The clock strikes twelve. Good-bye, 1878; and you, 1879, all hail!
Be as kind to us as the departed, and we shall in turn bless your
memory. This midnight hour of all the hours of the year is reputed
the best for framing good resolutions, but somehow those I have
tried at this season hitherto have not been exceptionally
fortunate in bearing good fruit. However, I have never "resolved"
on a New-Year's night before while suffering from heat and
mosquitoes. I conclude to hazard one, so here goes antipodal
resolution No. I. See what you are good for. I record it that it
may be the more deeply impressed upon my mind, and, if a failure,
that it may in print sternly stare me in the face, and not "down
at my bidding."
To-day we make our first acquaintance with punkas. They extend
throughout the cabin, ominous of hot weather, which I detest;
Vandy, on the other hand, revels in it, and it is his turn now.
Vandy handed me today a string of Cambodia money, sixty pieces,
which cost only two cents, showing to what fractions they reduce
exchanges in Cochin China. I have been careful to collect coins in
every place visited. Sock No. 1 is now full, and I have had to
start bag No. 2. I have some rare specimens; of Japan the set is
complete, from the gold cobang, worth $115, oblong, five inches
long by about three wide, down to the smallest copper piece. I
have some Chinese coins shaped like a St. Andrew's cross, dating
before Christ. The mania for coin collecting is another inherent
tendency the presence of which has probably never been suspected
in my disposition. But collecting the coin of the realm, when one
thinks of it, isn't at all foreign to my tastes. The form of
manifestation is different, that's all--old coin for new--the
"ruling love," to use a Swedenborgianism, being the same; and the
ruling love must be acted out, so Aunt tells me, even in heaven.
"Oh!" said L., when she heard this, "I wonder what they'll get for
Mr.----to do in the other world; there are no dollars and cents
there; but there will be the _golden harps_ for him to trim
and weigh." So he would still handle the siller, and be in his
element. Some time afterward, when this was recalled to L., she
declared that it was impossible that she could have said it.
"Mr.----trim and weigh! He would never be satisfied unless he were
_boiling it down solid_."
* * * * *
SINGAPORE, Saturday, January 4.
We reached Singapore at dusk. The drive through the town was a
curious one. Nowhere else can such a mixture of races be seen, and
each nationality was enjoying itself in its own peculiar
fashion--all except the Chinese, who were, as usual, hard at work
in their little dens. No recreation for this people. Work, work,
work! They never play, never smile, but plod away, from early
morning until late at night. The Chinaman's objection to giving
his creditor in New York a note was because it "walkee, walkee
alle timee; walkee, walkee, no sleepee." They seem to me to
emulate these objectionable obligations.
We saw in Singapore our first lot of Hindoos, moving about the
streets like ghosts, wrapped in webs of thin white cotton cloth,
which scissors, needle, or thread have never defiled. The cloth
must remain just as it came from the loom; no hat, no shoes, their
foreheads chalked, or painted in red with the stamp of the god
they worship and the caste to which they belong. They are a small,
slight race, with fine, delicate features.
I went out for a stroll before retiring, and hearing a great noise
up the street, followed and came up with a Hindoo procession. The
god was being paraded through the Hindoo portion of the town amid
the beating of drums and blowing of squeaking trumpets. The idol
was seated in a finely decorated temple upon wheels, drawn by
devotees, many of whom danced wildly around, while others bore
torches aloft, making altogether a very gorgeous display. Priests
stood at each side performing mysterious rites as the cortege
proceeded. It was my first sight of an idolatrous procession, and
it made a deep impression upon me, carrying me back to Sunday-
school days, and the terrible car of Juggernaut and all its
horrors.
I have had many experiences in beds, from the generous feather
cover of the Germans to the canopy of state couch of England, but
to-night my couch was minus covering of any kind. Calling to
Vandy, I found he was in the same predicament. Each had instead a
long, stiff bolster lying lengthwise in the middle of the
mattress, the use of which neither of us could make out. We soon
discovered that there was no need of covering at the Equator; but
this bolster must have some use, if we could only find it. Upon
inquiring next day we ascertained that it is composed of a kind of
pith which has the property of keeping cool in the hottest
weather, and that it is the greatest relief at night to cultivate
the closest possible acquaintance with this strange bed-fellow; in
fact, in Singapore, "no family should be without it."
