THE ISLAND OF CEYLON.

Otago Witness, Issue 2104, 21 June 1894, Page 40

THE ISLAND OF CEYLON.

On landing, the visitor is at once beseiged by what appears at first sight to be an entire census of the island. Brown-skinned buccaneers make predatory descents upon his luggage from all points of the compass, and the native Jehus, babel-tongued, and shiny with oil and impudence, rush down upon him by dozens. The Cingalese are finelybodied men, in general of moderate stature (though some attain to 6 ft), dark brown rather than black in skin, the face wellshaped, long, and more- intelligent than that of their cousins across the strait, and the hair of the head (rarely does any grow on the chin) is remarkable for its luxuriance and gloss. They are said never to cut the hair from childhood, in which fact some have found a reason for its wonderful thickness and the straight] fall of its jetty lengths far below the shoulders. I myself believe that it is attributable to the absence of head garniture of any sort, my experience and observation of the various peoples of the Orient having led me to notice that^ where the sun falls freely upon the uncovered head baldness is unknown, even in extreme old age.

The Cingalese (or, as anthropologists have decided is the correct spelling, Sinhalese) would be, in appearance at least, the finest native race in the East, but for one disfigurement. Their incessant chewing of the betel nut makes the teeth a bright red, imparting to the dark features a gleam of the diabolic. This nut comes from the Areca catechu, is cut into narrow slices, and rolled with a little lime in leaves of the betel pepper tree. The pellet, when chewed, possesses astringent and aromatic qualities, and is said to be more beneficial than otherwise ; but to European tastes it is too hot and acrid to be endured, besides producing slight intoxication at first. To the Cingalese it is like a sailor's quid ; and, as Blume puts it, " They would rather forego meat and drink than their favourite areca nut."

The only two vehicles in use in Colombo are "jinrickshas" and "bandies." The latter is a rattling, bone-shaking abomination, like a closed waggonette, which holds four, and is commonly drawn by the worst specimens of spavined, knock-kneed horseflesh to be found anywhere outside a caricature. The jinricksha, which only holds one, is a two-wheeled perambulator with shafts to it, between which a coolie insinuates himself, and enacts the equine. He will trundle you along briskly for three miles without stopping to take breath, or even perspiring unduly (in a temperature, too, averaging 90deg in the shade!;, and then three more if you bet him 50 annas he can't. The regular charge for these conveyances is about 8d an hour ;■ but the innocence on tho subject of the tariff which generally afflicts the newly-arrived sightseer, leads to the consummation of much daylight imposition. The first time I hired a 'ricksha I hauded the human beast of burden a rupee (then worth Is 4d) after about 10 minutes' perambulating. But natives throughout the East are like church bazaar stallholders; they never have any change. He pressed the coiu to his forehead as reverently as a Russian handles the Firman, and then pocketed it — that is to say, he put it in his mouth, the universal receptacle, for as his brethren don't wear any trousers, pockets are a superfluity. I subsequently noticed that that particular 'ricksha man dogged my footsteps unrelentingly during the remainder of my sojourn. No matter at what hour I issued forth, from early morn till late at night, he was always there, and bore down upon me piratically. Possibly he was under the impression that I was a millionaire, and had resolved to make his fortune. But I hadn't. The jinricksha — whichliterally means "man-power carriage" — was only introduced into O*vlon from Japan, its home (whence come so many wonderful things, which I shall hope some day to describe to you), as late as 1884, yet it now overruns the entire island, and is a perennial source of income to the runnerp, all of whom are naturally fleet of floot and greatly enduring. The Cingalese have arrived at that stage in the matter of dress when it is impossible for them to " take off " anything more. A cummerbund (or waistclotb) and a broad grin comprise the entire wardrobe of these sons of Adam. And after a few daya' experience of the extreme heat most Europeans would be glad to take a similarly broadminded view of the clothing question. The correct costume in use among the latter consists of a white drill suit, coat buttoning to the chin (waistcoat superannuated), a pair of canvas shoes, a solar topee (a great flat hat, like a cullender, lined with green silk, and made of cork and the pith of a reed, fairly light, very ventilatory, and costing four

rupees), and a white umbrella — the latter a necessity at noonday, when the vertical sunheafc pours down in literal streams.

