Past Scenes--Attractions of Ceylon--Emigration--Difficulties in
Settling--Accidents and Casualties--An Eccentric
Groom--Insubordination--Commencement of Cultivation--Sagacity of the
Elephant--Disappointments--"Death" in the Settlement--Shocking
Pasturage--Success of Emigrants--"A Good Knock-about kind of a Wife".
I had not been long in England before I discovered that my trip to
Ceylon had only served to upset all ideas of settling down quietly at
home. Scenes of former sports and places were continually intruding
themselves upon my thoughts, and I longed to be once more roaming at
large with the rifle through the noiseless wildernesses in Ceylon. So
delightful were the recollections of past incidents that I could
scarcely believe that it lay within my power to renew them. Ruminating
over all that bad happened within the past year, I conjured up
localities to my memory which seemed too attractive to have existed in
reality. I wandered along London streets, comparing the noise and
bustle with the deep solitudes of Ceylon, and I felt like the sickly
plants in a London parterre. I wanted the change to my former life. I
constantly found myself gazing into gunmakers' shops, and these I
sometimes entered abstractedly to examine some rifle exposed in the
window. Often have I passed an hour in boring the unfortunate
gunmakers to death by my suggestions for various improvements in rifles
and guns, which, as I was not a purchaser, must have been extremely
edifying.
Time passed, and the moment at length arrived when I decided once more
to see Ceylon. I determined to become a settler at Newera Ellia, where
I could reside in a perfect climate, and nevertheless enjoy the sports
of the low country at my own will.
Thus, the recovery from a fever in Ceylon was the hidden cause of my
settlement at Newera Ellia. The infatuation for sport, added to a
gypsy-like love of wandering and complete independence, thus dragged me
away from home and from a much-loved circle.
In my determination to reside at Newera Ellia, I hoped to be able to
carry out some of those visionary plans for its improvement which I
have before suggested; and I trusted to be enabled to effect such a
change in the rough face of Nature in that locality as to render a
residence at Newera Ellia something approaching to a country life in
England, with the advantage of the whole of Ceylon for my manor, and no
expense of gamekeepers.
To carry out these ideas it was necessary to set to work; and I
determined to make a regular settlement at Newera Ellia, sanguinely
looking forward to establishing a little English village around my own
residence.
Accordingly, I purchased an extensive tract of land from the
government, at twenty shillings per acre. I engaged an excellent
bailiff, who, with his wife and daughter, with nine other emigrants,
including a blacksmith, were to sail for my intended settlement in
Ceylon.
I purchased farming implements of the most improved descriptions, seeds
of all kinds, saw-mills, etc., etc., and the following stock: A
half-bred bull (Durham and Hereford), a well-bred Durham cow, three
rams (a Southdown, Leicester and Cotswold), and a thorough-bred entire
horse by Charles XII.; also a small pack of foxhounds and a favorite
greyhound ("Bran").
My brother had determined to accompany me; and with emigrants, stock,
machinery, hounds, and our respective families, the good ship "Earl of
Hardwick," belonging to Messrs. Green & Co., sailed from London in
September, 1848. I had previously left England by the overland mail of
August to make arrangements at Newera Ellia for the reception of the
whole party.
I had as much difficulty in making up my mind to the proper spot for
the settlement as Noah's dove experienced in its flight from the ark.
However, I wandered over the neighboring plains and jungles of Newera
Ellia, and at length I stuck my walking-stick into the ground where the
gentle undulations of the country would allow the use of the plough.
Here, then, was to be the settlement.
I had chosen the spot at the eastern extremity of the Newera Ellia
plain, on the verge of the sudden descent toward Badulla. This position
was two miles and a half from Newera Ellia, and was far more agreeable
and better adapted for a settlement, the land being comparatively level
and not shut in by mountains.
It was in the dreary month of October, when the south-west monsoon
howls in all its fury across the mountains; the mist boiled up from the
valleys and swept along the surface of the plains, obscuring the view
of everything, except the pattering rain which descended without
ceasing day or night. Every sound was hushed, save that of the
elements and the distant murmuring roar of countless waterfalls; not a
bird chirped, the dank white lichens hung from the branches of the
trees, and the wretchedness of the place was beyond description.
I found it almost impossible to persuade the natives to work in such
weather; and it being absolutely necessary that cottages should be
built with the greatest expedition, I was obliged to offer an
exorbitant rate of wages. In about fortnight, however, the wind and
rain showed flags of truce in the shape of white clouds set in a blue
sky. The gale ceased, and the skylarks warbled high in air, giving
life and encouragement to the whole scene. It was like a beautiful
cool mid-summer in England.
