown and a deep brim,
like a Sou'wester, completely protecting the nape and neck.
The brim is lined round the head with a strip of waxed
linen, to which a series of separate discs are attached in
such a way as that these only rest against the head; the
air can pass between them freely, and the temperature
inside the hat remains low. -
By careful use of these and other precautions I remained
perfectly well throughout my stay in Ceylon, although—Or
* These are made of Shola, which is the soft pith-like wood of a legu-
minous plant—Aeschynonvene Aspera.
II 2 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
perhaps because—I took a great deal of exercise, and was
almost always out of doors, even in the noontide heat. It
is true I lived more regularly and temperately than is
common among the Europeans there, and consumed not half
the amount of meals and of liquor which the English con-
sider indispensable. Indeed, when, after a few years
residence here, they generally suffer from disorders of the
stomach and liver, I must think that the fault lies less in the
hot climate than in the want of exercise, on the one hand,
and the unnecessary amount of food consumed on the other;
for the residents often eat and drink twice or thrice as much
as is necessary for health—heavy rich food and fiery
spirituous liquors. In this respect they display a con-
spicuous contrast to the extremely simple and frugal natives,
who, for the most part, live chiefly on rice, with curry and a
little fruit at most, and who drink water exclusively, or a
little palm-wine.
In Ceylon, as in most parts of India, the daily order of
meals among Europeans is as follows:–In the morning,
immediately on rising, tea and biscuits, bread, eggs or
marmalade, banana, mangos, pine-apples, and other fruit.
At ten comes breakfast—according to German notions a
complete dinner with three or four courses; fish, roast
fowls, beefsteaks, and more especially curry and rice, the
national Indian dish, are never absent. This curry is pre-
pared in many ways from spices of various kinds, with
small pieces of vegetables or meat, making a highly flavoured
compound. Tiffin at one o'clock is a third meal of tea or
beer with cold meat, bread, butter, and jam. Many persons
take tea or coffee again at three or four o'clock; and finally,
at half-past seven or eight, comes the great event of the
“WHIST BUNGALOW.” 13
day: dinner of four to six courses, like a great dinner in
Europe; soup, fish, several dishes of meat, curry and rice
again, and various sweet dishes and fruits. With this
Several kinds of wine are drunk—sherry, claret, and cham-
pagne, or strong beer imported from England; latterly,
however, the light and far wholesomer Vienna beer has
been introduced. In many houses some portion of these
Superabundant meals is dispensed with ; but in general the
living in India must be condemned as too luxurious and too
rich, particularly if we compare it with the simple and
frugal diet common in the south of Europe. This is quite
the view of many of the older English residents who are
themselves exceptions to the rule, and, living very simply,
have nevertheless spent twenty or thirty years in the
tropics in unbroken good health ; as, for instance, Dr.
Thwaites, formerly director of the botanical gardens at
Peradenia.
C EIA PTE R. W.
KADUWELLA.
THE crowd of new, grand, and delightful impressions which
rushed upon me during my first week in Ceylon culminated
in a beautiful excursion arranged by my friends for
November 27th, to Kaduwella. It was my first Sunday in
the island, and although all the various pleasures of the
foregoing week-days had made of each a day of rejoicing,
my holiday mood was still farther raised by the in-
cidents of this first Sunday. This expedition to Kaduwella
was my first longer excursion in the neighbourhood of
Colombo, and as the scenery which I here saw for the first
time agrees in all its essential and permanent characteristics
with most of the low country of the south-west coast, I will
attempt a brief description of it in this place.
Kaduwella is a Cinghalese village on the left or southern
bank of the Kalany river, at about ten miles (English) from
“Whist Bungalow.” An excellent road, which goes on to
Avisavella and Fort Ruanvella, runs sometimes close to the
Wooded shore and sometimes at a little distance above it, to
cut off the numerous windings of the river. Like all the
roads in the island which are much used, this is admirably
kept up; and this is the more noteworthy because the
frequent and violent rains are constantly washing down
IKADUWELLA II.5
large quantities of soil, and make it very difficult to keep
the roads in good order. But the English Government, here
as in all its colonies, considers, very justly, that the main-
tenance and construction of easy communication is one of
its first and most important duties; and it is a proof of
the great gift of the English for colonization that they spare
neither trouble nor cost in carrying out such undertakings,
even under the greatest difficulties in the character of the
country, aggravated by the tropical climate.
My hosts of “Whist Bungalow” and some German fellow-
countrymen, who were at that time living in the neighbour-
ing bungalow of Elie House—for some time the residence
of Sir Emerson Tennent—had made every preparation for
our gastronomical enjoyment on this excursion. Every-
thing, solid and fluid, that could be desired for our elegant
picnic breakfast, together with our guns and ammunition,
and phials and tin boxes for what we might collect, were all
packed into the light open one-horse conveyances which
every European owns. They are usually drawn by a brisk
Burmese pony or a stronger beast of Australian breed;
indeed, almost all the riding and carriage horses in the
island are imported from the Peninsula or from Australia,
for horse-breeding does not succeed in Ceylon, and European
horses suffer from the climate and soon become useless.
The little Burmese ponies go at a capital pace, though they
have not much staying power; about ten miles is commonly
as much as they can do. The drivers are generally black
Tamils in a white jacket with a red turban; they run
behind the vehicle with extraordinary endurance, or stand
up from time to time on the step. They are obliged to keep
up an incessant shouting, for the Cinghalese themselves—
116 A VISIT TO CEYLON,
particularly the old folks—as well as their oxen and dogs,
manifest a decided predilection for being run over, in pre-
ference to moving out of the way.
We left “Whist Bungalow" before sunrise, and drove
through the last houses of Mutwal and the Parade beyond,
out into the green and smiling country which spreads to
the foot of the hills; here jungle, there park-like meadow-
land and rice-fields. The outskirts of Colombo, as of all
the towns in Ceylon, insensibly dwindle into long scattered
hamlets, extending for miles; and as the isolated native
huts which compose them are generally at wide intervals,
each surrounded by its own plot of garden, field, or grove,
the frontier line of each village is often difficult to draw
and a purely imaginary boundary. In the more densely
populated and highly cultivated districts of the south-west
coast, there is in fact no visible division, and it might be
said that the whole low country between Colombo and
Matura, the south-western point of the island, is covered
by one endless village of Indian huts and fruit gardens,
jungle and cocoa-nut groves. The same features recur
throughout this Eden-like garden land ; low brown mud-
huts, shaded by bread-fruit and mango trees, Cocos and
Areca palms, and embowered in pisang groves made beau-
tiful with the spreading leaves of the caladium and Ricinus,
the graceful papaw, clumps of manihot and other useful
plants. The indolent Cinghalese lie stretched on benches
before their open huts, happy in their idleness, contem-
plating the ever green surroundings, or busy in weeding
out the native population of their long black hair. Naked
children play in the road, or hunt the butterflies and lizards
which make it gay.
IKADUWELLA. 117
At certain hours of the day, on the more frequented roads,
numbers of ox-carts are to be met, small ones with one or
larger ones with two beasts; these constitute the chief—
indeed almost the sole—vehicles for transport and commu-
nication used by the natives. The oxen are all of the kind
known as the Zebu (Bos indicus), and have a hump on
their shoulders. The Zebu, however, like the European
bull, has many varieties; one small breed can run fast and
steadily. The natives rarely use horses, and there are no
asses in the island. It swarms, however, with dogs, in
front of every hut—pariah dogs, as they are called—all of
the same breed, and seeming to betray their descent from
the wild jackal by their form, colour, and behaviour. Every-
where, too, we see small black pigs (Sus imdicus), and not
unfrequently lean leggy goats, more rarely sheep. Fowls
are plentiful, ducks and geese less common. These are the
simple and invariable elements that constitute the domestic
scenery of south-west Ceylon. But these elements are
mixed with Such fascinating irregularity and in such end-
less variety, they are so gorgeously lighted up and coloured
by the tropical Sunshine, the neighbouring sea or river
gives them such restful freshness, and the forest back-
ground with the distant blue mountains beyond lends them
so much poetic sentiment, that it is impossible to weary of
enjoying them; and the landscape painter may find here as
endless a succession of subjects as the genre painter—beau-
tiful subjects, almost unknown in our exhibitions.
One particularly delightful feature of the Ceylon coast
is the insensible transition from garden to forest land, from
culture to the wilderness. Often I have fancied myself
in some beautiful wild spot, with tall trees on all sides,
II8 R A VISIT TO CEYLON.
wreathed and overgrown with creepers; but a hut shroudel
under the branches of a bread-fruit tree, a dog or a pig
trotting out of the brushwood, children at play and hiding
under the caladium leaves, have betrayed the fact that I
was in a native garden. And, on the other hand, the true
forest which lies close at hand, with its mingled species of
the most dissimilar tropical trees, with its Orchids, cloves,
lilies, mallows, and other gorgeous flowering plants, is so
full of variety and beauty that it is easy to fancy it a lovely
garden. This peculiar harmony between nature and culti-
vation characterizes even the human accessories of this
garden-wilderness, for the simplicity of their garments and
dwellings is so complete that they answer perfectly to the
description given of true Savages, though they are descended
from a long civilized race.
All these scenes are doubly attractive and picturesque
in the cool light of early day, when the sun strikes level
beams through the trees, casting long shadows from the
slender trunks of the palms, and breaking into a thousand
flecks of light on the huge torn leaves of the banana trees.
At the time of my visit, during the north-east monsoon
the bright morning hours were always deliciously cool and
enjoyable, with a cloudless sky and a fresh sea-breeze,
though the thermometer rarely fell below 23° or 22°: it
was not till between nine and ten that the heat began to
be oppressive and clouds gathered, which usually discharged
themselves in a violent shower in the afternoon. When
this was over, by about four or five, the evening hours again
seemed doubly glorious, all the more so because the setting
Sun fired the western horizon with gold, and flooded the
clouds with a glow of hues that defy all description. It
KADUWELLA. 119
happened, however, that the weather was by no means so
regular as usual that season, but in various ways somewhat
abnormal. On the whole, the weather favoured me through-
out my journey, and very few days were spoilt by persistent
rain beginning so early in the day as to interfere with the
work or the excursion I had planned.
After a most amusing drive of two hours we reached
the village of Kaduwella, very picturesquely situated on a
sudden bend of the Kalany river. On an elevated point,
shaded by noble trees, stands the “rest-house,” where we
were to stop and take out the horses, looking pretty and
inviting. “Rest-houses” is the name given in Ceylon, as
in India, to the houses which, in the absence of inns, the
Government has provided for the shelter of travellers, and
which are under its supervision. There are but three
towns in all Ceylon that can boast of hotels—Colombo,
Galle, and Kandy. The natives need them not. The
European traveller must therefore depend entirely on the
hospitality of European residents, where there are any, or
on the Government “rest-houses.” These, in fact, supply his
principal needs. The host, who is a Government servant
and known as the “rest-house keeper,” is bound to let the
traveller have a room with a bed. In it for a certain fixed
price—generally a rupee, or two shillings—and, if required,
he must also provide the barest necessaries by way of food.
This varies considerably in price, and So, of course, do the
capacities of the host himself. In the South-west corner of
the island, where I travelled most, I found them generally
willing and efficient; especially in Belligam, where I fixed
my laboratory for six weeks at the “rest-house.” In the
interior, on the contrary, and particularly in the north
120 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
and east of the island, the “rest-houses” are bad and very
dear. At Neuera Ellia, for instance, I had to pay a quarter
of a rupee a-piece for eggs, and half a rupee—a shilling—
for each cup of coffee. The “rest-house” of Kaduwella, the
first I had occasion to enter, was very humble and Small,
and as we had brought our own provisions, it afforded us
only chairs to sit on, fire and water for cooking, and a
pleasant shelter in its airy verandah against Sun and rain;
and for this we paid according to the tariff. Nothing but
death is to be had for nothing in India.
As soon as we arrived we set out with our guns to make
the most of the lovely morning hours. To the south of the
river and just behind the village rises an undulating hill,
over which the shooting party dispersed. The lower slopes
are covered with meadows and rice-fields carefully irrigated
by ditches and canals, and little pools into which the
cuttings open. The higher portion, a rolling, hilly country
of from one hundred to three hundred feet high, is over.
grown with the dense brushwood and undergrowth here
universally known as jungle. It was here that I first
became more closely acquainted with this characteristic
feature of the landscape, which throughout the island takes
possession of the soil wherever cultivation ceases. Jungle
is not, in fact, the “forest primaeval,” the wilderness un-
trodden of man. This has no existence in Ceylon, excepting
in a very few spots and those of very small extent, but it
answers to our conception of it in so far as in its fullest
development it is to all intents and purposes a forest, a
dense and impenetrable thicket of trees and shrubs. These
have grown up without any kind of order, and in such wild
confusion—so tangled with creepers and climbers, with
KADUWELLA. 121
parasitic ferns, orchids, and other hangers-on, every gap
closed with a compact network of bush and brake—that
it is quite impossible to unravel the knot and distinguish
the closely matted stems.
The first time I attempted to make my way into such
a jungle, I soon convinced myself that when once well
grown, it is absolutely impenetrable without axe and fire.
I spent a good hour in working through a few yards, and
then retreated, completely discouraged from any further
efforts; stung by mosquitoes, bitten by ants, my clothes
torn, my arms and legs bleeding, wounded by the thousand
thorns and spines by which the Calamws, climbing Hibiscus,
Euphorbia, Lamtama, and a legion of jungle shrubs bar the
way into their mysterious labyrinth. However, even this
failure was not in vain, for it taught me not only the
character of the jungle as a whole, and particularly the
beauty of its trees and climbers, but I saw a quantity of
individual forms of plants and animals of the highest
interest. I saw the magnificent Gloriosa Superba, the
poisonous climbing lily of Ceylon, with its golden-red crown;
the thorny Hibiscws radiatw8, with large sulphur-coloured
blossoms, purple-stained in the cup : around me fluttered
huge black butterflies with blood-red spots on their
swallow-tailed wings, metallic beetles, etc.
But what delighted me most was that here, in the first
jungle I invaded in Ceylon, I met with the two most
characteristic natives of these wilds in the higher ranks of
animal life: parrots and monkeys. A flock of green parrots
rose screaming from a tall tree that towered above the
jungle, as soon as they caught sight of my gun, and at the
Same moment a troop of large black monkeys Scampered off
122 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
into the thicket, Snarling and squealing. I did not succeed
in shooting a specimen of either; they seemed perfectly
aware of the use and effect of firearms. I was consoled,
however, by finding that the first shot. I fired had killed an
enormous lizard above six feet long, the singular Hydro-
Saurus Salvator, a species greatly dreaded by the Super-
stitious natives. The huge crocodile-like reptile was
Sunning itself on the edge of a ditch, and my first shot hit
him so neatly in the head that he was instantly dead; if
they are shot in any other part these animals, which are
extremely tenacious of life, usually plunge into the water
and disappear, and they can defend themselves so vigorously
with their powerful tail, which is covered with plate armour
and has a sharp ridge, that a blow often inflicts a dangerous
wound, or even breaks a man's leg.
After wading through several water-courses, we went
through a scattered plantation and up a charming avenue
to a wooded hill, on which is a famous Buddhist temple, the
goal of many pilgrims. We found here a number of huts
in groups under the thick shade between the columnar
trunks of gigantic trees (Terminalia and Sapindus), and
looking exactly like children's toys. Farther on, we came
to a sun-lighted clearing where gaudy butterflies and birds
were flying about in numbers, particularly some fine wood-
peckers and wood-pigeons. At last a flight of steps between
talipot trees led us up to the temple, which is most
picturesquely placed in the middle of the wood, under the
shelter of a fine mass of granite. A large natural cave,
which seems to have been artificially enlarged, extends far
into the side of the overhanging cliff. The great pillared
hall of the temple, which has six round arches on the front
Kaduwelia. - I23
and three on the narrower gable side, is so constructed that
the bare rock not only forms the back wall of the temple
but has supplied the material for the colossal figure of
Buddha reposing, which is supported against it. This
image of the god is identically the same in every Buddhist
temple which I visited in Ceylon, and so are the uniform
painted decorations on the temple walls, which invariably
represent scenes from his life on earth. These, with their
stiff drawing and simple harsh colouring, yellow, brown,
and red for the most part, strongly recall the ancient
Egyptian wall-paintings, though in detail they are as
different as possible. The reclining figure of Buddha, lean-
ing on his left arm and dressed in a yellow robe, always
wears the same inane and indifferent expression, resembling
the fixed smile of the old AEginetan statues. Hard by
most of the Buddhist temples stands a dagoba, as it is called,
a bell-shaped dome without any opening, which is always
supposed to contain some relic of the god. The size of these
dagobas varies greatly, from that of a large church-bell to the
circumference of the dome of St. Peter's at Rome. Near the
dagoba an ancient and spreading bo-gaha commonly grows,
a banyan or Sacred fig (Ficus religiosa). In many places in
Ceylon these Buddha-trees, with their huge trunks, fantas-
tically twisted roots, and enormous expanse of leafy top,
are the most ornamental feature of the picturesque temple
precincts; their pointed heart-shaped leaves, with their long
and slender leaf-stalks, are in perpetual whispering motion
like those of the aspen. º -
A flight of steps cut in the rock behind the temple leads
to the top of the cliff, whence there is a pretty view over
the neighbouring hilly country and across the plain beyond
124 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
to the river. The immediate neighbourhood is planted with
fine groups of bananas and palms, and behind them the
impenetrable wood and undergrowth of climbers forms a
mysterious background quite in keeping with the Sanctity
of the spot. In the foreground, on a stone near the steps,
squatted a bald old priest in his yellow robe, a most
appropriate accessory figure. While I was making a sketch
in water-colour a Cinghalese boy clambered to the top of a
cocoa-nut tree and fetched me down a few of the golden-
brown nuts. I found the cool sub-acid liquid inside—
cocoa-nut milk as it is called—extremely refreshing under
the mid-day heat; I had never tasted it before.
The path by which we returned from the cave-temple
to Kaduwella led us through another part of the wood,
which again showed me a number of new insects, birds, and
plants; among others some noble teak trees (Tectomia
grandis), as well as a few gigantic specimens of the cactus-
like Euphorbia antiquorum, with its leafless, angular blue-
green stems. The last portion of the way, across boggy
meadow-land, was tremendously hot, and on our return the
first thing we did was to take a swim in the river—a delight-
ful refreshment, after which we enjoyed our jolly break-
fast with increased Zest. In the afternoon I, with some
others of the party, crossed the river in a boat, and took a
short walk in the wood on the right or northern bank of
the river. Here again, I saw a quantity of vegetable forms
hitherto unknown to me, particularly Aroids and Cannas,
and wondered afresh at the extraordinary wealth of the
flora, which has here assembled all its most wonderful and
beautiful productions. On the very edge of the water great
clumps of bamboo, mixed with Terminalia, Cedrela, and
KADUWELLA. 125
mangroves, were the principal growth. I shot a few green
pigeons and a fine kingfisher, twice as large and as hand-
Some as Our European species.
Late in the evening we returned home, loaded with
zoological, botanical, and artistic treasures. After that I
spent many delightful days among the jungle and river
scenery of Ceylon; some of it more beautiful, no doubt, than
that of Kaduwella. But it often happens in life that the
first impression of new and strange objects remains by far
the strongest and deepest, never to be dimmed by any later
experience of the same kind, and to me the first day I saw
the jungle at Kaduwella is one never to be forgotten.
CHAPTER WI.
PERADENIA.
IN the central province of Ceylon, and at a height of fifteen
hundred feet above the sea, stands the capital, formerly the
residence of the kings of the island, the famous town of
Kandy; and Only a few miles away from it is a small town,
which was also, for a short time, a royal residence five cen-
turies ago. At this place the English Government made a
botanical garden in 1819, and Dr. Gardner was the first
director. His successor, the late Dr. Thwaites, the very
meritorious compiler of the first “Flora Zeylanica,” for thirty
years did all he could to improve and carry out the purpose
of this garden in a manner worthy of its advantages of
climate and position. When he retired a year or two before
his death, Dr. Henry Trimen was appointed director; and
from him, immediately on my arrival, I received a most
friendly invitation. I accepted it all the more gladly
because in Europe I had already read and heard much of
the marvels of plant-life at Peradenia. Nor were my high
anticipations disappointed. If Ceylon is a paradise for every
botanist and lover of flowers, then Perademia deserves to
be called the very heart of Paradise.
Peradenia and Kandy are connected with Colombo by a
PERADENIA. 127
railway, the first made in Ceylon; the Journey occupying
from first to last between four and five hours. I started
from Colombo at seven in the morning of the 4th of
December, and reached Peradenia at about eleven. Like all
Europeans in Ceylon, I found I must travel in the first-
class—not moblesse but whiteness oblige. The second-class
is used only by the yellow and tawny burgers and half-
breeds, the descendants of the Portuguese and Dutch ; the
third-class, of course, carries the natives, the dark Cinghalese
and the nearly black Tamils. The only wonder to me is
that there is not a fourth for these last, and a fifth for
the despised low-caste Hindoos. The natives are always
great patrons of railway travelling; it is the only pleasure
on which they are prepared to spend money, all the more
So as it is a cheap one. Directly after the railway was
opened, the natives began travelling by the wonderful road
every day and all day long, for the mere pleasure of it.
The carriages are airy and light; the first-class well pro-
vided with protection against the heat, with wide eaves
and Venetian blinds. The engine-drivers and the guards,
in their white clothes with sola helmets, are Englishmen.
The line is worked with order and punctuality, like all the
English railways.
The first two hours' ride from Colombo to Peraderſia, lies
across a level country, most of it covered with marshy
jungle, varied by rice-fields and water-meadows. In these
herds of black buffaloes lie half in the water, while graceful
white herons pick the insects off their backs; farther on
the line gradually approaches the hills, and after Rambu-
kana station begins to work upwards. For an hour, between
this and the next station Kaduganawa, the line is in point
128 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
of Scenery one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. The
road winds with many zigzags up the steep northern face
of a vast basin or cirque. At first the eye is fascinated by
the changing aspect of the immediate foreground : immense
blocks of gneiss stand up amid the luxuriant masses of
dense forest which fill the ravines on each side; creepers
of the loveliest species fling themselves from one tree-top to
the next, as they tower above the undergrowth ; enchanting
little cascades tumble down the cliffs, and close by the rail-
road we often come upon the old high-road from Colombo
to Kandy, formerly so busy a scene, which was constructed
by the English Government, to enable them to keep possession
of the ancient capital.
Further on we command wider views, now of the vast
park-like valley which grows below us as we mount higher,
and now of the lofty blue mountain range which stands
up calm and proud beyond its southern wall. Although
the forms of the higher hills are monotonous and not
particularly picturesque—for the most part low, undulating
shoulders of granite and gneiss–Still a few more prominent
peaks rise conspicuous; as, for instance, the curious table
rock known as the “Bible Rock.” “Sensation Rock,” as it
is called, is one of the most striking and impressive features
of the scenery. The railway, after passing through several
tunnels, here runs under overhanging rocks along the very
edge of a cliff, with a fall of from twelve to fourteen hun-
dred feet, almost perpendicular, into the verdurous abyss
below. Dashing waterfalls come foaming down from the
mountain wall on the left, rush under the bridges over
which the line is carried, and, throwing themselves with a
mighty leap into mid air, are lost in mist before they reach
PERADENIA. 129
the bottom of the gorge, making floating rainbows where
the sun falls upon them. - * -
The green depths below, and the valley at our feet, are
covered partly with jungle and partly with cultivation;
scattered huts, gardens, and terraced rice-fields can be dis-
cerned. The lofty head of the talipot palm (Corypha.
wmbraculifera), the proud queen of the tribe in Ceylon,
towers above the scrub on every side. Its trunk is per-
fectly straight and white, like a slender marble column, and
often more than a hundred feet high. Each of the fans
that compose its crown of leaves covers a semicircle of from
twelve to sixteen feet radius, a surface of 150 to 200 square
feet; and they, like every part of the plant, have their uses,
particularly for thatching roofs; but they are more famous
because they were formerly used exclusively instead of
paper by the Cinghalese, and even now often serve this
purpose. The ancient Puskola manuscripts in the Buddha
monasteries are all written with an iron Stylus on this
“Ola "paper, made of narrow strips of talipot leaves boiled
and then dried. The proud talipot palm flowers but once
in its life, usually between its fiftieth and eightieth year.
The tall pyramidal spike of bloom rises immediately above
the sheaf of leaves to a height of thirty or forty feet, and is
composed of myriads of small yellowish-white blossoms; as
soon as the nuts are ripe the tree dies. By a happy accident
an unusual number of talipot palms were in flower at the
time of my visit; I counted sixty between Rambukkana
and Kaduganawa, and above a hundred in my whole
journey. Excursions are frequently made to this point from
Colombo, to see the strange and magnificent Scene.
The railroad, like the old high-road, is at its highest
K
130 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
level above the sea at the Kaduganawa pass, and a light-
house-shaped column stands here in memory of the
engineer of the carriage road, Captain Dawson. We here
are on the dividing ridge of two watersheds. All the
hundred little streams which we have hitherto passed,
threading their silver way through the velvet verdure of
the valley, flow either to the Kelany Ganga or to the Maha-
Oya, both reaching the Sea on the western coast. The
brooks which tumble from the eastern shoulder of Kadu-
ganawa all join the Mahavelli Ganga, which flows south-
wards not far below. This is the largest river in the island,
being about 134 miles long, and it enters the sea on the
east coast, near Trincomalee. The railway runs along its'
banks, which are crowded with plantations of sugar-cane,
and in a quarter of an hour from the pass we reach Pera-
denia, the last station before Kandy. -
When I arrived, at about eleven o’clock, I found Dr.
Timen waiting for me; he welcomed me most kindly, and
drove me in his carriage to the Botanical Garden, which is
about a mile distant. Immediately in front of it, the foam-
ing river is spanned by a fine bridge, built of satin wood, in
one arch of more than eight hundred feet across. Under
ordinary circumstances, the Crown of the bridge is seventy
feet above the level of the river, but an idea may be formed
of the enormous mass of water which collects after heavy
rains in the water-courses of Ceylon, when we learn that
the river rises here sometimes as much as fifty or sixty feet,
leaving no more than ten feet between the surface and the
arch of the bridge.
The entrance to the garden is through a fine avenue of
old indiarubber trees (Ficus elastica). This is the same as
PERAIDENIA. 131
the-Indian species, of which the milky juice when inspis-
Sated becomes caoutchouc, and of which young plants are
frequently grown in sitting-rooms in our cold northern
climate, for the sake of the bright polished green of its oval
leathery leaves. But while with us these indiarubber
plants are greatly admired when their inch-thick stems
reach the ceiling, and their rare branches bear fifty leaves,
more or less, in the hot moisture of their native land they
attain the size of a noble forest tree, worthy to compare
with our oaks. An enormous crown of thousands of leaves
growing on horizontal boughs, spreading forty to fifty feet on
every side, covers a surface as wide as a good-sized man-
sion, and the base of the trunk throws out a circle of roots
often from one hundred to two hundred feet in diameter,
more than the whole height of the tree. These very remark-
able roots generally consist of twenty or thirty main roots,
thrown out from strongly marked ribs in the lower part of
the trunk, and spreading like huge creeping snakes over
the surface of the soil. The india rubber tree is indeed
called the “Snake tree” by the natives, and has been com-
pared by poets to Laocoon entwined by serpents. Very
often, however, the roots grow up from the ground like
strong upright poles, and so form stout props, enabling the
parent tree to defy all storms unmoved. The spaces be-
tween these props form perfect little rooms or sentry-boxes,
in which a man can stand upright and be hidden. These
pillar-roots are developed here in many other gigantic trees
of very different families.
I had scarcely exhausted my surprise at this avenue of
Snake trees, when, exactly in the middle, beyond the entrance
of the gate, my eye was caught by another wonderful sight.
I32 A VISIT TO CEYLON
An immense bouquet there greets the visitor—a clump of all
the palms indigenous to the island, together with many
foreign members of this noblest growth of the tropics; all
Wreathed with flowering creepers, and their trunks covered
with graceful parasitical ferns. Another, but even larger
and finer group of palms, stood further on at the end of
the entrance avenue, and was, moreover, surrounded by a
splendid parterre of flowering-plants. The path here
divided, that to the left leading to the director's bungalow,
situated on a slight rise. This inviting home is, like most of
the villa residences in Ceylon, a low one-storied building,
surrounded by an airy verandah, with a projecting roof
Supported on light white columns. Both pillars and roof
are covered with garlands of the loveliest climbers; large-
flowered orchids, fragrant vanilla, splendid fuchsias, and
other brilliant blossoms, and a choice collection of flowering
plants and ferns decorate the beds which lie near the house.
Above it wave the shadowy boughs of the finest Indian
trees, and numbers of butterflies and chafers, lizards and
birds animate the beautiful spot. I was especially delighted
with the small barred squirrels (Sciurus tristriatus), which
looked particularly pretty here, though they are common
and very tame in all the gardens of Ceylon.
As the bungalow stands on the highest point of the
gardens, and a broad velvet lawn slopes down from it, the
open hall of the verandah commands a view of a large por-
tion of the garden, with a few of the finest groups, as well
as the belt of tall trees which enclose the planted land.
Beyond this park-like ground rise the wooded heads of the
mountains which guard the basin of Peradenia. The
beautiful Mahavelli river flows round the garden in a
PERADENLA. 133
wide reach, and divides it from the hill country. Thus
it lies in a horseshoe-shaped peninsula; on the land-
ward side, where it opens into the valley of Kandy, it is
effectually protected by a high and impenetrable thicket of
bamboo, mixed with a chevaux-de-frise of thorny rattan
palms and other creepers. The climate, too, is extra-
ordinarily favourable to vegetation; at a height of fifteen
hundred feet above the sea, the tropical heat of the moun-
tain basin, combined with the heavy rainfall on the neigh-
bouring mountains, make of Peradenia an admirable natural
forcing-house, and it can easily be conceived how lavishly
the tropical flora here displays its wonderful productive
powers. -
My first walk through the garden in the company of
the accomplished director convinced me that this was in
fact the case, and although I had heard and read much of
the charms of the prodigal vegetation of the tropics, and
longed and dreamed of seeing them, still the actual enjoy-
ment of the fabulous reality far exceeded my highest ex-
pectations, even after I had already made acquaintance
with the more conspicuous forms of this southern flora at
and near Colombo and Bombay. During the four days I
was so happy as to spend at Peradenia. I made greater
strides in my purview of life and nature in the vegetable
World than I could have made at home by the most diligent
study in so many months. Indeed, when, two months later,
I visited Peradenia for the second—and, alas ! for the last—
time and spent three more happy days in that paradise, it
enchanted me to the full as much when Iquitted it as it had
at the first glance; only I saw it with wider understanding
and increased knowledge. I cannot sufficiently thank my
I34 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
excellent friend Dr. Trimen for his kind hospitality and
valuable instruction; the seven days I spent in his delight-
ful bungalow were indeed to me seven days of creation.
At the time when I was at Peradenia, another English
botanist was staying there, Dr. Marshall Ward, under his
official title “Royal Cryptogamist.” He had studied chiefly
in Germany, and had been sent out to Ceylon two years
previously to investigate the terrible coffee-leaf disease—a
fungus attacking the leaves of the coffee shrub—which has
raged now for many years with increasing severity in the
coffee-plantations of Ceylon, destroying this valuable produce
throughout extensive tracts and wasting enormous sums of
the nation's money. Dr. Ward instituted a series of interest-
ing observations and experiments on this fungus, and
elaborately investigated this microscopic structure (Hemiléja
vastatria), which somewhat resembles rust in corn; he has
not, however, succeeded in finding any effectual cure. As
the reward of his labours he has been sharply attacked in
the papers, particularly by some of the coffee growers;
as though any one of the hundreds of botanists who have
turned their most careful attention to the investigation of
such, fungus-epidemics had always succeeded, even with the
most complete knowledge of the malady, in prescribing a
remedy. On the contrary, it is well known that this is
scarcely ever the case. Of all the foolish ideas which
we hear repeated every day in our “educated circles,” un-
doubtedly one of the most foolish is that “there is a remedy
for every disease.” The experienced physician or naturalist
who is familiar with the facts, knows that the remedies
are very few, and only marvels when he finds a specific
against any one disease—such as quinine in cases of fever.
PERADENIA. 135
It would carry me too far, and only fatigue the reader, if
I were to venture on an attempt, vain without the help of
pictures, to give him any idea of the botanical paradise of
Peradenia; indeed, the numerous sketches, in pencil and
colour, which I made there would be no adequate help. ;
must therefore confine myself to a few general remarks and
descriptions of the more important and typical plants.
Peradenia differs widely in one respect from most of our
European botanical gardens, for, instead of displaying the
plants in formal beds, drawn up like soldiers in lines and
companies, the whole plan of the garden, which is about a
hundred and fifty acres in extent, is parklike and calculated
for pleasing and characteristic effect as well as for scientific
instruction. The principal groups of trees, with such
families of plants as are allied to them, are elegantly
arranged on fine lawns, and good paths lead from one to
another. The less ornamental nursery-beds are placed in
a less conspicuous situation, with plots for growing and
Selecting useful plants. Almost every kind of useful vege-
table of the tropics and of both hemispheres is here repre-
sented, and seeds, fruits, and cuttings are distributed to
planters and gardeners throughout the island. The garden
has thus for several years vindicated its practical utility,
and has done good service both as a centre for botanical
observations and a garden of acclimatization.
The extraordinarily favourable climate and position of
Peradenia especially fit it, however, for more extensive use g
from a scientific point of view as a botanical station. In
the same way as our young Zoologists find the recently
established zoological stations on the sea-coast (at Naples,
Roscoff, Brighton, Trieste, etc.) of inestimable value for their
136 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
deeper scientific studies and experiments, a year's residence
at such a botanical station as Peradenia would give a young
botanist more experience and work than he could obtain in
ten years under the various unfavourable conditions at
home. Hitherto, less has been done in the tropical zone
than elsewhere for such establishments for study and ex-
periment, though they would be exceptionally beneficial.
If the English Government would establish and maintain
such a station for botany at Peradenia, and one for Zoology
at Galle—in the charming bungalow, for instance, belonging
to Captain Bayley, which is admirably suited to such a
purpose—they would be doing signal service to science, as
they have already done by the Challenger Expedition and
other great undertakings—and Once more put to shame
the great continental states of Europe, who spend their
money chiefly on breech-loaders and big guns.
I must now briefly speak of some at least of the chief
marvels of Peradenia, and I cannot but begin with the
famous giant bamboos, the wonder of all who behold them.
If on entering the garden we turn to the left towards the
river and follow its beautiful bank, we see from afar
enormous green thickets of bamboo, more than a hundred
feet high and as many wide, bending their mighty crowns,
like the huge waving plumes of some giant's helmet, Over the
river and the path, bestowing shade and coolness on both.
As we go nearer we see that each of these bushes consists
of several—often of sixty to eighty—tall cylindrical stems,
each from a foot to two feet thick. They grow closely
crowded together, thrown up from a common root like the
creeping stem of a rush, spreading towards the top, and
bearing on their frail lateral stems a dense mass of slender
PERADENIA. 137
green leaves. And these giants are nothing more than
grass Their huge hollow stems are divided by knots like
those of all the grasses; but the leaf-sheath, which in Our
fragile grasses is a filmy scale at the base of the leaf, is in
the great bamboo a strong woody curved plate, which with-
Out any further ceremony might serve as a breastplate to
cover the chest of a well-grown man: a child of three can
stand inside one section of the main stem. The bamboo, as
every one knows, is one of the most valuable plants of the
tropics. A whole book might be written on no other
subject than the various uses made of every part of this
plant by the natives, as of every part of the various kinds
of palm.
Next to the bamboo-or even before it—the palms are,
indeed, what attract our attention on every side. Besides
the indigenous species, all represented here by magni-
ficent specimens, we find a number of other palms—some
natives of the mainland of India, some from the Sunda
Isles and Australia, some from Africa and tropical America;
as, for instance, Livistonia, from China, with its enormous
crown of fan-shaped leaves; the celebrated Lodoiced of the
Seychelles, with its colossal spreading leaves; Elais, the
oil-palm of Guinea, the feathery leaves of which grow to an
enormous length; Mauritia, from the Brazils; Oreodoaca,
the proud king-palm of Havannah, etc. I had already
admired and sketched a noble specimen of Oneodoala in
Teueriffe in 1866, and was greatly surprised here to find a
whole avenue of these trees.
Not less interesting were the splendid clumps of thorny
climbing palms, or rattans (Calamus), with their graceful
waving plumes. Their stems, which, though not thicker
138 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
than a finger, are extremely tough and elastic, creep to the
top of the tallest trees and attain a length of from two
hundred to three hundred feet; the longest stems, perhaps,
of any plant known.
But, as the proverb says, “Man may not walk under
the palms and never rue it !”. While I was wandering
enchanted through the tall grass by the river under the
tall crown of an oil-palm, and carefully tracing the convo-
lutions of a climbing rattan, I suddenly felt a sharp nip in
my leg, and on baring it discovered a few small leeches
which had attached themselves firmly to the calf, and saw
at the same time half a dozen more of the nimble little
wretches mounting my boot with surprising rapidity, like
so many caterpillars. This was my first acquaintance with
the much-to-be-execrated land-leeches of Ceylon, one of the
intolerable curses of this beautiful island, of all its plagues
the worst, as I was afterwards to learn by much suffering.
This species of leech (Hirwdo Ceylamica) is one of the
smallest of its family, but at the same time the most un-
pleasant. Excepting near the sea and in the highest moun-
tains, they swarm in myriads in every Wood and bush; and
in some of the forests, particularly near the river banks, and
in the marshy jungle of the highlands and the lower hills,
it is impossible to take a single step without being attacked
by them. Not only do they creep along the ground seeking
what they may devour—they are on every bush and tree,
from which they frequently drop on to the head or neck of
the passer-by, while they always creep up his legs; nay,
they can even spring to reach their victim. When they
have sucked their fill they are about as large as an ordinary
leech; but, when fasting, they are no thicker than a thread
PERADENIA. 139
and scarcely more than half an inch long. They wriggle
through the elastic texture of a stocking with the greatest
rapidity. Often the bite is felt at the time, but as often it
is not. Once at an evening party I first became aware of
a leech by seeing a red streak of blood running down my
white trousers. -
To be rid of the leech a drop of lemon-juice suffices, and
for this purpose, when you walk out in Ceylon, you always
put a small lemon in your pocket. I often used instead
a drop of the carbolic acid, or spirit I carried about for
preserving small animal specimens. The result of the bite
is very different with different persons. Those who have a
tender skin—and I am unfortunately one of them—feel a
painful throbbing in the wound for some days, and a more
or less disagreeable inflammation of the surrounding skin.
As the leeches always by preference attack these inflamed
and irritated spots with fresh bites, the wound by constant
aggravation often becomes so serious as to be even dangerous.
When the English seized Kandy in 1815, they had to toil
for weeks through the dense jungle of the damp hill country,
and they lost a great many men from the incessant attacks
ºf the swarms of leeches. In neighbourhoods which are
...lost infested by them the Europeans wear leech-gaiters, as
they are called, as a protection—high overalls of indiarubber,
or of some very thick material, which cover the shoes and
are secured above the knees. I protected myself in the
jungle by painting a ring of carbolic acid round above my
high hunting-boots, and this line the leeches never crossed.
In some parts of the island, however, the Swarms of leeches
make any long stay almost impossible, as do the ticks
(Ivodes) in some other places.
140 -- A VISIT TO CEYLON.
Another terrible nuisance in the garden of Peradenia,
as in all parts of the island where there is much water,
were the clouds of mosquitoes and stinging flies. There are,
of course, mosquito curtains to every bed. But far more
dangerous than these annoying insects are the poisonous
Scorpions and millipedes, of which I have collected some
splendid specimens—scorpions six inches, and millipedes
a foot long. - -
One of the loveliest spots in Peradenia is the fernery.
