They constitute the germ of the present population, and early divided

themselves into four leading castes:--1st, that of the royal family;--2nd,

the Brahmins;--3rd, the merchants, peasants, and shepherds;--and 4th, the

sixty inferior common castes. At present there exist in Ceylon only the

two latter. The most numerous is that of the peasants, who, however,

meddle but little with the cultivation of the soil, but have arrogated to

themselves the exclusive and hereditary possession of all employments, lay

or ecclesiastical. The dress of the Cingalese usually consists of a cloth

wound turban-fashion round their head, and long white drapery. On festive

occasions they wear richly-adorned tight-fitting jackets of velvet or

wool, and on such occasions rank and power assert themselves by the number

of garments, to such an extent that frequently a wealthy man makes his

appearance in several of these habiliments, worn one above the other. The

Cingalese are shorter in stature than the Europeans, their average stature

being 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 5 inches, English. Their _physique_,

though graceful and delicate, is powerful and muscular, with a brawny

breast, broad shoulders, the muscles of the thigh strongly developed, but

with disproportionately small hands and feet. Their colour is commonly a

light-brown, their hair black and quite straight. The women are

beautifully formed, but even when they can, like Asokamalla of historic

fame, boast all the forty and six marks of the Cingalese ideal,[77] they

must fall far short of the European standard of female beauty, with their

bodies anointed with oil, and their mouths stained with the betel-nut. As

the Cingalese girls usually marry so early as 12 years of age, they

speedily lose the bloom of youth, and frequently have the appearance of

crones at 20. Another especially loathsome habit of the Cingalese is the

chewing the betel-nut, a custom so universally prevalent among all Indian

races, that not merely the men and women, but the very children exhibit an

extraordinary predilection for it. The ingredients of this masticatory

consist of the green tender leaves of the Betel-pepper-shrub (_Piper

betle_), the nut of the areca-palm (_Areca catechu_, or cabbage-tree),

some lime made of calcined shells, and tobacco, which, according to the

rank of the individual, they keep ready prepared by their side, in silver

or brass boxes, resembling snuff-boxes. These corrosive substances at the

same time stain the saliva so deep a red, that, after long use, the lips

and teeth seem as though smeared with blood.

[Footnote 77: Of these forty-six perfections of womanly beauty we extract

the following by way of example, from a Cingalese author:--hair, glossy as

the tail of a peacock, and hanging in ringlets to the knee, eye-brows like

the rainbow, eyes like sapphire, and the leaves of the manilla flower, a

hawk nose, lips lustrous and red as coral, teeth small and regular, like

the buds of the jasmine, neck thick and round, haunches broad, breast

firm, and conical like the cocoa-nut, the figure slight, capable of being

spanned by the hand, the limbs spindle-shaped, the sole of the foot

without any hollow, the skin free from any prominence of the bones,

sweeping in rounded curves, soft and tender.]

The language is an offshoot of the Sanscrit, copious, harmonious, and full

of expression, with threefold grammar, and as many vocabularies, viz. for

the royal tongue, the official or court tongue, and that of society at

large. To these there must be added the Pali, the learned, but obsolete

written language of the priestly caste, which the Cingalese have in common

with the kingdoms of Siam and Ava, in the further Indies. In this

language, itself but a dialect of the Sanscrit, all their sacred books,

traditions, and poetry are written. In many parts of the island the

knowledge of language and written lore are held in such high honour, that

grammar and literature form the entire study of the inhabitants. Reading

and writing are as common among the Cingalese as in England, except that

in Ceylon the women take no part therein. They do not write as we do, with

quill or steel pen upon paper, but engrave the characters with a

fine-pointed iron graver, or _stylus_, upon the leaves of the Talipot

palm-tree (_Corypha umbraculifera_), from which they slice a broad strip

for the purpose about 2 feet long, and several inches broad. These require

no further preparation than that they must be well smoothed beforehand,

and all inequalities removed. In order to render the writing more clear

and legible, the Cingalese rub it with a mixture of cocoa-nut oil and fine

pulverized wood-ashes, which imparts to it durability and prevents

obliteration. Great numbers, however, use the leaves of another species of

palm for writing upon, viz. the Palmyra palm (_Borassus flabelliformis_),

but those of the Talipot are preferred to all others for their closeness

of texture, and are alone used in important records and other documents.

The religion of the Cingalese is Buddhism, which in Ceylon still

flourishes in these times in all its pristine vigour. Buddha is not the

name of the founder of this belief, who is called Gautama, or Sakja-Muni,

but is only one of the numerous titles of honour invented by that

personage, who in the Sanscrit figures so conspicuously as a sage. Gautama

was born in the province of Maghada (now known as Reha), in Northern

Hindostan, B.C. 624. His parents were Suddhodana, King of Magadha, and his

consort Maja. Contemplating the degeneracy and misery of man, sunk in

deepest woe, Gautama attacked the doctrine of Brahma, rejected the Vedas,

or holy books, and founded the new faith, which consists of the following

fundamental propositions:--The Creator and Ruler of the world is a

supreme, invisible, purely spiritual (and for that reason obviously

impossible to be figured) Being, almighty, wise, just, beneficent, and

merciful. Man most fitly recognizes and honours the Deity by silent

contemplation: by the practice of chastity, temperance, and virtue he

attains to happiness. The complete fulfilment of all his duties confers on

him here on earth the dignity of a Buddha, or sage, and after death

consigns him to the beatific repose of _non-existence_[78] (_Nirwana_).

Condemned souls are born again in the forms of wild animals. According to

Gautama's teaching a fresh Buddha always appears at certain epochs, whose

existence is manifested by his extraordinary spiritual powers, by his

deeds, and by his prophecies, selected by destiny for the purpose of

enlightening the world as to the decrees of the Supreme Being, and to

restore religion to her pristine purity. The death of a Buddha is also the

commencement of a new reckoning of time. Gautama, who died about B.C. 542,

or some 2400 years since, was the forty-fifth and last Buddha that

appeared to the Cingalese; his doctrine must continue to operate for 5000

years, when, according to the Cingalese traditions, the next Buddha, or

Purifier, will appear. Gautama's belief, bequeathed by him to his

disciple, the Brahmin Mahakaja, was immediately translated into Sanscrit,

and speedily spread. Several hundred temples and monuments dedicated to

him are scattered in various parts of the island, and remain to this day

an evidence of the extent and influence of Buddhism.

[Footnote 78: The ten precepts of the moral code of Buddhism are as

follows:--Kill no living creature--do not steal--follow no unclean

occupation--tell no lies or untruths--drink no fermented liquors--live

exclusively on vegetables--anoint neither the head nor the body--go to no

singing parties or spectacles--do not sleep on a raised nor on a wide bed--

eat but once a day, and before noon.]

