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Digitized by the Internet Archive

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2007 with funding from

IVIicrosoft

Corporation

http://www.archive.org/details/ceylonOOclar

LIST OF VOLUMES IN THE

PEEPS AT MANY LANDS

SERIES
EACH CONTAINING

12 FULL-PAGE
ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

BELGIUM
BURMA
CANADA
CHINA

INDIA

IRELAND
ITALY

CORSICA

JAMAICA
JAPAN

ENGLAND

NEW ZEALAND
NORWAY

EGYPT

FINLAND
FRANCE
GERMANY
GREECE
HOLLAND
HOLY LAND
ICELAND

MOROCCO

PORTUGAL
SCOTLAND
SIAM
SOUTH AFRICA
SOUTH SEAS
SWITZERLAND

A LARGER VOLUME IN THE SAME STYLE

THE Vv^ORLD
Containing 37 full-page illustiation^in colour

PUBLISHED BY ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK

SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.

AGENTS
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
64 & 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YOMC
AUSTRALASIA OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
205 FLINDERS Lane, MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANAPA, LTD.
CANADA
27 Richmond Street West, TORONTO
INDIA .... MACMILLAN & COMPANY, LTD.
MACMILLAN BUILDING, BOMBAY
309 BOW BAZAAR street. CALCUTTA

AMERICA

THh: NICW

YOHK

PUBLIC LIBRARY
A8TOR, LENOX AND
TILDCt* POOnDATIONB.

I-

CHILD BRIDE.

Page

PEEPS AT

MANY LANDS

CEYLON
BY

ALFRED CLARK
WITH TWELVE FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
IN COLOUR

ALLAN STEWART

and

MRS.

C.

CREYKE

THE

Nh:^'.'

'-

uHK

PUBLIC LIBRARY

A
O

QH

^\
xl \3 (3

AiTOR, LENOX AND

TILltl

FOOND*.TK)I.

-rt-

CONTENTS

.......

CJIArTF.K
I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.
VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.
XI.
XII.
XIII.

XIV.

r*

IN

DAYS GONE BV

THE PEOPLE
THE PEOPLE (coutinurti)
THE PEOPLE [continued)
THE PEOPLE [continued)
COLOMBO
COLOMBO {continued)

ROADSIDE SCENES

THE
THE
THE
THE

PALM GROVES
GEM LANDS

PAGIi
I

12

i8

22
25

29
35
38

42

45

HILLS

49

TEA-DISTRICTS

ADAM's PEAK

THE
XVI. THE
XVII. THE
XVIII. THE
XIX. THE
XX. THE
XV.

THE ISLAND

55

59
62

PARK COUNTRY
EAST COAST

BURIED CITIES

65
68

GREAT FOREST.

72

JAFFNA PENINSULA
PEARL FISHERY
XXI. ELEPHANTS

311; :..'

11

80

84

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
A CHILD BRIDE

front'npiece
FACING PAGE

THE STATUE OF BUDDA AT KALAWEYA

A ROADSIDE SCENE NEAR THE TEMPLE OF THE TOOTH

THE LAKE NEAR KANDY

A GROUP OF NATIVES

....
....

NATIVE SHOPS IN THE PETTAH, COLOMBO

......
......
....

viii

9
i6

25

32

SINGHALESE SAILING CANOE

41

A TEA ESTATE

48

THE TEMPLE OF THE SACRED TOOTH, KANDY

57

ADAm's PEAK

64

THE SACRED BO-TREE

A WORKING ELEPHANT

....

S ketch-Map of

Ceylon on p.

v'li

73

80

iTr Pedro

CEYLON
on>

Jo

so

*p

Jb

Ji7

/t/vty

BAY
OF

BENGAL

laVtim>\- Pada^iya Tan]

tirtncomolee

X/,/

k'a ntaipt

Tan

u^al

anga

Cfi

aiwurtmn
alkuda

^TANAAR

tticolon

ClliliM

LurimeQda^Cj^^^^^

/_

_%

^,^(^

THE

Kitn^X ^^FARK KalmuSt

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ArTillnnfrocJa

'^l^'^r^I [firnlantota

Gfille

/)

3S/
^l]

o ^

.V

_l

SKETCH-MAP OF CEYLON.
vii

A STATUE OF BUDDHA.

.Jhe new' yopV

CEYLON
CHAPTER

THE ISLAND

Ceylon

is

a pear-shaped island, a little smaller than

Indian Ocean, between six and ten

Ireland, in the

From

degrees north of the Equator.

its

position

with reference to the mainland, it has been called by

Eastern poets " the Pearl-Drop on the Brow of
India."

Though

separated from the continent only by the

shallow Palk's
differs

so

botany that

Strait,

some

much from
it

countless ages.

is

evident

For

thirty miles wide,

India
it

in

its

Ceylon

zoology and

has been an island for

instance,

there are

no

tigers,

cheetahs, bisons, hyenas, wolves, or antelopes there,

common

though these wild animals are

The

being tuskless, and there

reptiles,

The
CE.

in

India.

elephants of Ceylon are of a different breed,

and plants peculiar

are

number of

birds,

to the island.

greater part of Ceylon

I

consists

of forest1

Ceylon
covered plains, interspersed with rocky
forest

is

unbroken

so dense and

of monkeys might

start

that

The

hills.

said a flock

it is

from Point Pedro, the most

northern point of the island, and travel to Dondra

Head,

at its

southern extremity, some three hundred

ground once

miles, without touching the

south central part

is

of the whole

about one quarter

More

In the

area of Ceylon.

than one hundred and sixty peaks, from three

thousand to over eight thousand

feet high, raise their

Among them
Most of the

tree-clad heads over the vast plateau.

is

mountainous region, covering

the world-famous

rivers take their rise

Adam's Peak.

among

the mountains, and after

foaming through the rocky ravines, flow through

bamboo-bordered banks into the sea

island.

There are many

all

round the

magnificent

waterfalls,

waving curtains of white water, or

There are no natural
roaring many-leap cataracts.
lakes, but along the coasts on the east and west are
either walls or

On

the

islands,

the

extensive salt-water lagoons or backwaters.

north-west

are

principal of

which

number of

a
is

small

Manaar, from the northern end

of which commences the string of

islets

and sand-

banks forming Adam's Bridge.

The
India.

heat in Ceylon

The

is

less

oppressive

than

island has three distinct climates

hot and dry, in the north and east

moist, in the west

and south
2

in

the

the hot and

and the cold and moist,

The
the

in

parts

central

winter, spring, nor

Island

of

There

it.

autumn

no summer,

is

or, rather,

it

always

is

summer, the temperature never varying much more

than ten degrees throughout the year.
There are,
however, two annual seasons, called " monsoons."

For one

half of the year the

wind blows almost con-

from the south-west, and

stantly

from the north-east.

The

for the other half

" break of the

" is

monsoon

always attended by violent atmospheric disturbances.

For some days before the change of the wind

oppressively hot and

still,

it is

then great masses of black

cloud appear, and the wind begins to blow in gusts,

gradually growing in strength,
roar, the

till,

with a mighty

storm bursts over the land

in

deluges of

In a few hours hundreds of trees are blown

rain.

down

or dismembered, scores of huts are unroofed,

every tank
torrent.

crops,

is

The

overflowing, and every river a rushing

failure of the

and famine

monsoon means

loss

of

to the people.

Sunsets, especially during the monsoons, are often

very magnificent, the

non often seen

is

sky being a

whole western

blaze of gorgeous colours.

One

curious phenome-

" Buddha's

called

Rays,"

great

shafts of coloured light streaming fanwise upwards

into the blue sky from the point on the horizon
Moonlight is especiwhere the sun has just sunk.
ally

the

brilliant

in

Ceylon, owing to the

clei'rness

air.

12

of

Ceyl on
The
months

scarcely

are

tides

sweep round

currents

a westerly

in

south

direction,

and for

strong
for

coasts

six

a similar

So strong are they

period in an opposite direction.

that a story

but

perceptible,

the

told of a sailing-ship, in the old days,

is

monsoon opposite Galle

arriving during the

after a

long voyage, but, missing the tack for the harbour

entrance, being caught in the current

and disappear-

ing for three weeks, during which time

the Equator twice in

its

it

crossed

back against

efforts to beat

wind and current

Ceylon has been celebrated from time immemorial
for its pearls, its precious stones, its spices, especially

cinnamon,
is

its

elephants, and

now famous

its

for its palms, but these

duced only within

IN
earliest

It

were intro-

historical times.

CHAPTER
The

natural beauty.

II

DAYS GONE BY

accounts of Ceylon are purely legendary.

According to Hindu mythology, the

island,

then

Lanka, was, asons ago, under the sway of

Ravana, a demon-king, whose power was so great
called

that he

became the

terror of the worlds.

The

gods,

Gone By

In Days
livins: in their celestial

Mdha Meru, became

by their

abodes on the sacred mountain

Ravana, undismayed

alarmed.

hostility, seized

the beautiful wife of

Sita,

Rama, one of the manifestations of the god Vishnu,

and carried her off to his palace among the moun-

Rama

tains.

and

built

by

piled

mountains

his ally,

Hanuman,

in the sea

chain of rocks and sand

to recover his

crossed over to the island by a causeway

wife,

it

army

a vast

collected

who

the monkey-god,

from shore

now

called

to shore, the

Adam's Bridge.

rescued.

Ravana was slain and Sita

war followed.
The whole story is a nightmare of roaring

demons,

giants,

terrific

wallowing

in

bestial

monsters and

known who were the

their very name
island

original inhabitants

not

It is

of the

has been forgotten,

the few

enchanters,

maelstroms of blood.

hundred people

living,

still

and believed to

be their descendants, being spoken of merely as the

Veddahs,
ancient
as

Nagas

cruel

or

and

related of

and even

They

hunters.

writers

either

are

(snakes), probably on

treacherous

them

is

that

Egyptian

by
or

account

dispositions.

All

ot

their

that

is

Indian, Persian, Arab,

the

and

to

(demons)

referred

Yakkhos

as

Greek

merchants

who

visited the island, creeping along the coasts in their

galleys, traded with

them

in

curious way.

The

people of the country never showed themselves, but

placed on the shore during the night the products
5

Ceylon
of their forests and
to intimate

nor

sellers

fields,

with well-understood signs

what they wanted

buyers

wonderful system of barter

The

in

Neither

exchange.

saw each other

ever

in

this

history of Ceylon, though, of course,

much

mixed with monstrous exaggeration and ridiculous

" Mahawanso," a metrical
fables, is given in the
chronicle in the ancient Pali language.
a

dynastic account of the island

centuries,

and

its

for

statements have in

It

contains

twenty-three

many

instances

been verified by monuments, rock inscriptions and

coins discovered.

In the year 543 b.c, about two hundred years

after the founding of Rome, Wijayo, the outlawed

son of a petty Rajah

in

the Valley of the Ganges,

collected

a band of desperadoes, and made

on the

island.

order

In

to

gain

a descent

footing,

he

married the daughter of one of the aboriginal chiefs,

but repudiated her as soon as he had established

He

himself firmly.

but

it is

introduced the

probable that

aborigines,

it

Hindu

religion,

did not replace that of the

which was no doubt a debased form of

Nature-worship.

He was followed by one hundred and sixty-five

Kings and Queens, only a few of whom distinguished
It took more than two
themselves in any way.
hundred years

to reduce the aboriginal inhabitants to

subjection, and

for

many
6

centuries afterwards the

In

Days Gone By

Kings of Ceylon were constantly engaged

in repelling

invasions of Tamil hordes from South India.

Five

times were they forced by their enemies to change

and several times foreign usurpers

their capital,

sat

on the throne.
in joy b.c. a great King arose, whose
name meant " Beloved of the Holy Ones."
was who began the building of the great

At length,
native

He

it

second only

edifices,

size

in

and

magnificence to

those of ancient Egypt, the ruins of which

After him, from time to

carried

on

this

time

great Kings

work.

In the course of time the

with tanks, or

other

still exist.

artificial

country was covered

reservoirs, for irrigating the

They were formed

embankments across the em-

great stretches of paddy-fields.

by throwing up great
bouchures of

valleys,

and providing them with

waters and sluices of cut stone.

of immense
circuit,

size,

Some of

spill-

these were

the largest being twenty miles in

a bund, or embankment, twelve

Water was brought to them from the

and with

miles long.

distant hills by artificial rivers, and they were linked

by

together

each to

its

canals,

which carried the overflow of

neighbour

were constructed

at a

lower

level.

All these

by the forced labour of many

thousands of people, under the guidance of Brahmin

engineers.

In addition to these gigantic works of

7

utility,

many

Ceylon
These

great ddgobas^ or relic- shrines, were erected.

were bell-shaped miniature

brick, with ornamental stone bases,

by

form of

a terminal in the

The

pointed spire.
ence,

is

and surmounted

cube supporting a

of these,

largest

than the

loftier

generally of

hills, built

dome of

St.

in exist-

still

Paul's

Beauti-

wiharas^ or temples, and vast pansalas^ or monas-

ful

teries,

mostly of cut stone, were also

built,

and cave

shrines excavated.

These immense and beautiful buildings were

honour of a great teacher named Buddha,

erected in

born 624

His

B.C.,

religion, if

and
it

furtherance of his doctrines.

in

may be

was introduced
and became the national

so called,

into Ceylon about 393 B.C.,

faith.

Some of
their piety,

the Kings distinguished themselves by

even going so

far as to resign their sove-

reignty from time to time for a few days in favour of

the

high-priests.

They

frequently clothed

all

the

priesthood throughout the island, giving three robes

to each

bestowed numberless lamps on the temples;

maintained colleges

of teachers

quantities of rice in

time of famine; and founded

distributed

vast

hospitals for the infirm.

One King

is

said to have

been so pious and so

when

without offering a portion of

it

conscientious that, recollecting that he had,

boy, eaten a

chilli

to a priest, he

imposed on himself,

as a

punishment

THE NU:W YOKK

I

^UBLIC LIBRARY
:r0H,

LENOX ANO

'^StJ POjNDATtOMR.

A ROADSIDE SCENE
NEAR THE TEMPLE OF THE TOOTK

Gone By

In Days

building of a great ddgoba, the

for his crime, the

Miriswettiya, which stands to this day

Another King,
powers by
at night

it

is

they caused rain to

his virtues that

and

related, so pleased the celestial

at regular intervals

fall

the great content and convenience of the people

only

during his reign, to

!

goodly number of these royal personages were,

however,

of very

different

character.