Under the dim shade of tall trees on the cool shore of a
sparkling stream is a collection of ferns of every kind, large
and small, fragile and robust, herbaceous and treelike. It
is impossible to dream of anything more lovely and grace-
ful. All the charm of form which distinguishes even our
own native ferns with their feathery fronds, is here dis-
played in infinite variety, from the simplest to the most
elaborately compound; and while, on the one hand, some of
the minutest species of ferns are hardly to be distinguished
from a delicate moss, the tall tree-ferns, bearing a fine tuft
of feathery leaves at the top of their slender black stems,
reach the stately height of a palm tree.
Besides the ferns, we find the Cycadeae well represented
at Peradenia, as well as the elegant Selaginellae, of which
there is a fine collection of all the most interesting forms,
from the most delicate moss-like species to the robust and
bushy growths which almost resemble the extinct arbore-
scent Lycopodiae of the Carboniferous period. Indeed, many
of the plant-groups in this garden reminded me of the fossil
flora of earlier geological ages, as represented by Meyer in
his ingenious reconstructions of the scenery of the primaeval
world. A botanist can here study all the characteristic
PERADENIA. 141
families of the flora of the tropics through their most
interesting and remarkable representatives. -
Finally, to mention two features of the scene which
especially struck me, there were, first, the climbing plants
or lianas, and, secondly, the banyans. Although Creeping
and climbing plants are to be seen all over the island in the
greatest abundance and variety, the garden at Peradenia
can show a few splendid separate specimens, such as are
rarely to be met with—as, for instance, gigantic stems of
|Wités, Cissus, Purtada, Bigmonia, Ficus, etc.; and one or
two examples of banyan (Ficus indica) with enormous
aerial roots, and some allied species of fig (Ficus galaaifera
etc.), were among the largest and finest trees I saw any-
where in Ceylon. .
One of the oldest of these sacred figs, with an enormous
roof of branches Supported by numerous pillar-props, was a
really wonderful sight; it had lost a great portion of its .
foliage, and its bare boughs looked as if they were covered
with large hanging brown fruit. What was my astonish-
ment as I went up to it to see some of these brown fruits
detach themselves and fly away ! They were large flying-
foxes (Pteropus), belonging to that curious group of frugivo-
rous bats which are peculiar to the tropics of the old world
—Asia and Africa. A few well-aimed shots brought down
half a dozen, on which the whole swarm of several hundreds
left their hold and flew away Screaming loudly. Those
I had hit and had not killed outright fought violently with
their sharp teeth and curved claws, and it took some
trouble to master them with the help of a hunting knife.
These “flying-foxes,” or “flying-dogs,” are very like a fox
in shape, size, and colour, particularly about the head; but
142 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
their limbs, like those of all the bat tribe, are connected
by an elastic web, by means of which they fly about very
quickly and accurately. Their flight, however, is not at all
like that of our bats, and has more resemblance to that of a
crow. The flying foxes live on fruit and do great mischief.
They have a particular preference for the sweet palm-wine,
and they are often found in the morning—not infrequently
drunk—in the vessels which the Cinghalese place at night
in the palm-crowns to catch the flowing sap. This predi-
lection may no doubt be amply accounted for by the near
affinity of the bats to apes—as proved by their phyloge-
netic pedigree—and through apes to men. -
In the foxy-red fur of the flying-foxes I found a large
parasitic insect (Nycteribia), of a strange spider-like form,
belonging to the group of Pupipara." These, like the flea,
are really Diptera, or two-winged insects, which, in con-
sequence of their parasitical mode of life, have lost the use
of their wings, which have then become abortive. The
larvae are developed inside the mother to such a stage that
immediately on being released they enter the pupa state
and are very soon fully developed. The large Nycteribia of
the flying-fox ran with great swiftness over the body of
its host and over my hand when I endeavoured to catch
the specimens; then it hastily crept under my clothes, or
attached itself to my skin with its hook-like legs.
I was destined to make another interesting and some-
what dangerous discovery this same day. In the afternoon,
when heavy rain had set in, just as I was putting an
enormous black centipede into spirits, a large spectacled
Snake, the much dreaded cobra di capello, Naja tripwdians,
* Born in the pupa state
PERADENIA. 143
glided into my bedroom through the open door from the
garden. I had not observed it, though it had come to
within about a foot of me, and was first made aware of its
presence by my man's loud cries of “Cobra, cobra !” With
his assistance I had soon mastered the beautiful reptile,
which was about three feet and a half long, and it found
its last home in a keg of spirits, to which a very curious
Snake-like amphibian, the Caecilia or blind Snake, bad
already been consigned.
CEIAPTER WII.
RANDY.
AMONG the few towns of which Ceylon can boast, Kandy,
though so small as scarcely to deserve the name of a town,
is the most famous, partly as being the present chief town
of the mountainous central district, partly as having
formerly been the capital of the native kings, and, chiefly,
because a certain temple in Kandy contains the “sacred tooth”
of Buddha, one of the relics held most precious by his
worshippers. Besides all this, I had read in Sir Emerson
Tennent's delightful book on Ceylon a rapturous descrip-
tion of the incomparable beauty of the situation and
environs of Kandy, and later travellers, copying Tennent
for the most part, had echoed this enthusiastic praise. I
was therefore not a little excited at the idea of seeing
Kandy when I visited it from Peradenia—only three miles
away—on the brilliant morning of the 6th December.
I have often found by experience that very famous spots
which have for some time been the fashion and whose
praises have been sung by one traveller after another are in
reality hardly worth a visit, while not infrequently some
delightful but unknown place lies close at hand, which every
one passes by unheeded, simply because it is not mentioned
in the guide-books. This was precisely what happened to
KANDY. 145
me with regard to Kandy, and I will confess at once that
my visit to that far-famed town was from first to last a com-
plete disappointment. 4°
Kandy the “proud capital” might be more fitly
designated as a “humble village,” where the narrow streets
are composed of many more Cinghalese huts than European
bungalows. They are not even separated into a “fort ’’ and
“native town” like Colombo, Galle, Matura, and the other
towns in the island. The two long parallel main streets
run in a perfectly straight line from end to end, and so do
the few side streets, which cross them at right angles; the
“beautiful lake,” which lies outside the town and is spoken
of as its peculiar ornament, is a small rectangular artificial
tank, and its straight margins are planted with stiff avenues
of trees, likewise straight. Hence, when the visitor looks
across the little basin, in which the town and tank lie,
having climbed one of the low hills that surround it by
one of the numerous formal promenades, the view is pleasing
and regular, but anything rather than picturesque. The
scene is farther disfigured by a huge prison, newly erected,
with high, bare outside walls, much too large and ponderous
for the relatively small scale of the immediate surroundings.
Even the green hills, partly cultivated and partly wooded,
which shut in the valley, with a background of higher
elevation on One side, have no special beauty, either of form
or of picturesque grouping. Thus it turned out, that the
sketch-book, which I had carried with hopeful intent to
Kandy, came back empty, and that, with the best intentions
in the World, I could not hit upon a single spot worthy to
be recorded by the brush.
The prettiest thing in Kandy, to my taste, is the lovely
L
146 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
garden in which the English governor's modern residence
stands. It is charmingly laid out on the slope of a hill,
and contains some noble trees, and a number of fine
ornamental plants; still, of course, it is not to be compared
with Peradenia. The governor's house, in which, by his
polite invitation, I spent a most agreeable evening, contains
but few reception-rooms; but they are large, airy, and
elegantly furnished, and surrounded by pretty arcades and
verandahs. However, the presence of Scorpions, Snakes,
and such tropical “ small deer,” not to mention numbers of
leeches, must detract from the pleasures of a residence there.
The palace of the native kings, which stands near the
artificial lake, at a short distance outside the town, is a
gloomy building, all on the ground floor, and its dark
and mouldy chambers offer nothing worthy of remark,
excepting the huge masses of fungi and other cryptogamic
growths, which clothe the thick damp stone walls, both
without and within. A Royal Audience Hall, an open
structure Supported on pillars, near to the palace, is now
used for the public business of the district police.
The famous Buddha temple of Kandy again, which
stands within the same enclosing wall and surrounding
moat as the palace, did not fulfil the expectations raised by
its widely spread reputation. It is of small extent, badly
preserved, and devoid of any particular artistic merit. The
primitive wall paintings, and the carved ornaments in wood
and ivory, are the same as are to be seen in all other
Buddhist temples. As Kandy did not become the capital
of the native kings till the sixteenth century, and the
palace and the temple alike were built no longer ago than
1600, they have not even the charm of a high antiquity.
KANDY. - - 1 [7
Nor does the Buddha-tooth possess any special interest ; it
is kept concealed in the temple under a silver bell, in an
octagonal tower with a pointed roof. Although this tooth
has been an object of devout veneration and worship to
many millions of superstitious souls for more than two
thousand years and down to the present day, and although
it has—as Emerson Tennent expressly tells us—played an
important part in the history of Ceylon, it is in fact nothing
else than a simple rough-hewn finger-shaped bit of ivory,
about two inches long and One inch thick. There are,
however, many duplicates of the true tooth of Buddha; but
this, of course, in no way detracts from the Sacredness of
this relic.
From Kandy I made an excursion with my two botanical
friends, Dr. Trimen and Dr. Ward, to Fairyland, a few
miles farther, to visit Dr. Trimen’s predecessor, Dr. Thwaites
He was director of the Botanic Garden of Peradenia for thirty
years, and retired a few years before his death to enjoy his
well-earned leisure in the peaceful solitude of the hill country.
His little bungalow lies quite hidden in an elevated ravine
about eight miles south of Kandy, in the midst of coffee
plantations. This was the first coffee country I had seen,
but as I subsequently travelled for days through coffee
plantations in the hills I will not now pause to describe one.
Dr. Thwaites was the meritorious author of the first Flora
of Ceylon, which was published under the title of “Enume-
ratio Plantarum Zeylaniae” (London: 1864). In it he de-
scribed about three thousand vascular plants—about the
thirtieth part of all the species of plants which at that time
were known on the face of the globe. Since then, however,
many new species have been discovered on the island itself,
1 #S - A VISIT TO CEYLON.
which, according to Dr. Gardner's estimate, possesses about
five thousand species; at any rate, considerably more than
all Germany can boast. -
My copy of this Flora Zeylanica, which I had taken
with me, had formerly belonged to a German botanist of
Potsdam–Nietner. He had been in the island when young,
as a gardener, and by his industry and thrifty diligence he
acquired a considerable coffee-plantation. For a quarter of
a century he was an indefatigable student of the natural
history of Ceylon, and particularly distinguished as a dis-,
coverer of new insects. He unfortunately died shortly
before his intended return to Germany. His widow, who
is still living at Potsdam, and from whom I obtained much
useful information before starting, presented me in the
kindest way with several books that had belonged to hel
husband, among others with this Flora of Thwaites' which
the author had given him. It was no small pleasure to the
worthy old man when I showed him this copy with the
inscription in his own handwriting. It was no doubt the
first copy that had ever travelled from Ceylon to Germany,
and back again to the island in a naturalist's possession.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE ROAD FROM COLOMIBO TO GALLE.
THE two first weeks of my stay in Ceylon had flown like a
dream of constant wonder and delight. In Colombo I had
made acquaintance with the most remarkable characteristics
of Cinghalese nature and humanity, and at Peradenia. I
had admired the amazing fecundity and variety of tropical
vegetation. Now it was high time that I should turn my
attention to the scientific object of my journey—the study,
namely, of the multiform and, to a great extent, unknown
creatures of the Indian seas. I was more particularly
anxious to examine those classes of marine creatures to
which I had for many years been devoting my chief atten-
tion—Monera and Radiolaria, Sponges and Corals, Medusae
and Siphonophora, as they exist on the shores of Ceylon.
I might hope to find some quite new modifications of struc-
ture as developed under the influence of the tropical sun
and the general conditions of life.
The conditions under which these classes of marine
creatures attain their full development are highly compli-
cated, and it is by no means a matter of indifference where
on the sea-coast we attempt to study them. Not only are
they affected by the universal conditions of sea-water—its
Saltness, purity, temperature, strength of current, and depth,
I50 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
but the nature of the coast—as being rocky or sandy, chalk
or schist, barren or rich in vegetation—has an important
influence on the development of the marine fauna. Espe-
cially marked are the effects of a greater or less admixture
of fresh water, and the greater or smaller force of the waves
and surf, as being favourable to the existence of certain
groups of animals, while to others they are injurious or
fatal. For any extensive multiplication of those classes of
floating sea-creatures which I am specially interested in
investigating—Radiolaria, Medusae, and Siphonophora—
the most favourable situations are marine bays with deep,
clear still water, protected by rocky promontories, free from
any great influx of fresh water and stirred by currents which
carry in shoals of floating creatures. It is to such a com-
bination of conditions that the harbour of Messina, the
bay of Naples, and the gulf of Villafranca in the Mediter-
ranean have long owed their repute and popularity among
Zoologists.
A glance at a map of India at once betrays the fact that
very few such sheltered bays exist round its shores; they
are neither so many nor so extensive as on the indented
and varied coast of our incomparable Mediterranean. On
the shores of Ceylon, however, there are three such sheltered
gulfs—the two fine harbours of Galle and of Belligam on
the South-west coast, and the large island-studded gulf of
Trincomalie on the north-east. Trincomalie was, indeed,
pronounced by Nelson to be one of the best harbours in
the world. The English Government, a sovereign power
in every quarter of the globe, as keen to perceive as it is
prompt to improve and utilize every natural advantage, did
not fail, on taking possession of Ceylon, to fortify Trinco-
THE ROAD FROM COLOMBO TO GALLE. 15?
malie and make it the naval port of the island. The Dutch
had previously built two small forts on two headlands to
protect the harbour—Fort Frederick to the north-east and
Fort Ostenburg to the south. These were strengthened
and extended by the English, who also greatly improved
the little town. But much yet remains to be done, par-
ticularly when it is remembered that Trincomalie is the
largest and most important harbour of refuge in all British
India. In the struggle which sooner or later England must
go through to keep her hold upon India, the stronghold and
port of Trincomalie must undoubtedly prove of the utmost
importance. -
The harbour of Trincomalie is remarkable not only for
its extent and depth, but for its numerous inlets and bays
and the little wooded islands which guard its entrance; and,
merely from its aspect, we are prepared to find it richly
populated with marine life. In point of fact, several groups
of animals, and more particularly Mollusca and Echinoder-
mata, which creep upon the rocky bottom, appear to exist
in a greater variety of species here than on any other part
of the coast of Ceylon. It has long been famous for its
handsome shells, richly coloured univalves, and elegantly
formed bivalves; and several maturalists who have visited
Trincomalie have discovered new and interesting forms of
marine life. It was, therefore, very natural that I should
direct my observations to this spot above all others, and
decide on dredging and fishing in its waters for a month at
least. Unfortunately, however, insuperable difficulties arose
when I proposed carrying out this project.
The communication between Trincomalie and the
capital is even now very defective, and leaves much to
152 * A VISIT TO CEYLON.
be desired, whether by water or by land. A railway is
projected between Kandy and Trincomalie, but is not yet
begun. As Kandy is, as nearly as may be, half-way
between the eastern and western coasts, and has long been
connected with the western side by the Colombo railway,
the extension of the line to the east coast seems in-
dispensable, particularly when we consider the great
strategical importance of Trincomalie and the Superiority
of its harbour, which is but little used by the mercan-
tile marine. In spite of all this, Trincomalie can still only
be reached from Kandy by a very difficult and fatiguing
road, passing day after day through dense and uninhabited
forests. At the beginning of December, too, when I wanted
to make the journey, this road was in a particularly bad
state. The heavy rain-fall accompanying the south-west
monsoon had swept away many of the bridges, and made
large tracts impassable; I could not but fear that the
bullock-carts, which would have to carry my sixteen
cases of instruments, etc., would stick on the way, or
only arrive after much delay and with much damage.
Nor was the sea-voyage more promising. The Govern-
ment despatches a small steamship, the Serendib, every
month to make the circuit of the island, taking the northern
half and the southern half first, alternately. This little
coasting vessel is the only means of regular and direct
communication between the principal places on the coast,
otherwise there is no intercourse, but by very uncertain
and infrequent Sailing boats. As ill-luck would have it, at
the very time when I wanted to go to Trincomalie by the
Seremdib, it had suffered serious damage in a storm, and
had gone to Bombay for repairs. Thus, in the first place, I
THE ROAD FROM COLOMBO TO GALLE. T 53
had to postpone my visit to Trincomalie till a later date,
and then, to my great regret, in consequence of other hinder-
ances, the plan could not be carried out at all.
For the moment, then, I had no choice but to set out for
the south coast, and set up my zoological laboratory either
at Galle, or at Belligam. Galle, or Point de Galle, the
most important seaport in the island, having been till
within a few years the stopping station for all Indian
travellers, and the place where European voyagers landed
and embarked, offered the advantages of European civili-
zation in procuring the necessaries of life and intercourse
with cultivated English society. I might count on being
able to fish in the fine large harbour in European boats, on
finding an abundance of interesting marine creatures On its
celebrated coral reefs, and on studying and preserving them
with comparative ease and convenience. There would also
be the advantage that other naturalists had worked there
before me, and I should have the benefit of their experience
of the locality and of its animal life. Ransonnet's fine work
especially contains much valuable information as to the
coral reefs of Galle. -
The prospects offered by Belligam were widely different.
Its beautiful and sheltered bay—fifteen miles ſurther south
than Galle, and half-way between this and Matura, the
Southernmost point of the island—might be expected to
resemble Galle as regards its coral banks and other topo-
graphical and zoological conditions; it had also, as being
rarely visited and little studied, all the additional charm of
the new and unknown. The tropical vegetation and the
Scenery generally were, from all I had read and heard,
richer and more beautiful even than at Galle. To me, the
154 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
greatest temptation of all was that after some months of the
restraint of our artificial social life I should there escape
it entirely; I could look forward to giving myself up in
perfect liberty to the delights of the lavish nature of the
tropics, to living in the midst of the simple children of nature,
and forming some conception of that visionary primaeval
paradise into which the human race was born. For Belli-
gam is nothing more than a large, purely Cinghalese village,
inhabited by fishermen, herdsmen, and tillers of the soil.
But few of these four thousand swarthy natives, among
whom there are no Europeans, inhabit the village itself on
the shore of the bay; most of them live in scattered huts,
dotted here and there on a broad level, covered with a
magnificent wood of cocoa-nut trees. I should be able to
pursue my investigations more steadily and with less inter-
ruption in the quiet and secluded rest-house of Belligam,
than in the busy town of Galle among a crowd of kind
friends and inquisitive acquaintances. Of course, I was
prepared to meet with greater difficulties in arranging my
laboratory and in carrying on my work; in fact, it was not
impossible that unforeseen and insuperable obstacles might
more easily occur there than in Galle to put a stop to it.
After much hesitation, and long debating the pros and
cons, I finally decided for Belligam, and I had no reason to
egret the choice. The six weeks I spent there were full
to overflowing of wonderful experiences, and never to be
forgotten as forming the crowning “bouquet” of my Indian
journey, the sweetest and brightest flowers in a garland of
delightful memories. Though I might perhaps have carried
on my zoological studies better and more conveniently in
Galle, I gained infinitely more on the side of general know-
TEIE IRO AID FROM COLONIDO TO GALLE. 155
ledge of nature and humanity in the charming seclusion of
Belligam. -
I had, of course, to make considerable preparations for
So long a stay in a remote fishing village. As the only
possible residence for a European was the Government rest-
house, and as no one is ever allowed to stay in these hostel-
ries for more than three days, I had, in the first place, to
obtain leave to reside there for several weeks. Sir James
Longden, the governor of the island, to whom I had been
particularly recommended by the English Government—and
to whom I here beg to record my gratitude for his kind
reception—gave me a letter of introduction to the president
of the southern district, which not only secured me this
permission, but enjoined each and every government official
to be in all respects civil and serviceable to me. Under the
pattern regularity and discipline which prevails in all the
machinery of government throughout the English colonies,
as well as in the mother country, such a letter of recom-
mendation is not only an invaluable, but in many cases an
indispensable talisman. This is especially the case in Ceylon,
since the government of the island is independent of that
of India, and under the direct authority of the Colonial
Office in London; the governor is pretty nearly an un-
limited monarch, and troubles himself but little with the
decisions of his parliament of councillors. Most of the
defects in the administration of affairs under which this
fine island suffers are attributed to this absolute power of
an individual, and it is certainly not at all to the taste of
the constitutional English. One of the worst faults in the
system, however, is that the governor never remains in
office for more than four years—much too short a period;
156 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
hardly enough, indeed, to enable him to know the island
thoroughly. Still, under the peculiar conditions of a popu-
lation consisting of two and a half millions, of which only
three thousand are Europeans, the concentration of power
in one person has many advantages. On the whole, a
closer intimacy with the state of affairs in Ceylon confirmed
me in the feeling that here, as in their other colonies, the
practical instinct of the English hits on the right method,
and manages the administration with greater discretion
and insight than would be possible to most other civilized
nations. -
After providing myself with some letters of introduction
to Galle and making numerous purchases for fitting up my
lodgings at Belligam, I stowed my sixteen boxes in a large
two-wheeled bullock cart, which was to transport them to
Galle within a week. These bullock-carts are the universal
conveyance wherever there are roads on which they can
travel; the largest can carry as much as two tons on their
two huge wheels, and are pulled by four strong humped
oxen, or zebus, of the largest breed. The yoke is not fixed
across the front of the head but across the neck, just in front
of the hump which bears the weight. The cart is covered
with an arched tilt of plaited leaves of the cocoa-nut, and
this thick double matting protects the freight within against
the heaviest rain. Mats of the same material are hung in
front and behind to close the awning. The cargo must be
so skilfully packed and balanced that the centre of gravity
rests in the middle over the axle of the single pair of
wheels.
The driver sits on the shaft close behind the beasts, or
sometimes between them ; he never ceases urging them by
THE ROAD FROM COLOMBO TO GALLE. 157
shouts, or by rubbing their tails between their legs. Hun-
dreds of these bullock-carts, some drawn by two and some
by four Zebus, are the living accessories of every road scene
in Ceylon. Among these, at a quicker pace and sometimes
even at a brisk trot, run the lighter bullock-carts—“bullock-
bandys,” or “hackeries.” These are smaller vehicles of the
same shape, and drawn by a pretty and fairly Swift bullock
of a smaller breed.
On the 9th of December I left the hospitable roof of
“Whist Bungalow,” followed by the good wishes and not less
good advice of my kind friends. The journey from Colombo
to Galle is a favourite theme for a chapter in every account
of a stay in Ceylon. Until a few years since all the mail
steamers went first to Galle direct, and as the first excur-
sion made by the passengers was always to Kandy, they
first made acquaintance with the beauties of the island on
that road. They are no doubt lavishly displayed there.
The park-like cocoa-nut groves, which I first saw on my
expedition to Kaduvella, with their endless variety of lovely
pictures, here extend over a wide tract along the south-
west coast. The road winds among them, coming out to
skirt the rocky or Sandy sea-shore or plunging into their
thickest depths, and crossing bridges over the numerous
small rivers which here flow into the sea.
Formerly, the whole distance from Colombo to Galle
had to be travelled in a cart or carriage, but now the rail-
way goes for about a third of the way. The line runs near
the coast, cutting through the palm forest in an almost
straight line, and running as far as Caltura. The extension
of the line to Galle, which would be immensely advantageous
to this port, is not allowed by the Government, from a fear
158 - A VISIT TO CEYLON.
lest Galle should thereby gain a pre-eminence above Colombo.
As the traffic between the two towns is very considerable
and constantly increasing, there can be no doubts as to its
paying the shareholders. Unfortunately the ruling deter-
mination to keep Colombo ahead of Galle at any cost impels
the Government to refuse even to grant their charter to a
perfectly sound company, who are prepared with capital to
construct and work the line. This is a standing grievance
and discussed on every opportunity. The traveller is con-
sequently compelled either to hire a conveyance at a great
expense, or to trust himself in the mail omnibus which runs
daily between Galle and Caltura; but this, too, is dear and
remarkably uncomfortable. -
This omnibus boasts, it is true, of the high-sounding
title of “Royal Mail Coach,” and displays the arms of
England on its door panel, with the motto, “Honi soit qui
mal y pense;” but the hint is unqualified mockery in view
of the coach itself and the horses whose suffering lot it is
to draw it. The slightly built vehicle looks as if it had
been “constructed to carry” barely half a dozen passengers,
but when opportunity serves double the number are crammed
into it. The two narrow seats in the small “inside,” and
another stuck up behind, are then made to hold each three
persons, though there is hardly space for two. The best
seats are the box-seats by the driver, under the shade of a
projecting roof. Here the traveller has a free view of the
glorious scenery on every side, and at the same time escapes
the strong and by no means agreeable perfume that exhales
from the perspiring Cinghalese, well polished with cocoa-nut
oil, who are packed into the inside places. For this immu-
nity, however, the white traveller pays fifteen rupees for
THE ROAD FROM COLOMBO TO GALLE. 159
a five hours' ride—about six shillings an hour—while the
dusky native pays only half. -
The most horrible concomitant of this omnibus journey,
as of all coach travelling in Ceylon, are the torments in-
flicted on the miserable horses. The “mild Cinghaiese’’
seem, from time immemorial to the present day, never to
have conceived the idea that the management of horses is
an art to be acquired, or that the horse itself must be
trained or broken to harness. On the contrary, they seem
to take it for granted that this comes as a matter of course,
and that horses have an inherited tendency to pull
vehicles. So, without any proper training, an unbroken
colt is fastened in front of some conveyance by a kind of
tackle, which is as uncomfortable to the beast as it is ill-
adapted to its purpose, and then put to every variety of
torture till it takes to its heels in sheer desperation. As a
rule neither shouts nor flogging reduce it to this extremity,
and every kind of ill-treatment is resorted to: it is dragged
by the nostrils, which are particularly sensitive in the
horse; its ears are Wrung almost out of its head; ropes are
tied to its forelegs, and half a dozen of howling and shriek-
ing youngsters drag the poor beast forward, while others
hold on to his tail and belabour him behind, sometimes
even scorching the hapless brute with torches. In short, he
goes through every torment that the “Holy Office” ever
devised for the conversion of heretics and infidels; and
many a time, as I have sat perched on the box-seat for a
quarter of an hour at a time, forced to look on at these and
similar barbarities without being able to prevent them,
the question has irresistibly risen in my mind: For whose
sins had these wretched horses to suffer ? Who knows
160 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
whether a similar fancy may not be lurking in the minds
of the black coachman and stable lads, who are most of
them worshippers of Siva, and believe in the transmigration
of the soul. Perhaps they imagine that by these brutalities
they are avenging their wrongs on the degraded souls of
those cruel princes and Warriors who were the former
tyrants of their race.
It must be either some such notion as this or a total
absence of humane feeling—or, perhaps, the extraordinary
theory which is occasionally found to exist, even in Europe,
that the lower animals are devoid of Sensation—which ex-
plains the fact that the Cinghalese consider these and
similar tortures inflicted on beasts as a delightful entertain-
ment. The wretched oxen are always marked with their
owners' names in large letters, cut quite through the skin.
In the villages, through which the road passes and where
the horses are changed, the arrival of the coach is the great
event of the day, and all the inhabitants assemble with
eager curiosity, partly to stare at the travellers and
criticize their appearance, partly to look on at the ceremony
of changing horses, and chiefly to play an active part in
tormenting the fresh team. The poor beasts are at last
driven to fly, and they usually start at a wild gallop,
pursued by the yells of the populace, and rush madly
onward till they lose their breath and fall into a slow trot.
Covered with sweat, foaming at the mouth, and trembling
in every limb, in about half an hour they reach the posting
station, where they are parted from their fellow-sufferers.
This mode of travelling, it need not be said, is not
agreeable to the stranger who has trusted his person to the
ricketty stage coach, nor is it devoid of danger. The con-
THE ROAD FROM COLOMBO TO GALLE. 16 |
veyance is often upset and damaged, the goaded horses not
unfrequently run away across country, or back the coach
into the banana thickets or a deep ditch, and I was always
prepared to spring from my perch on the box at a critical
moment. In fact, it is difficult to conceive how the English
Government, which is generally so strict in its arrangements
and discipline, has not long since put an end to this
brutality to animals, and more particularly extended its
protection to the wretched horses that serve the “Royal
Mail Coach.”
Great Buddha 1 you who strove so earnestly to diminish
the miseries of this miserable life and mitigate the torments
of suffering creation, what mistakes you made What a
blessing you would have conferred on men and beasts if,
instead of the foolish prohibition to take the life of any
creature, you had laid down the merciful law : Thou shalt
torture no living thing. The prohibition is, on the whole.
scrupulously attended to by every Cinghalese Buddhist,
though there are many exceptions. For instance, they look
on with frank satisfaction when a naturalist fires at the
monkeys and flying foxes that rob them of their bananas,
or when a planter shoots the elephants that tread down
their rice-fields, the leopards that carry off their goats, or
the palm-cats which devour their fowls. But, as a rule, they
will give no assistance or encouragement, and take the
greatest care to avoid killing anything themselves. For
this reason, almost all who belong to the fishermen's caste
are Roman Catholics; they have renounced Buddhism to
avoid all difficulties in the way of catching fish.
The stubborn recalcitrancy displayed by the Indian
horses to their tormentors, and their universal propensity to
M
I62 A VISIT TO CEY LON.
shy at unexpected moments, together with the frenzied
pace at which they start, demand no small skill in he,
driver. The coachman and his assistant, the stable la d
must be constantly On the alert. The endurance and stay-
ing power of these horse-boys are quite amazing; naked,
all but a loin-cloth and a post-horn strung round him, with
a white turban on his head, a black Tamil will run a whole
stage by the side of the horses, pulling the traces first one
way and then another, and swinging himself up on to the
step or coach pole when going at the utmost pace. If the
coach meets another vehicle, or if the road makes a sudden
bend, he seizes the horses' heads and gives them a violent
jerk in the right direction. In crossing the long wooden
bridges which span the wide torrents, he suddenly checks
the steeds in their career and leads them carefully over the
shifting and clattering logs. If a child runs into the road,
as often happens, or an old woman does not get out of the
way, the horse-boy jumps forward with Swift promptitude
and pushes the horses back with a strong hand. In short,
he must be ready for everything, here, there, and every-
where.
Although the seventy miles of road between Colombo
and Galle present no variety in the character of the land-
scape, the enchanted eye of the traveller is never weary of
it. The unflagging charm of the cocoa-nut wood, and the
inexhaustible variety of grouping and combination in the
accessories of the landscape, never fail to keep him
interested. The stinging heat of the tropical sun is not
often unbearable, for it is greatly mitigated, both by the
cool sea breeze and the shade of the woods. The elegant
plumes of the cocoa-nut palm, as of most palm-trees, do not,
THE ROAD FROM COLOMBO TO GALLE. 163
it is true, afford the deep and refreshing shade of the denser
foliage of our forest trees, for the sunbeams filter through
the divisions between the leaflets in every direction in
broken flecks of light. But their slender stems are, in
many cases, covered by graceful garlands of climbing
pepper-vines and other creepers; they hang in festoons
from one tree to another, like artificially woven wreaths,
and hang down in massive pendants, densely covered with
leaves. Many of them are gay with splendid flowers, as,
for instance, the flame-coloured Gloriosa, the blue Thum-
bérgia, the rose-pink Bougainvillea, and gold-coloured
butterfly-orchids of various species.
Between and under the ubiquitous palms grow a host
of other trees, particularly the stately mango, and the
towering breadfruit tree, with its dense dark-green crown.
The slender columnar trunk of the papaw (Carica papaya)
is elegantly marked and crowned with a regular diadem of
large palmate leaves. Many varieties of jasmine, orange,
and lemon trees are completely covered with fragrant white
blossoms; and among these nestle the pretty little white
or brown huts of the natives, with their idyllic surround-
ings—the traveller might fancy himself riding through one
long village in the midst of palm gardens, but that now
and again he passes through a more crowded tract of forest
trees, or finds himself among a colony of houses, standing
in closer rows round a country bazaar, and forming a real
and more populous village.
Presently the road diverges towards the sea and runs
for some distance along the shore. Here wide levels of
smooth sand alternate with rocky hills, and these are
picturesquely covered with the Pamdamus, or screw-pine.
l64 - A VISIT TO CEYLON.
The pandang (Pamdamus odoratissimus) is one of the most
remarkable and characteristic plants of the tropics. It is
nearly related to the palm tribe, and is known by the name
of screw-pine, which should more properly be screw-palm
The elegant trunk is cylindrical, commonly from twenty
to forty feet high, and often bent; it is forked or branched,
like a candelabrum. Each branch bears at the end a thick
sheaf of large sword-shaped leaves, like those of a Dracºma
or Yucca. These leaves are sometimes sea-green and some-
times dark, gracefully drooping, and with their bases
arranged in a close spiral, so that the tuft looks as if it had
been regularly screwed. From the bottom of this spiral
hang racemes of white and wonderfully fragrant flowers,
or large fruits, something like a pine-apple. The most
singular part of this tree is its slender aerial roots, which
are thrown out from the trunk at various places and fork
below; when they reach the soil they take root in it, and
serve as props to the feeble stem, looking exactly as if the
tree were mounted on stilts. These screw-pines have a
particularly grotesque appearance when they stand upon
these stilts, high above the surrounding brushwood, or
straddle down into the rifts between the stones, or creep
like snakes along the surface of the soil. --
The white stretch of sand which forms the strand, fre-
quently broken by dark jutting rock, is alive with nimble
crabs, which vanish with great rapidity; indeed, their
swiftness has gained them the classic-sounding name of
Ocypoda. Numbers of hermit crabs (Pagurus) wander
meditatively among their light-footed relatives, dragging
the shells in which they protect their soft and sensitive
bodies with great dignity. Here and there Sandpipers are
THE ROAD FROM COLOMBO TO GALLE, 16.5
to be seen, graceful herons, plovers, and other shore-birds,
busied in catching fish in successful competition with the
Cinghalese. These fishermen ply their calling sometimes
singly, sometimes in parties; they then commonly go out
in several canoes with large Seine nets, which they combine
to draw to the shore. The solitary fishers, on the contrary,
prefer to take their prey in the rolling surf; and it is very
interesting to watch the naked brown figure, with no pro-
tection against the Scorching sun but a broad-brimmed palm
hat, leaping boldly into the tumbling waves and bringing
out the fish in a small hand-net. He seems to enjoy his
fresh salt bath as much as his children do, who play by
dozens on the Sands, and are accomplished swimmers by
the time they are six or eight years old.
The white or yellowish margin of sand follows the coast
often for miles, like a narrow gleaming satin ribbon, bend-
ing with its multifarious curves and beautiful open bays,
and dividing the deep blue waters of the Indian Ocean from
the bright green cocoa-nut groves. This hem of sand is all
the prettier where the stooping heads of the crowded palms
bend far across it, as if leaning forward to breathe the fresh
sea-breeze more freely and enjoy the full blaze of the Sun-
light. The soil at their feet is strewn with beautiful shore
plants, of which three are particularly conspicuous—the
goat's foot convolvulus, with its two-lobed leaves and violet
flowers—Ipomaea pes-Capri; an elegant pink-blossomed
Impatiens; and the noble funnel-shaped lily Pamcratium
Zeylamicwm. Its beautiful white flowers, which have narrow
pendant petals, grow in umbels on slender stems six to eight
feet high. Then by the roadside there are the huge arrow.
head leaves of the Calla, a handsome aroid. If the sun is
166 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
too hot, or a shower comes on suddenly, the Cinghalese
simply breaks off one of the great Caladium leaves—it
protects him better than a cotton or silk umbrella, and is
elegantly marked with transparent veining, often painted
with crimson spots. Thus, in this Sunny paradise, parasols
grow by the wayside, or, more precisely, em-tout-cas, since
they serve the double purpose of an umbrella and a sun-
shade.
A most beautiful feature of the Galle and Colombo road
are the numerous river mouths, which intersect the cocos-
wood, and the wide lagoons which stretch between them,
particularly along the northern portion from Colombo to
Caltura. The former lords of the island, the Dutch, were
so delighted with these water-ways, which reminded them
of their native land, that they adapted them to a regular
system of canals and neglected the land roads. Under their
rule numerous barges and canal-boats, like the TrekSchwit
of the low countries, travelled from town to town, and were
the chief means of communication. Since the English have
made the capital high road, the Water-traffic has fallen
into desuetude. But they still afford a succession of pleas-
ing pictures to the traveller as he is hurried by, with their
banks covered with dense thickets of bamboo and lofty
palms, and their pretty little islands and rocks; the tall
cocoa-nut palms tower above the undergrowth, “like a
forest above the forest,” as Humboldt aptly describes it.
The undulating hills in the blue distance supply an
appropriate background where, here and there, the high
heads of the mountains are visible, and loftiest of all the
noble cone of Adam's Peak.
At the mouths of the larger rivers, several of which are
TEIE ROAD FROM COLOMBO TO GALLE. 167
crossed on the road, the smiling landscape assumes a graver
character; the Sombre mangroves are a particularly con-
spicuous feature. The shore of these estuaries is generally
thickly covered with them, and their aerial roots form an
impenetrable tangle. Formerly they used to be infested
with crocodiles, but the progress of civilization and agricul-
ture has driven these reptiles up the rivers. The finest of
the rivers is the noble Kalu Ganga, or Black river, which I
afterwards explored for the greater part of its length.
The lower reaches are as wide as the Rhine at Cologne. At
the mouth stands Caltura, a large village, and the terminus
of the railway. At the southernmost end of Caltura a mag-
nificent banyan tree grows across the high road, like a
triumphal arch. The aerial roots of this huge tree have
taken hold on the soil on the opposite side of the road and
grown to be large trunks, and these and the main trunk
form a lofty Gothic vault, which is all the more striking
because a number of parasitic ferns, Orchids, wild vines, and
other parasitic plants have overgrown the stems. Not far
from the shore near Caltura I found, on a subsequent visit,
another wonderful tree—an indiarubber tree—of which the
snake-like roots, twisted and plaited till they look like a close
lattice, form a perfect labyrinth. Troops of merry children
were playing in the nooks between these root-trellices.
Another delightful spot is the rest-house of Bentotte,
where the “Royal Mail” stops for an hour to allow the
passengers to rest, and recruit their powers of endurance by
breakfast. A particular delicacy here are the oysters, for
which the place is famous. They are served raw, or baked,
or pickled in vinegar. The rest-house is beautifully
situated on a hill, among tall tamarind trees, and has a
168 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
splendid view over the sunlit sea and the bridge which
spans the river-mouth. After breakfast I watched the
oyster-fishery below this bridge, and then spent a quarter
of an hour in lounging through the picturesque bazaar of
the straggling town. The waves and traffic in this bazaar
are in perfect keeping with the idyllic character of the
surroundings, with the primitive furniture of the native
huts, and the elementary character of their owners' dress.
By far the most important articles of commerce are rice
and curry, the staples of food, and betel and areca, the
ſavourite luxury. These and other matters for sale lie
temptingly spread on wide green banana leaves in simple
booths, with an open front, serving at once as door and-
window. Between them are heaps of cocoa-nuts, monstrous
bunches of bananas, and piles of Scented pine-apples; the
starchy roots of the yam, the Colocasia, and other plants;
enormous breadfruit, weighing from thirty to forty pounds
each, and the nearly allied jack-fruit; and then, as delica-
cies, the noble mango and the dainty anoma, or custard-
apple. While we are strongly attracted to these fruit-
stalls—which the Cinghalese often decorate very prettily
with flowers and boughs—by their delicious perfume, we are
equally repelled from certain others by a pungent odour,
which is anything rather than tempting. This “ancient
and fish-like smell” proceeds from heaps of fresh and dried
marine creatures, principally fish and crustacea; among
these the prime favourites are shrimps or prawns, an im-
portant ingredient in the preparation of the native spiced
dish, curry.*
* Reis wirze, [Iorr Haeckel calls curry, regarding it—as it no doubt was
originally—as a spice to flavour the inevitable meal of rice.