[Illustration: BUDDHA TEMPLE NEAR GALLE.]

On the day of our arrival we at once set off to visit one of these

Buddhist temples, in the vicinity of Galle. The edifice is small and

insignificant, only the carved woodwork of the door presenting any object

of interest as a work of art. In the interior is a gigantic figure of

Buddha, carved in wood, and in a reclining position; it is 20 feet long,

and painted yellow and red, with long flaps to the ears, and a lotus

flower on the head; while on the walls around, richly decorated with

scrollwork, dragons and lions, part painted, part sculptured, various

interesting episodes are represented in the history of Buddhism. Right in

front of the figure are placed a number of offerings of the most

miscellaneous description, beneath which are flowers and fruits; a small

tin box is also particularly conspicuous, into which every stranger is

expected to drop a piece of silver by way of present. Adjoining such a

temple are always to be found the _wiharas_, or residences of the priests

(_hamaduruhs_), and the spot where preaching and teaching are carried on.

The priests wear long wide vestures, yellow or white according to their

rank, or else only a single yellow outer garment, which falls in the form

of graceful drapery over the naked shoulders; their heads are shaved, and

they walk about quite barefoot, with a parasol of Talipot palm in their

hand, and observe with strangers a reserved, distrustful demeanour.

We were conducted all round by a young priest, of about 20 years of age,

who spoke a little English, which is not a very common accomplishment,

since the Buddhists have a great dislike for all that is foreign. Only at

the conclusion of our visit did the old, grey, half-blind superior priest

make his appearance, saluted us, but immediately left us to snatch from a

boy a shaddock (_Citrus decumana_), which is especially prized by the

Cingalese on account of the refreshing qualities of its juice.

The priestly office, however, does not deter a native from indulging the

disgusting habit of chewing the betel-nut, and this aged _hamaduruh_

became much more sociable on receiving some.

Adjoining the temple, which stands in a charming cocoa-nut grove, we first

got an idea of the extraordinary luxuriance of the vegetation of this

island. In a single enclosure, not much larger than an ordinary

house-garden, we saw coffee-trees, cinnamon-bushes, clove-trees,

nutmeg-trees, (_Areca catechu_), oranges, lemons, pine-apples, and

bread-fruit trees (_Arctocarpus incisa_), flourishing in wildest

profusion.

A second temple, which we also visited, was the Dadále Panzela, the

largest in the province, and the seat of the high-priest of the Buddhists.

This worthy personage, a septuagenary, is named Nanalangara Seresumana

Mahdamaradjigurù Ganatchari-Naikunangi, and is surrounded by a staff of

priests of the temple who are reputed holy, and who apparently venerate

him as a superior being. This temple did not differ much in construction

and arrangement from the first; but the place set apart for instruction,

where, at the time of our visit, some youths were busily engaged in

copying the sacred books upon palm leaves, as also the residences of the

priests, made a much more imposing impression, and spoke of a certain

degree of opulence. In the midst of a piece of ground laid out like a

garden was planted the sacred Bo-tree, which is looked upon as holy by the

Buddhists, because, according to an ancient tradition, Buddha was in the

habit of reposing under the shadow of its branches, as often as he visited

the earth. Towering above everything wherever a Buddhist temple is raised,

there a Bo-tree is planted; but the particular sacred tree, the original

plant from which the legend took its rise, grows at Anaradnapura, in the

northern part of the former kingdom of Kandi, whither it had been suddenly

translated from a far-distant land, and spontaneously took root in the

spot where it at present stands, in order to serve as a protection and

shelter for Buddha.[79] Ninety Cingalese monarchs are interred around it,

all of whom, by the temples and statues they erected to Buddha, are deemed

worthy of this pre-eminent mark of distinction.

[Footnote 79: The sacred Bo-tree (_Ficus religiosa_) of the Buddhists is

frequently confounded with the Banyan Tree (_Ficus Indica_), held in such

honour by the Brahmins, from which latter it differs in this, that it does

not throw out from its branches numberless twigs which take root again in

the earth. The incessant waving and rustling of the leaves and branches,

which is common to both species of _Ficus_, is regarded by the faithful

Buddhists as the effect of a fear-instilling scene of which the sage was

once witness under the Bo-tree; just as the Syrian Christians deduce, from

the fact that the Holy Cross was manufactured out of aspen-wood, that this

tree is trembling, even in our days, with anguish and terror. Singular,

what an important part the fig-tree seems to play in all religions,

including the Christian and the Mahometan!]

The grey-headed high-priest permitted the library of the temple to be

shown to us, which consists of a large number of Pali manuscripts,

inscribed on Talipot leaves, each of which was enclosed between two

elegant boards made of calamander wood (_Diopyrus hirsuta_), fastened with

strings, and enveloped in numerous folds of cloth, the whole guarded with

singular reverence, in lofty, broad, wooden cupboards, richly carved. When

we returned, the chief priest requested us to give him our names, and that

of the country we came from, upon which a young priest carefully wrote

down with a goose quill on a sheet of paper, in Cingalese language,

apparently with the view of showing us civility, some superficial remarks

respecting the _Novara_ Expedition.

Besides the pure Cingalese, the island is also inhabited by Hindoos from

the Malabar coast, Moors (the descendants of wandering Arabs and

Mahometans from northern India, who at present carry on the greater part

of the trade of the island), Malays, Javanese; then Portuguese, Dutch,

British of the various nationalities comprised under that title; and,

lastly, Negroes from Mozambique and Madagascar, who have formed alliances

with the Cingalese, and are rearing a numerous mixed race.[80]

[Footnote 80: What is related by various writers of the practice of

"running a muck" (a custom that seems to recall the frightful blood-feuds

of the Corsicans), long supposed to be peculiar to Ceylon, in which a

Malay thirsting for revenge, and armed with a naked "_kreese_," or dagger,

rushes through the streets like a madman, yelling "_Amock, Amock_" (kill,

kill), and runs the fearful weapon through the body of the very first

person he meets,--seems to be founded on a mistake. No one could give us

any particulars on the subject from personal observation. Sir Emerson

Tennant too, in his work on Ceylon, passes over this custom of "running a

muck," without a syllable of mention. Evidently the custom is not

naturalized in this island. It now prevails among the Malays of the Sunda

archipelago, while in Ceylon no instance has occurred within the memory of

man. That this tendency to murder is caused by the use of opium likewise

appears improbable. Crawford, in his most excellent descriptive dictionary

of the Indian islands, speaking of "running a muck," pretends it results

frequently from a monomania taking this particular form, and originating

in disorders of the digestive organs.]