The most

wicked of them was probably Anula the Infamous, a

Queen whose life was spent in murcier and in the
indulgence of her passions.

The most famous of the Kings was Dutugemunu,

who assumed the chatta^ or canopy of dominion, in
i6i B.C.

At

island were

chivalrous

that time

all

the northern parts of the

under the rule of

Tamil

Elala, a brave

and

The young King collected

mounted on his war-elephant,

chief.

an army, and led

it,

against the usurper,

whom

he eventually defeated and

slew.

King not only

In the twelfth century another great

repelled an invasion of Tamils from India, but carried

the war into their

army

against the

own

country.

He

King of Cambodia,

in

also sent an

the Far East,

and made that distant land tributary to him.

After this period, however, owing to the constant
When a band of
wars, the kingdom broke up.
Portuguese adventurers came to the island
in

their

CE.

bluff-bowed,

high-sterned
9

in

caravels,

1505,
they

Ceyl on
found

it

divided under seven separate rulers.

One

of

these was the descendant of the ancient Kings, and

among

held his court at Kandy,

the mountains, while

the northern and eastern parts were in the permanent

occupation of the Tamils.

The Portuguese conquered

the maritime districts

of the island, and for one hundred and fifty years

maintained a military occupation of the territory

won.

An army

of

Roman

Catholic priests came

who made thousands of converts.

The Dutch, the great rivals of the Portuguese

with them,

the East, finally expelled

1656.

They,

too,

their

natives to

much permanent

made

them from the

in

island in

great efforts to convert the

ideas of Christianity,
success.

but without

Trade was, however, the

principal object of both nations, and they practically

Hundreds

enslaved their native subjects to that end.

of elephants were caught annually and sold to Indian

potentates.

was made
laws.

The

frequently,

of cinnamon

monopoly, and was protected by stringent

peeHng,

stick of the spice, or

selling,

the material

or export of a single

even wilful injury to

was punished by death.

for

were held

The cultivation

Pearl-fisheries

yielding great revenues.

The Portuguese

welfare of the

Dutch constructed roads and

but the

country,

canals.

1797 the territories of the Dutch

were wrested from them by the British.
10
In

a plant,

did nothing

in

Ceylon

Eighteen

Gone By

In Days
years later the

King of Kandy,

a cruel monster, the

descendant of the old Kings of Ceylon, was deposed

and exiled

to

For three hundred years

South India.

Kings of Kandy, secure

these

mountain

their

in

only paths to which led through almost

capital, the

uninhabited forests and were barred by thorn-gates,

had defied the power of the Portuguese and Dutch,

Ever
1815 their misrule came to an end.
ruled
since then Ceylon has been a Crown Colony,
but

by

in

Governor, with two Councils to

No

better

assist

him.

example of " time's revenge "

is

to be

found in history than the changes Ceylon has seen in

the

two thousand

last

the days of the

In

years.

Singhalese Kings the great plains boasted of several

and religious
huge reservoirs and thousands of

large cities, full of magnificent royal

edifices

scores of

smaller ones, irrigating wide stretches of paddy-fields,

which supported an immense population, scattered

villages

from sea to

The mountains were

sea.

covered with impenetrable wild-beast-infested

in

then

forests,

and were supposed to be the abode o{ yakkhos^ or

demons.

Now

the low-country, as

sparsely populated, forest-clad waste

temples are
the

in ruins,

embankments of

their beds are

and buried

it
;

is

called, is a

the palaces and

in the debris

of ages

the reservoirs are breached, and

covered with

forest.

Scarcely any signs

remain of the ancient paddy-fields.

hand, the once uninhabited
II

On

the other

mountains teem with

2

Ceylon
busy

up

in

the

towns and villages which have sprung

the valleys, and on the tea-estates which cover

life

in the

Railways

hillsides.

roads radiate in

all

penetrate

directions,

every part,

to

and the wild beasts

have practically disappeared.

CHAPTER

III

THE PEOPLE

The

population of the whole of Ceylon

is

a little

more than half that of London. It consists mainly

of two races, the Singhalese and the Tamils, who
are

entirely

different

appearance, costume, lan-

in

The

guage, religion, and customs.

by

far the

more numerous, claim

former,

who

are

as their ancestors

the original conquerors of the island,

who

followed

the outlaw Wijayo from Northern India, and the

latter are the

descendants of the adventurers from

made

Southern India

often

into the

who so
The
island.

Singhalese occupy the south-

western

and southern

parts,

raiding incursions

and the Tamils the

northern and eastern parts.

The

inhabitants of the

hills, called

Kandians, are

Singhalese, but are of a different type

from their

fellow-countrymen in the lowlands, and are superior

12

The People
to

them

people

in

many

the

in

The

respects.

hills are,

vast majority of the

however, Tamil coolies, immi-

grants from South India, and employed on the tea-

The

estates.

centre of the island and the districts

round the bases of the

miserable jungle people

Tamils.

found

In the forests

are

hills

some Singhalese
on the

long, chiefly by

and some

eastern side are to be

few hundred Veddahs,

ancient aborigines, and

inhabited by

all

doomed

now

left

of the

to extinction before

intermarriage with Singhalese and

Tamils.
In

all

men, so
were

the towns are to be found numbers of

called

by the Portuguese.

Arab

probably

traders,

Moor-

Their forefathers

who

settled

the

in

country some hundreds of years ago.

There are

number of Malays, whose

and grand-

also a

fathers

were brought to the island from the

Settlements,

as

soldiers,

British occupation.

Dutch
are

officials

and

usually

are

in

Descendants of Portuguese and

soldiers

who

married native wives

Burghers, but

called

describe themselves as Ceylonese.

superior class

Straits

the early days of the

Those with Dutch blood

numerous.

veins

fathers

They

in

their

prefer

to

are a very

most of the doctors, lawyers, and

members of it.
derive their name from

subordinate Civil Servants are

Though

the Singhalese

singha^ a lion, they are a

features,

most unwarlike

costume, and coiffure of the

13

The

race.

men

in

the

Ceyl on
coast districts accentuate their effeminate appearance.

They wear

loin-cloths, called comboys^ usually white,

descending almost to their

thing

and looking some-

and have

petticoats,

like

feet,

long

hair,

often

hanging loose over their shoulders, but generally

twisted into a knot behind the head, with a round
tortoiseshell

comb, and sometimes an upright one

addition, stuck

unbecoming

into

The women have

it.

wound

guese, consisting of a tightly

in

most

from the Portu-

copied

partly

dress,

loin-cloth

and

loose jacket with tight sleeves and puffed shoulders.

Most of

the Singhalese in the interior support

themselves by rice cultivation and coconut growing.

It

is

only within recent years that they have been

induced to accept work on the tea or other estates

In

labourers.

traders

and

the

coast

districts

being

artificers,

as

they are chiefly

especially

skilful

in

carpentry and wood-carving.

Their language

is

not an easy one to acquire, and

there are two forms of

quial, the

words.

it,

former being

Singhalese

is

the literary and the collofull

of Sanscrit and Pali

rich in honorifics,

that there are eleven different forms in

can dismiss their

relation to their

Many
sounding

visitors,

it

being said

which hosts

according to their rank in

own.

of the low-country Singhalese have high-

Portuguese

village names, such as

names

Don
14

in

addition

Sebastian

to

Appu

their

Vidah-

The People
nelage, and they have adopted into their language a

good many Portuguese and Dutch words.

The Tamils of

northern

the

and eastern

vinces are on the whole a finer and

than

the

Their skins are of

Singhalese.

shade of brown, and their costume

The men

shave

which they

scalp-lock,

into a knot

tie

race

darker

more

is

tasteful.

heads, leaving only

their

pro-

more manly

long

and wear

at

the back of the head or over the ear, according as

men

they are married

the

women

Rice

The

or bachelors.

dress of

often of bright colours.

is

cultivation

chief occupation

the

is

of the

Tamils of the country, but great numbers are also

employed

in

growing tobacco, and

in

utilizing the

Hundreds of them
not only in Government

products of the palmyra palm.

are

employed

offices,

as

but by merchants and planters.

The Moormen
a

fine

clerks,

are,

They

race.

both physically and inentally,

commonly

are

called

nickname Kakd, or crows, by other

natives,

As they

Tambies by the Europeans.

by the

are

and
very

energetic and enterprising, a large part of the trade

of the country

is

in their hands, the

majority of them

being shopkeepers, jewellers, masons, and pedlars.

Their distinguishing features are their shaven heads

and curious

hats.

made of coloured

These
plait,

last are

brimless,

huge thimble, and the other

^5

of two kinds

one

and shaped

like a

white

cloth

skull-

Ceylon
cap,

which seems to be glued to the bare brown

head.

They do not shut up their wives and daughters as

do other Mohammedans, but Moor women, when
going through the
especially the old

often cover their faces,

streets,

and ugly.

They

can scarcely be

said to be always dressed in white, as their

brown

are generally of a light

Love of ornament
nations, but

is

less

than most others.

women wear

to

garments

dirt.
all

Eastern

pronounced among the Singhalese

The women wear gold and silver

and

many

more in the way of

Tamil fellow-country-

little

of their

nose-rings and toe-rings, in addition to

anklets and bangles.

is

from

common

is

hairpins and necklaces,

jewellery, while

tint,

peculiarity of

Moor women

that their ears are often loaded each with half a

dozen

silver filigree earrings.

smear

their faces with

Native

women

often

powdered turmeric, making

them of a bright yellow colour, anything but pleasing

European eyes. Wealthy Tamil men and Moor-

to

men may

often be seen with golden armlets above

their elbows, containing

charms

to protect

them from

evil.

Native children of

all

races are

creatures, bronze-tinted, dark-eyed,

Fat

babies,

silver chains

in the

innocent

round

of clothing

their

podgy

charming

little

and merry-faced.
except, perhaps,

waists, sprawl about

sun everywhere, or are carried on the hip by

i6

^^^Sk

v^^

mA

&^ii

^*-

'^^H

NEW YORK

PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTon, LEMOX ANA
TILDEN FO0NDATION8.

The People
little sisters

only two or three years older than them-

The

selves.

seem to

children

have

games, but amuse themselves by

other

little

ones do

few regular

" pretending," as

The

over the world.

all

begin to help their mothers in domestic

very tender age, and the boys are

buffaloes
as

and

cattle,

and

watch

to

set

at

to tend the

almost

in the fields

soon

as

The

vast majority of the people live in

less,

girls

work

they can toddle.

window-

mud-walled huts, thatched with plaited coconut

Under

leaves or straw.

their

own Kings none but

the nobles were allowed to live in tiled or white-

Each hut

washed houses.

garden containing

a little

is

usually

embowered

in

few coconut-trees, clumps

of broad-leaved plantain and sugar-cane, with a few

coffee - bushes,

and other

Many

papayas, custard

fruit

trees

and plants scattered about.

principal food of the people consists of rice,

grown by themselves
villages.

It

is

they eat
largely

little,

the

in

CE.

adjoining

of in

and

sorts,

all

consumed.

Milk

is

not

Of meat

much drunk,

because of the small quantity given

two quarts

Much

much

17

is

fish is

princi-

by the

larger than English

day being considered

of the milk

their

conjunction

hot.

but in the districts near the sea

native cows, which are not

yield.

fields

always partaken

with curries of various

calves,

apples, pineapples,

have pumpkin vines growing over the roofs.

The

pally

good

converted into curds,

3

Ceylon
or into ghee, or clarified butter, for cooking purposes.

Fruit and vegetables form a large part of the food of

the people.

For condiments and

relishes they

have

turmeric, tamarinds, and other pungent fruits

chillies,

and roots

also

karavadu^ or dried

fish, a

malodorous

and unwholesome comestible, of which they are very

fond.

It is said

by some

scientists to

Jaggery, or palm-sugar,

leprosy.

be a cause of
eaten in large

is

quantities by old and young.

CHAPTER
THE PEOPLE

About

two-thirds

Buddhists,

about

IV

{continued)

of the

of Ceylon are
Hindus, or wor-

natives

one-third

are

shippers of heathen gods, and about one-sixteenth

the

Mohammedans. The Buddhists are all Singhalese,

Hindus are all Tamils, and the Mohammedans are

all

Moormen and Malays.

are

they

call

in the

Many

Singhalese, though

themselves Buddhists, worship heathen gods

dewalaSy or temples, and

Mohammedanism

makes converts among all races, but

is practically unknown.

i8

Tamil Buddhist

human life from

The former consider it

Christians and Buddhists regard

a very different standpoint.

The People
to

be

way,

chiefly

The

fellow-men.

unhappy

be spent in

hold

wise

is

an

man

to

however,

This,

possible.

as

best
their

that existence

behoves

it

the

helping

unselfishly

latter

soon

as

to

in

which

state,

terminate

God

from

gift

possible

cannot be brought about simply by suicide.

Buddhists believe that

which,

on

bodies.

The

all

soul of a

It

depends entirely on the deeds,

meritorious or otherwise, done in each

the next will

be a good or a bad one

They do

or downwards.

of God, or of

heaven

that

that they

good

lives,

sin

is,

hope

as

life

a step

that

whether

upwards

not recognize the existence

an offence against God, or of

after passing

and becoming

enter Nirvana

any place of everlasting

for,

carcass

the delicate form of a

then the diminutive body of a

in the third,

and so on.

beetle,

life,

other

into

King might occupy the

of an elephant in his next

woman

living things have souls,

of their bodies, pass

death

is,

saints

to

All

bliss.

through countless

and demi-gods,

become

is

to

extinct.

when worshipping at their wihdras,

what may be called prayers, though they are

Buddhists,
repeat

not addressed to any divine being, and do not ask

for forgiveness, or grace, or guidance, or protection.

They

are merely praises of the Great

pious formulas,
spiritually

the repetition

Teacher and

of which,

in

some

automatic way, confers merit on the wor-

shipper, and helps to bring about

19

good

re-births.

32

Ceyl on

well-known missionary Bishop once asked a

who had been worshipping, to whom he

Buddhist,

"

had been praying.

*'

one," replied the man.

praying for something ?"

" No, I was not asking for

you were

suppose

To no

continued the Bishop.

" What !" cried

was the reply.
"
Bishop,
praying to nobody for nothing!"

the

anything,"

One

of the most stringent tenets of Buddhism

the prohibition against taking

strict

Buddhist

will not kill

life

in

any form.

is

even poisonous snakes

or noxious insects infesting his house and person,

the

for

sufficient

reason that they might contain

souls which had once been housed in

human

bodies.