THE ROAD FROM COLOMBO TO GALLE. 160
There can be no greater mistake than to expect to find
in these Cinghalese markets the noise and clamour and
confusion which are characteristic of market scenes among
most nations, and more particularly in the southern coun-
tries of Europe. Any one who has looked on, for instance,
at the bustle and hurry on the pretty piazza at Verona,
or the vehement tumult of Santa Lucia at Naples, might
imagine that in a tropical bazaar in Ceylon the crowd and
uproar would rise to a still higher pitch. Nothing of the
kind. The gentle subdued nature of the Cinghalese affects
even their way of trading; buyers and sellers alike seem to
take but a feeble interest in the transaction, small in propor-
tion to the trifling copper coin for which the most splendid
fruits may be purchased. These coins, I may mention, are
pieces of one cent and of five cents, and there are a hundred
cents to a rupee (worth two shillings); they are stamped with
a cocoa palm. The Cinghalese, however, are not indifferent
to the value of money, but they need less of the commodity,
perhaps, than any other people on earth; for there are
few spots, indeed, where kindly mother Nature pours out
so inexhaustible and uninterrupted a supply of her richest
and choicest gifts as on this privileged isle. The poorest
Cinghalese can with the greatest ease earn as much as will
buy the rice which is absolutely indispensable to life; ten
to fifteen cents are ample for a day's food. The abundance
of vegetable produce on land, and the quantity of fish ob-
tained from the sea are so enormous that there is no lack
of curry with the rice and other variety in their diet.
Why, then, should the Cinghalese make life bitter by
labour ! Nay, may—they have far too much of the easy-
going nature, the true philosophy of life. So they may be
170 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
seen stretched at full length and reposing in their simple
dwellings, or squatting in groups and chatting to their
hearts' content. The small amount of labour required in
their garden-plots is soon accomplished, and the rest of the
time is theirs to play in. But their very play is anything
rather than exciting or emergetic. On the contrary, a spell
of peace and languor seems to have been cast over all the
life and doings of these happy children of nature, which is
amazingly fascinating and strange. Enviable Cinghalese
you have no care either for the morrow or for the more
distant future. All that you and your children need to
keep you alive grows under your hand, and what more you
may desire by way of luxury you can procure with the
very smallest amount of exertion. You are, indeed, like
“the lilies of the field” which grow round your humble
homes. “They toil not, neither do they spin,” and their
mother, Nature, feeds them. You, like them, have no war-
like ambitions; no anxious reflections on the increasing
competition in trade, or the rise and fall of stock ever dis-
turb your slumbers. Titles and Orders, the highest aim of
civilized men, are to you unknown. And in spite of that
you enjoy life Nay, I almost think it has never occurred
to you to envy us Europeans our thousand Superfluous re-
quirements. You are quite content to be simple human
Souls, children of nature, living in paradise, and enjoying it.
There you lie, at full length, under the palm roof of your
huts, contemplating the dancing lights and shadows among
the plumes of the cocoa-nuts; perennially refreshed by the
unequalled luxury of chewing betel-nut, and playing at
intervals with your sweet little children, or taking a deli-
cious bath in the river that flows by the road, and devoting
THE ROAD FROM COLOMBO TO GALLE. 171
your whole attention to the subsequent toilet, so as to set
the tortoiseshell comb at the most bewitching angle in that
elaborately twisted top-knot. Where is the careworn son
of culture who would not envy you your harmless mode of
existence and your Eden-like simplicity **
These and similar reflections irresistibly rose in my
mind as I stood gazing at the groups of Cinghalese enjoying
life in their blameless fashion in the peaceful silence of their
banana groves, while the coach changed horses at the last
stage before reaching Galle. Here the struggle for exist-
ence seemed to have ceased; Seemed, at any rate. I was
first roused from my reverie by being asked by the two
horse-boys to mount again to my box-seat. These worthy
Malabars then informed me, in broken English, that this
was an appropriate moment for presenting them with the
usual “tip,” or “bakhsheesh,” for drink, since, when we
should arrive in Galle, they would be too busy and the
time would be too short for this important matter to meet
with due attention. As I had seen a highly respectable
Cinghalese, who had been set down some time previously,
give each of these two fellows a double anna, a little silver
coin worth about threepence, I thought I was doing ample
credit to my higher dignity as a white man by offering four
times as much—half a rupee a-piece. But the coachman and
the conductor alike held up my donation with indignant
gestures, and gave me a lecture on the superiority of my
white skin, which was, no doubt, highly flattering. The
upshot of it was that every white gentleman must give at
least double—a rupee—to each of them as drink-money,
and that a man as white as I was and with such light hair,
must certainly be very high caste, and must expect to be
172 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
fleeced accordingly. Although to be so highly taxed for
my fair complexion could not be otherwise than delight-
ful, I was not to be persuaded to pay more on that score,
than a rupee to each as a “white man's "tax; and I finally
had the satisfaction of hearing myself pronounced to be a
“ perfect gentleman.”
However, when I thought of the exquisite enjoyment of
nature I had derived from my five-hours' ride, I thought
the fare well laid out, and in spite of the heat and fatigue
I was sorry when, at about four in the aſternoon, the light-
house of Galle came in sight. Soon after the “mail coach *
rattled over the drawbridge of the old moat, and then
through a long dark barbican, pulling up finally in front of
the elegant “Oriental Hotel” of Punto Galla.
CHAPTER IX.
POINT DE GALLE.
GALLE, the most famous and important town of Ceylon
from a very remote antiquity, is proudly situated on a rocky
promontory, lying to the west of a bay which opens to the
South. The Cinghalese name Galla, means rocks, and has
no connection with the Latin word Gallus, as the Portu-
guese, the first masters of the island, assumed; a memorial
of this false etymology still exists on the old walls in the
form of a moss-grown image of a cock, dated 1640.
We infer from the concurrent evidence of many writers
of classic times, that Galle was an important trading port
more than two thousand years ago, and probably through a
long period was the largest and richest place in the whole
island. Here the Eastern and Western worlds met half
way; the Arabian merchantmen, sailing eastwards from
the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, here held commerce
with the Malays of the Sunda Archipelago, and the still
lmore remote Chinese. The Tarshish of the ancient Phoeni-
cians and Hebrews can only have been Galle; the apes
and peacocks, ivory and gold, which those navigators
brought from the legendary Tarshish, were actually known
to the old Hebrew writers by the same names as they
now bear among the Tamils of Ceylon, and all the descrip-
174 A VISIT TO CEY LON.
tions we derive from them of the much-frequented port of
Tarshish apply to none of the seaports of the island, but
the Rock point—Punto Galla.
The natural advantages of the geographical situation of
Galle, close to the southern end of Ceylon, in latitude 6° N.,
of its climate and topographical position, and especially
of its fine harbour, open only to the south, are so great
and self-evident, that they would seem to give this beautiful
town the pre-eminence above all the other seaports in
the island. But the unflagging efforts of the English Govern-
ment to maintain the supremacy of Colombo at any cost, par-
ticularly by more efficient communication with the interior,
have of late years seriously damaged the prosperity of Galle,
not to speak of its greater nearness to the central coffee-
districts. I have before observed that the greater part of
the export traffic has been transferred to Colombo, and the
noble harbour of Galle is no longer what it used to be.
However, Galle cannot fail to keep its place as only second
in importance to Colombo, and particularly as the natural
depôt for the export of the rich products of the southern
districts. Of these products the principal are the various
materials derived from the Cocoa-palm; cocoa-nut oil, which
is very valuable; Coir, the tough fibrous husk of the nut,
which is used in a variety of ways, as for mats and ropes;
palm sugar, from which arrak, a fermented liquor, is dis-
tilled, etc. Formerly the traffic in gems was also very
considerable, and more recently the export of graphite or
plumbago. When the bill shall at last be passed for
extending the railway from Caltura to Galle, and when
some of the rocks and coral-reefs which render parts of the
harbour unsafe shall have been blown away by dynamite,
POINT DE GALLE. I75
the vanished glories of Galle may be restored and even
enhanced.
The situation of Point de Galle is truly delightful, and
as a matter of course this spot has been highly lauded in
almost all former accounts of travels in Ceylon, being the
place where Europeans used first to land. The whole of the
point which juts out towards the south is occupied by the
European town, or “Fort,” consisting of store-houses one
story high, surrounded by pillared verandahs, and shaded
by projecting tiled roofs. Pretty gardens lie between them,
and serve no less to decorate the town than the wide avenues
of shady Suriya trees (Thespesia populmed) and Hibiscus
(H. rosa. Simensis). These here take the place of roses;
they are densely covered with bright green leaves and
magnificent red blossoms, but the tree is known among
the English by the prosaic name of the Shoe-flower,
because its fruits, boiled down, are used for blacking.
Among other public buildings we remark the Protestant
church, a pretty Gothic structure, on one of the highest
points of the Fort-hill. Its thick stone walls keep the
interior, which is lofty, delightfully cool, and it is surrounded
by fine trees, so that it was deliciously refreshing when, one
burning Sunday morning, tired with a long walk, I could
take refuge from the scorching sunbeams in this shady
retreat.
Opposite to the church are the public offices of Galle,
in what is known as the Queen's House, which formerly
Was the residence of the Dutch, and subsequently of the
English, governor. Travellers of rank, or if provided with
particular recommendations, were here hospitably enter-
tained by the governor. For this reason, the government
176 - A VISIT TO CEYLON.
buildings of Galle and their immediate neighbourhood were
usually the first spot in Ceylon to be described and admired
in old books of travels. Among German travellers, Hoff-
mann and Ransonnet both have been at home there. Within
the last few years, however, the Queen's House has become
private property, and is now the head-quarters of the chief
merchant-house in Galle—Clark, Spence, & Co. I had been
warmly recommended to Mr. A. B. Scott, the present head
of the house, by my friend Stipperger, and was received by
him with the most liberal hospitality. He placed two of
the best of the fine spacious rooms of the Queen's House at
my disposal, with a delightful, airy verandah, and did every-
thing in his power to render my visit to Galle as agreeable
and as profitable as possible. Not only did I soon feel my-
self at home in Mr. Scott's amiable family circle, but in him
I made acquaintance with an English merchant whose many
and various accomplishments are worthy of his prominent
Social standing. He is now consul for several Powers, and
it is only to be lamented that he should not also represent
the interests of Germany. Mr. Scott lived in Germany
for many years, for a long time at the commercial school
of Bremen, and highly appreciates German literature and
German science. So, as I was so fortunate as to be regarded
by him, for the time being, as the representative in person of
German science, I enjoyed the benefit of his favour and help
to the utmost. This led me once more to doubt whether I
should not do well to avail myself of his kind offer, and to
set up my Zoological studio for several weeks in Queen's
House, instead of moving to Belligam. Here, at any rate, I
should live surrounded by every European comfort and
bleasant and family Society, and be far better off than in the
POINT DE GALLE. - 177
rest-house of Belligam, in the midst of natives; T should
also carry out many of my scientific schemes with greater
ease and convenience. However, I steadfastly resisted
the alluring temptation, and was amply rewarded for my
firmness by becoming far more intimately acquainted
with the primitive life of Ceylon and of its natives in
Belligam, than I could have been in the civilized atmo-
sphere of Galle.
The few days I now spent at Galle, and two or three
more which I spent in Mr. Scott's house on my return from
Belligam, were, by his indefatigable help, turned to such good
account that, in spite of the shortness of the time, I gained
Some knowledge of the beauties of the neighbourhood, and
of the riches of its magnificent coral-reefs. One of Mr.
Scott's two carriages was constantly at my disposal for
expeditions by land, and his capital boat pulled by three
Malabars for excursions by sea. Mr. Scott also made me
acquainted with several English families of position, who
could be helpful to me in my scientific aims; and to Captain
Bayley and Captain Blyth I remain greatly indebted.
The first and shortest expedition that can be made by a
stranger in Galle, is a walk round the walls of the JTort.
These walls, very substantially built of brick by the Dutch,
have on all sides a perpendicular fall into the sea, and on
the eastern side the view from thence is beautiful—over the
harbour and the wooded hills which enclose it, and the blue
hill-country beyond. On the south and west the marvellous
coral-reefs lie at the very foot of the walls, girdling round
the promontory on which the Fort is built; and at low tide
the beautifully coloured creatures show plainly through
the shallow water like beds of submarine flowers. The e
N
I 7S A VISIT TO CEYLON.
coral gardens are particularly lovely near the lighthouse,
at the south-western angle of the Fort.
Two gloomy old gates, whose stone pillars, like the
chief part of the walls themselves, are overgrown with
ferns and mosses, lead from the interior to the open country.
The eastern gate leads out at Once on to the quay of the
harbour and the mole which juts out to the east. The
northern gate opens on to the green Esplanade, a broad tract
of grassy level, used for recreation and exercise. It divides
the Fort from the native town, which consists principally
of native huts and bazaars; part of it extends eastward,
along the quay of the harbour, and another part follows the
strand on the Colombo Road. On both sides it is presently
lost, without any distinct limit line, in little groups of
houses or isolated huts scattered about among the cocoa-
nut groves, and here and there climbing the sylvan garden
which clothes the hill-sides. In a most beautiful situation
at the top of one of the nearest hills, opposite the Fort,
stands the Roman Catholic church ; in connection with this
are a catholic school and mission. Padre Palla, the director
of this establishment—whose highly respected predecessor I
knew by name from the accounts of former travellers—I
found to be a native of Trieste, a most agreeable and highly
cultivated man, and a remarkable musician. It was a
great pleasure to him to find that I could speak to him
in his own language, and was familiar with Trieste and
Dalmatia. The well-kept garden of this mission, like all
the gardens in the Eden-like neighbourhood of Galle, is full
of the loveliest products of the tropics; a botanist—a lover
of flowers even–loses his heart at every turn.
Still, to my thinking, the most enchanting spot in the
POINT DE GALLE. #79
neighbourhood of Galle is Villa Marina, belonging to
Captain Bayley. This enterprising and many-sided man
was at one time a ship's captain, and is now the agent in
Galle for the P. and O. company. His fine natural taste
led him to choose for his house a site of almost unequalled
beauty. About half-way along the north shore of the wide
curve which encloses the noble bay of Galle, a few tall rocks
of gneiss run far out to sea, and a group of rocky islets,
thickly clothed with pandanus, lie just beyond them. Cap-
tain Bayley purchased the most easterly of these islets, and
there built himself a little residence, laying out the ground
with much taste and judgment in availing himself of the
accidents of the situation—a perfect little “Miramar.” From
the west windows of the bungalow and from the terrace be-
low there is a view of the town opposite and of the harbour
, in front, which is unsurpassed by any other scene in the
neighbourhood. The lighthouse on the point, and the Pro-
testant church in the middle of the Fort, stand out with great
effect, particularly in the golden light of the morning sun. A
picturesque middle distance is supplied by the black islets of
rock, fantastically overgrown with clumps of luxuriant screw-
pine, and their shores covered with Cinghalese fishing-huts.
In the foreground, the riven black rocks of the island, on
which the villa stands, lie piled in towering and grotesque
masses; or, if we turn to seek some less wild accessories, we
have part of the beautiful garden with its tropical forms.
Among the many ornaments of this garden I was
particularly interested to find several fine specimens of the
Doom palm (Hyphaeme thebaica). The stalwart stem of this
species does not, as in most palms, form a tall column, but
forks like the stem of the Dracºma, and each branch has a
180 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
crown of fan-shaped leaves. This palm grows principally
in Upper Egypt, but I had already seen it at the Arab town
of Tur, at the foot of Mount Sinai, and it is represented in
my work on the Red Sea corals (plate iv., p. 28). How
surprised I was, then, to find it here under an aspect so
altered that I could scarcely recognize it. Adaptation to
perfectly different conditions of existence have made the
Doom palm of Egypt quite another tree in Ceylon. The
trunk is developed to at least double the thickness, much
larger than in its native land; the forked branches are more
numerous but shorter and more closely grown; the enormous
fan leaves are much larger, more abundant and more solid;
and even the flowers and fruit, so far as my memory served
me, seemed to be finer and more abundant. At any rate,
the whole habit of the tree had so greatly changed in the
hothouse climate of Ceylon that the inherited physiognomy
of the tree had lost many of its most characteristic features.
And all this was the result of a change of external condition
and consequent adaptation, more particularly of the greater
supply of moisture which had been brought to bear, from
its earliest youth, on a plant accustomed to the dry desert-
climate of North Africa. These splendid trees had been
raised from Egyptian seed, and in twenty years had grown
to a height of thirty feet. -
A large portion of the ground was occupied by a
magnificent fern garden. Ferns, above everything, thrive
in the hot damp air of Ceylon; and Captain Bayley had
collected not merely the finest indigenous varieties, but a
great number of interesting foreign tropical species. Here,
at a glance, could be seen the whole wealth of various and
elegant forms, developed by the feathery fronds of these
POINT DE GALLE. 181
lovely Cryptogams, with tree-ferns, Sellaginallae and Lyco.
podia. Not less charming were the luxuriant creepers,
hanging in festoons from handsome baskets fastened to the
top of the verandah: orchids, Begonia, Bromelia, etc.
But for zoologists, as well as for botanists, this Miramar
of Galle is a captivating spot. A small menagerie attached
to the house contains a number of rare mammalia and
birds; among others, a New Holland ostrich (Emw), several
kinds of owls and parrots, and an indigenous ant-eater
(Mamis). This, as well as several rare fishes, Captain Bayley
most kindly presented to me, and subsequently sent me a
pair of loris (Stenops), as a Christmas gift, to Belligam, which
proved very interesting. But more attractive to me than
even these rare creatures, were the magnificent corals, which
grew in extraordinary abundance on the surrounding rocks;
even the little inlet used by Captain Bayley as a dock for his
boat, and the stone mole where we disembarked, were closely
gemmed with them, and in a few hours I had added con-
siderably to my collection of corals. A very large propor-
tion of the multifarious forms of animal life, which are
distributed over the coral-reefs near Galle, were to be seen
crowded together in this narrow space—huge black sea
urchins and red starfish, numbers of crustaceans and fishes,
brightly coloured mollusca, Strange Worms of various classes,
and all the rest of the gaudy population that swarms on
coral reefs and lurks between the branches. For this reason,
Captain Bayley's bungalow—which he now is anxious to
sell, as he has moved to Colombo—is particularly well-fitted
to be a Zoological station, and is only half an hour's distance
from the conveniences of the town.
If we walk along the shore still farther to the east,
182 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
round the bay of Galle, and then mount a little way, we
reach a higher point, whence another splendid view is to be
had over the town and harbour, and which is justly named
“Buona Vista.” Here a Protestant minister, the Rev. Philip -
Marks, has built a pretty villa and established a mission.
The lofty wall of hills which runs from this point South-
wards, forming the eastern rampart of the harbour, is
thickly wooded, and terminates in a steep cliff-like pro-
montory. It is said, that some years since it was proposed
to fortify this point, which is just opposite the lighthouse.
The project, however, was abandoned, though a few iron
cannon still peep out among the rank garlands of creepers.
A riotous troop of monkeys were at play there, when I
scrambled up one Sunday afternoon. A narrow path, which
I followed yet further, led me southwards along the steep
rock-bound shore and through a thick wood, full of
magnificent pandanus and creepers. It was divided in One
place by a deep ravine, at the bottom of which a dancing
brook leapt down to the sea. Just above its mouth the
stream falls into a natural basin of rock—a favourite bath-
ing place with the natives. As I came out suddenly from
the wood I surprised a party of Cinghalese of both sexes,
who were splashing merrily in this basin.
A similar natural tank—much larger in the first
instance, and artificially enlarged—is to be found at
the bottom of the rocky promontory before mentioned,
nearly opposite the lighthouse. This is known as the
“Watering-place,” because its abundant supply of fresh water
provides most of the ships with drinking water. The steep
cliffs which surround this basin are overgrown with thorny
wild date-palms (Phoemia: Sylvestris), with white-flowered
POINT DE GALLE. - 183
Asclepias, and dull green Euphorbia trees. This Euphorbia.
(antiquorum) resembles a gigantic cactus, and produces its
stiff branches in regular whirls; this and the pandanus on
stilts are among the strangest growths of these woods.
Very different in character from these wild rocky hills
to the south-east of Galle are the undulating hill and dale
which extend to the north of the town. Here, again, we
meet with the idyllic characteristics of the south-west coast.
The favourite excursion in this direction is to the Hill of
Wackwelle, the top of which is reached by a beautiful high
road, through cocoa-nut groves. It is constantly visited by
picnic-parties from the town, and latterly an ingenious
speculator has set up a restaurant, and charges each visitor
sixpence, even if he eats nothing, for enjoying the view.
The landscape principally consists of the broad wooded
valley of the Gindura, which falls into the sea at about
half an hour's ride to the north of the city. The river
winds like a silver riband through the bright green rice
fields—paddy-fields as they call them—which cover the
bottom of the wide valley; the slopes on all sides are
covered with magnificent trees, the home of swarms of
monkeys and parrots. In the distance the blue peaks of
the central hills are visible. The most conspicuous of these
from Galle is a fine peak called, from its singular form, “the
Haycock; ” it certainly resembles a somewhat bell-shaped
stack, and it is visible at a great distance, serving as a land-
mark for approaching ships.
Still, what far more interested me than the terrestrial
gardens in the neighbourhood of Galle, were the submarine
Coral-gardens which surround the Fort; I can only deeply
lament that I was unable to devote Several weeks to their
184 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
study instead of a few short days. Ransonnet, the Viennese
painter, was, in this respect, more fortunate than I; he was
able thoroughly to investigate the coral banks of Galle
during several weeks, aided, too, by many efficient ac-
cessories, particularly by having a good diving-bell at his
disposal. In his work on Ceylon" he has written a good
description of what he saw, and has given a most picturesque
and vivid idea of that mysterious world of sea creatures in
four coloured plates, for which he made the sketches under
water in a diving-bell.
Nine years since, in 1873, when I made an excursion
among the coral reefs of the Sinai coast, and for the first
time had a glimpse of the wonderful forms of life in their
submarine gardens of marvels, they had excited my utmost
interest; and in a popular series of lectures on Arabian
corals (published with five coloured plates), I had
endeavoured to sketch these wonderful creatures and
their communities, with various other animals. The corals
of Ceylon, which I first became acquainted with here at
Galle, and subsequently studied more closely at Belligam,
reminded me vividly of that delightful experience, and at
the same time afforded me a multitude of new ones. For
though the marine fauna of the Indian seas is, on the whole,
nearly allied to the Arabian fauna of the Red Sea—many
genera and species being common to both—yet the number
and variety of forms of life is considerally greater in the
vast basin of the Indian ocean with its diversified coast,
than in the pent-up waters of the Arabian Gulf, with
its uniform conditions of existence. Thus I found the
* Ceylon, Skizzen Seiner Bewoliner, etc.; by Daron Ransonnet Willez.
Braunschweig, 1868.
POINT DE GALLE. - 185
general physiognomy of the coral reefs in the two situations
different, in spite of many features in common. While the
reefs at Tur are, for the most part, conspicuous for warm
colouring—yellow, Orange, red, and brown—in the coral
gardens of Ceylon, green predominates in a great variety of
shades and tones: yellow-green Alcyomża, growing with
sea-green Heteropora, and malachite-like Amthophylla side by
side with olive-green Millepora ; Madrépora, and Astrata of
emerald hue with brown-green Montipora and Maeandrina.
Ransonnet had already pointed out (op. cit., p. 134)
how singularly and universally green prevails in the colour-
ing of Ceylon. Not only is the greater portion of this ever-
green isle clothed with an unfading tapestry of rich verdure,
but the animals of the most widely dissimilar classes, which
live in its woods, are conspicuous for their green colouring.
This is seen in all the commonest birds and lizards, butter-
flies and beetles, which are of every shade of brilliant green.
In the same way the innumerable inhabitants of the sea,
of all classes, are coloured green, such as many fishes
and crustacea, worms (Amphimome), and sea-anemones
(Actinia); indeed, creatures which elsewhere seldom or
never appear in green livery wear it here; for instance,
several starfish (Ophiwº'a), Sea-urchins, sea-cucumbers; also
some enormous bivalves (Thidacna), and Brachiopoda
(Lingwla), and others. An explanation of this phenomenon
is to be found in Darwin's principles, particularly in the
law of adaptation by Selection of similar colouring or
sympathetic affinity of colour, as I have elucidated it in
my “History of Creation,” Vol. i. p. 264.” The less the
* “The History of Creation.” The translation revised by E. Ray
Lankester, M.A., F.R.S. Regan Paul, Trench and Co.
186 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
predominant colouring of any creature varies from that
of its surroundings, the less will it be seen by its foes, the
more easily can it steal upon its prey, and the more it is
protected and fitted for the struggle for existence. Natural
selection will, at the same time, constantly confirm the
similarity between the prevailing colour of the animal and
of its surroundings, because it is beneficial to the animal.
The green coral banks of Ceylon, with their proponderance
of green inhabitants, are as instructive as bearing on this
theory as the green land animals are which people the
evergreen forests and thickets of the island; but in purity
and splendour of colouring, the sea creatures are even more
remarkable than the fauna of the forests.
It would, however, be a mistake to suppose that this
prevailing green hue produces a monotonous uniformity of
colouring. On the contrary, it is impossible to weary of
admiring it, for, on the one hand, the most wonderful
gradations and modifications may be traced through it and,
on the other, numbers of vividly and gaudily coloured forms
are scattered among them. And just as the gorgeous red,
yellow, violet, or blue colours of many birds and insects
look doubly splendid in the dark green forest of Ceylon, so
do the no less brilliant hues of some marine creatures on
the coral banks. Many small fishes and crustaceans are
particularly distinguished by such gaudy colouring, with
very elegant and extremely singular markings, as they seek
their food among the ramifications of the coral trees. Some
few large corals are also conspicuously and strikingly
coloured; thus, for instance, many Pocilloporo are rose-
coloured, many of the Astraeidae are red and yellow, and
many of the Heteropova, and Madrepora, are violet and
POINT DE GALI,E. IS7
brown, etc. But, unfortunately, these gorgeous colours are,
for the most part, very evanescent, and disappear as soon as
the coral is taken out of the water, often at a mere touch.
The sensitive creatures which have displayed their open
cups of tentacles in the greatest beauty, then suddenly
close and become inconspicuous, dull, and colourless.
But if the eye is enchanted merely by the lovely hues
of the coral reef and its crowded population, it is still more
delighted by the beauty and variety of form displayed by
these creatures. Just as the radiated structure of one
individual coral polyp resembles a true flower, so the whole
structure of the branched coral stock resembles the growth
of plants, trees, and shrubs. It was for this reason that
corals were universally supposed to be really plants, and it
was long before their true nature as animals was generally
believed in.
These coral gardens display, indeed, a lovely and truly
fairy-like scene as we row over them in a boat at low tide
and on a calm sea. Close under the Fort of Galle the sea.
is so shallow that the keel of the boat grates on the points
of the stony structure; and from the wall of the Fort above,
the separate coral growths can be distinguished through
the crystal water. A great variety of most beautiful and
singular species here grow close together on so narrow a
space that in a very few days I had made a splendid collec-
tion. -
Mr. Scott's garden, in which my kind host allowed me
to place them to dry, looked strange indeed during these
days. The splendid tropical plants seemed to vie with the
strange marine creatures who had intruded on their domain
for the prize for beauty and splendour, and the enchanted
188 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
naturalist, whose gladdened eye wandered from one to the
other, could not decide whether the fauna or the flora best
deserved to take it. The coral animals imitated the forms
of the loveliest flowers in astonishing variety, and the
orchids, on the other hand, mimicked the forms of insects.
The two great kingdoms of the organized world seemed
here to have exchanged aspects.
I procured most of the corals, which I collected in Galle
and Belligam, by the help of divers. These I found here to
be quite as clever and capable of endurance as the Arabs of
Tur nine years before. Armed with a strong crowbar, they
uprooted the limestone structure of even very large coral
stocks from their attachment to the rocky base, and raised
them most skilfully up to the boat. These masses often
weighed from fifty to eighty pounds, and it cost no small
toil and care to lift them uninjured into the boat. Some
kinds of coral are so fragile that, in taking them out of the
water, they break by their own weight, and so, un-
fortunately, it is impossible to convey many of the most
delicate kinds uninjured to land. This is the case, for
instance, with certain frail Tw, bimarice, whose foliaceous
stock grows in the shape of an inverted spiral cone; and
of the many-branched Heteropora, which resembles an
enormous stag's antler, with hundreds of twigs.
It is not from above, however, that a coral reef displays
its full beauty, even when we row close over it, and when
the ebb-tide has left the water so shallow that its pro-
jections grind against the boat. On the contrary, it is
essential to take a plunge into the Sea. In the absence of
a diving-bell I tried to dive to the bottom, and keep my
eyes open under water, and after a little practise I found
POINT DE GALLE. I89
this easy. Nothing could be more wonderful than the
mysterious green sheen which pervades this submarine
world. The enchanted eye is startled by the wonderful
effects of light, which are so different from those of the
upper world, with its warm and rosy colouring; and they
lend a double interest and strangeness to the forms and
movements of the myriads of creatures that Swarm among
the corals. The diver is in all reality in a new world.
There is, in fact, a whole multitude of singular fishes,
crustacea, mollusca, radiata, worms, etc., whose food consists
solely of the coral-polyps, among which they live; and these
coral-eaters—which may be regarded as parasites in the
true sense of the word—have acquired, by adaptation to
their peculiar mode of life, the most extraordinary forms,
more especially are they provided with weapons of offence
and defence of the most remarkable character.
But, just as it is well known that “no man may walk
unpunished under the palms,” so the naturalist cannot
Swim with impunity among the coral banks. The Oceanides,
under whose protection these coral fairy bowers of the sea
flourish, threaten the intruding mortal with a thousand
perils. The Millepora, as well as the Medusae which float
among them, burn him wherever they touch, like the most
venomous nettles; the sting of the fish known as Symanceña.
is as painful and dangerous as that of the Scorpion;
numbers of crabs nip his tender flesh with their powerful
claws; black sea-urchins (Diadema) thrust their foot-long
spines, covered with fine prickles set the wrong way, into
the sole of his foot, where they break off and remain, causing
very serious wounds. But worst of all is the injury to the
skin in trying to secure the coral itself. The numberless
190 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
points and angles with which their limestone skeleton is
armed, inflict a thousand little wounds at every attempt
to detach and remove a portion. Never in my life have I
been so gashed and mangled as after a few days of diving
and coral-fishing at Galle, and I suffered from the conse-
quences for several weeks after. But what are these tran-
sient sufferings to a naturalist when set in the scale against
the fairy-like scenes of delight, with which a plunge among
§hese marvellous coral-groves enriches his memory for life
CHAPTER X.
BELLIGAM.
BELLA gemma, “lovely gem | * How often do I dream of
you ! Some months are already past since I had to quit
you, and still, how often does the never-to-be-forgotten pic-
ture rise before me, bringing a host of delightful memories!
And how still more fondly will it Smile on me in the future,
when the tender and mysterious haze of distance shall lend
enchantment to the view of your loveliness Verily if Cey-
lon is to be extolled as the “ diadem of India,” you deserve
to be called the brightest jewel in that crown—the pearl of
Taprobane !
The kindly reader will, I trust, forgive me when I here
confess that the name of this spot is, in fact, differently spelt,
and has a quite different meaning from Bella, Gemma. It
is commonly called Belligam; and the Cinghalese name was
Originally Weligama, meaning the sand-village (Veli = Sand,
gama = village). But the name, as the English pronounce
it, sounds like Belligemm, so the addition, and the substitu-
tion of an a give us the Italian words, which are so fitly
applied to the beauty of the spot. In my recollections, at
any rate, the picture of “Bella-Gemma" is inseparable from
the idea of a choice jewel in Nature's casket, while the
sandy shore which gave Veligama its name fades out of
sight.
192 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
Of course I had acquired the best information procurable
in Galle and Colombo as to the resources of Belligam, when
once I had decided on fixing my zoological quarters there
for a few months. But in spite of all my inquiries, I could
learn very little beyond the facts that the village was very
beautiful, situated in the midst of Cocos woods, that the
sheltered bay was rich in corals, and that the government
rest-house was tolerably good; on the negative side I was
told that neither a single European nor any trace of Euro-
pean comfort or civilization was to be found there. All
this, as I soon found, was fully justified. Thus a mystical
veil of romance and adventure hung over my immediate
future, and I confess that it was not without a faint, un-
canny feeling of insecurity and utter isolation that, on
December the 12th, I turned my back on the European
culture of Galle. I had already seen in Colombo, and yet
more in Kandy, how closely, cheek by jowl as it were,
primitive nature and the varnish of civilization lie in Cey-
lon, and how a very few miles set a gulf between the dense
primaeval forest and the crowded town. Here, in the
southern corner of the island, I might expect to find this
even more strongly marked. Thus all my hopes were
founded, on One hand, on the efficacy of my government
letters, and on the other, on my often tested good fortune as
a traveller, which had never left me in the lurch in any of
my adventurous experiments.
So it was with excited anticipations that, on the morn-
ing of December 12th, I mounted the light carriage which
was to carry me along the South coast as far as Belligam.
It was five in the morning, and, of course, still quite dark
when I left the Fort, and drove along the harbour through
BELLIGAM. 193
the native town to the southwards. The Cinghalese,
wrapped in white cotton sheets, lay peacefully sleeping on
palm-mats in front of the dingy huts; there was not a
sound to be heard, the deepest silence and solitude reigned
over the lovely landscape, which was transformed at a touch
as the magic wand of the rising sun suddenly fell on the
scene. The first quivering rays woke the sleeping palm-
grove to life and stir; here and there a bird piped its call
from the top of a tree; the pretty little palm-Squirrel
darted from its nest and began its morning gambols up and
down the cocoa-nut trunks, while the slothful Kabragoya,
the huge green lizard (Hydrosawrws), stretched its lazy
length on the banks of the ditches. In the gardens more
remote from the town, the noisy mºnkeys sprang about
among the fruit-trees from which they were stealing their
breakfast; and soon the natives, too, began to rouse them-
selves, whole families taking their morning bath, Sams gème,
by the road-side.
One of the strange experiences which take the Euro-
pean by Surprise as he gets near the equator is the absence
of twilight, that soft hour of transition between day and
night which plays so important a part in our poetry and
our views of nature. Hardly has the sun, which gilds the
whole landscape with its splendour, vanished in the purple
Ocean than black night spreads its brooding wing over land
and Sea; and it shrinks back no less suddenly in the morn-
ing, at the advent of day. Aurora, the rosy fingered dawn,
has no empire here. However, the radiant young day comes
forth all the more glorious, and the bright morning light
looks all the fresher as it glides in a myriad of broken
flecks between the finely cut palm leaves. The dew-drops
O --
194 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
hang like pearls at the tips of the plumy fronds, and the
sheeny surface of the broad pale-green banana and pothos
leaves reflect the rays like mirrors. Then the light morn-
ing breeze sets all these graceful creatures in Waving
motion and brings us a refreshing air. Everything is full
of renewed life and vigour, colour and splendour.
The fifteen miles of good road between Galle and Belli-
gam display exactly the same characteristics as were
formerly described in speaking of the road from Colombo to
Galle, being, in fact, the Southern continuation of that
splendid coast-road. Only here, farther south, the noble
cocoa-nut groves are, if possible, finer and more gorgeous
than ever. Quantities of creepers hang in lovely garlands
from palm to palm, while the clumps of bananas, papaya,
and bread-fruit trees near the huts, the graceful manihot
and yam shrubs in the hedges, and the gigantic caladiums
and colocasia by the road-side, seemed to me even more
huge and magnificent than before. The wood, too, is fre-
quently diversified by Small tanks, covered with lotos and
other water plants, or intersected by running streams, their
banks crowded with elegant ferms. Here and there is a
rocky rise, covered with the screw-pine or fragrant pan-
danus, and alternately with these a smiling strand over-
grown with beautiful red bind-weeds, white lilies, and
other lovely flowers. At the mouth of each little rivulet
which crosses the road the waving bamboos and the dark-
green mangrove thicket reappear, and the curious Nipa-
palm, with no stem, raising its elegant crown of plumes just
above the water.
The eye is never weary of feasting on the beautiful
forms of tropical vegetation, and I was almost sorry when,
BELLIGAM. - - 195
after a few hours of good driving, my Tamil coachman
pointed to a promontory some distance off, a rocky Spit
forming a bay, with the words “Behind there Wellgama.”
Before long the scattered huts became more numerous, and
arranged themselves into a village street, with bright green
rice fields spreading away on each side, broken by beautiful
groves. The stone of which the walls were built consisted,
in great part, of fine blocks of coral. At a turn in the road,
on a height to the left, stood a handsome Buddhist temple,
called Agrabuddhi Gani, a famous place of pilgrimage from
time immemorial; and to the right, just beyond, stands a
colossal figure, carved out of the black rock, of a king of
ancient fame, Cutti Raja.” The niche is shaded by kittool
palms, and the prince is represented with scale armour on
his gigantic person and a mitre on his head. He is celebrated
in history, not as a conqueror but as a benefactor to the
island, for he is said to have first introduced the culture
and use of the Cocos palm. Soon after this we drove
through a little bazaar, and a few paces farther on my
chaise drew up before the anxiously expected rest-house
of Belligam.
A dense and dusky crowd of natives were standing,
full of curiosity, round the gate of the fence which enclosed
the garden of the rest-house, and among them I observed a
group of high-class natives in full state. The Governor of
the Southern district—or government agent, as his modest
title expresses it—had, in obedience to the Governor's
instructions, given notice of my arrival to the village
authorities and desired them to make me welcome, and be
of assistance to me in every possible way. The headman
* Cuslia Raja; see Tennent's Ceylon, vol. i. p. 436, and vol. ii. p. 113.
196 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
of the place, or moodliar, a fine man of about sixty years,
with a kind good-natured face and thick beard and whis-
kers, came up to me and greeted me with a solemn address
in broken English, assured me in the politest and most
dignified manner that his whole Korle, or village-district,
felt itself honoured by my presence, and that its 4000 brown
inhabitants would make every effort to render my stay
agreeable; he himself was at all times at my service. A
grand rattle of drums, performed by a row of tom-tom-
beaters Squatting in the background, gave emphasis to the
close of the solemn and official address.
After I had responded and returned thanks, the high
functionaries who composed the official suite of the moodliar
took their turn—the second headman, or Aretshi, the tax-
gatherer or collector, and the doctor—and after these im-
portant government officials came several of the chief
inhabitants of the village, all striving in the most amiable
way to manifest their good-will and their anxiety to be of
use. A rattle on the tom-toms at the end of each speech
served to ratify their promises. The doctor and collector,
who both spoke English fluently, served as interpreters, and
enabled me to understand the Cinghalese addresses. The
assembled multitude listened in attentive silence, studying
my person and property with the deepest interest.
The whole ceremony was all the more amusing because
the costume of most of the personages of any position in
Belligam was a comical mixture of the European and the
Cinghalese—the former for the upper and the latter for the
lower part of the person. Beginning at the top, a tall
English chimney-pot charmed the eye—of all head coverings
beyond a doubt the most hideous and inefficient. However,
BELLIGAM. 197
as the Cinghalese see Europeans wear this cylindrical head-
piece on all solemn occasions as the indispensable symbol
of birth and culture, never abandoning it even in the
greatest heat, they would regard it a serious breach of
etiquette to appear without the singular decoration. The
good-humoured brown face, which is but little shaded by
this narrow-brimmed chimney-pot, is fringed by a fine black
beard, which is trimmed in the middle of the chin and
supported on each side by an enormously high and pointed
white shirt-collar; below comes a coloured silk scarf tied in
a bewitching bow. Nor is the black frock-coat of ceremony
absent, with narrow tails, and underneath this the White
waistcoat with jewelled buttons and gold chains. And as
a tail-piece instead of trousers, we have the primitive
national covering of the nether man of a Cinghalese, the
red or parti-coloured comboy, a sort of wide loin-cloth, a
good deal resembling a peasant girl's red stuff petticoat.
The delicate small feet which are visible below are either
bare or protected merely by Sandals.
After this friendly reception, which promised for the
best, my new protectors led me in solemn procession through
the gate and into the lovely garden of the rest-house,
which was enclosed by a low white wall. The first appear-
ance of this residence exceeded my expectations; it was a
handsome stone building, one story high, and surrounded
by a red-tiled verandah supported on white pillars. The
wide lawn in front of it to the east is graced by a noble
teak-tree, which stands in the middle, and of which the
columnar trunk must be at least eighty or ninety feet high.
