¦'¦¦' -.",:' v ¦¦ YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FROM THE COLLECTION MADE BY CHARLES SHELDON BA 1890 OF BOOKS ON NATURAL HISTORY EXPLORATION • HUNTING & FISHING GIFT OF FRANCIS P. GARVAN B.A. 1897 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS ON TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON. ( Since Emerson-Tennent's monumental volumes, no description of the country so full, accurate, well-illustrated, or entertaining has been published.' Daily Chronicle, 1 It will certainly become the classical work on Ceylon.' — Black and White. ' Miss Gordon Cumming's is by far the most valuable account of Ceylon that we have read for many years. She has travelled over most of the " Isle of Flowers," and knows every kind of life, animal and vegetable, that flourishes in that wonderful garden of vivid greenery. ... It is thoroughly interesting.' — St. James's Gazette. * It is always pleasant to meet with a new work by Miss Gordon Cumming. Her pages are no less valuable for the information they embody than they are conspicuous for their literary merit. To her keen powers of observation and description she brings the incomparable ad vantage of a cultured mind and a widely extended knowledge, and she is, in addition, a clever and painstaking artist. A fund of entertainment will be found in this volume. It is. bright and pleasant reading, and is pervaded by a sense of thorough enjoyment which fully justifies the title of a clever and very welcome book.' — Spectator. 'Such a name as ihe " Ceylonese Encylopsedia " would befit it well. Nobody can read a chapter without feeling that he has been learning something he is glad to know, and that he would despair of finding in any other book. The minute peculiarities of the island life, in costume, monuments, house-building and furnishing, festivals, pilgrimages, have never been caught by a more far-seeing eye, or set forth in more apt words. On the whole, this tome will long be a standard work on Ceylon. These points, and many more, to be appreciated must be read as portrayed with feminine grace and masculine vigour by the wide- wandering authoress." Nation. ' These volumes contain all that any traveller can wish to know of its history, the life of the people, the temples, the worship, the animals, and the botany of that delightful island. Exhaus tive and authoritative, full and faithful, are the adjectives necessary to describe the methods in which Miss Gordon Cumming has dealt with the interesting subject of her book. We have read no better book on Ceylon.' — Academy. [ Miss Gordon Cumming is at once an artist, a naturalist, a keen observer, and a writer of rare skill and grace ; and wherever she has wandered she has carried the habits and faculties of a trained intelligence, full of knowledge and resource. . . She visited Ceylon under the most favourable auspices, and nothing has escaped her attention. '—Daily News. ( Quite one of the most vivid, and accurate books of travel which we have recently en countered. ... In no case, so far as we are aware, has so exact and pleasing a picture been drawn as that which is contained in these pages.'— Standard. ( In every respect a charming book. Whosoever wishes to know all about that earthly paradise, Ceylon, should hasten to peruse the delightful volume written and illustrated by Miss Cumming.'— Daily Telegraph. ' Miss Gordon Cumming has written nothing more delightful than this volume . . . Many books have been written to celebrate the beauties of Ceylon ; but, so far as our knowledge goes, no traveller has described them with the force and eloquence that we find in Miss Cumming's volume.' — Anti-Jacobin. ( A series of pleasant and vivid pictures of the beautiful island, and of the occupations and industries of the people, copiously interspersed with notices of their history, religion, folk-lore, and the like.' — Athen^um. *Her book is one of the best on the subject, forgiving both a good general idea of what Ceylon is like and a great amount of detailed information.'— Scotsman. ' She gives an admirable picture of life on the island, gained from her journeys throughout the length and breadth of it.'— Graphic.' 'The narrative is as brilliant as* any of Miss Cumming's well-known volumes, and the illustrations from the author's pencil are excellent.'— Observer. Opinions of the Press. ' Miss Gordon Cumming is an indefatigable and a delightful maker of books of travel. . . . This work is as faithful and complete as the writer's books always are. It is admirably done,. and is extremely interesting.'— Glasgow Herald. * It is impossible to read the book without both pleasure and profit.' — Manchester Guardian. ' The volume forms a valuable handbook to those who desire to follow Miss Gordon Cumming's example, and spend a few months in so beautiful a climate.' — Queen. 1 The work is as delightful as any of the author's previous works— and that is saying a good deal.'— North British Daily Mail. ( It would be difficult to name a more delightful work of travel than this. The subject is sunny.' — Liverpool Mercury. ( The present work has all that grace of style and extent of observation which characterise- every page that comes from Miss- Gordon Cumming's pen.'— Newcastle Chronicle. ' The book is "admirably written, and its value is greatly enhanced by numerous excellent illustrations.' — Field. ' We welcome Miss Gordon Cumming's valuable contribution to the literature of Greater Britain. . . . An interesting account, charmingly written.' — Colonies and India. 'The handsome volume is a complete cyclopaedia of the island in its every aspect; and her word-pictures are to the full as correct in execution as her paintings. . . . It is at once instinct with beauty of description and crammed full of information.' —European Mail. "'A very pleasant record of travel, adventure, and experience.' — Times. 'Some of the sunshine of the sunny land about which she writes seems to linger on the pages of Miss Gordon Cumming's goodly volume. There is a pervading sense of joy and bright ness which irresistibly communicates itself to the reader.' — Birmingham Mercury. ' A charming book. Miss Gordon Cumming seems to have put forth all her powers to give an adequate description of one of the most beautiful places on the face of the earth. . . . Reading the book is like entering a tropical forest in all its splendour.' — Aberdeen Journal. 1 The book is full of interesting narrative.' — Manchester Guardian. ' It may be doubted whether the present book is not even more interesting than its predecessors ; it is certainly not less interesting ; and the rare faculty possessed by the writer of thoroughly enjoy-' ing what she sees, and of admirably describing what she enjoys, has seldom, if ever, been exhibited to greater advantage than in the goodly volume before us.' — John Bull. ' We have no more fascinating writer than the lady who made so many friemls by her former books. Miss Gordon Cumming has made herself mistress of the art of descriptive writing. She is an acute observer of men and things.' — Leeds Mercury. ' Altogether, this is one of Miss Gordon Cumming's best works, and may safely be recommended to lovers of travel-literature,' — Globe. ' A book to be read without' delay Miss Gordon Cumming continues to' keep the reader charmed at every step.' — Methodist Recorder. ' To all who contemplate the journey to Ceylon, we should recommend a previous study of thi work. It will teach them what to see, and how to see it, much better than any ordinarv cr.,W book.'— Church Times. y e 1Qe" ' It is not every life that can put on record two consecutive years of unalloyed haDDine« Vi those which appear to have fallen to the lot of the author of this pleasant volume lyr .Gordon Cumming has much that is exceedingly interesting to say, and her statements haveum ,,!li weight from the fact that for a considerable portion of the two years she was residing wirhTlT Bishop of Colombo, and was afterwards the guest of important Government officials. '- Guardia _ 'Miss Gordon Cumming's book is full of the cheerful buoyancy of a pleasure excursion without drawbacks or danger. ... It is a book which ought to make the reader believe him f transported to for a brilliant hour or two the lovely woods and sunny verdure of Ceylon ' Blackwood's Magazi.n :ine. TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON CEYLON ' And we came to the Isle of Flowers; Their breath met us out on the seas, For the Spring and the Middle Summer Sat each on the lap of the breeze ; And the red passion-flower to the cliffs, And the dark-blue clematis, clung; And, starred with myriad blossoms, The long convolvulus hung.' SHRINE ON THE SUMMIT OF ADAM'S PEAK, AND THE SHADOW OF THE TEAK. TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON BY C. F. GORDON CUMMING AUTHOR of 'AT HOME IN FIJI,' 'A LADY'S -CRUISE IN A FRENCH MAN-OF-WAR' 'FIRE FOUNTAINS OF THE SANDWICH ISLES ' 'GRANITE CRAGS OF CALIFORNIA,' ' IN THE HIMALAYAS AND ON INDIAN PLAINS* 'IN THE HEBRIDES,' ' VIA CORNWALL TO EGYPT* 'WANDERINGS IN CHINA' 'WORK FOR THE BLIND IN CHINA* A NEW EDITION WITH 28 ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR, AND A MAP CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY 1893 PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE LONDON Ee£c 873^c PREFACE WHAT can be the reason that writers on Ceylon seem impelled to describe their book as a term of years ? — ' Fifty Years in Ceylon.' An Autobiography by Major Thomas Skinner. ' Eleven Years in Ceylon.' By Major Forbes, 78th High landers. ' Eight Years in Ceylon.' By Sir Samuel Baker. ' Seven Years in Ceylon.' By Mary and Margaret Leitch, — and finally, ' Two Happy Years in Ceylon,' by C. F. Gordon Cumming, who had so named her notes of pleasant days in the fair Isle, before realising that any of her predecessors had thus described their longer terms of residence therein ? I can only ascribe it to the fact, so evident in each of these works, that the several writers have retained such. sweet memories of ' Moonlit seas, Of dreamy sunsets, and of balmy air, Of glowing landscapes and of shadowy bowers Where stately palms low murmur in the breeze,' — that they have loved to enumerate the months and years that glided by amid such pleasant influences. vi TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON Although, by comparison with that of others, my own term in the Earthly Paradise was short, I can safely say that, as it was all play and no work, I had abundant leisure to note many matters of interest seen under exceptionally favourable circumstances. I trust, therefore, that these pages may prove of some value to the ever-increasing army of wanderers in search of winter-quarters. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE Introductory I I. My First Glimpse of the Tropics 12 II. Colombo 25 III. Colombo 52 IV. The Cruise of the Castle Jermyn 73 V. The Cruise of the Castle Jermyn 89 VI. To the Hills 108 VII. Nuwara Eliya 132 VIII. Elephants 154 IX. Kandy ... .- 172 X. The Worshipful Tooth 196 XI. From Kandy to Anuradhapura 238 XII. Anuradhapura 266 XIII. Anuradhapura and Mihintale 295 XIV. Ratnapura — Gems 310 XV. Badulla and Haputale 325 XVI. Some Pages from a Brother's Diary .... 348 XVII. Batticaloa 362 XVIII. Pollanarua 383 XIX. Trincomalee— Saami Rock 4°6 XX. Trincomalee to Galle 422 viii TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON CHAPTER PAGE XXI. Southern Coast .... ... 442 XXII. Return to Colombo XXIII. Native Police . XXIV. In the Planting Districts XXV. Ascent of Adam's Peak . XXVI. The Tug of War — The Battle of Diverse Creeds in Ceylon ... XXVII. Christian Work in Ceylon ... . . 466 477 497 523 548 579 INDEX . . . . 609 ILLUSTRATIONS Shrine ox the Summit of Adam's Peak, and the Shadow of the Peak . Fiontispiece Map of Ceylon .... ... to face page i Blossom of the Cocoa Palm . . . . ,, 61 Our House-boat on the Luna-Oya „ 102 Valley of the Maha-velli Ganga ,, 128 Showing the Railway and Satinwood Bridges at Peradeniya, Allegalla Peak, terraced rice-fields ; foreground, coffee and a Talipot palm The Plains of Nuwara Eliya . . . ,,134 Kandy, Looking to the Matele Hills . . . . ,, 173 Shows the Temple of the Tooth, Buddhist Library, Govern ment House, &c. Avenue of India-rubber Trees, Peradeniya . . ,, 187 Gigantic Bamboos, Peradeniya „ 190 The Maha-velli Ganga, from the Satinwood Bridge (bamboo foliage) ,, 216 The Ruanweli Dagoba, Anuradhapura, b.c. 300 . . ,, 268 To contain right collar-bone of Buddha. To the right is the Government Agent's house The Thuparama Dagoba, Anuradhapura, b.c. 300 . . „ 271 To the left lies the Delada Maligawa, where the sacred Tooth rested on its arrival from India, a.d. 400 Pilgrim's Camp and the Three Stone Bulls ... ,, 2S7 Near the ruins of the Brazen Temple The Sacred Bo-tree ,, 28S Rising through the upper terrace The Lower Flight of the 1,840 Rock Steps ... „ 305 Five-Headed Naga at the Bathing-place, Mihintale . ,, 306 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON The Wata-dage, or Round Treasure-house, Pollanarua to face page 390 Looking to the Sat-mahal-prasada, or seven-storied buildiDg The Jetawanarama and the Kiri Vihara at Pollanarua ,, 393 The Gal Vihara : Rock Temple at Pollanarua ' . . ,, 395 Sitting Buddha is 15 feet above pedestal ; erect, 23 feet ; re cumbent, 46 feet The Saami Rock at Trincomalee — Worship at Sunset. The Lily Shore, near Trincomalee The Nilwalla River at Matara Cocoa Palms : Shore of Colombo Lake Coffee Fields on the Slopes of Allegalla Peak On the summit there is a partly natural indentation which duplicates the Footprint Adam's Peak prom Maskeliya 407 421445476 500 533 PAGE The Castle Jermyn . . . 77 The Worshipful Tooth ......... 207 Buddha Cuarded by the Cobra, Rock Temple, Eli.a Pass . 293 A Forest Sanctuary . 399 Offerings of red pottery to the God of the Tank at Minery Talipot Palm in Blossom . On covet TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON INTRODUCTORY There are perhaps few families in the Mother Country to whom the farther corners of Great Britain have (from the colonising or sporting instincts of its various members) become more really familiar to the imagination of the younger branches than that to which I was welcomed, as its twelfth addition. Thus about the time of my first introduction to the immortal Robinson Crusoe, my eldest brother Penrose returned from Canada, soon to be followed by my second brother Roualeyn, who had made his mark as the pioneer of all the Lion-hunters who since then have ravaged the hunting-grounds of Southern Africa. Then" two more of the home brood started to carve their fortunes in far countries. Almost simultaneously my fourth and fifth brothers, John and William, sailed for Ceylon and Bombay, where the latter tamed wild men ' and slew wild beasts, while the former settled down to sober cocoa-nut planting in the neighbourhood of Batticaloa ; and then, through weary years of waiting for the growth of trees which never in his lifetime repaid his outlay, he obtained work in the forests on the east coast, and likewise distinguished himself as a cun ning and mighty hunter, beloved by the wild tribes. During a term of twenty years, scarcely a month passed without bringing us letters from these two faithful brothers ; so that life in the forests of Ceylon and of Bombay became as familiar to our thoughts as grouse-shooting or salmon-fishing in Morayshire. Some of the details in these sporting diaries might well excite the envy of many i ' Wild Men and Wild Beasts.' By Colonel Gordon Cumming. Published by Payid Douglas, Edinburgh. B 2 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON a less successful Nimrod. Thus one mail brought me a letter from India, telling of thirty tigers as the chief item of a two months' bag ; while my Ceylon letter of the same date told of the rejoicing of the villagers over the slaughter, by their white friend, of twenty-five leopards !— a highly satisfactory riddance of dangerous foes. A journey to India or Ceylon in those days was a very different thing from the simple pleasure-trip which, thanks to swift steamers and large competition, it has now become. Though a great advance had been made since the first quarter of the present century, when the colonists in Colombo were only gladdened twice a year by the arrival of a sailing-vessel from England, bringing supplies of Euro pean clothing and stores, nevertheless, so late as 1840, three months occasionally elapsed without a call from any European sailing-ship, in what was then the open roadstead of Colombo ; so we may well understand that the approach of the smallest steamer would suffice to throw the population into a fever of excitement. In those days the mails from London came via Bombay, whence runners carried them across India and Ceylon, and great was the satisfaction when letters were delivered in Colombo only forty days after their despatch from Britain ! After a while Ceylon started a steamer to carry the mails to and from Bombay, thus reducing the transit to London to thirty days. A few years later, steamers bound for Calcutta or Australia brought mails and passengers direct in twenty days— a period which has been gradually lessened till now some swift steamers deliver their mail-bags in Colombo in fifteen days, and as it occasionally happens that a return steamer is ready to start immediately, it is now possible to receive answers to letters within five weeks.1 Nor is the reduction on time alone. The cost of travel has also been minimised, and the colonists of the present day need no longer 1 Still more rapid and wonderful has been the development of our Australian cities with their crowded harbours. But for a strange illustration of the influence oi steam-power at our very doors, we may note Sir Walter Scott's testimony that in his day (he was my father's friend) one small mail-cart carried the posts 'between London and Edinburgh, and he mentions having seen it arrive with only one letter addressed to the manager of the British Linen Banking Company. Moreover, is it not strange to mark the development as it affects two of what we deem our daily necessaries, potatoes and tea, and remember that the former had never even been heard of till Sir Walter Raleigh imported the first, and that in 1660 Mr Pepys described tea as 'the new Chinese drink' ! And now Britain's annual con sumption of tea is about 180,000,000 lb., of which about half comes from China an* Java, and the other half from India and Ceylon. - and INTRODUCTORY 3 face the prospect of such prolonged exile as was deemed a matter of course forty years ago, when the expense of a 'run home' was prohibitive. Thus, in the case of these two brothers, though often longing for a sight of home and home faces, fifteen years elapsed ere they were able to make arrangements for a meeting in the old country. The younger happily arrived in safety ; but alas ! the vessel which should have brought the elder from Ceylon, brought tidings of a HOME-going far different from that which he had planned. He had died very suddenly, almost on the eve of the date when he had pur posed embarking, and was laid to rest beside the blue sea-lake at Batticaloa. Barely two years later I made my first voyage to the East, touch ing Ceylon at Point de Galle en route to Calcutta. That one glimpse of the lovely isle impressed itself on my memory as such a dream of delight, that when, a few- years later, one of my earliest friends was consecrated Bishop of Colombo,1 I very gladly accepted his invitation to return to Ceylon on a leisurely visit, finding head quarters under his hospitable roof, and thence exploring such parts of the isle as had special interest for me. These interests gradually widened, owing to the unbounded kindness of numerous friends, and friends' friends' ; and so it came to pass that so many delightful expeditions were organised, and so many pleasant homes claimed visits, that wellnigh two years slipped away ere I finally bade adieu to the green Isle of Palms, to which, I think, notwithstanding the claims of many a lovely South Sea isle, we must concede the right it claims — to have been, and still to con tinue, the true Earthly Paradise. On my return to Scotland, after widely extended travels, a selec tion of upwards of three hundred of my water-colour paintings in various parts of ' Greater Britain ' were exhibited in their respective courts in the Indian and Colonial Exhibition at South Kensington, and at subsequent Colonial Exhibitions in Liverpool and Glasgow. Of these, about sixty of scenery in Ceylon were selected from several hundreds, which, on the principle of ' never a day without at least one careful-coloured sketch,' had accumulated as I wandered in every direction — north, south, east, and west — basking on the yellow sands of most fascinating palm-fringed sea-coast, or gliding over calm 1 The Right Rev. Hugh W. Jermyn, now Bishop of Brechin and Primus of Scotland. B 3 4 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON rivers — gipsying among ruins of mighty pre-Christian cities in the depths of lonely forests, or awaiting the sunrise on lofty mountain- summits — studies of exquisite foliage or of strange Buddhist and Tamil shrines, and all enlivened to memory by the recollection of picturesque groups of brown men, women, and children of divers race and very varied hue, some scantily draped, others gorgeously apparelled, but all alike harmonious in colour. Friendly critics, who say that these sketches have helped them to realise something of the true character and beauty of Ceylonese scenery, have asked me to supplement the brush with the pen, and tell the readers who have so kindly received my notes of travel in other lands something of my own impressions of Ceylon. So now I sit surrounded with diaries and letters, travel-notes and sketch-books innumerable, and portfolios in which each page recalls some day of deep interest and many of delight ; while the signatures in the corner of each sketch vividly recall the many friends whose kindness did so much to gladden all days, and to smooth all difficulties from the path of a happy guest. My chief difficulty lies in selecting from such a mass of material only so much as can be compressed within reasonable limits. Another difficulty lies in a far too personal knowledge of certain changes which, to those intimately acquainted with Ceylon, mark a complete revolution in its social economy, and which gave birth to a very sad parody of certain well-known lines descriptive of an isle of which for some years it was too true that — ' every prospect pleases, But no man makes a pile ! ' To the general reader, however, and to the traveller likely to fol low in my footsteps, the only visible feature of a change which to the initiated tells of the total ruin of very many industrious and energetic European planters, and the commencement of an altogether new era, bringing wealth to a new generation, lies in the fact that the vast mountain districts, which ten years ago presented one un broken expanse of coffee-fields, are now chiefly covered with tea- plantations, varied with cinchona, cacao, Indian-rubber trees and other products, more or less experimental, while only in certain dis tricts is coffee successfully proving its claim to renewed public con fidence. There is apparently, however, no doubt that Ceylon will henceforth be emphatically distinguished in the manner so happily INTRODUCTORY 5 described by the present Governor, Sir Arthur Havelock, as ' the land for excellent tea.' That its character in this respect is already well established is evident from the fact, that whereas in 1873 only 23 lb. of tea were exported from Ceylon, the export in 1890 was about 40,000,000 lb. ; and there seems every reason to believe that in the current year 1891 it will be fully 63,000,000 ; and assuredly, long ere the end of the century, it will have risen to 100,000,000 ! 1 Nor is there any fear of a glut in the market, since America and Russia have proved appreciative customers. The chief danger lies in the probability that Brazil and Madras will each be stimulated to enter into the competition. Patriotic planters are adjured to refrain from selling tea-seed to Brazil ; but as regards Madras, it not only possesses a vast area of suitable land, but, moreover, commands all the labour, Ceylon being entirely dependent on that Presidency for her coolies. So that rivalry is to be feared from that quarter. Simultaneously with the amazingly rapid development of this new product, 1 89 1 has to record the most successful Pearl-fishery of the present century, the Government share of the total amount realised being upwards of 96,370/., of which about 10,000/. covers all expenses, so that the revenue profits to an extent far exceeding the most golden expectations. In 1888 these fisheries realised 80,424/. less 8,000/. of expenses. Such sums had only been realised four 1 I cannot resist quoting the following paragraph from the ' Pall Mall Budget ' for March 13, 1891 : — ' An enormous Price for Ceylon Tea. ' Unusual excitement prevailed on Tuesday in Mincing Lane, on the offering by Messrs. Gow, Wilson, and Stanton, tea-brokers, in public auction, of a small lot of Ceylon tea from the Gartmore estate in Maskeliya (Mr. T. C Anderson). This tea possesses extraordinary quality in liquor, and is composed almost entirely of small "golden tips," which are the extreme ends of the small succulent shoots of the plant, and the preparation of such tea is, of course, most costly. Competition was of a very keen description. The bidding, which was pretty general to start with, com menced with an offer of 1/. is. per lb. ; as the price advanced to 8/. many buyers dropped out, and at this price about five wholesale dealers were willing to purchase. Offers were then made up to about 9/. gs. by three of the leading houses, the tea being ultimately knocked down to the "Mazawattee Ceylon Tea Company" at the most extraordinary and unprecedented price of 10/. 12s. 6d. per lb.' Naturally, when this news reached Ceylon the excitement knew no bounds. This, however, was intensified in the following month, when another sale of ' golden tips,' prepared on the Haviland estate (Mr. W. A. M. Denison), sold in Mincing Lane for 17I, per lb. Even this surprising price was, however, very soon surpassed, for the next consignment of ' golden tips ' from Gartmore fetched 25/. 10s. per lb. This was quickly followed by the sale of a small box from the Kellie estate at 30/. per lb. ; while, on August 25, another parcel was actually sold at 35/. per lb. 6 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON times in the present century: therefore, that two such fisheries should follow in such rapid succession, is an unspeakable blessing to Ceylon. From 1882 to 1886 the return from these fisheries had been almost nil; but in the years 1887, 1889, and 1890, a total was realised of 120,720/., less 1,489/. of expenses. Naturally the colonists look for immediate railway extension in divers directions, and for other boons which, ten years ago, seemed altogether visionary. A notable advance in the last decade has been that of the steadily increasing prosperity of a multitude of native cultivators, owing to the restoration of several of the cyclopean tanks and other irrigation works, created by the autocratic rulers of olden days, but which (partly since British rule rejected the ancient custom of ' Rajah-kariya ' — i.e. compulsory work for the king — by which the rulers of the Isle exacted from every man so many days' work annually for the general weal), had fallen into total decay, so that a scanty and unhealthy population could barely find subsistence in the arid jungle or malarious swamps which replaced the verdant rice-fields of olden days. In the face of many difficulties and strenuous opposition on account of the great outlay involved, Sir William Gregory and the Honourable Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon have accomplished a work earnestly advocated by previous Governors, Sir Henry Ward and Sir Hercules Robinson — namely, the restoration of a con siderable portion of the ancient system of irrigation ; and already the wisdom of the measure is abundantly proved by the transfor mation of great areas of country, where luxuriant crops now once more support a healthy and well-fed population. Another great boon to the hitherto poverty-stricken and suffering villagers has been the establishment in many districts of village hos pitals, where the sick are now wisely and judiciously cared for, to the immense improvement of the general health. Yet another marked change in the last few years has been the construction of the mighty breakwater, upwards of 4,000 feet in length, of huge blocks of concrete, on a foundation of masses of gneiss, thanks to which Colombo now owns a harbour so excellent and secure as to have drawn thither almost all the traffic of the Isle while beautiful but treacherous Point de Galle is now wellnigh for saken — a change that was not effected until many a noble vessel had proved to her cost the lurking dangers of numerous patches ot INTRODUCTORY 7 coral within the harbour, rising from the ocean-bed almost to the surface. But for this, the situation of Galle marks it as the natural port of call for vessels, inasmuch as turning in to Colombo involves a con siderable deviation from their course ; so it may be that as the com merce of the Isle increases, it may yet prove worth while to clear the seemingly noble harbour of Point de Galle of its submarine dangers, and so woo back the vanished shipping. Meanwhile, however, the fact remains that Galle harbour is now comparatively forsaken. Few vessels enter her port save those engaged in the coal or coir trade.1 The offices of the great shipping companies, and of the principal mercantile houses, have been transferred to Colombo (which has long been the Government headquarters), and pleasant luxurious homes in which, but a few years ago, kindly hospitality reigned, are now let at almost nominal prices to tenants who are content to dwell in peace in quiet habitations apart from the busy tide of commerce. The census, however, shows an increase in the population in the last ten years from 31,743 to 33,5°5- But in the same period the population of Colombo has increased from 112,068 to 127,643, and its harbour is now crowded with ships of all nations. Sometimes fifteen to twenty steamers are simulta neously busy coaling and receiving or discharging cargo, Sunday and week-day alike — a terribly busy scene, and, as regards the Sunday work, very hard on all concerned, — and almost all, remember, whether sailors or landsmen, are British subjects. Of course the majority of these vessels are British merchantmen, but men-of-war of all nations come and go. On May 20, 1890, there were no fewer than six in harbour, three of which were Spanish, one French, and two British, and by a curious coincidence one of each nation was an admiral's flagship. That of the Spanish admiral, the Crucero Cas- tilla, was a noble old wooden three-decker, such as Turner would have loved to paint. Then came the German and Dutch vessels and two Japanese men-of-war conveying the survivors of a wrecked Turkish ship, the Ertugroul, back to their own country. A considerable number of Russian vessels, men-of-war and others, have also found their way here, some bringing Grand Dukes, and the Tsarevitch himself, while one was conveying a new governor 1 Coir is the coarse fibre obtained from the outer husk of the cocoa-nut, which so abounds on the southern coast. 8 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON to Eastern Siberia, and another, alas ! brought 644 luckless convicts en route from Odessa to their dreary Siberian exile. Amongst others was a Russian whaler on her way to the North Seas, and furnished with the newest thing in harpoons— horrible weapons, each carrying with it a glass ball containing an explosive, which on striking the whale's body blows it into pieces, a method one would suppose better adapted for oiling the waves than for securing a cargo ! To provide additional space for anchorage, and also increased security for this ever-increasing traffic, a second great breakwater is about to be constructed to form a protecting northern arm, that the harbour may be absolutely first-rate. After recording such a giant stride in Colombo's standing in the shipping world, the fact that her import of coal has in the last ten years risen from 8,336 tons to 250,338 tons follows almost as a matter of course. So month by month Colombo progresses and becomes more and more a place of resort, and her streets are thronged with human beings of every conceivable nationality and of every shade of colour —white, yellow, olive, sienna, cinnamon, and dark brown — and clad in divers uniforms, to say nothing of the wondrous variety of non- official raiment. To facilitate their locomotion a large number of 'jinrikishas' have been imported — i.e. the ' man-power carriage ' of Japan, which is a lightly built bath-chair on two modern very large light wheels, very convenient for the person seated in it, whose weight ought to regulate the number of his human ponies. What a fortune the original inventor of these little machines might have made had he secured a patent for even the primitive form devised by some inge nious Japanese only about twenty years ago ! Already in the city of Tokio alone there are upwards of 30,000 in constant use, and in Japan at large fully 200,000 ! And now the jinrikisha is as familiar and indispensable in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Penang, and Colombo, as in its native land. It may interest future generations to know that the very first was imported into Ceylon in May 1883. Meanwhile, during these same years, the grievous collapse in the coffee trade left some scars on Colombo, where great coffee-stores with all their once busy machinery and crowds of workers were deserted — grass and weeds overspreading the drying-grounds, and costly buildings being left to fall to decay— a sorry aspect of dead trade which cannot be revived by the new products of tea and cacao INTRODUCTORY 9 inasmuch as these are prepared for market on the estates where they are grown. But on the other hand the city has been improved and beautified in many ways, notably by the generous Jubilee gift of the late Governor, the Honourable Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon, in the trans formation of the old Fort Green (a small grassy common surrounded by ' tulip ' trees, and occasionally used as a cricket-ground) into a fine terraced garden, with banks of greenest turf, crowned by an octagonal fountain whence cool waters flow by divers channels to supply other pools and fountains, in one of which the magnificent Victoria Regia has already flowered freely. Here rosy oleanders, crotons of all gorgeous hues, feathery palms, and all manner of flowers lend fragrance and colour to what will henceforth be the favourite afternoon lounge, more especially on those days when the excellent band adds the further attraction of good music. From a business point of view Colombo has advanced pro digiously in general traffic, and many and various improvements mark progress in divers directions, giving evidence of the happily reviving energies of the Isle, and proving how well her adopted sons have now applied the dearly bought lessons of past experience. The Colombo iron-works turn out work that would do credit to Newcastle, from the casting of iron pillars for the Grand Hotel, to the building of steel barges, and the manufacturing of tea-machinery, and of sundry engines for use on land and sea ; also the repairing of damaged vessels. But foremost among the grand new industries is the steam cotton spinning and weaving factory, established on the brink of the Welle- watta Canal, on a site which, two or three years ago, was a dense jungle of neglected cinnamon. Now a huge factory has been erected, and 10,000 spindles and 150 looms are already busily at work, with every probability that ere long there will be such a demand for these home-made fabrics that 100,000 spindles, and looms to correspond, will find ample work. Of course this must prove an immense incentive to the growth of cotton (the amount carried by the railway to Colombo advanced from 32 tons in the first year to 289 tons the following year), and doubtless thousands of acres of now waste jungle-land will shortly be transformed into busy cotton-fields. The growing and weaving of cotton is no new thing in the Isle, for long before the Christian era both were extensively carried on, as to TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON were also the arts of bleaching and dyeing, and mention is made in the Mahawansa of a canopy in the ancient city of Anuradhapura, which was formed of eight thousand pieces of every hue. That was B.C. 161. Early in the present century a large quantity of cotton was grown in the northern province, and was extensively manufactured by the weavers of Jaffna and Manaar till the imposition of a five per cent. tax to Government on island-made cloth, instead of on imported cotton goods, in a great measure discouraged their industry. The weavers of Batticaloa on the east coast and Chilaw on the west, have long been famous for excellent bed and table linen, and the native looms of Saffragam and Galle turn out well-made white cottons. According to official returns for 1887, there were then 15 hand- looms in the southern province, 21 in the north-western, 429 in the eastern, and 575 in the northern province. The cultivation of the cotton plant, however, has not been systematic, and its experimental growth by European planters has not been altogether encouraging, though a good deal has been grown by natives. Now, however, it has been satisfactorily proved that in certain soils it will grow well and bear abundantly, and cautious native capitalists deem its success so certain that they are forming companies for cotton-growing on a large scale, as well as investing largely in the Colombo mills. Of course here, as in India, the giant steam-power will ruthlessly swallow up all the interesting native arts of hand-spinning and weaving, and already the weavers of Batticaloa have yielded to the inevitable, and have come to Colombo to learn the new methods and secure employment, and homes in the new village of comfortable cottages which the company are erecting for their workers. One excellent thing in connection with these cotton spinning and weaving mills is, that the work thus provided has furnished the Wesleyan missionaries with the opportunity for establishing industrial homes and schools for destitute boys and girls. The Home has been erected close to the mills, which provide ample work for the young folk, whose board, lodging, and clothing, as well as moral and religious training, are the care of their missionary friends. This work of mercy is an all-round benefit, the manager of the mills being well pleased to have so reliable a staff of young workers always at hand instead of having to look for an irregular supply from the villages. I may add that simultaneously with the establishment of these industrial schools in Colombo, admirable schools of the same class INTRODUCTORY 11 (though more of a reformatory character) have been established by another Wesleyan missionary, Mr. Langdon, at Haputale, chiefly for the hitherto grievously neglected children in the province of Uva. In concluding these introductory words, let me briefly forewarn travellers who purpose visiting India and Ceylon, that they will find the latter poorer in startling scenic effects. Here there are no mighty forts which seem to have been ' built by giants and finished by jewellers ' — no fairy-like lace-work sculptured in marble — no solemn grandeur of great Mohammedan mosques, nor bewildering intricacy of detail in sculpture as in the Hindoo temples ; while, as compared with the marvellous rock-temples of India, those of Ceylon are grievously disappointing. Neither are there such striking street- scenes as .one finds in many an Indian city, nor such bewildering crowds of gorgeously apparelled rajahs with their camels and ele phants.1 Therefore, for all such impressions, visit Ceylon first and India afterwards. But, for archaeological interest, the pre-Christian and medieval cities of Ceylon, so long buried in the silent depths of the great forests, are altogether unique ; and for luxuriant loveliness of tropical foliage, Tahiti itself cannot surpass this Isle of Palms. I would fain hope that those who have patience to peruse these notes of two of the happiest years of my life, may discover something of the many attractions of Ceylon. Nevertheless, I fear that no words can adequately describe her fascination. So I can only advise all who have the power to travel leisurely, to go themselves and enjoy a winter there 1 For'details of a never-to-be-forgotten year in Hindoostan, see ' In'the Himalayas, and on Indian Plains.' By C. F. Gordon Cumming. Published by Chatto & Windus. t2 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON CHAPTER I MY FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE TROPICS ( Where Champac odours float, Like sweet thoughts in a dream.