Deep in the interior of the island, in the province of Bintang, N.E. from

Kandi, and towards Trincomalee and Batacalva, in holes in the earth, or

under the palm-leaves, reside the tribe of the Weddàhs or Veddàhs, the

most savage race in the island, traditionally said to be the aborigines

proper, who go about naked, with the exception of a girdle round the

loins, and use only bows and javelins, which however they manufacture and

handle with great dexterity.

According to one of the various Cingalese traditions, these Weddàhs are

the descendants of a very bloodthirsty, cannibal monarch, who, deposed by

his people, was only permitted the alternative of death, or of

withdrawing with the ministers of his cruelty to roam for ever amid the

solitudes of the forest. The dethroned king chose the latter alternative,

and thus became the little-to-be-envied progenitor of this rude savage

race. At any rate it seems worthy of note, that these Weddàhs, destitute

though they are of the remotest traces of civilization, are still regarded

as belonging to the privileged caste.

Owing to the shortness of our stay, we unfortunately had no opportunity of

visiting the interior of the island, or of seeing these Weddàhs. With

difficulty did we tear ourselves from the zone of the cocoa-nut growth,

and therefore only got acquainted with two places on the island, Galle and

Colombo, the latter the seat of government.

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF A HOUSE AT GALLE.]

Galle is, from its position, as also from its configuration, indisputably

the best and most important harbour in the south and west of the island,

as Colombo can only be regarded as an open, insecure roadstead. Founded in

the sixteenth century by the Portuguese, conquered at a later period by

the Dutch, and finally, at the peace of Amiens, transferred to the

English, Galle displays singularly few traces of its different masters.

The streets are narrow, but cleanly; the houses are for the most part

constructed of earth, with verandahs, or airy colonnades towards the

street, and rooms within, plastered to imitate stone, of spacious

dimensions, as is desirable, considering the heat of the climate. As one

enters from the roadway at once into the sitting apartment, and as the

door stands wide open all day to admit a free current of air, a sort of

open screen-work is usually put up before the entrance, to prevent a too

minute inspection of the interior, by the prying eyes of inquisitive

passers-by. At Galle we, for the first time, saw the "Punkah," a sort of

fan peculiar to India, which stretches from one end of the roof of the

room to the other, and being swung to and fro by a servant produces a

refreshing coolness. Here, too, we first became acquainted with the

"Gecko" (_Hemidactylus maculatus_), an elegant little house-lizard, which,

with graceful agility, runs to and fro upon the walls, windows, and roofs,

and speedily becomes as familiar with man as a pet-dog or kitten. They

usually make their appearance towards evening, when, without the slightest

symptoms of timidity, they begin their surprising evolutions, during which

they catch gnats with astonishing dexterity, and although they are

disagreeable objects to all new comers, one speedily becomes accustomed to

these harmless, innocuous, playful little animals, of which the Ceylonese

are in the habit of relating many interesting and amusing anecdotes.

Of late years, during which Galle has risen into considerable importance,

as the converging point of the lines of steamers to Eastern India, China,

and Australia, the number of substantial houses has greatly increased, and

several large hotels are found here replete with every comfort. Like most

European settlements in India, the Cape, and China, Galle possesses a fort

in which, at an earlier period, the European colonists dwelt with their

wives and families apart from the natives, and has also a "Pettah," or

Black Town, a sort of Cingalese Ghetto, exclusively inhabited by the black

population. At present this separation is not so strenuously enforced as

in earlier times, but whoever would seek to form a more accurate idea of

the various races of this population, its mode of life and its demeanour,

must leave the so-called "Fort," and wander through the native or

Cingalese quarter. Here are the fruit and vegetable markets; here all was

devoted to buying and selling, which seemed to excite the otherwise

listless little covetous disposition of the Cingalese; here jugglers and

snake-charmers exhibit, who excite interest rather by the horrible nature

and the foolhardiness of the performances, than by their executing any

surprising feats. A belief is prevalent among the people that this

singular class of men, greatly resembling our own gipsies, possess the art

of depriving a poisonous serpent of its venom, and rendering it

innocuous. And, in fact, one does see them produce from a white cloth the

dreaded Cobra di Capello, 4 or 5 feet long, and exquisitely marked,

irritate it violently, and go through all manner of unpleasant

performances with it on their naked bodies. Frequently the serpent, weary

of being constantly brought out for exhibition, endeavours to escape from

its tormentor, whereupon a general scramble for escape takes place among

the spectators. Every one hurries off to a safe distance, and the

unfortunate charmer is left alone on the scene with his eminently

intractable pupil, and has, into the bargain, given his exhibition in

vain. As, however, it not unfrequently happens that the bite of the Cobra

di Capello is followed by fatal consequences to the snake-charmer himself,

it is highly probable that the whole mystery resolves itself into courage,

and the shrewdness with which, availing themselves of the uncommon dread

and aversion with which this animal is regarded, they are able at once to

prevent him from making use of his deadly poison fang, and to put forth

their own sleight of hand. This explanation seems also to account for the

very remarkable fact that men have ventured to domesticate this dangerous

reptile in more places than Ceylon. Indeed, within the experience of Major

Skinner, a thoroughly trustworthy personage, who has resided for many

years on the island, and to whom the naturalists of the Expedition are

indebted for many acts of kindness, an instance actually occurred in the

neighbourhood of Negombo, in which a wealthy man, who keeps large sums of

specie in his house, bethought him of the singular precaution of having

several deadly cobras to watch the treasure in lieu of dogs. Day and night

they glide about, a terror to thieves, while they are quite harmless to

the inmates who feed them and attend to them!

In former times snake worship (_Nagas_) was universal throughout Ceylon,

and, as in India, the cobra received divine honours from the natives,

because it was supposed to be a metamorphosed king. This serpent, however,

is so singularly and wonderfully endowed by nature, its appearance and

motions are so peculiar, that an imaginative people like the Cingalese may

well be excused for associating the idea of metempsychosis with its aspect

of mystery.