The leguminous creepers which climb up it hang in elegant
festoons from the spreading boughs. On the south side of
198 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
the rest-house a few cows were pasturing contentedly on
the green grass, which is here shaded by half a dozen
splendid old bread-fruit trees. The massive gnarled trunks,
of these trees and their umbrageous crown of far-reaching
branches remind us of some very huge specimen of the
European oak, while their colossal and deeply cut leaves of
a dark shining green, and large, light green fruit give them
a much grander and more imposing aspect.
Between the dark tops of these fine specimens of the
Artocarpus opens a pleasing vista over the sunlit and
almost circular bay of Belligam, across which numbers of
fishing-barks are just now returning homewards in full sail;
the long low rocky promontory opposite, to the South, is
clothed partly with jungle and partly with cocoa-nut woods;
the huts of the fishing village of Mirissa stand out against
its white strand. Immediately in front of the rest-house,
not two minutes from the shore, lies a pretty rocky islet
Ganduva, entirely covered with the most beautiful cocoa-
nut palms.
Going farther round the house we come upon a fruit
garden full of bananas and manihot shrubs, lying to the
West, on the slope of a densely wooded hill behind the bunga-
low. An outbuilding at the bottom contains the kitchen
and some store-rooms, which I found very convenient" for
my collections. The hill rises on the rorth side of the
garden to a steep acclivity, covered by the thickest wood
Swarming with monkeys and parrots, and its lower slopes
are overgrown with luxuriant shrubs and a perfect carpet
qf tangled creepers. f
Charmed at first sight with the situation and idyllic
surroundings of the rest-house, I eagerly proceeded up
IBELLIGAM. l'99
the side steps on the east-front to go inside. Here, at the
bottom of the steps, I was met with another address, half
in English and half in Pali, from the steward of my new
quarters, the old rest-house keeper. With his arms crossed
on his breast and bending low, almost kneeling, the worthy
old man approached me with abject humility and implored
me to look favourably on his modest roof; all that the
village could yield in rice and curry, in fruit and fish, he
would offer me in abundance, and there was no lack of
cocoa-nuts and bananas. With regard to other things, he
would provide everything that was to be had, and the most
ready and willing service. These and many other good
things did the old man promise me in a well-set speech
spiced with a few philosophical aphorisms. As I looked at
his kindly old face, with a short, wide turned-up nose below
a pair of keen little eyes, and a long fuzzy silver beard
under his thick lips, I was suddenly reminded of the well-
known bust of Socrates, which in so many details resembles
the head of a satyr; and as I could never remember my
philosophical host's long Cinghalese name, I named him
Socrates out of hand. This appellation was subsequently
iustified by the shrewd old man proving himself a true
philosopher in many ways; and I may add, too, that he was
decidedly shaky on the question of cleanliness, as, if I
mistake not, his Greek prototype was before him.
It really seemed as though I should be pursued by the
familiar aspects of classical antiquity from the first moment
of my arrival at my idyllic home. For, as Socrates led me
up the steps into the open central hall of the rest-house, I
saw before me, with uplifted arms in an attitude of prayer, a
beautiſul naked, brown figure, which could be nothing else
200 A VISIT TO CEY LON.
than the famous statue of the “Youth adoring.” How sur-
prised -I was when the graceful bronze statue suddenly
came to life, and dropping his arms fell on his knees, and
after raising his black eyes imploringly to my face bowed
his handsome face so low at my feet that his long black
hair fell on the floor Socrates informed me that this boy
was a Pariah, a member of the lowest caste, the Rºdiyas,
who had lost his parents at an early age, so he had taken
pity on him. He was told off to my exclusive service, had
nothing to do the live-long day but to obey my wishes, and
was a good boy, Sure to do his duty punctually. In answer
to the question what I was to call my new body-servant,
the old man informed me that his name was Gamameda
(from Gama, a village, and Meda = the middle). Of course,
I immediately thought of Ganymede, for the favourite of
Jove himself could not have been more finely made, or have
had limbs more beautifully proportioned and moulded. As
Gamameda also displayed a peculiar talent as butler, and
never allowed any One else to open me a cocoa-nut or offer
me a glass of palm-wine, it was no more than right that I
should dub him Ganymede.
Among the many beautiful figures which move in the
foreground of my memories of the paradise of Ceylon, Gany.
mede remains one of my dearest favourites. Not only did
he fulfil his duties with the greatest attention and conscien-
tiousness, but he developed a personal attachment and
devotion to me which touched me deeply. The poor boy,
as a miserable outcast of the Rodiya caste, had been from
his birth the object of the deepest contempt of his fellow-
men, and subjected to every sort of brutality and ill-treat-
ment. With the single exception of old Socrates, who was
BELLIGAM. 201
not too gentle with him either, no one perhaps had ever
cared for him in any way. He was evidently as much sur-
prised as delighted to find me willing to be kind to him
from the first. -
He was especially grateful for a small service I was able
to render him in the following way. A few days before my
arrival he had run a thorn deep into his foot; as he came
home it had broken off, and the point was left sticking in
the wound. I removed it. by a rather delicate operation,
and treated it with carbolic acid with so much success that
in a short time it healed perfectly. After this the grateful
Ganymede followed me like a shadow, and tried to read my
wishes in my eyes. Hardly was I out of bed in the morn-
ing when he was standing before me with a freshly opened
cocoa-nut, out of which he poured and offered me a cool
morning draught of the milk. At dinner he never took
his eyes off me, and always knew beforehand what I should
want. When I was at work he cleaned my dissecting
instruments and the lenses of the microscope. But Gany-
mede was never so happy as when I took him out in the
cocoa-nut grove, or on the sea-shore, to paint and collect,
shoot and fish. When I allowed him to carry my paint-box
or photographic camera, my gun or a tin for botanical
specimens, he would walk behind me radiant with satis-
faction, and glancing proudly round him at the astonished
Cinghalese, who looked upon him as an outcast Rodiya, and
could not understand his having attained to such honour.
My interpreter William was especially jealous and indig-
nant; he took every opportunity of blackening Ganymede's
character, but soon arrived at the conclusion that I would
allow my favourite to come to no harm. I owe many
202 - A VISIT TO CEYLON.
beautiful and valuable contributions to my museum to
Ganymede's unfailing zeal and dexterity. With the keen
eye, the neat hand, and the Supple agility of the Cinghalese
youth, he could catch a fluttering moth or a gliding fish
with equal promptitude; and his nimbleness was really
amazing when, out hunting, he climbed the tall trees like a
cat, or scrambled through the densest jungle to recover the
prize I had killed.
The Rodiya caste, to which Gamameda belonged, is
actually of purely Cinghalese origin, but it is despised as
the lowest of all, like the Pariahs by the other natives;
though the distinctions of caste have long ceased to be so
strictly observed in the Island as they are on the mainland
of India. The members of this class for the most part per-
form such labour as is accounted degrading; among these,
curiously enough, is Washing. No high-caste Indian will
hold familiar intercourse with a Rodiya. As though kind
mother Nature wished to compensate for the injustice thus
done to some of her children, she has not only endowed the
poor rejected Rodiya with the precious gifts of contentment
and frugality, but bestowed on him the attractive grace of
beauty of form and limb, and as he wears the smallest
possible amount of raiment there is ample opportunity for
seeing and admiring it. Both the young men and maidens
of this race are generally tall and well grown, and have
handsomer faces than the rest of the Cinghalese. Maybe it
is this very fact, which is the occasion of their being envied
and hated.
Throughout Ceylon as a rule it is the stronger sex that is
the betſer favoured, and the boys particularly are remark-
able for a poetical beauty of expression in their fine Aryan
BELLIGAM. 203
features. This is conspicuous in a finely cut mouth and
very dark, inspired-looking eyes, promising much more
than the brain within fulfils; their fine oval faces are
framed by thick long jet-black hair. As the children of
both sexes always go naked till they are eight or nine
years old—at least in the villages—or wear the Scantiest
loin-cloth, they are perfect as accessory figures in the Eden-
like scenery, and often it would be easy to fancy that a
Greek statue had come to life. Plate IV. of Ransonnet's
book, the portrait of Siniapu, a lad of fourteen, gives a good
idea of the characteristic type. Gamameda exactly re-
sembled this head, but that his features were even softer
and more girlish, reminding me of Mignon.
In advanced life this mild and pathetic charm is entirely
lost, particularly in the women, and a certain hard or stolid
absence of expression takes its place; the cheek-bones often
become disagreeably prominent. A strikingly hideous
specimen was constantly before me in the person of old
Babua, the third individual who made his bow to me in the
rest-house at Belligam, being, in fact, the cook. This lean
old man, with his withered limbs, by no means answered to
the picture we usually fancy of a comfortable-looking cook;
much more did he remind me of the quadrumanous pro-
genitors of the human race, and when his huge mouth
widened across his parched bronze face to a grotesque
Smile, his resemblance to an old baboon was complete. It
was a whimsical accident that his name should also identify
him with his prototype, since even the scientific name of
one of the species is Cynocephalus babwin. However, this
venerable ape, with his projecting muzzle and low forehead
—derived probably from some infusion of negro blood–
204 A VISIT TO. CEYLON.
was a most harmless and good-natured soul. His whole
ambition was fulfilled when he succeeded in devising some
new variety of the curry which was set before me twice
every day with my rice, and when I pronounced it good.
A little more cleanliness in his primitive kitchen might
have been desired, as well as in Socrates himself.
Besides these three, the permanent staff of the rest-
house, I had a fourth useful retainer in my interpreter
William. I had engaged him, for a month at any rate, in
Galle. My English friends had advised me to hire my
servants there for my stay at Belligam, according to the
custom of the country—one as interpreter, one to hunt for
me, one to wait upon me, etc. But I had already seen too
much of the trouble and annoyance of the numerous Ser-
vants kept in India to discover any merit in this excessive
division of labour, and I was glad to find in William a
servant who expressed himself willing to fulfil the com-
bined functions of interpreter, valet, and assistant. He had
for several years served as a soldier, and officer's servant,
had very good certificates of character, and was on the
whole a fairly handy and willing assistant. Being a true-
born Cinghalese, he had, of course, a pronounced aversion to
Work in general, and to hard work in particular, and he re-
garded it as only becoming to expend as much time and as
little labour as possible on everything he did. The most
important task of the day to him, as to every Cinghalese
youth, was the artistic treatment of his head. To wash
and comb his long black hair, to dry it carefully and anoint
it with cocoa-nut oil, to twist it into a smooth even knot
and fasten it up with a large tortoise-shell comb—this was
to William a serious performance, a drama in six acts, to
BELLIGAM. 205
which he devoted some hours every morning. Then, to re-
fresh himself after such an effort, some hours of rest were
indispensable. He fulfilled his duties as interpreter and as
keeper of my clothes and linen with conscientious exacti-
tude, but indignantly scouted every suggestion that he
should do any harder mechanical labour, saying, with
much dignity, that he was not a coolie. However, he did
his light housework with a fair degree of dexterity, and
was always ready to help when I worked with the micro-
Scope. 4
My readers of the gentler sex will, no doubt, be curious
to know something of the female inhabitants of the rest-
house at Belligam. I can only regret that I have nothing
to tell, for the simple reason that there were none. Not
Only were Babua, the cook, and William, the housemaid, of
the masculine gender, but even the laundress who carried
away my limen once a week and pounded it clean with
stones in the river ; and so, in fact, are almost all the
domestics throughout India. Indeed, in all Belligam there
were hardly any of the softer sex to be seen; but of this
I shall speak later. -
206 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
CHAPTER XI.
A ZOOILOGICAL LABORATORY IN CEYION.
My first work in Belligam was to set up my household
goods in the rest-house as comfortably as might be with
the help of my four familiars, and then to arrange a
laboratory. The bungalow contained but three rooms, of
which the middle one—the dining-room—was the sitting and
eating-room for all the visitors to the house, chiefly govern-
ment officials travelling through. A large dining table, two
benches, and several chairs, were all the furniture. On
each side of this room was a large sleeping room with
a huge Indian bedstead, in which a sleeper disturbed by
dreams could turn comfortably on his axis without touch-
ing the edges with the tips of his toes. An ample mosquito
curtain, which was stretched over it, had formerly perhaps
done good Service, but was now present only as an idea. I
also found the mattress in a state which led me to regard it
as advisable to abstain from using it, and to sleep in the
native fashion on a palm-leaf mat. Besides this mighty
bedstead, there was in each of these rooms a small table
with washing apparatus and a few chairs. The large
Windows in the white walls were, as elsewhere, devoid of
glass panes, but they could be closed by green wooden
venetian shutters; the floor was paved with flags. The
A ZOOLOGICAL LABORATORY IN CEYLON. 207
lighter of the two rooms, facing south, which I chose for
my own use, commanded a beautiful view of the harbour
through a door opening on to the verandah. I would
gladly have used this room exclusively for working in, and
have arranged it as my laboratory, taking the other,
northern room, for a bedroom and private sitting-room ;
but my host was obliged to keep this in case of need, for
the use of travellers passing through.
In view of the primitive simplicity of the furniture, my
first care was to procure some household chattels, without
which all work in these huge empty rooms was quite out of
the question; above all a large table and a bench, and then,
if possible, some sort of cabinet or cupboard. In this I had
the greatest difficulty, and although my new friends did all
they could to help me, my laboratory when complete left
much to be desired. The chief headman supplied me with
boards, which I laid across my empty cases, to make
benches on which to deposit my glass phials, and the second
headman lent me two large old tables. The collector, who
was a most obliging and intelligent man, lent me a few
small cabinets or almeiras that I could lock, in which to
bestow my valuable instruments, chemicals, and poisons.
The schoolmaster provided me with a small book-case, and
the kind folks contributed many other Small articles of
furniture, with which I contrived to fit up my laboratory
fairly well. In payment for all these little kindnesses they
were content to take the mere satisfying of their curiosity;
but this ere long grew to such dimensions as to become
a serious nuisance, robbing me of a great part of my
precious working hours.
Beyond these most elementary requisites, which most
208 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
of the Cinghalese would regard as Superfluous luxuries, next
to nothing was to be had in Belligam which could serve me
in any way, and it was really most fortunate that I had
brought with me from Europe all that was essential, both
for my personal convenience and for my Zoological studies.
There were, it is true, a carpenter and a lockSmith–so
called—in the village, whose assistance I might often have
found extremely useful, but the primitive products of their
handiwork sufficiently proved the extent of their skill, as
well as their astonished admiration of the simple chattels I
had with me. I soon discovered that I must do everything
myself, for whenever I did by chance employ a Cinghalese
workman, as a rule the first thing to be done when the
thing was finished was to remake it myself from the begin-
ning. As to repairs to instruments and so forth, which
unfortunately were largely needed, any assistance from such
bunglers was of course not to be thought of
In spite of every hindrance, however, I succeeded in a few
days in transforming my room into a tolerably good labo-
ratory, answering in some degree to the requirements of
the study of marine zoology. I had set up my microscopes
and dissecting instruments, arranged a dozen of large glass
vessels and a few hundred phials on shelves, decanted the
spirit I had brought with me into bottles, mixing it with tur-
pentine and oil of thyme, to protect it against the possible
thirstiness of my servants. One of the two cupboards held
my well-furnished medicine chest, as well as my cartridges
and powder-flasks, my photographic apparatus and chemicals
—in themselves a perfect witches' kitchen—and the poisons
for preparing and preserving beasts. In the other I placed
my books and papers, drawing materials for working in water
A ZooLOGICAL LABORATORY IN CEYLON. 209
and oil colour, and a number of fragile or delicate instru-
ments. The feet of these two cabinets and those of the
tables all stood in saucers full of water, like clay flower-pot
saucers, to protect them against the destructive attacks of
termites and other ants. In one corner of the room I
stowed my fishing-nets and rods; in another, my gun and
apparatus for hunting, trapping, and botanizing; a third
held a soldering-pot and tin cases; and in the fourth stood
the above-mentioned bedstead, which by day served as a
table for making preparations on. Round the walls were
arranged a few dozen empty cases to receive my specimens,
and the tin boxes in which I kept my clothes. Above
these I drove in nails to hang up a barometer, thermo-
meter, scales, and fifty things I needed for daily use.
Thus, in a few days, the rest-house at Belligam looked
just like those marine laboratories which, twenty-two years
since, I had arranged for a six months' winter residence at
Messina, and again, fifteen years ago, at Lancerote, in the
Canary Isles, with this difference, that my outfit in both
the Science and Art Departments was far more complete
and various than on those previous Occasions. On the
other hand, my domestic arrangements here were far simpler
and more primitive. However, I consoled myself for many
deficiencies by reflecting that I was at Scarcely more than
six degrees north of the equator, and that no laboratory for
the study of marine Zoology at all to be compared with
mine had ever yet been seen in Ceylon. And I set to
work with proportionate eagerness and zeal.
The extreme difficulty attendant on such work in the
tropics, more particularly in the delicate operation of
examining the structure and development of the lower
P
210 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
marine animals, have been severely felt and loudly lamented
by every naturalist who has attempted it. I was, there-
fore, fully prepared for them, but I soon learnt by experi-
ence that they were more and greater in Ceylon than I had
expected. It was not only the destructive effects of an
excessively hot and damp climate—the mere fact of living
in a primitive village among a half-savage population, as
well as the absence of many of the most Ordinary resources
of civilized life, hindered study and collecting in a thousand
different ways. I often thought with a sigh of the con-
Veniences and advantages I had always enjoyed in my
scientific visits to the Mediterranean, and which I desperately
missed now.
One of my greatest difficulties from the first was to
obtain a boat suitable for my fishing operations, with
manageable fishermen and boatmen. At Belligam, as
everywhere else on the coast of Ceylon, with the single
exception of Colombo, the only boats in use are the quaint
canoes with outriggers, which I have already described.
As I then said, these are from twenty to twenty-five feet
long, and scarcely more than eighteen inches wide, so
narrow that a grown-up man cannot sit in them with his
legs side by side. Thus the sitter is fast stuck into his
boat, and my friend, Professor Vogel, of Berlin, who had
formerly used such a canoe in this part of the World, has, in
his delightful account of his journey, very aptly named
them “calf-crushers.” To work in such a canoe—a mere
hollowed-out trunk of a tree—or even to go from place to
place in it, with no possibility of the free action needed for
dredging or for casting a net, was quite out of the question.
Net-fishing must, at any rate, be given up. Another dis-
A ZOOLOGICAL LABORATORY IN CEYLON. 211
advantage in these canoes was offered by the outriggers–
the two bars of wood or bamboo which project on one side,
and are fastened to a stronger pole parallel with the boat,
and at eight or ten feet away from it. This floats on the
surface of the sea, and prevents the high narrow canoe
from being upset. But while it contributes considerably
to its safety, it also adds to its inconvenience; for only
one side of the boat can ever be brought up alongside of the
shore, or of any object, and turning is a long process.
There is no rudder whatever; the boat is steered by means
of an oar, which can be used alternately at either end of the
canoe, both being alike and ending in a point. The Smaller
boats of this kind are propelled by two rowers, the larger
ones by four or six. They have, too, a small mast with
a broad Square sail; this is of use in a favourable wind, for
the light bark, with its shallow draught and narrow bulk,
offers very small resistance to the water, and shoots like an
arrow Over the smooth sea. I have often made from ten to
twelve miles an hour in such a boat, as fast, that is, as
a good steamer. If the wind bears too strongly against the
sail, threatening to upset the canoe, the boatmen scramble
like monkeys over the side and out on to the floating beam,
On which they squat to keep the balance true.
It was obviously impossible to embark in such a boat,
with a case full of glass vessels, and the various parapher-
malia which I was accustomed to make use of for catch-
ing floating marine creatures, and particularly Medusae; I
therefore had to construct in my canoe a queer contrivance
of boards laid across the top and projecting to some dis-
tance, on which I could sit more comfortably, and at any
rate move freely. At each end of this platform two cases
212 - A VISIT TO CEYLON.
were attached with ropes of cocoa-nut fibre, in which
I arranged four large glass vessels and a dozen or so of
Smaller Ones. Ropes of the same fibre or coir are exten-
sively used in constructing these canoes, all the parts being
tied together; the natives use no nails in making them, nor
any iron whatever—the whole thing is of wood and Cocos
coir, even the perpendicular sides, rising three or four feet
above the hollowed trunk which forms the body of the
canoe, are tied on with cords of palm-fibre. All the rope
and string I required in my various occupations were, in
the same way, made of coir, the outer husk of the cocoa-nut.
In all these arrangements and the further fitting of my
-boat, as well as in finding and instructing my boatmen, I
was greatly assisted by a man to whom I owe much
gratitude for kind and valuable services; this was the
Second head man of Belligam, the Aretshi Abayavira. I
had previously heard of his intelligence and merit from
the government agent of the southern district, who had
especially recommended me to his care. He was a remark-
ably clever and bright Cinghalese of about forty years of
age, whose general information and range of interests was
far greater than those of most of his countrymen. He had
none of their stolid and lazy indifference; on the contrary,
he displayed an eager interest in every kind of knowledge,
and had done his best, so far as lay in his power, to promote
it in his immediate circle. He spoke tolerably good English,
and expressed himself with a natural intelligence and
soundness of judgment that frequently astonished me.
And the Aretshi was a philosopher, too—in a higher sense
than Socrates of the rest-house. I remember with infinite
pleasure several deep discussions we had together on a
A ZOOLOGICAL LABORATORY IN CEYLON. 213
variety of general subjects. He was free from the Super-
stition and dread of spirits which are universal among his
Buddhist fellow-countrymen, and gazed, on the contrary,
with open eyes on the marvels of nature, seeking their
causes and explanation; thus he had learnt to be an
independent freethinker, and was delighted to find me able
to account to him for many phenomena, which had hitherto
remained mysteries to him. I think I can see him now,
a tall brown man with expressive and regular features—
how his black eyes would sparkle as I explained to him this
or that fact in nature, and then, in his gentle full voice, he
would ask me with respectful confidence to answer Some
question arising out of the subject. -
In everything, however, I found the amiable side of the
Cinghalese character—a quiet, impressionable nature with a
peculiar grace of manner—at its best in the Aretshi; and
whenever my mind reverts to that verdurous paradise,
peopled with the slender brown figures of the natives, the
Aretshi and Ganymede stand forth as the ideal type. The
Aretshi's nephew, a youth of seventeen, who was studying
in Colombo with a view to becoming a teacher, was also a
particularly bright young fellow ; he was at this time
spending his holidays at Belligam, and in a variety of ways
nost helpful and useful.
With the Aretshi's assistance I procured four of the
best boatmen and fishermen in Belligam to manage my
boat and help me in my marine excursions. I paid them
five rupees a day for each excursion, but when they dived
for coral, or we were out at sea for half a day at a time, I
always added a few extra rupees. At first I had considerable
difficulties with them, and when I fished the surface of the
214 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
water with a fine sweeping net and showed them for the
first time the fragile Medusae and Polyps, Siphomophora,
and Ctemophora, which it was my first object to capture, I
could see plainly in their faces that they thought me a fool.
By degrees, however, and by dint of a little patience, they
learnt to understand what I wanted and then did their
best to add to my collections. Two of these men particularly
distinguished themselves in diving down to the coral banks,
and to their services I owe a large part of the splendid
corals, and the wonderful marine creatures living among
them, which I was able to collect and bring home to Europe
But the climate of Ceylon, that terrible and unconque".
able foe of the European, which nullifies so much of his toii,
placed far greater obstacles in the way of my fishing and
studies than any difficulties as to the boat and men. On
my very first excursion on the bay of Belligam I learnt
what I had to dread. A number of preparations and ar-
rangements had detained me till nine in the morning before
I fairly put off from shore. The tropical sun was blazing
down pitilessly from the clear blue cloudless sky, there was
not a breath of air, and the mirror-like sea reflected its
rays with an intensity which no eye could endure. I had
to put on my blue spectacles to enable me only to keep my
eyes open. However, I had the canoe pulled out to sea in
hopes of finding the temperature there somewhat lower; but
the heat seeided even more tremendous, and the dazzling
sheet of water, unruffled by a breath, looked like a sea of
molten metal. I had hardly been fishing one hour, stream-
ing with sweat, when I was utterly exhausted. I felt my
strength failing rapidly; a singing in my ears and an
increasing and oppressive pain in my head made me fear a
A ZOOLOGICAL LABORATORY IN CEYLON. 215
Sunstroke. I had recourse to a plan which I had often
tried before in similar circumstances. My light clothing
being already drenched by fishing under such difficulties, I
poured a few buckets of sea water over my head and then
covered it with a wet handkerchief under my broad-
brimmed helmet. This remedy had the happiest results,
and I availed myself of it almost daily, as soon as the
intense heat began to produce the oppressive sense of full-
ness in the head, by about ten or eleven o'clock. Under a
constant temperature of from 27° to 31° centigrade, the sea
being very little below the atmosphere, this cooling douche
is a very beneficial and refreshing process, and even sitting
for hours in wet clothes, which in our climate would induce
a severe cold, and is both harmless and pleasant.
The wealth of varieties of marine creatures to be found
in the Bay of Belligam was evident even on this first ex-
pedition. The glass vessels into which I turned the floating
inhabitants of the ocean out of the gauze met were quite
full in a few hours. Elegant Medusae and beautiful
Sºphomophora were swimming among thousands of little
crabs and Salpºe, numbers of larvae of Mollusca were rush-
ing about, plying their ciliated fins and mingled with flutter-
ing Hyaleadac and other Pteropoda, while swarms of the
larvae of worms, crustacea and corals fell a helpless prey to
greedy Sagittae. Almost all these creatures are colourless,
and as perfectly transparent as the sea-water in which they
carry On their hard struggle for existence, which, indeed,
on the Darwinian principle of selection, has gradually given
rise to the transparency of these pelagic creatures. Most of
them were well known to me, being of genera, if not of
species that I had met with before; for the Mediterranean,
216 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
and particularly the famous Straits of Messina, under
favourable circumstances, when fished with the gauze met,
yield the same mixture of pelagic forms and species. Still,
I could detect among my old acquaintances a number of
new forms, some of them of the greatest interest, which
invited me to examine them promptly with the microscope.
So after a couple of hours fishing I told my men to row
back again, and meanwhile studied my newly found treasures
as best I might. But I soon discovered to my grief that
within a very short time after being captured—at most half
an hour, and often not more than a quarter—most of the
fragile creatures died; their hyaline bodies grew opaque, and
falling to the bottom of the glass, formed a powdery white
mass. And even before we could reach the land I perceived
the characteristic odour exhaled by their soft and rapidly
decomposing bodies. This decomposition which, in the
Mediterranean, under similar conditions, only took place
after from five to ten hours, here, with a temperature from
ten to twelve degrees higher, had begun in half an hour.
Greatly disappointed by this discovery, I hurried my
return as much as possible, and was on shore again by
twelve o'clock. But a fresh difficulty now arose. In spite
of the scorching heat, almost all the population of Belligam
were crowded together on the strand to satisfy their curiosity
as to the results of my wonderful new mode of fishing.
Every one wanted to see what I had caught, and what I
should do with it, or, rather, in what way I proposed to eat
it, for of course no one would catch sea-creatures unless
to eat them. The astonishment of the bronze assembly
through which I made my way, was unbounded when they
saw nothing in my glass jars but the white sediment at the
A ZOOLOGICAL LABORATORY IN CEYLON. 217
bottom and a few minute creatures swimming at the top.
My companion, the Aretshi, told me afterwards, that when
he explained that I did all this simply with a scientific
purpose and to make a collection for study, they neither
understood nor believed him; on the contrary, most of them
scented some mysterious magic behind all these doings, the
brewing of philtres or the like; while the more realistic
spirits opined that I was concocting some new variety of
curry; the really judicious, however, regarded me simply as
an European madman.
In this way I lost a precious quarter of an hour before
I could make my way through the inquisitive crowd to the
house, close as it was. There I began, as usual, to sort out
the hundred tiny beings, and place them in separate glasses
with fresh sea-water. But, alas ! I saw at Once that at
least nine-tenths of my booty were already dead and use-
less, and among them most of the very creatures which had
attracted me by their novelty. Even the remaining fraction
were so exhausted that most of them soon perished, and in
a few hours all were dead and useless.
On the following day I tried every means in my power,
and all the most familiar methods, to avert the fatal effects
of the tropical heat, but with very small success. In short,
it was simply impossible in any way to keep the tempera-
ture of the water sufficiently low. I was convinced at last
that the indispensable condition of a successful study of
marine life in a hot country like Ceylon, is to build or
arrange cool rooms and cooled water-tanks. Now that ice,
which was formerly imported from America, is manufactured
in Colombo by machines, and both cheaper and more plen-
tiful, the construction of such cold chambers and cooled
218 - A VISIT TO CEYLON.
aquaria will be far less difficult; but considerable outlay
would have been requisite then and there, and it was out of
my power.
A second important condition of success for such zoolo-
gical labours would be the construction of the room itself,
and above all the introduction of glass windows. These
are scarcely ever seen in Ceylon; and in the rest-house at
Belligam, as in most buildings in the island, the windows
have wooden shutters or venetians, instead of glass. Above
these there is generally a wide opening to admit the air,
and over the door too, close to the ceiling, there is always
a broad gap, and generally no means of closing it. These
openings are, of course, a very sensible and pleasant con-
trivance for constantly airing and cooling the room, but to
a naturalist working with the microscope they are far more
hindrance than comfort ; for every variety of flying and
creeping creature has free entrance, and the swarms of flies
and gnats, of ants and termites are positively intolerable.
The draught blows his papers about, covers his instruments
with dust, and often rises to a gale and tosses everything
into confusion. The shutters are equally disadvantageous
for getting a good light, and this is the very first requisite
for working with the microscope, especially with the higher
powers. It was often quite impossible under the existing
conditions of sun and wind to find any suitable spot for my
work-table—the room was too dark, the verandah outside
too draughty; out there, too, the projecting roof was a
serious drawback.
These and other hindrances to work in Belligam, arising
from local circumstances, were aggravated by having to deal
with natives, and especially by their inordinate curiosity
A ZOOLOGICAL LABORATORY IN CEYLON. 219
The worthy Belligamese had, of course, never seen the like
of all the instruments and apparatus I had brought with
me, and they wanted to know the use of everything; my
way of working, particularly—as, indeed, every thing I did,
wherever I might be—was an inexhaustible source of ii-
terest to them. Like all primitive races, the Cinghalese ale
in many respects mere grown-up children, and will perhaps
remain so, for under the easy conditions prevailing in this
Eden-like island the struggle for existence is a very easy
One, and hard labour is unknown. Harmless play and inces-
sant chatter are their principal amusements, so every new
thing is an object of interest. It is true, that when I
complained to my more distinguished visitors, the élite of
Belligam, of being annoyed by the inquisitive crowd, the
officials sent away the mob, but they themselves took
their place and remained all the longer. The “doctor” took
a particular interest in the microscope; the “collector” in
my painting materials; the chief magistrate in the anatomical
instruments—from the point of view, perhaps, of instru-
ments of torture ; the schoolmaster inspected my books;
the postmaster my trunks. These and every other article,
from the largest to the smallest, were overhauled again and
again, felt, and turned over, while a thousand foolish ques-
tions were asked as to their construction and purpose.
My growing collection of specimens was a special subject
of interest to all, and I thought I should best satisfy them
on this subject by giving a regular little lecture on certain
days of the week, and explaining some of the objects--a
plan I had adopted with great success in places on the
Mediterranean. But, in the first place, they did not believe
me for the most part, or certainly did not understand; and,
220 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
in the second, I soon discovered that their childish curiosity
had in very few cases resulted in any desire for knowledge.
The connection of cause and effect had no interest whatever
for these simple children.
It would only be wearisome to relate at length all the
other difficulties I had to contend with in the course of my
studies in my primitive laboratory. Lacking the help of
any European assistant, and thrown entirely upon my own
resources, many remained wholly insuperable; and I lost a
great deal of precious time in a variety of minor tasks,
which are never necessary to zoological studies on the coast
of Europe. My strictly limited time for remaining at
Belligam was indeed too short for any connected series of
observations, especially on processes of evolution, such as I
had originally hoped to carry out; so that, finally, my chief
consolation was in the very circumstance I had at first most
regretted, namely, that the Bay of Belligam was by no
means so rich in new and peculiar forms as I had expected
to find it. The extended research of the last twenty years,
particularly the results of the Challenger expedition, have
convinced us more and more that the living creatures of
the different oceans are not, by a long way, so dissimilar as
the terrestrial fauna of the different continents. My expe-
rience in Belligam afforded fresh proof of this. I found
there, indeed, a considerable number of new and some very
interesting forms, particularly among the lowest orders of
marine life : Radiolania and InfºSoria, Sponges and corals,
Medusae and Siphomophora; still, on the whole, the creatures
of the ocean-surface, as well as those of the coast-waters,
displayed a close affinity to the well-known marine fauna of
the tropical Pacific, as, for instance, the Philippine and Fiji
groups. -
A ZOOLOGICAL LABORATORY IN CEYLON. 221
It is quite possible that other shores round India may
be richer in various and peculiar forms than Ceylon. One
unfavourable condition seemed to me to exist here in the
enormous and regular daily rain-fall. While the flora
of the island owes its astonishing wealth to this circum-
stance, the development and thriving of the fauna are in
many ways seriously checked by it. The numerous water-
courses carry down large quantities of red earth into the
sea, which clouds its waters on most parts of the coast ; its
saltness is reduced, and that pure and transparent condition
of the sea-water is destroyed, which is the first and indis-
pensable condition of life for many marine Creatures,
especially those of the coast.
In spite of all this, my zoological collection in Belligam
soon considerably increased; and if I brought home a richer
store of materials to work on than I have any hope of
exhausting in all the remaining years of my life, I owe
it principally to the indefatigable exertions of my faithful
Ganymede. My collection excited his most eager interest,
and he was never tired of enriching it with land and sea-
creatures of all kinds. By his intervention, I found a
number of fisher-boys ready to collect for me, and dealing
for natural curiosities with the Cinghalese children soon
became a most amusing business. Sometimes a whole troop
of the pretty little naked brown things would make their
appearance at the hour I had fixed for such transactions.
One would bring a few bright coloured fishes or crabs,
another a large star-fish or sea-urchin, a third a scorpion or
a millipede, a fourth some brilliant butterfly or beetle, etc.
I was often reminded of the entertaining scenes I had
witnessed under similar circumstances on the shores of the
222 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
Mediterranean, particularly at Naples and Messina. But
how different here and there was the conduct of the little
traders | The Italian fisher-boys used to cry up their goods
loudly and energetically, and with their natural vehemence
and eloquence would often discourse about them in long and
flowery speeches; they always asked ten times their value,
and were never content, even with a high price. The
little Cinghalese, on the contrary, always approached me
with reverence and timidity. They quietly laid their
treasures before me and waited in silence to hear what
I would give for them; as a rule they were satisfied with
a small copper bit, and were only too happy when, in
return for some particularly wished-for object, I gave them
Some trifle from a store of articles I had brought expressly
for such barter, and of which I will speak later.
Unfortunately, I had neither time nor means for pre-
Serving in a satisfactory state all the interesting specimens
of various kinds which I thus obtained in Belligam. Here,
again, the difficulties arising from the tropical heat and the
destructive insects were peculiarly annoying. This was
particularly the case with those preparations which I
attempted to keep in a dry state. Desiccation is, in
fact, one of the most difficult problems in the world in
so damp and hot a climate ; the air is so absolutely
Saturated with moisture, that even quite dry objects be-
come coated with mould and slowly decompose. There
are, too, many kinds of tissue, which it is impossible ever
to dry properly there. For instance, the skins of birds and
mammals which I had shot, I prepared with the greatest
pains and hung in the sun every day for weeks, but they
were always thoroughly wetted through again every night.
A ZOOLOGICAL LABORATORY IN CEYLON. 223
A worse foe still to the collection of natural history are the
legions of destructive insects, above all the swarms of ants
and termites. Not a place is safe from their attacks. Even
if the large ventilators in every room were not constantly
open to Secure a current of fresh air, allowing ingress to
every creature that creep or flies without let or hindrance,
it would still be impossible to exclude these torments. No
wall can resist the attacks of their myriad of mandibles; they
make their way down through the roof as easily as through
the partitions, or up through the floor, which they under-
mine most cleverly. Not unfrequently, on waking in the
morning, one is startled by Seeing a small conical hill, which
has been thrown up during the night by ants or termites,
between the flags of the floor, and of which not a trace was
visible the night before. The vigour and rapidity with
which these minute enemies carry out the work of de-
struction, often in a very few days, I was destined to learn
by their experiments on my desiccated specimens, within a
month of my arrival. In the course of these four weeks
I had formed a very pretty collection of butterflies and
beetles, skins of birds and beasts, interesting fruits, woods,
ferns, and other dried plants, and had locked them up in
seeming security in an out.house belonging to the rest-
house. I looked at them almost daily, to see that no spiteful
foe had intruded to damage them, and at Once put to rout
the reconnoitring parties of ants and Vanguard of termites
which now and then made their appearance. By a lavish
use of camphor, napthaline and carbolic acid, I believed
I had completely secured my treasures. A few longer ex-
peditions, however, which I made at the end of the fourth
week, and pressing work of other kinds, prevented my
224 - A VISIT TO CEYI, ON.
looking over them as usual for two or three days. How
startled I was when, only three days after, I went into my
museum and found the larger part of my collected treasures
reduced to a heap of dust and mildew Several regiments
of large red ants, entering from the roof, had effected a
combined attack with a division of Smaller black ants
arriving through the walls, and reinforced by a legion of
termites from the ground—the results were disastrous !
From this moment I almost entirely abandoned the idea
of preserving desiccated specimens, and tried preserving
natural objects in alcohol and in Wickersheim's solution.
This, which has lately been so much cried up, I found on
the whole very useless. But I found the greatest difficulty
even with spirits of wine, for the store I had brought
with me was soon exhausted. The arrack or spirit pre-
pared by the natives is of very inferior quality, and the
better spirit of wine, which can be bought in the town, is
so dear, in consequence of the enormous duty, that I could
only use it in small quantities. Besides this, my pleasure
in collecting specimens preserved in alcohol was greatly
diminished by the odious labour of soldering down the tin
cases, which I was forced to do myself. Simple as this
process is in theory, in practice it is most difficult, as I dis-
covered in Belligam. Under a constant temperature of from
27 degrees to 30 degrees C., to stand for hours, with a face
streaming with Sweat, over a glowing soldering-brasier is as
near as may be to the torments of hell, and all the more so,
since it requires no small effort of strength to solder a large
tin case securely. I remember that terribly hard work with
horror to this day. Many a time have I wished the whole
collection at the devil' Afterwards, to be sure, I doubly
A ZOOLOGICAL LABORATORY IN CEYLON. 225
appreciated my dearly bought treasures. The thirty cases
of specimens which I collected in Belligam, and to which
I added twenty more at Galle, richly repaid me for all my
trouble. y
Even though certain special hopes on which I had built
in setting up my laboratory in Belligam were never fulfilled,
I gained in my general views of tropical nature; and the
six weeks I passed there alone among the Cinghalese filled
my mind with a rich store of interesting experience.
226 A VISIT TO GEYLON.
CHAPTER XII.
SIX WBERS AMONG THE CINGHALESE.
WHEN I had fairly conquered the initial difficulties my
daily life in Belligam Settled itself very satisfactorily, and
on the whole I found fewer defiéiencies than I had at first
feared. My four familiars fulfilled their duties very fairly
well; and when, now and again, something indispensable
was lacking, the faithful Ganymede was ready at once to
supply it. In view of the vast variety of tasks which
I found to do, arising on One hand from collecting specimens
and working in my laboratory, and on the other from my
anxiety to make as many sketches as possible of the lovely
neighbourhood of the village, my first object, of course, was
to make the best possible use of my precious time in this
place. Every morning, as I got up, I used to tell myself
that, simply as balanced against the cost of my journey and
preparations, my day was worth five pounds sterling,
and that I must before mightfall have got through work
that I could value at least at that sum. I made it an
immutable law that not an hour was to be wasted, and,
above all, that I must forego the midday siesta which is
universally indulged in ; in point of fact, that was my
quietest and most profitable hour for study.