* Aden versus Ceylon — Fragrant breezes— Canoes — Singhalese, Tamils, and Moormen Singhalese love of gambling — Point de Galle — ' Hqfhouse flowers ' at home — Discordant voices — Fire-beetles — Phosphorescence — Corals — Cocoa-palms — View of Galle— Sail for Calcutta. To begin with, let me recall my very first impressions of this paradise, when, en route to the Himalayas, we touched at Point de Galle, and there obtained our first glimpse of the tropics — a delight never to be excelled in any subsequent wanderings. In those days there was no Suez Canal ; so travellers were landed at Alexandria, and crossed Egypt to Suez, whence another steamer carried' them down the Red Sea to Aden, and thence eastward. It would be difficult to imagine contrast more complete, as oppo site types of Creation, than the scenes thus successively revealed, like dissolving views in the panorama of travel — Aden and Ceylon — the former like a vision of some ruined world, the latter the very ideal of Eden : there a stifling atmosphere and scorching rocks, seemingly without one blade of grass whereon to rest the wearied eye ; here a balmy sleepy air, laden with the fragrance of our rarest hothouse flowers, clustering in densest luxuriance amid tangled mazes of infi nitely varied verdure. Creamy blossoms with large glossy leaves ; crimson and gold gleaming like gems, from their setting of delicate green shadow ; an endless variety of tropical flowers growing in wild confusion over hill and plain • delicate creepers festooning the larger shrubs, and linking together the tall graceful palms with a perfect network of tendrils and blossoms, or finding their home in every crevice of the rocks, and veiling them with fairy drapery. Every shrub is covered with young fresh leaves of many tints ; for here we have perpetual spring as well as continual autumn, and MY FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE TROPICS 13 though the ground is always strewn with withered leaves, new life is for ever bursting forth, in hues which we are wont to call autumnal, and which in Britain speak to us only of approaching winter and death. Some trees there are whose sombre foliage is always tipped with young leaves of vivid crimson • others which seem to change their leaves periodically, and which one week burst forth in brilliant scarlet, then gradually deepen to crimson, changing to olive ; finally the whole tree becomes green. Long before we sighted the beautiful Isle, the breath of these tropical forests ' met us out on the seas ' ; and as so many people, who do not happen when nearing the coast to have been favoured with a land-wind, laugh at the idea of ' spice-laden breezes,' I may as well state that again and again in southern seas, even when out of sight of land (notably when passing Cape Comorin), I have for several hours been rejoiced by a balmy breeze off shore, like the atmosphere of a greenhouse, recalling the delicate scent of primulas. It has been as unmistakable as is the fragrance of birch-woods in the Highlands after summer rain, or that of resinous fir-needles in the noonday sun. As we neared the Isle, some of our party confessed themselves disappointed, even though we were favoured with a clear view of Adam's Peak, rising in solitary beauty above the blue mountain- ranges, right in the heart of the Isle. But in truth these lie so far inland that the unaccustomed eye fails to recognise their height ; and the coast, with its endless expanse of cocoa-palm topes fringing the coral strand, is certainly somewhat monotonous as seen from the sea. Not till we were gliding into the calm harbour did we realise the fascination of the scene, when, from those white sands overshadowed by palms, we espied curious objects coming towards us over the blue rippling water. In the distance they looked like great sea-spiders with very long legs ; but as they approached and turned sideways, we saw that they were long narrow canoes, most curiously constructed, each being simply the hollow trunk of a tree, with raised bulwarks stitched on with twisted cocoa-nut fibre. They ride high on the water, and the long oars produce the spider-like effect aforesaid. Some of the larger canoes are from forty to sixty feet in length, and carry many human beings ; but the width is so small that there is never room for two persons to sit abreast. Of course such hollowed trees would inevitably roll over were they not balanced by a long heavy 14 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON log, which, like the canoe itself, is pointed at both ends, and floats alongside at a distance of about ten feet, being attached to the boat by two strong bamboos tied on at right angles, thus staying the craft fore and aft. This outrigger, as it is called, is applied on one side only, and must always be kept to windward, hence tacking is impossible ; so the canoe is constructed to go either backward or forward. The quaint brown sail forms a triangle between two bamboos, which meet in a point at bow or stern alternately j and when this is hoisted, the canoe literally flies before the breeze — the strength of which is described as a ' one-man breeze ' or a ' two- or three-man breeze,' according to how many human beings must help to steady the boat by adding their weight to that of the floating log, by either standing on it or on the connecting bamboos. Very picturesque are these lithe, rich brown figures, ever and anon half swamped by the waves, as they stand with rope in hand, ready at a moment's notice to haul down the sail. Most of the fishermen wear wide-brimmed straw hats, and scanty drapery consisting of a couple of gay pocket-handkerchiefs — one of which, knotted round the shoulders, perhaps displays a por trait of the Pope or of the Madonna, which, together with the small crucifix hanging from the neck, shows them to be members of the Church of Rome. Even the tiniest canoes are balanced by the floating outrigger, so that very small children paddle themselves about the harbour in per fect safety ; and a number of most fascinating little traders came round us offering fruit and coral for sale. Ere our vessel reached her moorings she was boarded by a crowd of merchants — we should call them pedlars— offering us curious treasures ; but to us the sellers were far more interesting than their wares — especially the gentle, comely Singhalese, who in every respect contrast with the last brown race we had seen (namely, the hideous Somalis of Aden, with their fuzzy lime-washed yellow hair), just as strikingly as do the lands which gave them birth. We very quickly learnt to distinguish three totally distinct ele ments in the crowd of brown men, each representing totally different , branches of the human family. The clear, sienna-coloured Singha lese, who number about sixty per cent, of the total population, are of pure Aryan race, and are the descendants of the conquerors who adopted ' Singha,' a lion, as their emblem, and who in far back a<*es swept down from Northern India. The dark-brown Tamils hail from MY FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE TROPICS 15 the Malabar coast in Southern India, and are of the Dravidian family. Some are descended from early conquerors, others are recruited year by year from the mainland to do the hard work of the Isle, and together these number about thirty-three per cent, of the total popu lation. On the present occasion the leaders of the invasion were mostly Moormen, who, though few in proportion to the races aforesaid (numbering only six per cent, of the whole), hold a very strong posi tion, being the most energetic traders of the Isle. They claim to be descended from Arabian merchants who settled in Ceylon two thou sand years ago, and so represent a third great branch of the human tree — namely, the Semitic. In complexion they are pale copper- colour, and the majority have black beards. Their shaven heads are crowned with high straw hats made without a brim, and these are often covered with a yellow turban. They are peculiarly well-built men, taller than either the delicately formed Singhalese or the sturdy Tamils. Conspicuous among the latter are the Chetties or Hindoo mer chants from the coast of India, who are easily recognised by their enormous ear-rings, and who are accompanied by coolies carrying bales of really precious merchandise, which they are only too anxious to unpack and display on the faintest chance of a sale. Perhaps the readiest way of distinguishing between Tamils and Singhalese is that the former bear on their forehead the symbol of the heathen god at whose shrine they have last worshipped — a spot, a circle, straight or curved lines in white, black, red, or yellow ; x and also almost invariably retain their national head-dress, namely, the very becoming turban, — whereas (with the exception of the Anglicised clerks, who adopt European dress in every detail save that they wrap a long waist-cloth over their trousers) the low-country Singhalese of every degree are always bareheaded — their long, glossy, black hair, of very fine quality, being turned back from the face, held by a semi circular comb round the back of the head, and coiled at the back in a knot, which men of the wealthier classes secure by means of a handsome, very large tortoise-shell comb, which contributes another touch to the feminine appearance of the ' pretty,' and, for the most part, beardless men. In truth, a new-comer is rather apt to think that all the Singhalese 1 For full details of these, see ' In the Himalayas,' by C. F. Gordon Cumming, pp. 23, 24. Published by Chatto & Windus, 16 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON are women, and that the stalwart Moormen and Tamils are the sole lords of the creation ! And the mistake is very natural, for men and women generally dress almost alike — with neat white jacket, and a long white cloth wrapped round the waist, so as to form a very tight skirt down to the ankles. This is called a comboy, and a more in convenient walking-dress could not be imagined. The men are almost as slender and delicate in figure as the women, and have very small hands — in fact, the most obvious distinction* between the sexes is that the tortoise-shell comb is a masculine monopoly, the women generally fastening their hair with silver pins. I observed that the firmly coiled back hair is used by both men and women as a conve nient receptacle for pins and needles ! Tortoise-shell forms one of the most attractive items in Ceylonese manufactures. Beautiful combs of all shapes and sizes — bracelets, chains, bunches of charms— some of the palest amber, some dark and mounted in silver. The palest yellow is by far the most valuable, being, I believe, formed of the tortoise claws only. Jewellers are numerous, for the gems of Ceylon are far-famed ; but of course the fact that (with the exception of diamonds and emeralds) every known gem is found on the Isle leads to an amazing amount of cheatery, and vast numbers of sham jewels are pawned off on unwary travellers. ' Damned-fool steamboat gentlemen ' is, I regret to say, the name by which this section of the white race is commonly described by the astute natives. Most of these sham gems are manufactured in the isle of Murano, near Venice, and are thence sent to Britain, where they are set in purest gold from the mines of Birmingham, and then forwarded to Ceylon, amongst other christianising influences of civilisation. They are known to the merchants as 'steamboat jewels,' and offered at fabulous prices, which are liable to amazingly swift reduction. Each trader describes his own store as a priceless collection of real stones whereas all his neighbours have only real glass ! Then there are vendors of cinnamon-sticks, of ebony and ivory carving, of grass shoes, of beautifully carved boxes of sandal-wood of coral shells, and fruit. We were chiefly captivated by bird-sellers who coaxed* us to buy whole families of darling little green love-birds and who proved how tame they were by perching the tiny creatures on each wire of our sunshades, where they walked about happily and contented. Vain were the friendly warnings which whispered of most villanous love-potions, and told how the dainty birds had been MY FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE TROPICS 17 drugged for the market. Of course we invested largely, and for the rest of the voyage our time was divided between feeding our lovely playthings with sugar-cane, and rescuing them from dangers and perils of open ports, cold baths, and unwary footsteps. One or two of them did manage to walk out of the window in our cabin, and our aviary met with divers mischances before we reached Calcutta. We were soon instructed in the detestable Eastern custom of offering a quarter of the price asked, and gradually rising till the buyer meets the seller half-way, and while so doing we witnessed an instance of the extraordinary love of gambling which is one of the most striking peculiarities of the Singhalese— a weakness well known to old travellers, and occasionally taken full advantage of. It seems as if no bet could be proposed too ludicrous for some one in the crowd to take it up, no terms too preposterous. The case in point was that of a lady who was bargaining for a very beautiful large tortoise-shell comb. The price asked was high, that offered was so absurdly low that it was at once refused, and the matter dropped. Just then a bystander said jokingly, ' I'll toss you whether I give you the sum she offered, or nothing.' ' Done,' was the reply. The merchant won the toss, and pocketed the ludicrously small sum without a murmur, the lady receiving the coveted comb as a memorial of Singhalese gambling. Of course we very soon found our way ashore, and explored the old fortress and batteries which tell of the successive occupation of Galle by the Portuguese and Dutch, each of whom left abiding traces on the Isle, in the form of fortifications, churches, and houses ; while their descendants form distinct bodies in the heterogeneous popula- lation which has drifted hither from so many lands — -Persia, China, Malacca, Arabia, Coromandel, and Northern India, to say nothing of the pale-faced races of Europe. I cannot say that the handiwork of the Dutch is generally poetic, but here all prosaic details are glorified by the wealth of vegetation, and even the fortress and the streets are shaded by Suriya trees — i.e. the yellow Thespesia populnea, whose delicate straw-coloured blossoms contrast so beautifully with its dark glossy leaves. And the pleasant bungalows, with their wide pillared verandahs, which form the coolest and most delightful resting-place in the heat of the day (being invariably furnished with comfortable chairs), are one and all embowered in gardens where all lovely things grow in rank c 1 8 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON profusion, veiling the pillars and half covering the roof — exquisite blue clitoria, orange venusta, purple passion-flowers, lilac and white clematis, mingling their starry blossoms with those of the glorious crimson tacsonia and splendid blue or white convolvulus ; and luxuriant fuchsias, while heliotrope, gardenias, and roses blend their fragrance with that of the loquot and orange-blossom, and with the breezy freshness of the sunny sea. Of course we experimentalised on all manner of Eastern fruits, doubly tempting because offered by such comely and gentle brown people, and amongst other novelties we proved the excellence of bright-green ripe oranges, followed by a more serious luncheon of pine-apples and divers curries of superlative excellence, after which we started for a drive, so as to make the best possible use of the exquisite afternoon. Our road lay through groves of graceful and luxuriant palms, bread-fruit, and jak trees with their glossy foliage and huge fruit, and thickets of flowering- shrubs, whose delicious fragrance ' scented the air. Here and there we passed a group of Flamboyants — mag nificent trees, well named ' the Flame of the Forest,' so gorgeous are the masses of scarlet and gold blossom, which in May and June rest on delicate feathery foliage of dazzling green. Especially fascinating to us was the Hibiscus mutabilis, a shrub whose masses of rose-like blossoms daily change from white to crimson. Each morning sees the bush covered with newly opened flowers gleaming like freshly fallen snow, and ere the sun sets all have assumed a lovely rose colour. Exquisite living creatures, gossamer-winged, skimmed through the blossoming forest in this sweet summer-world. Amid the flame- coloured and golden blossoms flitted splendid butterflies, some pale blue, some yellow, others velvety black with crimson spots, and brilliant metallic-looking dragon-flies. Flowers familiar to us only in stoves- and hothouses were there in wild luxuriance -ipomeas, convolvuli, orchids, the quaint pitcher- plant, and many another blossom • while ferns which we deem rare and precious formed a rich undergrowth of golden-green, the loveliest of all being the climbing-ferns, which, creeping on delicate hair-like stem, form a tangle of exquisitely dainty foliage veiling trees and shrubs. In some districts I have seen these growing to such a height, and hanging from the trees in such masses, that the natives cut them as we would cut bracken, and use them for thatch the MY FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE TROPICS 19 long black stems reaching down to the ground, and acting as rain- conductors. Here and there clumps of graceful bamboo waved their feathery branches ; and broad shining leaves of the yam, resembling huge caladiums, and the still larger and more glossy plantain, clustered round the picturesque native huts, whence pleasant, cheery-looking people or curious small brown children came to offer us flowers or wonderful toys, made of strips of palm-leaf, twisted into stars, wheels, birds of paradise, and all manner of strange forms, suspended on long thin grasses, so as to tremble and quiver with a breath — most inge nious creations. What these people may really be, a casual traveller cannot of course judge, but they look like embodiments of contentment : their rich mellow bronze colouring is most attractive, while their soft brown eyes suggest deep wells of quiet thought. It does seem so strange at first to be in a land where all eyes are brown, and all hair black, and straight, and silky ! Before these novelties had lost their first charm we had reached Wakwella, a hill clothed with cocoa and other palms, overlooking a fair valley, richly wooded, and through which the Gindura, a broad river glittering like silver, and with a thousand silvery veins, was winding westward through vividly green rice-fields to the sea. We sat on a grassy headland and watched the soft grey and blue and gleaming green blending in the silvery sea. Presently, as the sun lowered, the light grew golden, and poured in misty rays of glory, adding its dreamlike beauty to the forests of cocoa-palms and the ranges of lovely hills. It was a scene of intense peace, only marred, as is too often the case, by the human voice — doubtless the raw material for perfect music hereafter, but, as a general rule, strangely discordant with nature's calm in its present crude form. I have sometimes listened in amazement to discussions as to the relative anguish of losing sight or hearing, and have marvelled almost invariably to hear the crown of sorrow awarded to the latter ! Just think of the endless variety of joy which the soul drinks in through the eye, compared with the very divided pleasures of hearing— the countless harmonies of form and colour on which the eye rests unwearied with ever new delight, compared with the few chords of melody in all the jarring world of sound. How few notes that are never discordant ! How few voices that never become weari some, for no other reason than just because they are sounds ! It 20 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON seems as if perfect silence was the one joy of life most hopelessly unattainable. So, at all events, we thought on that calm evening, the repose of which was utterly destroyed by the arrival of many fellow-creatures. There was nothing for it but to make a mutual-protection party, bound by a solemn vow of silence, and to retreat to the farthest spur of the hill, where we might sit and drink in the loveliness of that strange dreamy shore, while earth's many voices sang soft lullabies, and soothed us to rest. Even here, however, all harmony was marred by one jarring sound, namely, the everlasting hum of the cicala, whose myriad army holds its noisy revel in every Eastern grove, utterly destroying what should be the principal charm of the solemn forests— the vainly longed-for silence. But as the sun sank below the horizon a sudden stillness fell on all insect-life, like the sudden stopping of machinery. The ear could scarcely realise relief so sudden. Then we were con scious that the noisy bipeds had likewise all departed with the day light, and that we too must follow. Beautiful night-moths appeared, hovering among the blossoms with tremulous flutter and sudden dart like humming-birds. Then through the darkening foliage flashed a thousand fire-flies in mazy circling dance, suggesting the invisible presence of Titania and her maidens, crowned with pale-green flames. These spirit-lights appear and disappear suddenly, as each insect, at its own sweet will, shows or veils its fairy beacon— a tiny intermittent spark. These dainty torch-bearers are in reality minute beetles, not much bigger than a house-fly, and their light would wane in presence of their West Indian cousins, which the natives carry in dry gourds, riddled with holes, and which are so brilliant that a dozen of them act instead of a lantern. Returning to Galle, we found about two hundred people at the hotel— passengers from half-a-dozen different ships bound for all corners of the earth. The prospect of a noisy table-d 'hote dinner seemed too much out of keeping with our recent impressions, so we preferred returning to our floating home. Never can I forget the glory of the heavens that night and the brilliancy of the stars, all of which were mirrored in the calm harbour which likewise glittered with gleaming reflections of many-coloured lights on land and ships. The water seemed doubly still and dark by contrast with the pallid white phosphorescence that played along MY FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE TROPICS 21 the surface — sometimes in quivering tongues of fire, intensely bright, dazzling like electric light, then fading away to reappear a moment later in fitful ghostly gleams. It is a pulsating light, like that of the pale lambent flame of the Aurora. So fascinating was this scene that for hours we sat on deck watching it, sometimes shooting along the water in coruscations of fire, sometimes just rippling into golden sparkles like sea-stars ¦ following in the wake of every tiny boat, and touching her sides with living flame, while each stroke of the oars flashed fire, and each leaping fish scattered a starry spray. Is it not wonderful to think of the myriads of luminous animal cules which must exist to produce these mysterious submarine illu minations ! I am told that they are of all colours, blue, white, and green, and so tiny that it is calculated that fifty thousand would find ample swimming space in a small wine-glass of water ! The com monest of these microscopic creatures is something like a tiny melon, but their forms are very varied. I had the good fortune once to travel in the same ship with a naturalist possessed of an excellent microscope, and a very delightful companion he proved, day by day conjuring up new marvels from the exhaustless treasure-house of the deep. One small bucket did all the work of his Lilliputian fisheries, and brought him a never-failing har vest of strange wonderful creatures, of which he then made most faithful paintings, of course magnified a thousand-fold. But the tiny prisoners resented having to sit for their portraits, and wriggled rest lessly till they attained to a nirvana of their own, and evaporated altogether ! At daybreak we again hailed one of those marvellous native out riggers, and, pointing to a bay of pure white sand, overshadowed to the water's edge with cocoa-palms, made our brown brethren under stand that there we must go. As we neared the shore, and looked down through the transparent depths of that lovely sea, we could distinguish beautiful corals and strange water-plants. No 'dim water- world ' is here, but a sea of crystal, revealing its treasures with tantalising clearness, while each rippling wavelet cast its shadow on the rocks and sand far below. At last we reached the little bay, whose white coral sand was thickly strewn with larger fragments of the same, as though flakes of sea-foam had suddenly been petrified by some fairy touch. Of course the charm of collecting these was irresistible. Soon we had heaped up a little mountain of treasures .while our rowers looked on in much 22 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON amusement and tried to explain to us that it was altogether poor stuff we had found. Then from a hut on the tope came a kindly pleasant-looking family, men, women, and boys, clothed in white raiment (as beseems dwellers in Paradise), and laden with all manner of beautiful corals brought up from the reef. It was so early that their morning toilet was incomplete, and the men's long silky hair floated on their shoulders. Some merry little brown natives swarmed up the cocoa-palms, and threw us down young creamy nuts. It was very curious to watch them run up and down the tall smooth stems, simply knotting a strip of cloth round themselves and the tree, so as to give them a ' lean-to ' for their back. Then, by sheer pressure of feet and hands and knees, they worked their way up to the leafy crown. The nuts selected for us were scarcely half ripe, so that the rind, instead of being hard wood, as in the old nuts which are exported to England and other distant lands, is still green like the shell of an unripe walnut, and the inside coated with transparent cocoa-nut jelly. Besides this, each nut contains a good tumblerful of sweet cool water, a very different fluid from what we find in the 'old nuts that reach England. Nevertheless, all new-comers ought to be warned that this is a delicacy which does not suit all constitutions • and however refreshing a drink of young cocoa-nut milk may be, it is well for the unacclimatised to partake sparingly. Happily, on the present occasion none of the party suffered for their imprudence, although we feasted freely, while sitting beneath the palms, which spread their tender film of quivering foliage overhead, like the fairy web of some great gossamer spider. This, remember, was in December ; and as we revelled in the soft blessed atmosphere, which made each breath we drew a sensation of joy, and the mere fact of existence a delight, a vision rose before us of how differently it fared with all at home — some on the moors perhaps, battling with storm and blinding sleet • others in the murky city. The very thought of mists and sleet, and of the many tireless homes where wretched tattered beings shiver in squalid misery, jarred too painfully ¦ so there was nothing for it but to try and forget Old England altogether, and think only of the loveliness around us— land sea, and sky, each perfect in its beauty, and human beings who seemed to us as gentle and gracious as they are graceful. . Near us rose a group of stately Areca palms, faultlessly upright, MY FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE TROPICS 23 like slender alabaster pillars, in this leafy sanctuary, each crowned with such a capital of glossy green as human architect never devised. But more beautiful in our eyes were the cocoa-palms bending in every direction, each stem averaging from seventy to eighty feet in height, and crowned with fronds far longer and more graceful than those of the Areca, and with several large clusters of fruit in all stages, the golden nuts hanging down, the younger, greener ones above ; and, to crown all, two or three lovely blossoms, like gigantic bunches of cream-coloured wheat carved in purest ivory, each long wheat-head having at its base a small white ball, which is the embryo nut. Each bunch numbers thirty or more of these heads, and about eight or ten of the nuts come to perfection. The blossoms in their infancy are enclosed in a hard sheath, which bursts when the flower expands, and is then useful for many household purposes. I think this grain-like blossom is one of the loveliest things in creation ¦ and well do the chiefs know its value for all purposes of decoration, resulting too often in lamentable waste of poor men's property. The contrast of the graceful growth of the cocoa-palm (which generally bends towards the nearest water) with the straight heaven ward growth of the Areca, is noted in a native proverb, which says that he who can find a straight cocoa-palm, a crooked Areca, or a white crow, shall never die. The Areca palm bears large clusters of hard nuts — perhaps 200 on a tree — about the size and consistency of nutmegs, which, like the cocoa-nut, are encased in an outer husk of fibre. These are to these natives what tobacco is to the Briton, especially in the form dear to our sailors, the nuts being cut into thin hard slices, several of which, with the addition of a pinch of lime, are wrapped up in a glossy leaf of the betel-pepper, forming a mouthful, the chewing of which furnishes occupation for a long time, resulting in free expectoration— if possible, even more disgusting than that of a tobacco-chewer, from the fact that the saliva is blood-red. We were sorely tempted to linger in this beautiful shady grove, but a glimpse of a wooded hill beyond carried us onward ¦ so, taking a couple of the young brownies to guide us along a slight native track, we plunged into a jungle of exquisite tropical plants — the strange screw-pine with its pillared roots, and scarlet pine-apples, dear only to monkeys, glossy leaves and rough leaves in endless variety, old forms and new, plants which we knew from pictures and from description ; creepers and climbers of exceeding beauty, and in end less profusion, 24 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON Then, as we scrambled up the rough narrow path, there burst upon us a scene of inconceivable beauty. On the one side we looked over masses of vegetation and reddish cliffs to the bluest of blue seas, edged with white surf. Beyond lay Point de Galle with its white lighthouse. On the other side the same blue sea, washing the long shore of white sand- then range beyond range of forest-clad hills, behind which far-away blue peaks rose to a height of from six to seven thousand feet. But, in truth, it is mere folly to attempt to describe such a scene. No words or pictures can tell of the myriad beauties which link all these divers parts into one perfect whole— the joyous sunlit atmosphere and the restless repose of the calm azure sea, enfolding a land beautiful beyond expression. It was with many a lingering backward look, such as our first parents are said to have cast on the same fair Isle ere they were driven hence, that we at length tried to leave this Paradise ; and, retracing our steps through the beautiful jungle, found ourselves once more beneath the cocoa-palms, where our little brown friends awaited us with stores of creamy half-ripe nuts and lovely corals, with which our curious canoe was quickly laden. A 'few hours later with exceeding regret we bade farewell to the beautiful Isle of Palms, and with our little cabin half full of corals and green love-birds, and sugar-cane to feed them with, we once more held on our course, with a sadly diminished party, and many stale jokes (scarcely jokes to a good many) about the said Point of Gall,1 and all its sorrowful partings from those whose paths lay farther and farther towards China and Japan and the uttermost isles. 1 The name of Galle is derived from the Singhalese gatta, a rock. 25 CHAPTER II COLOMBO The native town— St. Thomas's College— The Fort— The lake— Suburbs- White ants — Cinnamon Gardens. About three years slipped away — years into which were crowded all the marvellous interests of sight-seeing in India and elsewhere, and of a first return to a wide and very sympathetic home-circle in the old country. (Probably none save those to whom years have brought home life's gravest lesson of many lifelong partings, can fully realise how greatly the pleasure of wandering in far lands is enhanced by the certainty of the interest and ever-ready sympathy with which letters from the wanderer will be welcomed by loving kinsfolk beside their own firesides, nor how much of the incentive to travel seems to pass away when strangers fill the once familiar homes.) So pleasant memories were the earnest of pleasant days to come, when an invitation from the Bishop of Colombo tempted me to face the wintry seas in bleak November, hoping possibly to reach Ceylon by Christmas. But a week of wild storms in the English Channel, and a very narrow escape of foundering off the Eddystone Rock, resulted in our fine new steamer barely succeeding in making Ply mouth harbour, and her passengers explored the b auties of Cornwall and Devon till another steamer was ready to take them on their journey.1 This eventful double voyage proved a time of lifelong interest to several young couples on board, and indeed welded all our ship's company into such general harmony and kindliness, that the ' Hindoo-Othello ' passengers were thenceforward a recognised brotherhood in Ceylon. Some, I fear, were heavy of heart when the last evening came, and all lingered late in the starlight, enjoying the delicious scent of jungle-flowers, which the balmy land-breeze brought us as a greeting from the forests of Southern India. I need scarcely say that as we neared the beautiful Isle, some of 1 See 'Via Cornwall to Egypt.' By C. F. Gordon Cumming. Published by Messrs, Chatto # Windus, 26 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON us were on deck with the earliest glimmer of dawn, and were rewarded by a glorious crimson and golden sky, long before the sunrise— a red horizon against which Adam's Peak and the lower mountain-ranges stood out sharp and clear in purple relief, just as plainly as I had previously seen them from Galle, from which, indeed, the Peak is about equidistant. Soon after 7 a.m. we anchored in Colombo Roads (for the great breakwater which has endowed Colombo with her present noble harbour, is a creation of later date), and very quickly our steamer was surrounded by wonderful native canoes of all sizes, and boats of heavier build, bringing friends to meet the new-comers. Soon the Bishop arrived himself, with the kindest of welcomes for me, and for a pleasant new addition to his clerical staff, and a few minutes later we were in a big boat, being rowed ashore by Tamil boatmen, who cheered their toil by singing wild songs with wilder refrain to the accompaniment of plashing oars, reminding me of the Gaelic songs of the Skye boatmen. The Bishop's carriage awaited us at the landing-place. Here, as in India, each horse is accompanied by its own horsekeeper, lightly dressed, and barefooted, but with large scarlet turban and sash, for in Ceylon these men are all Tamils. Whatever be the distance and whatever the pace, they pride themselves on running abreast of the horses, ready to help in any emergency, and shouting to secure a clear way through the crowded streets. We had good need of their services, for our way lay through the Pettah, or native town, thronged by an ever-fascinating kaleidoscope of infinitely varied human beings, all picturesque, forming a succes sion of groups of living bronzes, each a study for an artist. Only, alas ! even the very first close glimpse of these revealed that suffering has a footing in Paradise, for we saw a van full of semi-nude lunatics from the asylum taking a morning drive, and several poor creatures with limbs swollen and distorted with elephantiasis, and (more painful still, because caused by human callousness, though the charge of deliberate cruelty is repudiated) we were sickened by the sight of the pretty little bullocks, drawing the native carts, all alike covered with most elaborate patterns of curls and curves like intricate Runic knotting, either branded or cut in narrow strips right into the hide. When the scars have healed, they produce a result as beautiful in native eyes as are in their own sight somewhat similar scars on the bodies of various savage tribes. COLOMBO 27 But to see the poor beasts who have recently undergone this process, literally covered with these carefully manufactured raws, in many cases festering and a prey to clouds of flies, is simply revolting. In defence of so cruel a practice the owners of the bullocks maintain that not only is this a preventive of cattle-steal ing, but also a safeguard against rheumatism. It has even been asserted that in some cases animals have been 'hide-bound' and never could be induced to fatten till their hides had been thus destroyed. Were it not for this detail, these pretty little zebus, with their humped neck and deep dewlap, their silky skin and slender limbs, are very attractive. The majority are black, but many are silvery grey. In lieu of reins and a bit, a hole is bored through the nostril, and the poor beasts are guided by a rope passed through the nose. Some are very fast trotters, and native gentlemen drive them at a rattling pace in small hackeries. Larger palm-thatched carts or ' bullock-bandys,' but similarly balanced on two wheels, are used for general traffic. We passed some of these full of women and children, all brown and black-haired and black- eyed, and all smiling and chattering, and glittering with jewellery and gay with coloured draperies. The driver of the bullocks stalks along between them and the cart, tall, brown, and black-bearded, with little clothing, carrying a cane for the encouragement of his good cattle. One marvels how these active little creatures can draw such heavy weights simply by the pressure of the wide projecting yoke against the hump on their necks. For heavier traffic larger-humped cattle have been imported from India, and Ceylon itself supplies a stronger variety of bullocks of a dark-red colour. Old residents, as a rule, rather dislike having to drive through this or any other native town, but to me it was always a pleasure, as each moment revealed some thoroughly Eastern scene ¦ and though the houses are for the most part dingy and very poor, chiefly built of mud or bamboos, and roofed with wooden shingles or dry palm- leaves, yet in this brilliant sunlight they give depths of rich-brown shadow as a background to many a bit of sparkling colour ; and then the fact of their being all open and revealing all manner of domestic incidents in the home-life of races so widely different as Moors and Malays, Singhalese and Tamils, Dutch and Portuguese burghers, is full of interest to a new-comer. Many of the simple toilets are per formed in the open street, especially the work of the Tamil barber, 28 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON who squats on his feet facing his victim, who likewise squats with his head resting on his own knees, while the barber shaves it till it shines like a billiard-ball. It is so funny to see quite small boys being thus shaven ! All the shops are likewise open, with their varied goods— piles of brass lotas, and earthenware chatties, gay cheap cottons, fish of strange form and vivid colour, beside the familiar whiting, mullet, and soles. One which we soon learnt to appreciate is the seer-fish, which is rather like salmon, but with white flesh. Of course the vegetable stalls are attractive, but especially so the bewildering variety of tempting fruits, looking only too inviting as laid out in piles on cool, green banana leaves, — large luscious pine-apples, heaps of very bright-green ripe oranges, golden mangoes, custard apples, melons, fine gourds and splendid pumpkins, pumeloes (i.e. shaddocks), limes, guavas, bananas, papaws, lovi-lovis, durians, rambutans, bullocks'-hearts, sour-sops, sometimes even figs and grapes — why, these alone were an earnest of Paradise to one who had so re cently escaped from a stormy winter in England ! One fruit new to me, and very insinuating, was the rambutan. When ripe its rough skin changes from green to rich scarlet, and within lies a ball of cool, pleasant jelly, very refreshing. A hard uneatable kernel lies in the centre. Another very attractive little fruit, with most fragrant blossom, was the loquat, which belongs to the medlar family. Some of the best shops in the Pettah are kept by Parsees and Moormen, who retail all manner of European goods • but a really Eastern stall is that of the money-changer, who sits on his mat amid heaps of copper and silver coin. So is that of the grain-seller, the chettie from Southern India, with his large turban and enormous ear-rings. The carrier of drinking water is also characteristic. So is the earthenware chattie, painted white and stuck on the roof to attract the glance of the passer-by, and so lessen, the danger of the evil eye. We passed Buddhist and Hindoo temples and Mohammedan mosques, but the latter seemed poor and insignificant as compared with those of India, which remained so vividly impressed on my memory. But presently our route lay through a grove of beautiful cocoa-palms, beside the blue sea, and no odious mental comparisons marred the loveliness of that scene. Our destination was St. Thomas's College, in Mutwal, the north-eastern suburb of the city, distant COLOMBO 29 about two miles from the Fort, which is the great business centre. The College stands in the same compound,1 or grounds, as Christ Church Cathedral, which is primarily the chapel of the college and collegiate school, founded in 1852 by Dr. Chapman, the first Bishop of Colombo (Ceylon having previously been included in the see of Madras). It is also, however, the parish church of a large English and English-speaking community, as also of the Singhalese Chris tians in Mutwal. Between the Cathedral and the College stands the Bishop's house,2 where two large airy rooms were assigned to me, opening on to a wide pleasant verandah supported by columns, the whole coated with cool white chunam, and embowered in a luxuriant growth of flowering creepers of all gorgeous colours — scarlet and crimson, purple, orange, and vivid blue. Moreover, there were comparatively few days when we were not blessed with a delicious sea-breeze ¦ and, indeed, though the deep-blue ocean itself was well-nigh hidden from us by waving palms and great India-rubber and other trees, we had only to descend a few hundred yards to find ourselves on its beautiful beach, where, no matter how calm the day, the great green rollers break in glittering surf on the yellow sands or dark rocks. To a new-comer it is inconceivable that any one could ever weary of such delicious balmy air and luxuriant vegetation. And yet one home-sick Briton expressed the thought of many when he told me that he would give all the lovely tropical scenery for the sight of a good honest turnip-field, while another only craved for 'a good healthy shiver.' St. Thomas's College receives about 60 boarders, and the collegiate school has an average daily attendance of about 250 lads and young men, some of whom are pure Singhalese or Tamil, others are members of burgher families — i.e. descendants of early Dutch or Portuguese colonists — while a considerable number are half-castes. Almost all the boarders and about four-fifths of the students are Christians, the proportion in 1890 being 260 Christian and 43 non- Christian pupils. Of the latter, some are Buddhists and some Hindoos, who accept the inevitable Christian instruction for the sake of the first-class secular education here given. A very well-supported cricket club, a workshop with forge and lathe, and a Natural History 1 From the Portuguese campao, an enclosure. 2 This has been given over by the present Bishop to the Warden of the College. 