From Galle, an excellent road, following the coast-line the entire

distance, leads to Colombo, the seat of government, 75 English miles

distant. Every morning there starts from Galle for that destination, the

"Royal Mail" coach, an uncomfortable, somewhat dangerous, mode of

conveyance, in which this distance is traversed in from 8 to 10 hours. In

order to travel more at our ease, we engaged an extra waggon. In Ceylon

people usually employ, on long excursions, but one horse, which is changed

at distances varying from 6 to 10 miles. We had some difficulty in

reconciling this custom with our predilection for travelling at our

leisure. The first few hours of our journey passed away very pleasantly;

the road was excellent, and the country magnificent and charming. We

seemed as though driving through a park inhabited by thousands of men, and

planted with cocoa-nut palms--amidst which occasionally the white dome of

a Buddhist temple, or the minarets of a Mahometan mosque, shooting up

above the summits of the palms, imparted an aspect of life to the

landscape--while in the gay bazaars that fringed the road, the few

necessaries of life required by the exceedingly frugal natives were

exposed for sale, temptingly arranged on palm or plantain leaves. The

whole south-western coast district is so populous that the huts of the

natives were continually in sight, right and left, under the forest shade,

and the scenery in consequence seemed as full of life and careless

enjoyment as though the people had nothing else to do but walk about under

palm-trees. This impression was the more strengthened, that we rarely

perceived a man with anything else in his hand than a Talipot leaf, or a

Chinese parasol, to protect himself against the burning rays of the sun,

which shone almost directly overhead. Of the women, on whom for the most

part fall all the troubles and hardships of life among the Cingalese, we

only saw a few carrying to the city heavy baskets balanced on their heads.

The luxuriant, widely-extending cocoa-nut forests, which on the south and

west sides of the island stretch down to the sea-shore (whereas on the

eastern coast they are altogether absent), seem independently of the

necessity of paying all due care to the maintenance of one of the

necessaries of life, to be specially indebted for their existence to the

circumstance that additional planting of this tree, as also its careful

cultivation, is one of the religious observances and duties of the

servants of Buddha. Whoever plants a cocoa-nut, palm, or bread-fruit tree,

performs a work agreeable to Buddha. At the birth of a son, or on any

similar festive occasion, it is customary to plant a few cocoa-nut shoots

in the earth. Cocoa-nut palms form a very important part of the property

of a family. The father divides them as heritable property into equal

portions for bequest to his children. Not one single palm but has an

owner, though instances occasionally occur in which several families are

supported by the produce of a single palm!

This peculiar phenomenon has been followed by most remarkable results

bearing upon the social condition of the native population. Increasing

poverty, and the ever present grinding necessity of preventing any further

subdivision of the joint property, have impelled the natives to resort to

the unnatural remedy of the brothers of a family having but one wife among

them! The fact that there are in Ceylon fully one-tenth more men than

women, was the cause of the rapid spread of this custom, and upheld

Polyandria, or plurality of husbands, as a desirable invention for

remedying the deficient supply of females. Many a female has three, four,

or even seven husbands, and all children that are born of such a wedlock

have equal rights, and are (differing in this respect from the law of

Hindostan, by which only the children of the eldest brothers are

registered, as the entire property belongs to him, while all the younger

brothers serve him as vassals, and can be driven by him out of the house),

the _lawful_, recognized heirs of the different fathers. In order to guard

against the rise of law-suits respecting birth and heritage among the

Cingalese, in consequence of their local customs, the British courts of

justice, singular to say, find themselves constrained to recognize this

disgraceful custom, and to interpret the law with reference to it.

Although in the maritime provinces plurality of husbands has been signally

on the decrease, owing to foreign influences, it still prevails to a great

extent in the interior of the island. The submissiveness of the Cingalese

to their superiors and their monarchs is assigned as the origin of this in

other respects very ancient custom, which seems to have been universally

in use among the various races of the mainland of India from time

immemorial. Constrained to apply their own manual labour in cultivating

the land of their tyrants, and frequently to accompany them on distant

journeys, they thought they could, during their absence, most surely

protect their own fields and crops against utter ruin, by apportioning

wife and chattels among brothers and nearest relatives, and thence the

family tie was gradually converted into a socialist community.

The almost endless cocoa forests, which we were traversing by splendid,

broad, level roads, not alone provide the native with, to him, the most

important necessary for supporting existence, but the fruit itself forms

at the same time so important and valuable an article of produce, that the

cultivation of the cocoa-nut has been regularly and systematically carried

on by European enterprise since 1841--at present covering an area of

23,000 English acres--while the proportion of native land on which this,

the most useful growth of the tropics, is cultivated, amounts to about

100,000 acres. Formerly, the nuts were shipped to foreign parts for the

extraction of their oil; but for this purpose there are now on the island

itself, especially in Colombo and Galle, a considerable number of

manufactories, at which the oil already expressed from the nuts is usually

at once put into casks for exportation. The quantity of oil thus exported

annually is estimated at from 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 gallons, worth from

£100,000 to £150,000. Besides this, the elastic fibre of the outer husk of

the cocoa-nut is used in the manufacture of ropes, door-mats, &c., and,

under the name of Coir, forms an important article of export, the annual

consumption averaging between 30,000 and 40,000 quintals (centner weight),

worth from £20,000 to £25,000.

The first station on leaving Galle for Colombo is Bentotte, where, as is

the custom all through the country, there is a "resting-house" open to all

travellers, similar to the "Choultries" in India, the "Caravanserais," or

lodgings for pilgrims, in Eastern countries, or the "Pasangrahans," of

Java. These resting-houses, which all through the interior of the island

are found on the highways and forest roads, are among the oldest

institutions of the country, and were formerly maintained at the expense

of private individuals. The resting-houses, which have been erected under

the English rule on the main roads of the island, are in all respects of a

far higher class, and strongly resemble the waiting-rooms of our own

(German) railroads. One is not merely provided in these with shelter, but

also with food and drink, at a fixed tariff. A special committee (the

Provincial Road Committee) is appointed to superintend the management of

these resting-houses.

Here we partook of a luxurious "tiffin," as the customary meal between

breakfast and dinner is called in Ceylon, as well as throughout India; and

in so doing, made acquaintance for the first time with the renowned Indian

dish "Curry," which consists of flesh or fish prepared with a powder

compounded of spices. It tastes so hot that the European palate only gets

accustomed to it by degrees; but in these countries it is looked on as the

favourite dish, which must never be absent from any meal, because the

cayenne pepper plentifully sprinkled over it, stimulates the stomach and

promotes digestion. Hence the curry-powder is in immense request, and is

largely exported. The assertion that this dish was first invented by the

Portuguese is quite erroneous, as the chronicles of the country establish

that it was in request in Ceylon in the second century before Christ.[81]

[Footnote 81: According to Professor Wilson, "Curry" is but a corruption of

the Carnatic term _Májkki-Kari_, a dish composed of rice, sour milk,

spices, and red pepper.]