Belligam being at not quite six degrees north of the
SIX WEEKS AMONG THE CINGEIALESE. 227
equator, and the difference between the longest and the
shortest days of the year amounting to not so much as one
hour, I had nearly twelve hours a day in which I could
work. I got up every morning before the Sun, at five
o'clock, and had taken my first cool morning bath before he
rose above the palm-groves of Cape Murissa, exactly facing
the rest-house. In the verandah, from whence I usually
watched the sudden birth of the day, Ganymede would be
standing ready with a freshly opened cocoa-nut, the cool
juice being my regular morning draught. Meanwhile,
William shook out my clothes to dislodge any millipede,
scorpion, or other vermin that might have crept into them.
Soon after Socrates made his appearance, bringing me my
tea, with an air of extreme humility, and a bunch of
bananas, and the maize-cake which is eaten by way of
bread. My dear old habit of coffee-drinking I had to give
up altogether in Ceylon, though coffee is my favourite
drink, for though the coffee districts are the chief source
of wealth in the island, the noble infusion is generally so
bad that tea is universally preferred. It probably arises
from the fact that the coffee-beans are not properly dried
in the island, and never reach that pitch of desiccation
which is indispensable to careful and successful prepara-
tion till they have travelled to Europe.
At seven o'clock my boatmen commonly came up to
fetch the nets and glass vessels for the day's water-excur-
sion. This lasted from two to three hours at most. On my
return I at Once distributed my prizes into a number of
glass jars of various sizes, picked out from among the
few survivors such as it was still possible to save, and
immediately set to work to draw and dissect all the
*
228 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
newest and most interesting. Then I took a second bath,
and at about eleven ate my breakfast. The principal
feature of this was invariably the national dish of curry and
rice. The rice itself was always the same, plainly boiled;
but the concoction of the curry, the all-important spiced
stew which gives savour to the rice, absorbed the whole of
the wit and care of which stepmother Nature had bestowed
but a niggardly share on Babua's small brain, and his pride
was to surprise me every day by some novelty in the
mixture. One day it was Sweet curry, less spiced and some.
times really quite sweet; the next it was hot curry, strongly
flavoured with red peppers and other pungent spices.
Another time it was a compound defying analysis, a
mixtum compositum, consisting mainly of vegetables of all
sorts, cocoa-nut, and various fruits; or, on the other hand,
chiefly meat of one kind or another. These last compounds
excited my greatest admiration, for Babua seemed to fancy
that I, as a Zoologist, must take an equal interest in every
class of animal life, and that therefore their application to the
end and purpose of curry must be an important natural
problem. So, if on Monday the Vertebrata were represented
by some delicate fish in my curry, on Tuesday this Wa,S .
replaced by noble prawns and shrimps, or by small crabs as
representing the Crustaceae. On Wednesday, cuttle-fish
(Sepia or Loligo) would appear, the most highly organized of
the Mollusca; while on Thursday we condescended to some
edible Univalve or to baked oysters. On Friday, the worthy
race of Radiata were represented by starfish or Echinoder-
mata, the eggs of the sea-urchin, or the gelatinous texture
of a Holothuria (Trepang). On Saturday, I fully expected to
have come down to the Zoophytes, and to find Medusae or
SIX WEEKS AMONG THE CINGHALESE. 229
corals, sponges or Actiniae, in my bowl of curry. My
cook, however, clinging to an antiquated system, evidently
regarded Zoophytes as plants, and supplied their place
with some winged creature—bats or birds, or sometimes the
fleshy bodies of a horned beetle or moth. On Sundays, of
course, he laid himself out to give me some special treat,
and my curry was of the best, containing a fowl or a fat
iguana, occasionally even a Snake, which I at first mistook
for eel. Babua was evidently convinced of the close
affinities of birds with reptiles, and thought it made no
difference whether he sent the earlier or the more recent
type of Sauropsis to table. Happily for my European
prejudices, I was gradually initiated into the mongrel
mysteries of curry, and commonly knew nothing of its
constituents till after I had swallowed it in blind resigna.
tion. Besides, the thick sauce in which they were disguised
contained such a mixture of spices, with particles of roots,
fruits, and leaves, that nothing short of anatomical analysis
would have revealed the nature of the first elements, and
this I carefully avoided. -
For the first week or two I had some doubts as to
whether I could hold out for some months on the national
diet of curry and rice. I went through the same experience
as Goethe did with the muddy Merseburg beer at Leipsic;
at first I could hardly eat it, and at last I could hardly
bear to part from it. In the course of the second week
I found myself making a virtue of necessity, and fancied
that there was something really remarkable, or at any rate
interesting, in the flavour of curry; and by the end of a
month habit had made me so much of an Indian that I
began to wish for fresh varieties of the stew, and devoted
2
230 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
the produce of my own sport to the purpose; and now I
had curries made of monkey and of flying-fox, to the amaze-
ment of Babua, himself.
I found under all culinary difficulties the greatest com-
fort in the marvellous fruit which graced the rest-house
table, fresh every day, and amply indemnified me for all the
anguish of curry. Foremost of all I must sing the praises
of the noble banana (Musa Sapientum) or Pisang, the most
precious gift of the tropics, and worthy of its name of “Fig
of Paradise.” Though throughout the tropical zone this
incomparable fruit is one of the most profitable of cultivated
plants, this is especially the case in Ceylon. Here we are
in the paradise of lemurs; the droll little loris (Stemops
gracilis), half monkeys, which I kept alive as pets in the
rest-house, left me no doubts on this point, for they prefer
the sweet fruit of the Pisang to any other food. Many
varieties of the tree are cultivated by the Cinghalese. A
small gold-coloured kind—“Ladies' fingers”—are thought
the best ; they are, in fact, not much larger than a slender
finger, and are particularly sugary in flavour. The huge
water-bananas are, in size, form, and colour, more like a
large cucumber, and their cool juicy fiesh is particularly
refreshing. The floury potatoe-bananas, on the contrary,
are valued for their solid mealy consistency and nutritious
qualities; three or four are enough to mitigate the pangs
of hunger. The pine-apple banana is characterized by a
delicate aroma, the cinnamon-banana by a spicy flavour,
and so forth. This fine fruit is commonly eaten raw, but it
is also excellent boiled or baked, or stuffed and fried. No
other fruit that grows, perhaps, is at Once so delicious and
so nourishing, wholesome and prolific. A single lanana
SIX WEEKS AMONG THE CINGHALESE. 231
tree bears a clump of fruits consisting of several hundred,
and yet this beautiful plant, with its grand crown of droop-
ing light-green leaves, each ten feet long, is an annual.
The beauty of the banana, as a feature in the landscape, is
on a par with its inestimable utility; it is the ornament of
every Indian hut. If I could transplant only one tropical
plant into my European garden, the lovely Musa Sapientwm
should have the preference above all others. In practical
value, this Musa of the wise is the philosopher's stone of the
vegetable world. •
Next to the banana, of which I ate several three times
a day during the whole of my stay in Belligam, the chief
ornament of my table were fine pine apples—a few coppers'
worth; then the handsome mangoes (Mangifera Indica), an
oval fruit from three to six inches long ; their bright gold-
coloured flesh, of a creamy consistency, has a subtle aroma,
which, however, distinctly recalls that of turpentine. I also
found the fruit of the passion flower (Passiſlora) very
pleasant eating, with a taste something like the gooseberry.
I was less attracted by the more famous custard apple, the
Scaly fruit of the Amona squamosa, or by the Indian
almond, the hard nut of Terminalia catappa. The quality
of the apples and oranges in Ceylon is singularly bad ; the
oranges remain green, stringy, and dry. But no doubt the
inferiority of these and other fruits is due to want of care;
the Cinghalese are much too well off and easy going to
devote much pains to the selection and culture of the trees.
When I had refreshed myself with fruit after my modest
breakfast, I generally devoted the hottest hours of the day,
from twelve to four o'clock, to dissecting and microscopic
work, observations and drawing, or to preparing and pack-
232 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
ing specimens. The evening hours, from four to six, 1
commonly spent in making some excursion in the lovely
neighbourhood, sometimes making a water-colour sketch,
and sometimes trying to perpetuate it in photography.
Sometimes I shot monkeys or birds in the woods, collected
insects and snails, or went down to the shore to gaze at the
coral reefs, and increase my fast-growing collections with
Some of the endless treasures of the sea. Loaded with
prizes, I got home again by half an hour or an hour after
Sunset; and the sorting and arranging, or skinning and
cleaning, with pressing plants, etc., occupied about an hour
more.
Thus it was generally eight o'clock before I sat down to
my second solid meal or dinner. At this, again, the prin-
cipal dish was always curry and rice, but besides there was
usually some fish or a crab, which I always found excel-
lent, and after it a dish of eggs or a pudding, and a
desert of delicious fruit. . -
There was, of course, no lack of fish in Belligam. The
most esteemed—and justly so—is the excellent Seir-fish
(Cybium guttatum), a large, flattish, thorny-finned fish of
the mackerel family (Scomberidae). There are also some
very excellent members of the families of the Cataphracti,
Squamipinnes, and Labroidei. The hideously grotesque
bays and sharks, of which enormous specimens may be
seen every day in the fish-market, are less meritorious.
When Babua tried to persuade me to relish these with a
keenly pungent peppered sauce, he reckoned perhaps on
the philogenetic interest attaching to these primaeval
forms —the survivors of the common progenitors of the
higher Vertebrata, including man himself.
SIX WEEKS AMONG THE CINGEIALESE. 233
The reader will have learnt from the menu of my
Belligam fare that I was on the high road to become a
complete vegetarian. Now and then, to be sure, Socrates
tried to give me a special treat in the form of a beefsteak
or a mutton chop; but I will forbear to hint what I sus-
pected to be the real animal to which I was indebted for
these delicacies. I must, however, confess that I sometimes
tried to supply the place of an European meat diet by the
use of my gun. Among the dainties I have mentioned
above as the results of my sport, I spoke of monkeys. I
found this noble game excellent eating, either fresh and,
baked, or pickled in vinegar; and I began to suspect that
cannibalism was, in fact, a refined form of gowrmandise.
The flesh of the Pteropus or flying-fox I liked less; it has a
peculiar musky flavour. The meat of the iguana (Monitor
dracºma) a good deal resembles veal, and stewed snake
reminded me somewhat of stewed eel. Out of a variety of
birds, wild pigeons and crows, wild ducks and herons were
frequent substitutes for fowls. Added to these, I had a
variety of frutti di mare, the savoury produce of the sea
—shell-fish, sea-urchins, Holothuria, etc.—so that the kitchen
bag at Belligam included a greater variety than might at
first be supposed. In addition, Mr. Scott, my kind host
at Galle, had provided me with a quantity of English pre-
Served food, Scotch marmalade, Liebig's extract of meat
etc., and had also taken care to supply me drinkables.
With regard to this important question of what to
drink, I had at first grave doubts. The common drink-
ing Water is considered extremely bad and unwholesome
throughout the low country of Ceylon, though the hill dis-
tricts are abundantly supplied with the purest and coolest
234. A VISIT TO CEYLON.
Springs. The heavy rainfall which daily occurs constantly
carries down soil and vegetable refuse into the rivers, and
in many cases they are also fed with the overflow of the
stagnant lagoons. As a rule, therefore, the water is not fit
to drink till it has been boiled, and in the form of weak
tea, or mixed with whiskey or claret. My good friend, Mr.
Scott, had supplied me with a more than ample quantity of
whiskey, but still my favourite drink was cocoa-nut milk,
which I found as pleasant and refreshing as it was whole-
SOIſlē.
When my simple dinner was over, I made it a rule to
take a short evening walk on the deserted shore or in the
palm groves, illuminated by thousands of fire-flies and
glow-worms; then I made a few notes, or tried to read by
the light of a lamp burning cocoa-nut oil; but generally I
was so overpowered by fatigue, that by nine o'clock I was
glad to go to bed, after carefully shaking my night things,
as I had my clothes in the morning, to turn out intruding
Scorpions or centipedes. Large black Scorpions, about six
inches long, were so common that I once collected half a
dozen in the course of an hour; there are also a great many
Snakes. The pretty green whip-snakes are seen everywhere
hanging from the boughs of trees, and the large rat-Snake
(Coryphodom Blumenbachii) hunts the rats and mice over
the roofs of the huts. Although it is quite harmless and
devoid of venom, it is always an unpleasant surprise when,
in the heat of the chase, one of these creatures—five feet or
So in length—suddenly comes down through a hole in the
ceiling, and drops, perhaps, on to your bed.
My sleep was not much disturbed, as a rule, by the
manifold wild creatures of Belligam, excepting by the
SIX WEEKS AMONG THE CINGHALESE. 235
howling of the jackals and the uncanny cry of the devil
bird, a kind of owl, Syrmwim, Imdrami, and a few other
might birds. The bell-like tone of the pretty little tree-
frogs, which live in the blossoms of large-flowered plants,
was rather soothing than otherwise. But the flight of my
own thoughts often kept me awake; reflections on the
scenes of the past day, and excited expectations of the
morrow. The mingled pictures passed before my mind in
slow array, as they had been stamped on my memory during
my last excursions and studies, and I sketched fresh projects
for the future.
I had frequent opportunities of familiar intercourse with
the dusky natives of Belligam, most of whom were of un-
mixed Cinghalese blood, either in the course of the work I
needed done in my laboratory, or of my attempts to sketch
and photograph the scenery. From the first I was implored
by the native “doctor” to lend him my assistance in some
surgical operations, and thus my medical skill was noised
abroad in a way which would have done honour to the
brilliant, if not too profitable, practice of some of my gifted
colleagues at home. Before long I was credited with the
skill of a juggler and magician, able to brew elixirs out of
herbs, and extract gold from sea-creatures. My black art
was appealed to for the most wonderful results; old and
young crowded to follow me from village to village, and in
all my walks. Everything I did was of absorbing interest,
and they suspected a mystery behind my simplest acts.
Dealing with the natives for natural objects was a most
amusing and successful business; I owe many fine speci-
mens to their diligence. It was particularly advantageous
to me when we agreed to barter. I had brought with me
236 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
a number of small articles for this purpose, particularly
objects made of iron, such as knives, scissors, pincers,
hammers, etc., and these were in the greatest demand;
still they also liked glass beads, coloured stones, and other
ornaments. But the highest value was attributed to
coloured prints, of which I had with me some few hundred,
and this says much for the artistic feeling of the Cinghalese,
These great works, the delight of all German children,” were
immensely admired at Belligam, and I only regretted having
no more of them. They were highly prized even as a
return for presents and hospitality; and I had no better
way of showing my gratitude for the heaps of cocoa-nuts,
bananas, mangoes, and other splendid fruits, which my brown
friends, and particularly the two headmen, sent to me
daily. Before long I found all the best huts in the village
decorated with these products of German art; and even
from the neighbouring villages the headmen came to call,
offering me fruit and flowers in the hope of receiving in
return the much-coveted prints. First in estimation stood
the military: Prussian Uhlans, Austrian Hussars, French Ar-
tillery, English Marines, and so forth. Next to these came
theatrical figures: fancy portraits of Oberon and Titania, the
Dame Blanche, and the Somnambula; and scenes from the
Wagner Nibelungen-Ring. Then came pictures of animals:
horses, cattle, and sheep; and last of all genre-subjects, land-
scapes, etc., the gaudier and the simpler the better.
By these reciprocal gifts and the trade by barter, I soon
had established friendly relations with the good people
of Belligam; and whenever I took a walk through the
village, or went by in an ox-cart, I had always to return
* “Bilderbogen aus Neu Ruppin, Schön zu haben bei Gustav Kühn.”
six weeks AMONG THE CINGHALESE. 237
the greetings of my brown friends to the right and left,
who came out with their arms gravely crossed and bowed
respectfully as I passed. In these walks through the
village, as well as in the course of other visits that I sub-
sequently paid to various places in Ceylon, nothing struck
me so much as the scarcity of women, and particularly of
young women and girls between the ages of twelve and
twenty; even among the children at play, boys are far
more numerous. The girls are taught at a very early age to
remain within doors and perform domestic duties, and they
are soon past their bloom. They are often married at ten
or twelve, and are old women between twenty and thirty.
Grandmothers of twenty-five or thirty are very common.
A further cause of the disproportion of the sexes is to be
found in the constant majority of boys born among the
Cinghalese: to every ten boys on an average not more than
eight or nine girls. Thus the fair sex is the rarest—rarest
of all when it is fair.
There is a direct connection between these facts and the
singular institution of polyandry, of which it is, no doubt,
to some extent the cause. Although the English Govern-
ment has for a long time been endeavouring to suppress
this practice, it still exists, and apparently to a great extent,
particularly in the remoter parts of the island. It is not
unusual for two or three brothers to have a wife in common;
and there are said to be some ladies who are the happy
possessors of from eight to twelve recognized husbands.
A number of very curious histories are told arising out of
these complicated family relationships, but it is extremely
difficult to discriminate between the core of truth in them
and the added fiction.
238 A VISIT TO CEY LON.
Old Socrates, with whom I once discussed this question
of polyandry very fully, startled me by propounding a new
theory of inheritance, which is too remarkable to be omitted
here. It has hitherto been lacking in the ninth chapter
of my “Natural History of Creation,” and its originality
must make it interesting to every sincere Darwinist. I
must preface it by mentioning that Socrates was the son of
a native of the hill-country of Kandy, and, by his own
account, belonged to a high caste. Hence it was with
silent contempt that he held dealings with the inhabitants
of Belligam, among whom he had been living for some
years, and with whom he was obviously not on the most
friendly terms. From the very first he warned me against
their evil ways in general, accusing them of many sins
in particular. “But their reprobate nature is not to be
wondered at,” he suddenly exclaimed, shrugging his
shoulders, with an expression of great gravity. “For you
see, sir, these low-country people have always had a number
of fathers, and as they inherit all the bad qualities of SO
many fathers, it is only natural that they should grow worse
and worse.” - - º
As Socrates had warned me on the very first day of my
arrival of the atrocious character of his fellow-countrymen,
I was in fact somewhat uneasy; though it was, of course,
some consolation when he assured me that he himself was
the best of men, and that I might trust him implicitly in
everything. How great, then, was my surprise when
the chief headman paid me a visit immediately after, and
quietly told me very much the same thing; and when, next
day, half a dozen more of the village officials called upon
me and repeated the tune with variations. Each and all
SIX MONTHS AMONG THE CINGHALESE. 239
implored me to be on my guard with all his fellow villagers,
for that they were a bad lot for the most part—liars, thieves,
slanderers, and so forth; the speaker himself was the only
exception, and on his friendship I might fully rely.
Although these pressing communications cast a dark
shadow on my visions of the Eden-like innocence of the
Cinghalese, they came out in even a worse light under
the disclosures of the village magistrate, or, as he liked
to be styled, the “judge.” He assured me with a sigh,
that he generally had the whole village on his hands, and
that he never found the day long enough for all his business.
In fact, I found the Court of Justice—like the village school-
house, an open shed—almost always occupied with a few
dozen, or sometimes about a hundred of the villagers,
Seeking justice in some form ; but I learnt, to my comfort,
that most of the trials were of cases of abuse, insult, or
cheating, and particularly of petty theft in the gardens.
The Cinghalese in general are much given to cheating and
cunning, and are, above all, liars of the first proficiency.
On the other hand, they are not addicted to deeds of
violence; assault and manslaughter are very rare, and
robbing and murder quite exceptional. They seldom dis-
play strong passions of any kind; their temperament being,
On the whole, decidedly phlegmatic.
The Cinghalese are great lovers of music and dancing,
but both, it must be admitted, in forms not much to our
taste. Their chief instruments are drums and tom-toms
stretched with vellum, which they belabour with all their
might with wooden sticks; then they have a reed-pipe, and
a very primitive instrument with one string. When, in the
evening, I heard the sound of these ear-splitting contrivances
240 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
in the neighbourhood of the rest-house, and followed them
up, I generally found a party of six or a dozen naked brown
fellows round a fire, under a palm grove; they had painted
themselves grotesquely with white, red, and yellow stripes,
and were leaping about and cutting the most extraordinary
capers. A large circle of meditative spectators squatted
on the ground closely packed, and watched the wonderful
performances with devout attention. At about Christmas
time, which is the period of the Buddhist festivals at the
turn of the year, these devil-dances were more frequent and
had some special religious significance. The principal
dancers were extravagantly decked out with coloured
feathers, wore a pair of horns on their heads, and had tied
on long tails— always a particular delight of innocent
youth ! A whole troop of these demons would often go
leaping and hallooing through the village with a band of
music, even in the day time; and at night the addition
of a drinking bout often made these performances a per-
fect orgy.
The headman of the neighbouring village of Dena Pitya
had arranged a particularly grand Buddhist festival for the
19th of December. I was invited as an honoured guest,
and escorted thither in solemn procession. A dozen of
venerable and shaven Buddhist priests in yellow robes
received me under the boughs of an enormous sacred fig-
tree, and led me, with strange chanting, into the temple,
which was elegantly decorated with garlands. Here I was
shown the great image of Buddha, covered with fragrant
flowers; and the mural paintings, scenes from the history of
the god, were explained to me. I was then led to a sort of
throne erected opposite to the temple, under a shady group
SIX WBEKs AMONG THE CINGEIALESE. 241
of bananas, and the performance began. A band of five
tom-tom thumpers and as many flute-players set up a noise
which was enough to make the stones cry out. At the same
time two dancers came forward, perched on stilts twelve
feet high, and went through a series of wonderful evolu-
tions. Meanwhile the headman's daughters, finely grown
black-haired girls of from twelve to twenty, with beautifully
formed limbs, handed round toddy or palm-wine in cocoa-nut
shells, with sweetmeats and fruit as refreshments. The
headman then made a long speech, of which unluckily I
could hardly understand a word, but I could make out that
he dwelt with emphasis on the high honour my visit had
done him. The same idea was expressed in pantomime by
a party of ten naked, painted devil-dancers, who leaped and
capered round my throne. When at length, towards sun-
down, I took my leave and went to mount my bullock-cart,
I found it filled with splendid bananas and cocoa-nuts, that
the kindly folks had put in as a parting gift to speed me
on my Way.
Hardly was I released from my functions as honorary
president of this truly Cinghalese Buddhist festival when,
the very next day, I had to fill the same office at the annual
festival of the Wesleyan mission On the 28th of December,
quite unexpectedly, a carriage arrived from Galle with the
head of the Wesleyan mission established there. He in-
formed me that to-day, being the last day of the scholastic
year, a grand prize-giving was to take place in their school
at Belligam, and that I could do no greater service to a
good cause than by distributing the prizes to the children.
In spite of my utmost resistance, I was obliged at last
to consent. I had done honour to the sublime Buddha
R
242 A VISIT TO CEY J, ON.
yesterday, and to-day I must pay a tribute to worthy
Mr. Wesley. So at noon I walked down to the open
schoolhouse, where about a hundred and fifty children in
white dresses were assembled—some natives of Belligam
and some from the neighbouring villages. First they sang
several songs, which certainly did no particular credit to
the musical culture of the dusky schoolmaster; it struck
me that the hundred and fifty children—about ninety boys
and sixty girls—were singing at least fifty different tunes
at once. They tried, however, to make up for the lack of
harmony by strength of voice and vigour of tone. The
examinations in Biblical history and English grammar,
which came next, were, however, eminently satisfactory ;
the copy and arithmetic books, too, were by no means bad,
when it is considered that the contents were written within
six degrees of the equator. The Rev. Mr. N– then de-
livered a solemn address, at the end of which he requested
me to present the thirty prizes that had been awarded to
the most diligent scholars. I called out their names from
a list, and each time a small Cinghalese came up with a
radiant face and took his reward from my hand with a deep
bow—an English book or a spelling-book with pictures.
Finally the whole party were treated to coffee and cakes.
My friends in Galle and Colombo, who heard through the
|papers of my extraordinary proceedings, laughed at me
“consumedly.” -
The most remarkable ceremony, however, at which I
was present during my residence at Belligam, was the
funeral of a Buddhist priest, on the 13th of January. While
ordinary men are here simply interred, either in the garden
behind their own house or in a Cocos grove adjoining the
SIX WEEKS AMONG THE CINGHALESE. 243
village, none but priests are allowed the honour of crema-
tion. On this occasion the deceased was the oldest and
most respected priest in the village, and accordingly a high
pile of palm trunks was erected near the principal temple,
in the midst of the cocoa-nut grove. After the gorpse had
been borne through the village with Solemn chanting, on a
high bier decked with flowers, a troup of young Buddhist
priests in yellow robes carried it to the top of the pile,
which was about thirty feet high. The four corners were
formed by four tall cocoa trunks, and from these a white
cloth was suspended, as a sort of canopy. After various
ceremonies had been performed with Solemn chanting and
prayers, the pile was fired at about five in the evening, to
a loud rattle of tom-toms. The Swarthy crowd, who had
assembled to the number of several thousands, filling the
cocoa-nut grove, watched the burning of the body with the
greatest intentness, particularly when the flames caught the
overhanging cloth. The hot ascending air blew out this
horizontal sheet like a huge sail, and it was dark before it
was caught by the licking flames and reduced to tinder. At
that moment a thousand voices broke out in a loud shout of
triumph that rang through the silent wood—the Soul of the
high priest had at that instant flown up to heaven. This
Solemn moment was the signal for beginning a more jovial
part of the festivity. Rice-cakes and palm-wine were
offered to every one, and a noisy and jolly drinking bout
began, which was carried on through a great part of the
night round the still Smouldering pile.
Irrespective of these great occasions and a few excur-
sions in the neighbourhood, my lonely stay in Belligam had
but few interruptions. Now and then an English govern-
244 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
ment official came through the district on a tour of inspection,
and would spend a few hours with me at the rest-house, or
even dine with me, and then go on his way. A few
Cinghalese schoolmasters were less agreeable visitors; these,
attracted by the fame of my laboratory, would come from
considerable distances, introduce themselves as my col-
leagues, and want to see and know everything. Now, it
is very true that I am myself no more-than a schoolmaster,
and have the greatest respect, accordingly, for every
member of my caste. But that peculiar species, the
Praeceptor Cimghalem Sis, which I here became acquainted
with, was very little to my taste, and I was heartily glad
to be rid of these pertinacious and inquiring, but extremely
ignorant, individuals. However, at a later date, I came to
know some pleasanter and better educated specimens of
the genus,
But the most remarkable visit of curiosity which it
was my fate to receive during my stay at Belligam, was
paid me at Christmas-time. I came home late one evening,
very tired, from a long expedition to Boralu, when Socrates
came to meet me outside the rest-house, and with a
mysterious air informed me, in a whisper, that four
Strangers, ladies, had been waiting to see me for more than
an hour. In point of fact, as I entered the dimly lighted
house, I saw four ladies sitting on the bench, dressed in
European fashions, it is true, but in very bad taste. But
I was much startled when the flickering light of a cocoa-
nut-oil lamp fell on four witches' faces, each more wrinkled
and hideous than the last. If they had been but three, I
could have mistaken them for the three Phorcydes, the
witches of the classical Sabbat, and might have made
SIX WEEKS AMONG THE CINGHALESE. 245
myself agreeable to them after the fashion of Mephistopheles.
Happily I was spared the necessity, for the eldest of the
four dusky graces—she may have been about fifty—began
to explain to me with much politeness and dignity, and in
fairly good English, that they were the daughters of the
headman of the neighbouring village, and most anxious
to learn; that their mother's grandfather had been a
Dutchman; that they took an interest in scientific matters,
and wished to see my collections, and to be photographed.
I could only beg them to return next day; I could not,
indeed, promise the photographs, but I might satisfy their
scientific thirst by a little lecture in my laboratory.
246 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
CEIAPTER, XIII.
BASAMUNA AND MIRISSA.
THE immediate neighbourhood of Belligam, as well as the
more distant hill-country which surrounds it, affords a
quantity of lovely pictures, and displays the idyllic, and at
the same time magnificently tropical character of the South-
west of Ceylon, in the greatest perfection. The various
excursions I made from hence in different directions,
generally escorted by William and Ganymede, remain
among my pleasantest recollections of travel.
The beautiful bay of Belligam almost exactly resembles
that of Galle in situation and shape, but that of Galle is
about a third smaller. Each is nearly semi-circular in
shape and opening to the South, being protected to the east
and west by a sheltering promontory. The radius of the
semi-circle is rather more than a mautical mile in the bay
of Belligam, and less in the harbour of Galle; the entrance
to Belligam is a mile and a half across, to Galle not more
than a mile. On the western promontory of the harbour
of Galle stands the Fort ; the western side of Belligam bay
is formed by Basamuna point, a most picturesque hilly
ridge, of which the dark stone is varied by curious clumps
of screw pine. The eastern promontory is loftier in both
places, and by Galle is the site of the watering place, while
J3A SAMIUNA AND MIRISSA. 247
at Belligam it is covered with the beautiful woods of
Mirissa.
The remarkable resemblance of these two fine bays is
enhanced by the character of the strand, which is white
Sand overshadowed for the most part by splendid cocoa-
groves; while the red and brown rocks are diversified by
most grotesque bushes of Pandamus. Here and there we
have peeps of the mountains of the centre, remotely blue;
among these Adam's Peak and the Hay-cock stand up as
conspicuous land-marks. The similarity extends even to
the wonderful coral reefs of the two basins. The largest
and finest in Galle harbour grow round the foot of the fort,
and at Belligam round the base of the cliff and of Basamuna.
These latter reefs, however, are less extensive than the
former, and the harbour is deeper and less rocky than that
of Galle. It is, indeed, difficult to make out why the
splendid harbour of Belligam has not long since risen to
greater importance as a seaport for shipping, and grown
from a miserable fishing village to a flourishing commercial
town. If I had to found a colony in India, it should, un-
doubtedly, be at Belligam.
Basamuna, the western cape of the bay, was my
favourite walk during my residence there. When I had
finished my serious work, at about four or five in the
afternoon, and safely accommodated the trophies of the
morning's exploits in phials of spirit, I would pack up my
microscope and some instruments, and give Ganymede my
cartridge case and tin for plants. William carried the gun
and butterfly-net, and I myself took a paint-box and sketch
book. The cliffs of Basamuna are not more than half an
hour distant from the rest-house, which is on the southern
248 * A VISIT TO CEYLON.
side of the village, half way along the western shore of the
bay. The shortest road was along the strand, past a few
isolated fishing-huts, and then by the edge of the cocoa-nut
grove. The ever-lapping sea has here deeply undermined
the loamy banks, and every year a number of fine palms are
overthrown; their bleached remains stand up here and there
out of the water, with the clusters of brown roots in the
air washed clean by the waves, like heads of dark hair.
Swarms of Smart little crabs bustle about on the shore—
Sand crabs (Ocypoda) and hermit crabs (Pagurus); these
last have a soft body, which they usually shield in the
shell of some univalve mollusc, but they seem to prefer
the large and handsome red-tipped shell of a land-snail,
living on the palm-trees (Helia, hæmastoma). At very low
tides it is possible to get round the foot of the steep
cliff at the end of the promontory, over the bare coral rock,
on which very interesting marine creatures are left high
and dry—brightly-coloured shells, thorny sea-urchins, and
starfish. At high tide the path lies behind the headland,
through a palm wood, where huts are scattered on all sides,
each with its plot of bread-fruit trees and bananas.
The view which then breaks suddenly on the traveller
as he comes out of the cocoa-nut grove, the solitary spec-
tator of the scene, is a delightful surprise—a wild, deeply
fissured coast, dark-red cliffs of porphyry, and the ocean
surf foaming and Splashing below. The ridge is almost
entirely clothed with screw pines of such fantastic forms
and grotesque growth as to be like nothing but the
wildest dreams of Gustave Doré. Their twining stems
are tangled like gigantic Snakes, and supported on
long, thin, stilt-like roots; above, they branch like can-
BASAMUNA AND MIRISSA. 249
delabra, lifting their boughs to heaven like threatening
arms, while at the end of each grows a spiral sheaf of
leaves. At the full moon this ghost-like company, with
their black and mazy shadows, are in fact a weird sight,
and it is not surprising that nothing will induce the Super-
stitious Cinghalese ever to venture among them at night.
Indeed, I must confess that I myself, in spite of a double-
barrelled gun and revolver, had an uncanny shudder when
I climbed up to this witches' grove of screw pines one night
between ten and eleven, quite alone; particularly as Gany-
mede had implored me with pathetic urgency not to venture
there. A keen west wind dashed the silvered foam of the
thundering waves high up the dark cliffs, and overhead a
legion of closely packed clouds rode Swiftly across the deep
sky. The rapid changes from black shadow to the magical
gleam of moonlight produced the most boguey effects on
the shivering leaves and writhing roots that the fancy can
conceive of
When the excursionist has made his way through this
thicket, and emerges on to the bare headland, he sees to
his left the entrance to the bay of Belligam, and to the
south the cocoa-nut groves of Mirissa. On the right, the
strand rounds away with a bold sweep, densely clothed
with Cocos-palms; and beyond the most northerly point
lies a lovely island, overgrown with greenery. Nothing is
to be seen of the village, which is hidden behind a wooded
rise, and no sign of human life disturbs the feeling of abso-
lute solitude which hangs over this beacon-cliff. The eye
ranges free and unhindered over the immense blue waste of
the Indian ocean, for thirty degrees of latitude lie between
this spot and the nearest land to the westward—a land
25() A VISIT TO CEYLON.
which is the very contrast to this luxuriant isle: the parched
and barren sands of the Somali coast of Abyssinia.
But our thoughts fly to the north-west, and farther still
away. The fiery sun is fast sinking towards the violet
waves, and the magical hour is approaching—
“The sacred hour when, on some distant shore,
The sailor longs to see his home once more.”
Our thoughts, too, fly homeward, to the fond hearts sitting
in the well-known room, round the lamp or the fire, talking
perhaps of the distant traveller, while, outside, hill and
Valley are shrouded in deep snow. What a contrast to
the scene around us ! The crimson ball has touched the
Ocean's rim, and the rock on which we are sitting rises
from a sea of flame. How tender and dream-like are the
rosy clouds that hover over it; how gorgeous is the golden
Sand with its fringe of palms | But there is scarcely
time to watch the swift play and change of colour; it
is over already, and the brief twilight is so soon past, that
it is quite dark before we can set out, cautiously feeling
our way, back again through the palm groves to the rest-
house.
The opposite headland, the eastern cape of the bay,
Mirissa, has equal and yet different charms. With a favour-
able wind, the point can be reached from the rest-house, in
a Sailing-boat, in less than a quarter of an hour; but it is
some hours' walk thither round the bay by the shore, as
the little estuary of the Polwatta river must be crossed,
which flows into the bay at the north-east. It was a won-
derfully cool morning—January Gth—when I crossed the bay
to Mirissa for the first time, provided with food for the day,
BASAMUNA AND MIRISSA, 251
as I intended to make several little excursions from the
point. The little fishing village of Mirissa—shell-village—
lies just at the foot of a hill of the same name, and derives
it from the quantity of shells, both mussels and oysters,
which cover the rocky shore. As we reached the strand,
the inhabitants were much interested in a great haul of fish
resembling sardines; every available canoe had put out to
surround the shoal, and young and old were busy catching
as many as possible with hand-nets. We sailed round the
picturesque cape, where a heavy surf breaks on the brown
rocks, and proceeding about a mile further, landed on the
eastern side in a small sheltered cove. I climbed, with
Ganymede, up the face of the headland (Mirissa Point),
and made my way through the beautiful wood, of which
the outskirts are of screw pine, and whose stately trees—
for the most part Terminalia and Cedrela—are wreathed
with festoons of creepers. Numbers of monkeys and
parrots lent life to the scene, but they were very wild, and
never came within shot. When we returned to the shore
at about noon, I saw a group of natives standing round the
boat. The headman, a fine handsome man of about forty,
with a particularly gentle and pleasing manner, came up to
me with every mark of respect, and offered me a pretty
basket, full of mangoes, pine-apples, Oranges, and other
fruits from his garden, garlanded with fragrant jasmine, and
the blossoms of the Plumiera and oleander. He begged
me, with modest friendliness, to eat my midday meal—
which I was about to begin under the shade of some palm
trees—in his house; when I gratefully accepted, he sent
some of his people to make some preparation, while I
desired William and two of my boatmen to follow him with
p
252 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
the basket which contained our cold provisions. I mean-
while refreshed myself by taking a plunge in the Sea.
In about an hour my friend the headman returned, and
with him a troop of delightful children, all crowned with
flowers. He led me by a winding path through the cocoa-
nut grove to a part of the village which was divided off,
and which I had not till then observed. Then, passing
through a pretty garden, where the path had been strewn
with flowers, we reached the headman's hut, a Superior
residence, built entirely of bamboo, and thatched with palm
leaves. The entrance was prettily decorated, in a mode in
which the Cinghalese excel, with ornaments made of split
and plaited palm leaves. Under the projecting thatch,
which formed a verandah in front of the house, a large
table had been improvised of boards resting on palm
Stumps, and covered with large pale-green banana leaves.
The food I had brought with me was served on this, and
with it a large bowl of rice and curry, fresh oysters, bananas
and cocoa-nuts, the kind contribution added by our host.
The hearty appetite with which I enjoyed them, sharpened
by my hot walk and sea-bath, was in no respect interfered
With by the fact that the whole of the headman's numerous
family stood round me and watched my proceedings; while,
outside the garden, the brown village community stood
assembled, and gazed from afar.
When I had finished this quaintly arranged meal, which
I was in the mood to relish as ambrosia and nectar, my kind
host begged me to write my name, and that of my native
land, on a palm leaf which he fastened up over his door.
He then presented all his family to me, no less than sixteen
children—nine boys and seven girls—each prettier than the
BASAMUNA AND MIRISSA. 253
last. Only the elder ones, from twelve years old and up-
wards, were more or less clothed, while the younger children
wore a string tied round their hips, with a small silver coin
attached, as a symbolic expression of clothing. On their
arms and legs they wore silver bangles. I had under my
eyes a complete history of the development of the Cinghalese
type of humanity in a perfect series; and it was all the
more interesting, because this part of the coast is famous
for the purity of its truly Cinghalese race, which, in fact,
has suffered but little admixture. The graceful figures,
and, in the elder girls, the well-developed form of their
bodies and limbs, and remarkably small hands and feet,
no doubt constitute several of the two and thirty “points.”
which, according to the Cinghalese poets, are indispensable
to beauty. Above all, they insist on long black hair, almond-
shaped eyes, swelling hips, a bosom like the young cocoa-
nut, etc., etc. The colour of their skin was cinnamon
brown, in various shades; in the little children, much lighter.
The happy mother of these sixteen children, a stout and
- kindly matron of about forty, was evidently not a little
delighted when I made William interpret to her my great
admiration of her family.
In the afternoon, I made the headman and his eldest
sons guide me to a small Buddhist shrine, at about a mile
away, which was said to be close to a particularly ancient
and sacred bo-tree (Ficus religiosa). I found it to be, in
fact, a wonderful specimen, by the side of which the other
old trees of the forest were but striplings. Its enormous
trunk divided at the top into two giant arms, while from
its shoulders a perfect thicket of long Creepers hung down
like a broad green cloak. Other twining plants crept over
254 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
the dense tangle of roots at the foot, and the white cupola
of the dagoba, with the little Buddhist shrine, looked quite
tiny, like dwarf's huts, by the side of it. The ground all
round was overgrown with elegant Pothos or pitcher plants,
and among them a weird Amorphophallw8 was conspicuous
by its long spadix of Scarlet fruit and large pinnate leaves.
It was late in the afternoon before I returned to the
village. Here we found bananas and cocoa-nut milk ready
prepared for our refreshment, outside the headman's house;
and the whole population escorted us as we went down to
the shore to get into the boat again. I was really sorry to
say farewell to my kind hosts, who had shown the best side
of the Cinghalese character in So amiable a light, and I
greatly regretted not having brought with me any gaudy
prints by which to give adequate expression to my gratitude.
For lack of these, I gave my kind entertainer a pocket-
knife, and one of the large glass vessels I had brought to
keep any marine booty in.