Singhalese fishermen salve their consciences by the

quibble that they do not

them out of the water

Strange to

had during the

and

still

kill fish

they merely take

say, this cold, repellent

last

two thousand

five

of adherents.

has, millions

religion

hundred

The

however, that to the vast majority of these

so

much

a religion as a code of morals,

doubt influences their

however,

some

extent.

fact
it is

is,

not

which no

When,

it is not to Buddhism
no comfort to be got from its
They go and make offerings at their

evil

befalls

they turn, for there

teachings.

lives to

has

years,

them,

is

dewdlas^ or engage the services of devil-dancers to

propitiate

the

demons,

which

they

believe

malevolently brought misfortune on them.

20

have

The People
The Tamils of Ceylon and the immigrant Tamil
coolies trom Southern India who work on the teaestates are

There arc
confined,

in

In

"
millions of these " gods

many

different

and goddesses.
is

worshippers of heathen gods.

all

Hindu Pantheon,

the

in

nearly

said to be

but

in

localities,

practice worship
to

particular

Ceylon the most popular god

Siva the Destroyer, in whose honour

have been

built.

is

gods

It is

many temples
women,

the custom for men,

after making off^srings in a temple, to

mark with consecrated ashes their foreheads, breasts,

and children,

and the upper part of their arms with the symbol of

the

god

The

whom

they have been worshipping.

religious ceremonies

performed

in the kovilsy

or temples, cannot, however, be properly described

Hindus know of no All-Father to

whom mankind can look for love and protection
as

worship.

their

gods are merely demons, from

things can be expected.

idols

The

whom

no good

hideousness of their

shows that these do not represent beneficent

deities.

Fear

especially

fear

the

is

of

moving
the

evils

Speculations regarding the

no part of

force of their religion,

of

the

present

hereafter form

life.

little

or

their religious belief

The Moormen and Malays of Ceylon, though

Mohammedans, have combined with veneration for
the Koran and the teachings of Mohammed many of
the

superstitious

practices of their

21

heathen neigh-

Ceylon
There

hours.
in

Arahic

are a few mullahs^ or priests, learned

and

the

Law,

Mohammedans of Ceylon

but

body

as

the

and
There are
mosques at all the towns and villages where they
congregate.
Parties of them may be seen sometimes squatting in circles, all bowing together and

at

same time

the

shouting

are grossly ignorant,

bitterly

intolerant.

" Allah

simultaneously

!"

God

(Oh,

!)

at

quick intervals, as an act of worship.

The

different

races

in

Ceylon

live

together in

perfect amity except in the matter of religion, but

hostility

shows

itself

only during the

processions

which the Buddhists, Hindus, Mohammedans, and

Roman

Catholics frequently

These

festivals

often

make through

culminate

in

the streets.

riots,

and are

always a source of anxiety to the authorities.

CHAPTER V
THE PEOPLE
It
is

a strange fact that,

is

(continued)

though the sacredness of

so strenuously insisted

on

in the

there are about five times as

life

Buddhist religion,

many murders com-

mitted annually in the Singhalese districts of Ceylon

as

in

Great Britain, in proportion to population.

22

The People
Most of

murders

these

committed during family

are

quarrels regarding the possession of land.

ing of fermented pahn-sap and of the

from

it,

been

has

though drunkenness

Gambling

Europe.

times ending

marked

in

good

than in

deal,

some-

feature of the Singhalese character

They will go

is

any

to law about

one recorded case the dispute was about the

two thousand

hundred and twentieth part of ten

five

coconut-trees!

They

are also very prone to perjury

and to the fabrication of

lations

have been made

volent

men have gone

The Tamils
race,

prevalent

less

practised a

is

spirit distilled

in knife-fights.

their love of litigation.

trifle

far

is

drink-

many homicides,

cause of

the

The

are,

Dreadful reve-

false cases.

of the lengths to which malein their desire for revenge.

on the whole,

more law-abiding

and are not often guilty of crimes of violence.

They have

often figured, however, in cases of forgery,

embezzlement, and kindred crimes, and are not

whit better than
perjury and
courts

little

the Singhalese

filse

in

The Moormen

cases.

the matter of

give the

trouble.

Charges are often made by cultured Europeans

as

to the supposed dishonesty, untruthfuhiess,

uncleanness of the natives, but

these

it

is

and

scarcely fair that

should be judged by the high standards of

such detractors.

It

may be

peasantry of Ceylon

safely asserted that the

compare very fivourably

23

in

Ceylon
every respect with the working classes in Western
countries.

Natives are often said to be cruel, but

remembered

that

and

Eastern

must be

it

Western

ideas

of

down

bank and injure itself so that it cannot rise,

European would at once put it out of its pain, but

Should a bull

cruelty are very different.

fall

Singhalese would be shocked by such a proceeding.

He

would build

and supply

it

a shelter over the paralyzed beast,

with food and water

till

by

won

merit

his kindness

Bullocks
a

died, after

it

days of agony, and consider that he had

may

often be seen in Ceylon branded in

way which would not be

moment

tolerated for one

England, elaborate patterns having been burnt all

over them with hot irons. In most cases this is done

in

in the belief that

ailments

The

it is

the cure for rheumatic or other

from which the animals were

natives of Ceylon are not

more

suffering.

cruel or callous

than, for instance, Italian or Spanish peasants, who,

remonstrated with for cruelly beating their mules

or other beasts, would exclaim in surprise " What

if

would you?

As

they are unbaptized things!"

regards the charge of laziness brought against

the natives,

it is

which says, "

down
Some

true

enough

It is better to

that they have a proverb

walk than to run, to

than to walk, and, best of

all,

to

allowance should, however, be

24

go

to sleep

made

sit

!"

for the

THE NEW

ORK

PUBLIC LIBRARY
A6T0R, LENOX AHO
TIU>et< FO0NDATK3N8.

The People
climate and

strenuous

of the country, which make the

soil

life

unnecessary for people with so few

wants.

One

very good

trait

of the natives

is

their kindness

to their old folk and their love of their children.

The

character of the people

some extent by
current in

"

Ceylon

Though

be judged of to

Here

are

few

the well be deep,

neck of the frog."

" What matters
it

may

proverbs.

their

it

that the cat

only up to the

is

it

is

made of

clay, if

catches mice?"

"The

tongue

though

is safe,

in the

midst of thirty

teeth."

"

The sandalwood

tree

perfumes

the

axe that

fells it."

" Like asking the thief's mother about the things

lost."

CHAPTER

VI

THE PEOPLE {continued)

Caste

feeling

yet

affects

it

is

not so strong in Ceylon as in India,

very considerably the relations of the

natives with each other.

There

is little

or no inter-

marriage or partaking of food together between the

higher and lower
CE.

The

castes.

25

Singhalese have

no

Ceyl on
hereditary priest-caste, like the Brahmins

common

with

many

but, in

races in the East, they give pre-

eminence to the agricultural

which they

caste, after

place the trading castes, with the fishermen, barbers,

washermen, potters, weavers, coconut-climbers, and

tom-tom

beaters low

down

communities of out-castes, with

also

There

in the scale.

whom

are

other

They were not

natives will have no intercourse.

allowed in old days to cover the upper part of their

bodies, as a sign of their degradation.

The

caste

among

system

the Tamils

to that of Southern India.

among

the

There

Caste

and

to break

Many

castes to herd together.

of Veddahs, or of out-castes.

efforts

very similar

tendency outside the towns for the

villages in the interior consist only

to

is

not recognized

Mohammedans.

is

different races

more

is

down

of Moormen, or

Railways have done

the barriers of caste than

all

the

of the missionaries; the unwillingness of natives

come

into contact with

than their

own

members of lower

castes

being more than counterbalanced by

the desire to travel cheaply.

There

are

no unhappy widows, doomed to a

drudgery and abuse,

cide
is

is

not

not practised

considered

countries.

many

as in

Northern India

and the

life

of

infanti-

birth of female children

in
many other
now be registered, but
do not know their ages. An

calamity, as

All births must

of the old people

26

The People
aged Tamil man, on being asked how old he was,
pointed to a full-grown palmyra palm standing near,

and

said,

meaning

"That
that

it

is

my

tambi'' (younger brother),

had been planted soon

after his birth,

he having no other means of knowing his age.

All native girls in Ceylon are married at an early

which the

age, but child-marriages,

in

grooms and brides return

to their

There

of the Tamils.

understood

among

bride-

own homes after

among the wealthier

the ceremony, are only practised

classes

little

is

no courting,

as

the white races, before marriage,

and no honeymoon

after

symbol of marriage,

it.

In place of a ring as the

golden ornament

the neck of the bride.

Much money

hung round

is

is

wasted

at

the

marriage ceremony, but the members of the family

The

help by lending things needed.

literally

bride

is

often

weighed down with jewellery borrowed

for

Among

the

the occasion

from her female

relatives.

Singhalese there are two kinds of marriage

and the bina

the diga

one of which the bride goes to her

in

husband's house in the usual way, and in the other

member of his wife's

customary among all Eastern people

the husband becomes a

It

is

a great outcry as

of a sick

soon as the breath has

relative.

The

wailing

siderable time, mostly by the

weird,

depressing

is

left

to raise

the body

kept up for a con-

women, and

performance.

family.

Both

is

burial

most
and

cremation are practised in Ceylon by the Singhalese

27

42

Ceylon
and Tamils, but the

Moormen

In the Eastern Province

never burn their dead.

tion

coffins.

of a Buddhist high-priest

festival,

of old dug-out

sections

canoes are often used by them as

is

The

always

and thousands flock to witness

jungle districts

it is

cremagreat

In the

it.

usual to pile stones and thorns

over the shallow graves, in order to prevent jackals

and other wild

The

beasts

chief innocent

by the

amusements of the Singhalese,

women and

especially of the
at the

from digging up the bodies.

children, are attendance

temples on festival days, and at the readings

of " birth-stories " in the preaching-

priests

sheds in the villages, and pilgrimages to sacred places.

In addition to these religious dissipations, the Tamils
often get
for

days

up nadagams^ or open-air

Moormen

making people,
enjoyment in public.
to the Sabbath

is

No

are

which

last

day of

rest

sober,

corresponding

observed by any of the native non-

Christian races in Ceylon, but they

festivals,

plays,

moneywho seldom give themselves up to

together.

all

have numerous

of which they avail themselves

fully.

Native ideas of good manners are very different

from those of Europeans.

disrespectful for

It

Tamil or

is

considered grossly

Moorman

to

come

into the presence of a superior with his head or the

upper part of

on

his

his feet, or to

or masticatory,

body uncovered, or with

speak with his mouth
Singhalese,

28

his sandals

full

when wishing

of
to

hetel^

show

The People
respect to great

men

hands together and

or priests, put the palms of their

them

raise

to their faces in the

attitude of worshipping, crouching low at the

same

time.

There

no word nor phrase

is

in either Singhalese

or Tamil exactly equivalent to the English

The

you."

remarks
he

is

in

recipient of

natives unintentionally
familar to them.

An

it is

energy

in

merely

good, and that

feelings of

by the use of phrases not

of Government deeply

officer

whom

offended a head-man
for his

gift or attention

that

Europeans often hurt the

pleased.

that he "

any

acknowledgment

"Thank

he wished to

commend

carrying out some order by saying

had worked

like a horse."

CHAPTER

VII

COLOMBO

Colombo,
side, has

the chief

the East."

Its

position and

one square mile

place of

call

in

its

extent,

great

makes

artificial
it

harbour,

convenient

for vessels trading with India, the

East, and Australia.

half a

town of Ceylon, on its western

as the " Halfway House of

been described

It is

no

uncommon

dozen magnificent mail-steamers

29

Far

sight to see
at

anchor

Ceyl on
together, with twenty or thirty cargo- steamers dis-

charging

machinery and goods from Europe and

taking in tea and other products of the island

sailing-vessels,

of strange

shape and

rig,

also

from

all

parts of the East.

Colombo

If

is

approached

in the north-east

mon-

soon, the pure azure of the placid sea, the long lines

of graceful palms along the shore, and the distant

mountains, dominated by Adam's Peak, are sure to

deeply

impress the

even

traveller,

though he

is

unable to detect "the spicy breezes" which "blow

soft

from Ceylon's

isle."

If,

however, the south-

west monsoon happens to be breaking, the scene will

be very different

heaving

agate

waves,

sky covered by inky clouds,

ridden by countless " white

horses," and millions of palm-trees tossing their long

The

leaves wildly.

mile-long breakwater will be

covered with acres of foam, and geysers of white

water shooting a hundred

sheltering arms, however,

feet

high.

all is at rest,

Within its
and a landing

can be effected whatever the state of the weather.

"

The Fort

"

is

the

name

still

given to a neck of

land lying to the south of the harbour, where,

till

about forty years ago, stood a great fort built by the

Dutch.
offices,

Here may now be found the Government

the hotels, the offices of merchants, and large

European shops.

Apart from the brown people

swarming everywhere, there is nothing Oriental in

30

Colombo
On

the appeanince of this part of the town.

always assailed by

visitors are

of elephants

as figures

canoes,

and

coconut

sellers

landing,

of curios, such

ebony, models of native

in

-wood

Moor

walking-sticks.

gem-dealers are also a great nuisance, and are often

glad to accept one rupee for a " sapphire " for which
they had asked five hundred

To

the south of the Fort stretches a fine esplanade

called Galle Face,

where many of the Colombo

resi-

dents drive and walk in the evening.

make

stranger to the island would, no doubt,

without delay for the Pettah, or native quarter of

He

the city.

will find

headed

Tamils,

European

costume,

cloth-sellers,

From

and

men from

turbaned

thronged with brown

it

not only petticoated and

combed

folk,

Singhalese, shaven-

white-capped

Moormen, but

Central India, Parsis, in semi-

Arab

horse-dealers,

Afghan

and other representatives of the East.

numerous godowns, or warehouses,

come the acrid odour of leaf tobacco, the sour smell
of punac^ or coconut waste, and other evil emanations.

usurious

the

In

their

dark

interiors

money-lenders

their accounts

on

strips

of the

squat
island,

of palm-leaves.

chettis,

scratching

The

streets

are lined with small native shops, called boutiques

word derived from the Portuguese.

everything natives require
coarse crockery, pottery,

Here

are sold

bright prints for clothing,

rice,

31

the

pungent curry

stuffs,

Ceylon
and vegetables. Some of these last look strange
enough to European eyes, such as enormous jaks^
the largest edible fruit in the world, sometimes
fruits,

weighing

fruit,

buy up

pink

fruit

gruesome masses of sticky

"drumsticks" for curry, and egg-

One pound

fruits.

also ramhutans^ a

soft spines

covered with

tamarind

pounds

fifty

sterling

would be sufficient to
some of these

the entire stock-in-trade in

tiny shops.