The island of Singapore, which is included in the British Straits
Settlements, is nearly seventy miles in circumference, with a
population of about one hundred thousand, one-half of which is
Chinese, the remainder Malays, Klings, Javanese, Hindoos, and
every other Eastern race under the sun, I believe, and a few
Europeans. Here the "survival of the fittest" is being fought out
under the protection of the British flag, which insures peace and
order wherever it floats. In this struggle we have no hesitation
in backing the Heathen Chinee against the field. Permanent
occupation by any Western race is of course out of the question.
An Englishman would inevitably cease to be an Englishman in a few,
a very few, generations, and it is therefore only a question of
time when the Chinese will drive every other race to the wall. No
race can possibly stand against them anywhere in the East.
On Sunday, Major Studer, United States Consul, and his
accomplished daughter, drove us to the house and gardens of the
leading Chinese merchant of this region, Mr. Wampoo, who received
and entertained us with great cordiality. His residence is
extensive and filled in every part with curios; but his gardens
are most celebrated, and far surpass anything of the kind we have
yet seen. His collection of Victoria Regia plants is said to be
the best in the world. Unfortunately none were in bloom, but a
flower was due, I understood, in about ten years! The kind old
gentleman invited us back to see it, and we accepted; but since
writing this we have heard, alas! that he has ceased to play his
part upon earth.
The newspapers here sometimes give strange local items. Here is
one from yesterday's _Times_:
"Tigers must be increasing on the island; a fine big male one was
caught in a pit on Christmas eve at the water-works." The fellow
was probably on the track of a Christmas dinner, and ventured to
the very suburbs of the town.
We were driven one day, by the major and Miss Studer, some ten or
twelve miles in the interior, passing through groves of cocoa and
betel-nut trees, both in full bearing, to a tapioca plantation,
where we saw many trees and plants new to us--the fan and sago
palms and many other varieties, bananas, nutmeg trees, bread
fruit, durion, gutta-percha trees and others. We also saw the
indigo plant under cultivation, and passed through fields of the
sensitive plant as we walked about, while pine-apples were
everywhere. We are in a new world of vegetation here, within a
degree of the Equator; but, rich as it is, there is still a
feeling of disappointment because it is all green--no bright hues,
no coloring, such as gives Florida its charm, or lends to an
American forest in autumn its unrivalled glory! It is always
summer, and the moisture of the tropics keeps everything green.
There is another cause of disappointment to one accustomed to the
primeval forest and its majestic trees. These monarchs cannot
develop themselves in the tropics, and in their stead we have only
underbrush, the "jungle" of the tiger, which does not at all come
up to one's expectations.
About one thousand men and women are employed upon this tapioca
plantation. Married Hindoos get twenty cents per day, but the
greater number are Javanese unmarried men, who get only sixteen
cents; both find themselves. The Javanese are Mohammedans from
Java _en route_ to Mecca as a religious duty. They come here
and work and save for two years to get sufficient to pay their
passage and return to this point, when they work a year more for
funds to carry them home. How vital is the creed which brings its
adherents to such sacrifice! This drive gave us an excellent
opportunity of seeing just how the people live in the country.
Dress is confined to the rag worn about the loins, except that the
women wear in addition a small cloth over their shoulders. The
children wear nothing whatever, but we saw none that were not
ornamented by cheap jewelry in the most extraordinary manner.
The subject of clothes, as we all know from the days of "Sartor
Resartus," lies very closely at the roots of civilization. I think
every thoughtful person must admit that here the Heathen Chinee
shows that he has reached the best solution of that annoying
question. The every-day dress of the Chinaman is to-day just what
it was thousands of years ago. As there is no going out or coming
in of fashion, he wears his clothes till they can be worn no
longer. The heavy-overcoats which distress Americans and are a
weight even to the Englishman, our celestial friend escapes by
having three or four light coats all of one pattern and weight. It
is a one, two, or a three-coat day, according to temperature.