Shortly before sunset we again rounded Mirissa Point,
and, as we turned into the Bay of Belligam, a scene met my
eyes that I can never forget. On the eastern shore of the
gulf, just above Mirissa, rises a natural bastion of fine per-
pendicular red rocks of giant height, which, even by day-
light, are as brilliant in hue as newly burnt bricks. Indeed,
they have given a name to the bay, which is marked “Red-
bay” in some maps. Now, in the rays of the setting sun,
they seemed to burn like live coal, and the shadows they cast
looked a pure cobalt. I understood now why the natives
of Mirissa called these cliffs “Rasu-pana,” or the red lamps.
The eastern sky above these stones of fire was pale-green,
and a mass of fleecy cumulus floated in tender rose and
|BASAMUNA AND MIRISSA, 255
Orange hues. Below were the warm olive tones of the
palm and pandanus groves, and the deep blue green and
violet of the glassy sea—a tropical glow of gorgeous and
harmonious colouring, such as I never had seen before,
and shall never see again.
A water-colour sketch which I made there and then,
sitting in the boat, only serves as a suggestion to memory.
And yet what would the critics of a Berlin picture exhi-
bition say even to that ? Those wise-heads who condemn
every effective landscape as soon as its scale of proportions
and colouring cease to fall within our miserable North Ger-
man standard | Did they not, with one voice, reprobate a
splendid work by Ernst Körner, in which that too daring
painter had represented a sunset at Alexandria with equal
brilliancy and truth 2 And this bore the same relation to
the glories of that sunset at Mirissa as the thrifty vegetation
of Egypt bears to the lavish abundance of Ceylon.
But the magic splendours of Nature must be seen to be
believed in.
256 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
CHAPTER XIV.
KOGALLA AND BORALU.
OF the longer expeditions I made in the less immediate
neighbourhood of Belligam, those to Kogalla and Boralu
dwell in my memory as among the pleasantest, and are
well worthy to be recorded here. Kogalla Veva, the Rocky
Lake, is remarkable, for its size and beauty, among the
numerous lagoons which lie along the south-west coast of
Ceylon, between Colombo and Matura, and which frequently
open a communication between the small rivers which here
flow into the sea. This lake lies half-way between Galle
and Belligam, and is of considerable extent, sending out
arms in many directions. The shores are densely wooded
hills, where the crowns of numberless Cocos-palms sway in
the breeze. Many small islands, some of them bare rocks
and some overgrown with palms or bushes, give a peculiar
charm to the scenery, and so do the idyllic homes of the
Cinghalese, which peep out among the trees in great
numbers, each standing by itself. The vegetation is incon-
ceivably fresh and luxuriant on every side. -
It was on a glorious Sunday morning, December 18th,
that I started from Belligam before sunrise in order to reach
Kogalla early in the day. My kind host at Galle, Mr. Scott,
whom I was to meet there, had some days previously sent
ECOGALLA AND BORALU. 257
over his light carriage with a brisk pony and a servant to
fetch me. We drove along the Galle road at a round pace,
through the pretty hamlets, where the natives were just out
of bed and taking their morning bath as usual by the road
side. As soon as the sunbeams pierced the palm wood, with
its diamond drops of dew, all was astir, and I enjoyed once
more the delicious, newly awakened life of a tropical dawn
which had already enchanted me so often. As I reached
our trysting place an hour sooner than had been agreed
on, I had ample time to wander through the beautiful
wilderness.
Presently, with Mr. Scott, there came a fellow-country-
man of my own, Herr Reimers, of Hamburg—a merchant
now settled at Singapore. He was returning from a holi-
day tour to Bombay and Ceylon, and it was by a happy
accident that he was able to give us the pleasure of his
Society, as he was to sail the next day. We three took a
short walk through the palm groves, and then stayed our
steps in front of a hut on the shore of the lake. Here a
double-canoe was waiting for us, which the Cinghalese crew
had decorated in our honour with garlands of flowers and
arches of plaited cocoa-nut leaves. These double-canoes,
which are very common both on the land-locked waters
and the larger rivers, are formed of two parallel tree-trunks
hollowed out, each about sixteen to twenty feet long, and
braced together about four to six feet apart by transverse
beams, over which planks are laid. Slender trunks of areca
palm stand up on each side—half a dozen or so—and these
support an awning of pandang matting. Between the palm-
trunks, an elegant screen is made of the sprealing fan-leaves
of the Borassus. The benches which are placed on each
S
25S A VISIT TO CEYLON.
side of this floating bower thus afford a shady seat, from
whence a view is obtainable on every side. Six or eight
strong rowers find a place either fore or aft in the hollow
of the trunks, which are there left uncovered. {
The narrow inlet, out of which we made our way into
the lake itself, looks as though the mouth of it were com-
pletely blocked by three huge bare rocks. These masses of
granite—known as the three brothers (Tunamalaja)—are
the favourite resort of numbers of huge crocodiles, that lie
sunning themselves with wide-open jaws. No swimmer
could pass these hideous gate-keepers with impunity. The
lake is surrounded on every side by thick groves and
enclosed by pretty hills covered with palms. The little
islands, each itself a huge bouquet of palms, are wonder-
fully pretty, the feathery leaves spreading to catch the
utmost possible amount of sunshine. The slender white
stems bend in every direction, so that the outer ones lie
almost horizontally over the water, while those in the middle
stand straight up towards the blue sky. A perfect specimen
of these cocoa-plumed islets is the spot of land known as
Gan Duwa, which lies directly in front of Belligam, and
forms the greatest ornament of the landscape.
We landed on one of these little islands to pay a visit to
the fortunate natives who had pitched their solitary hut in
the midst of the clump of palms. Three small bare children,
who were playing contentedly with shells among the rocks
on the strand, fled to their mother with loud outcries of
alarm at our approach. She-a pretty young woman, with
a fourth child in her arms—seemed equally terrified at such
an unexpected visit, and hurried off with her little ones
to the protection of her bamboo hut. Her husband came
ROGALLA AND BORALU, 250
out from behind it—he was digging sweet potatoes in
the garden—a fine young Cinghalese, makéd all but a
narrow loin-cloth. He greeted us with natural politeness,
and asked whether he might not offer us a few curumbas
(young cocoa-nuts) by way of refreshment. When we
thanked him and gladly accepted his offer, he at once
climbed one of the tallest trunks and flung us down half a
dozen of the golden-brown fruits of the fine variety known
as the King cocoa-nut. The cool lemonade-like liquid was
wonderfully refreshing in the scorching heat. He then
presented us with a bunch of five sweet bananas on a large
Caladium leaf, and led us into his little garden, in which a
choice variety of tropical produce was growing. In answer
to our inquiry as to whether he found this sufficient to main-
tain his family year in year out, he said that he also caught
fish and crabs in the lake, and that by selling these and his
superfluous produce he earned a very sufficient sum, with
which he bought rice and household chattels for his family
—more than this he needed not Enviable man. Life on
that cocoa-nut isle is verily living in paradise, and there is
no malicious foe to disturb you in your tranquil ease.
We then rowed out on the lake to a rocky promontory,
where the white cupola of a dagoba and temple stood
up among the thick verdure. A flight of stone steps
led us up through the wood to the temple, where pious
hands had decked the altar with jasmine and other fragrant
blossoms. The coarse paintings on the walls and the statue
of Buddha in his yellow robes were the same as in every
Buddhist sanctuary. The priests' houses behind the temple
were romantically situated under a huge bo-tree, with a
lovely view over the lake, and the cliff, which had an abrupt
260 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
perpendicular fall, made a natural terrace. A few large
kittool-palms (Caryota) and a fine group of areca and
talipot-palms beautified the picture, and a dense drapery of
creepers of every description hanging from the crown of a
fine cashew tree (Amacardium) made it perfect.
It was by this time intensely hot, as we rowed back at
midday to the hut of the headman of Kogalla, and the motion-
iess water reflected the meridian sun like a polished sheet of
metal. We were all the more agreeably surprised by the
coolness that prevailed in the twilight gloom of the hut in
its shady retreat, and a really splendid dinner, which had
meanwhile been made ready by Mr. Scott's kind orders, was
enjoyed to the utmost. After dinner, while my friends took
a siesta, I made an excursion alone to the other side of the
Jake. I there visited another and a larger temple, and
gathered a few of the magnificent terrestrial orchids and
Maramta flowers which grew on the shore. On this side of
the lake, too, I found some charming subjects for my sketch
book; but, alas ! I paid for them with my blood, for the
dreadful land leeches swarmed in the grass on the banks.
Not less beautiful, though on a smaller scale than this
Rocky Lake, was another, which I visited several times
from Belligam—the Pebble-Lake, Boralu Veva. I owe the
delightful days I spent there to the second headman of
Belligam, my good friend the Aretshi, who owned a con-
siderable tract of arable land not far from the lake, which he
planted partly with fruits of various kinds and partly with
lemon grass (Amdropogom), employing thirty or forty
labourers. The road led eastwards from Belligam, and
some way into the hill-country, which stretches for many
miles to the foot of the mountains.
KOGALLA AND BORALU. 261
The first natural wonder met on the way is an enor-
mous cocoa-nut palm, at about a mile from Belligam, with
its trunk divided into three branches, each with its crown—
a very unusual freak of nature; the second marvel is about
a mile further on, by the Polwatta river. On the hither
side of a bridge across this stream, and close to a Buddhist
temple, stands a magnificent old banyan tree (Ficus indica),
fantastically wreathed with festoons of creepers, while on
the further side, near to the little village of Dena Pitya—
the Cattle-field—is another and even larger individual of
the same species, the largest in the world perhaps of these
extraordinary trees. Its enormous bowery roof, under which
a whole village of more than a hundred huts might find
room and shelter, is supported on numbers of stout props,
each of which might by itself excite astonishment as a huge
tree. All these gigantic and pillar-like trunks are nothing
but aerial roots thrown out from the horizontal branches of
the true central parent trunk. Among these, numbers of
smaller aerial roots hang midway, not having yet reached
the soil, and clearly accounting for the process by which
this many-stemmed giant was produced. Deep twilight
always prevails under the shade of the spreading foliage,
through which not a ray of light can pierce, and the awe
and dread with which the Buddhist villagers regard this
sacred tree is very intelligible.
A natural marvel of a different kind is to be seen at
Dena Pitya, in the person of a woman of about fifty, who
has no upper leg bone (femur) whatever. The body about
the hip joints is well proportioned and well developed, but
supported entirely on the lower half of the legs, which are
joined on at the thigh joint. The peculiarity is all the
262 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
more singular because the woman is the mother of three
well-formed children, excepting, that, like their mother, they
have but four toes on each foot. Unfortunately any close
investigation of the structure was not allowed.
By following the road eastwards from Dena Pitya for a
few miles, we reach the famous gem mines, which are said
to have been very profitable no longer ago than in the last
century; they now seem to be exhausted. However, during
my stay a diamond had been found, which the lucky finder
afterwards sold for £400. In consequence a number of fresh
searchers arrived at the gem-pits, and when I visited them
160 to 180 seekers were engaged with sluices and sieves in
thirty or forty deep pits. *
The road to Boralu turns off before reaching Dena Pitya
in a north-westerly direction, sometimes passing through the
loveliest palm forest, sometimes through a dense jungle, and
then again between bright green paddy-fields or marshy
meadows, where black buffaloes roll in the mud covered
with graceful white herons. After a few miles’ drive we
reach the pretty lake of Boralu, round which the road runs,
sometimes following the line of the shores, sometimes making
wide détours. The shores are covered with a rank vegeta-
tion, and wooded hills form the background on every side.
One small island, covered with wood, lies alone in the midst
of the lake. The numerous tongues of land which run out
from the shore, break the line in a very pleasing manner;
but its chief charm lies in the utter solitude, the total
absence of all civilized life. Even a drive round the lake
betrays no human presence; nothing is to be seen from the
road but the tall jungle.
The lake itself, however, and the surrounding country
KOGALLA AND BORALU. 263
are rich in animal life. Whenever I went I unfailingly
found great green iguanas, from six to seven feet long,
basking on the shore (Hydrosaurus Salvator). Once I
was startled by a huge snake, about twenty feet in length
(Python molurus); but the monster unfortunately glided
off at once from the rock into the water, before I could get
my gun ready to fire. Hunting monkeys was more inter-
esting; their scolding was to be heard on all sides; and
I here shot several fine specimens of the tawny Rilawa
(Macacus simensis), and of the large black Wanderoo (Pres-
bytis cephalopterus). But the most successful sport was
shooting water-birds and waders, particularly several
species of water-hens, herons, Ibis, flamingoes, pelicans and
others. These come down in vast flocks at Sunset, and fly
across the lake to seek their homes for the night. I have
shot half a dozen in the course of a quarter of an hour. The
thicket, too, on the banks of the lake, gay with the lovely
golden umbels of the Cassia, and the purple rose-like
flowers of the Melastoma, is alive with small birds.
At a short distance beyond the northern end of the lake,
and divided from it by a few wooded hills, lies the Aretshi's
garden grove, a perfectly delightful spot, where I spent four
days. The simple bamboo hut at which I alighted is com-
pletely hidden among bananas, and stands on the rise of
a steep hill, whence the views are lovely over the green
meadows, the dark masses of forest, and the floating blue of
the nearer hills; the purple range of central mountains fills
up the background. Nothing whatever is to be seen of the
scattered huts of the natives, which lie among the surround-
ing Woods; and the exquisite pleasure of total solitude is
enhanced by the variety and abundance of animal life in
264 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
this particular neighbourhood. I shot here numbers of fine
birds, monkeys, flying foxes, iguanas, etc., and Once a porcu-
pine more than three feet long (Hystria, leucura). Nor was
there any lack of handsome butterflies and beetles. The
boggy meadow-land close to the lake is in many places
covered with large plants of the curious insectivorous pitcher-
plant (Nepenthcs distillatorium). The elegant pitchers,
sometimes six inches long, hang at the end of the leaves,
and are commonly closed by a pretty little lid; I often
found them to contain a number of captured insects. Lovely .
birds (Ampelidae and Nectarémice—the brilliant honey-birds)
fluttered like humming-birds close over the blossoms of the
flowering shrubs.
Nowhere in the lowlands of Ceylon—so far as I visited
them—did I find the forest so beautiful, or the trees so well
grown and so various in species, as in the neighbourhood of
Boralu. A walk round the lake leads the wanderer
through the loveliest part of it. In some places the primae-
val forest is such an impenetrable tangle of creepers woven
and knotted round the piles of decaying giants, that even
with an axe it is impossible to advance a step into this
chaos of plant-life. Aristolochide, PiperaceCe, wild vines and
pepper vines, Bawhinia and Bigmonia, festoon the branches
of the trees together in such dense confusion that it is only
here and there that a ray of light penetrates between them.
The trunks even are overgrown with parasitic ferns and
orchids. I sat for hours in happy contemplation, sketch-
book in hand, intending to secure some reminiscence of this
forest scene; but I rarely came to any result, for I could
never tell where to begin, or, if I made a beginning, how
to give any approximate idea of all this fairy-like beauty.
KOGALLA AND BORALU. 265
Nor did the photographic camera help me, for the green
masses of woven and tangled stems and leaves are so
impervious that a photograph shows nothing but an
inextricable medley of branches, aerial roots, and foliage,
while in living actuality they are a delight to the eye.
The undulating ground which surrounds his garden plot
had been devoted by the Aretshi to the culture of lemon-
grass—a very dry kind of grass, from which, by a simple
process of distillation, oil of lemon, a highly prized perfume,
is obtained. The lemon-like fragrance fills the air of the
whole neighbourhood. The workmen who were employed
in distilling it, and in the care of the banana plantation,
lived in a dozen or so of scattered huts, delightfully
situated in the deep shade of the forest, under the
protecting branches of huge bread-fruit and jack trees;
clumps of slender Areca and Cocos-palms, with here and
there a kittool or a talipot, lifting their plumy heads
high above the common growth of the forest, betray the
lurking place of the invisible bamboo huts. My visits to
these homes and my acquaintance with their simple and
child-like inhabitants almost made me envious of these
kindly and contented children of nature. They were all
pure Cinghalese, their colour a fine cinnamon brown, and
their forms slender and delicate; they wore no clothes but
a narrow white loin-cloth. The merry, pretty boys were
my eager help-mates in collecting plants and insects, while
the graceful black-eyed girls twined wreaths of flowers and
decorated my little bullock cart with the loveliest garlands.
Then, late in the evening, when the brisk little oxen were
harnessed to the narrow two-wheeled vehicle, in which there
was barely room for the Aretshi and myself, and we set
266 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
out at a round pace, the children all thought it delightful
to run by the side of it for some distance. As we drove
along the shores of the lake, a crowd of twenty or thirty
of these graceful little creatures would keep up with
us, quite indefatigable, and shouting and waving palm
leaves. I could never cease wondering at their swift
pace and powers of endurance. If we turned into the
dark forest, the boys would light palm-torches and run
on in front to light up the way; or at a sudden curve
in the road a shower of scented blossoms and a merry
giggle would betray the presence of some small Dryad
hidden in the shrubbery. Among the girls there was
one, the Aretshi's niece, a girl of about sixteen, whose per-
fect figure and form might have served as a model for a
sculptor; and several of the boys might have vied with
Ganymede in beauty. One of them could swing himself
up on to the shaft of the cart when we were going at full
trot and leap over the bullock's back. With such sports
as these the village youth would accompany us for a long
distance, till One by One they had vanished in the darkness.
Then numbers of splendid glowworms and fireflies took
the place of the torches; the palm forest looked as if it had
been illuminated while I travelled on, full of delightful
recollections, back to the quiet rest-house at Belligam.
( 267 )
CEIAPTER, XW.
MATURA AND DONDERA.
THE longest expedition that I made from Belligam, towards
the end of my stay there, was to the southernmost point of
Ceylon, Dondera Head or Thunder Cape. Close below it,
and somewhat to the westward, is the town of Matura, On
the Nilwella Ganga, the Blue sand river. The road between
Belligam and Matura, along which I travelled on the
morning of the 18th of January, is the continuation of the
lovely palm avenue from Galle, and offers the same variety
of luxuriant and beautiful scenery. In a light carriage the
drive took about three hours.
The town of Matura, the most southerly of all the
towns in Ceylon, was, in the seventeenth century, in the
hands of the Dutch, and a thriving and important trading
port, the centre of the cinnamon trade of the southern
provinces. Most of the important buildings in the town are
of Dutch construction, as well as the extensive fort which is
near the mouth of the river, on the eastern bank. The
river here is as wide as the Elbe at Dresden, and a hand-
some new iron bridge connects the two banks. At the
western end, on the right bank, is the old Dutch redoubt,
the Star-fort, and here, in the irregularly built casemates,
I took up my abode for a few days, at the invitation of some
268 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
friendly English officials. These three jolly friends had
made themselves most comfortable in the low many-cor-
nered rooms of the old out-work, whose thick stone walls
kept them delightfully cool; and their lodgings were
picturesquely decorated with wood-cuts out of European
illustrated papers, and with Cinghalese weapons, chattels,
and skins of beasts. The old Dutch gateway, over which
the words “Redout van Eck” are still plainly legible, leads
out into a pretty flower garden; and the inside walls of the
fort, as well as the well in the middle of the garden, are
clothed with every lovely species of creeper. A few tame
monkeys and a very comical old pelican, with a variety
of small birds, are a constant Source of amusement.
A delicious cold bath and a capital English breakfast,
which was doubly welcome after my course of vegetarian
diet at Belligam, so completely revived me in the course of
an hour or two, that I decided on proceeding that same day
to Dondera; so I set out at Once in a carriage, accompanied
by the headman Ilangakoon, the most illustrious native
personage now living in the island. He is, in fact, the male
representative of the old kings of Kandy, and resides in a
pretty, may, comparatively speaking, a splendid palace in
Matura, near the mouth of the river. He had visited me a
week previously at Belligam, had given me several rare and
handsome birds, and had begged me to visit him at Matura.
The reception he gave me was not less kind than magnifi-
cent. He would not be excused from conducting me himself
to Dondera. His carriage, an elegant London-built phaeton,
was drawn by two good Australian horses, and a Swift out-
runner went in front to clear the way—a fine black Tamil,
in a livery embroidered with silver and a red turban.
MATURA AND DONDERA. 269
The road from Matura to Dondera, a distance of five
miles, runs eastward, first along the left bank of the Nil-
wella river, through the picturesque Pettah or native
town. The wooded hills between the river and the Sea are
covered with beautiful gardens and villas, some belonging
to the wealthy Cinghalese and some to English officials.
Beyond this the way lies along the seashore, through jungle
and Cocos-woods alternately. This is the eastern limit of
this vast cocoa-nut grove; for a few miles farther on, a hot
desert of thirsty shole begins, with long stretches of Salt
marsh, which extend beyond Hambangtotte as far as to
Batticaloa. Dondera Head is visible as a long blue promon-
tory, covered with cocoa-nut palms, for some time before it
is reached. It is the southernmost point of Ceylon, and is
in 5° 56' north latitude. The temples built on this head-
land have for more than two thousand years been the goal
of pilgrims innumerable, and are the most famous in the
island next to those at Adam's Peak. Crowds of natives
come here to worship every year. These sanctuaries have
been alternately dedicated to Buddha and to Vishnu, varying
with the Supremacy of the native Cinghalese, or their
Malabar conquerors. Only three centuries ago the principal
temple was an Indian structure of great magnificence, and
So large that, as seen from the sea, it looked like a town of
Some extent ; it was decorated with thousands of columns
and statues, and with gold and precious stones of every
description. In 1587, however, all this splendour was
destroyed by the Portuguese barbarians, who sent home
enormous quantities of the precious spoil. It is possible to
judge of the vast extent of this gigantic temple from the
quantities of broken pillars which stand up from the soil.
270 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
In one corner of the precincts a large dagoba is still stand-
ing, and close to it several bo-trees or sacred figs.
The remains of a smaller temple are to be seen at the
extreme end of the narrow tongue of land, which forms the
Southerly termination of Dondera Head. These are octago-
nal porphyry pillars, standing up lonely and neglected on
the bare granite soil, and sprinkled by the spray from the
ocean surf which breaks all round them. In the sheltered
pools between the rocks I found a variety of beautiful
marine creatures, and lovely corals grow at their feet.
Looking westward from this advanced post of rock, the eye
glances along the palm-grown strand towards Matura; east-
ward, towards Tangalla ; on the north the view is shut in
by the dense forest, while to the south it is unlimited over
an infinite éxtent of ocean.
The ship our fancy sends across the waters to the south
pole will find no land that the foot of man has ever trodden,
and beyond that land again it would have far, very far to
Sail before it reached another shore. If the ice-bound conti-
ments of the south pole did not lie in the way, it would
navigate, unhindered, the whole southern hemisphere of the
globe, and see no land till it should reach Mexico, near
Acapulco, on the northern side of the equator.
I sat a long time, lost in thought, on this extremo point
of Ceylon, for it was, in fact, the first time I had ever
reached the southernmost end of any land. I was roused
from my reverie by a party of Buddhist priests, in their
yellow robes, who came to invite me and the headman to
visit the temple, which was decorated for a festival. We
afterwards went to see a curious primaeval ruin at some
distance in the forest, built of enormous stones like a Cyclo-
MATURA AND DONDERA. 271
pean wall; and it was late in the evening before we
returned to Matura. -
The following day was spent in a long excursion by Sea.
Ilangakoon had placed a fine large Sailing boat at my
command, with eight rowers, and in this I went out a con-
siderable distance to the southwards, far beyond Dondera
Head. The weather was glorious, and a strong north-east
monsoon filled the large square sail so effectually, that some
of the boatmen were obliged to sit on the outrigger beam to
prevent the boat capsizing. The rate at which we were
driven Southwards was nearly that of a rapid steam-ship ;
I calculated it at from ten to twelve miles an hour. The
lightness with which these tapering Cinghalese canoes cut
through the waves, or rather glide over their crests, is
very remarkable. The farther we got from the island the
more plainly could we see the central highlands, blue in
the distance, and towering above the flat coast; above them
all Adam's Peak.
Flying over the foaming waves we had gone about forty
or fifty miles from the shore, when a broad smooth stretch
of water became visible, extending for miles in a direction
nearly coinciding with that of the wind, from north-east to
south-west. I supposed it to be a pelagic stream or current,
one of those smooth narrow streaks which are often to be
seen in the Mediterranean as well as in the ocean, lying
across the wind-tossed waters, and owing their origin to the
association of vast Swarms of marine creatures. As we
came close to it. I found I had conjectured rightly, and was
rewarded by a wonderfully rich and interesting haul. A
dense crowd of pelagic creatures: Medw82 and Sºphomophora, ,
Ctenophora and Salpa, Sagittae and Pteropoda, with an
272 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
infinite variety of larvae of Annelida, Radiata, Crustacea,
Mollusca, etc., were swimming and floating in myriads, and
I had soon filled all the glass vessels I had taken with me.
I only regretted that I had no more, so as to carry away
sufficient specimens of these Zoological treasures, among
which were many new and undescribed forms.
Rich in the possession of this wonderful collection, which
promised to supply me with occupation for years to come, I
returned to Matura towards evening. It was a delightful
recollection to carry away of the fifth degree of latitude.
My Cinghalese boatmen took advantage of the north-east
breeze with so much skill that we made our way home
almost as quickly as we had come out, and we landed at
the mouth of the river. The view of the estuary from the
sea is very picturesque, being protected by a rocky island,
on which two cocoa-nut palms grow, one upright and the
other aslant. The two sides of the river are covered with
wood. On the following day I again made an expedition in
a boat on the river, and admired the wonderful luxuriance,
of this primaeval forest.
On my return to Belligam I had to face one of the
hardest duties I had to fulfil during the whole of my stay
in Ceylon: to tear myself away from this lovely spot of
earth, where I had spent six of the happiest and most
interesting weeks of my life. Even now my thoughts
linger there so regretfully that I feel as if that parting had
to be gone through again and again. The room which for
a time had been my laboratory, museum, and studio, in
which I had gathered such a stock of new and wonderful
ideas, was empty and bare ; and out in the garden, under
the huge teak tree, stood the two heavily laden bullock-
MATURA AND DONDERA. 273
carts, which were to convey my thirty different packages,
with my various collections, to Galle.
In front of the door stood a little crowd of the brown
inhabitants of the village, to whom, during these forty days
I had been a constant subject of growing curiosity and
admiration. I had to take leave separately of each of the
more important native officials, particularly of the two head-
men. Worthy old Socrates looked quite doleful as he
brought me for the last time the best of his bananas, man-
goes, pine-apples, and cashew nuts; Babua clambered for
the last time to the top of my favourite palm tree, to fetch
me down the Sweet nuts. But hardest of all was the
parting from my faithful Ganymede; the poor lad wept
bitterly, and implored me to take him with me to Europe.
In vain had I assured him many times before that it was
impossible, and told him of our chill climate and dull skies
He clung to my knees and declared that he would follow
me unhesitatingly wherever I might take him. I was at
last almost obliged to use force to free myself from his
embrace. I got into the carriage which was waiting, and as
I waved a last farewell to my good brown friends, I almost
felt as if I had been expelled from paradise.
Adieu, Bella Gemma.
274, A VISIT TO CEYLON.
CHAPTER, XVI.
TEIE COFFEE DISTRICT AND HILL COUNTRY.
I HAD made up my mind to devote the last month of my
stay in Ceylon to a visit to the hill country, where the flora
and fauna, as well as the climate and general character of
the country, are so different from those of the coast that they
might be several degrees of latitude apart. When, in a single
day, we go up the six thousand feet from the palm gardens
of the lowlands to the primaeval forest of the hills, the
difference in climate and Scenery is fully as great as between
the wooded wilderness of Brazil and the high plateau of
Peru, or between the date groves of Egypt and the flowery
meadows of the Alps.
The hill country of Ceylon occupies about one-fourth of
the whole extent of the island, and lies at an average height
of from four thousand to six thousand feet above the sea;
only the loftiest mountains rise to seven thousand or eight
thousand feet. The northern half of the island is quite flat;
in the southern half the highlands rise somewhat abruptly,
, a steep and unbroken line of ramparts, the eastern and
southern declivities being much more precipitous than the
western and northern. The level tract of plain which sur-
rounds the hill country and parts it from the Sea is twice
as broad on the east as it is on the West. A subsidence of a
THE COFFEE DISTRICT AND HILL COUNTRY. 275
few hundred feet would suffice to submerge three quarters
of the island, and leave the hill country rising abruptly from
the surface of the ocean. This vast rocky mass is almost
exclusively of crystalline formation, consisting principally
of gneiss with intruded veins of granite, trachyte and basalt.
Even so late as at the beginning of this century, the hill
country of Ceylon was in parts quite unknown, and on a
map published in 1813 by Schneider, the government
engineer, not less than two-thirds of the whole kingdom of
Kandy is indicated by a blank space. When, in 1817, Dr.
Davy—the brother of the famous Sir Humphry—under-
took the first expedition through the island, he met with
infinite difficulties. The greater part of the mountainous
centre was impassable, covered with an unbroken and im-
penetrable forest, untrodden by any European. Herds of
elephants, bears, tigers, boars, and elks were the lords of this
wilderness; the only trace of human life were the wild
hordes of Veddahs, now fast disappearing. No road of any
description intersected the forest, no bridges spanned the
headlong brooks and streams which fell in cataracts down
the inaccessible gorges.
In a comparatively short time, however—in less than fifty
years—the character of the country had completely altered
In 1825, that enterprising governor, Sir Edward Barnes
formed the first coffee plantation in the hill country, in the
neighbourhood of Peradenia, and proved that the soil and
climate there were especially favourable to the cultivation
of the berry. Encouraged by his example, and spurred to
energy, partly by the hope of large profits and partly by
the romantic and adventurous life in the wilderness, a per-
fect army of coffee-planters invaded the hill forests of
276 A VISIT TO CEY I, ON.
Ceylon, and in less than twenty years had, by axe and fire,
transformed the larger part of it into profitable plantations.
Whole forests were annihilated on the steep slopes by the
plan of cutting down the upper ranks of the gigantic trees,
and so felling them on to those below, which had been half
cut through on the upper side. The enormous weight of
these dense masses of vegetation, bound and tied together
with creepers, uprooted the trees below, and the whole wood
crashed and slipped like an avalanche down into the Valley.
The mass was then set on fire, and this burnt soil was found
excellent for the coffee shrub. The produce was so abundant
and the whole conditions of coffee growing were rendered
so exceptionally favourable by a concurrence of political
events and commercial treaties, that only twenty years after
it was first started in Ceylon, speculation in coffee had
reached an amazing height. *
The reaction which inevitably follows excessive specu-
lation was, of course, soon felt. As in the case of the Cali-
fornian and Australian gold mines, or the diamond diggings
of South Africa, the brilliant success of a few fortunate
individuals tempted a number of imitators, who had neither
capital, prudence, or knowledge. Between 1845 and 1850
more than five millions sterling of private property was lost
through ill-luck or mismanagement in coffee planting. Then,
as always must happen, sooner or later in the cultivation of
any produce, ere long numbers of dangerous natural foes
made their appearance, inflicting great injuries on the planta-
tions—some animal, some vegetable; for instance, the greedy
Golunda rat (Golumda elliotti), and the mischievous coffee-
bug (Lecamium coffede), besides a variety of vegetable para-
sites. Within the last ten years the plantations have been
THE COFFEE DISTRICT AND HILL COUNTRY. 277
almost devastated by the worst foe of all—a microscopic
fungus (Hemileja vastatria). The disease in the leaves occa-
Sioned by this fungus has spread so widely and rapidly, an 1
has proved so incurable, that on many estates coffee growing
has been given up. Tea and quinine (Cimºhona bark) have
taken its place, and with great success.
Whether in the future tea, coffee, or Cºmchoma trees are,
destined to be the staple of cultivation in the coffee districts,
as they are still called, there can be no doubt that the
climate and soil of the uplands of Ceylon are extraordinarily
favourable for the growth of these, and probably of many
other valuable vegetable products. Before many more
years have passed, the whole of the hill country, with the
exception of a very few spots, will be productive land of the
very first class. Every year sees the spread of the network
of coffee district towards the remoter parts of the moun-
tains. I had to go some considerable distance before I could
See any extent of country still lying in its virgin state, and
even there, in the immediate neighbourhood and on every
side of the untouched forest, I found fresh clearings which
were being brought into tilth by axe and fire.
It was my most eager wish to see one of the wildest
parts of the primaeval forest in the hill country, and I ow:
its fulfilment chiefly to the kind offices of Dr. Trimen, the
Director of the Gardens at Peradenia. During my visit to
him we had agreed to go together, in the middle of February,
to Newera Ellia, the famous hill sanatarium, and to make
an excursion from thence to Horton's Plain. This is the
South-eastern portion of the central plateau, a wild and
rarely visited spot, where it ends in the precipices known
as the World's End, with a fall of nearly five thousand feet
278 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
From thence we proposed to go up to the hill country of
Billahooloya, then westwards to Ratnapoora, the city of
gems, and finally down the Kalu Ganga, or Black River,
in a boat to Caltura, at the mouth, On the south-west
coast. My friend, Dr. Trimer, most kindly undertook to
make all the necessary arrangements and preparations; and
as we were to camp out for a week in an absolute desert,
and in the highest and coldest part of the mountains, we
were obliged to organize a transport train of at least twenty
coolies, to carry our food, wraps, beds, tent, etc.
I meanwhile took advantage of the first days of Feb-
ruary to visit the western hills, and particularly the famous
mountain known as Adam's Peak. As soon as I returned to
“Whist Bungalow,” Colombo, at the end of January, I began
my preparations to start on this excursion. At the same
time I spent nearly the whole of the first week in February
in seeing the most extraordinary and interesting spectacle
which is ever to be seen, not merely in Ceylon—and there
but rarely—but perhaps in the whole world—an elephant
hunt. By an elephant hunt in Ceylon is understood the
capture and taming of a whole herd of wild elephants, which
are decoyed and entrapped by tame ones. Formerly, when
the herds of wild elephants in Ceylon were still very
numerous and mischievous, and when tame elephants were
largely used in road making and other works, such hunts
were more frequent. At the present time they are less
often undertaken and not on So grand a scale; and as an
elephant hunt of this kind is both expensive and difficult,
it is usually reserved for Some great festival. The occasion
of the hunt I was so fortunate as to see, was the visit of the
two sons of the Prince of Wales, who spent a few weeks ºn
THE COFFEE DISTRICT AND HILL COUNTRY, 279
Ceylon on their way home from a voyage round the world.
No less than three thousand beaters had been employed for
three months in driving the wild elephants together, from
the forests towards the Corral of Lambugana, at which place
a temporary village of Wooden houses, a Corral-town, was
erected to accommodate the numerous spectators of this in-
teresting scene. The capture and imprisonment of the wild
elephants was accomplished during the first three days of Feb-
ruary, but I must postpone any description of the spectacle
as it would lead me too far from my immediate subject.
For the same reason I must Omit any detailed account
of the first part of my expedition to the hills, from Pera-
denia to Gampola and Deck Oya, as well as the ascent of
Adam's Peak. It was on the 12th of February, in the
loveliest weather, that I ascended this famous mountain, one
of the most remarkable peaks in the world, and I hope on a
future occasion to give a full and connected account of this
delightful excursion. The point whence we started, and to
which we returned, was Saint Andrews, the highest coffee
plantation in the south-west angle of the hill country, im-
mediately at the foot of Adam's Peak. The owner, Mr.
Christie, who entertained me there most kindly for a few
days, himself guided me to the Summit of the sacred
mountain. -
From thence I went in a north-easterly direction towards
the centre of the hill country, to spend a few days at Newera
Eſlia, the favourite resort of the English. The distance
from Saint Andrews to Newera Ellia is from forty-five to
fifty miles. Only a few years ago the path lay for the
most part through thick forest, but now it passes by coffee
and Cimchoma plantations for almost all the way. Tt took
280 A. VISIT TO CEYLON.
me two days of steady walking to accomplish this journey,
though the weather was lovely and not too hot; and I only
took two Tamil coolies with me to carry my baggage. On
the first day, February 24th, I walked twenty-four miles
between six in the morning and eight in the evening, and
twenty the next day. As it was the coolest Season of the
year in this part of the island, and the temperature in the
shade at noon was not above thirty to thirty-two degrees
centigrade, I could walk on, even at midday, with no more
than an hour's rest. I again had recourse to a wet hand-
kerchief as a protection against the Sun, placing it over my
head and neck under my sola hat ; I could cool it afresh
every quarter of an hour in the brooks which trickled on
both sides of the road. -
As extensive plantations, consisting of long stretches of
land planted with only one kind of product, are no less
monotonous in the tropics than among our cornfields and
vineyards, I had rather dreaded this two days' walk among
the coffee estates; but it proved far more interesting than
I had ventured to hope. The hill slopes are intersected in
many places by deep ravines, down which fall foaming
streams, often breaking into beautiful cataracts and em-
bowered in lovely ferneries and jungle growths. Several of
them are spanned by handsome bridges, but in Some places
the only means of crossing them is by a tree-trunk laid
across from one side to the other, and Sometimes the rope-
like stem of a creeper has been carried across, serving as I
balustrade to hold on to. Sometimes, however, there is nº
choice but to walk across, balancing yourself as best you
may on the swaying trunk; and it is only to be hoped that.
you have a steady brain and will not be made giddy by the
TEIE COFFEE DISTRICT AND HILL COUNTRY. 281
rush and roar of the wild mountain torrent that dashes over
the broken boulders below. My old gymnastic practice, long
since forgotten, came to my aid at this juncture and stood
me in good stead. -
Now and then the path, which ran sometimes up and
sometimes downhill, cut across a wide deep valley, where
Some remains of the original forest was left standing on the
steeper and more inaccessible slopes. The enormous trees,
looking like massive columns, and their spreading crowns,
from which the creepers hang in heavy festoons and curtains,
give us still some notion of the extraordinary wealth and
splendour of the vegetation which must here have fallen
a sacrifice to the irresistible advance of civilization. For a
short distance we had to hew our way laboriously with the
axe through the thicket itself, and could inspect more closely
the varieties of the trees and plants which composed it :
principally species of laurels and myrtles, with Rwbiaceae,
etc. The leaves of these mountain forest-trees are for the
most part of a very dark brownish or even blackish green,
and dry and leathery in texture. Lovely garlands of hang-
ing plants stretched from tree to tree, and the trunks them-
selves were gorgeous with the curious flowers of orchids and
Bromelia. Among the climbers a conspicuous species was
Freycinetia, a plant closely allied to Pandamus ; the flame-
coloured spathes of the flowers seemed to glow among the
spiral tufts of leaves. The beautiful palms of the lowland
have disappeared; their place is supplied by the wonderful
tree-ferns, which are among the most graceful and charming
growths of the tropics. At the bottom of the shady gorges
the shining black trunks of Alsophila, one of the finest of
these tree-ferms, grow to a height of twenty or thirty feet,
282 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
and their spreading crown of plumes is composed of deeply
cut fronds, from eight to twelve feet in length. An immense
variety of smaller ferns, and their delicate allies the Selagi-
nellae, cover the rocks on every side.
While our devious path through the hill coffee districts
was thus diversified by these beautiful wooded ravines,
their luxuriant vegetation forming a delightful foreground
to the picture, the vista of distant landscape between the
blue hills was often quite enchanting; the slender come
of Adam's Peak standing up high above its neighbours. In
the hilly landscape of Maskilia especially—a gorge full of
beautiful waterfalls—the peak towers up grandly in the
background. s'
The aspect of the plantations themselves, too, is very
pretty. The coffee trees in the low country, as cultivated
by the Cinghalese near their huts, grow with tall stems
from twenty to thirty feet high; but in these hill-planta-
tions they are generally kept cut low to increase their
productiveness, and are spreading shrubs not more than
three or four feet above the soil. The handsome, dark
green, shining leaves form a close surface, with the bunches
of fragrant white blossoms or dark red berries, something
like cherries, rising conspicuously above them. In many
districts we now see the sweet-scented tea shrub and
slim Cºmchoma tree, alternating with the coffee plants, the
original occupants of the soil. The Cimchoma has a pretty
white flower, and the young leaves are of a splendid red
colour. The straight slender trunk is of a particularly hard
and close grain, and a small Cºmchom a stem, which I pulled
up myself at Adam's Peak, served me as an “alpenstock”
through all my mountain walks.