30 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON Society, are among the details which suggest the varied interests of boy-life. A high-class school for girls occupies a pretty bungalow close to the Cathedral. Another very important centre of education is the Royal College, which was founded in 1836 by Sir Robert Horton, for the higher education of natives of the Isle. In August 1891 its students numbered 331, while those at St. Thomas's numbered 333 — a state of things highly creditable to the latter, inasmuch as the former is a Government college, backed by public revenue. A generous rivalry exists between these two colleges and those of India, those of Ceylon securing a full share of honours in regard to English university scholarships and Cambridge local examinations ; so there is no lack of healthy emulation to keep up the standard of learning. St. Thomas's College supplies choristers with very pleasant voices, for the daily morning and evening choral services in the Cathedral, where the week-day congregation consists chiefly of young men from the College, who look delightfully cool in their white jackets and comboys, the Singhalese lads being readily distinguished by their tortoise-shell combs. In connection with the Cathedral is a mission for the training of native clergy — Tamil and Singhalese — to whom are apportioned various districts of Colombo, in which they minister to their own fellow-countrymen, and to the hitherto neglected Portuguese half- castes and other classes. Certainly no one here can plead lack of opportunity as an excuse for non-attendance at church services. Besides several Episcopal churches, there are Roman Catholic, Wesleyan, Presbyterian, Dutch Presbyterian, Baptist, and sundry other churches and chapels scattered over the town, and these (in addition to the services for the English-speaking community) have others in Tamil, Singhalese, and Portuguese, at such hours as may best suit domestic servants and others. Notwithstanding his own incessant work, the Bishop most kindly arranged that I should accompany him on so many beautiful drives in the freshness of early morning, or the cool of the evening, that I very soon became tolerably familiar with the immediate neighbour hood and its inhabitants, feeling daily more attracted towards these gentle Singhalese, who seem always so quietly happy, always so polite crossing their arms, and bowing so courteously, apparently never ex- COLOMBO 31 cited even when marketing — the fruitful source of Oriental clatter ! Even the pretty graceful children play gently, noisy romping seeming altogether foreign to their nature. The girls (poor little dears !) are early taught to stay chiefly indoors, and by twelve years of age they are generally married, and occasionally are grandmothers before they are thirty ! They certainly are a very comely race, with their slender figure, shapely well-chiselled features, and splendid dark dreamy eyes. Their homes seem to be the perfection of village life ; each pic turesque bamboo hut, with its thatch of cocoa-nut leaves, wholly concealed from its neighbours by the richest vegetation, and buried in cool shade of large-leaved plantains and bread-fruit trees ¦ while above each little homestead waves the beneficent tree which supplies the family with meat and drink, and a thousand things besides. Certainly, clean as these mud and wattle huts are, some fastidious people might object to the fact that the raised platforms of clay whereon the villagers lie basking in their happy dolcefar niente (enjoying a foretaste of Buddha's Paradise) are all plastered with cow-dung, which is said to keep away vermin, and to be less apt to become muddy in the rains than is a simple clay floor. Here, beneath the palm thatch, the men spread their palm-leaf mats and sleep peacefully, wrapped in their white cloth, till sunrise awakens the birds. Then they hathe in the nearest stream, and wash their long glossy black hair, and for the next hour or two sit in the sunlight combing and drying it, and (alas !) renewing its gloss with unfragrant cocoa-nut oil. Then they carefully twist it into a smooth coil, fasten it with a circular tortoise-shell comb, and then rest again, perhaps weaving fanciful ornaments of split palm-leaf to decorate the entrance to the home, but certainly chewing the inevitable betel-leaf. Meanwhile their wives are busy with the daily task of preparing curry — no fiery curry-powder, but a delicious compound of many pleasant vegetables, seasoned with pepper, turmeric, green ginger, chillies, &c, but above all, made fresh and wholly different every morning, and served with cocoa-nut, prawns, cucumbers, and all manner of other excellent dainties, served in different dishes, as we serve vegetables, forming combinations to rejoice the heart of an epicure. The principal glory of a Singhalese cook lies in the endless variety of his curries ; a very desirable characteristic in a dish which forms a necessary conclusion to every meal, and on which you soon learn to count as a necessity. Every man, woman, and child, down 32 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON to the very smallest, lives on curry and rice, indeed we had a theory that all domestic animals were fed on it. ' To eat rice ' is the recog nised form of describing every meal, and wonderful is the amount consumed by each individual. The practice I have already alluded to, of chewing betel, which is practised both by Tamils and Singhalese, is most obnoxious to the spectator, as it is accompanied by continual spitting of dark-red juice, which gives you the impression that the whole population are in the last stage of consumption, and that the ground on every side is stained with blood. It is truly disgusting ! and is continually forcing itself on one's observation, which must plead my excuse for referring to it again. The betel-leaf is rather like ivy, but more fleshy and glossy. In it the people wrap up a mixture of bits of hard areca-nut, and lime of burnt shells to give pungency. It discolours the mouth for the moment, and an habitual chewer is betrayed by the deep reddish- orange stain which has become chronic. Men and women alike seem to delight in this delicacy, though I never met a European who could endure it. However, it seems to be a wise instinct which teaches these vegetarians to consume so much lime, and it is said that the perpetual chewing of betel compensates for the deficiency of animal diet. Of course to the passer-by these simple homes derive much 01 their charm from their surroundings, for the poorest is always embowered in sugar-cane, maize, or bananas ; and I know no plant which so fully brings home to one the sense of tropical luxuriance as does each member of this widespread tribe of bananas and plantains, which contribute so largely to the food of the human race in all tropical countries. In one year it grows to a height of about 20 feet, each leaf being from 6 to 8 feet in length by about 2 in breadth, and each plant bearing perhaps a total of three hundred fruits in several heavy drooping clusters — green, ripening to gold — a total of about ¦ seventy pounds weight. Each fruit is enfolded in a thick leathery skin, which comes off at a touch, yielding a sweet satisfying food of most delicate flavour, of which the bananas sold in England give a very faint idea. The effort of producing such a mass of fruit exhausts the generous plant, which then falls, leaving its strong fibrous stem and leafstalks to be turned to account in various ways. (One variety yields the fibre known as Manilla hemp.) Then new stems very quickly spring from the old root, and the splendid plant is renewed. COLOMBO 33 To the same family belongs the huge fan-shaped ' Traveller's Tree,' ( often carelessly described as a palm. It bears the same long broad leaves; but they are stiffly arranged, exactly like a great feather fan, and instead of bearing nourishing fruit like the common banana,2 they collect water, which filters into the tightly plaited sheaths at the base of* the leaves, whence a drink of pure water can always be drawn by stabbing the said base of a leaf. The country all round Colombo is strangely level, and the soil is of a warm red colour. The red roads contrast curiously with the vividly green rice-fields and the luxuriant vegetation on every side. Even the red streets are delightfully shaded by cool green Suriya, or sun-trees, so named on account of their delicate primrose-coloured blossoms, with claret-coloured heart, which, like the setting sun, turn red as they fade. (One of the titles of the ancient royal race was Suriya-wanzae, the race of the sun.) The flower curiously resembles that of the cotton plant, and also in form that of the single scarlet hibiscus, known to Europeans as the shoe-flower ; but its grey-green leaves are totally different, rather resembling those of a poplar. Hence Linnseus named this tree Hibiscus populneus, but modern botanists have reclassed it as Thespesia populnea. As an everyday name, surely nothing could be more appropriate than Suriya ; but Europeans generally speak of them as tulip-trees, from a very imaginary resemblance of the blossom to that familiar but less refined flower. Certainly it is in every respect unlike the true tulip-tree of North America.3 To me the Suriya recalls pleasant visions of the South Pacific isles, where it grows abundantly. In Fiji it is called the Vauf and is greatly prized on account of the fibre of the inner bark, which is used by the fisher-folk for making turtle-nets, and also, when dyed of various colours, for making fringe-kilts. It is a most cheery little tree, always covered with sunny blossoms. Here its light hard- grained wood is prized for carriage-building and for gun-stocks. Like many other flowering trees which are widely spread over Ceylon, it is doubtful whether the Suriya is . indigenous, though it has been found near Batticaloa apparently wild. Both Galle and Colombo are indebted to the Dutch for these 1 Ravenala madagascariensis. 2 Musa sapienium. 3 Liriodendron tulipifera. » ' At Home in Fiji,' vol. i. p. 83. By C. F. Gordon Cumming. Published by W. Blackwood & Sons. 9 34 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON pleasant avenues, which transform their -busiest business streets into cool boulevards. The new-comer on first landing derives from them his very earliest impression of green shade as he passes from the harbour to the Fort, which is the chief business centre— Queen's House (as the Governor's residence is here called), the Government offices, and the principal European shops being all within its haunts, which comprise about two square miles. The fortifications crown a rocky headland between the sea and the large lake. On the land side there are four bastions, and gates with drawbridges, and seven batteries guard the seaward approach. The Fort was commenced by the Portuguese in a.d. 1518. The Dutch did not appear on the scene till 1602, and when in 1655 they besieged this Fort, it was accounted one of the largest and strongest fortresses in the East, the circuit of its walls being nearly three quarters of a mile, while it was protected on one side by the sea, and on the other by the lake, which was then well stocked with man- devouring crocodiles. So much reliance seems to have been placed on these natural advantages, that cocoa-palms had actually been planted on the fortifications ; and though these were mounted by 237 cannons, their carriages were literally rotten from neglect, and in the hour of need had to be renewed with wood taken from shattered houses, and even from the churches. Moreover, so many buildings of all sorts were crowded within the walls, that it was simply a small enclosed town with a population of about 4,000 persons, of whom only about 1,200 were capable of bearing arms, the majority of these being half-castes. On the approach of the Dutch, assisted by the troops of the King of Kandy, 'the priests of the seven parishes of Colombo, accom panied by their terrified flocks, sought shelter from the advancing heretics within the walls.' Its population was trebled, and then it was necessary to close the gates and refuse admission to any more fugitives. Then followed a prolonged siege, full of thrilling deeds of valour and hand-to-hand fighting. Probably the whole page of history contains no record more full of the terrible 'romance ' of war. Every man within the Fort was fighting for dear life, for the King of Kandy had stipulated that every native captured within the Fort should be given over to him, that he might punish them as he had done those captured at Batticaloa, on which occasion he had impaled fifty living men, and had sold the rest with their wives and children to be slaves. COLOMBO 3i This fate likewise befell such fishermen as were captured attempting to run the blockade and carry provisions to the besieged. As the siege advanced and provisions became scarcer, many natives attempted to escape, but all were ruthlessly driven back with whips, to add to the embarrassment of the besieged. And yet in the face of such horrors the Portuguese were weakened by internal strife, when blue- blooded hidalgos occasionally refused to obey the orders of their half-breed superior officers. For seven long months the siege continued, all on both sides being on the alert day and night. It is recorded of the aged Governor that during all that time he was never seen without his armour. Even the Jesuit fathers and the Augustines donned armour and defended the ramparts or fought in the trenches, leaving the care of the sick and wounded to the Dominicans, Capuchins, and Cordeliers. Their zeal was intensified by a sacrilegious act of the Dutch, who, having taken an image of St. Thomas from its altar in a church beside the sea, had cut off its nose, ears, and arms, driven nails into it, and finally fired it from a mortar into the Fort It fell into the ditch, whence it was rescued by the Portuguese at the peril of their lives, and carried in solemn procession to a place of honour on the high altar of the Church of the Cordeliers. At the beginning of the siege there were fifteen elephants and many buffaloes within the Fort. One of the former was so very valuable as a catcher of wild elephants (having annually captured about thirty, valued at fifteen thousand crowns), that, although owing to prolonged drought there was not a green herb within the Fort, it was somehow kept alive to the end of the siege, when it became a prize for the Dutch. But every other living creature, down to cats, rats, and dogs, was devoured, and wretched living skeletons subsisted on a daily handful of rice, till pestilence in the form of fever, dysentery, and a disease called beri-beri, of the nature of dropsy, broke out and thinned their ranks. Soldiers dropped dead on the ramparts from sheer exhaustion, and in one day 130 bodies were buried, search parties going through the houses to carry out the dead. This during intense heat, aggravated by months without a drop of rain. Happily, however, the wells never dried up, and the besieged were spared the anguish of insufficient water. Nevertheless the recorded details of anguish during those terrible months are altogether sickening. As the position became more and more intolerable many p 2 36 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON contrived to desert, though all who were caught were promptly hanged ; a considerable number succeeded in swimming across the lake at night, preferring the risk of being devoured by crocodiles to the certain torture of starvation. In the last extremity of famine, the Portuguese drove out all the surviving starving natives, and closed the Fort gates after them. The Dutch refused to let them pass. Thus they were hemmed in between the belligerents, and the whole party perished either from starvation or bullet wounds. In all history there is no more thrilling page than the story of this siege, with its daily hand-to-hand fights between the gaunt living skeletons who held the Fort, and their assailants. At last one morning at daybreak the Dutch carried all the outworks, and only the bastion of St. John remained between them and the Fort. Of all its defenders there survived only one brave captain and two boys. These were soon cut down, and the besiegers having captured the bastion, poured down on the Fort, supported by a strong body of Singhalese archers. Every man who was not utterly disabled, including almost all the priests, rushed to the defence, fighting with the desperation of men in their last extremity. That handful of brave men, faint from starvation and exhaustion, held their ground the livelong day against a vastly superior force of well-fed Dutch and Kandyan troops ; the fighting was almost all hand-to-hand, with swords and pistols and hand-grenades, and continued till the darkness compelled a truce. The dead and wounded of both sides lay heaped together in ghastly piles. Among the slain was the brave Father Antonio Nunes, who early in the day was struck by a musket-ball, but, still fighting on, presently received a severe sword-cut. Triumphant over pain, the undaunted warrior-priest still held his ground, till he was killed by the explosion of a hand-grenade. But in that force each warrior was a hero. It was evident that to prolong the struggle was hopeless, so, though some still voted for no surrender, honourable terms of capitulation were at last agreed on. The Dutch general undertook to protect all the inhabitants of the Fort, especially the women, and to care for all the sick and wounded ; also to convey all soldiers and officers to Europe, or other Portuguese settlements ; and on May 12, 1656, the garrison, consisting of 190 Portuguese soldiers and armed civilians, marched out with all the honours of war— a ghastly proces- COLOMBO 37 sion of living skeletons, many of whom were scarcely able to totter on their poor legs, swollen by beri-beri, and almost every man disabled by wounds or burning by gunpowder. Even the Dutch could not restrain their pity and admiration of this band of heroes. The priests, however, fearing with good reason that protection would not be extended to their sacred relics, images, and consecrated vessels, hastened to conceal these, and to unfurnish all altars in the churches, lest they should be profaned by the heretics who had dealt so cruelly with the image of St. Thomas. When the Fort had thus been evacuated by its defenders, the Dutch marched in, and the standard of the Prince of Orange was planted on the Water Fort, a dearly bought prize, said to have cost the Dutch the lives of upwards of three thousand soldiers, besides many of their bravest officers, and an enormous outlay in money. It proved, however, the key to mastery on the Isle, the Portuguese being soon afterwards compelled to cede all their possessions. They held the Fort of Colombo till February 1796, when in their turn they were besieged by the British, and capitulated after a very much feebler resistance, with few such thrilling incidents as those which formed the everyday history of the seven months' siege. Finally, in 1869, the walls of the Fort were demolished by its present masters. As we have seen, during the Portuguese occupation no less than five religious orders were established within the Fort — namely, the Jesuits, Augustines, Dominicans, Cordeliers, and Capuchins, each having its separate monastery and chapel. Of their hospitals, colleges, and monasteries no trace remains, but an interesting memorial of that period was discovered about fifty years ago, when, in carrying out some repairs near the Battenburgh bastion, a large stone was discovered, with an inscription stating that beneath it lay the body of Juan Monteiro, the first primate of Ceylon, who died here a.d. 1536. The city of Colombo covers a very large area, its various suburbs being separated by cocoa-palm groves, amongst which the houses of the wealthier inhabitants stand apart, each in its own large garden ; many are scattered about all through the wide semi-jungle, still known as the Cinnamon Gardens, and many more are dotted all along the shores of the freshwater lake, which ramifies in so many directions that one keeps coming to it again and again, but never too often, for each fresh glimpse shows some new combination of luxuriant foliage, 38 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON and most carefully cultivated flowering trees and shrubs. Some such groups form memory-pictures of delight— as, for instance, in the months of April and May, the Flamboyant (Poinciana regia), with its indescribably gorgeous masses of scarlet and golden blossom and delicate velvety green foliage. Or the splendid drooping clusters, also scarlet and yellow, of the Amherstia nobilis, which blooms all the year, though most glorious from Christmas to Easter. These relieved by the lovely lemon-yellow of the ' lettuce ' tree, which gleams like embodied sunlight, contrasting with the blue-green of the screw-pine and the dark casurina, or the feathery misty foliage of clumps of tall graceful bamboo, all in perfect harmony with the soft pearly grey of the sky, and all reflected in the still lake. Here and there are dark hibiscus all aglow with crimson blossom, or long pendant boughs of poinsettia, with gorgeous scarlet rosettes of young foliage in wondrous contrast with the rich green of the older leaves, splendid yellow allamandas, cassias loaded with blossom like our richest laburnum, ironwood (Mesua ferred) with fragrant large white blossoms and tufts of young bright crimson foliage, jaggery, areca, talipot, and date palms, palmyra palms with their great fan-like leaves ceaselessly rustling with every breath of air, the ever- quivering fronds of the cocoa-palm glancing in the sunlight, like gleaming swords, and, most restless of all, the huge leaves of the banana ever waving — the young leaves like lovely ribbed silk of the most exquisite green, the older leaves torn by their own ceaseless motion into fluttering yellow ribbons. One of these very attractive ' lake districts ' still bears the un pleasant name of Slave Island, recalling the days when, under Dutch rule, the State slaves were there imprisoned every night, a prey to the mosquitos, which, alas ! abound in this warm moist neighbourhood, and but for skilfully arranged mosquito-nets, effectu ally murder sleep. Their hateful note ' ping ' comes in as a shrill treble to the ceaseless chorus of multitudinous frogs, some of which are literally seven or eight inches in length, so it is no wonder that they produce a good deal of croaking ! In colour they are of a rich olive, shading into brown on the back, and yellow on the under side. Even the pretty little green or yellowish tree-frogs add their sharp shrill cries to the concert. This labyrinthine lagoon has a special interest in this Isle, which, strange to say, possesses no natural lakes. Those in the interior COLOMBO 39 are all of artificial construction, and this is one of that very singular chain of lagoons (so apparent by a glance at the map) which lie parallel with the sea along so great a portion of Ceylon, both on the east and west coast — lagoons formed at the mouth of many rivers by their own deposit of sand, which thus chokes the original exit, and forces the stream to meander about in search of a new passage. Thus the beautiful Kelani river, which now enters the sea at Mutwal, fully three miles to the north, is believed to have formerly done so here, and to have given its name to the city, which was originally known as Kalan-totta, 'theKalany Ferry.' This name was changed by the Moors to Kalambu ; and the Moorish traveller Ibn Batuta, who devoted twenty-eight years to visiting all sacred Mohammedan shrines, and who in a.d. 1347 came to Ceylon to do homage to Adam's Footprint, describes this as ' the finest and largest city in Serendib.' But when the Portuguese established themselves here in a.d. 1517, they further altered the name in honour of Columbus ; hence its present form. Happily the charming lake remains, with all its pleasant boating, and a fine carriage-road winds round each curve of its very irregular shore-line, forming a delightful drive. The ' Galle Face ' (the most delightful of esplanades) lies between its still waters on the one hand, and on the other, the thundering surf of the Indian Ocean. This, the 'Routine Row' of Colombo, derives its name from being the first of the seventy miles of beautiful driving-road along the sea-coast to Galle. It is the only mile not embowered in trees, and is a strip of grass-land too much haunted by burrowing crabs to be absolutely safe riding-ground, but which nevertheless answers the purpose for the daily evening meeting (and even for the annual races, as we are reminded by a circular race-stand in the centre. For these, however, a better site is now proposed). Car riages drive up and down a broad red road close to the great green waves. The fashionable hour for this daily routine is from five to seven, and as Ceylon is so near the equator that the sun sets all the year round at about six o'clock, every one gets the full benefit of the, ever-changing sunset glories, and magnificent they sometimes are during the stormy monsoons. So brief is the twilight that often before seven it is quite dark, and carriage-lamps must be lighted ; but on the other hand, sometimes after a brief interval, an afterglow commences which lights up the sky with colours more beautiful than 40 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON that of the sunset itself. The actual variation of sunrise and sunset ranges from about 5.45 a.m. in August to about 6.23 a.m. in February, and from 6.7 p.m. in August to 6.5 p.m. in February. Even at Galle, in the far south of the Isle, the difference between the longest and shortest days is only forty-one minutes. Time is 5 hours, 19 minutes, 28 seconds ahead of Greenwich, so it is about noon in Colombo when England is only half awake. Another thing worthy of note is the singularly slight variation in the tides, the rise and fall of which rarely exceed three feet. An interesting peculiarity of the coasts of Ceylon is the fre quency of water-spouts as forerunners of the monsoons. They rise from the shallow lagoons, or from the sea along the coast, taking the form of a rotatory inverted cone, with a dark umbrella-shaped top of fine spray. Several of these gently sportive water-whirlwinds are sometimes seen from the shore in the course of a day, but they never seem to do any damage. Speaking of variable natural phenomena, I must just mention the weather, concerning which it seems to me impossible in Ceylon to speak of ' dry ' or ' rainy ' seasons as in India, for the rainfall varies so greatly in different districts, that when one part of the Isle is being parched, another is being saturated. Sometimes when we were in dry low-country districts, gasping for cool air, and all the farmers and villagers craving for rain, our friends in some of the coffee districts were being nearly drowned by the incessant deluge pitilessly pouring on them day after day and week after week, threaten ing to wash all the soil from the rocky mountain sides, and to float them and their crop right down to the sea. Roughly, the south-west monsoon is supposed to commence at Colombo — i.e. on the south-west coast— about the end of April ; and the north-east monsoon (which sweeps the east coast and the north, right up to Jaffna) is due at the end of October. A small burst, called the ' little monsoon,' precedes the full downpouring of the clouds. It is during the north-east monsoon, which generally includes Christmas, that the pleasant but very treacherous land wind or 1 along-shore.' wind, as it is called, prevails, bringing colds and fever and all manner of evils. Here most emphatically is ' the wind from the east,' bad alike for man and beast. Happily it is limited to the winter months ; during the other nine, Colombo is greatly favoured with westerly sea-breezes. COLOMBO 4t Due consideration of these general laws will enable a traveller to avoid the heaviest rainfall on either coast ; but as regards the mountain districts, one might as well calculate on weather in Scotland, for sometimes while one side of a dividing range is revelling in sun shine, the other is being deluged. It is said that whereas the rainfall of Great Britain ranges from a minimum of 22 inches to a maximum of 70 inches, the minimum in Ceylon is 70, and the maximum exceeds 200 inches. But it all falls in from 100 to 200 days per annum, in the intervals of blazing sun shine. Just beyond Galle Face lies Colpetty (or, as it is now spelt, Kol- lupitiya), one of the most delightful suburbs of Colombo, but all around the grassy shores of the beautiful lake (and indeed in every direction) are scattered the pleasant homes of the residents in this favoured Isle. The majority of these are all of the bungalow type — i.e. only one storey high, built of stone or brick, and with the roof very high- pitched, both on account of the heat retained by the tiles and to throw off heavy rain. Thus much ventilation is secured, as inside, instead of a ceiling, there is only a tightly stretched white cloth ; so the whole space within the roof is a reservoir for air — an attic where in rats and rat-snakes dwell in anything but love, and often a great wobble and commotion overhead tells of a battle a outrance. But that canvas is the playground for many creatures, whose tiny feet you see running along. Thatch being prohibited in towns for fear of fire, the majority of these houses are roofed with round half-tiles, laid alternately so as to fit into one another and throw off rain. Every house is surrounded by a wide verandah, supported by a row of white pillars which in the older bungalows resemble creamy- white marble. This beautiful polished surface was produced by a preparation of shell-lime called chunam, but I am told that the secret of making it has been lost. These cool verandahs, which generally extend right round the bungalow, are at once the main feature and chief luxury of oriental houses. Furnished with com fortable lounging chairs and light tables, they become pleasant family sitting-rooms, with all the advantage of being out of doors, combined with the comfort of being in shadow and looking out to the bright sunlight through a veil of exquisite foliage and bright blossoms. 42 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON For the gardeners (or their masters) seem to vie one with another who shall raise the most fairy-like profusion of beautiful flowers. So roof and pillars are alike overgrown by luxuriant creepers, while hanging baskets are filled with rare plants, and an endless variety of bright-leaved caladiums adorn the edge of the verandah. The flowering creepers are often trained to climb the neighbouring trees, which are thus festooned with lovely blossoms — blue, crimson, or gold. The indigenous flame-coloured gloriosa, orange venusta, vanilla, orchids, begonia, white and yellow jessamine, roses, fuchsias, the vivid blue clitoria, and a tiny bright-blue convolvulus, strange pitcher- plants, gorgeous passion-flowers of all colours, and the delicate lavender blossoms of the Thunbergia, are among the most abundant beauties of these flower-embowered homes. Here and there a richer glow of rosy lilac reveals the gay foliage of the Bougainvillea, gar landing some sober tree with its bright wreaths of delicate leaves. In short, everything flourishes in this hot, moist atmosphere, and the mingled perfume of a thousand tropical blossoms is wafted on every breath of breezy sunshine. Unfortunately we cannot quite forget that the warm moisture favours other growths less attractive, of which the most annoying is a delicate white fungus which rapidly covers all clothes, gloves, boots and shoes, papers and books, involving ceaseless watchfulness and exposure to the sun to save them from becoming hopelessly mildewed. In cases where it is possible to apply it, citronella oil is a useful remedy. Neglected scissors and knives turn to a mass of rust ; and sometimes the mould fungus even gets into the very grain of the glass covering pictures, so that it is impossible to remove the opaque stains. As to drawing-paper, it becomes hopelessly mildewed as soon as it is landed ; and the only possible corrective is to coat the paper with white paint ere commencing to colour— an unsatisfactory process, but better than revealing fungus- stars in every direction. Then, too, the rough coir- matting on the verandahs, and the gravel which is generally laid close round bungalows, remind us that their primary object is to keep off snakes, which dislike gliding over rough substances. Some very prudent people even object to over hanging trees, by which snakes may possibly climb so as to drop on to the house ; but, as we have seen, the majority ignore this risk for the sake of a flower-embowered home. Still it does not do to COLOMBO 43 forget that though Ceylon is Paradise, the serpent still asserts his presence and his power in the fairest gardens. Then in house-building another serious foe has to be taken into account — namely, those stealthiest of aggressors, the white ants, properly called termites — little soft white creatures about an inch long, which look quite incapable of doing mischief ; and yet no Samson in the house of the Philistines could work more deadly harm than they when once they discover some secret means of access to the woodwork of a house. Carefully keeping out of sight, they work so diligently that in an incredibly short space of time what seems to be solid rafters will prove to be mere hollow shells full of powdered wood and cunningly cemented clay (where they obtain the clay and glue is as great a mystery as is the silk and web supplying power of silkworms and spiders). The wood of the palmyra palm and of the ebony-tree are the only Ceylonese timbers capable of resisting their ravages, and of course the demand for these is so much greater than the supply, that other wood — chiefly that of the jak-tree — is largely used in house-building, but necessitates constant watchfulness. For this reason, wooden posts can never be sunk in the ground, but must rest on a stone foundation well in sight ; and even then these clever engineers often frustrate this precaution by constructing very unob trusive tubular bridges of clay, through which they mount unseen, and so attack the woodwork at their leisure. Fortunately the workers are all wingless ; and though the perfect termites, both male and female, are each endowed with four wings, they happily do not take an unfair advantage of poor human beings by flying to new centres of destruction. Indeed the females, or rather the queens, have enough to do in recruiting the ant-legions, as each is supposed by the lowest computation to lay 3,000,000 egg every year ! They seem to set very small value on their wings, which they shed on the smallest provocation. Sometimes in the evening swarms of these winged ants,, both white and black, fly in at the ever-open doors and windows, attracted by the lights ; and after hovering about for a few moments, they vanish, leaving their wings behind them. I have seen scores of wings thus dropped on a dinner-table ; and occasionally the bereft owners drop beside them, looking naked and humble. Not only the woodwork of a house, but furniture and goods of all 44 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON sorts, must be jealously guarded from the attacks of white ants ; and any indication of clay in any crevice calls for immediate inspection. Legions of black and red ants of various sizes, some quite tiny, others half an inch in length, also involve constant watchfulness ; for while the former would quickly make such havoc of a whole book case, or of a packing-case full of books, that little of them would be left except the backs exposed to view, the active little ants are always in search of something to devour, especially fruit, cakes, and sweet meats of all sorts. As a defensive measure, the legs of beds, tables, pianos, &c, are raised on glass stands, or set in jars full of water, while empty black bottles laid in rows on the matting afford a tolerably secure founda tion for packing-cases and luggage of all sorts. Provided they can be kept from poaching, the black and red ants are invaluable scavengers, as they are for ever seeking what they may devour ; and as there are upwards of seventy different species of ants in Ceylon, their collective efforts in this direction are not to be despised. Not only do they bodily carry off the corpses of any cockroaches, beetles, or tiny lizards which they happen to find about the house, but in the case of larger creatures, whose skeletons it may be desir able to preserve, such as snakes or small birds, it is enough to leave them secure from crows and such awkward dissectors, — the ants may safely be trusted to pick them faultlessly clean, and ready for exhibition in any museum. It is, however, needless to add, that if plumage is to be preserved, or butterflies, the ants, so far from being benefactors, are transformed into an army of myriad foes, from whom it will tax a collector's utmost ingenuity to defend his treasures. But the red ants must be forgiven many indiscretions in con sideration of the vigorous war which they wage against the altogether destructive white ants. Any one who likes can see this for himself by breaking open a corner of one of the innumerable white ants' castles which abound in the Cinnamon Gardens and elsewhere ant hills perhaps six feet high of most intricate internal construction, divided into separate compartments, and these into cells, all con nected by passages, and all built of the finest clay, which the crea tures can only obtain by excavating it from beneath the layer of white quartz sand which covers the ground to a depth of several inches. By removing a corner of the roof, you not only may watch these busy masons hard at work, but the chances are that in a very few COLOMBO 45 moments some wandering red ant will discover the breach in the enemy's fortress, and forthwith he will summon a whole regiment of small but most energetic red warriors, who will commence a furious on slaught on the hapless soft white masons, and then rapidly retire, carrying with them the corpses of the slain. So you see the red ants are man's useful allies. (In seasons of scarcity the ant-legions in the arid districts of Manaar are still more valuable as involuntary fora gers. The Tamil villagers dig into their nests and rob them of all their store of divers seeds.) The aforesaid Cinnamon Gardens form one of the most popular suburbs of Colombo, a considerable part having been sold by Go vernment as building lots, and purchased by wealthy individuals, who have here built luxurious homes nestling in beautiful gardens. It has, however, the disadvantage of being somewhat remote from the sea, and so losing the freshness of the breeze, and being left a prey to armies of mosquitos. But it is a very favourite evening drive, the grounds being intersected by miles of good carriage-roads. Of course the prevalence of one shrub implies monotony, and the multitudinous great ant-hills to which I have alluded are a fair indi cation of the general neglect which has suffered these once jealously guarded gardens to degenerate into a tangled jungle, rather sugges tive of a neglected shrubbery of Portugal laurels, glorified by the natural growth of many flowering plants and a profusion of climbing vines, especially a large white convolvulus, which blooms only at night, and hence is commonly called ' the moon-flower.' The red and yellow blossoms of the Lantana, the lilac Osbekia, a white flower like scentless jessamine, rose-coloured periwinkles, and quaint pitcher-plants, are among the many uncultivated plants ; and there are also a number of large trees, which were originally planted for the sake of their shade. The aromatic cinnamon laurel itself, when left to follow its natural will, grows to a height of about forty feet, but when under cultivation it is kept pruned to about fifteen feet. As is the case with many Ceylonese trees, its young foliage is scarlet, and gradually changes to a dark glossy green, so that in the distance you would fancy these young scarlet tips were blossoms. The latter are insig nificant, of a dingy white, with pale yellow inside, and have rather an unpleasant smell. They flower in January, and by May have developed into small purplish-brown berries, each provided with a cup like that of the acorn, 46 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON These berries, when bruised and boiled with the young shoots, yield a fragrant oil, with which the wealthier natives anoint their hair, and, like all brown races, some follow their daily ablutions with a little polish of oil, just to make them of a cheerful countenance. This cinnamon oil is sometimes mixed with cocoa-nut oil, and burns with a most brilliant light. From this oil a thick white wax can be prepared, which used to be in great request for the manufacture of the tapers burnt in Buddhist temples, and also, under Portuguese rule, for making candles for the Roman Catholic altars. But so small is the amount of wax obtained from a very large quantity of berries, that the manufacture could never be a paying industry, and so it has fallen into disuse, and the crop of purple berries serves to fatten flocks of turtle and cinnamon doves, whose soft cooing is heard on every side. Oil of camphor can be distilled from the roots of the cinnamon laurel. An oil is also extracted from the leaves, which is sold under the name of clove oil. The leaves when crushed in the hand have a certain aromatic fragrance like that of cloves, but as to ' spicy breezes,' there is no more smell of cinnamon here than in a hazel copse in Britain. That is not perceptible till you break a twig, or till the poor young shoots have been flayed and the inner bark is ready for export. The cultivation is something like that of a willow copse, straight young shoots springing up round the stump of the plant previously cut. These in their turn are cut about every second year — that is to say, when they are about five feet high and about two inches in cir cumference. A good many of these are sold as walking-sticks, and find a ready market on board the steamers among the passengers, who think there must be a special charm in a cinnamon stick, though in truth it is hard to distinguish it from our own common hazel. But of course the real thing to be secured is the highly aromatic inner bark. So first of all the leaves are stripped off, and then the bark is slit from end to end with a sharp knife, which has a curved point ; with this, aided by fingers, the bark is carefully removed in long pieces. These are heaped up and left to sodden, so as to facilitate the next process— namely, that of scraping off the outer rind. In order to do this, each piece is placed on a round piece of wood and carefully scraped with the knife, the almost nude brown workers sitting on the ground and using their toes as an extra hand to steady the end of the stick. The bark is then left to dry in the sun, when it rolls itself up into tight quills. These are then neatly COLOMBO 47 sorted and packed, three or four inside of one another, and are made up into bales covered with cloth, and are then ready for export. Broken quills are either sold as chips or reserved for the distiller, who thence extracts oil of cinnamon, having first crushed and pounded the bark, and then soaked it in sea-water for a couple of days. The oil thus obtained is of a rich yellow or red colour. Cinnamon is so singularly sensitive that great care has to be taken with regard to its surroundings on board ship, as a bale of very fine cinnamon will lose much of its delicate aroma if packed among bales of coarser bark. Various expedients have been tried to remedy this. The Portuguese and Dutch isolated the bales by packing them in cocoa-nut fibre, or in cattle-hides ; but it is found that the only real safeguard is to pack bags of pepper between the bales. Alas ! in Ceylon as in some other countries, intending purchasers have need to guard against possible fraud in their investment, for it is said that certain native dealers have attained amazing skill in the substitution of other worthless barks, notably that of guava, which, after being duly prepared, is left for some hours to soak in the strongly scented water left after the distillation of cinnamon oil. This imparts the requisite sweet taste, and then a touch from a cloth dipped in cheap cinnamon oil completes the deception. Quills of either this prepared guava bark, or of coarse jungle cinnamon, are neatly packed inside good quills, and then only an adept can detect the fraud. Strange indeed it is, looking at this jungle of neglected plants, with their glossy scarlet and green foliage, to think how enormous is the influence they have exerted on the fortunes of this Isle — an influence literally of life and death ; for so resolute were the Dutch in maintaining their monopoly of this precious spice, that in a.d. 1659 a law was enacted assigning death as the penalty of buying or selling the wild jungle cinnamon, which was the only sort then known. A few years later the same penalty was attached to stealing the precious bark, to giving or receiving it, or to distilling camphor from the roots of the tree. The least injury to a cinnamon plant, wherever found, was punished by flogging, and when these Government Gardens had been established, the destruction of a plant in these involved certain death. But even supposing a cinnamon shrub to grow by chance on a man's private ground, Dutch law declared all such to be the property of the State ; no one save the authorised peelers dared to touch it under severe penalties, and if the proprietor, anxious to 48 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON keep his land to himself, and safe from State trespassers, dared to cut it down, he was liable to capital punishment ! It is difficult to understand how such laws could have been possible, seeing that wild cinnamon grew so abundantly throughout the south western provinces, and in the Kandyan forests, and even on the east coast near Batticaloa, that there seems every reason to believe it to have been indigenous. The same inference is drawn from finding it described in an ancient Sanskrit catalogue of plants as Singhalem, or ' belonging to Ceylon.' On the other hand, it is certainly singular, if this was the case, that in enumerating the precious products of Ceylon in medieval ages, when cinnamon was so greatly prized, it is never once mentioned by any writer prior to Nicola de Conti, who in a.d. 1444 speaks of it as growing here. This certainly seems to give reason to the argument of those who maintain that it was imported from Africa — probably from Cape Guardafui— to the south-western districts, where (like the Lantana in our own days) it rapidly became ac climatised, its seeds being carried by birds to more remote inland districts. Hence perhaps the reason for the Dutch law against shoot ing crows. Certain it is that when