Again and above all he escapes the horrid starch entirely, neither
shirts nor collars nor cuffs, sometimes like thin sheets of iron,
irritating his skin.
Vandy and I seriously resolved to-day that we would never again
tolerate a starched thing about us; no matter what others did, we
would discard the vile custom and be free. In revising this I am
bound to admit our weakness: neither Vandy nor I have been strong
enough to contend against our mothers. I don't know exactly what
Vandy's experience was, but I know he fell soon after our return.
For my part I fought it out awhile and tried many ways to win; but
my flannel and frieze underwear which I brought from China soon
became unwearable, I was informed, from shrinkage, then they had
broken into holes, and so on. They were finally missed from my
wardrobe, and I compromised by stipulating that I should return to
the shirt and collars and cuffs, and agreed they might be all pure
white--provided that little or no starch should be used--this is
an improvement, but linen is the most uncomfortable material
known, used as we use it.
Vandy and I when in the East reduced the time for bathing and
dressing in the morning to seven minutes. Of course, we have long
since given up the folly of shaving. How one envies the man of the
East who has but four articles to slip on, and no pins required:
socks and low shoes (no lacing), one; breeches, two; undershirt,
three; coat, four; and there he is, ready for breakfast. The coat
buttons close to the chin, and has a small upright collar, and a
watch-pocket outside; no cuffs, collars or neckties. Why does not
some born reformer of our sex devote his life to giving his fellow
man such additional happiness in life? Hundreds waste their
energies upon objects which, if accomplished, would not be half as
fruitful.
Here is a description of a woman's jewelry, as taken from life by
Vandy: lobes of ears pierced with holes large enough to allow
one's thumb to be inserted; above these holes two small gold-color
rivets in each ear; in each nostril two gold pendants, inserted by
screwing in; through the centre of the nose a large silver ring;
on each wrist four bracelets; higher up the arm more rings; around
her neck a necklace; around each ankle a large silver ring; and
around her big toe and the next, on both feet, were rings. The
smallest children wore many similar jewels. Upon these every penny
they can save is squandered, and to secure them they are content
to live on a little boiled rice and fish--a bamboo hut of one
apartment their only home, and a piece of cotton cloth their
wardrobe.
We had the pleasure of meeting, at Major Studer's, Mr. Hornaday, a
young gentleman who travels for Professor Ward, of Rochester, New
York, whose museum is well known the world over. Mr. Hornaday's
department is to keep the Professor's collections complete, and if
there be a rare bird, beast, or reptile on the globe, he is bound to
capture specimens. He had just returned from spending four months
among the savages of Borneo, where alone a supply of orang-outangs
could be obtained. He returned with forty-two of these links, shot
mostly by himself. He came one day upon two very young ones, and
these he has brought here alive. They are suggestively human in
their ways, and two better-behaved, more affectionate babies are
rarely to be met with. Let no anti-Darwinian study young
orang-outangs if he wishes to retain his present notions. The
museum, Mr. Hornaday is advised, is now short of dugongs, and he is
off for Australia next steamer to lay in a supply. The recital of
his adventures is extremely interesting, and I predict that some day
a book from him will have a great run.
What an interest is awakened by one who is able to tell stories of
his own experience! No wonder that Othello won Desdemona with the
recital of his adventures. He was the hero who had been the actor
in all the scenes he depicted. Listening to Mr. Hornaday was a
source of rare pleasure to-night. His chief regret is that he
missed, during his visit to Borneo, the largest mias ever seen on
the island. The natives discovered a troop, all of which made off
except the leader. He showed fight, but soon ran up a high tree,
from which the native weapons were unable to dislodge him. He was
beyond their reach and there he sat. It was resolved to cut down
the tree and capture him as he fell; but as soon as they came to
close quarters with the monster, he proved so powerful, fierce,
and courageous that the natives ran away and he got off.