I had about eighty men at work; and the constant click-clack of axes,
the felling of trees, the noise of saws and hammers and the perpetual
chattering o the coolies gave a new character to the wild spot upon
which I had fixed.
The work proceeded rapidly; neat white cottages soon appeared in the
forest; and I expected to have everything in readiness for the
emigrants on their arrival. I rented a tolerably good house in Newera
Ellia, and so far everything had progressed well.
The "Earl of Hardwick" arrived after a prosperous voyage, with
passengers and stock all in sound health; the only casualty on board
had been to one of the hounds. In a few days all started from Colombo
for Newera Ellia. The only trouble was, How to get the cow up? She was
a beautiful beast, a thorough-bred "shorthorn," and she weighed about
thirteen hundredweight. She was so fat that a march of one hundred and
fifteen miles in a tropical climate was impossible. Accordingly a van
was arranged for her, which the maker assured me would carry an
elephant. But no sooner had the cow entered it than the whole thing
came down with a crash, and the cow made her exit through the bottom.
She was therefore obliged to start on foot in company with the bull,
sheep, horse and hounds, orders being given that ten miles a day,
divided between morning and evening, should be the maximum march during
the journey.
The emigrants started per coach, while our party drove up in a new
clarence which I had brought from England. I mention this, as its
untimely end will be shortly seen.
Four government elephant-carts started with machinery, farming
implements, etc., etc., while a troop of bullock-bandies carried the
lighter goods. I had a tame elephant waiting at the foot of the Newera
Ellia Pass to assist in carrying up the baggage and maidservants.
There had been a vast amount of trouble in making all the necessary
arrangements, but the start was completed, and at length we were all
fairly off. In an enterprise of this kind many disappointments were
necessarily to be expected, and I had prepared myself with the patience
of Job for anything that might happen. It was well that I had done so,
for it was soon put to the test.
Having reached Ramboddé, at the foot of the Newera Ellia Pass, in
safety, I found that the carriage was so heavy that the horses were
totally unable to ascend the pass. I therefore left it at the
rest-house while we rode up the fifteen miles to Newera Ellia,
intending to send for the empty vehicle in a few days.
The whole party of emigrants and ourselves reached Newera Ellia in
safety. On the following day I sent down the groom with a pair of
horses to bring up the carriage; at the same time I sent down the
elephant to bring some luggage from Ramboddé.
Now this groom, "Henry Perkes," was one of the emigrants, and he was
not exactly the steadiest of the party; I therefore cautioned him to be
very careful in driving up the pass, especially in crossing the narrow
bridges and turning the corners. He started on his mission.
The next day a dirty-looking letter was put in my hand by a native,
which, being addressed to me, ran something in this style:
"Honord Zur
"I'm sorry to hinform you that the carrige and osses has met with a
haccidint and is tumbled down a preccippice and its a mussy as I didn't
go too. The preccippice isn't very deep bein not above heighy feet or
therabouts--the hosses is got up but is very bad--the carrige lies on
its back and we can't stir it nohow. Mr. ---- is very kind, and has
lent above a hunderd niggers, but they aint no more use than cats at
liftin. Plese Zur come and see whats to be done.
"Your Humbel Servt,
"H. PERKES."
This was pleasant, certainly--a new carriage and a pair of fine
Australian horses smashed before they reached Newera Ellia!
This was, however, the commencement of a chapter of accidents. I went
down the pass, and there, sure enough, I had a fine bird's-eye view of
the carriage down a precipice on the road side. One horse was so
injured that it was necessary to destroy him; the other died a few days
after. Perkes had been intoxicated; and, while driving at a full
gallop round a corner, over went the carriages and horses.
On my return to Newera Ellia, I found a letter informing me that the
short-horn cow had halted at Amberpussé, thirty-seven miles from
Colombo, dangerously ill. The next morning another letter informed me
that she was dead. This was a sad loss after the trouble of bringing
so fine an animal from England; and I regretted her far more than both
carriage and horses together, as my ideas for breeding some
thorough-bred stock were for the present extinguished.
There is nothing like one misfortune for breeding another; and what
with the loss of carriage, horses and cow, the string of accidents had
fairly commenced. The carriage still lay inverted; and although a
tolerable specimen of a smash, I determined to pay a certain honor to
its remains by not allowing it to lie and rot upon the ground.
Accordingly, I sent the blacksmith with a gang of men, and Perkes was
ordered to accompany the party. I also sent the elephant to assist in
battling the body of the carriage up the precipice.
Perkes, having been much more accustomed to riding than walking during
his career as groom, was determined to ride the elephant down the pass;
and he accordingly mounted, insisting at the same time that the mahout
should put the animal into a trot. In vain the man remonstrated, and
explained that such a pace would injure the elephant on a journey;
threats prevailed, and the beast was soon swinging along at full trot,
forced on by the sharp driving-hook, with the delighted Perkes striding
across its neck, riding, an imaginary race.