As we mounted into our vehicle again, after a short halt at Bentotte, in

order to resume our journey to Colombo with a fresh horse, we perceived

that our driver, a negro, had been too free of his visits to the

brandy-bottle, and occasionally took to rolling on the box. In the hope

that he might become sober by the way, we ventured to proceed, but ere

long he lost his balance, and fell to the ground, compelling us, to avoid

further mishap, to retrace our steps on foot to the nearest village--thus

reversing the order of matters, and, so to speak, escorting our horse,

coach, and driver. This occurrence, unimportant and hardly worth

mentioning in itself, was the occasion of an interesting adventure. As it

was only with much difficulty that we could make ourselves intelligible to

the natives, we resolved to apply to the authorities in the very first

place we came to. It turned out that we were in the vicinity of the

Catholic mission of St. Sebastian de Makùn, whose superior was a

Benedictine from Rome. The church is situated amid the rich vegetation of

the primeval forests, the gigantic trunks of whose trees, supporting a

huge diadem of luxuriant foliage, are arched into a natural dome of the

most graceful proportions. With curiosity whetted to the uttermost, we

advanced along a beautiful path, beneath cocoa-palms, cabbage trees,

bread-fruit trees, screw pines, tree-like ferns, and broad-leaved bananas,

till we reached the dwelling-house of the Mission, and introduced

ourselves to the missionary. Forthwith the latter, a tall, stately figure,

with handsome features and cultivated manners, and dressed in a woollen

robe, ushered us into a darkened chamber opposite, and received us most

cordially. This worthy priest, by the name of Miliani, was not less

surprised at being visited at this solitary mission by Austrian

travellers, and with the most lively satisfaction and the utmost readiness

to oblige, offered us all the assistance in his power. In spite of our

hurry, we had to take a cup of coffee _à la Romagna_, with our hospitable

missionary, and to promise to visit him on our return journey. Father

Miliani has already lived many years in this country, and ministers to a

Christian community of more than 1000 souls. Altogether there are in

Ceylon about 50 Catholic missionaries under a Bishop whose residence is in

Colombo. Our priestly host was greatly respected by the Cingalese, but he

evidently was overjoyed at being able once more to express his thoughts

and feelings in his native Italian.

It was evening ere, with many a hearty shake of the hand, we tore

ourselves away from the cordial hospitality of St. Sebastian de Makùn.

Horse and driver this time gave hope of faster progress. But we were

doomed once more to experience a severe disappointment, and although we

were only about 10 or 12 miles distant from Colombo, which was our

destination, it took us five long hours to get over the ground. The night

was very dark, but the road was continually illuminated with torches of

palm, carried by the homeward plodding natives, which emitted a gloomy

light alternating with showers of sparks.

When at last we got to Colombo about midnight, pretty well knocked-up, we

comforted ourselves with the reflection that the inconveniences attending

personal transport between Galle and the seat of government, can by no

means be classed among events of rare occurrence; since, in consequence of

the inveterate obstinacy of the native horse, one must have recourse to

the most incredible expedients to get the carriage under weigh. For

instance, at every station the ears of the post-horse were twisted

together and then suddenly relaxed in order to set the vehicle in motion;

and, when this torture failed, a pole, or thick stick, was inserted under

the tail of the recalcitrant, and rubbed up and down till the poor animal,

smarting under this painful operation, took to the collar. Once the

carriage is started in this extraordinary fashion, the coachman swings to

and fro at the peril of his life, and endeavours by continually "pitching

into" the horse, to keep him at the gallop. Thus between whooping and

whipping the next station is reached, where the same trial of patience

awaits the traveller, and a similar martyrdom for the next horse.

Our first business the following morning was to take a walk through

Colombo, which, like Galle, consists of "The Fort," or White City, and the

"Pettah," or Black Quarter, in the latter of which are situated the houses

and shops of the natives, and where the chief traffic and the greatest

activity are combined. Here one rarely encounters a white man, for even

the soldiers and police belong to the brown and black races. The natives,

however, manifest, outwardly at least, a great respect for the whites, and

everywhere draw aside reverentially when one makes his appearance.

In the middle of the main street are some Buddhist temples. We were not,

however, permitted to enter, unless we consented to take off our shoes. At

several of the natives' houses the entrance porch and windows were gaily

adorned with plantain leaves. On inquiring of our Cingalese attendant what

was the occasion of this manifestation, he replied in broken English that

the inmates were celebrating "Christmas," wishing probably to express that

the natives celebrated a feast analogous to our Christmas.

The filth and unsavoury odours which prevail in the Black Quarter, and the

noise and yelling of the natives, speedily drive visitors back to the

European portion of the city, which altogether, with its gloomy, decayed

aspect, makes anything but a favourable impression. The public buildings,

the houses of the mercantile community, the warehouses, and

fortifications, all bear the impress of the Portuguese settlement of

bygone centuries; and as its commerce is attracted more and more every

year to Galle,[82] there remains but faint hope that this quaint type will

not ere long be effaced by a new style of building, albeit the inhabitants

of the capital promise themselves a restored reign of activity and energy,

as the result of railway communication with Galle.

[Footnote 82: The value of the produce exported annually from the island

(chiefly cocoa-nuts, coir, cinnamon, and coffee), is above £2,000,000, and

the imports of European manufactures are about the same amount.]

During our random promenade through the streets of what is called the

Fort, we perceived at a sugar-baker's in Chatham Street--the most select

quarter of Colombo, and containing the most important warehouses, which,

however, are far from elegant in their appearance--some rough ice offered

for sale, which had a curious effect in a town so near the Equator, and

presenting such few evidences of luxury in other respects. This ice is

brought round the Cape of Good Hope from the United States, and is chiefly

shipped from Boston. The daily consumption of iced-water, ices, and so

forth, is estimated at about 1000 lbs., costing about one shilling the 8

lbs. It is impossible to repress a feeling of astonishment at these

speculative Yankees who, despite all obstacles interposed by temperature,

transport in all directions and over thousands of miles an article so

perishable, so easily destructible as ice, and are able to drive a

profitable business in it in the hottest and most diverse regions of the

globe--in the West Indies and South America, in Asia, and in Africa.

The traveller who visits Colombo will hardly fail to make an excursion to

the Cinnamon Garden, in order to inhale the fragrant and peculiar aroma,

and enjoy tasting the tender rind of this remarkable shrub, which plays so

conspicuous a part in the history of Ceylon. During the palmy days of

cinnamon culture, the five principal cinnamon plantations of the southern

half of the island extended some 15 or 20 miles. For this one lucrative

product of the soil all others on the island were abandoned, with most

deplorable consequences. The cinnamon culture, a monopoly of the various

governments which one after another conquered Ceylon, and domineered over

its inhabitants, was carried on, especially by the Dutch East India

Company, with terrible severity. The slightest embezzlement of cinnamon,

or wilful damage to the plant, was visited with death. The unintentional

breaking off of a twig of the cinnamon bush was punished with amputation

of the offending member. Every cinnamon bush, even to those growing in the

gardens of private individuals, was the property of the Government, and

the cinnamon collector, or even cinnamon-peeler alone, had the right to

strip off the rind when ripe. To destroy such a plant, or even to dispose

of it to any one, was regarded as a crime affecting life. The labourers,

who were employed in the cutting off, peeling, and preparation of the

rind, belonged to the caste of Chalias, and constituted the lowest grade

of that class. In like manner, under the English rule, the monopoly of

cinnamon was at first continued, with such disastrous consequences to the

trade that it was finally abandoned in 1832, and the merchants of Colombo

and Galle were left to divide among themselves the exportation of this

important article, under an exporting duty of 3_s._ per lb. These duties,

however, were found much too high, as the highest price obtainable in

Europe was from 6_s._ to 7_s._; and this advance in the price to the trade

of the genuine article, was the cause of foreign merchants turning their

attention to the supply of various species of cinnamon-bearing laurels and

cassias, growing in Cochin-China and Java.