Mr. Hornaday reached the spot just too late. "Why didn't you send
for me? Didn't you know my rifle would have reached him?" he
asked. They gave him no reason for their conduct, but he suspected
that they feared he would not have paid them had he made the
capture. Mr. Hornaday is confident this mias exceeded the height
stated by Wallace as the maximum.
Mr. Hornaday was more successful with the largest tiger shot in
India for years. He was out after cheetahs, and having no more
expectation of meeting with the nobler game than of encountering a
lion, had not his tiger rifle with him. On coming to the banks of
a small stream he was greatly surprised to see a tiger's fresh
footmarks--a big foot, too. Making a sign to his attendants to
stand motionless, he glanced up the stream, then down, and saw,
not far from him, leisurely strolling along the edge of the creek,
seeking a convenient ford, the largest tiger he had ever laid eyes
upon, although he had shot many. "Shall I shoot with this gun?" he
thought. "If I miss he will certainly be upon us. He will attack
one of my colored attendants first, anyhow, and I'll get a chance
to reload. I'll do it!" A moment after, the monster, having found
a ford to his liking, turned his head and looked cautiously down
stream before entering the water. Finding all quiet in that
direction, he turned to glance up stream. For this moment Mr.
Hornaday had waited. There is one spot only to hit a tiger--right
between the eyes. He fired and the beast fell. No other shot was
fired, for holes spoil a skin. The animal writhed for several
hours, no one daring to approach him, until he finally sank
exhausted upon the sand. I think it was fifteen pounds Mr.
Hornaday received from Government for this exploit. I have secured
the skin of this very beast, properly preserved, full head, open
mouth, glaring eyeballs, and all, and I am ready to match tiger
skins with any one.
In the absence of other commercial intelligence, I may quote the
market in Mr. Hornaday's line: Tigers are still reported "lively;"
orang-outangs "looking up;" pythons show but little animation at
this season of the year; proboscis monkeys, on the other hand,
continue scarce; there is quite a run on lions, and kangaroos are
jumped at with avidity; elephants heavy; birds of paradise
drooping; crocodiles are snapped up as offered, while dugongs
bring large prices. What is pig metal to this?
The climate of Singapore, as of all places so near the Equator,
would be intolerable but for the dense clouds which obscure the
sun and save us from its fierce rays; but occasionally it breaks
through for a few minutes, and we are in a bath of perspiration
before we know it. No one can estimate the difference in the power
of the sun here as compared with it in New York. Straw hats afford
no protection whatever; we are compelled to wear thick white
helmets of pith, and use a white umbrella lined with green cloth,
and yet can walk only a few steps when the sun is not hid without
feeling that we must seek the shade. The horses are unable to go
more than ten miles in twenty-four hours, and our carriage and
pair are hired with the understanding that this is not to be
exceeded. Nothing could exist near the line if the intense heat
did not cause evaporation upon a gigantic scale. The clouds so
formed are driven upward by the streams of colder air from both
sides, condensation then takes place, and showers fall every few
hours in the region of Singapore.
One is not only in a new earth here, but he has a new sky as well.
As the tropics have nothing to compare with our more brilliant
colors in the vegetable world, so the southern sky has no stars to
equal ours. Indeed, with the exception of the four in the Southern
Cross, two in the Centaur, and two or three others, there is no
star of the first magnitude to be seen, and the constellations are
poor compared with those of our splendid northern skies.
Shakespeare's
". . . inlaid with patines of bright gold,"
must seem hyperbole to the Australian. I saw the Southern Cross
many nights while at sea, and it is certainly very fine, as far as
four stars can make a cross; for, as usual, much is left to the
imagination. It is really not a cross at all. These long ocean
trips furnish the best opportunity for observing the stars, and I
have rubbed up my early knowledge on the subject so far as to be
able to point out all the constellations and many of the principal
stars; but away down here the North Star even is not to be seen,
and we have to steer by Orion's belt if the compass varies.