the Portuguese arrived here in the middle of the fifteenth century, cinnamon was the one object desired, and the selection of Colombo with only an open roadstead, to be the headquarters of trade, in preference to Trincomalee with its magnificent natural harbour, could only have been due to the fact of its being the natural centre of the cinnamon region, and near to Cotta, the residence of the Singhalese king, by whose favour alone could the precious bark be obtained. Finding that cinnamon was the one item desired by those foreign traders, the king required the low-caste Chaliyas, who were weavers, to pay him a heavy tribute in prepared bark ; so (at the proper peeling season, in May, after the rains have softened the bark) they had to leave their looms and enter the forests in search for cinnamon —no sinecure in those days, when wild beasts abounded, and when no less savage Kandyans were on the alert to harass their low- country neighbours, sometimes cutting down the cinnamon trees in order to annoy the foreigners. The Kandyan king himself, however, was open to trade, and in exchange for salt and Indian cloths, sent large consignments of mountain cinnamon, much of which was too acrid for exportation. COLOMBO 49 The Portuguese seem to have sent out military escorts from their various forts to guard the Chaliyas in their arduous work of collecting the Maha badda or great tax ; and the Capitan de Canella, or chief of the cinnamon-peelers, was treated both by the Portuguese and afterwards by the Dutch with much honour. Nevertheless these Chaliyas cannot have had a very happy time of it, judging from the law enacted forbidding them to make any complaints to the governor, except through the superintendent of the cinnamon plantations, on pain of being put in chains for three years. We may infer that complaints were not frequent, and that the art of ' grinning and bearing ' was brought to great perfection. Under the Portuguese rule, the collecting thereof seems to have gone on fairly enough. Though their barbarous cruelties in war were almost beyond belief, it was reserved for the Dutch to make such laws as I have just quoted, in order to secure a monopoly in trade. Amongst these was the enactment of a fine of a thousand guilders for each plant of cinnamon or any other spice exported from the Isle to India or Europe. This was evaded by the Dutch themselves, who surreptitiously exported seeds, and it is said plants also, to Java, and there established flourishing plantations. But from the end of the fifteenth century till the middle of the nineteenth, the cinnamon of Ceylon stood unrivalled, and the Isle supplied almost all the spice used in Europe. Its price was kept up both by the Portuguese and Dutch, by occasional bonfires of surplus stock, so that there might be no glut in the market, such as has in modern days of free trade caused such fluctuations in its price. In the days of the monopoly, when the export was restricted to 8,000 bales of 100 lb. each, the price in the European market for cinnamon of the finest quality was twelve shillings per lb. ; and between a.d. 1753 and 1787 the price rose to seventeen shillings and eight- pence. Now, when about 12,000 bales are annually shipped, one shilling per pound is the highest price that can be obtained for the best bark. In the first place, the high price of cinnamon led to the extensive use of cassia, which is largely exported from China and India, and which, though coarser and more pungent, strongly resembles cinnamon. Then when Java, Tillicherry, Madras, Guiana, Martinique, and Mauritius all succeeded in growing cinnamon, the market was flooded with such coarse bark, selling at such low prices, that cassia was in its turn almost driven from the field. It still, however, holds E 50 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON its ground in the manufacture of chocolate for Russia and Turkey, Mexico and Germany, where its pungent flavour is preferred to the more delicate cinnamon. But in the manufacture of incense for Greek and Roman Catholic churches and heathen temples, for medicinal purposes and domestic use, and also in the preparation of ' Thorley's Food for Cattle,' cinnamon is largely used. To return to the ' Cinnamon Gardens,' whence I started on this long digression : these and similar plantations were started by the Dutch only in the last century, in order to be independent of the supplies collected in the jungles in the interior of the Isle. They were established all along the south-west coast, wherever there was a fort to protect them, beginning at Matara and Galle in the south, and extending as far north as Negombo and Chilaw. Some were on a very large scale, this one at Colombo (Marandhan) covering 3,824 acres, while that at Negombo covered 5,137 acres. They seem to have been simply tracts of the great jungle in which wild ' cinnamon grew in dense profusion, more especially between Negombo and Chilaw. Apparently the work of the Dutch State gardeners was simply to clear the land of other jungle shrubs, fill up the vacancies with cinnamon seedlings, and drain the ground. Nature supplied the moist heat which is the first essential of cinna-" mon culture, and the shrub grows well even on poor soil. Never theless, it responds generously to more hospitable treatment, and it is said that when portions of the Cinnamon Gardens were purchased by private individuals, some who fed their land with rich manure reaped a sevenfold harvest — in other words, they gathered 350 lb. of bark to the acre, on land which had previously yielded 50 lb. The natural soil of these gardens is very peculiar. The whole surface is of the very finest snow-white quartz sand ; this, however, is only a layer a few inches deep, covering a grey sand, beneath which lies a stratum almost entirely composed of sea-shells, so that the roots of the trees do strike nourishing soil. Such is the longevity of the cinnamon laurel that many of the trees, which must be fully a hundred years old, are still in full vigour. When the British obtained possession of Ceylon, Government of course succeeded to the monopoly, which was retained till 1832 when it was abandoned, and the trade in cinnamon thrown open to all merchants on payment of an export duty of three shillings a pound. The Government Cinnamon Department, however, retained its staff of highly paid English officials and numerous native officials COLOMBO Si together with hundreds of peelers, sorters, &c, till 1840, when, on the representation of the merchants of the impossibility of their trading against such competition, the Government connection with the trade was altogether severed, and the export duty lowered to one shilling per pound. Five years later this final tax was also removed, but by this time the substitution of cassia and coarser cinnamon from other places had so lowered the market that it has never since recovered. So the Government Gardens were sold at very low prices to private individuals, and these at Colombo were reserved to be disposed of in building lots, as purchasers could be found. A plot has recently been assigned to the Parsees for the erection of a ' Tower of Silence ' for the disposal of their dead. Speaking of the cinnamon laurel and of the rigorous Dutch laws concerning it, reminds me of another very attractive member of the laurel family — namely, the spicy nutmeg-tree {Myristica fragrans). As the Dutch resolved that Ceylon should monopolise the trade of the whole world in cinnamon and pepper, so they assigned to the Moluccas the exclusive right to grow nutmeg and cloves. Quite pathetic stories are told of the manner in which certain tender young trees which found their way into gardens in Ceylon were ruthlessly cut, and their owners haled to prison. Happily under English rule the nutmeg-tree has fared better, having been formally introduced by Mr. Anstruther in 1838, so now it flourishes without fear, and its fruit is perhaps the prettiest that grows. At first sight it resembles a round golden-yellow pear, hanging beneath its glossy green leaves, but when fully ripe this golden fruit divides and reveals a ball of yellowish-scarlet mace closely wrapped round a thin shining brown shell, within which lies the familiar nutmeg. The yellow outer flesh makes an excellent preserve. A favourite colonial story tells of an imperative order from Britain to grow more mace and fewer nutmegs ! 52 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON CHAPTER III COLOMBO The oldest newspaper editor in the East — Turtles and tortoises — Ceylon timber for cabinet-making — Bridge of boats — Kelani Temple — Buddhist priests of two sects — Sacred fire — The Buddhist revival — Kotahena Temple — Riot — Cremation of a priest. Amongst the pleasant memories of many friends whose kindness helped to brighten each day in the fair Isle, I cannot refrain from naming one family, so numerous, and all so intimately associated with Ceylon, that, under various names, they seemed to be ubiqui tous. I allude to that . of Sir Charles Peter Layard, who (happily still surviving) was the eldest of a family of twenty-three brothers and sisters, most of whom married and settled in the Isle, as have also many of their children. Another name closely associated with Ceylon for the last fifty years has been that of Mr. A. M. Ferguson, who for forty-four years has ably edited the leading newspaper of the colony, the ' Ceylon Observer,' and whose knowledge on all subjects connected with the Isle causes him to be regarded as a sort of Ceylonese Encyclopedia. Happily much of this knowledge is imparted to the public in a copious Handbook and Directory, and in other publications of special interest to the large planting community. His brother, Mr. William Ferguson, a distinguished botanist, and a keen lover of natural history in all its branches, was one of my first friends at Colombo, and vividly do I remember my first re ception in his pretty bungalow. He had sent messengers in every direction to search for specimens of the most beautiful and interest ing flowers, indigenous and exotic, scarlet, white, gold, and purple, and with these his verandah was adorned, that he might give me a delightfully illustrated botanical lecture, made quite realistic by the presence of a great variety of live turtles and tortoises, at least a score of these, some not much bigger than a penny, creeping all over the place. I confess to some qualms at the activity of a lively cobra with distended hood ! Then Mr. Ferguson showed us samples COLOMBO 53 of all the reptiles of the Isle preserved in spirits, so that I came away very much enlightened as to what I was to look out for in my further travels.1 He also gave me the following summary of Ceylonese reptiles : — ' Thirty-eight frogs of all sorts, and one apicsiium. 'Seventy-nine snakes of all sorts, including twenty-three sea- snakes, supposed to be found on our coasts, all of which are said to be deadly. Of the others only three are deadly, and four more are poisonous. ' Forty-five of the family of crocodiles, including lizards, geckoes, blood-suckers, and one chameleon. ' Eight tortoises, and fresh and salt water turtles.' Some of the land tortoises are- tiny little brown things, but others are very pretty, perhaps from four to eight inches in length, with convex shell beautifully marked. I have one, of which the scales resemble limpets, each striped with bright yellow rays on a rich brown or black ground. Another has flat pentagonal scales like shields, each with bright yellow centre set in brown and black. These retain all their beautiful natural polish. They are generally found iri or near ponds. The Tamil fishers describe turtles as kaddal amai or ' sea-turtles,' while tortoises are called ' milk-turtles ' and ' pariah-turtles.' The latter are found in marshes and ditches, and, though not edible, are highly valued by the natives on account of certain medicinal proper ties supposed to belong to them, their flesh and blood being deemed an antidote for infantile sickness ! The ' milk-turtle ' (pal amai), or terrapin, live in tanks and wells, and are said to be useful as scavengers, devouring insects and their larvas. Of ' sea-turtle ' there are several varieties, of which the principal are the edible turtle and the hawk's-bill. The former are found on all parts of the coast, and are specially abundant in the north of the Isle. On the small twin isles of Iranativu near Jaffna they are so numerous as to form the chief food of the people, to say nothing of furniture, the shells being used as seats. At certain seasons, how- 1 Ceylon is truly a happy hunting-ground for collectors. Thus in March 1889 a German naturalist, Herr Friihstorfer, landed here. He enlisted fourteen collectors to work for him all over the Isle, and in July he departed taking with him a collection of upwards of 25,000 beetles, 7,000 butterflies, 3,000 orthoptera (i.e. • straight-winged,' which includes mantis, leaf-insects, spectre-insects, walking-sticks, grasshoppers, crickets, locusts, &c), 3,000 dragon-flies, i.coo spiders and centipedes, and all manner of land and sea snakes ; also a fine collection of shells, 54 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON ever, they are so unwholesome as to be accounted poisonous ; in fact, in various instances deaths have been attributed to feasting on turtle out of season. Large quantities of their soft round white eggs are also eaten, the mother turtle confidingly depositing from one to two hundred in the warm sun, in the very presence of hungry men ! These creatures are sometimes captured of a very large size, four or five feet in length, and their shells are utilised in various ways. But the turtle which yields the beautiful tortoise-shell of com merce is the hawk's-bill, which is not considered wholesome, and a very barbarous method used to be practised by the natives in order to secure several sets of scales from the same creature. It was captured and suspended over a wood fire till the heat made the scales drop off, after which it was allowed to crawl away scorched and bereft of its coveted shell. I speak of this in the past tense, because the police are now ever on the alert to prevent all manner of cruelty to animals, so that such barbarities as this, and also cutting up live turtles and selling them bit by bit, are at least less common than of old. The reason assigned in this case is that the shell loses its natural gloss and becomes opaque if the poor turtle has been allowed to die. In some other isles, however— e.g. the Celebes— the turtles are first knocked on the head, and then dipped in boiling water, by which means the outer shell is detached in better condition than by the barbarous smoking process. The names turtle and tortoise are used so promiscuously that I was glad to learn a simple distinction between them— namely, that turtles which live chiefly in the sea are furnished with fin-like flappers, whereas land tortoises have neat little feet with claws. The terrapin, or marsh tortoises, have webbed feet and claws, so that they are provided for all contingencies. It has been said that a placid temperament tends to longevity, and certainly these creatures happily illustrate the theory. We know that even in so cold a climate as that of Britain tortoises have lived to a very great age. There is preserved at Peterborough Cathedral the shell of one which was known to have been upwards of one hundred and eighty years old, when it was killed by an accident. And at Lambeth may still be seen the shell of one which Archbishop Laud brought there from Fulham, and which is known to have lived there for one hundred and thirty years, during which COLOMBO 55 time no less than eight archbishops ruled over Canterbury. There is no saying how many more it might have survived had it not been for the carelessness of a gardener who dug it out of its hole one cold winter day and neglected to provide it with another, and the poor thing being too drowsy to find one for itself, died of cold. That, at least, is a danger from which no tortoise is likely to suffer in Ceylon (unless he takes to mountain climbing) ; conse quently I believe they do not hibernate here, but live in conscious ness all the year round. One of the regular sights at Colombo is a noble old tortoise of unknown age, but which is believed to have been a native of the Galapagos Isles, and supposed to have been about fifty years of age when it was sent from Singapore as an offer ing to one of the Dutch governors of Colombo Fort, upwards of a hundred and fifty years ago. From that time to the present it has been a pet of the foreign residents, having been ' taken over ' from the Dutch and left in pos session of the garden at Tangue Salgado (now known as Uplands). Here early colonists used to amuse themselves by tortoise-riding, seven or eight men standing at once on his strong back, while he slowly but steadily walked off with his heavy burden. But now, alas ! he is quite blind, and moves very slowly, only seeming to find some pleasure while grazing in ' the cool moist grass near the well. The Japanese have adopted a mythological variety of this family as an emblem of longevity, and not without good reason. Even as I write, the daily papers report the capture on the St. John river, Florida, of a tortoise bearing the arms of Spain, and the date 1700 plainly discernible on its dorsal shell, as also the following inscrip tion (doubtless in Spanish): 'Captured in the year 1700 by Fer nando Gomez in the St. Sebastian river ; taken later on by the Indians to Montanzas, and from there to the Great Wekima.' The latter was the ancient name of the river now known as the St. John. After showing this elderly tortoise to several friends, the captor added the date 1890 and released it, perhaps, to enjoy another cen tury of placid existence. A specially interesting visit in Colombo was to Alfred House, the home of Mr. Charles de Soysa, said to be the wealthiest native of Ceylon, and certainly the most eminently philanthropic, his influence and his wealth having always been at the service of every wise scheme for the help and improvement of the people. 56 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON A maternity hospital, a model farm, and an admirably conducted college at Moratuwa, are among the public benefactions by which he will be best remembered, and widespread and real was the grief of many thousands who attended his funeral, when in the autumn of 1890 this true friend of rich and poor died of hydrophobia. Sad to say, he was bitten by a mad terrier on August 2, and died on Sep tember 29, happily without great pain. His European friends vainly pleaded that he should at once start for Paris to place himself under the care of M. Pasteur, but he resolved to retire to Moratuwa, and there abide by the treatment of the Singhalese wedaralas, which unhappily proved ineffectual. Specially interesting to a new-comer in the Isle were the beauti ful specimens of furniture at Alfred House, much of it richly carved, made from all the choicest woods of the Ceylonese forests — forests which, alas ! have hitherto been so ruthlessly destroyed by natives and foreigners that many of the most valuable trees, once so abundant, are now exceedingly rare. Doubtless many persons still remember the very valuable furni ture which was lent by M. de Soysa to the Indian and Colonial Exhibition in 1886. That was a fair sample of the home treasures of which he was so justly proud. Of all the Ceylonese woods, I think the handsomest is the Cala- mander, with its rich brown and yellow markings. Unfortunately its beauty has almost resulted in its extermination, the forests where once it grew having now been entirely cleared of every tree worth cutting. The Pulu and the Kumbuk are both very pretty rich brown woods ; the Katu-puli has a mahogany-coloured centre, with a straw- coloured edge ; the Makulai has also a rich mahogany centre ; the Maruta is amber-tinted at the heart, with a pale outer circle ; and the tamarind is of a rich chocolate colour, with a yellow edge, its root being specially prized. The tamarind is, however, so very hard as to be extremely difficult to work. These are but a few from among many of the choicest specimens, as you can well understand, seeing that the Ceylonese forests yield about ninety different useful timbers. One of the most beautiful is the pale-yellow satin-wood, which fifty years ago was so abundant in the north-eastern forests that it was commonly used for house-build ing, and even for making bridges, notably that beautiful bridge which spans the Maha-velli-ganga at Peradeniya, near Kandy. One rare COLOMBO 57 and precious variety is known as flowered satin-wood, and is very highly valued. Perhaps the most singular of all ornamental woods is the ebony, of which there are two kinds, distinguished by the natives as Kalu- wara and Karun-kali, both having the same peculiar characteristic of a jet-black heart set in a pale outer edge : some one has aptly described it as a white tree with black marrow. Akin to the true ebony is the Kadumberia, with tiger-like markings of brown and yellow merging in the black centre. Its roots yield most beautiful fantastic waving patterns of black or fawn colour. Several of the palm-trees — notably the palmyra and cocoa — are also of exceedingly beautiful grain and colour, and when denuded of their bark and polished, they form very handsome pillars. A good deal of timber from the eastern forests is floated down the rivers to the sea, and there formed into rafts, and so conveyed to its destination. A very few days after I arrived at St. Thomas's College a large raft of ebony arrived from Trincomalee, and was landed on the sands just below the College while I was sketching on the shore. One tree at a time was detached ; and ten or twelve brown coolies, whose raiment consisted chiefly of a turban, waded or swam to the raft with a bamboo and.cords, by which they attached the tree, and so floated it ashore and carried it up the bank. One of our earliest expeditions was to visit an ancient Buddhist temple on the farther bank of the Kelani river, which we crossed by a bridge of boats. That in itself was interesting. It seemed so strange to see such an array of boats anchored side by side right across the wide stream, placed to act as piers in supporting the roadway, across which a ceaseless traffic of heavily-laden creaking bullock-carts was passing to and fro. It is a curious survival of what is now ancient history — namely, Ceylon as it was in 1830, without roads or bridges, and when this military bridge of boats, constructed by Sir Edward Barnes, was an unspeakable boon to brown men and white. Now, however, in these days of rapid progress, when first-class iron girders span the most distant and out-of-the-way rivers with the minimum of traffic, this cumbersome old-fashioned approach to the capital is felt to be out of keeping with the times. While the stop page of all land traffic for one hour daily, to allow boats to pass up and down the river, is felt to be a grievous inconvenience to carts, carriages, and pedestrians, the luckless boat-owners murmur, with 58 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON graver cause, at a detention of perhaps twenty-three hours ere they can be allowed to pass. Moreover, in the summer floods, which almost annually cause serious damage to the low lands near the mouth of the river, this bridge is frequently not only closed to traffic, but its very existence is endangered by the sweeping down of floating trees and timber- rafts, and accidents are imminent. So this interesting relic is doomed, and is to be replaced by a fine iron bridge of eight spans, four of ioo feet and four of 30 feet. The river derives its name from a very ancient city which once stood on its banks, and of which this temple is a descendant, inas much as it was built in the year a.d. 1240, and rebuilt about a.d. 1 301, on the site of one which dated from about 500 b.c. Within the temple a great image of Buddha sits beneath the Naga canopy (i.e. overshadowed by the great hooded cobra), and in most happy companionship with images of Ganesha, Vishnu, and Siva, the latter grasping his trident. Those who are interested in ritualistic eccentricities will note that Siva's hand is uplifted in the orthodox attitude of blessing, with the first and second fingers raised, and the third and fourth closed. To the student of theoretic Buddhism, which inculcates no worship of any sort (least of all the worship of Buddha himself), and which dispenses with all supernatural aid, this amalgamation of creeds is startling, but in Ceylon, as in Siam, it is quite a matter of course ; indeed, even in China and Japan, the Hindoo gods find room in many a Buddhist temple, practical Buddhism being simply the addition of the founder's own image, and those of his many disciples and saints, to those of the multitudinous idols whom he strove to extirpate. That this very debased form of Buddhism is so prevalent in Ceylon is due to the fact that the priesthood imported from Siam by the ancient kings incorporated all manner of Hindoo superstitions and caste prejudices, refusing to admit men of low caste to the higher orders of the priesthood, while permitting all to combine with their priestly duties such occupations as astrology, the practice of medicine, &c. A very much purer form of Buddhism is, however, held by the priests of the Amarapoora sect, now largely on the increase. These derive their ecclesiastical orders from Burmah, and disclaim all connection with the polytheism of India, rigidly excluding from their COLOMBO 59 temples every image or symbol of Hindoo worship. They are readily distinguished from the Siamese priesthood by the fact of wearing their long yellow robe folded round the body so as to cover both shoulders, whereas the Siamese always have one end falling over the left shoulder, while the right arm and neck are always bare. All agree in the necessity of shaving the head, but the controversy as to whether shaving the eyebrows is incumbent has been as hot as the tonsure question in the Christian Church. Curiously enough, of all the multitudinous images of Buddha which I saw in Ceylon, I cannot recall one which has not the right shoulder uncovered, so the inference is that all must have been sculptured or built under the influence of men of the Siamese sect. These reserve certain portions of the sacred books for the exclu sive use of the priests of the highest grade. The Burmese priests, on the contrary, expound the whole of the sacred books to all the people ; they totally ignore caste, but insist on the priests abstaining from all secular work. The origin of these sects forms a noteworthy feature in the history of Ceylon. It seems that for several centuries Buddhism had been degenerating, and departing farther and farther from its original purity. At length, owing to the prolonged civil wars which desolated the Isle towards the close of the seventeenth century, the Upasam- pada, or highest order of priests, had almost ceased to exist ; and as they alone were competent to ordain the Samanaros, or priests of lower grade, there seemed every probability that Buddhism would simply evaporate from Ceylon. At this juncture the Jesuit missionaries very naturally endeavoured to secure a firmer footing, but the Dutch, therein scenting the poli tical influences of Portugal, determined to counteract their action. They therefore gave every assistance to the Buddhists by lending them ships to convey a special mission to Arracan, whence a number of fully qualified priests were imported to reanimate their brethren, and effectually oppose the efforts of the Roman Catholic mis sionaries. About eighty years later, however, it again became necessary to import priests of the highest order, and this time the King of Kandy sent an embassy to Siam, there to claim this ecclesiastical aid. The Siamese priests, however, so far from restoring Buddhism to its purity, sanctioned all the corruptions which had crept in, and 60 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON especially refused to admit men of low birth to the higher offices of the priesthood. This exclusiveness induced the low-caste priests to organise an expedition to Burmah, the very centre of orthodox Buddhism, there to claim the ordination which was denied them in Ceylon. They were received with open arms, not only by the Burmese high priest (who had been greatly troubled on account of the degeneracy of the faith in Ceylon), but also by the king himself, who caused their ordi nation to be celebrated with regal honours. They were seated on golden howdahs, borne by stately elephants ; two golden umbrellas of state were held over each of the candidates, who were escorted first to the royal palace, and thence to the hall of ordination, by a procession of thousands of officials of every grade, together with a vast crowd of people. On their return to Ceylon in 1802 these priests became the founders of the aforesaid Amarapoora sect, between which and their brethren in Siamese orders there exists a great gulf, each assuming the other to be swamped in fatal error. Although the title of ' priest ' is used for convenience, the position of these men is curiously anomalous. Sir Monier Williams says they should rightly all be called 'monks.' That this is so, is evident from the 'Buddhist Catechism,' by Colonel Olcott, President of the Theosophical Society, in which it is stated, ' Buddhist priests do not acknowledge or expect anything from a Divine Power, but they ought to govern their lives according to the doctrine of Buddha. Buddhists regard a personal God as only a gigantic shadow thrown upon the void of space by the imagination of ignorant men. . . . We do not believe in miracle, hence we deny creation, and cannot conceive of a Creator.' Where, then, is the necessity for priestly ministers ? As regards the worshippers, the chief mode of accumulating merit in every Buddhist country is the ceaseless reiteration of Buddha's name. In China, O-mi-to-fu is the charm ; in Thibet, O-mani-padhi-hum, — it is all the same thing. The sovereign balm for every woe is to repeat the name of Buddha, and when you have done this ten thousand times ten thousand, begin again. Buddhism has nothing better for any wounded spirit. The walls of the Kelani temple are covered with painting, repre senting divers legends. Before all the altars are heaped offerings of fragrant, but, alas ! fading flowers and delicate ferns, jessamine, roses, BLOSSOM OF THE COCOA PALM, COLOMBO 6 1 lovely lotus-blossoms, scarlet hibiscus, the large yellow bells of the allamanda, sweet yellow champac, and, most delicious of all, the curly cream-coloured blossoms of the temple flower l or awaria. The latter is a curiously thick-set stumpy tree, bearing clusters of long narrow leaves and blossoms on very stout branches, from which a milky-white juice oozes when you gather a flower. It is really a South American tree, and is supposed to have been brought thence to the Philippine Isles in the beginning of the sixteenth century. (Magellan made the first direct voyage in a.d. 1520, and many plants from the New World were very soon brought thither, and thence made their way to farther points.) These trees are almost invariably grown near the temples, for the sake of the enchantingly fragrant perfume of the blossoms, each of which is like a cluster of five pure creamy shells with yellow heart. Within the temples the scent before evening becomes oppressive, especially as the floral offerings include many marigolds, whose orthodox yellow colour outweighs their unpleasant smell. The most attractive offerings are the plume-like blossoms of the areca and cocoa palms, both of which seem as though they were carved in purest ivory. Many of these are offered for sale in shops 2 1 Plumeria. acutifolia. 2 One is loth to think of dishonesty and violence as possible in connection with such offerings. But the following paragraph from the * Ceylon Observer,' April 12, 1891, exemplifies a curious phase of fraud : — ' Scene at a Buddhist Temple. — Last evening there was a gathering of people at the Buddhist temple at Kotahena ; and the proceedings of the evening terminated by one of the Buddhist priests being assaulted and robbed. As is the custom on such occasions, a number of flower sellers assembled outside the temple premises and put up stalls on the roadside for the sale of flowers, water-lilies included. These are purchased by the motley crowd who assemble at the temple, and offered at the shrine of their god. ' It appears that some persons, after presenting their offerings, took the flowers back to the stalls and resold them. The Buddhist priests, incensed at the deceit practised, and the indignity offered to their leader, took immediate steps to denounce the practice by beat of tomtom, and to warn the assembled multitude that a repetition of such conduct would not be tolerated. ' Shortly afterwards a bully of the Kotahena district, Swaris by name, who is also one of those " ill-omened birds' of prey " who infest the courts, with five others of his kin, rushed into the temple premises and gave Janananda Unnanse a good beating, finally stabbing the yellow-robed gentleman with a knife in his right arm. The culprits walked away, but before doing so helped themselves to the poor priest's yellow robes, two in number, some other clothing, and a large sum of money. ' The Unnanse charged the offenders this morning before the police court.' A curious illustration of the spirit of meanness in regard to offerings is the common saying with regard to any beautiful flowers growing hopelessly out of reach, ' I offer it to Buddha ! ' 62 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON in the bazaar, that worshippers who have not brought their gift with them may not enter the temple empty-handed. In the outer court is a very sacred Bo-tree (Ficus religiosa), an offshoot from that at Anaradhapura, as indeed every Bo-tree in the Isle is supposed to be. This tree receives its full share of floral offerings, as do also various hideous idols beneath its shadow. Outside the temple there are great lamps wherein sacred fire burns all the year round. This is extinguished on April 13, and is renewed by striking fire from stones. The sacred fire thus obtained is locked up in a great cage-like lamp, supported by a brass peacock, and is fed by the drip of cocoa-nut oil led in from an external reservoir. I also noted with interest a lamp-stand or chandelier, like a tree, with lotus-blossoms to act as lamps. This is rotatory, and very like one in the Court of the 'Beautiful Temple' at Nikko in Japan. One of the kindly yellow-robed priests could talk English, and as I had so recently seen the rotatory prayer-wheels on the borders of Thibet, I asked him whether any such existed in Ceylon. He informed me that there either is or was one, in a temple in that neighbourhood. I never, however, saw a trace of anything of the sort in Ceylon.1 Near the temple is the preaching-house, where the faithful assemble to hear sermons. As we wandered about we were escorted by a number of gentle Singhalese ; pretty small children offered us flowers, and some of the smallest toddled beside us, grasping our dresses in the most confiding manner. Till quite recently this was the only Buddhist temple of any import ance near Colombo, the Dutch having brought the 'persuasive eloquence of the cannon ' to bear on all heathen temples within range of their forts. During their reign, worship was prohibited here also, and the priests were banished from the temple. Of course from the moment the Union-jack was hoisted, perfect liberty of conscience was secured to all creeds. Within the last fifteen years, however, under the fostering care of the British Government, the Buddhist priests have been reinstated in greater power and honour than for many past centuries, insomuch that many of the Singhalese 1 I have described all the varieties of Buddhist so-called wheels, or rather revolving cylinders, containing prayers, images, or books, in ' In the Himalayas ' pp 434 to 441-published by Chatto & Windus; also in 'Wanderings in China'' vol ii nn 19S and 331— published by W. Blackwood & Sons. ' ' COLOMBO 63 believe, with some apparent reason, that England's Queen must be at heart a Buddhist. To average Christians who believe it to be a matter earnestly to be desired, that all false faiths should fade away before the One True Light of the world, it is a cause of very deep regret that (whereas, till quite recently, the condition of Buddhism in Ceylon was such, and the contempt of the people for the majority of its priests was so strong, that there seemed every probability of its soon becoming a dead letter) it has within the last few years received so large a measure of State patronage — unprecedented since the days of the Buddhist kings — as has electrified it into a state of renewed and aggressive vigour. One very difficult question concerns the part to be taken by the State in regard to what are described as Buddhist temporalities. Whereas in 1881 the British Government marked its perfect neu trality in matters of creed by disestablishing the Episcopal (previously the State) Church of Ceylon, in 1889 it ordered the election of com mittees of Buddhist laymen to take strict supervision of the enormous revenues of the Buddhist temples, not in order to secure their expen diture on philanthropic work and on Government schools, but solely to check their appropriation by priests for their personal use, and to ensure their application to the definitely religious service of these temples, and to pansala schools directly in connection there with. It had been proved that in the well-endowed districts, especially those around Kandy, where Buddhism is wealthiest, the priests scarcely kept up any pretence of teaching the people, even by the wretched education in pansala schools ; and that the temple revenues were in many cases appropriated for the vilest purposes. (In the Fijian Isles, where it is little more than fifty years since the first Christian missionary landed in a group peopled with ferocious cannibals, it would now be hard to find one man, woman, or child who cannot read and write. In Ceylon in 1890 it was found that 23 per cent, of the men and 79 per cent, of the women throughout the Isle could not write their own name, and in Kandy only 4 per cent. of the women can sign their own name in their marriage register. So much for the pansala schools !) When the passing of this Buddhist Temporalities Bill was under discussion, the Buddhist priests sent a strong protest to show the impossibility of their submitting the management of their temple funds to laymen, ' who by the laws of Buddhism were bound to worship 64 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON the priests: Nevertheless, the ordinance was passed, and lay trustees appointed, whereupon many of the priests hastened to ' realise ' as much temple property as possible for their own behoof. Amongst other things, the police captured a man laden with a sackful of gold and silver images of Buddha, and other temple treasures. The case was tried, and the priest, who had sent these goods to be sold for his private benefit, maintained that he was fully entitled to do so ! Such being the priests' views of the temple property committed to then- trust, it follows that all efforts of the lay authorities to carry out their instructions have been vigorously opposed by the priests, resulting in a general chaos, from which, it is urged, nothing can rescue them save the actual management by Government of temple funds ; in other words, the re-establishing of a distinctly official relation with Buddhism. This is exactly what the Buddhists want, and it would be recognition on no small scale ; for although Ceylon no longer boasts, as in days of old, of supporting 60,000 Buddhist priests, it is a notable fact that between one-third and one-fourth of the cultivated land of the island is the property of the Buddhist monasteries, and as such is exempt from the taxation which applies to all rice-growing lands. The whole history of Buddhism in Ceylon is that of a system upheld by the strong will of the rulers by whom in various ages these enormous gifts of land were made (subject to certain condi tions regarding their occupation) to the Buddhist Vihares and Hindoo Dewales, which, while theoretically antagonistic, are in fact inextri cably blended. These gifts included the serfdom in perpetuity of all the many thousands of inhabitants, who in each succeeding age were born to the most absolute slavery of compulsory work for the service of the temples, and who were bought and sold with the land, should the temple authorities see fit to sell portions of their estates. Against this yoke of bondage the serfs have vainly striven, and but for the continued support of the rulers, the priests would all along have been totally unable to exact the oppressive and often detested service. Unfortunately, under an entire misapprehension of the true relation of priests and people, the earlier British governors deemed it politic (as a supposed means of securing a strong influence with the people) to extend official support to Buddhism as 'the national creed.' This mistaken policy was sealed when, after the capture of the last king of Kandy in 181 5, a Convention was signed with the COLOMBO 65 Kandyan chiefs, whereby Sir Robert Brownrigg, as Britain's repre sentative, undertook that she should maintain and protect the rites and places of worship of the Buddhist religion — an iniquitous com pact with idolatry, which surely ought to have been at once repu diated by a Christian nation. Sir Robert himself interpreted this clause as merely promising the Buddhists security from molestation in the exercise of their religion ; but the terms of this treaty have proved a source of grave perplexity to successive governors, who have found themselves poli tically bound to do honour to a creed dishonouring to that which they themselves hold to be the only truth. Moreover, though it had been abundantly proved how small the influence of the priests really was, apart from Government support, nevertheless, by the action of the British Government in recognising these temple rights, an immense multitude of British subjects continued to be held in fetters which bound them body and soul alike, liberty of conscience being for them a mere fiction. This state of virtual slavery continued in full force, till, on its iniquity being fully recognised by Sir Hercules Robinson, a Service Tenures Ordinance was passed in 1870, by which serfs were em powered to free themselves from compulsory labour by commuta tion — i.e. by paying an equivalent in coin, so that their position might become that of voluntary tenants, paying rent in service or in money. This decision, theoretically so satisfactory, does not seem to have remedied the evil, for in the Administration Report for the province of Sabaragamuwa in 1885, the service tenures were referred to as 'a system which virtually keeps a large class in bondage ; ' and in the Report for 1887 it was stated that ' existing services and rates are outrageously high, and calculated on obsolete services' — that is to say, that when temple serfs desire to pay in money, instead of render ing service to their feudal lords, an equivalent was claimed far beyond the actual value of their services, and if they declined to pay at this rate, or were unable to do so, they found themselves involved in ruinous expenses of litigation. It is said that the latest legislation on the subject, the Buddhist Temporalities Ordinance of 1889, has failed to afford them relief, and that the only possible solution of such grave difficulties will be for the British Government to resume possession of the lands, and make F 66 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON over to the temples such a portion of the legitimate taxes as her Majesty's Government shall deem proper. Certainly that carelessly worded Convention of 1815 has led to strange incongruities. Imagine that so late as 1846, bills were rendered to, and dis charged by Government, for hire of