Here may be seen

filth,

a small apartment, reeking with

which an old

in

woman

dispenses hoppers^ or

Over the doorway hangs a board on

roughly inscribed "Dining Hall"! On the

hot rice-cakes.

which

is

opposite side of the street

is

a tiny den, in

which a

This
barber squats, shaving the head of a customer.
"
Hairestabhshment has the sign, boldly displayed,
dressing Saloon

Not

"
!

appears over a door

There

are

chiefly great

many

far off the following

legend

" Best Fortune-telling Place."

curious vehicles in the streets,

two-wheeled bandies^ or bullock

carts,

with immense coconut-leaf hoods, and drawn by pairs

of bullocks, on whose sinewy necks rest heavy wooden

These are used for the transport of goods,
yokes.

and often carry a ton and

fibre.

The

cries

a half

of

tea, rice,

of the drivers, "

Mak

or coconut

/" " Fitta /"

(Right! Left!), to their bullocks are very familiar

sounds, and are sometimes supposed by Europeans to
the names of the beasts Small
be ** Mark," " Peter "

32

THE NEW YORK

PUBLIC LIBRARY
A8T0R, LENGX AND
FOCJNDATUDNS.

TlUXn

Colombo
spidery-looking hackeries, or light
single bull,

carts,

drawn by

and carrying not more than two passengers,

The

rattle about.

bullocks are of a smaller breed

than those yoked to bandies, and are high-spirited,

shapely

creatures.

little

Many

of them can trot as

fast as horses,

and hackery races are

time

Singhalese.

of the

favourite pas-

Tail-twisting

and

prods

with sharp-pointed sticks are the methods of driving

used.

Scores of 'rikshas, Imported from Japan, ply

for hire,

and are much used by residents and

visitors.

There Is a palm-bordered fresh-water lake, four

hundred and sixteen acres In extent. In the centre of
Colombo, In the not over-clean waters of which
hundreds of natives bathe dally, scores of bullocks
and

are washed,

lines

of dhobles, or washermen, ply

their trade.

The method of washing

last

the least.

It

washed Into
it

on

An

clothes

employed by these

seems to strangers very rough and ready, to say

consists In folding

the article to be

a sort of flexible truncheon,

a flat stone,

and beating

with an occasional dip in the water.

essential part of the process

seems to be the grunt

emitted by the dhobie with every swinging blow.

No

soap

is

white, but

anathema

used, yet the clothes are washed

sufl^er

to

in texture severely.

snowy

Dhobies are

English residents, not only on account

of the damage they do, but because they are more

than suspected of often hiring out the pretty dresses
CE.

33

Ceylon
and

drill coats

and trousers of their

aping European dress and customs

other

at

weddings and

festivities.

In the centre of the lake

now

clients to natives

Slave Island, which

is

is

connected with the rest of the town by causeIn old days the Dutch, being apprehensive

ways.

of risings among their

slaves,

used to take them every

evening in boats to the island, where they were kept

confined

The
found
little

till

the morning.

residences of the Europeans are chiefly to be

the

in

Cinnamon Gardens, where, however,

cinnamon now grows.

city, no stranger can

of the

brilliant

On
fail

colours of everything

the intense green

of the

arrival at this part

to be struck with the

the red roads, and

coconuts, plantains, and

other unfamiliar vegetation, contrasting strongly with

the bright dresses of the natives.

There

are

many fine

houses in large compounds or

gardens, full of coconut, mango, jak, breadfruit and

other trees.

Of

remarkable.

When

branches

when

old age, from

flowers

of

these, the jak

young,

past maturity,

its

roots.

leafless

The

is

perhaps the most

it

bears

on

its

fruit

trunk

on

and

its

in its

blazing red and yellow

flame-trees, the

gorgeous purple

of bougainvillea creepers, and the peculiar yellowgreen leaves of lettuce-trees are to be seen everywhere.
In uncultivated

marshy spots pitcher-plants grow

luxuriantly.

34

Colombo

CHAPTER
COLOMBO

The

VI

II

(cont'wiied)

remarkable feature of Colombo

live in

thousands in the banyan and other

crows are

life.

They

trees

on the outskirts of the town, and make their

appearance

in

daybreak.

Here they

the streets every

fly

about

morning soon
all

after

day or perch

in

rows on the roofs and coconut-trees, cawing clamorously, or

hop about with heads awry and beady eyes

askance.

They

are the scavengers of the city, but

do not confine their activities to the disposal of offal.

Nothing eatable, or which glitters and is portable,
Many ladies have had
can be safely left unguarded.
to deplore the loss of valuable trinkets left exposed

on dressing-tables before open windows. Crows are

credited with a sense of humour, and often do

They have been

whimsical things.

round stones

in

their bills

houses, and dropping

them

seen

carrying

to the ridges

of tiled

there, for the fun of seeing

them roll down the roof!

New-comers to the East

are always on the look-

out for snakes, but these, as a matter of

seldom seen, except, perhaps, harmless

There are

number of poisonous

fact,

are

rat-snakes.

snakes, such as

cobras, tic-polongas, green polongas^ karavillas^ small

banded snakes, and

others.

ZS

52

Ceylon
Cobras are spoken of by natives as the "good
snakes," and they have curious ideas about them.

One
if

is

one

that they are always

mate

killed, its

is

is

found

The

its

venom

it

is

its tail.

Singhalese are very averse to killing cobras, and

live in a

hollow tree

Sometimes

near their houses without molestation.

when he

in a trap,

afloat

it

on

will place

a river, to the

one who may take

it

up

it

man

to catch

one

alive in a basket

and

fear of the creature will induce a

set

that,

that every time a

looses a joint of

sometimes permit them to

will

and

sure to be seen soon after

seeking revenge, and another

cobra expends

in pairs,

imminent

peril

of any-

Natives believe in the existence of a snake called

the mapilla^ which lives in the roofs of houses, but

which

is

never seen.

It

seems to have a particularly

malignant disposition, for

it

is

said

people without the least provocation.

lying asleep, a maptlla will

of

its

tail

relatives,

round

The

call

bite

man

together two or three

one of which takes a turn with

a rafter,

its

and hangs over the sleeping man.

others then form a sort of snake-rope, and the

last to

descend will bite their victim and then

upwards, followed by the others, and

their hiding-places.

so

often

Seeing a

to

many

which

Thus

die of snake-bites

bit

it is,

who

all

coil

retreat to

say the natives, that

never see the reptiles

them

Scorpions are not often seen, but centipedes are

Colombo
common

The

enough.

painful, but

of both

bites

seldom cause death, except

of young children.

are

in

very

the case

Lizards are to be seen every-

where, green creatures with scarlet heads and

of formidable appearance, but harmless

frills,

also little

house-lizards, which dart about the walls, catching

flies in

the most familiar fashion.

The teeming

to

insect-life

be everywhere

seen

very soon impresses one unfamiliar with the tropics.

Black ants, some of which bite most painfully, cross
road in armies

the

making
busy

are

in

swarm
any

mason-wasps build

in

work on

of ordure,

soft,

in

scavenger-

bigger than themselves,

praying mantises perch

devotional attitudes, while they tear

insect-victims

their

dry wood

their curious little

the road, rolling to their burrows

many times

which to lay their eggs

on the bushes

the trees,

carpenter-bees

nurseries against the walls of houses

beetles
balls

red ants

drilling tunnels into

they can find

mud

leaf-houses for themselves

limb

from limb

leaf-insects

crawl about, pretending to be dead leaves, also grey

moths, which look like

The

air

is

filled

saffron-hued,

all

bits

of lichen-covered bark.

with flights of butterflies, mostly

making

their way,

according

to

native ideas, to Sri Pada, the sacred mountain.

At

night the weird cries of jackals, which haunt

the neighbourhood of inhabited

heard.

The

flying-foxes

37

places, begin to be

appear,

and

flit

about

Ceylon
silently,

do

or frequent the mango-groves, where they

great

destruction

the

to

fighting

fruit,

and

So noisy and quarrelsome are

they sometimes that the natives account for it by

squealing the while.

saying that they are

ing the

intoxicated through drink-

all

fermented toddy

the coconut-trees
devil-bird,

hanging in

the pots

in

Sometimes the hideous cry of the

a species of owl,

may

be heard.

trees are ablaze with the flickering light of

of

fire-flies,

the

hum

may

The

myriads

and the whir of the cicada beetle and

of clouds of mosquitoes over stagnant pools

be distinctly heard.

CHAPTER

IX

ROADSIDE SCEN ES
As

their dark,

windowless

little

huts are only suitable

to sleep in, or to take shelter in

when

greater part of the time of natives

open

be seen in the

The whole
the boiling

is

rains, the

spent in the

curious sights are to

streets.

process of preparing the

of the

tables, the scraping

rice,

The food

the

slicing

midday meal,
of the vege-

of the coconut and the grind-

ing of the curry stuff

to end.

many

Consequently,

air.

it

is

may be

seen from beginning

often partaken of,

38

first

by the

Roadside Scenes
men, and then by the
tree.

women and

children, under a

Fingers are always used to convey the rice

and curry to the mouth, and plantain leaves are often

employed instead of metal dishes or

Natives,

plates.

however, do not like to be overlooked while they

are eating.

When
sit

not engaged in domestic duties, the

women

before their houses weaving mats, twisting coir

yarn, or

making

lace,

an

art

they have practised in

the Galle district since Portuguese times.

Glimpses may sometimes be got of a devil ceremony

going on

at

the back of

of some sick person.

in

a fantastic costume,

some house,

for the benefit

kapurala^ or exorciser, clad

stands on a low stool, and

shaking an iron trident with loose rings on

it

over

the patient, pours out a string of charms, the mean-

ing of which he does not understand.

They

are

fragments of ancient exorcisms in a dead language,

handed down verbally from generation to generation.

Children

Most of

and

pariah

dogs

swarm everywhere.

the latter are practically masterless, and live

on what they can pick up. They became so numerous

that Government determined to reduce their numbers,
and offered rewards

for their

destruction.

In the

first year in which this was done in one of the larger

towns eleven hundred dogs were shot in a few days

In

may

little

be

booths open to the street native craftsmen

seen at work, such as carpenters

39

making

Ceylon
furniture of yellow jak-wood, or repairing hackeries.

Two

may

of them

often be seen working one plane,

one pushing and the other pulling the

tool, this

necessary owing to the extreme hardness of

the

woods

Ebony-carvers,

worked.

being

some of

tortoiseshell-

workers, and makers of porcupine-quill boxes squat

at their

work open

silversmith

is

to the view of

all.

Sometimes

to be seen sitting at his

little

bench

before the door of a house, fashioning bangles and

other ornaments with the same kind of tools as were

employed two thousand years ago. The natives have

a proverb which says, " There is no monkey but is

woman

mischievous, no
silversmith but

a thief

is

accordingly kept,

but

lest

a tattler,

is

!"

sharp lookout

him

to be

into jewellery.

the galas^ or cart halting-places, the strange

process of shoeing bullocks

The

is

the silversmith should substi-

tute base metal for the rupees given to

made
At

and no

may

often be witnessed.

animals are thrown down, their four legs are tied

iron shoes nailed on to their

Without this protection their hoofs
would soon be worn to the quick by the hard work

together,

and

light

cloven hoofs.

of dragging heavy
with punac,

The

sight.

small

cake

tub, into

bamboo

carts.

The

feeding of cart-bullocks

or coconut refuse,
is

is

another strange

broken up and dissolved

which the carter dips

bottle, and, forcing

40

in a

sort

of

open the bullock's mouth

TH

...

.OHK

PUBLIC LIBRARY

0ATION8.

Roadside Scenes
and holding

its

head high, pours the evil-smelling

down its throat.

The streets are full of men and women, whose

stuff

appearance and doings are

familiar with

Eastern

of interest to those not

full

Men

life.

pass

continually,

carrying pi^jgoes or elastic shoulder-poles, at the ends

J

of which hang loads of

fruit,

fish,

com-

or other

The bending of the pifigo at each step and

swing of the laden man greatly facilitates the carrying
Combed and petticoated appus^
of heavy burdens.
modities.

Tamil " boys

or Singhalese servants, and

clothes

and turbans, go

in

" in

white

and out of the boutiques

buying provisions for their masters' households.

In front of a boutique

robed Buddhist

priest,

may
bowl

often be seen a yellowin

hand, waiting for a

dole for his monastery from the shopkeeper.

stands with eyes cast
his face.

His shaven head makes

naturally large.

of

rice,

down and an

He

impassive look on
his ears

look un-

If the boutique -keeper puts a handful

or a few plantains, or other gift

into

his

bowl, he moves away in silence, and without any

acknowledgment of the donor's gift or reverence.

Wandering monkey-tamers and snake-charmers
often give their performances

in

the street.

The

fangs of the cobras handled by the latter are always

drawn, and they are harmless.

The

snake-charmers,

however, frequently pretend to have been

bitten,

and

to cure themselves by the use of snake-stones, generCE.

41

Ceylon
of charred bone, which they

bits

ally

to the

sell

credulous.

There
bazaars,

is

much

noise but

quarrelling in the

little

and the native policemen,

their

in

blue

serge tunics and trousers and red forage-caps, have

little

trouble in keeping order.

CHAPTER X
THE PALM GROVES

The

road from

Colombo

harbour of Ceylon,
the world.

It

is

to Galle, the once

famous

one of the most beautiful

in

simply an avenue, over seventy

is

miles long, of coconut-trees, through which peeps

may

be had of picturesque red headlands and

white waves breaking over coral

The coconut
as the
in

most

sandy

soil

The

reefs.

one of the most beautiful,

useful, of the

palm

tribe.

as well

grows best

It

is often found
washed by the salt

near the sea, and, indeed,

flourishing with

waves.

is

of

its

roots actually

natives believe that

it

will not

grow

beyond the sound of the human voice it is cerfound growing wild in the forest. The
:

tainly never

stems
fact

are always crooked, but not ungracefully, a

noted

in the native

proverb which says

"

Who-

ever has seen a dead monkey, a white crow, and a

straight coconut-tree will live for ever

42

!"