* * * * *
TUESDAY, January 14.
We left Singapore to-day at three P.M. by the English mail steamer
Teheran, parting with very sincere regret from Major and Miss
Studer, to whom we had been so much indebted for our week's
happiness. These partings from kind friends on our way round the
world are the sad incidents of the trip. People are so kind, and
they do so much to render our stay agreeable, that we become
warmly attached, and have many excursions planned, when some
morning up goes the flag, boom goes the signal gun, "Mail steamer
arrived!" all aboard at sunset! and farewell, friends! We see them
linger on the pier as we sail away, good-byes are waved, and we
fade from each other's sight; but it will be long ere many faces
vanish from our memory.
While still gazing Singaporeward I am recalled to the stern duties
of life. These two baby orang-outangs I told you of are going to a
naturalist in Madras. What a present! and Vandy and I have
promised to do what we can in the way of attendance upon them. The
butcher comes to ask me when they are to be fed, and how, and
what. This is a poser. I am not up in the management of orang-
outangs, but Vandy has skill in almost everything of this kind; at
least he is safer than I, there being a good deal of the incipient
doctor about Vandy, and I search for him in this emergency. The
fact is, while I have had varied experiences in the matter of
delicate charges of many kinds, these have generally been of our
own species--a youngster to be taken home to his parents, a
dowager lady afraid of the cars--even a blushing damsel to be
transported across the Atlantic to the arms of her _fiancé_
has been entrusted to me before this, but this charge is decidedly
out of my line. These fearfully human-looking, human-acting brutes
furnish much amusement to the passengers; but at first every lady
whom we took forward to watch them was compelled to run away
laughing and exclaiming, "Oh, they are so much like babies! It's
just horrid to see these nasty, hairy things carry on so!"
Confirmation strong, I suppose, of our kinship, so do riot let us
neglect our poor relations even if the connection be somewhat
remote. Bananas are their favorite delicacy, but this morning not
even that fruit could tempt them. I gave one to the smaller of the
two, but it would not take it. Then I tried the larger one. He
took it in his paw, peeled it at one end and put it to his lips,
then looking up at me with a sad, puzzled expression, dropped his
prize, and resting his head on his paw laid slowly down on the
straw, telling us all as plainly as could be that he was sea-sick.
Such was indeed the case; but in a few hours the sea fell and he
was as sprightly as ever. Monkeys move spasmodically, by jerks as
it were; not so these dignified, stately creatures: they are as
deliberate in all their actions as staid, sober people. One day a
passenger had offered a banana to the little one, but as it put
forth its paw, withdrew it. The wee thing stood this several
times, and at last laid down on its face and cried like a child--a
wicked cry; nor would it be comforted, the banana when offered
being petulantly rejected. They are much too human.
We called at Penang, an island on the western shore of the
Peninsula, also belonging to Great Britain, and had time to drive
around the settlement. The place is not to be compared to
Singapore in size, but vegetation is even more luxuriant. It was
very hot, and we envied the governor his residence on a mountain
peak eighteen hundred feet above the sea, where, it was reported,
fires are actually required at some seasons night and morning.
Penang exports large quantities of tin, and we took on a lot for
New York. This valuable production seems about the only metal
America has now to import, but some lucky explorer is no doubt
destined to find it in immense quantities by and by. Having got
everything else, it doesn't stand to reason that America should
not be favored with this also. Nothing unusual occurred upon our
run across the Bay of Bengal. Even Vandy enjoyed the sea voyage
this time; something he had never before done in his life, nor
ever done since. It was smooth and quiet steaming all the way to
Ceylon. I had been humming "Greenland's Icy Mountains" for several
days previously, about all that I knew of Ceylon's isle being
contained in one of the verses of that hymn, which I used to sing
at missionary meetings, when a minister who had seen the heathen
was stared at as a prodigy.