On the following day the elephant-driver appeared at the front door,
but without the elephant. I immediately foreboded some disaster, which
was soon explained. Mr. Perkes had kept up the pace for fifteen miles,
to Ramboddé, when, finding that the elephant was not required, he took
a little refreshment in the shape of brandy and water, and then, to use
his own expression, "tooled the old elephant along till he came to a
standstill."
He literally forced the poor beast up the steep pass for seven miles,
till it fell down and shortly after died.
Mr. Perkes was becoming an expensive man: a most sagacious and
tractable elephant was now added to his list of victims; and he had the
satisfaction of knowing that he was one of the few men in the world who
had ridden an elephant to death.
That afternoon, Mr. Perkes was being wheeled about the bazaar in a
wheelbarrow, insensibly drunk, by a brother emigrant, who was also
considerably elevated. Perkes had at some former time lost an eye by
the kick of a horse, and to conceal the disfigurement he wore a black
patch, which gave him very much the expression of a bull terrier with a
similar mark. Notwithstanding this disadvantage in appearance, he was
perpetually making successful love to the maidservants, and he was
altogether the most incorrigible scamp that I ever met with, although I
must do him the justice to say he was thoroughly honest and industrious.
I shortly experienced great trouble with the emigrants; they could not
agree with the bailiff, and openly defied his authority. I was obliged
to send two of them to jail as an example to the others. This produced
the desired effect, and we shortly got regularly to work.
There were now about a hundred and fifty natives employed in the
tedious process of exterminating jungle and forest, not felling, but
regularly digging out every tree and root, then piling, and burning the
mass, and leveling the cleared land in a state to receive the plough.
This was very expensive work, amounting to about thirty pounds per
acre. The root of a large tree would frequently occupy three men a
couple of days in its extraction, which, at the rate of wages, at one
shilling per diem, was very costly. The land thus cleared was a light
sandy loam, about eighteen inches in depth with a gravel subsoil, and
was considered to be far superior to the patina (or natural grass-land)
soil, which was, in appearance, black loam on the higher ground and of
a peaty nature in the swamps.
The bailiff (Mr. Fowler) was of opinion that the patina soil was the
best; therefore, while the large native force was engaged in sweeping
the forest from the surface, operations were commenced according to
agricultural rules upon the patinas.
A tract of land known as the "Moon Plains," comprising about two
hundred acres, was immediately commenced upon. As some persons
considered the settlement at Newera Ellia the idea of a lunatic, the
"Moon Plain" was an appropriate spot for the experiment. A tolerably
level field of twenty acres was fenced in, and the work begun by firing
the patina and burning off all the grass. Then came three teams, as
follows:
Lord Ducie's patent cultivator, drawn by an elephant; a skim, drawn by
another elephant, and a long wood plough, drawn by eight bullocks.
The field being divided into three sections, was thus quickly pared of
the turf, the patent cultivator working admirably, and easily drawn by
the elephant.
The weather being very dry and favorable for the work, the turf was
soon ready for burning; and being piled in long rows, much trouble was
saved in subsequently spreading the ashes. This being completed, we
had six teams at work, two horse, two bullock, and two elephant; and
the ploughing was soon finished. The whole piece was then sown with
oats.
It was an interesting sight to see the rough plain yielding to the
power of agricultural implements, especially as some of these
implements were drawn by animals not generally seen in plough harness
at home.
The "cultivator," which was sufficiently large to anchor any twenty of
the small native bullocks, looked a mere nothing behind the splendid
elephant who worked it, and it cut through the wiry roots of the rank
turf as a knife peels an apple. It was amusing, to see this same
elephant doing the work of three separate teams when the seed was in
the ground. She first drew a pair of heavy harrows; attached to these
and following behind were a pair of light harrows, and behind these
came a roller. Thus the land had its first and second harrowing at the
same time with the rolling.
This elephant was particularly sagacious; and her farming work being
completed, she was employed in making, a dam across a stream. She was a
very large animal, and it was beautiful to witness her wonderful
sagacity in carrying and arranging the heavy timber required. The
rough trunks of trees from the lately felled forest were lying within
fifty yards of the spot, and the trunks required for the dam were about
fifteen feet long and fourteen to eighteen inches in diameter. These
she carried in her mouth, shifting her hold along the log before she
raised it until she had obtained the exact balance; then, steadying it
with her trunk, she carried every log to the spot, and laid them across
the stream in parallel rows. These she herself arranged, under the
direction of her driver, with the reason apparently of a human being.