The Palm Groves

The palms

along the Galle road form dense groves,

as they are planted closely together

sake of the sap they yield,

potent

spirit

to

called arrack, than

more

for the

be distilled into a
nuts they

for the

bear.

class

garded

as

of very low caste, collect the sap.

of people called toddy-drawers, re-

They

climb the palms by means of loops, into which they

and grip the stems with their

toes,

while they lever themselves up with their arms.

On

their feet,

slip

reaching

the

top,

collected in the

they empty the sap

little

which has

pots attached to the spathes of

the trees into vessels which

hang

and

at their sides,

then pass on to neighbouring trees by means of ropes

which bind them together.

Accidents often happen

through the breaking of these ropes, resulting

fall

of thirty or forty

It

feet.

men

practice for malevolent

is

not an

in

uncommon

to secretly cut the tree-

ropes of their enemies half through, so as to cause

them

to give

There
shadowed

are

way when used.

many fishing villages

in

the

palm-

coast, with
numerous
drawn up on the beach.
Oruwas^ as they are called, are among the most
remarkable sailing-vessels in the world.
Each is

bays

Singhalese

made of

along

the

sailing-canoes

a single log,

hollowed out, with

structure of planks, and

float

upright of

itself,

long outrigger, with a

is

so

narrow that

super-

it

cannot

so has to be provided with a

float at the

43

end to balance

62

it.


Ceylon
Its great cotton sail,

drives

at great

it

wind

is

keep

it

may be

strong, a

supported by two bamboo masts,

When

speed over the waves.

man

down with

the

crawls out on the outrigger to

More

his weight.

than one

man

required to prevent the float from being lifted

out of the water by the wind-pressure, and the

fisher-

men speak of

one

two

degrees of bad weather as a

'*

or three-man gale."

Most of

the fishermen are

Roman

Catholics, but

They

they are nevertheless grossly superstitious.

leave their valuable nets unprotected

on the beach,

knowing that not even their most deadly enemies will

them up, from fear that their own luck would
depart from them for ever if they did so.
The
hangman's rope is in great demand among the
cut

fishermen, being unravelled and the strands twisted

into the

meshes of

There
the road,

are

their nets for luck.

many Roman

Catholic churches along

some very picturesque.

very gloomy, with

generally

coarsely painted figures of the

The

roughly carved and

Madonna and

and tawdry hangings and ornaments.

from the

floor

interiors are

Dust

saints,

collected

of a church and mixed with water

is

considered an excellent medicine for any complaint.

Galle

is

a beautiful old town,

much importance

in

and was a place of

bygone days, but

its

trade has

departed since the Colombo harbour was constructed.

An

ancient

Dutch

fort,

on

44

rocky promontory,

The Palm Groves

guards the entrance to the lovely harbour.
north end

is

a pretty

palm-covered

Islet,

At the

on which

is

a Buddhist temple.

The
for

pahii groves stretch along the southern coast

some

thirty miles, as

fl\r

town of Tangala,

as the

where the bush-country, which covers

the

south-eastern

The

coast scenery

Head,

is

part

up

a great part

of the island,

of

commences.

to this point, including

the finest to be found in Ceylon.

Dondra
Inland,

large tracts of land are covered with citronella grass,

from which quantities of

essential oil are extracted

and exported.

Hambantota,

a small

town some twenty miles

the east, has the driest climate

in

Ceylon.

to

Here

broad lewayas^ or salt-pans, stretch along the coast,

where hundreds of tons of

salt

are collected every

dry season by Government, the

sale

of

it

being a

monopoly.

CHAPTER

XI

THE GEM LANDS

North

of Tangala

is

populous country

full

of

coconut and other estates, and paddy-fields.

good deal cut up by rivers and streams, over
the smaller of which numerous etandas^ or narrow

villages,
It is a

foot-bridges,

made of palm-stems and bamboos, have

45


Ceylon
been constructed by the

Many

villagers.

of them

Europeans
contained numbers

are very picturesque, but are difficult for

At one time the

to cross.

forests

of calamander-trees, yielding an exceedingly beautiful

and valuable wood for cabinet-work, but so great was

demand

the

The

that there are

talipot, the giant

now

scarcely any left.

of the palm

tribe,

be seen on the outskirts of the villages.

when

only once,

The

flower

often

It flowers

reaches maturity, and then dies.

mighty plume of cream-coloured,

blossom, twenty feet high, and visible

wheat-like

from

is

it

may

a great distance.

Areca-palms grow in perfection

Their long,

island.

straight,

feathery crowns have caused

native poets as

them

in this part

slender

of the

stems and

to be described

by

"Rama's arrows," with which the god-

hero assailed Ravana, the demon-king of the island,

in

his

mountain

fastness.

The

nuts of this tree,

together with lime and pepper leaves, are used in

" betel-chewing," a habit almost universal amongst
natives, but
It stains

which Europeans regard

in the habit frequently expectorate

blood.

The

kittul is

and

it

The damp
numerous

what looks

like

another palm found here in

Quantities of arrack are distilled from

abundance.
its sap,

as disgusting.

the saliva a deep red, and persons indulging

yields a very useful kind of fibre.

forests

here

are

also

the

home of

orchids, one beautiful variety of which

46

The Gem Lands

the Dendrobium McCarthyii
law, as

it

was

is

now

protected

by

danger of being exterminated by

in

collectors.

This part of the country

Singhalese, almost
village has

all

its little

of

is

whom

inhabited mainly by

are Buddhists.

Every

wihdra, or temple, with miniature

whitewashed dagoba^ and

its,

pdfisala^ or priest's house,

where boy-novices learn to write the characters of the

In the larger
sacred language, Pali, on sand-boards.
villages sheds built

of poles and palm-leaves, and

gaily decorated with coloured cloths, are to be found,

which the priests at certain seasons read bana^

" the Word," to the assembled people.
On such

in

occasions

consecrated cord

is

held by assistant-

round the reader and the sacred books, with

it is, in
ends in water, in order to keep ofF devils

priests
its

fact, a sort

of spiritual lightning conductor!

Devil-dancing

is

much

practised in this part of the

country, the object generally being to free

some

or house of sickness or supposed witchcraft.

village

The

masks and dresses worn by the dancers are truly

Satanic in their ugliness, and their performances
weird and nerve-shaking.

A
ing "

curious kind of competition called "horn-pull-

up between neighbouring villages

Ropes are fastened to the tines of a
in this district.
strong deer's antler, and a tug-of-war takes place
between teams chosen by each village. When the
is

often got

47

Ceyl on
team to whose rope the larger piece

antler snaps, the

is

attached has the right to roundly abuse their rivals,

who must

bear

in silence.

it

Land-leeches, repulsive creatures, an inch or two

long and of the thickness of a knitting-needle, swarm

on

all

They

the paths and fasten on wayfarers.

a perfect curse,

bags of

salt

and natives when

afoot carry

are

little

moistened with tobacco or lime juice,

with which they touch the noxious creatures when

they

feel

them

attach themselves to their feet, where-

upon they wriggle and drop

Ratnapura, the
the foot of

ming

City of Gems," a small town at

Adam's Peak,

industry.

at the

*'

Buddhist

the centre of the

is

A jewel-fair
festival

numerous gem-pits
are obtained

off at once.

many

is

There are

of the Perahera.

in the neighbourhood,

from which

rubies, sapphires, emeralds,

stones, cinnamon-stones, cat's-eyes,

The smaller ones

lapidaries, who may often
stones.

gem-

held there annually

moon-

and other precious

are roughly cut

be seen at

by native

work turning

an emery-wheel with one hand and pressing the

against

it

with the other.

in spurious

There

is

gem

an active trade

gems, many of which are sold to pas-

sengers from Australia and the Far East passing

through Colombo.

Ceylon produces the finest quality of plumbago,

and some thousands of tons are exported every year.

48

A TEA ESTATE

THE NEW YORK

PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND
FO0NDATtON(8.

TliI>Et<

The Gem Lands

Few

of the mines are of any depth, and the methods

and appliances employed are not up

plumbago mining

district

as a sort of Alsatia,

The crude

gates.

where

it is

One
trade

is

The

to date.

generally looked

upon

where native rascaldom congre-

mineral

is

transported to Colombo,

cleaned, sorted, and packed for export.

curious fact in connection with the plumbago

is

that

no

can be placed on the sheds in

tiles

which

it is

settles

between the

The plumbago-dust

prepared for export.

tiles

and lubricates them, so

they

all

The

sheds are consequently always

the

off at

slide

that

slightest jar or vibration.

thatched with

cadjans^ or plaited palm-leaves.

CHAPTER

XII

THE HILLS

The

railway from

Colombo

miles

it

is one
For about forty

to the tea-districts

of the most beautiful in the world.

runs through level, cultivated country

full

of villages buried in palm-groves and coconut and

cocoa estates.
is

flooded for

From

During the monsoon rains the country

miles owing to the rising of the rivers.

a station called

ascend, and winds

its

Rambukana

the line begins to

way through

beautiful valleys

wild gorges and long tunnels, and along the rocky

CE.

49

Ceyl on
faces of precipices,

till

reaches an elevation of six

it

thousand two hundred

or over a mile, and then

feet,

descends to about four thousand

The

scenery

is

magnificent

all

feet.

the way, views being

obtained, at every turn of the winding track,

mountains soaring
the

of

above, such as Alagala, from

far

summit of which the

was accustomed to hurl

last

tyrant-King of

Kandy
Rock,

his victims, the Bible

the Duke's Nose, and other peaks

of great water-

flowing out of upland forests into cultivated

falls

and of shining rivers and silvery streams.

valleys,

Panoramic views
country

far

also constantly

below

mighty

open out of the low

stretch

of forests and

palms and terraced paddy-fields, patched with dark

cloud-shadows, away to the sea-line.

On

clear nights the flash

Colombo may
is

often be seen from the

who

told of a tea-planter

the light,
flash

till

fifty

from the lighthouse

miles or

noticed one evening that

the

to

sweep

great

passing through the

the

down

train can see

minutes before

The

first

it

it

arrives

railway

Uva

Summit Tunnel,

senger waiting at the terminus

the

to

half an hour after the proper time, though

through the vast amphitheatre of the

after

at

story

more away, did not begin

the delay had not been detected on the spot

Owing

hills.

takes

Hills
a pas-

Bandarawela

for

coming an hour and twenty

!

town of any importance reached by the

50

The
railway

Is

world.

It

Kandy, one of the show-places of the

seventeen hundred and sixty feet
is

above sea-level, and

the

Hills

lies

in

lovely

valley,

little

bottom of which was converted by the

King into a charming lake. There is an

last
islet

native

in the

middle of

it,

on which,

used to maroon any of

angered him,

ways

till

his

it

is

King

said, the

numerous wives who

they had seen the error of their

The most

building in

interesting

Kandy

is

the

Dalada Maligawa, or Temple of the Sacred Tooth,

a prominent picturesque pile close to the lake.

contains the oldest historical relic in the world

It

the

Dalada, the reputed right canine tooth of Buddha,

two thousand five hundred and thirty

years ago. As it is about two and a half inches long,
it is not unreasonable to have doubts as to whether

who

it

lived over

was ever

any human head

fixed in

rated and practically worshipped by

kept

It is

value, and

rarely exhibited.

is

carried in procession

This

is

held in August.

many

vene-

millions

Once

year

it

is

which

is

round the town.

during the Perahera, a

The

sort of bell-shaped

it is

jewelled casket of great

of Buddhists.

in a

Yet

festival

Sacred Tooth

howdah, on

is

placed in a

a magnificent tusker

elephant, almost hidden by gold embroidered trappings, and a great canopy

of men.

Kandian

is

held over

chiefs, in

51

it

by

their curious

number

costumes

72

Ceylon
and on

foot,

form a

sort of

guard of honour.

dozen or more caparisoned elephants, ridden by

the lay head-men of the temple, follow with stately

and bands of native musicians and troops of

step,

The

male dancers come between each.

procession

is

always at night, and the great elephants, the thousands

of wildly excited spectators, the

din of the tom-

toms and wind instruments, the mad

antics of the

dancers, and the glare of the torches, combine to

make

a picture not to be forgotten.

The

priests

themselves take no part in the proceedings.

There

are several Buddhist colleges in

Kandy, and

yellow-robed, shaven-headed priests are an everyday

They belong

sight.

their dress,

to different orders, indicated

shoulders, another covering only one shoulder

carrying

huge

eyebrows

their

showing other

and

by

one party wearing their robes over both

fanlike

shields,

All,

some

others shaving

as well as their hair

peculiarities.

off

and beards, and

however, take vows,

are allowed to possess only their robes, a fan, a

water-strainer,

lead a lazy

and one or two other

life,

They

articles.

and may return to lay

life

at

any

time.

The

sight of a

in his official dress

Ratamahatmeya, or Kandian
is

an impressive one.

chief,

Portliness

being considered throughout the East as very desirable in a

man of rank and

has not been kind to

him

position, a chief, if

Nature

in this respect, calls in

52

Art

The
to his aid.

He

Hills

winds some thirty or forty yards of

gold-threaded muslin round his waist

fine

desired presence
cloth

is

All this

obtained.

the

till

weight of loin-

supported by a broad gold-embroidered

is

thrust.

belt,

sword of honour

into which a short jewel-hilted

is

brightly coloured silk jacket with gigot

sleeves covers the upper part of his body,

and on

his

head he wears a curious pincushion hat.

Round

his

neck are gold chains, with huge medals attached to

them, given to

and on

his ancestors

his fingers are

by former Governors,

heavy rings with huge rough-

cut gems.

Four miles from Kandy, enclosed by

Mahaveli Ganga,
the

beautiful

specimens

from

all

bend of the

the largest river in Ceylon, are

Peradeniya

of tropical

parts of the

Gardens, where

Botanic

and

subtropical

vegetation

On

world are to be found.

the

banks of the river are some clumps of giant bamboos,

them

the stems of which are so big that sections of

can be used as buckets.

In the centre of the tea-districts

the well-known sanatorium.

is

It is a

land, six thousand

two hundred

and consequently

cool,

feet

Newera

Eliya,

beautiful table-

above the

and even frosty

at

sea,

night.

Pedrotalagala, the highest mountain in Ceylon, eight

thousand two hundred and ninety-six

it,

wooded

to

the

summit.

53

feet, rises

The swamps

at

over
the

Ceylon
bottom of the valley were converted, some thirtyRed-roofed bungalows
years ago, into a pretty lake.
peep out of wooded gardens, occupied chiefly by
people from Colombo,

who have

escaped for a few

weeks from the enervating heat of the low-country.