And indeed the "spicy breezes blew soft o'er Ceylon's isle" as we
approached it in the moonlight. We found Galle quite a pretty,
quaint little port, and remained there one night, taking the coach
next morning for Colombo, the capital. The drive of sixty miles to
the railway which extends to Colombo, seventeen miles beyond, is
one of the best treats we have yet had. The road is equal to one
of our best park avenues, as indeed are all the roads we saw in
Ceylon; from end to end it skirts the rocky shores, passing
through groves of cocoa and betel-nut trees, and dotted on each
side by the huts of natives at work at some branch of the cocoanut
business. Every part of the nut is utilized; ropes and mats are
made from the covering of the shell, oil from the kernel, and the
milk is drank fresh at every meal. These trees do not thrive
except near the coast, the salt air laden with moisture being
essential for their growth, but they grow quite down to the edge
of the sea. The natives have been attracted to this main road, and
from Galle to Colombo it is almost one continuous village; there
is no prettier sea-shore in the world, nor a more beautiful surf.
Every few miles we come upon large numbers of fishermen drawing in
their nets, which are excessively long and take in several acres
of sea in their sweep. An artist who would come to Ceylon and
devote himself to depicting "the fishers of Ceylon's isle" (how
well that sounds! and a good title is half the battle) would make
a reputation and a fortune. I am quite sure there is no more
picturesque sight than the drawing of their nets, several hundred
men being engaged in the labor, while the beach is alive with
women and children in bright colors anxiously watching the result.
The dress of the Ceylonese women is really pretty: a skirt closely
fitting the figure, and a tight jacket over the shoulders--all of
fine, pure white cotton cloth or muslin and quite plain, with
neither frill, tuck, flounce, nor anything of the kind. Necklaces
and ear-rings are worn, but I am glad to say the nose in Ceylon
seems to be preserved from the indignity of rings. The men's dress
is rather scanty, their weakness being a large tortoise-shell
comb, which every one wears; it reaches from ear to ear, and the
hair is combed straight back and confined by it. Women are denied
this crowning ornament, and must content themselves with a pin in
the hair, the head of which, however, is highly ornamented. The
Buddhist priests form a strange contrast in their dress, which
consists of a yellow plaid, generally of silk, wrapped around the
body and over the shoulders.
I asked our Ceylonese guide to-day whether he had ever heard of
our most popular missionary hymn. "Here is the verse," I said,
"about your beautiful isle ":
"What though the spicy breezes
Blow soft o'er Ceylon's isle,
Though every prospect pleases,
And only man is vile!
In vain with lavish kindness,
The gifts of God are strewn;
The heathen, in his blindness,
Bows down to wood and stone."
"What do you think of that description?" I asked. He said he
thought "the writer was a fool," and asked if any one in my
country believed that there was a man, woman, or child in Ceylon
who did not know better than to bow down to any power but God.
"Yes," I said, "I once believed it myself, and millions believe it
to-day, and good boys and girls with us save their pennies to send
missionaries to tell these heathen who worship idols how very
wrong and foolish it is to do so, and how very angry the true God
is to have anything worshipped but himself." He said ours must be
a very curious country, and he should like to visit it and see
such queer people. I gave him my address and promised, if he would
come to see me, to take him to a great missionary meeting where he
would see the best and most religious people, all greatly
concerned about the idolaters of Ceylon.
The truth is there is scarcely in all the world a human being so
low in the scale as not to know that the object he sees is only
the symbol of the invisible power. What the cross is to the
Christian the idol is to the other, and it is nothing more. The
worship of both is to the Unknown beyond. I did my best to soothe
the wounded spirit of our guide by explaining the necessities of
poetic license. Still he would have it that Bishop Heber had
wronged his beloved Ceylon and did not know what he was writing
about.
