FORTY TOURISTS ABROAD

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22105, 29 May 1937, Page 3

FORTY TOURISTS ABROAD

* NEW ZEALAND PARTY’S TRIP VISITS TO PERTH AND COLOMBO ANCIENT TEMPLES AND MODERN CARS [By FLORENCE M. NICHOLLS.I A party of 40 New Zealand tourists, including several from Christchurch, are making a combined tour of Great Britain and the Continent. This article posted from Aden is the first of a series which will appear in “The Press,” giving details of the party’s progress. We all loved Perth, both for itself and for the pleasant recollections we have of the welcome given to us and the extreme kindness of the New Zealand Association there in entertaining us for the day. Some of us went by ferry to the zoo, which is very attractively' laid out with trees, palms, bowers of bougainvillea, etc. Then we went by tram to the racecourse, which is unique in that they have a trotting meeting every Saturday evening and racing every Saturday afternoon. The lighting of the course costs £IOO a night. The track is a very fine one, made of oyster shells ground and rolled into the track, which is luminous at night Almost opposite are the Queen’s Gardens. We arrived here at twilight, when there were hundreds of ducks settling on the ponds amongst the lotus lilies. These stand a fpot above the water, but the blossom is shaped like a water-lily, and is tinted pink. The harbour is an artificial one, designed by an English engineer named O'Connor, and is entirely successful. He also designed the goldfields’ water supply, in which water is brought all the way from Perth to Kalgoorlie. The big thrill of the journey so far was Colombo, which stirred our imaginations so much that we hated leaving it. After some shopping (which we found very tiring, as the Singalese are such determined salesmen) we drove to Mount Lavinia. visiting the Cinnamon Gardens and Buddhist temple on the way. The temple was a most curious place; some of the statues of Buddha must be 20 feet high —enormous affairs of painted over by hand with oil paint. The temple is spotlessly clean and the many statues are all so garishly new looking that it is difficult to believe that the temple is old. The main statue depicts Buddha seated on a lotus flower. The principle is that, just as this flower is unpolluted by the slime in which its roots lie buried, so should man live in the world without being contaminated by the grossness all about him. The lotus lily is an emblem of purity. The priests of the temple have their hair shaven, and wear yellow or tangerine draperies, which look most picturesque as they walk amongst the green vegetation. A Fascinating Drive The drive to Mount Lavinia was so fascinating that we were turning our heads from side to side, after the manner of Royalty, in case we missed anything. First of all in the city is the curious contrast of the slow-moving bullock carts (the bullocks are so small and the carts so large) and the fast moving, luxurious cars of the rich Europeans and Singalese. The native women are not allowed to appear in the central part of the city. The flowering trees are just as lovely as they are in Honolulu, and I noticed many of my old favourites: the flamboyant tree (flat like a table with mass of scarlet flowers on top), the oleander, seven colours of bougainvillea and seven of hibiscus, frangipani. the flower sacred to the Buddhist temples which has such a wonderful scent and another scarlet flowering tree with a charming name Flower of the Forest There are some odd things in the way of trees. One was covered with flying foxes, which I understand are also common in parts of Australia. They are birds with wings something like a bat’s, but no legs. If they land on the ground they cannot take on again as they have no legs. Native Drinks I saw a native high up in a coconut palm and asked the driver what he was doing. He was tapping the flower (which consists of dozens of pendam affairs about two feet long) for toddy which the natives drink. When today is fermented it becomes arrah which is twice as intoxicating as whisky. Other trees which we noticed were giant bamboos which grow two feet a day in the rainy season; travellers palms, fan-shaped, which, when pierced yield a spout of fresh drinking water; ironwood trees, the only timber that will not float; papyrus trees, the rushes of which were used by the ancient Egyptians to make paper; Jack fruit trees, a religious food for Singalese (the fruit of these is the largest known, quite a yard long), bread fruit trees (Europeans cook the fruit but natives eat it raw), and rain trees, which collect water when it rains. As soon as the leaves are full, they close up and then, when the sun shines again, the leaves open out and drop the water which is very good for drinking. These trees also collect the dew so that any thirsty person could get a good drink by stand-