When Government, recovering at last from its delusion of treating

cinnamons, which at first had seemed indigenous to the island of Ceylon

alone on the earth,[83] as a national monopoly, reduced the export duty to

one shilling, and ultimately repealed it altogether, the various

substitutes had already found their level in Europe, as affording a larger

supply at a much more moderate rate, and the cultivation of the finer

kinds became less and less each year. Prices fell, and the consumption was

diminished. Only the coarser sorts repaid exportation. Nay, it even led to

the interesting and curious result, that just as, previous to the high

price under monopoly, the low-priced cassia displaced the finer sort of

genuine cinnamon, at the present day the coarser sorts of cinnamon are

beginning to oust the cassia from the English market, whence all the world

are supplied. At present there are from 14,000 to 15,000 acres planted

with cinnamon, chiefly in private hands, and producing annually from

800,000 to 900,000 lbs. of cinnamon, worth from £40,000 to £50,000

sterling.

[Footnote 83: Sir Emerson Tennent, in his work (vol. i. p. 599), challenges

the assertion that Ceylon is the native country of the cinnamon-tree. In

no European or Asiatic chronicles is any mention made of cinnamon as a

product or article of commerce in Ceylon up to the end of the thirteenth

century. Although it was from the earliest times imported into Europe from

Africa through Arabia, the natives trading with Ceylon first knew of the

existence on the island of this important shrub about the twelfth or

thirteenth century. Hence Sir Emerson looks upon Africa as the native

country of the cinnamon-tree.]

The chalias, moreover, are no longer, as formerly under the Portuguese and

Dutch, _adscripti glebæ_ for life, or slaves that could be purchased with

the soil, but free labourers, who are entitled to demand proportionate pay

for the lightest services rendered.

The Cinnamon Gardens in the neighbourhood of Colombo, although for the

most part gone to decay, nevertheless impart to the whole scene a

singularly cheerful, agreeable aspect. The bushes, from 4 to 6 feet in

height, with their smooth, beautiful, light green leaves, resembling those

of the bay-tree, and their pale, yellow flower-stamens shoot up doubly

fresh and succulent, from the snow-white quartz soil in which they best

thrive. The flowering season of the cinnamon is in January, and the fruit

ripens in April, when the sap is richest in the shrub. In May the boughs

are begun to be "barked," which process continues till October. The

pruning and gathering of the yearling shoots, which are about the

thickness of a man's thumb, is very laborious, and employs many hands.

Each labourer cuts off as many as he can conveniently carry in a bundle,

then, with the point of a crooked knife, made for the express purpose,

strips the entire rind from the wood, carefully scrapes off the exterior

corticle and innermost layer, and lays the stripped-off cinnamon rind, now

reduced to the thickness of parchment, in the sun, where it dries and

curls together. All round the hut, in which the peeling of the rind is

carried on, is diffused a most exquisite aroma, caused by the breaking of

the leaves or twigs. What is related, however, by various travellers of

the fragrance of the cinnamon forests, which they have scented at a great

distance seaward, would seem to indicate that this delicious odour

emanates from various other aromatic plants in which Ceylon is so rich,

rather than the cinnamon groves, the aroma of which, indeed, is not

perceptible beyond the immediate vicinity. The best description of

cinnamon is not so thick as stout paper, and is fine-grained, flexible,

light brown, or golden yellow, sweet and pungent; the coarser qualities

are thick-skinned, dark brown, acrid, stinging, and leaves a bitter

after-taste. In the warehouses, the cinnamon rinds and canes sorted for

shipping are piled upon each other, packed in bales of about 90 lbs.

weight each, and carefully sewed. In all cavities and spaces between each

layer an immense quantity of pepper is strewn, to preserve the cinnamon

during its sea-voyage, by which both spices are benefited, the black

pepper absorbing all the superfluous moisture, and gaining by the

fragrance of the cinnamon.

Consequent on the diminution of cinnamon cultivation, which undoubtedly

has resulted in great measure from the altered taste of mankind and the

consequent extraordinary falling off in the demand for this once

highly-prized spice, the cultivation of coffee in Ceylon has, during the

last 20 years, increased tenfold; and it is solely owing to the dearth of

available labour that this branch of produce, considering the splendid

profits it returns, is not even more extensively carried on. In 27

districts there are 404 coffee plantations, covering a surface of 80,950

acres, of which, however, only 63,771 acres are really productive. These

produced last year, 347,100 cwt., or 5-1/2 centners per acre. To this must

be added the quantity under cultivation by the natives, who possess about

36,000 acres of coffee plantations, and in the year 1859 alone, exported

180,000 cwt. We may safely assume, therefore, that the cultivation of

coffee is on the eve of transforming this island of Ceylon, from a mere

military station of England, into one of the most flourishing colonies of

the British Empire. Twenty years ago there were exported barely 60,000

centners, worth £180,000. In September, 1858, the export exceeded 600,000

cwt., which represented on the spot a value of £1,500,000 sterling. "When

capital and labour shall have become more plentiful," remarked to us a by

no means over-sanguine resident, "Ceylon will have in its mountain

districts 240,000 acres planted with coffee trees, yielding at the lowest

estimate, 1,680,000 cwt. of coffee annually." Here, as among the high

table-lands of Guatemala and Costa Rica, we have the reassuring evidence

how one of the most important plants for the civilized man can be

profitably cultivated, without having recourse to the blighting influences

of slave-labour, at the same time making the lands in which it is produced

both rich and prosperous.[84]

[Footnote 84: The coffee-tree frequently suffers, especially in Ceylon,

from an insect called the coffee-bug (_Lecanium Coffeæ_); as, however,

this troublesome insect has only infested the coffee plantations since

1848, and this branch of cultivation has nevertheless increased so

surprisingly since then, there seems no reason to dread that the coffee

plant will suffer by these bugs, in the same manner or to the same extent

as the vine by the ravages of the _fungus_.]