One of the finest golf-links in the East has been
laid

out here.

On the
Uva

eastern side of the

mountain ranges

Patnas^ which are great undulating

here

The

is

downs about

The

four thousand feet above sea-level.

are the

climate

quite different from the great tableland above.

in

latter,

the

south-west monsoon,

may

be

deluged in rain while the patnas below are bathed in

The wind on

sunshine.

these

at certain seasons, sufficient

downs

is

very violent

sometimes to overturn

carts.

was on these breezy, healthy downs that the

great camp was formed in which many hundreds of
Boers were kept prisoners during and after the
It

South African War.

pretty

little

an important

town

called Badulla, the centre

of the patnas^ about two thousand feet above the

It is

of

tea-district, lies in a valley to the east

dominated by

a striking

mountain peak

sea.

called

Other small towns, the centres of

planting districts, are Matale, Gampola, and NawalaNamanakuli.

pitiya.

In

all

the valleys are small Singhalese villages,

54

The
surrounded

by terraced paddy-fields.

few

also a

Tea-Districts

hamlets, inhabited

There

by a despised

are
class

word which means simply "filth."

The legend regarding them is that they were
doomed by a King of Kandy to be for ever out-castes
called Rodiyas, a

who was purveyor of

because one of their number,

meat

to the

palace,

had caused human

flesh

served at the royal table in revenge for a

to be
slight

offered to him.

CHAPTER

XIII

THE TEA-DISTRICTS
Some

sixty or seventy

years ago the highlands of

Ceylon were covered with an almost unbroken sheet

of

This has been gradually cleared away,

forest.

now

the only forest remaining

the

hills,

which

has

been

lies

till

along the crests of

preserved for

climatic

reasons.

For many years

the
it,

and

coffee was the staple product of

but the ravages of leaf-disease destroyed

hills,

now

scarcely

any

coffee

bushes

remain,

except the semi-wild ones near native huts.

hillsides are

size

from

extent.

now

The

covered with tea-estates, varying in

few score to many hundreds of acres in

The railway passes through the heart of the
a

55

Ceylon
hills,

roads

first-class

give

to the

access

different

most of which have mellifluous native

names, and many hospitals, churches, and schools
districts,

have been

built.

Several hundred British planters superintend the

cultivation

pleasant

and manufacture of

and

tea,

the health-giving

in

life

hard-working men, yet find time to get

of amusement
golf,

and other

Every

form of

in the

good

are

deal

tennis, cricket, football,

field-sports.

estate

intersected with

is

riding roads, and

Near the main

lead a

They

hills.

covered with a

is

road,

and

well

laid -

network of

out

drains.

in a position convenient for

the application of water-power, stands the factory

where the tea

is

sheltered knoll,

Above

manufactured.

it,

the superintendent's

is

bungalow.

down

In the hollows, near the streams trickling

hillsides,

are

the

different

estate labourers live.

the

where the

coolie-lines,

Groves and

on some

belts of fuel trees

diversify the scene.

The

tea-bushes are pruned

down

so

as

not to

exceed four feet in height, for convenience of plucking.

Only the tender

manufacture of
of particular

whether

it

Souchong,"

tea,

and

leaflets

will
etc.

leaf-shoots are used in the

it

depends on the proportion

used

be graded

Plucking

the tea-bushes are

each

in
as
is

" flushing"
S6

make of

tea

"Pekoe," "Pekoe
carried on only when

that

is,

budding

/^he

New

YORK'

The
freely,

in

Tea-Districts

consequence of bright sunshine following

copious showers, or other cause.

After the green leaf has been plucked, principally

women and

by the coolie

touched by the

human

children,

hand.

the aid of great revolving

dried, and sifted,
it

It

fans,

scarcely

is

it

withered with

is

and then

rolled,

and undergoes other processes,

till

leaves the factory in large lead-lined boxes, graded

ready for shipment.

The machinery employed

very up-to-date, and

is

is

outcome of years of

the

experience and experiment.

Above
it is

four thousand feet tea only

superior in quality to that

Many

tions.

is

at

grown, and
lower eleva-

other products flourish on the lower

slopes of the

cardamoms,

grown

hills,

such as rubber, cocoa, cinchona,

etc.

During the

few years

last

many thousands

of acres

have been planted with indiarubber-trees, and

probable that before long

Ceylon

producer of plantation rubber in the world.

are

made

in the

'*

till

it

is

ployed

far

Incisions

is

collected,

and treated

in various

converted into the marketable form of

biscuits," large,

Not

is

outer bark of the trees, and the sap

thus caused to flow

ways

it

will be the greatest

flat,

semi-transparent cakes.

short of half a million coolies are

on the tea and other

estates,

em-

and the vast

majority of them are immigrant Tamils from South

India.
CE.

Many

of them have
57

now

settled

permanently
8

Ceylon
in the country,

nearly

are

having found

it

heathen, but are very lax

all

religious observances,

They

an El Dorado.

though many

estates

in

their

have tiny

swdmi-housQS, or temples, where offerings to demons

are made.

There

work

is

for all

on a

tea-estate,

the

men

doing the road-making, draining, pruning, and other

heavy jobs, and the

women and

children the pluck-

ing and the weeding.

curious sight, often to be seen

women on
" flush,"

when

all

the

an estate are called out to pluck a heavy

is

the

tree-nursery,

to

the

branches

which a dozen or more brown babies are slung

cloths,

watched by a tiny

girl,

of
in

while the mothers

work.

The

coolie

their babies.

women

have a comical way of washing

The mother

squats on the ground with

her legs stretched out, and the baby lying between

them.

In that

position the

little

brown thing

is

gently kneaded and rubbed, and water poured over

it,

and,

when

dry,

is

sometimes oiled from head to

foot.

58

Adam's Peak

CHAPTER XIV
adam's peak

The

known, but not the loftiest, mountain in

stands in solitary
It
Adam's Peak.
and sixty
hundred
two
thousand
grandeur, seven
feet high, on the western edge of the great central
plateau, and is visible to voyagers approaching Ceylon
best

Ceylon

is

miles out at sea.

It

has been a place of pilgrimage for a score of

many

centuries to the devout of

creeds.

On its summit is

of which

is

a depression,

and

races

a great boulder,

several

on the top

about four feet long, which,

with the aid of chisel and mortar, has been made to

resemble roughly a gigantic

human

footprint.

The

Singhalese, Siamese, Burmese, and Tibetans claim

it

Buddha, the Great Teacher, and call it

All the Hindu races of India assert it
the Sri Pada.
to be that of Siva, the god who, in the form of the
to be that of

divine hero

abducted

Rama, invaded Ceylon

wife

Mohammedans

Sita

from

proclaim

it

the

recover his

to

demon-king.

The

Adam, who,

to be that of

they say, after being driven out of Paradise, stood on

one foot on the Peak for centuries by way of penance

There

are

even so-called Christians

be that of

St.

Thomas, who

visited the Indies.

is

who

believe

reported

Consequently, there

59

is

to

it

to

have

a never-

8-2

Ceylon
ending stream of pilgrims from

all

parts of the East

to this famous shrine.

There are two ways of ascending the Peak. One,

and by far the more laborious, is straight up from

The path

the low-country.

worn by
dense

mere narrow

last

few hundred feet are so pre-

many

cipitous that chains have been fixed in

for

safety,

breath,

track,

torrent-beds, and along the edges of

up

The

precipices.

past centuries, through

millions of feet in

forest,

is

places

and panting pilgrims, pausing to take

may

see the clouds drifting beneath them.

Should a weary pilgrim ask people descending the

mountain how

far

to the summit, he will not be

"
it is " the trouble

it is

told the actual distance, but that

many miles
The other way

of so

is from Hatton, a
through which the railway passes.

some fourteen miles

little

hill-town

good

road,

in length, leads nearly to the

foot of the sugar-loaf Peak, passing through what,

fifty

years

ago,

was

vast

forest

called

"The

Wilderness of the Peak."

There
ravine,

are legends connected with every stream,

and rock

crack in a great

in the pilgrim-path.
flat- topped

rock

is

long straight

said to

have been

made by Buddha with the point of his needle, as he

sat mending his robes, as an indication to some
demons who showed themselves that they were not
to

approach any nearer

60

Adam's Peak

tiny chapel has been built over the sacred foot-

print.

It

belongs to the Buddhists,

who

appropriate

made by worshippers of
The
their own faith or Hindus or Mohammedans.
pilgrims usually come up in family parties, and on
arrival make the circuit of the shrine, chanting their
the offerings, whether

all

prayers and shouting " Sadhu

As

!"

an expression of joy.

they pass the bell which hangs near the door,

every man,

woman and

child strikes

it,

in order to

draw the attention of the guardian spirits. They then

make their offerings, which usually consist of flowers
and money.

strange

phenomenon may

from the summit on

soon

as the

sun

often

a clear, cloudless

rises, a

be observed

blue transparent pyramidal

It
shape is visible on the sky to the west.
shadow of the Peak, thrown on the thin mist

from the low-country.

sun

rises,

As

morning.

This gradually sinks

and disappears

in

is

the

rising
as the

about twelve minutes.

shadow appears again, clearly defined

below, and before long it will be
country
on the
noticed that there are two shadows, that of the coneshaped Peak overlying the shadow of the whole
Soon

after the

mountain range.

6i

Ceylon

CHAPTER XV
THE PARK COUNTRY

On

the eastern side of Ceylon, stretching from the

hills

the sea,

to

Country, on account of

and grassy

Here

tract

forest

is

its

the Park

called

numerous open glades

plains.

are to be found the Veddahs, the few descend-

ants remaining of the ancient aborigines, and

to extinction before

tection

many

years.

doomed

Before British pro-

them they were harried and

Singhalese and Tamil neighbours,

was extended

to

harassed by their
and so betook themselves to the recesses of the
forests, living in caves and hollow trees, on game
As
obtained by their bows and arrows, and dogs.

they can no longer

be

bullied

impunity, they have become

ledged by

all

and cheated with

less timid.

natives to be of

good

Being acknowcaste,

they have

married freely with the two races living on the outskirts

of their forests, so that no more than a few score

remain of pure blood.

the

name they bore

and only

Their ancient history, even

as a nation, has

been forgotten,

few words of their ancient language

remain in use.

Much

nonsense

has

been

Veddahs: that they wear no

written

about

clothes, never

and are unable to count more than ten

62

the

laugh,

Faked

The Park Country

photographs have been published of them, dressed

donned

leaf-aprons,

the purpose, and

for

in

dancing

ridiculous dances.

Though

within the

memory

of

men

still

living

most Veddahs lived in caves, wore little or no clothing, used bows and arrows, obtained fire by rubbing
together,

sticks
trees,
is

and made bags from the bark of

they do none of these things now, and there

to distinguish

little

them from jungle Singhalese

or Tamils.
In

former years they used the foot-bow, a

for-

midable weapon, which could only be drawn by the

hunter grasping

on

his back,

it

with the toes of one foot as he lay

and pulling the bowstring with one or

both arms.

Veddahs are not

monkeys,

particular about their food,

will eat

lizards,

bats, but, strangely

enough,

will

not touch beef, an

abstention which has no doubt been handed

through

the

centuries

from

the

time

reverencing ancestors came from India to

At

island.

and

and the big fruit-eating

their

down
cow-

settle in the

the present time they have practically no

religion except a belief in

demons, supposed

to infest

certain rocks, pools, and trees in the forest, to

make propitiatory offerings.

Honey is one of their chief articles

whom

they

obtain

it

made of

they descend precipices

of food, and to

by means' of ropes

canes and jungle creepers, to secure the huge

63

Ceylon
combs made by the rock

bees.

This

is

always done

at night.

In this part of the country there are a

The water

hot springs.

one of them

in

number of
of very

is

high temperature, and the jungle people have a story

that an elephant once

White-ant

hills,

fell in,

and was boiled

sometimes

nine or ten

feet

in

Snakes often

height, are to be found everywhere.

take up their abode in their passages and chambers.

Herds of spotted
creature in the East,

Park Country.

deer,

the most graceful wild

roam the grassy

Many

plains of the

kinds of birds

are

to

be

Gaudy-plumaged peacocks and

brightly coloured jungle cocks, followed by their

seen in the glades.

dowdy-looking hens,

strut

enormous double casques,

tree

about
fly

flocks of noisy parakeets

the tree-tops

hornbills,

with

heavily from tree to

wing

their

way over

colonies of weaver-birds are busy build-

ing their strange hanging nests, and tailor-birds work

assiduously, sewing together their

golden

orioles,

little

leaf-nests

orange-coloured woodpeckers, tur-

quoise and pied kingfishers, crested hoopoes and longtailed

'*

cotton thieves"

where food
ants

is

flit

about over the pools, or

plentiful, in the shape

and other

There

insects.

among them.

64

of flying white

are

few songsters

ADAMS

PEAK.

POj^t Jt).

The new YORK

PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASrOR, LENOX AND
TILOEW FOUNDATION^.

The

East Coast

CHAPTER XVI
THE EAST COAST

Along

number of shallow

the east coast stretch a

some of which dry up during the hot season

and become salt-encrusted plains. The largest of
them is over thirty miles in length, and during the
lagoons,

monsoon becomes

north-east

On

an island

principal

in

town on

this side

entirely by

habited

a fresh-water lake.

lagoon

this

is

Batticaloa,

Tamils and

Moormen.

It

very picturesquely situated, and boasts of a small

built

is

fort,

by the Dutch two hundred years ago.

The

lagoon teems with

methods of catching them

fisher

sticks,

fish

fish

and several curious

are

into

which

their canoes

sonorous sound, audible for

Others use large dip-nets, into

tempted by

made much use of where

two deep, and

nets,

by beating the sides of

producing

great distance.

which

fish^

arc followed by the different

Some employ long

castes.

they drive the

with
a

the

of the island, and in-

are

bait.

the water

Casting-nets are
is

only a foot or

thrown with great

skill,

the

leaded fringe always falling on the surface in a wide

In the mangrove swamps, where rivers
debouch into the lagoon and the water runs deep,
circle.

men may

be seen, perched on stands, shooting

with bows and arrows.

CE.