ing under one of them at 5 a.m., their hour for dropping the dew. I was amused to see that, right next to the University, there was a large paddock with cattle grazing and crows bathing in large puddles; also children playing cricket in bright coloured skirts ankle-length. In a park there were Singalese squatting on the ground throwing a bright red fertiliser about on the lawn. We were fortunate in having a driver who took great pains to tell us about everything we Passed. He was very proud of the fact that he was chosen to drive the Duke of Windsor everywhere when he was Prince of Wales. We drove through very beautiful residential parts of the towns, both British and native, creeper-covered bungalows with charming gardens, many of them composed of scores of plants in pots. Their milk supply was usually tethered in the garden in the form of a small goat. , After leaving the city, we drove through miles of picturesque streets apparently cut through the jungle. There were the little native bungalows and shops with a mass of jungle growth right at their back doors Nearly all the houses had animals ox some sort in the gardens. Charm of Colouring Part of the great charm of the place is its colouring: so different from that of a temperate country. Many houses are bright pink or a pretty powder blue. Here are some of the colours noted in people’s clothing in the street, a boy in Pink shirt and purple skirt riding a bicycle-delivery van; a group of young children walking along with their teacher, some in bright cerise shirts, others in yellow and green. A tall very haughty gentleman passed we were told he was an Africa money-lender. He had trousers made of drapery, striped brown and white, something white above that, and a very jaunty little turban. He carried a cane which he used in a pompous style. As we returned we could hear fireworks in all directions. The next day was to be a great festival, the Cingalese New Year’s Day, which is held on the third moon of our year. All the different nationalities use their own calendar —decidedly inconvenient in the business world. Tne rickshaw drivers amused us—must of them seempd to be sound asleep, propped up in awkward-look-ing positions. Some of the rickshaws were painted a lavender colour. When it rains hard they have a cover like modern prams which is domed down over the passenger. We had drinks at the famous Galle Face Hotel on the way back. and dinner at the Grand Oriental. Some of the parly had dinner and a dance at the Galle Face. After a trip round a native bazaar with a retinue of blacks padding along at our heels, and some more shopping, we were very glad to sit- down in the magnificent ballroom of the hotel and listen to the music which was divine. Then we went back in a little motor-boat to join our ship across water which was as calm as a millpond with a thousand lights reflected in it. At one o’clock in the morning we sailed away, leaving behind the glamour and mystery of our first Eastern city. Historic Interest I have not seriously minded leaving any other port, but I hated being dragged away from Ceylon; I would love to spend at least a fortnight there, visiting the places of historic interest on the island. There are ruins of cities there which date back to the sixth century, B.C. The Buddhist religion is- much older than Christianity; it dates back 2500 years, so that any similarity in the codes and stories were not copied from Christianity. The traditional date of the Buddha’s death is 543 B.C. A Buddhist missionary came to Ceylon from India 2150 years ago. About 161 B.C. the ruler of Ceylon built a magnificent monastery nine storeys high, with a hundred apartments, pillars of gold, brazen tiles for the roof, ivory throne, golden couches and chairs, and soft carpets. The ruins are there now. The Cingalese dynasty was established in 543 B.C. and one of their earliest kings (437-367 8.C.) built the City of Anuradhapura, which was built to a plan, kept scrupulously clean, and wisely administered. The city is believed to have occupied an area 16 miles square, and to have had a population of several millions—in the fourth century 8.C.! The capital was removed to Polounaruwa in the eleventh century A.D. Whether a plague visited the city, or why it was evacuated, no one knows. Anuradhapura was supplied with water from two huge reservoirs holding between them nearly 11,000,000,000 gallons of water. These are still functioning. The dam of the larger one is 5i miles long, and would be considered no small accomplishment by modern engineers. The giant canal which connected the former capital with these artificial lakes is 54 miles long. Ceylon must be a very important place to Buddhists, as it was in a cave there that a great convocation of priests assembled about 80 B.C. and put in writing, on palm leaves, the teachings of the Buddha, which until then had been handed down by word of mouth. The first European to visit Ceylon was Marco Polo, a Venetian, in 1291. In 1505 the first real invasion took place, by Portuguese. The only surviving relics of their occupation are the Roman Catholic religion and the many Portuguese family names still in existence. In 1656 the Portuguese had to give way to the Dutch, who took possession of the whole of the low country, leaving the highlands still independent under Kandyan rulers. The Dutch made the canal which is such a prominent feature of Colombo, and many of the quaint old buildings were built by them. In 1796 they ceded Ceylon to the British and two years later it was made a Crown Colony. Religious Shrine Immediately after the Portuguese occupation, missionary work began, and has continued ever since. Churches, schools, orphanages, hospitals, dispensaries have been built, and Christians have multiplied until they are numerically second only to Hindus. The Church of Our Lady of Madhu is a shrine in the jungle. A tradition has grown up that whoever

reverently makes a wish at the altar will have it granted, and even nonCatholics pay a visit to it. The principal feast occurs in July. Thousands of Roman Catholics and others make a pilgrimage to this spot. Special trains are run by the Ceylon Government Railway and the road between station and church is jammed with vehicles of every description and people trudging on foot. A temporary town, with postal and telegraphic facilities, police protection, and medical aid rises in the jungle. Only a few families can be accommodated in the huts built for the purpose. Others camp out, fastening sheets to the bushes and trees. After a few days the crowd disperses, the shops disappear, and the forest again relapses into silence until the next feast.