THE COFFEE DISTRICT AND HILL COUNTRY. 283
*
An interesting and amusing feature in the foreground
of the landscape were the swarthy labourers, the Tamil
coolies. These are of pure Dravidian race, a branch of the
human family which was formerly included with the Indo-
Aryan, but of late years has very properly been regarded as
distinct. They are quite unlike the pure Cinghalese, and
keep themselves entirely separate. Their language, Tamil,
has nothing in common with the Pali, and recent linguists
can detect no relationship between them. Most anthropolo-
gists regard the Tamils or Malabars as a remnant of the
Original natives of Hindostan, who were gradually driven
southwards by the Aryan races advancing from the north;
but in Ceylon they assumed the part of conquerors, gradu-
ally exterminating the Aryan-Cinghalese, who had previously
taken possession of the island. At the present day not
merely is the Tamil population the most numerous through-
out the northern half of the island and a considerable part
of the eastern side, but in the hill country they have also
spread and multiplied at the cost of the indolent and languid
Cinghalese, thanks to their greater energy and powers of
endurance. A very large number of Tamils or Malabars, as
they are called—50,000 about thirty years since, and more
than 200,000 now—cross over annually in the winter season
from the mainland of Coromandel, by Adam's Bridge to the
island, and remain six or eight months to work in the plan-
tations; they then return with their earnings and spend the
rest of the year at home.
The Tamils are as unlike the Cinghalese in stature, build,
colour, and character, as they are in speech, religion, manners,
and habits. The Cinghalese are mostly Buddhists, the
Tamils worship Siva. The Tamils are always much darker
284. - A VISIT TO CEYLON.
skinned, coffee-brown verging on black; the Cinghalese
vary between cinnamon-brown and a sort of golden-tan
colour. Both have long, smooth, black hair, sometimes with
a slight wave or curl, but never woolly. The beard is more
abundant in the Tamil than in the Cinghalese, whose features,
too, differ less from the Mediterranean type than those of
the Tamils. In the Tamil the brow is lower, the nostrils
are broader, the lips thicker and more projecting, and the
chim heavier; the expression is grave and gloomy. I rarely
saw a Tamil laugh, and never so gaily as is quite common
with the Cinghalese. The structure of the skeleton is taller
and more powerful in the Tamil, and his muscular system
better developed, so that he displays ease and endurance in
toil for which the Cinghalese is useless. The singularly
slender and feminine character of the limbs which is so
conspicuous in the Cinghalese men is never seen in the
Tamils; even the women are stronger and more sinewy.
Still, the Tamil is far from being particularly bony Or robust,
he is, on the contrary, tall and graceful; the general propor-
tions of his frame correspond so nearly with the artistic
standard of beauty that the Dravida cannot be included
among the inferior races of humanity—on the contrary
many specimens come remarkably near to the Greek idea.'
As their clothing, while labouring in the plantations, i.
restricted by the men to a small turban and a strip of loin,
cloth, and by the women to a short petticoat and a loose
handkerchief tied across the body, or a short white jacket—
and this is not unfrequently dispensed with when at work—
a walk through the plantations affords ample opportunities
for admiring the beauty of their forms. Their movements,
too, are characterized by a certain native grace which is
THE COFFEE DISTRICT AND HILL COUNTRY. 285
fully brought into play in their different attitudes and occu-
pations, for the labour in the plantations is varied and
severe. How much better might a sculptor here study the
true beauty and proportion of the human form among these
naturally developed models, than in the life-schools of
European academies, where some model, found with diffi-
culty among the degenerate sons of civilization and forced
into some unwonted attitude, is but a poor substitute for the
genuine child of nature
I accepted a kind invitation from one of the chief
planters in the hill district, Mr. Talbot, and spent the night
of February 13th at his house, Wallaha. As there are
neither hotels nor rest-houses in the hill country, excepting
at one or two important stations, the traveller is almost
entirely dependent on the hospitality of the English
planters; and this is displayed everywhere and on every
occasion with unlimited liberality, as though it were quite
a matter of course. It is true that many of the houses on
the plantations stand so isolated in the midst of a lonely
wilderness, that any visitor is welcome; and a total stranger
just arrived from Europe, with a fresh stock of news from
dear home, is hailed as a delightful surprise. The hospitable
and friendly reception I everywhere met with I treasure
among my most pleasing memories. Nothing is more
soothing to the Wanderer than the incomparable comfort
of a British home: a cool bath, an excellent dinner, an
amusing chat over a glass of good wine, and at last a soft
mattress after ten or twelve hours walking up hill and
down dale, along the Stony shadeless paths through the
plantations—six of these hours under a degree of heat to
which our worst dog-days are a trifle.
286 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
Sometimes, however, this enjoyment is somewhat quali-
fied by the strict rules of English etiquette, in which even
a solitary planter dwelling in the wilds of the tropics would
think it derogatory and ill-bred to fail. I remember with
dismay a certain evening, when I arrived, after sun-down,
and quite tired out, at a very remote plantation, and the
hospitable master gave me distinctly to understand that he
expected to see me at dinner, which was just ready, in a
black tail-coat and white tie. My sincere regrets and ex-
planation that my light tourist's kit for this excursion in
the mountain wilds could not possibly include black even-
ing dress, did not prevent my host from donning it in my
honour, nor his wife, the only other person at table, from
appearing in full dinner toilet.
Excepting only this and some other trifling formality
which seemed strange to an unceremonious German like
myself, I have nothing but delightful recollections of my
visits to the English planters of the Ceylon hills. Their
lonely lives are unvaried but by hard work, and they have
much to sacrifice. It is a great mistake to suppose that
their position is at all analogous to that of the great slave-
owners of tropical America, or that they idly reap a splendid
fortune by the labours of hundreds of black coolies. On
the contrary, work is the watchword here—work, think,
and superintend from dawn till night. I always found my
hosts at work by daybreak; a large portion of the day is
spent in visiting the remoter portions of the vast estates, in
giving instructions to servants and overseers, in accounts
and correspondence. Much of the planter's success depends
solely on careful calculations, though the relations of the
weather to the situation, soil, etc., play a large part in
THE COFFEE DISTRICT AND HILL COUNTRY. 287
the matter. The residences being as a rule very far apart,
neighbourly intercourse is extremely limited, and the ladies,
particularly, lead very lonely lives. Many of them find
small compensation for this privation in the perfect freedom
it affords them within the limits of their extensive estates,
or in the constant presence of the beauties of nature, which
for an appreciative soul must here be an unfailing source
of enjoyment.
The planter's bungalow is usually a one-storied house,
built of stone, with a wide, projecting roof and verandah,
surrounded by a lovely garden, and fitted with every Eng- ||
lish comfort adapted to the circumstances. Close to the
house, there is generally a clump of Eucalyptus globulus,
and the same tree is planted here and there, all over the
estates. This Australian shrub is considered a valuable
neighbour, as it is said to dry the soil and render the air
wholesome.
The huts of the Tamils are often grouped into a small
village, generally at Some distance from the house, and near
the coffee-stores. Of late years much has been done in
planning and making good roads, and as the plantations
extend and multiply, the greater part of the hill districts
will, in time, be traversed and accessible by carriage roads.
288 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
CHAPTER XVII.
NEWERA ELLIA.
THE most visited and best known town in the hill country
of Ceylon, and the most popular summer resort in the
island, is Newera Ellia—the city of light—or, as it is pro-
nounced, Nurellia. This town stands in an elliptical
mountain valley, or cirque, between one and two miles
across; the mountains that surround it range from 1500 to
2000 feet in height. The plateau itself is at about 6000 or
6200 feet above the sea level. The climate and scenery
here are strikingly different from those of the coast, and
resemble those of the mountain chains of central Europe;
for though the tropical sun raises the temperature at noon
to twenty-five or thirty degrees, the nights are always cool,
and early in the year it is not unusual to find the grass
white with hoar frost before sunrise, while the waterjars
placed out of doors to cool are covered with a film of ice.
Fires are lighted in the living rooms, morning and evening,
almost every day, and the low stone houses are all built
with chimneys.
When we remember that Newera Ellia is only seventy
degrees north of the equator, an average annual temperature
of from fifteen to sixteen degrees centigrade (below sixty
degrees Fahrenheit) at a height of only six thousand feet
NEWERA ELLIA. 289
above the sea appears extraordinarily low. This, like the
comparatively low temperature which prevails throughout
the hill country of Ceylon, is, no doubt, due, in the first
instance, to the situation of the island, as well as to the
excessive evaporation by day and the rapid cooling at
night by radiation. The air is always damp. Dense
clouds often fill the cirque for the whole day. The rain-
fall is very great, and numbers of springs and rivulets,
which tumble down the cliffs and slopes, maintain a
luxuriant vegetation and feed the little lake which occu-
pies the southern half of the plateau. - ... --
This Superabundance of cool moisture, mist and cloud,
rain and torrent, intensifies the solemn and melancholy
impression produced by the monotonous aspect of the
surrounding hills, the sombre colour of their dark woods,
and the olive-brown hue of the peat-like soil and marshy
meadows. It is sometimes impossible not to fancy that one
has been transported to the Scotch highlands, fifty degrees
further north ; and here, in Newera Ellia, precisely the same
gloomy feeling came over me again and again as had
possessed me when I travelled through that country in the
autumn of 1879. I believe, indeed, that it is this very
similarity in climate and scenery which accounts, in great
measure, for the love of the British colonist for Newera
Ellia. The fire on the hearth has no less a charm for him
as a reminiscence of his distant northern home than the
endless procession of grey clouds out of doors, as they come
rolling down from the gloomy black forests on the dingy
dank moor, and the shuddering surface of the icy lake.
This remote and dismal spot, buried in the highest part
of the wooded mountains, had been known to the natives
U
29 ) A VISIT TO CEYLON.
of the hot coast for several centuries, and one of the early
kings of Kandy is said to have found it a secure retreat
from the Portuguese conquerors so early as in 1610; but
it was never visited by any Europeans till 1826. Some
English officers, out elephant hunting, came upon it by
accident, and they gave such a highly coloured report of
the refreshing coolness and beauty of this high valley, that
Sir Edward Barnes, the governor at the time, built a
bungalow there for himself, and a sanatarium for the
British troops, which was opened in 1829.
There is no doubt that the cold, damp air of Newera
Ellia has a singularly refreshing effect on the health of
Europeans, when they have become debilitated by too long
a residence in the hot low-country; and when, in twenty-
four hours, by railway and post-chaise, the traveller comes
up to Newera, Ellia from Colombo, he feels as if some
magical change had been wrought. The unwonted pleasure
of shivering with cold, and having only one side warm at
a time in front of a fire; the exquisite delight of being
obliged to encumber yourself with a great coat and shawl
when you go out of doors, and of having to pile blankets
on your bed before you can go to sleep—the contrast, in
short, to the easy going and light clothing of the hot coast,
makes the Englishman feel quite at home, and he does
nothing but sing the praises of Newera Ellia. If he were
transported bodily to our wretched northern climate,
perhaps he would not find its charms quite so great.
The merits of Newera Ellia as a sanatarium are, in fact,
monstrously overrated. The climate is cold and damp; the
temperature rises, on a clear winter morning, from about five
degrees centigrade at dawn, to twenty-five or thirty degrees
NEW ERA. ELT,IA. 291
by noon—a difference of about twenty-five degrees in the
course of six hours. This, of course, makes the visitor
liable to sudden chills, and for rheumatic patients, or those
susceptible to catarrh, it is perfectly intolerable. Indeed,
I heard of several invalids who had been simply killed by
the change of climate between Colombo and Newera Ellia.
In spite of all this, partly by indefatigable puffing, and
partly from its offering certain secondary and social
advantages, it not only keeps up its reputation as a health
station, but even continues to increase it. The number of
English “cottages,” which swarm upon the grass-grown soil
of the valley, is added to every year; and if it goes on much
longer Newera Ellia will be a large town, inhabited, how-
ever, only three or four months of the year—the dry season,
from January to April. Later, during the South-west
monsoon, the incessant rain renders it uninhabitable.
The severity of the rainy season, indeed, makes it very
doubtful whether Newera Ellia can ever be, as many
persons hope, a proper situation for the permanent establish-
ment of schools and colleges for the children of Europeans
born in Ceylon. Added to this, is the enormous costliness
of rent and living. Nowhere in Ceylon was my slender
purse so severely bled as in the wretched rest-house
at Newera Ellia. For instance, eggs were sixpence each,
butter a rupee a pound, and bad beer a rupee a bottle.
Though every European in the hot towns, on the coast, is
possessed by a secret longing to spend the cool dry season
in Newera Ellia, he is obliged to consider twice whether
his purse can stand so severe a pull. /
It is most amusing to observe how adaptation to the
theory of life in a fashionable watering-place has given
2
292 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
rise here—at seven degrees from the equator—to precisely
the same monstrosities and evils of civilization as in the
most frequented bathing-places of Europe, fifty degrees
further north. The stronger and the fairer sexes yie with
each other in the elegance, costliness, and bad taste of their
dress. The children appear in costumes, strangely similar
to those in which, we are accustomed to see their quadru-
manous cousins in a show. The richest among the residents
try to out-do each other in the elegance of their carriages
out of doors, and in the luxury of their furniture within.
Among the Cinghalese stalls for the sale of fruit and rice,
stand the booths loaded with luxurious trifles which are
characteristic of a watering-place, where polite swindlers
inflict a well-merited punishment on the spendthrift
loungers by charging them tenfold the value of their wares.
These fashionable European airs in the midst of the wild
highlands of Ceylon, where elephants, bears, and leopards
still people the woods within a few miles, struck me as
doubly comical, arriving as I did, full of the impressions of
my primitive mode of life among the natives of Belligam.
The illusion that one is actually in a European water-
ing-place is rendered still more complete by the universal
attempt to make the dinner resemble, as far as possible, an
European meal. I was greatly surprised to see potatoes
served in their skins, with fresh butter, fresh green peas,
beans, cabbage, etc. All these excellent vegetables thrive
in the gardens and fields round Newera Ellia almost as
well as with us, and potatoes—the main point to the
Germanic race—can be dug four times in a year from the
same ground, if judiciously treated with a manure of bone-
powder. Unluckily, their cost is proportionately high.
NEWERA ELLIA. 293
But it is most amusing to hear the enthusiasm with which
the phlegmatic Briton enlarges on the merits of potatoes
and peas, and the comforts of a top-coat and fire. The real
charm of life, it is evident, lies in contrast.
But the resemblance of this Promised Land of Newera
Ellia to Northern Europe, though it has won for it the suf-
frages of the European colonists, is, after all, but superficial
for the most part, and closer observation reveals many differ-
ences. This is equally true of the climate and of the vegeta-
tion, the two principal factors in the characteristic aspect
of a country. With regard to climate, not Newera Ellia only,
but all the hill country of Ceylon has marked peculiarities
arising from its insular position in the Indian Ocean as
an offshoot from the peninsula of Hindostan. The two
trade winds—the dry north-east monsoon of the winter
Season, and the wet south-west monsoon of the summer
months—in consequence of their local conditions, both
produce a rain-fall, with this difference, that it is much
heavier and more persistent during the south-west than
during the north-east winds. The “dry season,” as it is
called, is here, as it is on the South-west coast, a mere
figure of speech, as I know by experience only too well.
During my three weeks' wanderings in the hill country,
heavy storms of rain were frequent, particularly in the
afternoon, and of such tropical violence that, in spite of
umbrella and waterproof, I had not a dry thread about me.
The flora of Newera Ellia, too, which at first sight
appears surprisingly like Our north European vegetation,
proves on examination to be in many ways essentially
different. The olive-green sub-alpine heath-meadows, which
cover the greater part of the valley, are, it is true, mainly
294, A VISIT TO CEYLON.
composed, as with us, of reeds and rushes (Carices and
Juncaceae), and strewn among them we find many old
favourites—violets, harebells, crow-foots, lily of the valley,
valerian, chick-weed, knot-grass, raspberry, foxglove and
others. But mixed with these we observe numbers of
plants altogether new to us; as, for instance, handsome
balsams with very singular flowers, fantastically coloured
orchids, Restiacece that look almost like scabious, large
purple gentians, Ea;&ewm, with yellow stamens, and above
all tall Lobelias, with enormously long spikes of red
blossom. If we follow the course of a stream up into One
of the shady gorges, we at once find ourselves among a
characteristically tropical vegetation, which at once dispels
Our illusions—noble tree-ferns (Alsophila), the huge shield-
fern (Angiopteris) Strobilamthus, the handsome Nilloo, and
the magnificent aborescent Rhododendron (R. Arboreum),
which grows to a height of twenty to thirty feet, with a
knotty stem and branches covered with gigantic bouquets
of large deep-red flowers.
The difference is even more marked in the forest, which,
with its dense and sombre masses, looks at a distance very
much like our fir forests. It is composed of a great number
of different species belonging, for the most part, to the myrtle
and laurel tribes, to the Ericimede, Guttiferae, and Magno-
liaceae. Although the very numerous species of these trees
belong to such dissimilar families in the character of their
flowers and fruit, they are curiously alike in their general
appearance and mode of growth. Their leaves are leathery,
dark or olive-green, and often woolly beneath; their tall
columnar trunks are sometimes exactly like those of the
pines of Southern Europe, and terminate in a flat roof of
NEWERA ELLIA. 295
forked branches, like a vast leafy umbrella. The lofty
Calophyllum, especially has a remarkable resemblance to a
pine tree; many of the largest specimens have trunks from
eighty to ninety feet high and ten or twelve feet thick, and
the bark grows with a curious spiral twist. Here, in the
cooler hill country, the forests are no less remarkable than
in the hot lowlands for the immense variety and abundance
of parasitic and climbing plants, though they are of other
genera and species. The trunks are also often covered with
a close tissue of mosses.
Many of the forests near Newera Ellia are now inter-
sected by wide and well-made roads, or at any rate by
bridle paths; and the languid child of civilization, as he
lounges through them at noon, may indulge in a shiver at
the thought that at night, on the very same spot—not
a mile from his residence—wild elephants may cross the
path, or a tiger fell and devour a wild pig. The energy of
the vegetation in this wilderness is so irrepressible that the
forester's axe is incessantly at work to keep these paths
Open.
I took advantage of my four days' visit to Newera Ellia
to make some interesting expeditions in various directions.
On the 10th of February I ascended the highest peak in
the island, Pedro (or Peduru) Talla Galla, to the east of
Newera Ellia, and kept my forty-eighth birthday on the
top. This highest point of the island is 8200 feet above the
level of the sea, and about 2000 feet higher than the
plateau of Newera Ellia. It has its name, the Mat-cloth
Mountain, from the quantities of rushes which grow in the
marshes at its foot, and which are used for weaving mats.
It was a lovely sunny spring morning when I started
296 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
from Newera Ellia, accompanied only by a Tamil coolie to
carry my sketching apparatus and provisions, and we
reached the top in two hours. The narrow path was at
first very steep, but sloped more gradually as we got higher,
leading through thick forests almost to the summit, across
dancing mountain streams and little waterfalls. The most
remarkable objects I met with in my walk were the large
worms, for which the hill country of Ceylon is famous;
they are the giants of their kind, five feet long, an inch
thick, and of a fine sky-blue colour. I also here saw for the
first time the beautiful mountain jungle fowl (Gallus
Lafayetti), which I afterwards found in numbers at The
World's End. The large ash-coloured monkey of the hill
forests (Presbytes wrSimºws) was also to be seen, but was too
shy for me to get a shot. The slopes of Peduru are wooded
almost to the Summit, varied by streaks of reddish yellow
moss. There is no truly Alpine or even sub-Alpine vegeta-
tion in Ceylon. The snow-line, if there were one, could
not come lower than fourteen or fifteen thousand feet above
the Sea. -
The view from the treeless peak is really magnificent,
embracing the chief part of the island as far as the sea,
which is visible to the east and west as a narrow silver
streak. On the east, the fine peak of Namoona rises above
the valleys of Badoola; while on the west, Adam's Peak
towers above everything. The grand panorama, as seen
from either of these summits, is monotonous in so far as it
consists, for the most part, of dark green wooded hills,
veined by the silver threads of numerous brooks and
streams, and broken here and there by Small patches of
lighter green plantation. It is the feeling of vastness which
NEWERA ELLIA. 297
chiefly impresses the mind in the midst of this sublime
solitude, and the idea of contemplating from a single spot
one of the richest and most lovely islands in the world.
Early in the morning, the view from Peduru was perfectly
clear and cloudless, but mists soon began to rise from the
valleys, and packed into masses of fleecy clouds. I watched
them gather and roll for some hours with the greatest
interest, and have scarcely ever seen in our own Alpine
countries any cloud studies to compare with those of the
Cinghalese highlands. -
On the 17th of February, which was again an exception-
ally fine morning, I walked about five miles to the south-
wards, across the bridge at Ooda Pooselawa to the south-
eastern limit of the plateau, Here I ascended a peak, from
which I had a fine view to the south over Hackgalla.
This hill was, in its form, quite the most beautiful I saw in
Ceylon, and in the grand flow of its outline and composition
of its masses reminded me of Monte Pellegrino, near Palermc.
The deep wooded ravines, with cataracts in the heart of
them, were wonderful for the beauty and variety of their
tree-ferns.
On the following day, I turned my steps northwards,
and made an excursion in the neighbourhood of Rangbodde,
which is on the high road between Newera Ellia and Kandy.
The road first ascends for about two miles to the top of the
Rangbodde Pass, seven thousand feet above the sea. The
ridge affords a magnificent view on either side; southwards,
over the basin of Newera Ellia, with the beautiful peak of
Hackgalla, and behind this the shining level of the ocean;
northwards, across the wooded valley of the Kotmalle to the
hilly district of Pooselawa. Among the numerous elevations,
298 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
in the middle of the picture stands the tall double eone
of Allagalla. The road may be traced downwards, in steep
windings like a snake, to Rangbodde; and I walked along
it for some miles, enchanted by the numerous pretty little
torrents which fall on both sides into the narrow valley,
and by the lovely vegetation—more especially the tree-ferns
—which fringes their banks. The magnificent forest, which
only a few years since covered the highest slopes, has
almost everywhere given place to coffee plantations. The
road was taken up by numbers of large bullock-carts, each
drawn by four strong white Zebus, and conveying provisions
and luxuries up to Newera Ellia.
On the 19th, I took advantage of the first glimmer of
dawn to ascend the chain of hills which shuts in Newera
Ellia on the west. From the top I had a glorious view
of Adam's Peak and the intermediate range of Dimboola.
At noon I obeyed an invitation from the Governor, who
had arrived the previous day at Newera Ellia, with his
wife, and was staying in their pretty and comfortable
country house, Queen's Cottage, Surrounded by a charming
garden, on the western side of the valley. Here I could
admire a lovely collection of roses, pansies, tulips, pinks,
and other European flowers blossoming in perfection, with
fine cherry trees, and other European fruit trees. These
are splendid as to foliage and flowers, but produce no fruit.
Here I met Dr. Trimen, who had by this time made
every preparation for our expedition into the wilds, and we
set out that same afternoon on our journey to the World’s
End. We travelled but a few miles that day, to Hackgalla,
two hours to the south, where the high road and civilization
cease together. Here, at six thousand feet above the level
NEWERA ELLIA. 299
of the sea, and close to the southern slope of the fine peak
of Hackgalla, is a botanical garden for tropical mountain
plants, an offshoot of the great gardens at Perademia, and
like those, under the direction of Dr. Trimen. We spent
the evening in walking through them, inspecting the
nursery grounds for Cºmchoma and coffee trees, as well as the
splendid tree-ferns and pitcher plants, of which enormous
specimens are to be seen here. From the terraces of this
garden, the highest in Ceylon, there is a fine view of the
grand rock-pyramid, the peak of Namoona, which stands
quite solitary on the eastern side of the valley of Badoola.
We spent the night in the head gardener's bungalow, the
farthest outpost of European civilization in this part of the
hill country.
300 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
CHAPTER XVIII.
AT THE WORLD'S END.
THE extensive and uninhabited plain which stretches south
of Newera Ellia to the very rim of the great central plateau
of the island, and of which the isolated Station at Hack-
galla marks the northern limit, is called Horton's Plain, in
honour of its discoverer, Lord Horton. The larger part of it
is still covered with primaeval forest, alternating with dry or
marshy meadows known as Patemas. Leopards, bears, and
wild elephants are the Sovereigns of this domain. The un-
dulating surface of the plateau is intersected by numerous
streams, between which the ground forms low hills, with here
and there a loftier peak rising to Seven or eight thousand
feet above the sea. The Southern edge ends almost every-
where in a steep cliff, and the wildest portion of the preci-
pice is known by the characteristic name of The World's
End. The rocky wall here falls abruptly—looking quite
perpendicular—for about five thousand feet; and from the
top the view is grand, over the rich forests of the southern
lowlands, which spread for miles at its foot. This wonder-
ful place is said to be the wildest part of the island, and is
rarely visited by Europeans.
Not far from this romantic spot, in the heart of the
AT THE WORLD'S END. 301
wilderness, stands an uninhabited hut, built with thick stone
walls, which was erected by the government as a refuge for
officials who might be obliged to travel hither—Horton's
Plain rest-house. Dr. Trimen and I proposed to spend a
week here, making excursions into the neighbouring wilder-
ness, which had never yet been visited. All our prepara-
tions were complete, the key of the rest-house and a
government permit were in our hands, and we set out from
Hackgalla full of expectation, and in the best of humours,
early on the 20th of February.
As we were obliged to take with us not only provisions
for a week, but bedding, blankets, tents, arms, etc., as well
as a quantity of paraphernalia and tins for collecting
plants and animals, we were forced to have a train of
twenty coolies to carry all this baggage. Besides these,
we each had a body servant; and Dr. Trimen had brought
several men from Peradenia to collect and preserve plants.
These were Cinghalese, the others were mostly Malabars
or Tamil coolies. With a cook and a guide, our party
numbered in all no less than thirty souls.
As is always the case in India when so large a troop
is to be put in motion, it took some hours to get everything
into order. Although we were to have been ready and off
before sunrise, first one thing was missing and then another.
When at last thirty people were got together and ready to
start, and we were on the point of marching, the “hen
coolie,” who carried a large basket with a dozen or two
of fowls in it, stumbled and fell, and some of the birds
escaped through a hole in the basket with a loud cackling.
This was the signal for all the coolies at once to throw
down their loads and rush with shouts and cries to join in
302 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
chasing the fugitives. Hardly were these recaptured and
Safely imprisoned once more—hardly had we fairly set out,
when a rice sack that had been too tightly filled burst, and
shed its contents in a white stream on the ground. Once
more the procession halted, and every one set to work to
shovel up the rice; some of the fowls took advantage of the
pause to Squeeze through a newly discovered hole in the
basket and assist in picking up the rice, but for their own
immediate benefit.
The noisy chase now began all over again, and another
half hour was wasted before we could once more set out.
Such scenes constantly recurred throughout the day, so it
was no wonder that it took us twelve hours to get over
twenty miles from Hackgalla to the rest-house. It was
most fortunate that we had the loveliest spring weather all
the day through, for if it had rained heavily we should
have been in an evil plight.
The lonely path, rarely trodden, along which we
marched, cut sometimes through the thick primaeval forest
and sometimes across the wide open patenas. These are
sharply distinct. The tall, dry reed-like grasses, which are
the principal growth on the patenas, grow so close together,
and their rhizomes form such a compact and impenetrable
flooring of roots, that they fairly defy all the giants of
the forest in the struggle for existence; and every germ
which may attempt to grow from the myriad seeds which
must fall among the grass is inevitably choked at once.
One, and only one, tree occasionally triumphs in the fight,
and solitary specimens are not unfrequently to be seen
raising a tall trunk and a spreading dark-green crown
of foliage above the patenas; this is the mountain myrtle
AT THE WORLD's END. 303
(Careya arborea), with a poisonous pear-shaped fruit.
Almost all the grasses afford but a wretched pasture for
cattle ; they are remarkable for their hard, dry, scabrous
leaves, and angular stiff stems, some have, too, a distinctly
aromatic smell. Some are true grasses (Gramineſe), others
Cyperacte and Restiacae.
The dense forest which breaks these patenas, forming,
as it were, large irregular islands in the vast Sea of grass
—as in the prairies of North America—have the gloomy
and sinister aspect which characterises all these mountain
forests, from Adam's Peak to Peduru (or Pedro Talla Galla).
Although the trees are actually of many various genera
and species, they have a singular monotony of physiognomy,
and as they often fail to perfect their flowers and fruit, it is
really very difficult to distinguish them. Their leaves are
usually leathery, dark green or blackish above, and often
lustrous; the undersides lighter, and greyish, silvery, or
rusty red. Their trunks are large and gnarled, sometimes
completely clothed in yellow mossCs and lichens, and over-
grown with masses of parasitic plants, among which orchids
and leguminous plants are conspicuous for the gaudiness of
their flowers.
Horton's Plain rest-house stands on the same level above
the sea as the top of Adam's Peak—7200 feet; about a
thousand feet above the cirque of Newera Ellia. The
ascent lies principally within the second half of the way;
the first half is up and down the gentle slopes of an undu-
lating plain. About half way we came upon an empty
bamboo hut, which had been erected some time before by
a hunting party, and here we rested for an hour at midday.
Excepting a few tumbling mountain streams, which we
304 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
passed on tree-trunks thrown across them, the road offered
no particular difficulties.
When we had got to the top of the plateau, after climb-
ing to the top of a deep ravine, down which a fine cataract
fell, we came upon the characteristic Nilloo scrub, the
favourite haunt of the will elephants. The large heaps
of dung, some quite fresh, which we saw in every direction,
and the trodden undergrowth, were ample evidence of the
frequent visits of herds to this spot. As we might, in fact,
come upon one at any moment, the whole troop of coolies
got into a state of extreme excitement. The foremost of
them had gone on and divided into scattered parties of twos
and threes; these now drew together again, and walked on
in single file along the narrow path.
The Nilloo jungle, which I here saw more extensively
distributed and developed than anywhere else, constitutes
a very peculiar growth, and derives its name from various
Species of a genus of the Acanthacae (Strobilanthus), all
known to the natives as Nilloo. They are the favourite
food of the elephant, and grow in thick sheaves with
slender weak stems to a height of fifteen to twenty feet,
with handsome spikes of flowers at the top. The finest
of all, Str. pulcherrimus, is conspicuous by the splendid
crimson red of its stem and flower bracts, and as these plants
grow in dense masses, forming the whole underwood of the
mountain forests, the effect under the level rays of the
setting sun is indescribably gorgeous. The elephants
steadily eat their way through this Nilloo scrub; one
marching close at the heels of another. Every bush that is
not devoured is trodden flat; and where a herd of twenty
or thirty of these colossal beasts have marched in single
AT THE WORLD'S END. 305
file through the wood, an open road of some yards wide
is left ready beaten, as good as heart can desire—in a
Wilderness. In fact, these elephant tracks were the only
paths we used during the expeditions of the next few days,
and by following them alone we made several very inter-
esting excursions. To be sure these convenient paths are
not devoid of danger; for if the intruder should suddenly
meet a herd of elephants, escape would be impossible, and
it is necessary to keep a bright look out.
The sun was set, and it was very dark by the time we
emerged from the last patch of forest on to the open patena,
within a mile of the longed-for rest-house. Fresh courage
Sprang up in the weary party, some of whom were indeed
quite exhausted; and we still had a deep hollow to go
down and up again, before we could reach the rest-house on
the further side. A torrent foamed down the centre, which,
for lack of a bridge, had to be crossed on a tree-trunk. We
were heartily glad when the whole troop had succeeded in
getting safely over this dangerous bit in the darkness and
we had reached our destination. A fire was soon kindled,
the empty rooms made as comfortable as possible, and our
Curry and rice consumed with an appetite wortly of the
day's toil. The temperature, which at noon had risen to
37° had now fallen to 10°, and we were very comfortable
indoors by a good fire and wrapped in woollen rugs. Our
coolies outside in the open verandah crept as close to a large
fire as was possible without being roasted.
The weather continued fine during our stay at Horton's
Plain, and favoured the interesting excursions which we
made in various directions through this remote solitude.
The fresh mountain air was wonderfully invigorating; but
X
306 - A VISIT TO CEY LON.
our miserable skin, which the equable moist heat of the
lowlands had made very tender, suffered severely. On our
hands and faces it cracked as it does with us in a severe
winter; partly in consequence of the extreme drought of
the rarer air, partly from the severe changes of temperature.
At noon the thermometer would rise to 30° or 33° centigrade
in the shade, while at midnight it fell to 4° or 5°C. In the
early morning the patenas were white with frost, and a thick
mist lay over hill and dale; but it soon rolled off, giving
way to a brilliant blue sky and glorious Sunshine. In the
afternoon, heavy clouds usually gathered, but it did not
rain; they packed into fantastic masses, which the setting
Sun painted with glory.
It was not the weather only which here, at the end of
February, reminded me of a fine late autumn in Europe;
the whole mountain landscape, at the end of the dry season,
had a marked autumnal aspect. The thick, coarse herbage
of the patenas was parched and generally tawny yellow
rather than green; indeed, wide patches of it were brown
and black, and burnt to ashes. The Cinghalese mountain
herdsmen, who come up here every year for a few months
with their beasts, make a practice of setting these Savannahs
On fire at the end of the dry season, to improve the next
crop of grass. Every evening we had the amusement of
watching these extensive conflagrations, which spread to
grand dimensions on the undulating slopes, or when they
caught the dense woods which fringe the patenas. The
writhing flames would creep in zig-zags, like a fiery Snake
up the hill-side ; then suddenly rush across a level of dry
grass and make a lake of fire, whose sinister glow was
reflected from the dim background of forest and the heavy
AT THE WORLD'S END. 307
misses of cloud overhead. Then hundreds of little white
wreaths of steam rose up from the plain, as if geysers were
bursting from the mountain-flank, and the shower of bright
sparks they carried up with them, dancing and flashing,
completed the illusion.
Though not an evening passed without our seeing this
spectacle of prairie fires, we never caught sight of the
Cinghalese herdsmen who originated them ; the absolute
solitude of the spot was unbroken by a single human
creature.
Our German poets are fond of seizing the charms of
“Waldeinsamkeit *—the solitude of nature—and we in-
demnify ourselves by its illusions for the numberless annoy-
ances daily inflicted on us by the complications of civilized
life. But what is our sophisticated “Waldeinsamkeit"—
with a village a few miles away, at the best—to the real
and immeasurable solitude which reigns in this primaeval
wilderness of the Cinghalese highlands ! Here, indeed, we
are sure of being alone with inviolate nature. I never shall
forget the delicious stillness of the days I spent in the
sombre woods and sunny Savannahs at the World's End.
As my friend, Dr. Trimen, was busy with his own botanical
work and went his own Way, I generally wandered alone
through this solitary Wilderness, or accompanied only by a
taciturn Tamil, who carried my gun and painting materials.
The sense of utter loneliness which pervades these wilds
is greatly heightened by the fact, that the animals which
inhabit them show scarcely any outward signs of life. The
wild elephant is, no doubt, to this day the monarch of the
forest, but once only did I ever see any ; and the great
Russa-deer, or elk (Rw880, Aristotelis), which is said not to
308 A VISIT TO CEY LON.
be uncommon, and of which J. Often heard reports, l never
saw at all. These and most other natives of the forest are,
in fact, chiefly or exclusively nocturnal in their habits, and
during the day remain hidden in the deep cool coverts.
Even the great grey ape (Presbytis ursinus), which is very
common here, I but rarely saw, though I often heard its
gruff tones early in the morning.
The melancholy cries of some birds, particularly the
green wood pigeons and bee-eaters, are rarely heard except-
ing in the early dawn; at a later hour the gaudy jungle
cock (Gallus Lafayetti) is the only bird that breaks the
silence. This gorgeous species appears to be nearly allied
to the first parent of our domestic fowl. The cock is con-
spicuous for his gay and brilliant plumage, fine orange
brown ruff, and green sickle tail-feathers; while the hen is
dressed in modest greyish brown. The sonorous call of this
wild fowl, which is fuller and more tuneful than the crow of
his farm-yard cousin, is often heard for hours in the wood,
now near, now distant ; for the rival cocks compete
zealously in this vocal entertainment for the favour of the
critical hens. I could, however, rarely get within shot, for
they are so shy and cautious that the slightest rustle inter-
rupts the performance, and when once I had fired a shot the
forest was silent for a long time after.
I often sat painting for hours on Some fallen tree-trunk
without hearing a sound. Insects are as poorly represented
as birds, and excepting ants, they are singularly scarce;
butterflies and beetles occur in Small variety, and are for
the most part inconspicuous. The murmuring hum of a
cloud of small flies, with the accompanying murmur of a
forest rivulet, or the soft rustle of the wind in the branches,
AT THE WORLD'S END. 309
is often the only sound that defies the deep silence of the
Spirit of the mountain. - - --
This adds to the weird impression produce by the fan-
tastical forms of the trees of the primaeval forest, the
gnarled and tangled growth of their trunks and the forked
boughs, bearded with yard-long growths of Orange mosses
and lichens, and robed with rich green mantles of creepers.
The lower part of the tree is often wreathed with the white
or strangely coloured flowers of fragrant epiphytal orchids
while their dark green crowns are gay with the blossoms of
parasitic plants of various species. A highly characteristic
ornament of these woods is the elegant climbing bamboo
(Arundinaria debilis). Its slender grassy stems creep up
the tallest trees, and hang down from the branches in long
straight chains, elegantly ornamented with coronas of light
green leaves. But here, and everywhere else in the hill
country, the most decorative plant is the magnificent Rho-
dodendron arborewm, with its great branches of bright red
blossoms. Next to this, the most remarkable trees of these
forests are species of laurel and myrtle, especially Eugenia,
and some kinds of Rubiaceae and Termstroemice. We miss
all the forms common in our European woods, and especially
firs; this important family is entirely absent from Ceylon.
The finest mountain panorama which we saw in the
cruise of our expeditions about Horton's Plain, was from
the summit of Totapella, which we ascended on February
the 22nd, in the most glorious weather. This peak is 7800
feet above the Sea level, and near the eastern limit of the
plateau. From the top, which is little wooded and over-
grown with the fine red-flowered Osbeckia buxifolia, there
is an extensive view on every side : northwards, to the
310 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
heights of Newera Ellia, Peduru, and Hackgalla; eastwards,
over the hill country of Badoola and the peak of Namoona;
southwards, past the boundary cliffs of the World's End;
and westwards, to Adam's Peak. The way up to the sum-
mit would have been in many places impenetrable, but for
the elephant-tracks that we followed; where these were
wanting, the coolies had to cut a path through the thick and
tangled brushwood.
On the 24th, we made our way to the spot itself, known
as the World's End; a famous, but rarely visited ravine,
where the southern edge of the great tableland is cut off in
a perpendicular wall five thousand feet high. The stupen-
dous effect of this sudden fall is all the more startling, be-
cause the wanderer comes upon it after walking for a couple
of hours through the forest, emerging immediately at the
top of the yawning gulf at his feet. The rivers far below
wind like silver threads through the velvet verdure of the
plain, and here and there, by the aid of a telescope, a bunga-
low can be discovered in its plantation. Waterfalls tumble
from the top of the ravine, which is overgrown with fine
tree-ferns, and, like the Staubbach at Lauterbrunnen, vanish
in mist before they reach the bottom.