The most extraordinary part of her performance was the arranging of two
immense logs of red keenar (one of the heaviest woods). These were
about eighteen feet long and two feet in diameter, and they were in
tended to lie on either bank of the stream, parallel to the brook and
close to the edge. These she placed greatest with the care in their
exact positions, unassisted by any one.[1] She rolled them gently over
with her head, then with one foot, and keeping her trunk on the
opposite side of the log, she checked its way whenever its own momentum
would have carried it into the stream. Although I thought the work
admirably done, she did not seem quite satisfied, and she presently got
into the stream, and gave one end of the log an extra push with her
head, which completed her task, the two trees lying exactly parallel to
each other, close to the edge of either bank.
Tame elephants are constantly employed in building stone bridges, when
the stones required for the abutments are too heavy to be managed by
crowbars.
Many were the difficulties to contend against when the first attempts
were made in agriculture at Newera Ellia. No sooner were the oats a
few inches above ground than they were subjected to the nocturnal
visits of elk and hogs in such numbers that they were almost wholly
destroyed.
A crop of potatoes of about three acres on the newly-cleared forest
land was totally devoured by grubs. The bull and stock were nearly
starved on the miserable pasturage of the country, and no sooner bad
the clover sprung up in the new clearings than the Southdown ram got
hoven upon it and died. The two remaining rams, not having been
accustomed to much high living since their arrival at Newera Ellia, got
pugnacious upon the clover, and in a pitched battle the Leicester ram
killed the Cotswold, and remained solus. An epidemic appeared among
the cattle, and twenty-six fine bullocks died within a few days; five
Australian horses died during the first year, and everything seemed to
be going into the next world as fast is possible.
Having made up my mind to all manner of disappointments, these
casualties did not make much impression on me, and the loss of a few
crops at the outset was to be expected; but at length a deplorable and
unexpected event occurred.
The bailiff's family consisted of a wife and daughter; the former was
the perfection of a respectable farmer's wife, whose gentle manners and
amiable disposition bad gained her many friends; the daughter was a
very pretty girl of nineteen.
For some time Mrs. Fowler had been suffering from an illness of long
standing, and I was suddenly called to join in the mournful procession
to her grave. This was indeed a loss which I deeply deplored.
At length death left the little settlement, and a ray of sunshine shone
through the gloom which would have made many despond. Fortune smiled
upon everything. Many acres of forest were cleared, and the crops
succeeded each other in rapid succession. I had, however, made the
discovery that without manure nothing would thrive. This had been a
great disappointment, as much difficulty lay in procuring the necessary
item.
Had the natural pasturage been good, it would soon have been an easy
matter to procure any amount of manure by a corresponding number of
cattle; but, as it happened, the natural pasturage was so bad that no
beast could thrive upon it. Thus everything, even grass-land, had to be
manured; and, fortunately, a cargo of guano having arrived in the
island, we were enabled to lay down some good clover and seeds.
The original idea of cultivation, driving the forests from the
neighborhood of Newera Ellia, was therefore dispelled. Every acre of
land must be manured, and upon a large scale at Newera Ellia that is
impossible. With manure everything will thrive to perfection with the
exception of wheat. There is neither lime nor magnesia in the soil.
An abundance of silica throws a good crop of straw, but the grain is
wanting: Indian corn will not form grain from the same cause. On the
other hand, peas, beans, turnips, carrots, cabbages, etc., produce
crops as heavy as those of England. Potatoes, being the staple article
of production, are principally cultivated, as the price of twenty
pounds per ton yields a large profit. These, however, do not produce
larger crops than from four to six tons per acre when heavily manured;
but as the crop is fit to dig in three months from the day of planting,
money is quickly made.
There are many small farmers, or rather gardeners, at Newera Ellia who
have succeeded uncommonly well. One of the emigrants who left my
service returned to England in three years with three hundred pounds;
and all the industrious people succeed. I am now without one man whom
I brought out. The bailiff farms a little land of his own, and his
pretty daughter is married; the others are scattered here and there,
but I believe all are doing well, especially the blacksmith, upon whose
anvil Fortune has smiled most kindly.
By the bye, that same blacksmith has the right stamp of a "better half"
for an emigrant's wife. According to his own description she is a
"good knock-about kind of a wife." I recollect seeing her, during a
press of work, rendering assistance to her Vulcan in a manner worthy of
a Cyclop's spouse. She was wielding an eighteen-pound sledgehammer,
sending the sparks flying at every blow upon the hot iron, and making
the anvil ring again, while her husband turned the metal at every
stroke, as if attending on Nasmyth's patent steam hammer.
It has been a great satisfaction to me that all the people whom I
brought out are doing well; even Henry Perkes, of elephant-jockeying
notoriety, is, I believe, prospering as a groom in Madras.
[1] Directed of course by her driver.