While the cultivation of the coffee-plant has been followed by such

splendid results, the repeated attempts to introduce the sugar-cane have

been on the contrary as uniformly failures--so that of the numerous

plantations established by Europeans, there are at present no more than

five remaining. In all those localities where the temperature seemed

adapted to the growth of the sugar-cane, the nature of the soil, and the

too great humidity have prevented its thriving.

On the other hand, the island possesses two natural products in which but

few spots on the globe are qualified to enter the lists with her, and

which may be expected to increase in value and importance in proportion as

science assumes her share in their exploration. These products are PEARLS

and PRECIOUS STONES.

The most productive pearl banks lie on the west coast of Ceylon, between

the 8th and 9th degrees of North latitude, near the level, dreary beach of

Condatchy, Aripo, and Manaar. The pearl fisheries are a monopoly, and,

therefore, under the inspection of the Government. Former governors had

counted too much on the abundance of this natural treasure, and in their

blind haste to fill the coffers of the State, had so exhausted the banks,

that suddenly, from a source of revenue they became an item of

considerable deficiency, and, from 1838 to 1854, could no longer be

dredged. From a net annual return of £120,000 sterling, the yearly return

had sunk to £10,000, of which nearly one-half was consumed in the

attendant expenses. Now-a-days the work is gone about more circumspectly,

a scientific examination having been made by a native naturalist, Dr.

Kelaart, of all the oyster banks on the west coast. We had the pleasure,

while at Colombo, of becoming personally acquainted with this very able,

unassuming gentleman, who presented us with several memoirs of his own,

touching upon the latest facts that had been ascertained with reference to

the pearl oyster. One special result of his various researches has been

the demonstration of two facts of the utmost importance to the pearl

fishery, and which hitherto had not been fully ascertained--that this

mollusc possesses locomotive powers; that its occasional disappearance is

perfectly natural; and that, moreover, the pearl oyster may, without any

injury, be transplanted from one locality to another--nay, even from salt

to brackish water. The first-named observation explains the occasional

disappearance of the pearl oyster from certain beds,[85] even when they

have not been inordinately thinned by too keen a quest after gain; the

latter opens up the pleasing anticipation of the pearl oyster being

susceptible of very extensive propagation, by a process similar to that of

pisciculture, or artificial breeding of fish (such as the colonies of

edible oysters which are met with in the South of France), by

transplanting them to such places as seem best suited to the conditions

necessary to their highest development. What a splendid conception it were

to plant the sea-coasts of Ceylon with pearls, and thus throw the wealth

of the island in precious stones into the shade, by the treasures she

would possess in the depths of the sea!

[Footnote 85: This singular property of the oyster, in virtue of which it

can be fed to as confirmed obesity as a prize-ox, and admits of nearly as

much dexterity in "crossing," if we are to trust the palates of

"gourmets," as the Southdown and Leicester breeds of sheep, has received

its most extraordinary development in the vicinity of New York, where the

amount of capital sunk in the oyster trade considerably exceeds

£1,000,000! The finest of these are transferred as spawn from the beds in

the East River, or Long Island Sound, to the "nurseries," which are

situated in the brackish water near the head of the tide-way, just below

the "Highlands of the Hudson." Here they are carefully tended for some

months, till, their education being completed, they are re-transferred to

their native beds, and fed there with oatmeal daily; while, by some

mystery of the craft, the spawning season is postponed, except in the case

of those that are selected for propagating the race.]

Exactly at the period of our arrival at Colombo, the preparations were

being resumed at Aripo for the take of the oysters, which commences at the

beginning of February each year, and lasts about three weeks. It is, in

fact, a sort of jubilee time for the people, at which the Governor and

numbers of the wealthier classes mingle with the populace. Ordinarily this

spot becomes at that season a rendezvous for the poor and the wretched,

and a rallying point for all manner of abominable odours, filth,

troublesome flies, and intolerable heat, despite which drawbacks the

fishery is visited by thousands of boats, and hundreds of thousands of

men, who flock hither with the alluring prospect of speedy and abundant

wealth, or have been attracted from all parts of the Indian Continent by

the singularity of the spectacle. Suddenly, as though evoked by the wand

of a magician, a regular town starts into existence, of tents, or even

neat huts, with bamboo and cabbage-tree palings, roofed over with

palm-leaves, rice-straw, or coarse thick woollen cloth; booths for the

sale of merchandise "rise like an exhalation" during the night to supply

necessaries of all sorts to the converging multitudes from the interior,

as well as the fleets of visitors from seaward; and last, not least, the

divers themselves. Swindlers and mountebanks throng hither, adroit thieves

creep stealthily about, all Indian customs and fashions are represented,

all castes jostle each other. Priests, and the subordinate hangers-on of

the various sects, hurry about, and jugglers and Nautch girls vie with

each other in amusing the noisy multitudes.

The result of numerous experiments has proved that no diving apparatus can

replace the human machine, the cost of which, moreover, is a fixed

definite quantity, viz., the fourth part of the pearls brought up, which

is the diver's share. In each boat, or "Dhonie," are ten divers, each

having an assistant. Before the divers proceed to descend, a number of

quaint ceremonies are gone through, and incantations murmured, as well in

the boats as on shore, by the so-called "shark-charmers;" indeed, the

superstition of the divers, who for the most part come from the Coromandel

coast, is so great, that not one of their number, Christian or idolator,

would continue in this employment without the countenance of the sorcerer;

and the Government finds itself compelled to pay the impostors.[86] They

levy a tribute of ten oysters upon each boat.

[Footnote 86: In 1857, the chief shark-charmer was a Roman Catholic!]

Accidents with sharks are of rare occurrence: the noise of 1000 divers on

the water at once seeming to scare the animals. Moreover, the dark colour

of the skin of their bodies, acts as a considerable protection to the

divers, so that there are numbers who blacken their legs, in order still

more to alarm the monster.[87]

[Footnote 87: An encounter in the water between a shark and an expert

swimmer, armed only with a knife, is not so unequal an affair as might at

first be supposed. The pearl fishers of the Gulfs of Panama and Nicoya

only use a short stick, with which, if the sharks get _above_ them, they

stir up the mud, under cover of which they swim along the bottom for a

little distance, and then shoot up to the surface. Of the equality in

which a good swimmer armed with a knife feels himself in encountering a

shark, there are numerous instances. Many years ago, when shipping was

more plentiful in Kingston Harbour, Jamaica, than at the present day,

vessels had occasionally to put up with somewhat awkward berths, when they

used regularly to "foul their anchors," whereupon it became necessary, of

course, to send some one down to free the cable. For this purpose, negro

divers were employed, and one man attained a wide reputation from having

himself, unscathed, slain in fair combat at different times, no less than

five sharks! Ultimately the sharks steered clear of any black man who had

a knife suspended round his neck.]