It was in this spot, the wildest and most unfrequented
perhaps in all Ceylon, that, for the first and only time, I
saw wild elephants in a state of nature, though I had
already seen them as prisoners in the Corral, at the elephant
hunt of Lambugana. My attention was first attracted by
the crackle of breaking boughs in the heart of the under-
wood, at about fifty or sixty feet below the projecting rock
on which I was standing. By watching carefully I could
make out among the swaying greenery of the jungle a herd
AT THE WORLD'S END. 311
of ten or twelve elephants, taking their breakfast very much
at their ease. There was little to be seen of them but the
top of their heads and their trunks, with which they bent
down and broke off the branches. After enjoying this
unwonted sight for some time, and feeling secure in my
elevated ambush, I fired off both the barrels of my rifle at
the nearest of the elephants, but of course without wound-
ing him, as my gun was only loaded with Small shot. I was
answered by the loud trumpeting, which is always the note
of alarm when elephants are surprised; then there was a
loud crash through the thicket, which the huge brutes trod
down like reeds, and in a few minutes the herd had dis-
appeared round an angle of the cliff -
Erom the World's End, which was also the end of our
interesting expedition, we went down by a steep and wind-
ing path through the loveliest wooded gorges—a walk of
five hours—to Nonpareil, the first coffee plantation that we
met with on descending from the mountain wilderness. It
belongs to Captain Bayley, the same enterprising man
whose pretty marine villa I had previously admired at
Galle. I was most kindly received by his son, who acts as
his head-bailiff. It had been our intention to go on the
same afternoon to Billahooloya, the highest village in the
valley; but when we proposed to start at four o'clock, after
an excellent dinner, such a tremendous storm came on that
we were glad to accept our kind host's pressing invitation
to remain for the night.
The rain ceased at about five, and the evening was
lovely. We went over the fine plantation, a model of
arrangement and care, and took a walk in the beautiful
dells. Hundreds of tiny cataracts, caused by the brief but
©
312 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
violent rainfall, danced down the cliffs on every side. The
wonderful vegetation which fills these narrow rifts glittered
and shone; the creepers, which hung in garlands from tree
to tree, once more excited our astonishment and delight, and
nimble monkeys performed gymnastics along them. Here,
again, we admired the tree-ferns (Alsophila), the palms of
the mountain ravines. Their circular crown of feathery
fronds cast a beautiful green shade over the foaming brooks,
and their tender black stems rose to twenty or thirty feet
above the rocky channels; indeed, a few exceptionally fine
specimens had here attained the unusual height of forty-five
or fifty feet. It was the last opportunity I had of seeing
such splendid tree-ferns, for lower down the mountains they
were much Smaller and more insignificant, and as we got
down to the plain they disappeared altogether.
( 313 )
CEIAPTER XIX.
THE BLACK RIVER,
I took leave for ever of the hill country of Ceylon at the
World's End, and, full of the delightful impressions of my
mountain excursion, on the 25th of February I went down
from Nonpareil to Billahooloya, the first village in the
valley. It is the highest station on the great high road
which leads from Badoola and the south-eastern coffee
district westwards to Ratnapoora. The road is always
crowded with strings of bullock-carts, carrying the coffee
bags to the town, or returning with necessaries for the
resident planters. The great Black River, or Kalu Ganga,
begins to be navigable at Ratnapoora, and here the coffee is
shipped into large canoes, which convey it down the river to
the mouth, at Caltura, whence it is carried by railway
to Colombo. Dr. Trimen and I had decided to avail our-
selves of the same route for Our return journey to Colombo,
for it was as new to him as to me: starting from Billahoo-
loya in bullock-carts, taking a boat at Ratnapoora, and
proceeding by train to Colombo. The whole journey well
repaid us—the two interesting days in the bullock-cart, no
less than the delightful passage down the river, afforded a
series of delightful pictures, and proved a Worthy sequel to
our successful mountain trip
314 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
The little village of Billahooloya, literally the Sacrificial
Torch-brook, derives its name from the mountain torrent
which here falls in rushing cataracts through a fine gorge
in the southern rampart of the plateau, and which is fed
by a small rivulet which rises at the World's End, besides
several tributary streams. The narrow channels of these
tumbling brooks are shrouded in luxuriant verdure, and
enclosed between steep rocky walls, all opening westwards,
and these ravines give the scenery a very grand and im-
posing aspect. As we came down from Nonpareil, the
beauty of the country charmed us so much that we decided
on spending a few days at the village. The rest-house
is delightfully situated, under the shade of a mighty tama-
rind tree, close to a stone bridge which spans the torrent;
the background is formed by the vast amphitheatre of the
cliffs of the World's End. The accommodation in the rest-
house was, under the circumstances, really very good, at any
rate we found it so after our experience in the stone hut on
Horton's Plain. We here dismissed our train of coolies,
retaining only a couple of servants to accompany us to
Caltura. The coolies returned direct to Kandy and Newera
Ellia over Adam's Peak.
While Dr. Trimen investigated the rich flora of the
neighbourhood, and was rewarded by the discovery of Some
remarkable new species, I made some interesting excur-
Sions into the valleys, and added several sketches to my
book. But, again, my only regret was that I had not weeks
instead of days at my disposal. The tropical vegetation, to
whose wonders I had now been accustomed for more than
three months, seemed to have reached its richest develop-
ment here, at the southern part of the central plateau. The
TEIE BLACK RIVER, . 315
intense heat of the tropical sun here exercises its utmost
influence, while at the same time the amount of atmospheric
precipitation against the mighty wall of rock is excessively
great ; and the combination of a very high temperature and
great moisture results in a lavish growth of tropical plants,
which is unsurpassed, perhaps, in any other spot on earth.
As I wandered for miles up the streams, and scrambled
through the steep rocky gullies, I came upon marvels of the
Ceylon flora, which transcended everything I had previously
SOCIO.
The parasites and climbers excited my utmost astonish-
ment. Stems, more than a foot thick, twined like cork-
s rews round the cylindrical trunks of other giants of the
forest, a hundred feet in height, just as with us the frail
clematis or wild vine wind their thin clinging stems round
some tall beech or fir tree. Green mantling hung from the
tall heads of the Dillervice or Ten"mimalia, a closely woven
tissue of interlacing lianas; and the gold coloured blossoms
mingled with the leaves of the tree in such quantity that
they might be supposed to be the flower of the host
rather than of the parasite. Certainly the most splendid of
these epiphytes is the famous “Maha-Rus-Wael,” Entada
pursaetha ; its ripe seed-pods—it is a leguminous plant—
are at least five feet long and six inches broad, and contain
brown beans, or nuts, so large that the Cinghalese hollow
them out and use them to drink out of
Not less lovely than this jungle growth, with its
numerous parasites, is the lowlier flora which clothes the
rocks in and by the rushing waters. Here we find ferns
with graceful plumes, from ten to twelve feet in length;
balsams, aroids, and Marantas with their splendid flowers.
316 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
A peculiar ornament of these streams is a low-growing
species of Pamdamus (P. humilis 3), which looks like a
dwarf palm, and grows abundantly among the boulders in
the torrent. The creepers which entangle the brushwood
that fringes the bank form so dense a mass that it is impos-
sible to walk anywhere but in the bed of the stream itself.
The water was often up to my waist, but with a temperature
of 25° to 30° C. this bath was only pleasant and refreshing.
My visit to the main stream of this valley, which is one
of the principal feeders of the Black River, was beset with
unusual difficulties. This rivulet has at Billahooloya
already received the waters of several smaller Ones, and was
SO swollen in consequence of the heavy rainfall of the
previous days in the hill districts that it was one chain of
foaming cataracts, which rolled and tumbled with a loud
roar over the large blocks of granite that fill its bed. It was
quite out of the question that I should attempt to ascend it
by Walking in the channel, and I was obliged to avail
myself of the bridges, formed of a single bare trunk, which
are laid at intervals from one bank to the other. I shudder
now as I recall one of these bridges, spanning a noisy water-
fall at about a mile below Billahooloya. It was late in the
evening when, on my return from a long expedition, I was
forced to cross it, high above the water, in order to reach
the other shore before it should be quite dark. When I had
got about half-way across over the whirling torrent, the
trunk, on which I was slowly and cautiously balancing
myself, and which was not very thick, began to sway so
greatly that I thought it would be wise to forego my
upright posture. I stooped slowly down and achieved the
rest of my transit astride on the pole; and I may confess
THE BLACK RIVER, 317
Fºr
to a sigh of relief when, by an effort of gymnastics, I found
myself safe on the further bank. Even then I had the
pleasure of wading for half an hour in the dark across
the inundated rice-fields.
When I at last reached the rest-house, half covered with
mud, the long streaks of blood on my trousers showed where
the horrible leeches had made me their prey. I picked
Several dozen off my legs. This intolerable plague—from
which the hill country is happily free—began at once to
torment us as soon as we came down into the damp low-
lands; in few spots in Ceylon did I suffer so severely from
the land-leeches as in the lovely woods and ravines of
Billahooloya.
The drive in bullock-carts from Billahooloya to Ratna-
poora takes two long days, and as the beasts must rest for
Some hours during the hot midday hours, we started at foul
o'clock in the morning. The pleasant freshness of the pure
night air and the extraordinary brilliancy of the stars in
the deep sky were something quite marvellous in these higlº
valleys, and we walked by the side of the meditative beasts
as they slowly paced along dragging our two-wheeled vehicle
for some hours before the heat of the sun was so great as
to force us to take shelter under the awning. This tilt
or roof, made of palm-leaf matting, would have covered six
or eight persons, and we could stretch ourselves out com-
fortably under it on mats, though the jolting of the spring-
less cart was fatiguing after any length of time.
The scenery is beautiful all the way. The road for a
long time follows the line of the southern slope of the high-
lands, the mighty rampart of cliff towering far above the
lower outlying range of wooded hills. The fertile plain
3.18 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
widens gradually as we descend, and is cultivated with
fields of rice, maize, cassava, bananas, and other produce.
Pretty clumps of forest, with here and there a village or
a waterfall in the ever-widening river, give variety to the
pleasing panorama; parrots and monkeys in the groves,
buffaloes and herons in the water-meadows, wag-tails and
waders in the streams, lend it animation and interest. The
road, too, is full and busy with natives and bullock-carts.
After a hot drive of eight hours we rested the first day
at Madoola, a little village very picturesquely placed in a
narrow wooded valley. I at once proceeded to refresh my-
self by a bath in the mountain stream, and my enjoyment
of it was resented by no one but some swarms of little
fishes (Cyprimodonta?), which came round me in hundreds to
attack their unusual visitor; I unfortunately could not suc-
ceed in catching one of my slippery little assailants, though
they shot forth from their hiding-places among the rocks
and boldly tried to nibble with their tiny mouths. After
dinner, I made my way for some distance up the stony bed
of the river, whose rocky banks were overgrown with
beautiful trees and fantastically decorated with creepers.
Thick runners of wild vine (Vitis indica) hung in festoons
like natural ropes across from one bank to the other; and
it was a most amusing scene when a party of monkeys that
I startled fled across this natural bridge with extraordinary
rapidity and dexterity, screaming as they went. I made my
way through the foaming waters and over the slippery rocks
a little farther up, to where a few enormous trees (Termi-
'malia Ž) stood up like columns garlanded and wreathed with
climbers. While I sat making a sketch of the wild scene,
the clouds gathered and a heavy storm broke. The vivid
THE BLACK RIWER. 319
lightning lighted up the darkened ravine, flash after flash,
and the tremendous echo of the thunder rolled all round
me so like a terrific cannonade that I could almost fancy I
saw the cliffs tremble. The downpour that followed was so
violent that the water came tumbling down every crevice
in the rocks, and I expected to see all my painting materials
soaked through. But the ancestral fig tree, under whose
protecting roof I had sought shelter, was so densely covered
with leaves that only a few drops trickled through now and
then, and I was able to finish my sketch.
The rain lasted about an hour, and when it ceased and
I was able to scramble down to the rest-house again, I was
very near capturing a noble trophy in the form of a fine
snake, about six feet long, which glided down from an over-
hanging bough ; but it writhed away so quickly among
the heaps of fallen leaves that I had not time to make an
end of it with my hunting-knife. However, I made a prize
of several gigantic thorny spiders (Acrosoma ž), a span across
with their thin, long hairy legs. I also shot a few pretty
green parrots, as a flock of them flew above me screaming
loudly.
The early evening, when the victorious sun decked the
freshly washed valley with myriads of sparkling diamonds,
was wonderfully lovely. Later, however, the rain began
again, and forced us to ride in the covered cart. We met
numbers of Cinghalese, marching on with stoical indifference,
undaunted by the pouring rain, only holding a Caladiwm leaf
over their heads to protect their precious top-knot and comb
from the wet. It was not till late in the evening that we
reached Palamadula, a large village beautifully situated,
where we passed the might.
320 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
After Palamadula, the country was more open and level
The great rocky hills of the central range fell into the back-
ground, and the lower slopes gained in importance. Adam's
Peak was still conspicuous among the remote mountains,
though its southern aspect is far less imposing than the
northern and eastern. The vegetation gradually assumed the
character which marks it throughout the Southern plains;
and we were particularly charmed to find ourselves once
more among the noble palms, which are entirely absent from
the hill districts. *
By starting from Palamadula very early in the morning
of February 28th, we reached Ratnapoora by noon, in time
to devote several hours to seeing the place and the imme-
diate neighbourhood. This is very pretty; the valley,
which here expands to a wide basin enclosed by high hills,
is well cultivated and richly fertile. The town itself, on the
contrary, offers little interest, and if the traveller has anti-
cipated any special splendour from its high-sounding name,
“the city of rubies,” he is doomed to keen disappointment.
The name was given to it by reason of the abundance of
precious stones, for which the neighbourhood was famous
some centuries ago; they are found in the detritus, in the
rivers and brooks, and in the peaty soil of the valley. To
this day there are some famous gem mines, but their pro-
ductiveness is much less than it was formerly. In the town
itself there are many stalls where precious stones are sold,
and a great many Moormen make a business of cutting and
polishing them. But of late the importation of imitation
gems has increased largely, and it seems certain that here
in Ratnapoora, as well as at Colombo and Galle, many more
artificial stones—cut glass of European manufacture—are
THE BLACK RIVER, 321
sold than genuine stones found on the spot. The art of
imitation is now so well understood, that even mineralogists
and jewellers by profession are often unable to discriminate
the true from the false without a close chemical examination.
In the heart of Ratnapoora, and on the right and northern
bank of the Kalu Ganga, a charming tank stands under a
fine old tamarind tree. On a hill to the eastward stands
the old Dutch ſort; its rambling buildings are now used as
the head-quarters of the district law courts and government
officials. At the foot of the hill is the bazaar, a long, double
row of low huts and stalls, where the principal wares consist
of food, spices, and household chattels, with gems as before
mentioned. These, with sundry scattered groups of huts
along the river shore, and a number of pretty bungalows
belonging to the English residents, surrounded by gardens
and placed here and there in the park-like valley, constitute
what is known as the “city of rubies.”
On the 1st of March we left Ratnapoora to descend the
Black River, which is navigable from this point. This, next
to the Mahawelli Ganga, is the longest, widest, and finest
river in Ceylon, though the Kalany Ganga at Colombo is
little inferior to it. Close to the rest-house is the harbour,
as it is called, the reach whence all vessels start, and where
a crowd of barks lie at anchor. Most of these are coffee
boats, to carry the produce of the eastern districts down to
Saltura. They return empty, or very lightly loaded with
imported goods, for the passage up the river is long and toil-
some. They are either double canoes firmly bound together
by an upper-deck of beams and planks, or they are floored
over with a broad flat boarding, with no keel. The fore
and after ends are exactly alike. They are always sheltered
Y
*
*
322 - A VISIT TO CEYLON.
by a strong watertight awning of palm or pandanus-leaf
mats, stretched on bamboo hoops. The spacious saloon
under this roof, which is open fore and aft, is so large that
in the Smaller boats eight or ten people can be comfortably
at home, and in the larger ones twenty or thirty. In the
large boats the space is frequently divided into cabins by
hangings of matting. We hired a small double canoe and
four rowers.
When the river is full and the weather favourable, the
whole passage down the Black River, from Ratnapoora to
Caltura, can be made in a day; but when the river is low
or the weather bad, it takes from two to four days. The
heavy rains of the last few days had filled all its affluents
So rapidly that we had the advantage of a very full flood,
and made the little voyage in eighteen hours without any
stoppage, starting from Ratnapoora at six in the morning,
and reaching Caltura at midnight. *
I afterwards greatly regretted this hurry, for the
Scenery is, from first to last, so beautiful that I could gladly
have spent twice or three times as long on the way.
Lovely weather favoured us throughout, and I can
never forget the succession of enchanting views which
passed before my eyes as if in a magic lantern. I and my
friend lay very much at our ease in the fore part of the
boat on a palm-mat, sheltered from the sun by the pro-
jecting roof, while our servants and boatmen occupied the
middle and stern. There our simple meals were prepared,
consisting of tea, rice, and curry, bananas and cocoa-nuts,
and, as an extra treat, a few pots of jam and some tablets
of chocolate, which we had reserved till the last. "
The somº masses of overhanging dark green trees,
T HE EI ACK RIVER,
3
23
and the black colour given by the fringing thicket to the
water near the banks, have given its name to the Kalu
Ganga, or Black River. The water itself, when the river
is low, is a dark blackish green, but when it is full the
colour is yellowish of orange-brown, in consequence of the
quantities of yellow or reddish loam brought down by
the rains. On the shore itself abrupt rocks and grotesque
groups of stones, overhanging boughs, and trees torn up by
the roots, supply a varied and delightful foreground to the
landscape. The distance is filled up by the sublime out-
lines of the mountains, swathed in blue mist and appearing
much higher than they really are.
The chief part of the river's edge looks as if it consisted
entirely of vegetation. Aralia and Terminalia, Dillenia
and Bombaa, Rwbiaceae and Urticaceae predominate. The
dark green of this thicket is pleasingly varied by the bright
green of the bamboos; their orange-yellow canes stand in
thick clumps from forty to fifty feet high, and the elegant
feathery leaves hang over the water like tufts of ostrich
plumes. Cocoa and areca palms, talipot and kittool, with
here and there a plantation cf banana and cassava, betray
the existence of inhabitants, and prove that the shores of
the river are not such a wilderness as might be supposed
from the thicket that fringes its bank. Occasionally,
though more rarely, solitary native huts stand on a rocky
promontory of the shore, and more rarely still the white
cupola of a dagoba reveals the existence of a village.
Animal life contributes largely to diversify the charms
of the landscape. Near the huts the tame black swine
wander about the shore, grubbing among the roots of the
trees. Large black buffaloes roll in the sand banks or in the
324 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
mud at the bottom, where the water is shallow, having only
their heads above the surface. Where there is any con-
siderable extent of wooded country large parties of black
monkeys display their amusing gymnastics, and shriek as
they spring from tree to tree. Here and there stands a
gigantic and ancient fig-tree, thickly populated with flying-
foxes, hanging to every branch. Brilliant blue and green
kingfishers perch on the boughs that overhang the stream,
and dart down on the unwary fish ; curlews, herons, water-
rails, and other waders fish in the shallows and stalk over
the sand-banks, and the tree-tops are full of lively flocks
of red and green parrots. Now and then we have a
glimpse of the Ceylon bird of paradise, with its two long
white tail-feathers. Crocodiles used to be common in the
Black River, but the constantly increasing traffic has led to
their being almost exterminated. In their place the great
green iguana—the cabra-goya—Suns itself on the rocks in
mid-current. Large river tortoises, too, which lay their
eggs in the sand banks, were frequently to be seen. The
water is too turbid and dark for fishes to be easily de-
tected, though fish of the shad and carp tribes (Siluridae and
Cyprimidae) are said to be abundant, and here and there a
solitary native sits on the bank fishing with a line or hand-
net. The most remarkable among the insects are handsome
large butterflies and fine metallic demoiselles or dragon-flies.
The gnats and mosquitos, which at Some seasons are a perfect
plague, were at the time of our excursion quite endurable.
The most exciting episode of our delightful voyage was
the shooting of the rapids, which lie about half-way
between Ratnapoora and Caltura, and are very much
dreaded, being, in fact, a dangerous impediment in the
THE BLACK RIVER, 325
navigation of the Kalu Ganga. The waters here force their
way through a series of rocky barriers which lie across
their channel; the banks are higher and closer together,
and the river, thus hemmed in, tumbles and roars among
the rocks; the fall is very considerable within a short
distance. At the most dangerous spot our boat was com-
pletely unloaded, and everything carried for some distance
by land; we ourselves Scrambled down the large shelves
of granite to the bottom of the falls. A number of natives
are always here on the look-Out for boats, which, when
they are empty, are hauled and lifted up or down the
foaming rapids. Half a dozen of these men—among them
a Tamil, more than six feet in height, and a perfect Hercules
in build—plunged into the water and contrived to twist
and guide the canoe through the narrow straits, shouting
loudly all the time, so cleverly that it shot down the rapids
without being damaged against the sharp rocks.
A few miles below these falls the river widens con-
siderably, and we gradually find ourselves carried down
to the level plain of the western coast. The fall to the sea
is there very inconsiderable, and the boat's crew hoisted
a large square sail that the light evening breeze might help
them in their toil. Soon after dark the rising moon, nearly
full, threw its soft radiance across the wide level of water
or cast dancing lights through the boughs overhead. The
Black River near its débouchure appears to be about as wide
as the Rhine at Cologne. No sound broke the silence but the
bell-like croak of the tree-frogs and the even measure of the
oars, or now and again the dismal hoot of an owl and the
gruff voice of a monkey. All nature seemed to sleep when
we disembarked at Caltura, soon after midnight.
326 A VISIT TO CEY LON.
CHAPTER XX.
EIOME TEIROUGH EGYPT.
THE delightful excursion in the hill country, ending in
the voyage down the Black River, had closed the pro-
gramme of all I had most wished to do in this Isle of
Marvels, and now I had to prepare for my return journey.
I should, it is true, have liked to see Trincomalie, which,
besides its great interest, is so rich in the eyes of the
naturalist ; and to visit the famous ruined cities in the
north of the island, Amarajapoora and Pollanarua. But
my six months' leave was drawing to an end; the last
Lloyd's steamer that could transport me back to Europe in
due time would sail from Colombo on the 11th of March, and
I cannot deny that, in spite of all the wonders and beauties
I had seen, home sickness made itself increasingly felt, and
a happy return to my beloved German home seemed, more
and more, the most desirable thing on earth.
So as soon as I reached Colombo I set to work to pack
all my latest additions to my collection and make my pre-
parations for starting. I made one more delightful excur-
sion with Dr. Trimen, to Heneral godde, an offshoot of the
garden at Perademia, in the very hottest part of the damp
low country, and intended for the cultivation of such plants
as require the highest tropical temperature. There I saw
HOME THROUGH EGYPT. 327
gigantic specimens of the finest trees, palms, creepers, ferns
and orchids, which, even after all I had seen already, utterly
astounded me. I spent a few very pleasant days with Mr.
Staniforth Green and his nephew at “Templetree Bungalow,”
and remember with peculiar pleasure a delightful evening
spent in a canoe with the latter, on the mirror-like lake by
the Cinnamon Gardens. I devoted a few most interesting
days to a study of the museum, and Dr. Haly, the director,
having then returned, displayed and explained its contents
in the kindest and most instructive manner. I paid fare-
well calls to the many English residents who had aided me
in various ways during my stay in the island. On the very
last day, Mr. William Fergusson enriched my collection by
the addition of a fine and exceptionally large tiger-frog
(Rama tigrima), and other amphibia; and my friend Both
crowned his zoological favours with a full-grown “Negumbo
devil”—a large scale-covered quadruped, held in Supersti-
tious dread by the Cinghalese, and the sole representative
of the Edentata found in the island (Mamis brachywra). It
was not an easy task to kill this creature, which proved
highly tenacious of life. A large dose of prussic acid finally
put an end to him. -
Every moment I could spare from the great business of
packing I devoted to the garden of “Whist Bungalow,” and
I took several photographs of the most beautiful points. It
was a real grief to take leave of this delightful paradise,
and of my worthy fellow-countrymen whose hospitality I
had enjoyed; I felt acutely the overwhelming sense of quit-
ting for ever a spot of earth that had grown dear to me.
Of course this feeling was greatly counteracted by the pros-
pect of finding myself homeward-bound, for in the tropic:
o 23 A VISIT TO CEY LON.
Home has to every European quite a different sound to what
it ever can have in Europe itself. The feeling of returning
to the home we love after a successful journey in the tropics
can only be compared with that of the soldier returning
after a victorious campaign. I, indeed, had enjoyed special
good fortune, for during a stay of five months in the tropics,
in spite of toil and fatigue, I had not had a single day's ill-
ness, and had happily escaped every form of danger.
However, this good fortune and immunity had their
limits, and I had an instinctive sense of having nearly
reached them. All the wonderful and magnificent impres-
sions and experience I had gone through during the last
four months had been almost too much for me, and I longed
unspeakably for respite and repose. Turing the last week
in Colombo, especially when the oppressive effects of the
change of monsoon were very sensible, I felt more exhausted
and over-wrought than I ever had before. I positively
craved at last for the quiet time before me on board the
steam vessel, and for some leisure which should allow of
my mastering and classifying the mass of pictures and ideas
that filled my brain.
This longed-for respite and Sunday mood I found on
board the fine vessel in which I returned from Colombo. I
have never had a better voyage than in the good ship
Aglaia, belonging to the Austrian Lloyd's Company, which
transported me in eight days from Ceylon to Egypt. She
had started from Calcutta. So heavily freighted as to draw
her utmost allowance of water, and my cases, for want of
room, were stowed in the Smoking-room. Even in a storm
she could hardly have rolled much, and under the calm
fºnd cloudless sky which favoured us throughout the voyage
EIOME THROUGH EGYPT. 329
the ship's motion was hardly perceptible; the north-east
monsoon was behind us, and the passage across the Indian
Ocean from Colombo to Aden was like a holiday trip across
some calm and land-locked lake.
This pleasant state of things was enhanced by the agree-
able society of my fellow-travellers. There were but three
first-class passengers besides myself, all three Germans re-
turning home from Calcutta, whom I found excellent com-
pany. The captain, Herr N., was the most amiable ship's
captain I ever met with ; a sage and humorist to boot,
combining the philosophy of Socrates and the Aretshi. The
fair sex were altogether absent, which added in no small
degree to the pleasures of the voyage. Pardon, fair reader,
so shocking a declaration. We four passengers and the
friendly ship's officers, with whom we took our meals, en-
joyed to the utmost the various privileges which the absence
of ladies secured to us, and, for One thing, never appeared
throughout the passage in any costume but the most com-
fortable Indian mégligé. Neither handkerchief nor collar
encumbered our throats, easy yellow Indian slippers took
the place of shining black boots, and the rest of our attire
consisted of that particularly light and airy white flannel
garment known throughout India as a pajama suit.
The nights during this voyage were wonderfully beau-
tiful. We often slept on the deck, fanned by a soft tropical
sea breeze, under the dark blue roof of sky, where the stars
shone with intense brightness. I often lay awake for hours
inhaling the fresh salt air with delight, and enjoying the
heavenly peace which for eighteen days still to come would
be disturbed by neither letters nor proof-sheets, by neither
students nor college-beadle. I nightly admired the “mild
330 - A VISIT TO CEY LON.
splendour of the southern cross,” as in duty bound, and often
gazed into the sparkling wake that spread like a long fiery
tail at the stern of the ship, flashing with myriads of lumi-
mous Medusae, Ch'ustaceae, Salpac, and other phosphorescent
creatures. - *
I spent the days chiefly in arranging and completing my
notes and sketches, and when I was tired of writing, draw-
ing, or reading, I wandered into the second-class quarters,
where a menagerie of monkeys, parrots, wood pigeons and
other birds were a never-ending entertainment. In my own
little menagerie the most interesting creature was the lemur
from Belligam (Stenops gracilis), a most amusing little
fellow, whose wonderful gymnastics delighted us every
evening. -
The details of the voyage afforded little worthy of record,
I quitted my friends at “Whist Bungalow” at two o'clock on
the 10th of March, after a regretful leave-taking. On the
12th we passed the Maldives, steering pretty close to the
cocoa-nut groves of Minikoi, a coral island. On the morning
of the 18th we were near the picturesque coast of Socotra’
where the ravines are marked by immense fields of snow-
white sand, looking like glaciers sloping to the Sea. We
reached Aden on the evening of the 20th, but as we were
refused pratique in consequence of the quarantine against
cholera, we steamed out again at nine o'clock and up the
Red Sea. On the 21st we passed Bab-el-Mandeb, and on
the 22nd the Guano rock of Geb-el-Tebir; immense flocks of
dusky cormorants here flew round the ship. On the morning
of the 25th we crossed the tropic of Cancer, just opposite
Cape Berenice; coasted the Sinaitic Peninsula on the 27th
and anchored before sunrise on the 28th by the quay at Suez.
HOME THROUGH EGYPT. 331
As I still had a few weeks of liberty at my disposal,
and as many vessels sail weekly from Alexandria for various
ports in Europe, I determined to spend a fortnight in
Egypt, chiefly in order to avoid the sudden change of
climate, which at this season of the year would be very
severe, in going at Once from the heat of Ceylon to the
cold of Northern Europe. I was also greatly influenced
by a wish to compare the vegetation of Lower Egypt, which
had impressed me greatly nine years previously, with my
Indian experiences. The comparison proved, in fact, ex-
tremely interesting; there can hardly be a greater contrast
in every respect between two countries, both in the torrid
zone, than between Ceylon and Egypt.
On the morning of the 28th of March I quitted the
Aglaia, bidding a cordial farewell to my fellow-passengers
and on the following day I made an excursion on a donkey
to Moses’ Well, as it is called, an interesting little oasis in
the desert, a few miles east of the entrance to the Canal.
On the 30th, a nine hours' railway journey took me to
Cairo, where I took up my abode in the German Hotel du
Nil. I spent ten days in Cairo, that embodiment of the
Arabian Nights, partly in refreshing my pleasant memories
of a former visit and partly in making new excursions.
The most interesting of these was a somewhat long ride
into the desert, to what is known as “The Great Petrified
Forest.” Under the guidance of an experienced fellow-
countryman, who has long been resident in Cairo as an
apothecary—my kind friend Sickenberger—I set out with
a numerous party of German travellers at six in the morn-
ing of April 5th. We had taken care to provide ourselves
with food and with strong asses, as the ride thither and
332 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
back again takes the whole day. The road lay eastward,
first through the wonderful plain of the tombs of the
Khalifs, and then up the northern slope of Mokattam. After
trotting through the sandy wilderness for four hours we
reached our destination. Here, in the midst of an absolutely
barren wilderness, petrified among the sandhills, are a con-
siderable number of tree-trunks from seventy to eighty feet
long and two or three feet thick. They belong chiefly to
an extinct genus of Sterculiae, Nicolia. Most of these trunks
are of a shining blackish or reddish brown, and look as if
they had been polished; they are broken into fragments
from two to six feet in length, and half buried in the sand;
some, however, lie quite free from sand and in order, end
to end. They are most numerous near the coal shaft, “Bir-
el-Fahme,” a boring six hundred feet deep, made in 1840, by
command of Mohammed Ali, who vainly hoped to find coal
in the midst of the desert.
Our road back to Cairo led us through Wadi Dugla,
a wide and picturesque gorge, through which the caravans'
of Mecca pilgrims make their way from Cairo to Suez.
We rode for several hours downhill through the windings
of this ravine, where the bare yellowish cliffs rise almost
perpendicularly on either side, before we finally issued on
the Nile valley at a spot between Wadi Turra on the north
and the heights of Mokattam on the south. It was late in
the evening before we reached Cairo.
This desert ride, which affords a very fair idea of the
general character of the Arabian deserts, gave me a vivid
conception of the extraordinary difference between the
whole aspect of nature in Lower Egypt and in Ceylon.
This contrast is shown in the first place by the climate and
HOME THROUGH EGYPT. 333
vegetation, and in the second by every detail of animal
and hunian life. While the ancient sea, bottom, which now
constitutes the yellow sands of Egypt, is rich in fossil
remains which betray its relatively recent geological origin,
the soil of verdurous Ceylon consists of primitive rock
absolutely destitute of fossils. While here the intense
drought of the atmosphere scarcely allows a meagre vege-
tation to exist, there the superabundant moisture results in a
wealth and luxuriance of plant life which is unsurpassed in
any other part of the globe. Violent rain-falls, which in
Egypt scarcely ever occur, are in Ceylon of daily occurrence.
The daily variations of temperature in this drier air
are so great as to amount sometimes to 35°; out in the
desert, a thin film of ice is frequently formed during the
night, while at noon the thermometer stands at 43° to 45° C.
in the shade. In the damp, hot-house climate of Ceylon,
on the contrary, the variations are so small that they rarely
exceed 5° or 6° in twenty-four hours—from 25° to 31°
centigrade.
Nor is the contrast less striking in the population than
in the soil, climate, and vegetation. In Egypt, we find the
noisy and eager Arab, with his unblushing, pushing, and
assertive nature, fanatical Mohammedans of Hamitic race;
in Ceylon, the gentle unpresuming Cinghalese, indolent
Buddhists of Aryan origin, peaceable, retiring, and timid.
While Egypt, from its situation—alone in the centre between
the three continents of the old world—has from the earliest
ages played an important part in the history of nations,
has been the apple of discord to mighty potentates and
the object of passionate contention, the Eden-like territory
of Ceylon has, to a great extent, lain outside the limits of
}34, A VISIT TO CEYLON.
civilized progress, and its political history has had no
importance beyond its own shores. -
As a botanical symbol and expression of this con-
trast, one single tree may be taken. In Egypt and in
Ceylon alike, a palm tree is the most important vegetable
product in the general economy of the nation—in Egypt,
the date palm ; in Ceylon, the cocoa-nut palm. Although
these two noble gifts of Flora are of almost equal value,
and every part of each has its special utility, still they are
as dissimilar in detail as the two trees are in appearance,
and as the character they impart to the landscape. The date
palm is as inseparable from Egyptian or Arabian scenery as
the cocoa-nut palm is from the low country of Ceylon.
A native of the north who, after crossing the Alps, sees
the date palm for the first time in Italy, admires it as the
representative of a noble tribe, and his admiration increases
as he travels farther south to Egypt, where he finds it in
abundance and far more beautiful in growth. I myself have
worshipped it with true devotion.
How poor by comparison did the date palm now seem
when the incomparably finer and more perfect form of the
cocoa-nut palm, as I had seen it in Ceylon, was freshly
stamped on my mind The slender, Smooth, white trunk
of the Cocos is always gracefully bent, and is usually twice
as tall as the thickset, Scaly, dingy brown stem of the
date palm. The huge, finely sweeping, yellow-green plumes
of the cocoa-nut are twice as large and twice as beautiful as
the stiff, straight, dull green leaves of the date palm. Indeed,
the picturesque beauty of the Cocos exceeds that of the
date palm as greatly as its huge nut exceeds the small and
inconspicuous date itself.
110ME THROUGH EGYPT, 335
During the Easter week, which I spent in Cairo, t':e
great political events in Egypt, which have since revolu-
tionised Egypt, cast their shadows before them. The
aversion of the Egyptians for all Europeans, eagerly
formented by the fanatical Mohammedan priesthood, was
repeatedly displayed in attacks and outbreaks. I was
twice insulted : once by a dervish when visiting the mosque
of El Azhar, the university of Cairo; and a second time by
a soldier, when I was sitting on the bank of the Nile
making a sketch ; and it was by a mere accident that on
these two occasions I escaped falling into real danger just
at the end of my travels. Not long before an English
painter, when sketching among the tombs of the Khalifs,
had been attacked by a soldier and seriously wounded,
without any sort of provocation. It was even then reported
that Arabi Pasha was systema'ically prompting these
attempts. All the hostility of Islam to the European spirit
of progress was incarnate in that ambitious adventurer, and
the English government would have saved lives and money
if it had acted with decision at an earlier stage of affairs.
Since, at the present day, the successes of the English in
Egypt are looked upon with disfavour in many quarters, I
cannot here conceal my disagreement with this view. On
the contrary, it appears to me that they should be hailed
with Satisfaction, alike on the grounds of common humanity
and on those of rational political action.
The Egyptians are far from being a nation of the
modern civilized type, and so long as Islam exercises its,
baleful and paralysing influence there is no hope for
progress. On the other hand, the country lies so contrally
On the high road between the west and the east, and
336 A VISIT TO CEYLON.
especially between England and India, that Britain cannot
forego the mastership of the Canal, if she is to retain her
hold on her vast empire. This empire is in itself an object
Worthy of admiration, for the English are undoubtedly
gifted beyond any other nation with the genius for
founding and governing colonies. The opportunities afforded
me during my journey—first in Bombay and afterwards in
Ceylon—for observing the English colonial system, raised
it infinitely in my estimation. It can only be because
England governs her immense Indian possessions with as
much tact as judgment, that she is able to keep her hold
upon them with a relatively small official staff.
Instead, then, of watching the extension and consolida-
tion of English power with grudging and envious eyes, we
should do better to study the political skill which brings
progress and benefit to the whole human race. If Germany,
following the example of her British cousin, had founded
colonies while it was yet time, how far more important
might our German culture have proved to the world at
large ; how much greater might not her position have
been
My return from Ceylon to Egypt was absolutely un-
eventful. I left Alexandria on the morning of April 12th,
in the Austrian Lloyd's steamer Castor, and arrived at
Trieste safe and sound on the 18th of April. Here I was
heartily welcomed by kind old friends, and then, hurrying
through Vienna, I went straight to Jena.
Here the painful news awaited me of the death of my
honoured friend and master, Charles Darwin, to whom I had
written a letter of congratulation a few weeks before, from
the top of Adam's Peak, for his 73rd birthday.
HOME THROUGH EGYPT. 337
It was at five in the afternoon of the 21st of April that
I reached my home in Jena, and as I had announced myself
to arrive only on the following day, I had the pleasure of
taking my family by surprise. It was a happy meeting
after my six months' absence. Rejoicing in the good for-
tune which had granted me, though late, one of the most
fervent desires of my youth, I settled down at home once
more, the richer by a wealth of memories which cannot fail
to be a source of enjoyment and gratitude for the rest of
my life.
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and experience acquired by association with Audubon, and during his extended
investigations conducted under direction of Prof. Asa Gray of Harvard Uni-
versity.
Mr. Sprague is one of the most truthful delineators of flowers of any coun-
try, and chromo-lithography has in the present instance well represented his
work This specimen number is the first publication in this country, so far as
we know, which gives an idea of what flower-painting ought to be. Two of
the plates, representing our wild columbine and cranesbill. are anticipations of
spring; the other two, the wavy-leaved astor and a pair of geradias, are remi.
niscences of autumn. The letterpress is by Professor Goodale of Harvard Uni-
versity, and consists of more interesting and curious matter than is usual
in publications of this sort.” — THE NATION.
“Mr. Isaac Sprague, who has drawn these flowers, is without a superior in
the country as a botanical artist. The pictures are absclutely correct in the
delineation of the organs and in the tone of color. The process of lithography
has been marvellously successful. . . . The accompanying text by Professor
Goodale are admirable.—THE INDEPENDENT. (New York.)
It is faint praise to say that the second part of the “Wild Flowers of
America” is equal to the first. We have had no work in the country so faith-
ful as this.—NEW ENGLAND Journal, OF EDUCATION.
ZOOLOGY. Handbook of Invertebrate Zoology. By W.
JK. Brooks, Ph.D. &
1 vol. 8vo. Cloth, 3.00
24 CATALOGUE OF S. E. CASSINO & CO.
P R O S P E C T US
OF TEIE
Standard Natural History of the World
EDITED BY
ELLIOTT COUES, M.D., AND J. S. KINGSLEY.
Consisting of six volumes, on The Lower Forms, Fishes and Reptiles,
Insects, Birds, Animals, and Man, with original writings on
the subjects by the highest American authorities.
This work will probably begin to appear in Sept. 1883, and will be .
published regularly at the rate of two parts each month until com-
pleted; the whole making about sixty parts, or six large volumes of
some 600 pp. each, with hundreds of illustrations. Sold only by
subscription.
Price 50 cents per part.
WII ExIN solºſ?s EG-YPT.
CoMPANION To RAWLINSON'S GREAT WORK.
The Mällºrs àld (ISIOIT Of the Allièſt EgyptiallS.
BY SIR J. GARDNER WILRINSON, D.C.L., F.R.S., F.R.G.S., ETC., ETC.
The publishers beg to announce the publication in volumes of this
justly celebrated work. The plates are made from new type, and the
volumes when completed will form one of the most valuable works
ever published. The first volume will be ready June 1, 1883; the
second volume August 1, 1883, and the last volume October 1, 1883.
Price, per volume, royal Svo., cloth, $6.00. Half calf, $10.00.-
S. E. CASSINO & CO., Publishers,
41 Arch Street, BOSTON.

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