65

fish

Ceyl on
At

night dug-out canoes are paddled noiselessly

about, with cressets of

they

as

fire flaring

over the bows, and

and dazzled by the

attracted

fish,

to the

rise

glare, are speared

men wade

Scores of

surface.

about in the shallows, each with a flaming torch in

one hand, and a cone-shaped basket, open

ends, in the other.

man
his

On

claps his fishing-basket over

hand

One
is

it,

at

both

flare,

the

and then, putting

in at the top, secures his prize.

peculiarity of the lagoon

to be heard chorusing
It

seeing a fish by the

not

on any

known what

is

the

still

''

singing fish,"

moonlight night.

or fishes produce the

fish

sounds heard, but the natives believe the

Two

to be a species of shellfish!
distinctly heard

one

like the

*'

singers

"

sounds may be

twanging of a harp, and

the other like the croaking of a frog, neither very

musical.

There

are other curious fish in this district, such

"climbing perch,"

as the

long, which

among

little

come out of

creatures a few inches

the sea and

the rocks by means of their

move about
They are

fins.

popularly supposed to travel across country, and even

to climb trees

Several kinds of fish in Ceylon seem to have the

power of burying themselves

when

these dry

up

in the hot season,

to life again, so to speak,

months

in the

when the

later.

66

mud

of pools

and of coming

rains begin

some

The

East Coast

number of coconut estates along

owned by Europeans. Elephants
commonly used for the estate work, and may be

There

are a large

the coast, mostly

are

seen drawing huge-wheeled carts laden with coconuts, bags ot copra or piles of cadjans.

weird ceremony called

formed
a

in this district

heathen

great

walk

one

^'

fire-walking "

is

festival.

number of devotees

another throuo-h
a trench
o

after

per-

every year, in connection with

of

full

glowing red-hot embers, and are afterwards soundly

castigated with long whips.

men

The

natives say that the

worse for the ordeal

are never the

Seventy miles north of Batticaloa

famous harbour of Trincomalee.

with a narrow entrance, and

by several wooded

Fort

the entrance,

on

and the other

land-locked,

Fort

is

clifF

Immense sums were spent

in

it,

one

dominating

Frederick

rocky promontory jutting into the sea on

side.

enhanced

guard

forts

frowning

the world-

is

is

beauty

Two

islands.

Ostenburg

its

It

its

on

eastern

strengthening

these forts, but, a few years ago, they were practically

dismantled and the garrison withdrawn.

On

the

summit of the

Fort Frederick
tion in

is

Dutch on

Francina

a stone
it,

cliff

overhanging the sea

monument

at

with an inscrip-

recording the fate which befell

Van Reede, daughter of

over two hundred years ago.

67

Commandant,
Her lover, a Dutch
the

92


Ceyl on
officer,

whose period of foreign

repudiated

his

Europe, and the forsaken

the

cliff as

service had expired,

and

betrothment,

for

threw herself from

girl

the ship bearing

embarked

away the man she loved

disappeared in the distance.

Many

kinds of beautiful shells are fished from the

sea in the

sold

neighbourhood of Trincomalee, and are

Moor hawkers

by the

baskets.

mother-of-pearl,

near the

About

little

is

found

is

a hot spring in

lagoon,

which

is

a village

little fish

may

CHAPTER
THE BURIED
little

Tamblegam

in the

miles from Trincomalee

be seen swimming about

It was

native-made

neat

town.

five

where there

in

large kind of oyster, yielding very fine

XVII
CITIES

of British

realized in the early days

occupation that in the forest-covered plains in the

centre of Ceylon there existed the majestic remains

of several

ancient

Anuradhapura
founded.

was

cities,

the

flourishing

of

oldest

before

So submerged were they

in

which

Rome

was

the sea of

and so buried by leaf-mould, slowly formed

through many centuries, and by the ceaseless action
trees,

of millions^of earthworms, which covered them with

68

The

Buried Cities

most of the buildings had entirely

their casts, that

disappeared.

The
to

great dagobas were so overgrown by trees as

seem only miniature cone-shaped

ful

pokunas^ or bathing-places, constructed of cut

had become entirely

stone,
capitals

fallen-in

of the lofty stone

liths,

filled

pillars

up, and only the

supporting the long

roofs of palaces, temples,

Mighty

remained above ground.

commemorating

tree-roots.

the grip

and monasteries

mono-

inscribed

the deeds of ancient Kings, had

been overthrown by the

in

the beauti-

hills,

resistless

force of

growing

Exquisite shrines of carven stone were

of parasite banian roots, which flowed

over them like huge green candle-gutterings.

Some thirty years ago the work of excavation was

commenced by the British Government, and much
of the ancient glory of these long-forgotten

brought to

light.

the

collar-bone,

The

cities

giant dagobas^ containing the

and other

nail-parings,

Buddha, were cleared of

relics

of

and brushwood, and

trees

the debris at their feet removed, revealing the orna-

mental stone
bathing-places

bases,

chapels,

Numerous

the great

many

of earth, and

were emptied

interesting royal, religious,

up.

and steps

and public

edifices

opened

beautiful examples of ancient archi-

tecture and stonework were uncovered, such as flights

of

steps,

bas-reliefs,

threshold-stones,

all

pillars,

richly

69

guard -stones,

c.irven,

and

in

and

many

Ceylon
cases

sharp-cut as on the day they were placed

as

in position,

Some
more

over two thousand years ago.

curious " stone

in length,

only be

canoes," twenty feet and

were found, the use of which can

They have been

conjectured.

variously

supposed to have been the feeding-troughs of the

King's elephants, or the receptacles for boiled

rice,

for distribution to the people on a vast scale, or vats

for the

dyeing of the yellow robes of

priests.

Perhaps the most interesting thing

pura

is

at

Anuradha-

the Sacred Bo-Tree, the oldest historical tree

in the world.

ting from

It

is

said to have

the Bo-Tree

grown from

a cut-

Northern India, under

in

which Buddha " attained Enlightenment," brought

by the royal

to the island

the year 288

It

priestess

Sanghamitta in

b.c.

grows on a large brick-built platform, with steps

leading up to

and there

it,

is

nothing impressive

about the dilapidated buildings which surround

The

tree itself

and gives

little

is

insignificant in size

indication of

its

can be no doubt, however, that

frequently
chronicles,

mentioned

and that

it

in

and appearance,

venerable age.
it is

the

it.

There

the identical tree

ancient

Singhalese

has been an object of adoration

two thousand two hundred

leaves are carried away in large

to Buddhists for nearly

years.

Its

fallen

numbers as relics.
Another buried

city is

Polannaruwa, situated about

70

The Buried
fort)MTiiles to the south-east

not

come

into existence

Cities

of Anaradhapura.

It

did

about a.d. 769, and was

till

the second of the ancient capitals of the country.

Like the

mother-city,

contains

it

dagobas,

great

and temples, but none of such

palaces,

though

magnificence,

several

very

are

and

size

beautiful.

Near some rocks lies a gigantic recumbent figure of

Buddha, torty-five feet long.
Not far from Polannaruwa is the famous rockfortress Sigiriya, to many people more interesting
than the buried cities.
It is an immense cylindrical
bare rock, rising some four hundred feet above the
forest,

and has a

fiat

top about an acre in extent.

Sheer precipices surround

be climbed, but with

uncovered of the

on

its

the

reservoirs,

hewn out of

of rain-water.

a tyrant

eastern

can
side

about a.d. 477

from

his

King,

who

fled

revolted people.

audience-chamber, also

several

large

the solid rock for the storage

In a sort of rock gallery, through

which the steep path to the summit

a

it

carved stone throne was found in what was

probably

found

and

summit was covered

fortified palace, built

to this impregnable rock

finely

its

sides,

These were cleared away, and the ruins

trees.

by Kasi'appa the Parricide,

on three

difficulty,

Until a few years ago

only.

with

it

number of

passes,

large frescoes, which,

were

though

painted over one thousand four hundred years ago,

are almost as fresh in colour as

71

when

first

limned.


CeyLon
Some
is

fifteen miles to the

west of this rock-fortress

the celebrated Dambulla cave-temple,

full

of images

The

of Buddha and of divine personages.

roof

is

covered with frescoes in crude colours.

CHAPTER

XVIII

THE GREAT FOREST

Nine-tenths of

the great forest which covers

all

the

northern, central, and eastern parts of Ceylon consist

of scrub, bush-country, and grassy plains, the

result of the destructive

chena, carried

They

fell

on by

method of

cultivation called

the jungle people.

the trees, and,

when

dry, set

fire

to

them,

fence the clearing with their charred remains, and

soil

with millet, manioc, and

vegetables of various sorts.

Fresh blocks of forest

sow the ash-manured

are cleared

time,

all

every year, and thus, in the course of

the timber over vast areas has been destroyed.

Almost the only high

rounding ancient

forest

remaining

which

ruins,

is

left

is

that sur-

untouched by

the natives on account of the devils supposed to

haunt such

Two

of the most valuable cabinet woods

ebony and
forests.

core,

places.

satin-wood

The former

is

are

obtained

known

from these

merely the heart-wood, or

of a large soft-wooded

72

tree.

The Great
The
of

railway

now

great

torest,

this

trunk

runs through the northern part

and

Many

roads.

Forest
intersected by main

is

it

of the

paths

villages are, however, merely old

game

between
tracks,

the

made

by the water-Joving elephants, which follow

one another in Indian file along them night after
chiefly

going

night,

and from their bathing and drinking

to

places.

The
in

most

present
bear

names of the towns and

ancient

which once

filled

cases

now

this

The

been forgotten.

occupied by

incidents,

tiny hamlets at

few thousand jungle people

names derived mostly from

hunting

villages

forest-clad country have

such

" Where-the-pig-was-burnt,"

"

as

and

trees

from

and

Tamarind-tank,"
" The-pool-the-

leopard-leaped."

The jungle

people

consist

of

Singhalese

and

Tamils and Veddah half-breeds, with a sprinkling of

Moormen. They are a poverty-stricken people, and

the more remote their villages are from towns and
roads the more miserable is their condition.
Much,
however, has

been done for them

in

recent years

by the opening of roads, the repair of

irrigation

tanks, the digging of wells, and the clearing away of

forest

round

their villages, letting in air

and

light.

horrible disease like leprosy, from which formerly

the greater part of the jungle people suffered, has

been almost stamped out.

CE.

73

10

Ceylon
Great tracts of forest, scores of square miles in

The

extent, exist, quite uninhabited.

people living on

the borders of these tracts are forced to

their fields

wage un-

Elephants enter

ceasing war against wild animals.

and devour and trample down

their paddy.

Sambur deer, wild pigs, and porcupines break into

their forest clearings,
fires,

and lay them waste,

beating of tom-toms, and shouts.

and dwarf black

buffaloes

of the villagers have to be

cattle

guarded by day, and driven into stockaded

carefully

One

byres at night, for fear of leopards.

fierce creatures
all

in spite of

The

has been

known

to kill in a

of these

few weeks

the cattle of a village.

The

jungle people themselves are always in danger

Elephants

of being attacked by wild beasts.

a rule, harmless creatures, but occasionally a

appears, to meet which in thick forest

death.

is

Bears are the most dreaded of

denizens, as they are very

fierce,

are, as

"rogue"

almost certain
all

the forest

and have

a fearful

habit of biting and clawing the faces of their victims.

Men
may

most dreadfully disfigured by these creatures

often be seen in the forest villages.

Leopards,

wild buffaloes, and wild boars, though they sometimes

attack

human

There

The

beings, are little feared.

are several kinds of

great grey

w under oos

are very numerous, and

food are very tame.

monkeys

and the

in the forest.

little

red r Haw as

where they are not hunted

They do
74

good

for

deal of mischief

The Great

Forest

newly-opened coconut estates by stripping ofF and

eating the blossom. On one occasion a flock of them,
in

seeing

European

verandah of

descended from the

it

that

is

it

monkey, and

unguarded

left

and so

trees,

There

died.

only seen

baby

and maltreated

It

the

is

or sloth-

io?-is,

exceedingly small, with enormous

is

superstitious fear of
in the

bit

the

forest,

one strange monkey which

is

night.

at

The

eyes and long, slender limbs.

tame one

in

house near the edge of the

it,

house

natives have a

and believe that

keep a

to

will bring ill-luck.

Other creatures to be found in the forest are the

crocodiles, from monsters over twenty feet from snout
to tail-tip to babies only a few inches in length, just

out of the

shell, infesting

and pool

great

every lagoon, tank, river,

rock-pythons, sometimes reaching

seven yards in length, which crush deer and pigs to

death and swallow them whole

wonderful
into balls

flexible

when

tongues,

frightened

scaly ant-eaters, with

which

great spiders, with yellow

glutinous webs, so strong that hats

them

also land tortoises

The jungle

themselves

roll

may

be

hung on

and chameleons.

people have

many

lous ideas regarding wild animals.

curious and ridicu-

They

believe that

all

old elephants, on feeling their end approaching,

go

off to a valley

human

among

the mountains which no

eyes have ever seen, and

lie

down

to die

on the

shores of a lovely lake, surrounded by the bones and

15

lo

Ceyl.on
skulls of thousands of their dead kind.

also believe that a crocodile has four eyes,

bite

produces leprosy

also that each

has a king, on whose head

a horn,

is

The

natives

and that

its

pack of jackals

and that whoever

can secure one of these will be fortunate in everything he undertakes

The

north-eastern parts of the great forest are sub-

ject to droughts,

Many

no rain

falling for

months together.

of the drinking-places dry up, and the wild

animals suffer severely from

march off

in

The

thirst.

elephants

herds to distant tanks, the bears dig

great pits in the sandy beds of dry rivers, the wild

pigs haunt the village wells, and are often

by jumping into them

seashore and drink the

salt

to die miserably afterwards

met crawling through the

in search

drowned

the deer sometimes go to the

water in their extremity,

;

and crocodiles may be

forest

on

their

bandy

legs

of water.

The most northern

called the Vanni,

and

part of the great

it is

populated part of the island.

a sort of " no

forest

is

the driest, wildest, and least

In ancient days

man's -land," and was the

ground between the Tamils who had settled
-

peninsula of Jaffna and the Singhalese.

76

it

was

battlein the

The

Jaffna Peninsula

CHAPTER XIX
THE JAFFNA PENINSULA
Jaffna

a large

is

town situated on

which

a peninsula,

separated from the mainland by a shallow lagoon,

is

called

Dutch

the

Elephant Pass.
in the

quaint

little

fort, built

by

eighteenth century to guard against

incursions of hostile Singhalese, stands at the head of

the ford.