To the eye of the traveller, bowling along in his "pram," Colombo is as well-built and pleasing a little town as he might wish to see. Two broad thoroughfares divide it into four parts, and these roads, of a reddishbrown colour, made on the principle of nacadam, are wonderfully well kept, there being no mad e?en after a rain storm, and better than that, no dust to speak of. There are a few Dutch houses of the original settlers, distinguished from all others by having windows instead of " tatties " (or, as we call them, Venetians). Over the doorway of one is the inscription : "Door gemelt gemlt ; door regt HersteW (" Destroyed by might ; restored by right.") The story goes that Petrus Vuist, the most cruei and tyrannical of the Dutch Governors, had the bouse summarily pulled down one day in a fit of passion, and that his successor caused it to be rebuilt, and the above saying carved over the threshold. Away from the landing jetty stretches York street, a fine broad boulevard, planted with shady trees, flanked at its entrance by the massive pile of buildings forming the Grand Oriental Hotel. This is the leading hotel in Colombo, can accommodate 200 people at a pinoh, and has a dinirjg hall 75Et by 37ft, with overlooking balconies rich in ferna which can seat between 300 and 400 guests. Close at hand are the bazaars of the native dealers in jewellery, precious stones, ivory, ebony, tortoiseshell, and rare curios, mostiy reputable traders, and the only ones to be depended upon, but Philistine in their dealings. The business part of the city, contaiaing the chief Government and mercantile offices, banks, &c, is in what is known as " The Fort." This is the site of an old earthwork thrown up by the Portuguese to protect a factory, early in the sixteenth century. Its little, rubbly, winding ways, here and there darting up amid the native quarters on the hillside, where strips of blue sky lie, ribbon-wise, between the leaoiog roofs, are bordered by tho suriya, or tulip tree, sometimes called, by reason of its bulgy purple flowers and dense head of foliage, the umbrella tree. The Queen's house, the residency of his excellency the Governor, an imposing building of white stone, occupies about four acres of ground at the corner of Queen street. A little further on is the office of the Ceylon Observer, the oldest, if not decisively the leading, newspaper, which was started in 1834, and was somewhat remarkable at that early date for having received its mail news from Point de Galle, a distancs of 72 miles, by " pigeon express."

Now, after a passing glance at the clock tower, with its revolving dioptric light apparatus 132 ft above sea level ; at Flagstaff Hill, whence in olden days, before the opening of the Suez Canal, many an anxious eye scanned the open roadstead for the ship 3 that never came; attheFortGreeaand themilitary barracks, our 'ricksha bowls on through the native bazaars, bright with many colours and alive with turbanned and bearded figures. Dozens of little coffee-coloured forms — wearing for sole apparel quaint copper medals hung, not from the neck, but round the hips I—run1 — run beside us, offering, for a few annas, bunches of brilliant flowers. Also we pass " hackeries " (little two-wheeled carts), drawn by the smallest bullocks I have ever seen. Most of them are not 10 hands high, hornless, and with diminutive humps, lying forward on the wither. They are very active, and are guided by a rein passed through a hole in the nose bone. So we trundle along, past the bungalows of the white residents and under the shade of the talipot palms and kitul trees, out upon the long, white, sandy road to the Galle Face. This is a military reservation, a stretch of seaside drive bounded by the waters of the Indian Ocsah. To realise how beautiful is this tropical isle, and how in it God has placed upon the stern page of Nature a vignette from His own hand, let the man wearied with the fret and flare of chafing life pace this quiet beach at even, when the great crimson ball of the sun rolls into the ocean, it seems so little distant, or when the moon sheds a soft dew on sea and land, and heart and mind will sink to rest beneath the gentle touch of primeval peace.