devil-dancers, decorating temples, and all other expenses of heathen worship, as ' for Her Majesty's Service' ! Till 1852 Buddhist high priests and Basnaike Nillemes (i.e. lay chiefs of Dewales — i.e. Hindoo temples) were appointed by a written instrument, signed and sealed by the Governor or Government agent. I believe the last appointments are still retained in the gift of Government, as being lucrative posts, wherewith to reward meritorious public servants ; and so great is the temptation of such appointments, that even nominal Christians have abjured their faith and embraced Hindooism in order to qualify themselves for such patronage from their Christian rulers. A case in point occurred so lately as 1889. About twenty years ago, when attention was first called to the scandalous misappropriation by the priests of the great temple revenues, an ecclesiastical reformation was inaugurated by Suma- nagala, the High Priest of Galle and of the Shrine of the Holy Footprint, on the summit of Adam's Peak. In 1873, under the direct patronage and with the aid of the British Government, he founded the Vidyodaya College in Colombo, for the purpose of supplying the whole island with a priesthood thoroughly imbued with all Buddhistic philosophy, discipline, and metaphysics ; and who would deem it their special duty to establish such schools in connection with every temple, that Buddhist parents may no longer seek education for their children at Christian schools. This college is also designed to encourage in the laity a love for the oriental literature which has been, as it were, excavated from beneath accumulated mountains of rubbish by the European students who revived the study of the ancient sacred books. Consequently a very valuable and rapidly increasing oriental library has been here collected, and an enthusiasm has been stirred up, which has drawn student priests from Siam, Cambodia, China, and Japan, to study the sacred Pali and Sanskrit books at this college, which thus gives promise of becoming the centre of a great revival of Buddhism. It has already established four branch institutions in other parts COLOMBO 67 of Ceylon -for the spread of Sanskrit literature, as also a preparatory school in connection with the college itself. The King of Siam has endowed a scholarship for ' proficiency in the Buddhist scriptures,' the Government of Ceylon aids the upkeep of the college, and the prizes have been annually distributed to the students by the British Governor himself, on the principle of showing absolute impartiality to all faiths professed by the Queen's subjects. And yet it has this year been asserted by the editor of the ' Lakminipahana,' that although Government has appointed the teaching of modern cosmology, the teachers in the Vidyodaya and other Buddhist colleges, in common with the priests of Burmah, refuse to teach it, as being positively opposed to the teaching of Buddha, who, claiming perfect knowledge on all subjects, declared that this world is flat, day and night being caused by the sun wandering round Mount Meru, which stands in the centre of the great plain. He says that if modern science is true, then a great part of Buddhism is false, therefore the priests in the Buddhist college at Galle are blamed for wishing to get a pundit to teach them this heretical system. Seeing the importance which from the earliest days has attached to the possession of anything that could be reverenced as a Buddhistic relic, there was unbounded joy in this college when, at the earnest request of Sumanagala, the Government of Bombay made over to his care certain relics recently excavated from some ancient Indian shrines. These had been placed in the Bombay Museum, and unfortunately, instead of being transmitted from the Museum to the college, they were sent by the Bombay Government to the care of the Ceylon Government, and their despatch and receipt in timated in official documents — an apparently simple transaction, the importance of which, however, was enormously exaggerated by the recipients, being represented to the Buddhist population as an act of official homage to Gautama, and we all know the oriental tendency to revere whomsoever the king delighteth to honour. Of course the utmost capital is made of every act of simple courtesy on the part of the various distinguished foreigners who show interest in Buddhism or the ancient literature of the East. As regards the aforesaid relics, trifling as they are in themselves, the news of their discovery created quite a stir in the Buddhist world, and they are undoubtedly interesting to antiquaries and students of strange objects of veneration, being apparently fragments of the 68 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON identical begging-bowl or gourd in which Gautama Buddha, clad in the yellow robe of a mendicant, collected his daily dole of rice. After his death the bowl was broken, and the fragments were en shrined in various_parts of India. The British mendicant, who chooses to depend on the gifts of his more industrious neighbours for his daily bread, is liable to have work provided for him by an unsympathetic police, but our fellow-subjects in the East continue to find religious mendicancy a recognised and honoured profession. As regards the Buddhist priests, however, their vow of poverty is as much a dead letter as are some other vows. Few indeed trouble themselves to collect their daily bread as alms, while many are private land-owners having property quite distinct from that of the temples, and they sue or are sued in British courts of law, like ordinary citizens. Mr. J. M. Campbell, of the Bombay Civil Service, in reading an old manuscript on this subject, found so minute a description of the sites of these relic-shrines that he resolved to identify them. First he opened a mound near the village of Sopara on the island of Salsette, twenty miles from Bombay, and therein found an earthenware case containing a copper relic-shrine ; within this lay one of silver containing one of gold, and within that, enshrined in a crystal casket, lay some broken fragments of a gourd. There were also some little images of Buddha. ' Three years later, in the ruins of Bassein, he renewed the quest, and found a stone coffer, within which lay a nest of caskets, one inside the other — the innermost one of pure gold, containing several fragments of the bowl, and flowers of gold-leaf. Again Mr. Campbell proceeded to excavate a huge mound near Janagadh in Kattywar, supposed to have been constructed about 150 b.c, and therein discovered another stone coffer containing a series of precious 1 To a naturalist the most interesting of all these antiquities was a live frog which was found comfortably enclosed in the outer shrine, where it must have lain embedded for about 2,000 years. It was carefully removed with the other treasures, but sad to say, after only two days' enjoyment of its release, it fell a victim to scientific thirst foi- experiment, a doctor having, for reasons best known to himself, administered a drop of chloroform, whereof it straightway died. Some years ago, when Sir Alexander Gordon Cumming wrote a statement respecting several frogs which were found on his estate deeply embedded in a rocky bank, this letter gave rise to a tempestuous correspondence, in the course of which many very extraordinary but perfectly proven instances were brought forward of similar cases of frog-longevity. One standing proof is the mantelpiece at Chillingham Castle, in which is shown the hollow wherein a live frog was found when the marble was hewn from its quarry. COLOMBO 69 caskets, the innermost one of gold, containing a fragment of bone the size of a little finger-nail, supposed to have been saved from the funeral pyre of Gautama Buddha. Beside this relic lay four precious stones and two little bits of wood which are assumed to have been amulets. Naturally the new and highly educated priesthood who are now being trained at the Vidyodaya College to replace their utterly illiterate and degraded brethren, bless those to whose direct influence and aid they justly ascribe the rekindling of so vigorous a fire from such smouldering embers, and take good care to impress on the minds of the people that the marked honours bestowed on Buddhism are a clear indication of the religious tendencies of their rulers. And well may the Singhalese be perplexed when they note the very prominent position assigned at many Government ceremonials to a group of proud, unbending, yellow-robed priests, the Christian clergy having no such definite place. Of these only the Anglican bishop and the three Roman Catholic bishops have the privilege of the private entree to the levee at Government House on the Queen's birthday. That honour is, however, bestowed on a large number of Buddhist priests, the reason of this being, that as these own no superior (not even Buddha himself, since, having attained Nirvana, he is practically non-existent), they refuse any external indication of reverence to the Queen's representative ; therefore they are exempted from mingling in the procession of ordinary mortals, where this peculiarity would be too conspicuous. Strange to say, they have also frequently been privileged on State occasions to chant a solemn benediction in Pali, invoking the blessing of Buddha on their friendly rulers, who remained standing during a ceremony which most felt to be singularly out of place. Still more incomprehensible to the Singhalese, as a mere act of impartiality, has been the recent official recognition (an innovation assuredly uncalled for) of Buddha's birthday as a general holiday, on the same footing as Christmas Day ! a measure which has done more than anything else to revive popular interest in Buddhism.1 Old inhabitants tell us that they have never known this day to be 1 The Tamil's great holiday is the feast of the New Year, according to Hindoo and Singhalese reckoning. This year it fell on April r2. The Mohammedan festival of the Hegira fell on July 17. All these are now officially recognised as general holidays. 70 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON observed till, at the instance of certain Englishmen who have formed themselves into a 'Buddhist Defence Committee,' the British Government chose to make it a public holiday. To the disgust of the inhabitants of the Fort at Galle, which has been exclusively Christian for the last three hundred years, a house within the Fort was three years ago transformed into a noisy temple, and at the instigation of an English apostate from the Christian priesthood, discordant midnight carols were (for the first time) shrieked in honour of ' our Lord Buddha'! The date of this festival is determined by that of the first full moon in Wesak — i.e. April- May — and I observe that this ranges from May 3 in one year to May 25 in another. The festival is observed with an annually increasing show of street decorations (the so-called Buddhist flag, invented by Colonel Olcott, predominating), and processions with banners, images, devil-dancers, beating of drums, tomtoms, and other deafening ecclesiastical music, continuing without intermission from dawn till sunset, and the police have their hands fully occupied in preserving the peace between these now somewhat aggressive pro cessionists and the native Roman Catholics. In fact, in 1883 a very serious riot occurred in Colombo, not in connection with the ' Wesak ' — i.e. Buddha's birthday — but (which may edify theoretic Buddhists !) on the occasion of a seven weeks' festival in honour of setting the eyes in a large new image of Buddha reclining, in the Vihara or temple at Kotahena (in Colombo).1 During all this period a succession of priests were engaged in ceaselessly preaching bana (the discourses of Buddha) and reciting pirit (a formula supposed to avert evil), and on the last day of the festival five hundred priests were to be present in order that the five hundred sections of the ' Tripitaka ' scriptures might be repeated by them in one day, in return for which, each was to be presented with 1 In Robert Knox's fascinating account of his twenty years of honourable captivity in the heart of Ceylon, from A.D. 1659 to 1680, he describes how religious mendicants carry about a small image of the Buddou, covered with a piece of white cloth. ' For this god, above all others, they seem to have a high respect ; . . . ladies and gentle men of good quality will sometimes, in a fit of devotion to the Buddou, go a-begging for him. Some will make the image of this god at their own charge. Before the eyes are made, it is not accounted a god, but a lump of ordinary metal, and thrown about the shop with no more regard than anything else ; but when the eyes are to be made, the artificer is to have a good gratification, besides the first agreed-upon reward.' 'The eyes being formed, it is thenceforward a god, and then, bein» brought with honour from the workman's shop, it is dedicated by solemnities and sacrifices, and carried with great state into its shrine or little house, which is before built and prepared for it.' COLOMBO 71 a set of the ' Atapirikara ' — i.e. the eight articles which constitute the personal property of a Buddhist priest. These articles, together with food for the assembled priests, were to be offered by the inhabitants of many neighbouring villages, each of which was to bring its gift on a special day, escorted by a noisy religious procession. A bestowal of merit was promised to all who thus adorned themselves with the ornaments of faith. Unfortunately this temple (which, though modern, small, and externally insignificant, has recently been highly decorated inter nally, and has risen to a position of importance in the Buddhist revival) stands within a few hundred yards of the Roman Catholic cathedral,1 so that the worshippers therein had full benefit of this prolonged parade of noisy rejoicings, continuing all through Lent. They endured it all peaceably till they realised that these processions were to be continued through Holy Week, when they would inevitably clash with the customary Roman Catholic processions. Moreover, very offensive messages were sent to the Roman Catholics expressing a determination to hold festivals of rejoicing on Good Friday. Application was accordingly made to the authorities to prohibit Buddhist demonstrations during certain hours on Good Friday arid Easter Day ; but unfortunately, in the anxiety to please all parties, some confusion arose between the licences already granted and afterwards cancelled, and though no collision occurred, the peace of Good Friday was disturbed by very bitter feeling. On Easter Day, however, the Buddhists were resolved not to forego their procession in honour of some particular phase of the moon. The Roman Catholic congregations had dispersed after morning service, when suddenly the bells of the cathedral and of all the neighbouring Roman Catholic churches were -simultaneously set ringing violently. This seems to be a recognised call to assemble for some urgent purpose, and yet, strange to say, all the bells were left unguarded. In a very few minutes an excited mob of the lowest of the Roman Catholics, armed with clubs and marked on the forehead and back with white crosses, quite a la St. Bartholomew, assembled, deter mined to prevent the procession from passing their cathedral. A 1 The cathedral premises, about ten acres in extent, were granted to the Church ¦ by the Dutch in 1779, but had been occupied by the Roman Catholics long before that date. They comprise the residence of the bishop and priests, the schoolhouse, and convent. 72 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON very serious riot ensued, which resulted in one person being killed ; and thirty, including twelve poor police constables, were so seriously injured as to necessitate their being taken to the hospital. Most of the ill feeling aroused on this occasion seems to have been due to the irritating and violent language of a notable priest of the Amarapoora sect, Migettuwatte Unnanse, a leading member of Colonel Olcott's Theosophical Society, and a man thoroughly versed in all the anti-Christian literature of England, America, and India — an eloquent man, and a most bitter opponent of the Christian religion, which he strove by every means to bring into contempt and ridicule. He denounced Christianity with such energy, while work ing with all his might for the extension of Buddhism, that he came to be distinguished as the fighting champion of the Buddhist faith. So when he died, in the autumn of 1890, it was deemed fitting to make his funeral the occasion of a great demonstration. His body was embalmed and placed in a coffin with glass sides and lid, in order that crowds might see his face once more, and also to give time for organising a great ceremonial a week later, by which time fully fifteen thousand people from various parts of the Isle had assembled at Colombo to attend the funeral, and all united their processions to form one enormous perehera round the city. On Sunday, the 28th, this multitude formed a funeral procession more than a mile in length. First came 'the company of the preachers'; then a strong body of tomtom-beaters, followed by a multitude of Singhalese women ; after them twelve of the chief Buddhist priests in very modern jinrikishas, followed by a hundred and thirty minor priests in their yellow robes, all walking beneath a long canopy of white cloth, denoting the honour due to them. Then (more modern innovations) came the Volunteer band playing the Dead March in 'Saul'; and after this a gaudy hearse, containing the coffin and loads of white flowers, was carried on the shoulders of fifty men. In these days when the respective advantages of cremation versus interment are so largely discussed, it is interesting to learn that in Ceylon the cleanly aid of fire is, by the Buddhists, reserved as a special honour for a few of the most eminent priests. On the present occasion the funeral pyre had been erected on a rising ground just beyond the General Cemetery— a high erection of palm- trunks, with tall palms at the four corners, supporting a canopy of white cloth. The coffin was deposited in an opening in the centre COLOMBO 73 of the pyre, which was then mounted by a succession of priest's and laymen, who addressed the kneeling crowds around. These at each telling sentence raised their, clasped hands heavenward, exclaiming ' Saadu, Saadu ! ' the united voices of this great multitude pro ducing a deep-toned roar which died away in the distance like the booming of the waves, or the murmur of distant thunder. Then, after a solemn chanting and prayer, the pyre was ignited to a loud accompaniment of tomtom-beating, and the crowds reverently watched the work of the flames till at last they reached the white canopy, when all burst into one shout of triumph, this being the symbol of the spirit's full emancipation — i.e. till its next birth in some new state of being. Of course a scene so solemn could not but have an incongruous element, which was furnished by an English Buddhist, who could not resist such an opportunity for attracting attention, and so took his place on the pyre ' as the representative of America, Europe, and England,' to deliver a funeral oration (through an interpreter), assuring all present that very soon all America and Europe would receive the faith of Buddha — after which he proved his self-sacrificing devotion to his newly-found faith by tossing his sun-hat on to the blazing pyre, an example which led to the cremation of many good tortoise-shell combs and handkerchiefs ! CHAPTER IV THE CRUISE OF THE CASTLE JERMYN Rivers — Lagoons — Noah's Ark — Lake Negombo — Kabragoya— Objections to milk — Insect-pests — Reverential customs — The Luna-Oya — Monkeys—' Betty.' Perhaps the most fascinating feature of Ceylonese scenery is the number and the beauty of the rivers, ranging from picturesque mountain torrents (which form cascades and waterfalls as they hurry from their cradle among the rhododendrons) to stately streams, flowing swiftly though silently to meet the thundering surf. Their course is so short that their descent from the mountains is necessarily rapid ; consequently very few of these are navigable, except within a few miles of the sea, where flat-bottomed boats and canoes ply. By far the longest river is the Maha-welli-ganga, which, rising near Adam's Peak, wanders through the mountains till it 74 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON reaches Kandy, the mountain capital, whence, descending to the plains, it travels northward, a total distance of 134 miles, and finally enters the. sea by several branches near Trincomalee. Next to this ranks the Kelany-ganga, also called the Mutwal river,' which is eighty-four miles long, and which, as we have already seen, flows into the sea near Colombo. All the other rivers of Ceylon are from ten to twenty miles shorter. As a natural result of so short and swift a descent from the mountains, these streams are laden with sand and soil, and a very remarkable geographical feature (of which I have already spoken in reference to the formation of the lake at Colombo) is due to the meeting of these surcharged waters with the strong sea-currents, which in the north-east and south-west monsoons sweep along the coast, and are likewise saturated with sand. These prevent the rivers from carrying their earth-freight farther, consequently it is all deposited in sandy bars, which, likewise receiving the deposits of these gulf-streams, rapidly increase, and form such effectual barriers as compel the rivers to flow north or south behind this embankment of their own creation. Thus strangely indented lagoons, many miles in length, of still, silent, fresh water, lie separated from the booming surf by only a narrow belt of sand — perhaps only partially carpeted with marine convolvuli, but generally clothed with quaint screw-pines, mangroves, palms, and other trees. The effect of the roar of the unseen surf, as heard while one's boat glides silently on these still rivers embowered in richest vegetation, is very '\npressive. This peculiarity is most strikingly developed on the east side of the Isle, as at Batticaloa, where the rivers have formed one labyrin thine lagoon fully fifty miles in length, divided from the ocean by an embankment of their own construction, nowhere exceeding a mile and a half in width, and all clothed with cocoa-palms. The same formation extends all the way from Trincomalee to the far north of the Isle. These very peculiar estuaries are known as Gobbs, and they were turned to good account by the Dutch, who cut canals to connect some of the most important, and thus formed a continuous calm water-way on each side of the Isle, connecting sea-coast towns. Thus, on the west coast you can travel by these canals and lagoons all the way from Caltura to Colombo, and thence right north up to Kalpitiya. Such delightful house-boats as those in which foreign THE CRUISE OF THE CASTLE JERMYN 75 residents in China make their water-excursions, are here unknown luxuries, but with a little contrivance an ordinary flat-bottomed rice- boat may be made to do duty instead, and thus furnishes the means for a very enjoyable cruise. Most fortunately for me, soon after my arrival the Bishop had occasion to visit various churches and schools along the coast to the north of Colombo, and resolved to travel by water. He had decided that his daughter should bear him company, and, greatly to my delight, I too was invited to join the expedition. I confess that when I think of all the difficulties in arranging ' house-room ' for guests in luxurious British homes, I often remem ber with amazement the unselfish kindness which contrives to make the smallest colonial houses so wondrously elastic (exemplifying the good old proverb that 'where there's heart-room there's hearth- room ') ; but never in all my wanderings have I met with so very practical a proof of such hospitality, as that which assigned me an extemporised berth on board ' The Castle Jermyn,' as we dubbed our craft when commencing our voyage, though long ere our return the little ' Noah's Ark ' better described the floating home in which were congregated so great a variety of curious living creatures, to say nothing of the skins of various birds of gay plumage, and animals presented to us by many kind friends. The live offerings included six or eight land-tortoises of various sizes, and several large handsome turtles, which shared ' the hinder part of the ship ' with the picturesque Singhalese crew and the Bishop's Singhalese major-domo, and were turned out at night to swim in the shallow water, while our own quarters became the play ground of a ubiquitous bull-dog puppy and a very young mongoose, so small as to earn from my companions the nickname of ' The Rat.' A more affectionate little pet never existed. It at once recognised me as its special mistress, never seeming so happy as when trotting along beside me, creeping quietly into my lap or nestling on my shoulder, and at night curling itself, uninvited, into one of my slippers, whence the little soft hairy creature darted out to greet me with a gentle little murmurous cry the instant I stirred in the morning. It very soon outgrew its slipper-cradle, and when we returned to St. Thomas's College, it selected more roomy sleeping quarters in a dark corner of my room, where it lay rolled up like a furry ball. I fed it principally on bread and milk, and sometimes I could not 76 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON resist giving it an egg as a great treat, though well aware that I was therein injudiciously awakening what might prove an inconvenient taste. I do not, however, believe that Goosie ever sinned in this or any other direction. No blame attached to its short happy life. My gentle pet rapidly developed to the size of an average cat, its hair, which was partly brown and partly silvery grey, becoming hard and wiry, and although its devotion to me as its adopted mother continued to be most touching, it was occasionally inconvenient. I was therefore not altogether sorry, on my return to Colombo after an absence of some months, to find that ' Goosie ' had transferred its allegiance to the friend in whose care I had left it, and in whose garden it had done valiant combat with several cobras, the plucky little creature having developed all the abhorrence towards these for which its race is so remarkable.1 1 Soon after my visit to Galle, a villager at Happugalle (about three miles distant) saw a mongoose attack a large cobra. He stated that the combat continued for some time, after which the mongoose, apparently unable to cope with the serpent, beat a hasty retreat to the jungle. Presently he reappeared, accompanied by a grey mongoose. So soon as the cobra perceived the new-comer, he was paralysed with terror and crouched before the mongoose, which rushed forward and snapped off the serpent's head. The Singhalese believe that the small grey mongoose is king of the race. So fully is the skill of the mongoose as a snake-killer established, that I cannot understand why it is not more commonly trained as a domestic pet in countries where these deadly reptiles abound. As a rat-killer it has done splendid service in the West Indies, where the devastation wrought on sugar, coffee, cocoa, and other plantations by the great rat-army, ranged from ,£100,000 to ^150,000 per annum, till in 1872 Mr. Espeut happily imported some mongooses direct from India. Four males and five females reached him in safety and were turned out on his estate. In a wonderfully short time they increased and multiplied to such an extent as to overrun the whole island. Thousands of young ones were captured by negroes, and sold to planters in very remote districts, and as these creatures are excellent swimmers and make their way across streams and lagoons, they quickly found their way to every corner. Naturally such prolific colonists have become somewhat of a pest, and the planters are now compelled to thin their ranks. In 1884 Ceylon exported 105 mongooses to Australia, there to wage war against the rabbit legions. Well may we wish them success ! In Egypt the mongoose (alias ichneumon) is kept as a domestic rat and mouse catcher, and moreover is invaluable from its talent for raking up the sand wherein crocodiles have laid their eggs, to the number of perhaps fifty in a brood, which it devours with gusto. It also kills many of these little monsters when newly hatched, and is altogether a true benefactor to humanity. The services of ' Pharaoh's Rat ' were so fully recognised by the ancient Egyptians that it was treated as a sacred animal, pampered during life, and divinely honoured after death. Funds were set apart for the support of representatives of the race, which, like the sacred cats, were fed on bread soaked in milk, and fish specially caught for their use by the fishers of the Nile. To kill a mongoose was a criminal act, and whenever one was found dead its mummied remains were carefully laid in the catacombs with the other sacred animals. THE CRUISE OF THE CASTLE JERMYN 77 Sad to say, it soon fell a victim to its valour ; for, though by its marvellous agility it contrived in several instances to elude the darts of the serpent, the first bite also proved the last — no wise old mon goose having instructed this poor young one in the healing properties of that herb which, it is said, the wild mongoose eats as an effectual antidote to cobra poison. (This is said to be the Mimosa occandra, which in Ceylon is called the Nakulishta — i.e. ' the desire of the mon goose.') So my poor Goosie died. But what concerns us at present was only her place in our boat-home, where her infantile sporting instincts found scope in chasing the pretty little lizards which found refuge in the thatched roof. As seen on our first visit, the said boat was not attractive, being dingy, dark, and airless ; but a little inge- THE CASTLE JERMYN nious carpentering soon worked wonders. In the first place, the thatched roof was raised bodily, so as to leave four inches all round, admitting light and air to our sleeping quarters. Then the deck was matted, and the interior was lined with white calico, and divided into compartments, so that we each had our special quarters, with our beds, chairs, tables, hanging-trays and pockets, bags, books, sun- umbrellas, butterfly-nets, writing and sketching materials of all sorts. To these were soon added constantly renewed baskets of fruit — great bunches of green or yellow bananas and plantains, pine-apples, oranges, mangoes, and custard-apples, and ever-increasing stores of quaint seeds, shells, and divers curiosities. The boatmen, who were all fishermen (which is almost equivalent to saying that they were all Roman Catholics), had their quarters astern, as had also the cook and his flock of ducks and hens ; and 78 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON how eight human beings could stow themselves away in so small, a space, and carry on their existence so silently, was a marvel. The fact of their being Singhalese secured us against the interminable songs by which the Tamils cheer their work, and which in such close quarters would have been unendurable. When they had work to do 'forrard,' they ran lightly over the thatch without disturbing their unwonted passengers, for whom they were never weary of collecting lovely flowers and exquisite climbing ferns, with which we adorned our quarters, devoting one basin to the most gorgeous jungle blossoms — scarlet, white, and gold — and another to dainty water-lilies — white, pink, and blue —while all else found a niche on the foundation of ferns with which we fringed the edge of the movable roof, part of which was constructed to draw backwards or forwards, so that in case of rain our ' sitting-room ' would have been well protected. Happily we were favoured with lovely weather, and so enjoyed to the full the peaceful beauty of both days and nights. One flower, which our sympathetic collectors brought with special appreciation, was a most exquisite orchid which they call the Wanna Rajah,1 or king of the Wanna or Forest (the comprehensive name given to the great tract of hot and generally arid land in the extreme north of the Isle). On the upper side, the leaves of this orchid are like black velvet veined with gold, while the under side is of a deli cate pink. The fragrant white blossom hangs on a pink stalk. It seems to flourish specially in marshy localities. A tiny canoe (just the trunk of a tree scooped out, and balanced by a log floating alongside of it, attached to it by a couple of bamboos) floated astern, ready to land us at any point where the cool loveliness of the river-banks proved irresistibly tempting ; and strangely fascinating indeed was the deep shadow of the beautiful forest-trees overhanging the clear sunlit waters, the intense silence broken only by the cry of some wild bird, or the deep hooting of the large wanderoo monkeys, while at short regular intervals came the low roar as of distant thunder, which told of mighty green waves breaking on the sand-reef of their own creation. It was in the middle of February that we embarked for the three weeks of 'water-gipysing,' every hour of which proved so full of novelty and interest. A beautiful drive from St. Thomas's College, 1 Ancectochilus seiaceus. THE CRUISE, OF THE CASTLE JERMYN 79 Colombo, brought us to the Mutwal river, or Kelany-ganga, where our boat-home awaited us. Crossing that broad majestic stream, we entered one of the canals cut by the Dutch, parallel with the sea, and thereon glided smoothly into the wide shallow lake of Negombo, at the north end of which we anchored for the night, at a picturesque village of the same name twenty-three miles from Colombo. All along the canal we passed a succession of winding streams and marshy places with special beauties of their own, and several small lagoons — lovely glassy pools — covered with pure white water-lilies, and one variety with petals just tipped with lilac and the under side of the leaf purple. These lakelets are fringed with various species of graceful palms, with an undergrowth of luxuriant ferns and handsome shrubs ; while the marshes are glorified by the rich glossy foliage of the mangrove, with clusters of white blossom and large green fruit resembling oranges, but very poisonous. These eventually turn scarlet, as do also the pine-like fruit of the Pandanus or screw-pine (so called from the corkscrew pattern in which its leaves grow from the stem). The roots of this plant are among the oddest vagaries of the vegetable kingdom. Here and there a patch of the flame blossom, called by the Singhalese eribuddu, glowed really like fire as the setting sun shone on its scarlet pea-shaped flowers set in a crown of scarlet leaves. Then there was a sort of prickly acanthus with large blue flowers, also pea-shaped, and a sort of acacia with bright yellow star-shaped blossom. Negombo Lake is about four miles in width, and all around us were picturesque canoes, whose owners were diligently fishing in its quiet waters. They have a curious method of frightening fish into the net, which is held by some of the men, while others wave long fringes of torn plantain-leaves or cocoa-palm similar to those which are hung up as decorations at any festival. The fish thus alarmed are expected to jump net-wards. At night the fishers carry a blazing torch downwards, so that the glare is all on the water. The torch consists of a fagot of sticks, and from its centre projects a long sharp knife with which to impale any large fish which is seen resting in the shallows. This was our first night on the water, and to our dismay we found that we had neglected to bring our mosquito-nets, an omission which left us all wholly at the mercy of those venomous little insects, who 80 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON all night long hummed a chorus of delight as they took it by turns to feast on us, their helpless victims. Of course their onslaughts involved a sleepless night and a feverish morning ; but ere the next sunset we extemporised very efficient nets by hanging up muslin petticoats, which effectually protected our heads, though an in cautious foot occasionally revealed itself and suffered accordingly. Before sunrise we were once more under way, and, leaving the lake, turned into a most picturesque canal running right through the native town, of houses embowered in large-leaved tropical shrubs, over shadowed by tall palms, and the water covered with very varied boats and canoes. Leaving the town, our quiet water-way still lay beneath over arching palm-trees, and between banks matted with the dark glossy foliage and large lilac blossoms of the goat's-foot ipomcea, a handsome marine convolvulus which forms a thick carpet, binding the arid sandbanks along the seaboard. Presently we crossed the mouth of the Maha-Oya, or great stream, a broad majestic river, gliding silently to join the ocean. It was a vision of wonderful peace to look along its calm waters to the equally calm ocean, whose margin was only defined by the periodical uprising of a great green rolling wave which broke in dazzling white surf with a deep booming roar. That strange solemn sound continued for hours to reach us from the unseen ocean, as, turning into the Ging-Oya, another most lovely stream, we followed its windings, almost parallel with the sea, which yet was effectually hidden by a narrow bank of luxuriant jungle, and tall palms which cast their cool deep shade on the glassy waters. But for that ever-recurring reminder of ' The league-long rollers thundering on the shore,' there was not a sound to break the silence, save only the rustle of dry reeds or the gentle ripple of our boat sailing with a light breeze. Even the shy creatures which haunt these banks were undisturbed, and amongst others we observed several large iguanas (or, as the Singhalese call them, kabragoya), huge lizards from five to six feet in length. Though very prettily marked, they are ungainly-looking creatures, and I confess to having felt somewhat qualmish the first time I came suddenly upon one in the forest ; but they are quite harmless if unmolested. They have, however, a good weapon of defence in their strong tail, with which they can inflict a blow not quickly THE CRUISE OF THE CASTLE JERMYN 81 forgotten. They feed on ants and insects, and are amphibious — .being equally at home on marshy ground or in the water. Another lizard very nearly as large, called Talla-goya, is so tame that it scarcely moves away from human beings, and even comes and lives in gardens, though it thereby courts its doom — its flesh being considered as delicate as that of a rabbit, and its skin being in request for shoemaking. Certainly its appearance is not pre possessing. We caught glimpses of various smaller lizards, especially a lovely bright green one about a foot in length. Strange to say, when angry, these creatures turn pale yellow, and the head becomes bright red. I believe they are akin to the ever-changing chameleon, which, however, prefers the dry districts farther to the north of the Isle. Glorious large butterflies skimmed lightly over the water — some with wings like black velvet, and others of the most lustrous metallic blue ; and kingfishers, golden orioles, and other birds of radiant plumage, flitted over the waters. One bird something like a plover is known as the ' Did he do it ? ' because of its quaint inquisitive cry, which seems ceaselessly to reiterate this question. As the evening came on, we were treated to a concert of croaking frogs, and jackals alternately barking and calling in eerie tones. Finally we anchored for the night beneath an overhanging tree which was evidently specially favoured by the fire-flies, for their tiny green lamps glittered in every corner of the dark foliage, ceaselessly flashing to and fro in such mazy dance, that when we looked beyond them to the quiet stars, it seemed to our bewildered eyes as if these too were in motion ! I use the word fire-flies in deference to a common error. In reality these fairy light-bearers are tiny beetles which carry their dainty green lantern beneath the tail, and veil or unveil its light at pleasure, as a policeman does his bull's-eye lantern — hence the intermittent light which vanishes and reappears several times in a minute. On the following morning a kind European heard of our arrival and brought us most welcome gifts of fruit and milk. Strange to say, the Singhalese have an invincible objection to milking their cows, even when they possess large herds of cattle, and the calves might very well spare a certain amount. This prejudice has been in a measure conquered in the immediate neighbourhood of towns where foreigners require a regular supply ; but (like the Chinese) no Singha lese man, woman, or child seems ever to drink cow's milk, though a G 82 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON little is Occasionally used in the form of curds and eaten with ghee, which is a sort of rancid butter. From the Ging-Oya we passed by a short canal into the Luna- Oya, another even more lovely river ; but first we crossed a fascina ting lagoon literally covered with water-lilies of various size and colour — small white ones, larger ones like cups of creamy ivory, with green calyx ; exquisite pink lilies with brown calyx, and the under side of the leaf of a rich purple. Besides these, there were myriads of tiny white blossoms no bigger than a silver penny, which, together with their flat floating leaves, were so like liliputian lilies, that we could scarcely believe they were not, till we pulled up a cluster and found that leaves and flowers all grew in a bunch from one little rootlet near the surface, instead of each having its own stem, three or four feet in length, and smooth as a piece of indiarubber tubing, rising from the bed of the lake. Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention ; and great was my satisfaction when, having lost my black hair-ribbon, I found that one of these half-dried stems answered the purpose admirably, being rather elastic and perfectly flexible. But the water-gipsies soon dis covered many such treasures in the jungle. The smooth tendrils and filaments of various climbing plants supplied us with excellent string several yards in length ; indeed, we found lianas as thin as thread, and quite as pliant, hanging without a twist or a knot from the top of the tallest trees ; and as to pins, we had only to select the length we required from the too abundant supply of needle-like thorns, which in truth are so marked a characteristic of the Ceylonese forest, that one might almost accept it as a proof that here indeed was the original Paradise— for notwithstanding all its wonderful beauty, Ceylon assuredly bears a double share of the curse anent thorns and briers ! We soon discovered that most of the jungle flowers we saw and • coveted were thus guarded— the jessamine-like stars of crimson ixora, the fragrant blossoms of the wild lemon, and many another. There is even one sort of palm whose whole stem bristles with long sharp needles. And besides these dangers, we soon discovered that almost every branch of every flowering shrub is the home of a colony of large red ants, who glue the leaves together, entirely concealing their nests ; so that, however carefully you may have looked for them no sooner do you venture cautiously to gather the flower which tempts you, than in a moment a legion of vicious red ants rush forth THE CRUISE OF THE CASTLE JERMYN 83 from their ambush, and covering your unwary arm, swarm into the innermost recesses of your sleeve, all the time biting most painfully. What with ants biting and mosquitoes and small sand-flies feasting on us, we certainly suffered a good deal, the irritation produced being such that we had simply to take our hairbrushes and brush our poor arms and shoulders to try and counteract it. Another fruitful source of irritation was ' prickly heat,' which is the effect produced on many people by constant perspiration. The sufferer receives no pity, as he is told it is the best safeguard against fever ; but nevertheless the discomfort is excessive, and various remedies are recommended, of which the simplest, and, I think, the most efficacious, is every morning to rub one's self all over with limes, cut in half, and presently sponge off the healing juice. A thin solution of either alum or powdered borax applied with a feather is also beneficial — a piece of alum the size of a walnut, dissolved in a pint of water, being sufficient to last several days.1 We were very fortunate in escaping more serious dangers. One evening, as we sat on deck in the bright starlight, I suddenly observed a gruesome centipede, fully seven inches long, coiled up in my lap ! With sudden impulse the Bishop flicked it with his hand kerchief, when it fell to the deck and escaped, leaving us with a horribly all-overish sensation of centipedes in every corner. Happily neither it nor any of its family favoured us with another visit. It is really wonderful, in a country where venomous creatures abound as they do in Ceylon, how very rarely one sees any of them, and how quickly one acquires the instinctive habit of beating the grass or withered leaves before one's steps, in order to warn possible snakes to wriggle out of the way, which they seem always ready to do if they have time. Indeed, the mere vibration of a booted foot step generally suffices to give them the alarm — the sufferers from snake-bite being almost invariably barefooted natives, whose silent approach is unnoticed. On the other hand, the land leeches, which swarm in damp places and luxuriant grass, have no tendency to fly from man. On the contrary, the footfall of man or beast is as a welcome dinner- bell, at sound of which the hungry little creatures hurry from all sides ; and as each is furnished with five pair of eyes, they can keep a sharp look-out for their prey, which they do by resting on the tip 1 If there is abrasion of the skin, equal parts of oxide of zinc and carbonate of magne sia is very soothing. 