The religion of Ceylon is Buddhism; indeed it is now the most
strictly Buddhist country in the world. One condition of the
cession of the sovereignty to Great Britain was that this religion
should be held inviolable with its rights and privileges, its
monasteries and temples and all pertaining thereto. In the
language of the greatest European authority, "although government
support is no longer given to it, its pure and simple doctrines
live in the hearts of the people and are the noblest monument to
its founder Gautama Buddha. The taking of the meanest life is
strictly forbidden, and falsehood, intemperance, dishonesty,
anger, pride, and covetousness are denounced as incompatible with
Buddhism, which enjoins the practice of chastity, gratitude,
contentment, moderation, forgiveness of injuries, patience, and
cheerfulness." The priests of Buddha are regularly ordained and
sworn to celibacy, and they are required to meet each other every
fourteen days for purposes of mutual confession. The lowest caste
is eligible to the priesthood, as with the Christian religion.
Ceylon is somewhat smaller than Ireland, and the population is a
little less than three millions, but it is rapidly increasing, as
are its exports and imports. Of all the places we visited it seems
to have suffered least from the wave of depression which has
recently swept over the world. This is undoubtedly owing to the
fact that the spicy isle enjoys somewhat of a monopoly in coffee
and some of the spices, cinnamon especially. Java coffee is
generally used, I think, in America, but in Ceylon it is deemed an
inferior article; Mocha, in Arabia, furnishes the best, but much
called Mocha is really grown here. In the coffee plantations men
are paid eighteen cents per day; women, fourteen cents. A disease
akin to that which attacked the vines in France some years ago has
raged among the plants for two years past; it promises this year
to be less destructive, although no effectual cure has yet been
discovered. We met several coffee planters, generally young,
pushing Englishmen who either own the estates, or are related to
those who do. They lead a pleasant life in Ceylon, the climate
being good most of the year, and those who are contented declare
that a European can live there and enjoy as good health as at
home. If the weather prove too warm in the summer there are the
mountains to run to. Scientific cultivation of coffee began in
Ceylon as late as 1824, and public attention was not directed to
it until 1834--only fifty years ago--yet to-day there are more
than twelve hundred coffee plantations, and the amount of coffee
exported exceeds twenty millions of dollars per annum. Tea
cultivation has been introduced recently, and the quality is said
to be excellent. There cannot be any doubt of this, because it
finds a ready market here. None has been exported. If it were not
a remarkably good article the foreign would be preferred, as we
all know a domestic article has a world of prejudice to overcome
at first. I shall watch the Ceylon tea question with interest, and
hope that at some not distant day the production of tea leaf may
rival that of the coffee bean.
I have no intention to enter into any political
question--certainly not into the merits of Free Trade vs.
Protection; but I must own I was surprised to find that one-fifth
of the total revenue of the island is derived from taxes upon the
daily food of the people, two-thirds of this from a tax upon
imported rice, and the other third from native grain.
Ceylon teaches many lessons. The liquor traffic, for instance, is
managed throughout the entire island as a governmental monopoly.
Distillation is restricted to a few specified distillers who can
sell their product at wholesale in open market, but the right to
retail is restricted to certain taverns, which are rented year by
year to the highest bidders, subject to stringent conditions. Pure
arrack only can be sold at fixed prices, and lessees are held to
strict account for drunkenness and disturbances. The liquor
monopoly yields £170,000, or about one-seventh of the whole
revenue, which in 1873 was £1,241,558 ($6,200,000); about ten
shillings per head, as against England's two pounds and more.
The main roads of Ceylon are equal to those of Central Park; so
they should be, for their cost has exceeded £2,000 per mile. Ten
thousand dollars!--we could almost build a railway in the West for
this. However, it is not as much as it costs in Britain to get the
right to begin to spend money on a railway; so we must
congratulate the Ceylonese upon getting a splendid return for
their investment. During our brief sojourn in the island (alas!
all too short as I write these pages) we travelled over every mile
of railway there. This sounds large to one who judges of a railway
system by that of the United States--a hundred and twenty thousand
miles; there were then only about a hundred miles in all
Ceylon--two short lines. To-day there are doubtless a hundred and
Fifty miles in operation, as the line under construction between
Colombo and Galle was expected to be opened in two years more.
This brings Japan and Ceylon about even upon the railway question,
though the population of Ceylon is only about one-twelfth that of
Japan.
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