Elephants attempting to cross the lagoon

sometimes sink
like

mud

in the

season flamingos

may

and

In the rainy

perish.

be seen feeding in long

lines,

regiments, also numbers of bag-billed pelicans

and clouds of wild-duck and

The most

teal.

noticeable features of the peninsula are

the red soil and the palmyras, one of the ugliest and
at the
Its

same time one of the most useful of the palms.

stem affords most durable timber,

for a variety of purposes,

and from

its

sap

is

its

fruit

made arrack and

its
is

leaves are used

largely eaten,

coarse sugar, called

jaggery.

What

are called

seen, being a

^'

married trees "

may

famous

of a spreading banian-tree.

Jaffna

luscious mangoes,

coral-tree, with

blossoms,

At

is

often

be

palmyra palm growing out of the centre

and the

common

is

for its
its

red

sight.

certain seasons the

whole country

is

covered

with tobacco gardens, and the way the plants are

77

Ceyl on
The water
hanging from poles
swinging on supports and weighted at the lower ends.
watered from wells

is

most

is

interesting.

raised in large palm-leaf baskets,

Men

walk down and up the

on to

poles, holding

hand-rails, causing the baskets to dip into the wells,

and then to

down

to flow

The

rise

brimming with water, which

made

is

runnels between the plants.

people of

Tamils, and are most

and enterprising. The vast

Jaflria are all

intelligent, industrious,

majority of them are worshippers of the heathen god

Siva, to

whom many

temples have been dedicated

throughout the peninsula, most of them with highly

ornate gopurams^ or towers.

Strange sights

seen at these temples on festival days

of lofty idol-cars through the

native musicians

idols in sacred tanks

be

attended with

streets,

and dancing-girls

may

the dragging
the bathing of

men and women

rolling

round

the temple walls, or measuring the way in a series of

prostrations

devotees walking on spiked sandals, or

with skewers through their cheeks and tongues, or

with hooks fixed in the skin of their backs with
reins attached,

children " play

relatives, as

For
chiefly

by which they

sixty or

are driven by admiring

at horses "!

seventy years Protestant missions,

American and Wesleyan, have been

among these

people, with

Catholics have also

There

is

many

marked

results.

at

work

The Roman

converts and churches.

a large fort at Jaffna, built

7i

by the Dutch

The

the middle of the eighteenth century, with a wide

In

moat around
its

It

it.

of an old-world
of
is

Jaffna Peninsula
probably the finest specimen

is

is

were conveyed

by a

One

of

all

the

very deep, and

tion with the sea,

idea arose

in the

said to

Is

the Putoor

Is

The

ground.

have communica-

though some miles

no doubt from the

passed

way

of the sights of the peninsula

is

It

construction

men and women, who

hand

to

Well, a natural circular hollow

water

Its

from Kankaisantural, eleven miles

line

them from hand

story

a strange one.

said that the coral stones used In

distant,

The

fortification in the East.

building by forced labour

The

distant.

water

fact that the

is

fresh at the top, but salt at lower depths.

There are

number of

islands off the west coast,

on one of which, usually spoken of by

name of

the descendants of blood-stock maintained

Dutch when they ruled

in

Ceylon.

greatly deteriorated since then, and are

cow-hocked

At

It

is

by the

They have
now weedy,

creatures, of little value.

end of the lagoon on the shores

the northern

of which Jaffna
little

Dutch

Its

Delft, there are herds of semi-wild horses,

fort, called

now used

Is

built

is

a curious

Hammenheil, on
as

and picturesque
rock

in the sea.

quarantine station, to guard

against the introduction of plague from India.

At Point Pedro, the most northerly

may be seen many catamarans,

Ceylon,

79

point
the

of

most

Ceyl on
They

primitive sea-going craft in the world.

simply

rafts,

generally

made of

five logs

rigged with a picturesque peaked

short forked mast.

was

are

of soft wood,
fixed in

sail,

.Forty or fifty years ago there

a regular catamaran mail-service

between North

Ceylon and South India.

CHAPTER XX
THE PEARL FISHERY

At

what period pearls were

first

found and began to

be used for personal adornment

history.

Certain

it is,

is

not

fished for off the north-west coast of

time immemorial.

known

to

however, that pearls have been

The

pearl banks

lie

Ceylon from
twelve miles

and under ten fathoms of water, and it is

strange that no legend exists as to when or by whom

out

at sea

they were discovered.

The
in

reasons

why pearl-oysters

millions are obvious

sheltered bay, where the water

are almost imperceptible,

are to be found here

the banks
is

lie

in

a great

shallow, the currents

and the minute organisms

on which the oysters live exist in abundance.

The Portuguese, Dutch, and British Governments
have, each in turn, derived great revenues from the
pearl fisheries.
after

They

are not held annually, but only

examination of the banks has shown that a large

80

HP"*
^^Bp^a

^H

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THE NEW YORK

PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDEN FOilNDATIONe.

The

Pearl Fishery

number of mature

are ready to be

oysters

fished.

Sometimes, owing to the ravages of voracious skates

which feed on the young oysters, or to the oysterbeds being covered with drifting sand or mud, and
to other causes, no fisheries take place for years.

The

fishing always

of February, and

lasts

commences about
from

six to eight

generally most

Soon

after sunset a

up and blows

gentle land breeze springs

and by

the fishing fleet

it

one hundred and

burden

sail

fifty

At

weeks.

is

that time of the year the weather

convenient for the operations.

the middle

consisting,

it

all

night,

may

be, of

boats, each of about ten tons

out to the banks, and anchor at their

At sunrise the wind drops, and the divers

They use heavy stones to take them
begin work.
down, and on reaching the bottom rake into bags
stations.

attached to the ropes as

find,

many

and then ascend to the

The

pearl banks

divers do

oysters as they can

surface.

infested

are

by sharks, but the

not fear them, as they

all

wear amulets

purchased of professional shark-charmers, which they

believe will protect them.
safe,

however,

is

the noise, which drive

The
till

diving

is

What makes

the presence of so

away the

their

work

boats and

terrible creatures.

continued, with intervals for

rest,

noon, when a sea-breeze springs up, which takes

the laden boats back to land.

are

many

all

CE.

On

arrival, the oysters

carried into the kottus^ or stockaded enclosures,

8l

II

Ceylon
and there counted, the divers taking away their share.
The Government share is then put up to auction by

much

the officer in charge of the fishery amid

Scores of traders attend from

ment.

East, and the bidding

is

all

The

often brisk.

excite-

parts of the

price paid

per thousand oysters depends on the reputed out turn

of pearls

but at the best the whole business

gamble, and

The

much money

is

made and

lost at

is

it.

contents of the oysters are emptied into dug-

out canoes or tubs, and washed, and the pearls sifted

The

out.
little

in shape

aud

What may
and

them are seed-pearls of

good number of large ones, perfect

vast majority of

value, but a

lustre, are obtained

at

every fishery.

be called "freak-pearls," such as a large

smaller one joined together, called by the

natives a " cock-and-hen pearl," are

Other strange sea-products

much

valued.

are to be

found off the

Among

these are the

north-west coast of Ceylon.

dugongs, or sea-cows warm-blooded creatures someTheir habits of sometimes floating

thing like seals.
upright in the sea and of carrying their yo ing under
their flippers are

belief in

the

Middle Ages.

who
Moormen are

Tamils,

supposed to have given

existence

They

rise to

of mermaids, held

are called " sea-pigs "

are very fond

equally fond of

of their
it,

in

the
the

by the

The
Moham-

flesh.

but, being

medans, are prohibited by their religion from eating

' pig,"
They have accordingly
as unclean meat.
82

The
given

Pearl Fishery
name, avuriyd^ under

creature another

the

which name they indulge

consciences

their

appetites with clear

Quantities of beche-de-mer,or sea-slug, are collected

in the

They

shallows along the coast.

are dried

and

exported to China, where they are esteemed a delicacy,

being

eaten

chiefly

the

in

form of

thick

glutinous soup.
Conch-shells are also fished
for

for

tor,

but the demand

them is not very great. They are chiefly used

making the weird wind instruments used in

heathen temples during worship.

Beds of growing coral may be seen

along

places

the

several

at

Glowing with

coast.

brilliant

colours, they present a beautiful appearance through

the clear,

still

water to anyone gazing over the gun-

wale of a boat gliding over them.

To

the north of the pearl-banks

lies

the island of

Manaar, about twenty-two miles long, covered with

brushwood, interspersed with groves of grim black

Here and

palmyras.

there

may

be

seen

ancient

baobabs, or monkey-breadfruit trees, planted prob-

Arab traders many generations ago. Some

are over sixty feet in girth, though only thirty feet
ably by

in

height

veritable

monstrosities of the vegetable

kingdom.

The

railway which

is

shortly to be made, connect-

83

II 2

Ceylon
ing Ceylon with India by

way of Adam's

When

pass through this island.

Bridge, will

completed,

it

will

probably be one of the engineering wonders of the

world.

large proportion of the people living at

and along the north-west coast are

Roman

Manaar

Catholics,

their ancestors

having been converted to that

by Portuguese

priests

Some

thirty

the forest,

is

faith

over three hundred years ago.

miles in the interior, in the heart of

a

famous

Roman

Catholic place of pil-

grimage, and another of equal sanctity stands on the

shores of the great Putlam lagoon.

of natives flock

at certain seasons

Catholics, but Buddhists

these crowds

not only Roman

and Hindus,

believe they will gain merit

go

To

all

of

by the pilgrimage.

whom
Many

in anticipation of miraculous cures of diseases they

suffer from.

CHAPTER XXI
ELEPHANTS

When

Ceylon belonged to the Dutch, the capture of

elephants for sale was one of their principal sources

of revenue.

The

operations were carried out in the

south of the island, where elephants then swarmed,

over two hundred having been captured in a single

84

Elephants
system

I1ie

drive.

is

still

followed,

not by

but

Government, and the old Dutch name is still applied

it.
Elephant kraals are now got up only by
the Kandian chiefs, in honour of newly-appointed

to

Governors, or of royal visitors to the island.

The system employed

is

of tree-

construct

to

trunks strong enclosures, called kraals, into which

herds of elephants are driven by hundreds of shouting men armed with spears, and provided with
tom-toms and other noise-producing instruments.
These men are sometimes engaged for weeks in the
forest

rounding up the elephants

all

till

is

ready for

the final drive.

Stands are erected ne^r the great gate of the kraal,

and here
sit

for

ladies

and gentlemen, invited

hours waiting, more or

the herd

the great

is

patiently, while

When

slowly and carefully brought up.

moment

arrives, a

guns, tom-toms, and

terrified

less

to be present,

throats

is

and the

raised,

come crashing out of the

elephants

pause for one

human

tremendous uproar from

moment

forest,

the sight of the stockade,

at

and then rush through the gate, a huddled mass of

huge black forms

the gate-bars are dropped behind

them, and the pleasant, leisurely jungle-life

for

is

ended

most of them.

As soon as the herd

carrying men expert at
one by one

all

the

is

enclosed, tame elephants,

noosing, enter the kraal, and

young and
85

saleable animals are

Ceylon
The aged and

and dragged out.

secured

infirm

elephants remaining are then allowed to escape.

The

imprisoned elephants are generally too cowed

any trouble, but occasionally an old

to give

more often

cow with

young

calf, will

and charge the stockade, and has

vent

breaking through.

it

men

the

It

bull, or

show

fight,

to be shot to prea curious fact that

is

riding the tame elephants inside the kraal

during the noosing operations are never molested

by the wild ones, though

them

to pull the

men

off

would be easy for

and to trample them to
it

death.

The

training of the captured elephants

They

matter.

are secured

hind legs to strong

trees,

is

a simple

by ropes on fore and

and are

left

to struggle

they have thoroughly exhausted themselves.

and water
will

are then offered to

partake after a

till

Food

them, of which they

Day by day they get

of human beings and to being

time.

accustomed to the sight

fed and handled, and at the end of a few weeks are

often tame

A forest
is

enough

to be untethered and led to water.

elephant, caught

when

full

grown and tamed,

always more docile and safer than an elephant

which has grown up from calfhood

Many

elephants

kill

themselves

ruptures

by the violence of

capture.

They

also

suffer

in

their

struggles after

terribly

from leg-sores

caused by the chafing of the tether-ropes.

86

captivity.

through internal

Elephants
Elephants arc also caught for

Moormen

nikkans, a class of

by the Pan-

sale

living

the north-

in

Armed

western and eastern parts of the great forest.

noosed

with

of raw

ropes

commence

they

hide,

operations by creeping up to a herd and putting

Having

to flight.

selected their quarry, generally a

half-grown animal, they follow hard after

and

slip

then

make

nooses on to
fast

method of capture

to the elephants caught,

it

on

foot,

it

runs, and

It is a

dangerous

hind-legs as

its

the ropes to trees.

pursuit, and the

it

very injurious

is

many of which

die a few

days afterwards.
In old days elephants were caught in

by being driven
they

could

not

into

swampy

extricate

places

pitfalls,

from
but

themselves,

or

which
these

methods are not now employed.

is

Not

far

the

little

from where the elephant kraals are held

town of Kurunegala, at the foot of a

great bare rock.

to the west of

it,

embankment and

large tank, or artificial lake, lies

which

flooded

few years ago burst

the

bazaar,

its

doing great

damage.

To
is

the west of Kurunegala, and on the sea-coast,

another small town, called

Negombo.

small fort, built by the Dutch,

also

an

It

has a

immense

banian-tree, one of the most wide-spreading in the

island, growino;

on

th*:;

espianad<r;.

Several lagoons.

Ceylon
lie between Negombo and
Colombo, on which ply numerous quaint-looking

linked together by canals,

pada

boats,

conveying produce to and from the many

coconut estates in the neighbourhood.

Of

the natural beauty of Ceylon as a whole there

can be no question.

Surrounded by

a turquoise sea

encircled by palm-fringed shores

and clothed with

from the white waves beating on its

perennial foliage,
coral

strand to the

wooded summits of

peaked, deep-valleyed mountains; with

its

its

many-

undulat-

ing emerald hill-downs, thunderous waterfalls

cascades,

great

plains

gleaming tanks,

covered

silver-shining

lotus-covered lagoons,

it

with

and

forest,

broad

and

placid

rivers,

presents scenes of loveli-

ness almost justifying the words of the well-known

hymn, which

describes

it

as a land

"where every

prospect pleases."

BILLING

ANlJi

^ONS, ctTI>.,%f*RlN%'E^S,,'GUU,'0)?oSD

JAM

1943

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