84 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON of the tail, and raising themselves perpendicularly to look around. Then, arching their body head-foremost, and bringing up the tail, they rapidly make for their victim. Being only about an inch long, and no thicker than a stout pin, they contrive to wriggle through stockings, and commence their attack so gently that several may be feasting without attracting attention, till being gorged, and distended to about a couple of inches in length, and the size of a quill-pen, they cease sucking ; but blood sometimes continues to flow till checked by a squeeze of lemon-juice. In this respect also we fortunately suffered little, thanks to con stant watchfulness and precautions, but our bare-legged coolies were cruelly victimised ; and we saw both cattle and dogs terribly worried by a much larger leech, which infests the tanks and attacks all animals coming to drink, attaching themselves to the muzzle, and thence passing into the nostrils and throat. But on our river voyage we were free from these pests. Speaking of the ready-made treasures of the jungle in the way of needles and thread, I must not forget the Rita gaha, or sack-tree, the bark of which literally supplies all but ready-made sacks of a thick texture, akin to felt. The tree having been felled, its branches are cut up into logs, each about the size of sack required. The logs are sometimes soaked in water for a while to soften the bark. This, however, is not invariable. In any case, the bark is beaten with a wooden mallet till it can be turned inside out, and drawn oft as a serpent casts his skin. All that is needed to complete these nature-woven sacks is that they should be sewn up at one end. They are so durable that they last for years, and so elastic that they stretch considerably with use, without, however, losing strength. So you see the jungle fairy-god mothers really do provide most useful treasures ! Just before leaving the canal which connects the Ging-Oya with the Lily Lake, we halted at a village where we saw a Singhalese wedding procession, the attentive bridegroom (whose knot of glossy back hair was, of course, fastened by a very large tortoise-shell comb, besides a circular comb on the forehead) holding a large umbrella over a very sedate-looking bride, who walked beside him dressed in brocade, with a wreath on the back of the head, and the hair fastened with golden pins and a golden comb. This bridal dress, however, was not becoming, and we awarded the palm of beauty to a young girl in white, shading herself with a large banana leaf. THE CRUISE OF THE CASTLE JERMYN 85 The people crowded to the banks to see the novel sight of Euro pean ladies travelling in a padda-boat.1 Most of the children were dressed with the elegant simplicity of our ancestors in the original Eden, except that some were adorned with one pearl tied round the arm as an amulet, while others for the same purpose wear a tiny tin cylinder containing some fetish, fastened to the waist. The little Roman Catholics are generally distinguished by a small crucifix or locket with dedication to some saint, but many wear tiny bits of embroidered rag which are sold by the priests as charms ! Nowhere have I seen more fascinating little children with such soft lovely brown eyes — coming so coaxingly to offer us gifts of flowers ; and their mellifluous speech is as attractive as their personal appearance. One handsome man brought his beautiful little girl and asked us to sketch her. She was quite naked, but a few minutes later he brought her back in all the magnificence of her green jacket and red skirt, with coral necklace and ear-rings. As the proud father brought her on board, his own long silky black hair got unfas tened, and fell in rich masses over his shoulders. The effect was most artistic, but unfortunately in Ceylon it is not considered respect ful to wear the hair hanging down in presence of a superior, so it is always coiled up in a knot. (In China it is just the contrary — the man who, for convenience while working, twists his long black plait round his head, must always let it down in presence of any superior.) In this island where the two races, Tamil and Singhalese, meet one at every turn, one is sometimes struck by a curious point of difference in their symbols of respect. The Tamil must cover his head in pre sence of a superior, and an extra large turban indicates extra rever ence. The Singhalese, on the contrary, should appear bareheaded : so when a person of any recognised rank approaches, the Tamils, who have been sitting with bare shaven heads, quickly twist on the long strips of cloth which form their turbans ; whereas the Singhalese, who perhaps have let down their hair and thrown a bright-coloured handkerchief over it, quickly pull off the handkerchief and twist up their hair as if they were going to bathe. In old days, under native rule, Singhalese of certain low castes were prohibited from wearing any covering above the waist, and any one presuming to do so was liable to have his or her raiment torn off 1 Rice-cargo-boat. 86 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON by order of any person of higher station. Even those of the highest caste threw off their upper garments on entering a temple, covered shoulders being then deemed as irreverent as we should consider it for a man to wear a hat in church. But these old customs are happily traditions of the past, as are also in a great measure the objectionable features of caste distinc tions, which here are far less obtrusive than in India, even among the Tamils. Long years of intercourse between these two races has in some respects tended to assimilation, most obviously in that all Tamil women go about bareheaded like the Singhalese, an innovation very remarkable in contrast with their strictly veiled sisters on the main land. Happily they retain their graceful drapery in preference to the little white jacket and tight loin-cloth invariably worn by the Singhalese women. Our sail up the Luna-Oya was lovely as a fairy dream, the banks on either side being clothed with richest jungle — great forest-trees overhanging the still waters, and matted with festoons of luxuriant creepers, whose exquisite emerald green glorified the darker foliage of the trees. Especially rich were the masses of a plant suggestive of Virginia creeper, and brightened here and there with a touch of scarlet, which, however, in Ceylon tells not of autumn and approach ing death, but of spring and fresh young foliage. There are some trees which, on first bursting into young leaf, are a blaze of glorious scarlet or crimson, and then gradually turn to gold or chocolate colour, finally assuming varied shades of green. Here and there we came on clumps of cocoa-nut palms, and then we always looked out for picturesque huts well-nigh hidden by the long waving leaves of the banana, tall sugar-canes, and the very long fronds of young palms — for, according to Singhalese lore, this friendly palm can only flourish within sound of the human voice, and near the sea. This pretty theory is not strictly borne out by facts, as there are flourishing cocoa-nut groves at various places (such as at Badulla, Matale, and Gampola), at elevations of from 1,400 to 2,200 feet above the sea-level, and a hundred miles inland. Still these are exceptions, and certainly all the finest plantations of cocoa- palm lie along the shore in a belt of less than fifteen miles in width. We noted a curious method of marking boundaries by planting two cocoa-nuts in one hole, so that they grow up as twins. We also saw curiously wedded palmyra-palms and banyan-trees ; seeds of the THE CRUISE OF THE CASTLE JERMYN 87 latter contrive to niche themselves in the rough bark of the former, and their enfolding roots soon form a network encompassing the parent trees. Ere long these grow so powerful that the palm is killed, and the strange pillar of white roots and branches stands alone — a monument of ingratitude. As we floated on through the deep jungly shade, we occasionally met picturesque fishing-boats and canoes, which formed most attrac tive foregrounds. Specially so was a large double canoe — namely, two canoes floating side by side, supporting one wide deck with heavy thatch, and laden with huge clusters of green plantains. The fine bronze figures of the crew with blue-brown shadows, the dark quilted sail, and darker reflections, made an ideal study in browns ; indeed an artist might make his fortune in painting the groups which present themselves at every turn ; no need for paid models here, where every careless attitude seems naturally graceful, and where tailors and broadcloth are of no account, for a fisherman's full dress consists of either a large straw hat or a bright-coloured handkerchief thrown loosely over black flowing locks, a second handkerchief fas tened round the loins, and a crucifix or medallion of some saint worn round the neck. Such figures as these, whether seen against the clear blue sky or the dark sail, are always harmonious. On gala days many wear a large handkerchief over one shoulder with a picture of the Virgin and Child or full-faced portrait of the Pope. Others display pictures of the Derby Race, or some such exciting European scene ! This night we anchored beneath a Suriya tree, covered with blossoms. Vivid sheet-lightning illumined the sky and the forest, even wakening up the old Wanderoos,1 who hooted their indignation. These are rather small, very grave, bearded monkeys, the patriarchs of the race, of the most venerable appearance, clothed in thick, dark iron-grey hair, with a rough shaggy white beard, and a thick fringe of white hair on their head. Some species, however, are grey, with black beards. They go about in troops of twenty or thirty, swinging from branch to branch, and carrying their neat little babies. They are very easily tamed, and some have been taken to visit sacred monkey-shrines in India, where they are held in special honour because of their grave demeanour. Their deep-toned sobbing cry, as we so often heard it resounding through the silent forest in the 1 fresiytes cephaloptervs. 88 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON stillness of early dawn (albeit I can only describe it as something like that of our common donkey !), was most eerie, blending with the shrill cries of all manner of birds, whose voices for the most part are as discordant as their plumage is radiant. To this sweeping assertion, however, I must make one exception in favour of a very pretty wood-pigeon,1 whose low, melodious cooing is one of the most soothing influences of the forest. Of the five varieties of the great monkey clan, which are found in Ceylon, four are classed as Wanderoos : the largest and most power ful of this family are found only in the mountain forests. The fifth Ceylonese monkey is the Rilawa : these are very small, of a warm russet colour, with a pale very human little face, and a shock head, with hair projecting like a thatch, or sometimes so long as to resem ble that of a miniature human being. When tamed they make charming little pets. On one of his forest-rides the Bishop captured a baby one, which he brought home, and which became a most amusing and affectionate member of the family. Its own relations, having been disturbed by the approach of the riders, scampered off among the branches, in such hot haste that this poor little one, who was clinging to its mother, dropped on the ground in front of the Bishop's horse. The ' horse-keeper ' (i.e. a running groom) picked it up and handed it to the Bishop, to whom it immediately cuddled up for protection, nestling inside his coat, where it lay comfortably till he reached a rest-house, where it was fed and cared for. Curiously enough, that very afternoon a native from a neighbour ing village brought the Bishop an offering of fruit and flowers, and also of a small monkey of the same sort. The two little creatures were overjoyed at meeting, and at once rolled themselves together into a ball, as if determined that henceforth no one should separate them ; so the two were slung, with other goods and chattels, from a stick over a man's shoulder, and so were carried to St. Thomas's College, where they received the names of ' Boots ' and ' Betty,' and lived happily together, till one sad day when Boots unhappily choked himself by too greedily devouring the hard seeds of a jak fruit. After that poor little Betty had to console herself with her human friends, and was always specially devoted to the Bishop. A very strange thing concerning the monkey tribes is, that the 1 Called by the Singhalese Neela-cobeya. THE CRUISE OF THE CASTLE JERMYN 89 bodies of those which must surely die are never found. Whether the survivors give them decent burial, I cannot say, but both in India and in Ceylon there is a saying to the effect that the man who sees a dead monkey, a nest of the Padda-bird,1 or a straight cocoa-palm, will never die. To this list might be added a dead elephant ; for, strange to say, these huge creatures likewise contrive so to dispose of their dead, that, with the exception of some which have died from bullet-wounds, their remains are never found in the jungle. CHAPTER V THE CRUISE OF THE CASTLE JERMYN Hedgehog-grass — Strychnine — Snake temples — Kalpitiya — Orchilla dye — Blche de mer — Edible birds' nests: — Cashew-nuts — Karative salt-pans— Puttalam — Fish- market — Roman Catholic fishermen- — St. Anna — Negombo — Banyan-trees — Cinnamon-collectors. Again passing through a short connecting-canal, we crossed the mouth of the Dedroo-Oya, a fine wide stream, calm as the ocean into which it flowed, and contrasting strangely with the majestic green wave which ever and anon rose as if by magic to fall with a thunderous roar in a cataract of dazzling surf. We never missed any opportunity of landing to collect whatever treasures we might chance to find, of marsh or jungle, river or sea ; so here we landed on the sands and picked up — not shells, but a great variety of seeds, large and small, rough and smooth, dropped into the river by forest-trees and creeping plants (chiefly gigantic beans), and thus carried to the ocean, to be thence thrown back on the land far from their birthplace. But the most curious objects in our collection of seeds were the large circular heads which contain those of the aptly-named hedge hog-grass, or Spinifex squarrosus. These are light balls, often from ten to twelve inches in diameter, composed of long spines radiating from the seed-bearing centre. When these are mature they drop from the plant, and the wind blows them like wheels for miles along the shore, or maybe across rivers and lagoons, dropping many seeds on their way, but retaining some to the last, and thus carry the first 1 Ardeola leucoptera. go TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON promise of future fertility to the newest and most arid sandbanks, which .they bind together much in the same way as does the abundant lilac convolvulus. A very marked feature of the vegetation along the coast is a handsome tree l with luxuriant dark foliage and most inviting-looking fruit like golden oranges. But woe be to the rash lips which would approach those tempting fruits, for within them, embedded in pulp, lie the seeds which yield strychnine, the deadliest of poisons ! Somewhat on homoeopathic principles, some of the Tamil coolies are said actually to accustom themselves to eat a small portion of a seed every day, not as an intoxicant (though it is said that in India these seeds are sometimes used for that purpose in the adulteration of arrack), but as an antidote against a possible bite from a cobra. Strange to say, the only other member of the strychnine family 2 yields seeds which are invaluable in districts where the water is muddy, for by rubbing the inside of the chatty with one of these all impurities are very soon precipitated, and the water remains quite clear. Never theless, the part of wisdom in jungle travelling is never to drink water which has not been both boiled and filtered. Leaving the Dedroo-Oya, we passed into a smaller stream, and then into a succession of lagoons with sandy banks clothed with a plant resembling our own broom in the profusion of its yellow blossoms. For a while our water-way lay through very desolate country. No more luxuriant ferns or tall quivering reeds, but eerie- looking screw -pines, with their scarlet fruit peeping from odd bunches of sword-like leaves, and their labyrinth of strangely contorted roots. These, and strange cacti from fifteen to twenty-five feet in height, with yellow blossoms tipping their thorny arms, stood out black against the red sunset sky, a most uncanny-looking scene. Here, however, we anchored for the night, and found compensation for the poverty of vegetation in a delightful absence of bloodthirsty mosquitoes, from whose attacks we generally suffered considerably. Emerging from the river Moondalani, we entered the long wide lake or gobb, which eventually enters the sea above Kalpitiya, and here saw great flocks of white cranes and Padda-birds. Unlike the graceful white bird so called in India, the Ceylonese Padda-bird has brown wings and back, only showing white when flying. Dark glossy 1 Strychnos nux-vomica. a Strychnos potatorum, called by the Tamils tettan-cotta, and by the Singhalese ingini. THE CRUISE OF THE CASTLE JERMYN 91 lotus-leaves floated on the shining waters, with blossoms silvery, golden, roseate, and azure, and in those dainty cups bright dewdrops glistened like fairy gems. For about five miles we sailed on this calm peaceful lake, then passed into the usual chain of bits of rivers connected by short canals. We landed in a lovely jungle, and brought back loads of flowers to decorate our boat-home, and bright scarlet and black seeds of the Olinda, a jungle creeper ; but all these treasures were gathered at the cost of many sharp bites from ants, and tears from cruel thorns which pierced our thickest boots and tore our dresses, although mine was of good strong serge. The boatmen (ever on the alert to find wayside treasures for us) brought us curious seeds of the Naga-darana or ' snake's fangs,' so called from having sharp curved points like teeth, which inflict a very painful scratch. These, together with little bowls of milk, are offered to snakes by persons who wish to propitiate them ; for although serpent-worship no longer holds so prominent a place in Ceylon as it did of yore when the Isle was described as Naga-dwipa, 'The Snake's Isle,' quite as often as Lanka-dwipa, ' The Happy Isle,' the old reverence for the Naga is by no means extinct.1 Till quite recently there was a very ancient snake-temple on the small isle of Nainativoe near Jaffna, where live cobras were devoutly tended by reverent priests and priestesses. Those slippery gods still reign in the cobra temple on Iranative, the twin's isle, a little farther south ; but their shrine is said to have been seriously damaged by the great cyclone in November 1884, which swept the whole coast with such appalling fury that on one small island alone 2,500 palm-trees were uprooted, and about 800 head of cattle and sheep were killed. I heard of another snake temple at Badulla, where, so recently as 1850, my informant had seen live serpents gliding about at large and reverently worshipped. At another temple in the same town there is a stone on which is sculptured a short thick serpent with a head at each end, which stone is said to possess magic virtue in healing broken bones.2 In Southern India persons suffering from leprosy or ophthalmia, or who are childless, believe these woes to be the penalty for having killed a cobra, either in this life or in some previous state of existence. 1 See Chapter XII., Tree and Serpent Worship. 2 For kindred serpent-lore in Scotland, see In the Hebrides, by C, F. Gordon Cumming, page 54. Published by Chatto & Windus. 92 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON So they takeearth from a serpent's hole, and therewith rub the leprous spot, or if possible they make pilgrimage to a serpent-shrine, and lying down prostrate on the ground, wriggle round the shrine several times, imitating the gliding motion of a serpent. They then present as their offering a small image of Siva, with a five-headed snake forming his canopy. Doubtless in Ceylon also, a lingering belief in the supernatural power of the serpent is by no means extinct ; but the special reverence accorded to the cobra, even by Singhalese Buddhists, is accounted for by the legend of its having, by expanding its uplifted hood, sheltered Buddha from the scorching sun when he lay down to rest. Hence the images of Buddha are frequently canopied by a five or seven- headed hooded snake. Among the various traces of this strange worship, one which greatly impressed me was a remarkable rock-sculpture at Mehintale (near Anuradhapura), representing a great five-headed cobra rising from a dark pool near the summit of the mountain. There was something strangely weird in this most reverend creature with his expanded hood, guarding the pool on which floated such pure white water-lilies. Happily the Kandyans hold the cobra only in honour, under the belief that he is beneficent to man. All other venomous snakes are not only killed, but hung up by the neck, partly as a mark of in dignity, but also to avert the danger of any passer-by walking on them unawares, and possibly being scratched by their poison-fangs. If a fire is available they cremate the corpse to ensure its not reviving. But in the maritime provinces the traces of the ancient Naga-wor- ship are not confined to the cobra, for Singhalese and Tamils alike are extremely averse to killing any serpent. If possible, they coax them into covered wicker-baskets, and float them down some stream, trust ing that they may land in safety elsewhere. One of our friends, who occupied a charming house near the mouth of the Kelani River, men tioned, as a serious drawback to the situation, the number of these frail arks containing cobras, tic-polongas, and other deadly snakes, " which the natives reverentially launched at various points up the river, and which the eddying currents too frequently landed among the great clumps of bamboo and overhanging shrubs, whence they invaded the garden at pleasure. The professional snake-charmers, who go about with a basket full of these wriggling reptiles for exhibition, are all Tamils, but some of the Singhalese are said to do a little domestic serpent-taming. A very THE CRUISE OF THE CASTLE JERMYN 93 curious instance of this was recorded by Major Skinner in 1858, at which time a certain rich man living near Negombo, and who liked to keep his money in his own house, protected it by keeping tame cobras gliding about as other folk keep watch-dogs. These discriminating creatures were warranted only to molest would-be thieves, and never injured any of the family. This was said to be by no means a unique case. Though I cannot say that cobras seem to me attractive pets, I confess to some sympathy with those natives who make friends with the useful rat-snakes who take up their abode in the thatch, and do their best to clear the house of vermin. These are occasionally so tame as to come when summoned to share a family meal ! Saturday night found us on a swampy lake, bordered with thickets of great tree-cacti of several sorts. Again the sun sank in fiery red, and the weird arms of the cacti seemed black as ebony against that scarlet glow, which rapidly gave place to the briefest twilight, during which flocks of wild-fowl rose from their feeding-grounds on the quiet lake. In this strange spot we spent a peaceful Sunday, and on the mor row a short sail brought us to the town of Puttalam, eighty-five miles from Colombo. It is a large village on the flat shores of the shallow gulf, and the country inland is likewise flat, with low thorny jungle and swampy rice-fields, sluggish streams and crocodile-haunted tanks. We wandered for some hours on the shore and in the native bazaar, then again set sail and travelled northward all night up the long sea-lake, till we reached Kalpitiya, formerly called Calpentyn, where a dreary old fort tells of the days when the Dutch ruled in the Isle. Here as elsewhere in Ceylon, I was struck by the remarkable ugli ness of the mosque, so inferior to even the humblest of those in India. These have no tall minarets, nor does the call of the muezzin summon the faithful to pray ; indeed, though the Moormen (i.e. the Moham medans) are a very important body in Ceylon, I have never seen them pause in work at sunrise and sunset to observe the hours of prayer, which is so marked a practice of their brethren in other lands. It is, however, worthy of note, that during the period of wholesale nominal conversions under the Portuguese and Dutch rule, there is no record of a single Moorman having professed the creed of the conqueror. Mohammedanism is, however, so unobtrusive here, that I noted with special interest the lights which at nightfall gleamed on all the 94 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON tombs near the mosque, and which we were told are kindled every Tuesday and Thursday night in memory of the dead. Nature supplemented this poetic illumination, for the water was brilliantly phosphorescent, and every ripple that broke upon the shore, or in the wake of boats or canoes, flashed in lovely light like gleam ing steel. Of the many infinitesimal creatures to whom we were indebted for this soft radiance, one outshone all its fellows— namely, a water-gnat, which skimmed lightly over the surface like a marine meteor, leaving a trail of fairy-like green light. This fascinating display was repeated night after night, the most vivid of all being on the lake at Negombo, where the phosphorescence took the form of little balls like white electric light, and when my bath was filled in the dark cabin, I found I was sitting in luminous water. That night the air was full of electricity, forked and sheet lightning by turns illumined the dark heaven, and I wondered whether the sea could be affected by the same cause. Yet another detail in the varied illumination was supplied by the blazing torches of many fishermen, torches of plaited palm-leaf, by the light of which they spear fish with a seven-pronged fork, or sometimes capture them by dropping a basket over them, as, bewildered by the glare, they lie still on the bed of the shallow lake. Close to us, secured by a huge wooden anchor, lay a very picturesque vessel laden with rice and salt. Her crew of Moormen spent most of the night monotonously chanting verses of the Koran, which did not soothe our slumbers. On the morrow the Bishop held service, first in English and after wards in Tamil, in a solid but exceedingly ugly old Dutch church ; the English-speaking congregation consisting chiefly of the " Burgher " descendants of those same Dutch colonists. In the evening we landed on a small island clothed with dense jungle and masses of exquisite blue blossoms of the clitoria. We watched with much interest the movements of a sea-snake putting up its head to breathe ; but we were careful to keep at a safe distance, many sea-snakes being venomous, though we were assured that all those living in fresh water are harmless.. On the beach natives were filling sacks with a gelatinous seaweed which answers the purpose of isinglass, while others were collecting off the rocks and trees a pale-grey lichen like tattered ribbons, called orchilla,1 from which a rich blue dye is obtained. This lichen 1 Roccella Montagnei. THE CRUISE OF THE CASTLE JERMYN 95 has long been imported to England from the coast of Zanzibar and South America, but it is only within the last quarter of a century that its existence in Ceylon has been known : once recognised, however, it has been so eagerly collected that, being a slow-growing plant, it has been greatly reduced in quantity, and the annual export has fallen from 1,200 cwt. to about 450 cwt. Here and there on the shore were piles of bleached corals, such as many a British collector would prize ; but which here were only wait ing to be burnt, and so converted into lime for chewing with betel and areca (that most obnoxious habit which makes the whole popula tion seem to be constantly spitting blood !) Through the very clear shallow water we could see many ugly fat slugs, about six inches in length, and were told that these are the far- famed beche de mer or trepang (holothurians), so greatly prized by the Chinese that a colony of Chinamen have settled in the north of the Isle, near Jaffna, on purpose to superintend the fishing for these slugs and curing them. They are found all along the north-west coast, in water from one foot to eight fathoms in depth, and are systematically captured by native divers. They are partially cooked in iron pans over a slow fire, and are then dried in the sun, and finally smoked over a fire of greenwood. In the hands of a Chinese cook they make excellent and most nutritious gelatinous soup ; but they require careful preparation and very slow boiling, and they are not appreciated in Ceylon any more than another delicately gelatinous dainty, dear to the gourmet of China — namely, edible birds' nests, which are found in considerable quantities in the darkest recesses of large gloomy caves in the Central and Southern Provinces of Ceylon, both on the sea-coast and far inland, chiefly in the latter, in the Morowa Korle, whence they are collected by Chinamen, who have purchased from Government the exclusive right to this harvest. The swift,1 which builds these curious nests, is a small dark-grey bird. The proportion of isinglass in its nest is considerably less than that obtained in Java, Borneo, and elsewhere, so that although the birds are numerous in Ceylon, the value of the nests as an article of commerce is small, not exceeding 4,000 rupees a year. Short as was our stay at Kalpitiya, many kind people— Tamil, Singhalese, and Burgher —brought us miscellaneous gifts,— the dear little baby mongoose aforesaid, both land and water turtles, shells, 1 Collocalia francica. 96 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON corals, fragrant limes strung together to form necklaces of honour, and strangely fascinating blossoms of the cocoa-nut and the areca palm, which I can only describe as somewhat resembling bunches of the richest waxy wheat, vastly magnified and carved in ivory. These are much used in Singhalese decoration, though involving a prodigal sacrifice of the precious nuts. Less wasteful, but also less graceful, were the plaited palm-leaves wherewith our boat-home was further honourably adorned, while there seemed no end to the ingenious oddities in the form of miniature lanterns, parrots, birds of paradise, &c, all fashioned by plaiting strips of palm-leaf. Amongst the gifts which to me had all the charm of novelty was a basket of Cashew-nuts,1 an excellent kidney-shaped nut, which grows in the most eccentric fashion outside of a yellow pear-shaped fruit, hanging on to one end of it. The fruit itself is of an acrid astringent flavour ; but in some countries a strong spirit is distilled from the fermented juice. Here, however, only the nuts are eaten. When raw, although nice, they are very unwholesome, and the shell contains an acrid caustic oil, which is almost poisonous, and stains one's fingers, so they are always roasted ere they are brought to table, and are excellent. What with fruit, flowers, and living creatures, our limited space was being rapidly filled up. Next morning we started early on the return voyage to Puttalam, but lost the morning breeze while halting at the Karative Salt-pans, so the crew had a long day of hard work rowing in the sun. These salt-works, with those at Puttalam, Chilaw, and other points, are the special industry of this district ; the salt being obtained from the great calm lagoon, whose waters, owing to ceaseless evaporation in the burning sun, are very much more briny than those of the ocean by which it is fed. The lagoon is nearly thirty miles in length, with a breadth of from four to eight miles. As salt is deposited more rapidly by still water than by that which is subject to tidal movement, a large part of the lake is enclosed by a mud embankment, where the waters are held captive for a given period, after which they are led by small ditches into shallow enclosures or pans, where evaporation goes on still more rapidly, and the brine is left till it becomes further condensed. This saturated solution is then again transferred to another series of shallow enclosures, where it is left till the salt is precipitated in snowy 1 Anacardium occidentale. THE CRUISE OF THE CASTLE JERMYN 97 crystals, forming a glittering crust of from two to three inches in thickness. Upwards of 300,000 cwt. is sometimes thus obtained in this neighbourhood in the course of a season, though at other times not one-third of this amount may be collected. The quantity eventually stored depends greatly on the sun, for the harvest is as precarious as that of kelp or of hay, or whatever else depends on fickle weather ; and the most promising deposits vanish literally ' like snow-drifts in thaw,' should unseasonable rains chance to fall. This work (which in this district gives employment to upwards of a thousand persons) is chiefly carried on by Moormen working under Government supervision, for the salt trade, here as in Hindoostan, is a Government monopoly, and one which forms a very impqrtant item in the revenue, bringing in an annual average of upwards of 800,000 rupees (/. e. about ^80,000). The cost of manufacture being only about threepence per cwt., and the price paid to the salt contractors only about four rupees per ton, while retail dealers pay about forty- seven rupees for the same weight, it follows that Government profits to the extent of about 900 per cent. Curiously enough, it is proved that whereas the annual con sumption of salt in India is less than 6 lb. per head, that in Ceylon is just double, averaging 12 lb. per head. Whether this implies a peculiarly strong craving for salt in these islanders, I know not ; but its importance is so fully recognised that, on various occasions, both the Dutch and the Portuguese contrived to bring the kings of Kandy (i.e. of the mountain province in the heart of the Isle) to .terms by blockading every route by which salt could be carried from the sea- coast to the mountains. The price of the article of course varies enormously with the distance to which it has to be carried. To fish-curers on the coast it is now supplied almost gratis, with a view to the encouragement of this as an island industry, instead of, as at present, importing large quantities of salt fish from India, In the towns on the seaboard, to which salt is conveyed by boat, the addition of freight is not very serious; but in inland districts, which can only be supplied by toil some bullock-cart and coolie transport, the price is enormously in creased ¦ and in the hill districts, the difficulty and cost of transport is so great that the salt which at the salt-pans sells for two cents per pound may fetch from one to two rupees in the mountains. It is hoped'thatere long a branch railway may greatly facilitate this traffic. 98 TWO -HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON Besides these salt-works on the west coast, there are others at Hambantotte in the Southern Province, and smaller ones on the north and east sea-coast. Sunday proved anything but a day of rest for the Bishop, who had come to Puttalam in order to consecrate the new church, and who in the course of the day held all possible services in English and in Tamil, beginning with a baptism in the early morning and ending with a confirmation in the evening. Amongst the candidates were several very smart Tamil ladies, who wore short-sleeved jackets of bright coloured silk, and muslin skirts which by no means veiled their bare brown feet and ankles. According to oriental custom their large muslin veils duly concealed their faces till the moment of confirmation, when the veils were thrown back. We were very glad to end the evening by a stroll on the sea- beach, watching a lovely sunset ; but we were assured that this would not at all times be so pleasant, as in one monsoon shoals of jelly-fish are washed ashore, and lie rotting in the sun, poisoning the whole atmosphere. A pleasanter gift of the sea is the oyster crop, which here is said to be excellent. We passed through the fish- market, and saw a great variety of fishes — some odd, some beautiful ; but all these we saw in larger numbers a few days later at Chilaw, a very pretty village lying between the sea and a river, only separated from one another by a very narrow belt of sand. The coast there is infested by sharks, and monstrous saw-fish, fully fifteen feet in length, were sometimes captured. In that market we saw young sharks of three distinct species, saw-fish, dog-fish, cuttle-fish, and many more ; some of the most vivid scarlet with sky-biue spots, some scarlet shaded with crimson, others mauve and silvery grey, like the doves of the sea. There was every shade of colour, in every conceivable combination and variety of marking, with odd scales and fins. In the fish world, as elsewhere, the gaudiest are by no means the best. Those most in favour for the table are the seir, soles, mullet, whiting, mackerel, dories, and good little sardines. But for gorgeous colouring we turn to the family of parrot-fishes, of lustrous green, gold, purple, or crimson, varied by bands of the richest scarlet, grey, and yellow, the whole being toned by cross stripes of velvety black. Then there are great fire-fish, of vivid flame colour, and Red Sea perch, of dazzling scarlet, One lovely fish, THE CRUISE OF THE CASTLE JERMYN 99 about eighteen inches long,1 is specially sacred to Buddha, being clothed in his colours of lovely gold barred with rich brown sienna. The red pahaya is also brilliant red tinted with gold. It grows to about two feet in length, and is excellent to eat. The basket parrot has a green back, fading into yellow, with yellow fins ; but the whole is covered with straight lines and cross patches, giving the exact effect of wicker-work. A very handsome parrot-fish,2 about two feet in length, has a dove-grey body with black spots, fins brown, with rows of dainty little black spots ; the ventral fin is edged with delicate green, while that on the back is edged with scarlet. The tail is scarlet with a white edge ; the eye is bright gold, set in a golden head with blue- green stripes. Altogether one almost fancies that a ray of prismatic light must rest upon it. Then there is the worm parrot,3 so called from a fancied resemblance to the worm which bores holes in palm- trees. Its body is of a dark claret colour, crossed by five bars of delicate yellow, while each separate scale is edged with green. Bands of yellow, edged with pale blue, meander over the head. When one hears of a ' squirrel parrot,' 4 one naturally expects to see something grey or brown ; but this is by no means the case. It is a gorgeous fish, about eighteen inches in length, of beautifully shaded green, with longitudinal stripes and dots of crimson ': its head is likewise green and crimson, and its tail-fin striped scarlet and gold on a green ground. The pumpkin parrot,5 which averages three feet in length, has a blue-green back and bright green tail, grey under side, and yellow head, with sienna fins ; but it is covered all over with a honeycomb pattern of bright yellow. A very lady- like-looking member of this family is the Balistes, robed in delicate silver ; its eyes are bright golden, with large black pupil. The green tulip parrot6 is also a dainty little fish, only about six inches in length, apparelled in lovely shaded green ; while the cocoa-nut sparrow (Pol-Kitchyah) is a small creature, with head, tail, fins, and crossbars of yellow on a claret-coloured ground. Perhaps the most marvellously variegated of all these creatures is the flower parrot,7 which chiefly frequents the coral-reefs off the south of the Isle. Its lustrous robe has horizontal bands of silver, blue, crimson, bright green, and dark green, crossed by black bands and 1 The Dewe (or holy) Boraloowah 2 Ratoo-Girawah. 3 Panoo-Girawah. 4 Lena-Girawah, 5 Laboo-Girawah. 6 MU-Talapat-Girawak, 7 Mal-Girawah. IOO TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON patches of yellow. The fins are straw-coloured, the head has crimson and bright green stripes radiating from the eye. Even the excellent herring of Ceylon • displays an oriental love of colour, for its silvery body is striped with red, and some of its fins are yellow, while the others are dark steel-grey. But the triumph of fish millinery is reserved for a lovely, very rare perch, dressed in silvery grey, with tail, fins, and crown of the head of vivid gold, just tipped with velvety black. Another radiant butterfly of the deep is the Malkotah, which is apparelled in green satin striped with scarlet, its fins and tail being also scarlet. But for oddity nothing can excel the various members of the Chetodon family or 'Moon-fish,' as they are called by the Singhalese, because of their globular form. One is just a ball of bright golden yellow, with glittering yellow eyes and enormous brown fins. Another has a yellow body with curved lines of purple ; black-and-gold tail and fins, and a black band on the face. One little gem about four inches in diameter is silvery grey, shaded with bands of darker grey, and silvery eyes. Another equally tiny is of bright gold, with a blue back and gold dorsal fin. There are also crabs innumerable, including some which are brilliantly tinted. They are of all shapes and sizes, from the largest edible crabs down to little tiny hermits, which scamper about the shore in thousands, hiding during the heat of the day under the cool shade of the marine convolvulus, each tenanting some empty shell which it has selected from the multitude which strew the beach. But I must not linger too long over the wonders of the fish-market and of the sea-shore, which so specially attracted us at Chilaw, from being so close to and parallel with the banks of the river where our boat lay anchored. Here we were taken to see some fine wood-carving in the Roman Catholic Church, where we were told the Sunday congregation averaged 900 persons ; for here, as elsewhere in Ceylon, a large pro portion of the fishers and many of the coast population are Roman Catholics — descendants of the Portuguese converts. Chapels are numerous, all built by the people themselves, and devout con gregations attend Mass daily at 4 a.m. The fishers give their priest a tithe of their daily catch, and in stormy weather will never put to sea till he has sprinkled the boats with holy water. Not one boat 1 Pookoorowah, THE CRUISE OF THE CASTLE JERMYN 101 puts to sea on Sunday— a deference for the day in honourable contrast with the enormous amount of Sunday labour exacted at the ports where foreign vessels call, and where the toil of shipping and unshipping cargo goes on without intermission. Having been converted by the Portuguese, the Roman Catholics in Ceylon have ever continued subject to the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Goa, whence also their priests have been chiefly supplied. The French and Italian priests and vicars-apostolic sent from Rome have found less favour with the people, who have shown themselves nowise disposed to accept the dogma of Papal infallibility, more especially since the Pope decreed that in September 1884 the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Goa should cease, and the Goanese clergy should no longer be competent to dispense the holy sacraments, unless they would subject themselves to the Pope's representative — a change of allegiance to which they very seriously objected. The strife born of those disputes has been most unedifying. Thus we were shown an island near Negombo (Dhuwa Isle) to which some notion of special sanctity attaches, and there the different orders have had serious conflicts as to which should say Mass first. The year before our visit, thousands had assembled, quite prepared for a free fight in support of their respective spiritual leaders ; but the British authorities having got wind of their intentions, a body of police took possession of the chapel, and ordered which should take precedence. Afterwards the others held their service, although greatly incensed at the preference shown to their rivals. I heard much of the miracle-plays performed on Good Friday in a building adjoining the chapel. The room was chemically darkened, leaving only sufficient light to distinguish three great crucifixes. All other figures were real. The Blessed Virgin was personated by a Singhalese woman. Afterwards an image representing the dead Christ was carried on a bier through the streets of the city, which were lined with thousands of kneeling women, all dressed in black, and wailing aloud. At Chilaw, on Palm Sunday, processions of large images of our Lord riding the ass, and of the twelve Apostles, are paraded on wheels, just as the Hindoos parade their gods. At Jaffna the pro cessions might well be mistaken for that of Jaggernaut's cars, and no heathen idol could be more repulsive than are the images of many of the Christian saints as here displayed. About half-way between Puttalam and Kalpitiya lies a village named Talavillu, which has attained to great notoriety through certain 102 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON miraculous cures imputed to St. Anna, to whom a sick man vowed to give all his goods in case he should recover from dire illness. He did recover, and his little property proved a nest-egg for the accumu lation of a great sum of similar offerings. So a large church speedily replaced the original humble shrine, and now crowds of pilgrims of all faiths, to the number of 20,000, assemble there for a great annual fair in the month of July. Not only Roman Catholics, but Hindoos and Buddhists, pay their vows at the shrine of St. Anna, who receives gifts of all sorts. We were told that a waiter in one of the hotels had just presented her with a magnificent green satin dress and golden crown. The pilgrims travel from afar in crowded boats and heavily laden carts, and are a cause of considerable anxiety to the authorities, from the fear of their causing or spreading disease.1 Ceylon has no lack of modern miracles, so called, nor of faithful believers therein. Thus, had we been curious in such matters, we might have visited a church five miles from Negombo, in which lay a girl whose life was said to be one long trance, but who on every Friday imagined that she endured all the agonies of the crucifixion, and who certainly did seem to be enduring indescribable pain, though heretics failed to believe that, as was alleged, drops of blood truly trickled from her hands and feet. At first the good old village priest declared himself unable to express any opinion on this strange case ; but, after a visit from his bishop, it was declared to be a true miracle, whereupon thousands flocked to see her, and enriched the chapel by their offerings. Leaving pleasant Chilaw, we rowed back, in glorious moonlight (oh, so beautiful as seen from beneath the dark over-arching fronds of tall cocoa-palms !) to the lovely Luna-Oya, and there anchored, that we might get full enjoyment of the early morning light on its beautiful foliage and tangled creepers, and on the wealth of reeds, 1 Letters from Puttalam, on July 19, 1889, tell of the town being invaded by the usual groups of pilgrims, mendicants, devotees, soothsayers, musicians, &c— men and women of all classes, and of all the different races which people the Isle, crowd ing to worship at the shrine of St. Anna, irrespective of their various creeds, greatly to the advantage of the owners of ferry-boats plying between Puttalam and Ettalai. But by July 26 cholera had broken out, and three deaths having occurred, the festival was stopped by order of the Government officers, pilgrims being forbidden to enter Puttalam, and recommended to return to their homes. A hospital was estab lished at St. Anna's, and shelters for wayfarers stricken with illness were organised along the loute, in charge of properly qualified attendants. A medical officer was also stationed at Kalpitiya, whose duty it was to see the various bands of pilgrims safely started on their homeward way. THE CRUISE OF THE CASTLE JERMYN 103 acanthus, and innumerable water-plants on its sedgy shores. The men camped on shore, rigging up the brown sail as their tent, and kindling a bright fire beneath the trees. Again, with the dawn, we rejoiced in all the voices of the wakening jungle life — monkeys and jolly old wanderoos, parrots, kingfishers, barbets, jungle-fowl, — notes of all sorts, harsh and liquid, the most attractive being those of a cheery black and white bird, which Europeans call a robin, because it has something of the friendly demeanour to human beings which endears our own little redbreast. All day long we sailed or rowed, and at sunset neared the village of Maravilla ; but catching sight of a crowd of natives preparing decorations in honour of the Bishop's visit, we pretended not to have arrived, and, turning back, anchored for the night near a grand old banyan tree, amid whose dark foliage flashed fire-flies innumerable. Immediately after early coffee, M. de Soyza, the fine old village moodliar, came to fetch us, and showed us over his splendidly kept cocoa-palm estate, watered by the aid of a steam-engine, an outlay well repaid by the luxuriant growth of the trees, young ones about eleven years of age having fronds of from twenty to twenty-five feet in length. On an average, each full-grown tree yields twenty nuts six times a year. These fine fronds, torn into shreds and plaited, figured largely in the decorations at the landing-place, and at church, mingling with the large fan-shaped leaves and rich glossy-brown fruit of the palmyra- palm, the scarlet screw-pine, and curiously woven pendent birds' nests, the general effect being very light and pretty. The congregation here being all Singhalese, the Bishop of course conducted the service in that language (to me as incomprehensible as Tamil). The interest centred in the baptism of two adults, con verts from Buddhism. In the afternoon we resumed our voyage, sailing down stream between beautifully wooded banks, where we saw several great ungainly kabragoyas, and numerous small lovely lizards. We attempted to capture a bright green tree-snake, about four feet long, which was twined round a branch, with a crested bird dead in its mouth ; but at our approach it dropped into the water and swam to shore. Though not venomous, it is dreaded by the islanders, because of its habit of darting at the eyes of man or bird. A sunset, in which every gorgeous colour blended, was succeeded io4 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON by an after-glow still more exquisite ; and ere its brilliancy had faded the moon shone gloriously, its light blending with that of the sheet- lightning, while the glaring torches of men fishing cast long fiery reflections, and showers of sparks, as the fishers passed in and out beneath the overhanging branches of the dark trees. We anchored for the night where the placid waters of the Ging- Oya mingle with those of the Maha-Oya, and together flow silently into the ocean, the point of union being marked only by the upheaval every other minute of the majestic green wave which curls and breaks in dazzling surf and with thunderous roar — a vision of lovely peace, blended with resistless force. Sailing in the early dawn, we passed from the calm river to a still calmer canal, and thence into the Lake Negombo, where we again anchored beside the picturesque native town and fishing village, with all its variety of boats, most fascinating to a sketcher. A hearty wel come awaited us in a pleasant bungalow between the sea and the lake, and close to an old fort — commenced by the Portuguese, and com pleted by the Dutch — close also to a magnificent banyan tree with innumerable stems, one of the finest I have ever seen. Beneath its shadow sat groups of Singhalese men and women, waiting their summons on business to the court-house, within the old fort. Truth to tell, banyan trees, beautiful as they always must be, do not very commonly attain to the gigantic size of our Indian visions. We have all been from our cradles imbued with descriptions of the sacred fig, which spreads her arms, ' Branching so broad and long, that in the ground The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow About the mother-tree, a pillared shade High over-arched, and echoing walks between ' — that mystic grove where Milton tells how the parents of our race found refuge ; and so many travellers have brought home measurements of the amazing extent of ground covered by the multitudinous offspring of one parent stem, that stay-at-home folk suppose such trees are to be met with at every turn. I am sorry to say that this is so far from being the case, that in the course of very extensive travels I can only recollect one tree in Nananu, a small island off Viti Levu (i.e. Great Fiji •), and two or three in India, to compare with this one at Negombo. Sad to say, 1 ' At Home in Fiji.' By C. F. Gordon Cumming. Published by William Black wood & Sons. THE CRUISE OF THE CASTLE JERMYN 105 in the districts of Ceylon where the forest has been ruthlessly cleared to make way for coffee, I was shown the sites whence trees, which, must have been well nigh as grand as this, had been felled and burnt, and in place of their stately beauty and delicious shade, I saw only dull little bushes beneath a scorching sun. Of existing trees, perhaps the most accessible specimen for the easy-going tourist is that at Dumdum, near Calcutta ; but for majestic- grandeur probably none can compare with the famous banyan on an island in the Nerbudda river about ten miles from Baroda, which numbers three hundred and fifty great stems and three thousand lesser ones. Apparently a good many more have been washed away by floods, but even now this vast colony covers an area two thousand feet in circumference, while the overhanging branches extend over a far wider space, and are continually putting forth fresh perpendicular shoots and masses of brown fibre, ready still further to enlarge their border. Of course the Hindoos (who reverence all large trees as the dwelling-place of a god, and to whom every leaf of the sacred fig is precious) assemble here in vast concourse, and at certain great festivals as many as seven thousand human beings sometimes find shelter under its broad shadow, besides troops of monkeys and flocks of great bats, parrots, pigeons, and pea-fowl, which find a safe home in its sacred branches. Such trees as these are, however, quite exceptional. Even in India an average family group rarely exceeds twenty or thirty main trunks, and more slender pillars at intervals ; with a beard-like net work of pendent offshoots stretching earthward to meet the great masses of bare roots, all twisted and interlaced, which seem like some mighty race of serpents writhing in endless contortions. It is necessary to remember that there are three distinct families of the great clan fig-tree. These huge banyans are the Ficus indica (and it was beneath the shadow of one of these that the Hindoo god Vishnu was born). The still more sacred Peepul (as it is called in India), or Bo (which is the contraction for Bodinwahanse, as the tree is called in Ceylon), is the Ficus religiosa, and it was beneath its cool shade that Gautama sat absorbed in meditation till he attained his Buddha-hood, or state of perfect wisdom ; consequently, wherever Buddhism has reigned, even where, as throughout India, it has been superseded by Brahmanism, this tree is held in deepest reverence.1 1 For singularly practical proof of this, in business matters, see ' In the Himalayas and on Indian Plains,' p. 80. By C. F. Gordon Cumming. Published by Chatto & Windus. 106 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON The third great member of clan fig is the Ficus elastica, or indiarubber tree, of which it would be difficult to find nobler representatives than the magnificent avenue outside the Botanical Gardens at Peradeniya, near Kandy. Its large leathery leaf is familiar to most folk as a hothouse shrub, and it bears a small bright crimson seed. The sacred Bo tree bears a small scarlet fruit like a tiny fig, and its curiously thin heart-shaped leaf ends in a long point, which serves as a conduit for trickling rain-drops, which, after a shower, hang glittering in the sunlight. Like those of the aspen, the leaves of this ' tree of wisdom ' are for ever quivering with every breath of air. Long before sunrise we found our way to the palm-fringed shore, to enjoy the rare luxury of a delicious bath in the warm sea — rare, because there are so few places on these shores where we could feel safe from sharks ; but here the water lies so clear above the firm yellow sand, that sharks seem afraid to approach, so our enjoyment of the perfect morning was unalloyed. But the subsequent delight of lying idly at rest in the verandah during the noonday heat was tempered by alarming stories of the terrible results of such indulgence should the breeze happen to be blowing from the north-west, in which case it is known as the ' Along shore ' or ' Land ' wind, which, blowing over feverish Indian jungles, arrives here hot and dry, and shrivels up whatever it touches. Half an hour of this delicious but treacherous breeze blowing on a sleeper, or even on a person lying at rest, often proves worse than a sunstroke, and is quite as permanent in its effects. Animals suffer from it as severely as human beings, horses and deer being often crippled with rheumatism, or even blind from this cause. Its effect on vegetation is also most hurtful, and even furniture shrinks and splits under its baneful influence. On Sunday the Bishop held morning and evening service in the old Dutch fort, the congregation consisting chiefly of the Burgher descendants of those early colonists, with a sprinkling of more picturesque Singhalese with their combs and comboys. The services were hearty, the singing good, and the great fronds of the tall palms quivered in the cool light breeze as we looked down on the bright blue sea — a peaceful, pleasant scene. The old fort suggests strange visions of trading under difficulties, inasmuch as the main purpose of its existence, and of its strong garrison, was for the protection of the cinnamon trade, and to supply military escorts for each of the large bodies of the native cinnamon THE CRUISE OF THE CASTLE JERMYN 107 peelers, who were sent into the jungles all around Negombo to collect the spice so dear to our grandmothers, and so largely used in the manufacture of chocolate and church incense. Little did those gentle dames and peaceful worshippers dream of the risks run by the very poor, almost naked, Singhalese cinnamon collectors — of attack not only by divers wild beasts, but also by warlike Kandyan troops, and of the toil and danger incurred in their service. About the year 1770, a large extent of the jungle near Negombo was taken into cultivation for the growth of cinnamon only, when, as I have already mentioned, such stringent laws were enacted to secure the Government monopoly of the precious spice, that flogging was the penalty for any injury to a shrub, while death awaited the wretch who destroyed a tree in the Government plantations, or even helped him self to a little bark. One of the objects of interest near Negombo is a cocoanut-palm with several heads, a growth so rare that we were taken up the lake to see it ; but found it as hideous as are most other deformities. The stem rises singly to the usual height ; but where the crown of fruit and fronds ought to be, it divides into nine white stems, each bearing a misshappen bunch of leaves only. I heard of another deformed palm near Belligama in the neighbourhood of Galle. That one has a triple crown. I have also seen a hydra-headed palm on one of the Fijian Isles, where it was equally prized by the natives on account of its singularity. I found a more attractive object for pencil and brush in the majestic banyan tree, which claimed all my available time at charm ing Negombo, to which we bade adieu with infinite regret, my companions returning to Colombo by land, while I preferred return ing by water, and sailing down the lake in clear moonlight. It was an evening much to be remembered, on account of the wonderful phosphorescence of the water, the brilliancy of forked and sheet lightning, and the utter stillness, broken only by the deep growling of distant thunder. There was also something of novelty in finding myself alone with a crew of Singhalese, of whose language I scarcely knew six words ! We anchored at Tarracoolie, a very pretty spot with rich foliage and deep reflections, of which I secured an early sketch, then once more sailed by lovely river and canal ; and ere the sun set, the Castle Jermyn was safe back at her old mooring, and all her passengers (bipeds and quadrupeds) were in comfortable quarters at 'St. Thomas's College, under the Bishop's hospitable roof. 108 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON CHAPTER VI TO THE HILLS To the hills— Rice-fields— The railway— Kitool and talipot palms— Olas— Bread-fruit —Jak—Papaw— Kapok— Road-making— Major Skinner— Gampola— The Delta— Rambodda Pass— Pallagolla. Soon after our return we spent an interesting forenoon at Cotta, about six miles from Colombo, a very pretty place, where the river broadens so as to form a clear calm lake, embosomed in groves of cocoa-palms. Cotta has the double interest of having been the residence of the Singhalese kings at the time when the Portuguese first came to bring misery, discord, and war, and the modern and most peaceful interest of having been a very important station of the Church Missionary Society, almost ever since it first commenced work in Ceylon in 1818. A printing-press was then established here, which has been to the Singhalese all that the American press at Jaffna has been to the Tamils. (See concluding chapter.) A very important branch of the work here is the Training Institu tion for Native Students of Divinity and Schoolmasters. The fact that (although selected from the most promising pupils in all parts of the Isle) these at present only number respectively five and four, speaks volumes for the difficulty of filling these important posts. Another very important feature is the boarding-school, open to any Singhalese girl of good character, irrespective of caste or religion. It has been open about sixteen years, during which time about 250 girls have been trained, some remaining for ten years. A considerable number become Christians and teachers in the schools. The same may be said of the English school for boys, which has an average attendance of ninety, of whom nearly half are Buddhists, all of whom, however, voluntarily attend the Scripture classes. Troops of pretty, happy-looking children, boys and girls, from the various schools had assembled to greet the Bishop ; and in the crowded church were no less than fifty-three candidates for confirma tion, all Singhalese and Burghers. Early on the following morning we started for the hills, travelling by the beautiful railway, which is certainly one of the loveliest lines of rail I know of. Part of it reminded me of that through the Bombay Ghauts. But, ere reaching the mountain district, we traversed a wide expanse of swampy paddy-fields, most refreshing to TO THE HILLS 109 the eyes, the intensely vivid green of the young rice-crops far exceed ing that of our own wheat-fields. It is a cultivation involving much toil, and singularly unpleasant to those engaged in it, as from first to last it is all in mud. To begin with that on level ground, each tiny field must be scooped out so as to form a small lakelet several feet deep, the mud thus obtained form ing an embankment which retains the water, so that the rice may never be dry till it is fully ripe. These embankments form the foot paths by which the people travel from field to field. On hillsides the toil is of a different sort. There it consists in building up terraces, tier above tier, for many hundred feet, so as to produce a succession of tiny lakes, curving with the formation of the ground, each supported in front by a solid embankment, which in some cases is five or six feet in depth. These are constructed with least trouble in glens and valleys where the ground forms an angle, and where a stream flows naturally ; but I have seen steep hillsides so terraced as to present a most singular effect of small lakes, fed by rivulets carefully led to the summit from some distant source. By this contrivance all available water is distributed and stored during the dry season, and when the rains come, the superfluous water flows from one tier of tank-like terraces to the next without washing away the soil. Thus, thanks to the patient industry of the husbandmen, almost precipitous hillsides are green with waving rice- crops. At all times the contrivances for irrigation are suggestive of infinite pains, small water-courses being led by aqueducts of mud and stone or bamboo to carry tiny rivers of life through miles of jungle, from the cool hills to the parched plains below. The cultivation of the steep hillsides is exactly the same as in the Himalayas, and the narrow fields are ploughed with the same ante diluvian hand-implements. The cultivation of the plains is less toilsome. When the ground has been thoroughly saturated, the water is turned off, and the soil is stirred to a depth of about eighteen inches by a very primitive plough drawn by two buffaloes. Then the water is turned on again, and on the flat ground herds of buffaloes are allowed to wade at will and wallow in the mud, till it becomes so fluid as to sink to a perfect level. The buffaloes thus incrusted with mud are truly disgusting-looking objects, and present a most curious contrast to the long-legged, pure white paddy-birds which stalk after them as inseparable companions. The rice (which has been previously well soaked) is now scattered no TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON on the level surface — most literally casting bread upon the waters, to be found after many days. In about a fortnight the black mud is carpeted, to a depth of four inches with the loveliest green. The water is run off and on alternately till just before the grain is ripe, when the ground is allowed to dry, preparatory to harvest. Where water does not fail, these fields yield two crops annually — the maha, or great crop, sown in spring and reaped in early autumn ; the second, called yalla, sown about July and reaped in December. Hence, about the month of September, there may be harvesting of ripe grain and treading- out of corn by unmuzzled oxen or buffaloes in some fields, while others are being ploughed by buffaloes or just appearing in sheets of fresh young green. The exact dates are regulated by the somewhat uncertain coming of the mon soons (in Biblical language, ' the former and latter rains '), due in the southern provinces in May and November. Simple and idyllic as this primitive farming seems to the casual , observer, these verdant fields are sometimes the occasion of wearisome lawsuits ; for, as according to Singhalese custom all property is equally divided among a man's heirs, and then again subdivided, it follows that a score of owners may share in the cultivation of a small paddy-field, and in the division of its crop. Other fields are the common property of a whole village, and the produce has to be divided in certain proportions among the villagers, from the owner of the buffaloes employed to plough and trample the land, down to the dhoby who does the village washing. I may add that the word ' paddy ' means unhusked rice, of which two bushels yield one of cleaned rice. Leaving the level plain, we gradually ascended — upward, still upward, all the way, wending round sharp curves and by many zigzags, so that we could sometimes see both the last carriage of the train and the engines ! The carriages are provided with broad white roofs and Venetian shutters as some protection against the sun. The engines are all of the most powerful construction, as well they may be, seeing that for upwards of twelve miles, while rounding the flank of Allagalla, a grand craggy mountain, the uniform gradient is i in 45. By the time we reached the summit of Kadugannawa Pass, about sixty miles from Colombo, we had ascended 1,700 feet. In front of each engine is a ' cow-catcher,' intended to sweep off any inquisitive animals which may rashly wander on to the line. Unfortunately even this is not always effectual, and the carelessness of owners of cattle TO THE HILLS m in allowing their animals to stray upon the railway is incredible. The railway report for 1890 shows that 129 bullocks and cows were run over by trains during the year, besides occasional buffaloes. Last May a herd of these were run into near Polgahawela station, and though some were swept aside, one was run over, causing the wheels to run off the rails. Fortunately the train was stopped ere grave damage was done. It is a single broad-gauge line, and in truth, when we see what frightful engineering difficulties had to be overcome in its construction, the succession of tunnels (one of which, through Moragalla, is 365 feet in length), and the skirting of precipitous crags, we can under stand something of the causes which limited its width. Worse even than the stubborn rocks of the mountains in the central province was the awful malaria, which in those days was so prevalent in some of the low-lying inland districts, that it was almost certain death to sleep in them. The coolies who worked on the line died by hundreds ; and in the tract lying between Mirigama and the Dekanda valley, so many perished that at last there literally was not found room for their burial within easy distance of the line. As the only possibility of keeping them alive, it was found necessary to take them all back to Colombo every night, a distance of about fifty miles. Of the Europeans in charge of the works, one after another succumbed, and had to be shipped off from Ceylon with health shattered by the deadly fever.1 Now, doubtless owing to improved drainings, and to the whole sale cleaning of the jungle to make room for divers forms of cultivation, the pestilential malaria is a story of the past ; and of the dense impenetrable forest which fifty years ago clothed the steep Kadugannawa Pass only a few trees remain, and there is nothing whatever to suggest to the luxurious traveller what pains and perils were endured, and how many lives were sacrificed, ere this splendid line was opened even thus far. Indeed, on one's first journey, there 1 Possibly some of the many victims of jungle fever in other lands may be disposed to try the simple remedy described in a letter to the editor of the Ceylon Observer. The writer states that his stalwart brother had, from repeated attacks of Indian jungle fever, dwindled to a mere skeleton, when a fakir came to his tent and offered to permanently cure him. His materia medica were of the simplest, consisting only of a flat piece of iron and a bottle of sugar-cane vinegar. The former was made red-hot, and the vinegar was poured over it, the patient inhaling the fumes. This operation was repeated only a second time, and from that day forward, in the thirteen years up to date of the letter, the sufferer never had a return of fever, and quite recovered his health, 112 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON is no time for any impressions save those of wonder and admiration at the rapidly changing panorama of most beautiful scenery. Even when gliding along the face of sheer crags, looking down on the valley a thousand feet below, one scarcely realises the situation. For myself, frequently passing and repassing up and down this line, and living for happy weeks in its neighbourhood, always pencil in hand, I learnt to realise something of what must have been the dangers involved in constructing such portions as ' The Bear's Mouth,' ' Sensation Rock,' and the half-tunnel gallery along the face of the Meeangalla precipice. And yet all these are said to be plain sailing as compared with the difficulties which are now being successfully overcome by the engineers of the extension to Haputale, which is opening up much of the grandest scenery in the isle ; so that almost ere these pages are published, the most easy-going tourist will be able, without the smallest exertion, to see whole districts which hitherto have been inaccessible even to old residents. And not in this direction only, but north, south, east, and west, the necessity of railway extension is being recognised ; and in a very few years, so far as any difficulty is con cerned, travelling to any corner of Ceylon will be as matter-of-fact as a journey from London to Edinburgh. The railway system in Ceylon is entirely in the hands of Govern ment, and it is urged by those who plead for extension, that opening up the country will certainly lead to great increase of traffic and consequent revenue. With the exception of that between Kandy and Matala, the lines hitherto constructed are said to be about the best paying in the world. As to the stations, so much care is be stowed on their gardens that each is a thing of beauty, embowered in luxuriant climbing plants, and all manner of fragrant and brilliant flowers. All names are written up in English, Tamil, and Singhalese, in their respective characters, so that all travellers may read, every man in his own tongue, unperplexed by the hateful advertisements which disfigure our British stations. At each, pretty Singhalese children offer for sale baskets of tempting fruit, and cool refreshing young cocoa-nuts which they cut open, and hand all ready to the thirsty traveller. Fortunately for sight-seers, the rate of travel is not excessive, twenty-eight miles an hour being the utmost speed on the very best bit of level, while on the steep incline twelve miles an hour is the regulation limit, and at one point rather less, TO THE HILLS tij There is so much to see on either side, that eyes and mind must be constantly on duty, whether looking right up to the mountains overhead, or down to the grand valley outspread far, far below, all clothed with richest vegetation, every variety of palm mingling with endless varieties of hardwood, while the little terraced rice-fields on the slopes of the hills, and those on the flat expanse below, either present sheets of the most dazzling green or seem like a mosaic of innumerable tiny lakes. And on every side of this great valley rise hills of every variety of form — a billowy sea of mountain-ranges, all glorified by ever-changing effects of light and shadow, veiling mist or sweeping storm, followed by that ' clear shining after rain,' which daily reveals new beauties in mountain regions. To me that scene recalls endless pleasant memories of happy days and weeks spent in exploring many a lovely corner in that vast panorama — memories of the cordial hospitality which gave me wel come to nest-like homes on many a hill and valley, and of one in particular, to which I was welcomed again and again, perched at the base of the mighty crag which crowns Allagalla Peak — which is a beautiful isolated mountain, 3,394 feet in height — from the summit of which, it is said, the Kandyan monarchs were wont to precipitate persons accused of high treason. That home was in a sheltered nook embosomed in fruit-trees, and overlooking such a magnificent view as we may sometimes obtain for a few moments by climbing some mighty Alp, but which few homes can claim as their perpetual outlook. Thence far below us, and yet far above the valley, we could discern two narrow lines, and we knew that the lower one was the cart-road and the upper one the railroad, and suddenly a double puff of steam would rise, and there, darting from a tunnel, was a long train with an engine at either end, labouring on its tortuous up-hill course, winding round the steep hillside. It was so far below us that it seemed like a fairy's toy, and yet it gave us a sense of touch with our fellow-creatures which in so isolated an eyrie was rather pleasant. As we gradually ascended from the sea-level we observed a very marked change in the character of the vegetation, one of the most conspicuous trees being covered with bunches of white blossom, which in the distance resemble our own white lilac ; the young leaves being pure white, and all silvery on the under side, so that, when swaying in the breeze, the tree contrasts prettily with its neighbours. 1 ti4 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON I believe it is a croton, though utterly unlike the very gorgeously coloured members of that family. This is called by the Singhalese kekuna, and from its nuts they used to extract an oil for lamps. In Fiji, where we found the identical tree and much of the identical vegetation, these are known as candle-nuts, and I have seen them strung on the rib of a palm-leaf to act as candles, and very dull was the light they gave ! A far more showy tree is the Moratuwa (Lagerstroemia regind), which flourishes near streams, growing to a height of from forty to fifty feet, and bears splendid upright spikes, two or three feet in length, of exquisite blossoms, varying from a delicate rose-colour to rich purple. Think of the most beautiful horse-chestnut you ever saw, and magnify and glorify its wealth of blossom, and you can perhaps form some idea of this beautiful tree. It flowers on Allagalla in the month of April. (I am told that these trees are in their glory in the Bintenna district, near Mahaoya village, where the whole western side of the Mahaoya river presents a blaze of rosy purple, and stretching along the river-bed of yellow sand, relieved by a background of dark green, a gorgeous scene in the bright morning light.) And trees here rarely stand naked and alone, as in England ; they are generally enriched by graceful parasites, ferns, or perhaps orchids, clothe stem and boughs, and a great variety of lianas climb to the very summit of the tallest trees, and droop thence in long trails or festoons of delicate greenery, connecting a whole group of trees with their verdant veiling, often starred with white or blue convolvulus. Near the sea, and indeed so far inland as the saturated sea-breeze carries the salt spray, the vegetation is often so encrusted with salt, that the young leaves seem partially blighted ; but only in gales of unusual violence is the brine carried so far as this, and it would be difficult to conceive foliage richer and more beautiful than that through which we were now passing. It seemed as though Mother Nature must have taxed all her inventive powers to devise an infinite variety of graceful forms. I noticed this especially in the matter of palms, which are at all times peculiarly fascinating, but on some isles only one or two flourish, and from their multitude they become monotonous. But here the eye can never weary, so amazing is the diversity of form and colour presented to it in ever-changing. combination of strangely dissimilar palms, tree-ferns, and all manner TO THE HILLS 115 of hardwood, bearing large leaves or small, leathery or woolly, in endless variety. Though we had left the seaboard (the special region of the brine- loving cocoa-palm), there were still enough of those graceful bending stems and long waving fronds to contrast with the picturesque clumps of stiff fan-leaved palmyra-palms (with rough dark stems upright as pillars, crowned by capitals of glossy green), and with the slender silvery areca, so slender that a stem seventy or eighty feet high does not exceed five or six in diameter. The latter flourishes at any altitude from the sea-level up to about 3,000 feet, and is sometimes planted to mark estate boundaries, and sometimes as an avenue. Totally different from these or from any other member of the beautiful clan palm, and to me most attractive of all, was the kitool or jaggery palm (Caryota urens). Its leaves are just like gigantic fronds of the lovely maiden-hair fern of our hothouses. It is the richest and most beautiful foliage that can be imagined, and its mode of flowering is very remarkable. Till the last year of its life, by which time it has attained a height of fifty or sixty feet, it bears leaves only, then from the axil of the topmost leaf it throws out a large cluster of flowers, and as this fades, another and another cluster flowers all the way down the tree, alternately male and female, until the lowest leaf- axil is reached, and the mass of fruitage is such that the exhausted tree then dies. The fruit is as unique as the leaf, for instead of bearing about a hundred large nuts in clusters like other palms, it produces an in numerable multitude of juicy berries about the size of grapes, growing in festoons several feet in length, like heavy drapery. Under the impression that the natives eat these sweet berries, I was one day tempted to taste them ; but the rash experiment was immediately followed by a burning pain in my lips, which continued unabated for some hours, notwithstanding the application of oil, water, lime-juice, everything we could think of. It was rather alarming, although I knew it could not be poison, inasmuch as the natives manufacture both sugar and palm-wine from the saccharine sap, obtained by bruising the undeveloped blossom, and this, coarse brown jaggery-sugar is rather a pleasant sweetmeat. A good tree sometimes yields a hundred pints of this sweet sap or toddy in twenty-four hours. When the tree dies, good sago is obtained from its pith ¦. and its hard black timber is valuable for H6 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON house-building, and also, from its being tough and pliable, is generally used for making the pingoes or yokes, six or eight feet in length, which are balanced on the shoulder and used for carrying loads slung from either end, the elastic spring of the pingo greatly lessening the dead weight thus carried. The leaf-stalks yield a black fibre, from which are prepared fine lines for fishing and ropes stout enough to bind elephants. But the Palm of Palms, of which I now for the first time saw a considerable number, each in solitary grandeur, is the talipot,1 or great fan-palm, the stately monarch of the palm kingdom, whose grand green crown far overtops all its fellows. For the first thirty years of its life it grows only magnificent fan-shaped leaves like those of the palmyra, but much larger. If there be any truth in the legend which affirms Ceylon to have been the Paradise of our first parents, it must be confessed that Eve showed a truly feminine love of sewing in her selection of foliage, as a single leaf of the talipot palm would have been amply sufficient for train and mantle — being on an average eighteen feet in length (some times very much larger), and all ready folded into plaits like those of a lady's dress. The natives turn these leaves to a thousand uses, domestic and literary. When on a journey (and especially pilgrims bound for sacred shrines in the wilds) each carries a portion of one of these great leaves, tightly folded into a long narrow form, like a gigantic closed fan. This serves as a sun-shade or rain-cloak by day, and at night several friends contribute every man his palm-leaf — three or four of these, with the pointed end upwards, forming a very fair bell- shaped tent ; and very picturesque a few groups of these look when pitched in some forest glade round their camp-fires. In old days the exact grade of every great Singhalese or Kandyan noble was shown by the number of such sun-shades which he was entitled to have carried before him ; and on state occasions a richly ornamented leaf, inlaid with pieces of glittering talc, and folded like a huge fan, formed the ceremonial canopy which was held above his head by one or more attendants.2 The leaves attain their largest size when the tree is about twenty 1 Corypha umbraculifera. 2 I embodied many curious details regarding the honorific use of the sun-shade in all ages and all countries in a paper on ' Pagodas, Umbrellas, and Aurioles,' which appeared in the English Illustrated Magazine for June and July 1888. TO THE HILLS 117 years of age, at which time they sometimes measure twenty-five feet from the base of the leaf-stalk to the outer edge of the fan. As the tree grows older, the leaves are smaller — the strength of the tree being absorbed in preparation for its gigantic final effort of blossom and fruition. After the first ten years a visible trunk begins to form, and for perhaps thirty years more it grows steadily, till the grand white stem towers, straight as a mast, to a height of upwards of a hundred feet, sustaining the magnificent crown of gigantic leaves. Like most of the palm family, the stem bears ring-marks where the annual leaves have gripped it. The tree attains maturity at about forty years of age, when it slowly develops one huge bud fully four feet high. In course of time the expanding blossom bursts its prison, and develops into an enormous spike of hermaphrodite flowers taking about three months to perfect a majestic pyramid of snowy plumes composed of multi tudinous small cream-coloured flowers, something like those of the yucca, and of an almost overpowering scent. These form one splendid mass of blossom, rising from the heart of the leafy crown to a height of from twenty to twenty-five feet, towering far above the surrounding foliage. This stupendous cluster throws out lateral branches, of which the lower tier sometimes measures twenty feet — the base of the pyramid thus having a diameter of forty feet ! It is a glorious object, and is visible from an immense distance, as this palm so often grows among flat surroundings, such as rice-fields. But the tree, which for well-nigh half a century has been accu mulating strength for this one supreme effort, never recovers the exhaustion of such tremendous exertion. Its latest energies are lavished on the ripening of its one crop of innumerable, but I believe useless, nuts, each about the size of a small apple. Then, having fulfilled its mission right nobly, and borne down by the weight of its crop, the noble tree sickens, its leaves wither, the soft upper end of the stem decays ; then the roots likewise decay, and within a year of the date when the great blossom-spike first began to appear, the dead tree falls prostrate — leaving its crown of precious leaves as a last legacy to its owner. (Though indigenous to Ceylon and the adjacent coast of Malabar, this palm is nowhere found wild) Strange to say, the talipot is of a gregarious habit as regards flowering. Some years many are in blossom, and a noble sight they present, I believe I was peculiarly fortunate in the number which I u8 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON saw simultaneously between Kandy and Colombo. Then for perhaps eight or ten years there are very few. If cut while the tree is still young, it yields a white pith, of which the natives make cakes ; but naturally so precious a tree is not sacrificed needlessly. The leaves, when carefully prepared, are the equivalent of our vellum. The most precious ancient manuscripts were all inscribed with a sharp-pointed metal style on long narrow strips of talipot-leaf : a number of these being strung together form a volume. These are carefully tied up between two long narrow covers, which may be only painted wooden boards, but, in the case of old temple books, are sometimes highly ornamented and even enriched with precious gems. In some cases these covers are of embossed gold or silver. There are very fine specimens in the Temple Library at Kandy. The preparation of the olas or ' vellum ' strips is done by the junior priests and students in Buddhist monasteries. Tender young leaves are selected, and the ribs having been removed, the leaf is cut into strips, which are boiled in spring-water and then slowly dried in the shade, and finally in the sun, after which they are again damped, and each is individually polished by being drawn backwards and forwards for about twenty minutes over the smooth stem of an areca palm, which for convenience' sake is tied horizontally between two trees. The olas, which are now of a delicate straw colour, are then rolled up, and kept in store ready for use. For ordinary books and letters, the olas are prepared from the leaves of the far more abundant palmyra-palm. Even in these days, when foreign manufactured paper is so cheap and abundant, the palm-leaf happily still continues in favour — even the narrow fronds of the cocoa-palm affording a never-failing supply of ready-made writing materials, the hard mid-rib acting as a pen when no sharper implement is at hand. I may add that Singhalese writing is very neat and small, and it is wonderful to see what straight lines are produced by writers who have no support for the strip except their own left hand. In marked contrast with these stately fan-palms, and with the light waving plumes of the cocoas, are the bread-fruit trees, with their masses of dark-green foliage and large pale-green fruit nestling beneath separate crowns of splendid glossy leaves, deeply indented. I have measured a good many of these leaves, and found some on young trees which actually measured 3 feet 2 inches by 2 feet 4 inches, while others op older trees averaged 21 to 23 inches in length. Each of TO THE HILLS 119 these great leaves act as a mirror to reflect the light, so that the bread-fruit tree casts no great depth of shadow (Artocarpus incisa). Of course everyone who sees a bread-fruit tree for the first time longs to taste the natural hot buttered rolls of his childhood's fancy ; But I fear the result is generally disappointing. Personally I have had abundant opportunities of tasting it in all its preparations, and I cannot say I greatly appreciate any of them, whether boiled or baked, as in Fiji and Tahiti, or made into glutinous pot in Hawaii. From the fact that this grand tree is not even named by so accurate an observer as Sir James Emerson Tennent, I assume that, common as it now is, it must be one of the many importations of the last half- century ; for Ceylon, like New Zealand, has proved so good a step mother to all manner of trees and flowers, that it is only by reference to the earliest botanists that we can trace what plants are really indigenous. Among these, I think, we may rank a first cousin of the bread fruit tree — namely, the jak (Artocarpus integrifolia) — a large tree with less attractive foliage, which, however, casts a deeper shadow (a valu able consideration beneath a tropical noonday sun). It produces the largest of all edible fruits, one tree bearing perhaps a hundred, some weighing as much as sixty pounds ; and its extraordinary peculiarity lies in the manner in which it carries them, hanging by short thick stalks, not only from the actual trunk of the tree and the thickest part of the boughs, but sometimes even from the roots ! They are enclosed in a rough green skin, and, when ripe, the interior of the fruit is a thick yellow substance, which is eaten raw, and in which are embedded a number of kernels, each the size of a large filbert-nut. These, if the fruit is gathered unripe, are either roasted or used as a vegetable curry, much appreciated by the natives, though not in favour with Europeans. The wood of the jak-tree is highly valued by carpenters for making furniture, and a strong bird lime is prepared from its milky juice — not sap, the two being totally distinct, as in indiarubber trees. This milk is used as a varnish for the very gaudily painted pottery- ware peculiar to Kandy, on which temple processions or scenes in Buddhist mythology are depicted in the crudest and most brilliant colours. Some vases are simply covered with patterns. The effect is peculiar, but by no means artistic. Next perhaps comes a wide-spreading indiarubber tree, with dark thick leathery leaves and strangely twisted snake-like roots, and 120 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON then a glimpse of brown-thatched huts and blue smoke, half hidden by orange and lemon, lime or shaddock trees, tall maize or sugar cane, or flowering hibiscus, with here and there the slender stem of a papaw,1 fifteen to twenty feet in height, supporting a crown of very large beautifully cut-out leaves, beneath which hang bunches of fruit like small green melons, with yellow flesh, which are either cooked or eaten raw with pepper and salt. The seeds have a hot pungent taste. The fruit is considered useful as an aid to digestion, and an excellent vegetable pepsine can be prepared from the green fruit by mixing its milky, rather acid, juice with alcohol. The combination precipitates papain, which is then dried in the sun or on a hot plate, and powdered, and must be kept in well-stoppered bottles, ready for use in cases of dyspepsia. It is said to be superior to the ordinary animal pepsine, and has proved a valuable remedy in the treatment of tapeworm. The stem of the papaw is covered with a pretty diamond-shaped pattern, and the general appearance of the plant is that of a very tall umbrella. It has one very curious property — namely, that tough fresh meat hung up under the shadow of its crown of leaves becomes tender in a very few hours. Of course it must also be closely wrapped in leaves to protect it from flies. As we journey onward we pass clumps of graceful golden-stemmed bamboos, elegant acacias, feathery tamarind-trees, which, strange to say, notwithstanding the delicacy of their foliage, are found to cast the coolest of all shade ; thorny coral-trees,2 which, ere the leaves appear, are covered with scarlet pea-shaped blossoms ; and tall perfectly upright cotton-trees,3 called by the Singhalese Katu-Imbul. These throw out stiff lateral branches in groups of three, about six feet apart, from a vividly green stem. The branches, like those of the coral-tree, are loaded with cup-shaped crimson blossoms ere any leaves develop, and afterwards bear large green pods, containing black seeds embedded in silky white cotton, which floats away like snowflakes in the sunny breeze. This silky down is called imbul- pulun or simply pulun, a name curiously resembling that of pulu, which is the Hawaiian name for the silky brown fluff collected from certain tree-ferns, and used for stuffing the softest of mattresses and pillows.4 1 Carica papaya. % Erythrina indica. * Bombax malabaricum. 4 See 'Fire-Fountains of Hawaii.' By C. F. Gordon Cumming, Published by William Blackwood & Sons. • TO THE HILLS 121 Owing to the trouble of separating this cotton or pulun from the seeds, it has hitherto been collected in a very desultory way, and is only used for stuffing cushions, the fibre being so short and brittle that no means of spinning it has yet been discovered. Latterly, however, a considerable demand for it has arisen, chiefly in Australia, for stuffing mattresses, and under the Malay name of kapok a con siderable amount has been exported, but so carelessly has it hitherto been prepared (with the seeds and cores left to form hard lumps, and the whole, moreover, compressed into a solid mass by hydraulic pressure in order to economise freight, thereby breaking the spring of the fibre and destroying its elasticity) that Ceylon kapok has ac quired a bad reputation as compared with the carefully cleaned and lightly packed bales of the same fibre exported from Java. However, as wise men profit by experience, there seems no reason why one bad start should be allowed to injure this trade. Personally I can speak of the charm of this flossy fibre, having always travelled with a pillow stuffed with some collected and cleaned by myself, with the aid of a pretty Singhalese girl, and certainly no eider-down could excel its softness. But I am bound to confess that the separation of the fibre from the seeds was very tedious work, even with the help of the deft-fingered brown maiden, and it is satisfactory to learn that a ' cotton gin,' which is said to answer well, has recently been adapted to this purpose. It is hoped that some method may also be devised for turning to account the strong fibrous stem, for the plant is so very accommo dating that it flourishes almost without cultivation, and at any level, from the sea-coast up to 4,000 or 5,000 feet. In Java its abundance is partly accounted for by the fact that its perfectly straight stems, fifty or sixty feet in height, led to their use in every direction as telegraph posts. These kindly put out roots, and became flourishing trees ; at the same time waste lands near the villages had been planted with cuttings or sown with kapok seed to keep up the supply of tall posts, and so Java is now rich in the silky fibre which has become so re munerative. I grieve that the attempt, to describe what is so infinitely varied to the eye must necessarily be somewhat monotonous to the reader, so I must ask each to try in imagination to fill in the picturesque groups of human beings, brightly dressed Tamil or Singhalese men, women, and children, birds and animals, which gave life to every scene, 122 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON At the summit of the steep Kadugannawa Pass there is a monu ment to Captain Dawson, R.E., who had charge of the construction of the original road up the Pass, which, for forty years before the rail way was completed, was the only means of access to the mountain districts from the north and west. Captain Dawson died in 1829. To travellers and other folk to whom time is precious, the railway seems so vast an improvement on ' the old carriage-road,' that it is difficult to realise the amazing change which was effected by its creation only about sixty years ago (a.d. 1822). Prior to that time there were only two roads even in the Maritime Provinces, and those so bad as scarcely to be worthy of the name. Along these, travellers were carried in palanquins, with a retinue of heavily-laden baggage coolies. As to the Central Province, it was altogether inaccessible to any but hill-climbers. Kandy itself, the mountain capital, to which the railway now carries us from Colombo in four hours of luxurious travel (by a route which is one of the great triumphs of railway engineering) could then only be approached with infinite toil by steep, rugged, narrow jungle- paths, in many places dangerous for riders, and quite impossible for vehicles of any description. By these all stores of every description, whether for peace or war, were carried on the backs of weary men, and the transport of big guns was a matter to tax the ingenuity of the artillery. It was hard enough for the men to drag the guns through deep sand along the coast, but the toil of getting them up mountain passes was indescrib able. When Colonel Skinner, R. A. (father of Major Skinner, ' the road-maker of Ceylon '), had to bring up his battery of heavy guns for the taking of Kandy, the only way in which this could be effected was by ' parbuckling the guns up from tree to tree ! ' The worthy son of this distinguished father commenced his road- making service in this very pass, so I cannot refrain from some re ference thereto, especially as I travelled over many and many a mile of his broad highways. He is one of the noble Britons who have done magnificent work for their country, but who would assuredly have been rejected at the outset had competitive examinations been the passport to enter her • service. For in his delightful autobiography J Thomas Skinner tells us that when, in a.d. 1818, at the ripe age of fourteen, he was sent out from a quiet vicarage in Dorsetshire to join his father, who was 1 ' Fifty Years in Ceylon.' By Major Thomas Skinner. W, H. Allen & Co, TO THE HILLS 123 then stationed at Trincomalee, he was as ignorant as a boy of his •age could well be, and his father could hardly be persuaded not to send him back to England to school. Fortunately what proved to be wiser counsels prevailed, and on the recommendation of two naval officers, Sir Robert Brownrigg, the Governor, appointed him to be second lieutenant in the Ceylon Rifles, with orders at once to march detachments of the 19th, 83rd, and Ceylon Rifles across the Isle from Trincomalee to Colombo via Kandy, by the difficult jungle-paths, which were then the sole means of crossing the Island. In the farewell address of the native chiefs to Major Skinner, just fifty years later, their spokesman, Mr. James Alwis, recalled how at that time, when there were no roads in the interior of Ceylon, the march from Colombo to Kandy occupied about six weeks, crossing malarious swamps and feverish jungle, toiling up steep ravines, climb ing over rocks, or skirting precipices. (Thinking of that journey, now so pleasantly accomplished in four hours, my first impression was that the word weeks must surely be a misprint for days ; but I am told that this is not the case, the route then followed being so circuitous, and the daily marches necessarily short. After the cart- road was made, the journey was accomplished in five days, which was the average prior to 1867, when the railway was opened.) As the distance from Kandy to Trincomalee is much greater, Tom Skinner's first military duty must have been a very serious undertaking, though he accepted it quite as a matter of course, and does not deem it worthy of a comment, beyond remarking that the appearance of such a very small boy, dressed in his schoolboy jacket, at the head of his men, caused soriie amusement among the officers at Kandy. No wonder that, on his reporting himself at Colombo, his astonished commanding officer could scarcely believe his eyes when he beheld the stripling who had performed this duty. From that time nothing came amiss to the lad. His very first experience of sport, at a time when he had never even seen a tame elephant, was starting off alone to meet a huge solitary elephant, with remarkably fine tusks. (Barely 4 per cent, of the Ceylon elephants possess tusks at all, and not one in two hundred are of any size.) His terrified sergeant hastened to the rescue, but by extraordinary good fortune the boy shot the giant dead, with a single shot from a flint-and-steel musket, as it was rushing headlong at him — a feat which delighted his men all the more from the magnificent uncon- 124 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON cern with which their tuan kilchel, 'littlq officer,' treated the whole matter ! Before he had been a year in the island, the lad had passed through more remarkable experiences than befall many men in the course of a lifetime — such as finding himself left in sole charge of troops cut off from all commissariat supplies, and also sole European in a district where small-pox had appeared and was raging (the first time it had visited Ceylon). He organised foraging parties, and established a small-pox hospital under his own care — all with such courtesy and wisdom as won the hearts of all the people. Happily his superiors, both civil and military, were not slow to note the young officer's remarkable genius for work. When about sixteen, he was appointed by the Governor, Sir Edward Barnes, to make eleven miles of the great road up the Kadugannawa Pass, by which the hitherto almost inaccessible Kandyan provinces were to be opened up. This was work of which he was totally ignorant. His sole direction was to maintain a gradient of one in twenty, and what that meant he had no idea. So when he found himself among enormous boulders and perpendicular precipices, in charge of two hundred untutored Kandyan villagers, he was at first thoroughly perplexed ; but earnest resolution and untiring zeal inspired him with a sort of instinct what to do theu, as in many a subsequent difficulty. The making of that first road forms a very important era in the history of Ceylon. With such energy was its construction carried on, that within twelve months of the date of the order for surveying and tracing it through a densely wooded mountainous country, the first eighty-four miles between Colombo and Kandy was so far com pleted that the supplies for the troops could be conveyed thither on wheels. Rapidly as these and other roads were surveyed and con structed, more recent engineers have had no fault to find. It was splendid work, well and quickly done. The men employed were— first, a noble force of Pioneers ; secondly, such of the native troops as could be spared, and who were fit for such work ; and thirdly, the gratuitous labour of the people, who by their own laws were compelled to render service to the State when required to do so. This system of Rajah-Karia, as it was called, and which under the British was soon abolished, proved invaluable in those early days, when used in moderation by such a Governor as Sir Edward Barnes, TO THE HILLS 125 whose wisdom and justice were revered by high and low. So greatly was he esteemed that when, seventeen years after he left the Island, a statue of him was erected in Colombo, so many of the natives came from the interior to lay offerings of flowers, rice, and money at the base of the pedestal (as is customary at their shrines), that it was found necessary to surround the statue with a railing to prevent its being treated as an idol ! The Pioneer Corps here referred to is a semi-military force of about 4,000 men of the very best class of Malabar labourers. They were raised by Major Skinner in order that he might always have trained workmen on whom he could rely for steady continuous work in the making of roads, bridges, and canals ; and they continue to be kept up as a valuable permanent corps, employed by the Depart ment of Public Works. During the whole fifty years of Major Skinner's public service, the story of his life is more interesting than any romance, illustrating, as it does, what could be accomplished by an unassuming man, brimful of pluck, energy, self-reliance, self-help, and quiet determi nation never to refuse any work that came in his way, and never to fail in anything he undertook, from conquering veteran players at chess to creating a network of first-class roads all over the Isle, dis covering and opening up the long-forgotten ruined cities, restoring the ruined canal system of the Maritime Provinces, and finally secur ing an enormous reduction on the estimates and actual cost of the railway which was to supplant so much of his road work. With him, to discover a difficulty was the sure preliminary to conquering it ; and to such a nature there was keen delight in the knowledge that his work lay either in breaking perfectly new ground, or else in restoring long-neglected works, and this in an island as large as Ireland. He tells us how invaluable to him in his road-making were the tracks of the herds of wild elephants, so judiciously were they in variably selected, and so well trodden. ' The top of every. ridge,' he says, 'had its broad road along which one could drive a carriage, while from range to range one was always sure to find a cross-road which invariably led to the easiest crossing of the river in the valley.' That preliminary survey and much of his subsequent work in volved an amount of exposure, hardship, and actual privation of which the present generation can form no conception. Fever and dysentery were the almost inevitable results of life under such conditions. 126 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON For six or seven months in each year he was hard at work, often in most unhealthy, malarious districts, and never under shelter from 4 a.m. till 7 or 8 p.m. And his only tent consisted of five sheets of talipot-palm leaf, stitched together with its own fibre. Each leaf being about six feet by four, three leaves formed two sides and one end, and the other two the roof. Along the top was a small ridge- cap of the same material, and the door always stood open. Within this leaf-tent stood his camp-bed, table, and chair ; and as one set of leaves, value a trifle over a shilling, lasted him for a whole season, he reckoned that his quarters were not expensive ! At one time, when he was surveying in the wilderness of the Peak (which was then an unbroken expanse of about 500 square miles of splendid forest), his only food during two months consisted — with the exception of rice and of some wild forest roots — of five miserable chickens, three of which had died from wet and cold on their ascent of the Holy Mount, and so small a quantity of salt fish, that he could only allow himself about one square inch for each meal. He was always a model of temperance in all things, to which he attributed much of his amazing gift of health under most adverse circum stances. His own account of his life at this time is of such interest to many who would fain emulate his powers as a mountaineer, that I am tempted to quote it in full. He says : ' On beginning my season's work I found it necessary to discipline myself as to the amount .of liquid I took ; and for ten days I suffered terribly, as the exposure to the sun, with the great amount of work I had to go through, caused the most profuse perspirations, and an almost irresistible longing to put my head into every mountain brook I crossed, to quench my burning thirst. I sometimes assuaged it for a time by putting a bit of areca-nut in my mouth, its stringency giving me temporary relief ; but by persevering in this course of abstinence for a few days, I found life became more bearable. ' My allowance of liquid during the day was a small cup of coffee before I started in the morning ; breakfast during these two months consisted only of a bit of cake made of rice-flour and water, a biscuit or two, and a cup of cold tea which I carried in a small bottle. In the evening my dinner was boiled rice and a small bit of salt fish, or sometimes some jungle roots made into a curry, a glass of sherry mixed with an equal quantity of water ; and after dinner, a cup of coffee with my cigar. TO THE HILLS 127 'All the liquid I took during the day did not exceed one im perial pint ; this regime brought me into such splendid working condition, that I could outrun anyone. One very active headman begged me to give him an opportunity of racing me up the cone of Adam's Peak. We started, and he went off at a great pace, and was out of sight in a few minutes, but three-quarters of a mile was sufficient to blow him. I passed him, and was on the summit forty minutes before him. In like manner I could leave all the athletes of a village behind me.' His working staff at that time consisted of African soldiers, con sidered the hardiest men in the British army. He says he often longed for a taste of their savoury meals, but resisted the temptation, fearing lest their provisions might run short. They were on full rations of salt beef or pork, rice, curry stuffs, and arrack, and were allowed two days in camp for each day on field-work with their leader (who was out hard at work every day), yet by the time they reached Nuwara Eliya every man except himself was laid up. Before the close of the season, however, he suffered severely from sore legs, resulting from poverty of blood, consequent on deficient animal food. But the habit then acquired of limiting his allowance of fluid continued a lasting advantage, as to the end of his life he says he never knew what thirst meant. This seems a long digression, but seeing how enormously I as a mere traveller have benefited by Major Skinner's labours, it would be the height of ingratitude not to add my small chirp of thanks to the chorus which is his due. When he finally left the island in 1867, his fifty years of incessant work was thus summarised in the Ceylon Observer : ' He has survived to see a magnificient network of roads spread over the country, from the sea-level to the passes of our highest mountain ranges ; and instead of dangerous fords and ferries, where property often suffered and life was too frequently sacrificed, he has lived to see every principal stream in Ceylon substantially bridged, or about to be spanned by structures of stone or iron. Whereas before his time there were, strictly speaking, " no roads in the island," Ceylon, with an area of 25,000 miles, can now count nearly 3,000 miles of made roads, one-fifth of which consist of first-class metalled roads, and another fifth of excellent gravelled highways.' Add to all this the restoration of inland navigation — that canal system by which we travelled so pleasantly to Puttalam and Kalpitiya— and the impetus given to many another public work, and we have the 128 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON bare outline of such a life of unselfish usefulness to his fellow-men as few have been privileged to show. When we reached the high pass of Kadugannawa, we were on the watershed which divides the tributaries of the Kelani-ganga and Maha- Oya on the west coast from those of the Maha-velli-ganga, which, after a north-easterly course of about 130 miles, enters the sea near Trin comalee. Descending to Peradeniya Station, we found ourselves on the brink of that broad still river — the Maha-velli-ganga or Great Sandy river — all fringed with beautiful tufts of feathery bamboo. The old road of which I have just spoken crosses the river by a noble bridge entirely built of satin-wood, constructed in 1832 without the use of a single nail or bolt, and still, to all appearance, as sound as ever. It spans the river with a single arch 205 feet wide, which, when the stream is in its normal condition, stands 70 feet above the water, but in time of flood scarcely clears it by 10 feet. The railway crosses the stream very near the road-bridge, and a five miles' run would have taken us to Kandy, the mountain capital, 1,600 feet above the sea ; but that pleasure was reserved for later, after I had visited Nuwara Eliya, ' the City of the Open Plain,' which is the Island sanatorium, and the third Government station— i.e. the third place where the Governor has an official residence. So, instead of going north, we turned due south, following the course of the beau tiful river to Gampola, which was then the terminus. Now, the rail way carries passengers by a much more circuitous route, and easier gradient, right up to Nanu-Oya, which is only five miles from Nuwara Eliya, and 5,600 feet above the sea, a considerable rise in a run of 130 miles from Colombo. Nuwara Eliya itself is 6, 2 2 2 feet above the sea. So now the admirably engineered road by which we travelled is com paratively forsaken. The whole route was beautiful, and to me a delightful novelty was the luxuriance of the fragrant datura with its large white trumpet- shaped blossoms, each 10 or 12 inches in length, of which we think so much if we see a dozen on a greenhouse shrub. Here there were great masses of it growing as freely as our own yellow broom, and 12 or 15 feet in height, Colonists call it the fever-plant, believing that it produces fever, and so object to its growth near houses, or keep it closely trimmed as a garden hedge. What it does produce is a dangerous drug, which occasionally figures in cases of poisoning. In various instances robbers have induced the family cook, or some 1 ^w?f 'W VALLEY OF THE MAIIAVELI.I GANGA. (Showing the Railway and Satinwood Bridges at Peradeniya, Allegalla Peak, Terraced Rice Fields.— Foreground, Coffee and a Talipot Palm.) TO THE HILLS 129 other person having access to the kitchen, to drop a few pills made of datura-juice into the soup or coffee, and sometimes, to 'mak sikker,' into every course, so that no one can escape scot-free. All along the river the vegetation is a dream of beauty. Tall cocoa, areca, and beautiful kitool palms tower above a rich under growth of broad-leaved plantains, ferns, and gay caladiums, or the blue-green of the handsome castor-oil plant,1 while in some reaches, the gigantic plumes of the ever-graceful bamboo overhang the water. Then perhaps we pass a stretch of vividly green paddy-fields, divided by low terraces of red soil, following every natural curve of the land ; so that is never a stiff straight line such as bounds our British fields. And all this, with the reflections in the still river, are only the fore ground to a panorama of beautiful hills. At Gampola a carriage was waiting to take us up-country, but by some mistake no coolies were forthcoming to carry our baggage, none of which overtook us till the following day ! We halted at Pussilawa, and ere night reached ' The Delta,' a charming home with a lovely garden, which in that month of March (bleak March in Britain) was fragrant with the mingled perfume of roses and jasmines, gardenias, honeysuckle, heliotropes, salvias, mignonette, violets, lilies and pinks, myrtles, magnolias, oleanders, and loquat ; and gay, moreover, with luxuriant convolvuli, fuchsias, and bignonias, brilliantly variegated caladium leaves, fantastic crotons, and beautiful climbing passion flowers and tacsonias, covered with large crimson stars. Add to these many vividly green parrakeets and other birds of bright plumage, and gay butterflies, and perhaps you can realise something of the charm of that garden. How enchanting was the peace of the following day, resting on dry green turf beneath the cool shade of large orange-trees, laden with green and golden fruit and fragrant blossom, the grass around us strewn with delicious ripe fruit and snowy petals ; while beyond the foreground of luxuriant garden-flowers lay undulating hills all clothed with the glossy green of flourishing coffee estates, right up to Peacock Hill, whose broad blue shadows looked temptingly cool con trasted with the hot haze which veiled the low country we had just left ! In this sweet home we halted for three days to enable the Bishop to hold Sunday services at Pussilawa and meet a'number of the planters. , „ . . * Then once more we took the road, gradually rising up the 1 Palma Christi. 130 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON Kotmalee valley, till we reached the foot of the Rambodda Pass, where we found shelter in a comfortable rest-house. Here the ascent commences in real earnest, the rise in the remaining fourteen miles being 3,000 feet. The road enters the gorge between two picturesque waterfalls, about a hundred feet in . height, one on either hand, their cool white spray being a vision of delight in the scorching heat of noon. Oddly enough, in rainy weather, one of these comes down in turbulent red flood, laden with soil from the hills, while the other remains clear and sparkling. One is the Puna-ella, and the other the Garunda ella, and both flow down to join the Maha-velli-ganga. Below the bridge the rocks are curiously water-worn into pot-holes of all sizes, like those in the bed of the Findhorn, which we suppose to be produced by the ceaseless whirling round of shingle. The road winds up the pass by a succession of steep zigzags at a gradient of about one in fourteen — very trying for the teams of strong handsome white oxen, which drag up large covered bullock- carts, heavily laden with all luxuries and necessaries of life for Nuwara Eliya — or, rather, did so before the completion of the railway to Nanuoya. Formerly this pass was beautifully wooded, and indeed the whole road to Nuwara Eliya lay through dense forest, all of which has long since been felled and burnt to make room for the very monotonous little coffee-bushes, now almost replaced by the equally monotonous tea-bushes. I say 'almost,' because, taught by dire experience, wise planters no longer carry all their eggs in one basket, so that the cultivation is varied by that of the very ornamental cacao or chocolate trees and other products. A little above the head of the pass, at a point where the road winds so as to form a huge letter S, stands Pallagolla, a very small bungalow which the Bishop had rented for a couple of months. Here we found "Valentine, his excellent Singhalese servant, hard at work making all cosy — a task in which we all lent a hand with some success. A tiny streamlet flowing through the big family bath assured an ample supply of fresh water, and tempted me out to trace its course. The clear crystal waters glanced so joyously in the bright sunshine as they sped downward to the valley, strewn with snowy petals of fra grant coffee-blossom, that they enticed me farther and farther, till I came to a level patch of tempting green, where the babbling of the stream was hushed ; and here, to my delight, I recognised in the luxuriant weed the familiar watercress, dear through association with so many a sparkling stream and quiet pool in the old mother country. TO THE HILLS 131 I confess that to me the charm of watercresses has been rudely shaken ever since discovering that those I had gathered in one of the sweetest districts of Perthshire were swarming with minute leeches which could scarcely be dislodged even when soaked in salt and water. But that source of danger had not then suggested itself, so I feasted undismayed, and gathered as many as it was possible to carry back. Then noting a prominent point from which to obtain a good view of the valley, I made my way thither, and of course found it was much farther and steeper than I had imagined ; but once there, the glory of sunset-colouring was such that I was in no hurry to descend, seeing a path near me, and never doubting that it would lead me straight home. This, you see, was my first evening alone in the coffee coun try, and little did I dream of the labyrinth of zigzag foot-tracks which checkered those steep hillsides. I soon realised that the path I had struck was leading me quite astray, and the next I tried was evidently no better. The rapid dark ness was fast closing in, when to my great joy I espied a light far below me, and, nothing doubting, made that my guiding star. But a few moments later another and another light appeared, and soon glimmering lights surrounded me on every side, a good many seeming stationary, and many more flashing to and fro in a most bewildering manner. (I never now hear the words of ' Lead, kindly Light,' without a vivid recollection of that evening, when earth's many lights proved so perplexing.) Of course I quickly realised that the flashing lights were fire- beetles, and most of the stationary ones glow-worms, including, how ever, sundry coolies' houses, and my own particular beacon. At last I succeeded in reaching a coolie's house, and hopefully inquired for ' Pallagolla ? ' ' Bishop's bungalow ? ' without eliciting the faintest glimmer of understanding. I had still to learn that the Tamil coolies have names of their own for every estate, and the names by which they are known to Europeans convey no meaning whatever to them. Happily I very soon afterwards struck the high-road at the head of the big s, and that little anxiety was at an end. Two days later I proceeded up the valley to Nuwara Eliya, first on a visit to the Governor,1 and afterwards to several other friends, so that the pleasant weeks slipped rapidly by ere I returned to this little nest in the coffee. 1 Sir William Gregory. 132 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON CHAPTER VII NUWARA ELIYA Spring foliage — Ironwood — Potato-tree — Rhododendron — The patenas — Horton Plains — Lemon-grass — Lake Gregory — Gardens — Church — An exhilarating climate — Various expeditions — Migration of butterflies — Descriptive names— Nillo— Bees — Hak-galla Gardens. Starting in the cool of early morning (preceded by sundry coolies burdened with my baggage) I walked up-hill to a point where the Governor's carriage awaited me, the drive thence to ' The City of the Open Plain ' being simply exquisite, the deep wooded gorge of a river something like our own beautiful Findhorn,1 with dark peat-coloured water, and with foliage tints as vivid as ours in October, but having this advantage, namely, that the brilliant tints — primrose, gold, scarlet, deep crimson, claret, and tender green — are not, as in Britain or America, precursors of death and of leafless winter and frozen forests, but stages in progressive life, where the young scarlet, yellow, and orange coloured foliage of the ironwood and of some other trees turns crimson and purple, bronze and maroon, ere it settles down to the sober greens of maturity. Such is the inverted order of things in this land of ceaseless summer, where autumn, winter, and spring are terms of no meaning, because Nature carries on her ceaseless work all the year round, and at the same moment that the forest trees cast their withered leaves, the young fresh foliage is continually bursting into new beauty. Near Pussilawa we had halted fairly dumb with surprise at the gorgeousness of a whole ironwood-tree,2 all vividly scarlet, save that its stem and boughs were entirely clothed by a brilliant glossy-green creeper. This pyramid of fire stood close to a large 'potato-tree,'3 so called because its blossoms are exactly like those of our common potato, only thrice their size ; and when you see a tree the size of an average oak literally covered with these splendid purple and white blossoms it is something to remember, especially when you chance, 1 In Morayshire ; the loveliest river in Scotland, whose dark brown waters flow through deep gorges clothed with birch and fir trees, bird-cherry, wild-cherry, and alder, which in autumn turn scarlet and crimson, green and gold. 2 Messua ferrea, 5 j? belongs to the family of the Sola/iacece, NUWARA ELIYA t33 as we did, to see beneath it a group of gaily dressed and bejewelled Tamil women and children. But on the present occasion the ' new sensation ' lay in the fact that I had attained the region of bright crimson rhododendron-trees, growing side by side with splendid daturas and real tree-ferns, the latter especially luxuriating in every damp ravine. This was quite the end of March, and the rhododendrons were only just beginning to show colour. They did not attain their full glory till the beginning of May, by which time a group of such trees, or a solitary old tree, perhaps forty feet in height, cutting clear against a blue sky, was truly a thing of beauty. I am bound to say, however, that I have seen many rowan-trees l in Scotland quite as richly laden with bunches of pure scarlet, and gleaming in the sunlight against as cloudless and blue a sky. The latter is by no means a marked characteristic of these mountain regions, where I was much struck by the prevalence of cool grey skies, frequent rain, and such misty effects as we are wont to associate with our Scotch Highlands. I am told that in October and November the sun scarcely shines for half an hour at a time, and that the cheerless fogs are really depressing. Nevertheless, the clear intervening days are the loveliest of the year. ' The season,' however, is from January to" the end of May, during which time visitors abound. As regards the date of the rhododendron flowering, I may mention that when, in the following year, I ascended Adam's Peak at the end of January, I found the trees on the very summit in full beauty. They continue in blossom till about July. There are two distinct varieties. That which grows on the highest elevations, and is said to be peculiar to Ceylon, is a tall tree with small narrow leaves, silvery on the under side. It sometimes grows to a height of about sixty feet, and the twisted gnarled stem is often about eighteen inches in diameter. The commoner sort has broader leaves, which are brown on the under side. Here and there among the general scarlet, one sees a pink variety, and even a few rare trees whose pink blossoms are mottled with white. The black peaty soil of Nuwara Eliya suits the rhododendron to perfection, and it grows freely along the banks of the main stream, which meanders through the plain, as also beside the numerous tributary rivulets. 1 Mountain-ash. 134 TWO HAPPY YEARS IN CEYLON I can never forget my first views of this Elysium when, after toiling steadily up-hill to the end of the eleventh mile from Ram- bodda, we reached the dividing summit 6,600 feet above the sea, which, in the exquisite morning light, lay clear on the horizon beyond a wide expanse of lowland, with the lovely river-gorge for a fore ground. This was looking back. Then looking forward through a framework of most luxuriant and fragrant daturas, graceful tree-ferns, and many-coloured foliage, I beheld the charming valley still two miles distant, and about 400 feet lower than the summit where the carriage halted to let horses breathe and human beings admire. Great must have been the surprise of the first Europeans who, when in pursuit of big game through the dense mountain forest, accidentally discovered this cool, delightful grassy plain, three miles in length and about eight in circumference, lying in the very heart of the mountains, about 6,200 feet above the sea. Singhalese and Hindoo legends account for its existence by saying that the monkey- god Hanuman set fire to this forest when he came to rescue the beautiful queen Sita, wife of Rama, from captivity in the hands of Ravana the demon-king. Hence the beautiful and romantic stream flowing from the plain towards Hak-galla bears the name of Sita Ella. This, however, is but one of a series of high table-lands (growing only coarse lemon-scented grass, rhododendrons, and a few small shrubs) which lie at different elevations in the midst of this sea of mountain-ranges, like level terraces with precipitous edges, so that they have been likened to a succession of vast ledges. The highest of these, about twenty miles from Nuwara Eliya, and about a thousand feet higher, is known to Europeans as the Horton Plains (so called in honour of Sir Robert Horton), but to the Singhalese as the Maha Eliya or Great Plains, or, mote literally, ' The great cleared place.' They form a level about five miles long by two broad, surrounded by low wooded slopes rising to 7,800 feet above the sea-level. The plains are clothed with rank bright green grass, buttercups, ground orchids, and ferns innumerable. In place of palms we have tall tree- ferns thirty feet in height, their slender black shining stems supporting a crown of fronds twelve feet in length. Black peat soil favours the luxuriant growth of rhododendrons, and tufts of dwarf bamboo which border clear streamlets, one of which forms the Bilhool-Oya, which flows seaward through Saffragam. Here also rises the Maha-velli-ganga, which hence descends to the