After these preliminaries, the divers go down into the water, each

carrying a basket-shaped net, in which to bring up the oysters, when

selected--a stone of from 15lbs. to 25lbs. weight being fastened round the

body, so as more readily to enable him to sink to the bottom. When at a

depth of some 5 or 6 fathoms, the diver unfastens the stone, which is

forthwith hauled up. He now throws himself forward on his face, and keeps

himself as close as he can to the ground, while he rapidly rakes up and

collects together all that is within his reach, so as to fill his landing

net. He crawls along in this manner during the minute of his submersion,

over a space of from 40 to 50 feet; and so soon as he pulls the cord

attached to his plaited basket-edge, it is immediately hauled up, and he

himself speedily follows it to the surface.[88]

[Footnote 88: The divers are mostly old men, vigorous and healthy in

appearance, thus dispelling the general notion that deep-sea diving

weakens the body and shortens life. We were told of one diver, employed

during the year 1856, in the pearl fishery, who was so stout and fat, that

in addition to the ordinary diver's stone, he had to make fast a

considerable weight to his body, in order to sink himself in the water.]

The utmost depth at which the diver can safely remain seems to be about 40

feet, beyond which blood is apt to issue from the nose and ears. They

seldom remain above 50 or 60 seconds under water, although cases

occasionally occur in which the stay under water is protracted to 80

seconds. The diving is carried on for 5 or 6 hours without intermission,

so that each of the ten divers can, in the course of a day, bring up from

1000 to 4000 oysters. By dint of good fortune, and close packing, about

150 oysters are brought up in each basket-net, while occasionally an

unprolific bed does not give more than five or ten oysters. So soon as the

oysters have been dragged to land, they are sorted in shares, of which one

goes to the oyster fisher as his remuneration, and the remainder are sold

in lots of 1000 each to the highest bidder. Now begins speculation. Chance

presides here, quite as capriciously as at a lottery or another game of

hazard. It often happens that a single oyster contains thirty or forty

pearls, of which some may be worth a sovereign on the spot; but it more

frequently occurs that several hundred oysters do not yield a single

pearl. The small, valueless pearls, called also "seed pearls," are burnt

down, and sold as pearl-lime to the wealthy Malays, by whom it is used as

a luxurious addition to the betel and cabbage nuts, as masticatories. The

Ceylonese mix the lustreless pearls with other grains, with which they

feed the poultry, in whose croops the pearls regain their former

brilliancy after a few minutes' grinding. The croop is then slit up, and

the glittering stones extracted, white as the most beautiful

pearl-muscular tissue.[89]

[Footnote 89: This method of procedure, which is adopted by the rest of the

Indian races, and in which the lustreless pearls are swallowed by hens,

pigeons, and ducks, so as to be polished up, after being subjected to the

preliminary digestion of these birds, has been proved to be anything but

beneficial to the pearls as regards loss by attrition. Careful observation

has established, for example, that four pearls, weighing twelve grains,

have lost four grains by undergoing this process during twelve hours,

while eight others, weighing thirty grains, were reduced to twenty grains

after a sojourn of two days in the gizzard of a duck.]

The pearl oysters caught on the coast of Ceylon are all of the same

species (_Meleagrina Margaritifera_), uniformly oval in shape, and about

9-1/2 inches in circumference. The number taken in Ceylon annually must be

numbered by millions. In the year of our arrival to Ceylon (1858), the

pearl fishery yielded £24,120. According to the last returns, before us as

we write, there were in the year 1859, 1352 boats engaged during eighteen

days in the pearl fishery, the gross take of which amounted to 9,534,951

oysters, sold for £48,216. The divers' shares amounted together to

2,126,749 oysters.

The wide-spread popular delusion, that the pearl in the oyster is but a

produce of disease in the animal, has long been refuted by scientific

research, and although the great German poet, Henry Heine, in his

"Romanzero," sings,

"Those world-famed pearls,

They are but the wan mucus

Of a sad oyster,

Dimly sickening in the depth of the sea!"

it is rather a poetic fancy than a scientific fact. We have latterly been

especially indebted to the German naturalist, Theodore von Hessling, for a

very circumstantial and thoroughly exhaustive memoir on the natural

history of the pearl oysters and their pearls,[90] in which the learned

author seeks to establish that the enveloping matter of the germ of the

pearl is identical with the covering of the animal, and that in the

process of growth two influences are at work, an external and an internal.

The first is called into play by the property peculiar to the hinge system

that unites the double shell, of gaping wide open, in consequence of which

extraneous substances rush in with the current of water, such as minute

fragments of quartz, molecules of plants, &c., which, being detained

either circling in the cavity, or eddying round the hinges, are seized on

in the course of their revolutions, and entangled in the parenchyma of the

various organs, which is specially secreted from the mantle, till it

becomes enveloped by layers of solid shell. On the other hand, the

internal development is closely allied to the conditions of deposition

and subsequent growth of the shell-matter. Molecules, either a single

grain or congeries of grains, varying from 9.01 to 0.05 of a line (3/4 of

an inch down to the 1/240th of an inch), enclosed in the _epidermis_ of

the shell, constitute usually the _nuclei_ of the pearls, which, to a

certain extent, may be considered as nothing but a portion of the

_epidermis_ not applied to the formation of shell. The pearls also are

simply independent concretions growing in the creature, and consisting of

the substance of the shell, which are with difficulty discriminated from

the various descriptions of growths which constitute the inner surface of

the shell.

[Footnote 90: Die Perlen-Muschel, und ihre Perlen, Naturwissenschaftlich

und Geschichtlich mit Berücksichtigung der Perlen-gewässer Bayerns,

beschrieben von Theodor von Hessling, Leipzig, 1859.]

The great importance of the pearl as an article of luxury and commerce,

has naturally led to numerous attempts to manufacture them by artificial

means, in the course of which extraneous bodies have been introduced

between the mouth and shell of the animal, sometimes with, sometimes

without injury to it. The Chinese especially are adepts at placing certain

small bodies, specially prepared, in the shells of the pearl oyster,

which, after a short time, becomes coated with mother-of-pearl, or nacre.

This manufacture of artificial pearls is carried on on a large scale in

the neighbourhood of Hong-Chow-Foo. During our stay at Hong-Kong and

Shanghai respectively, we ourselves saw several mussel-shells, in which a

mother-of-pearl covering had formed over small neatly carved figures,

mostly sitting figures of Buddha,[91] the singular appearance of which

would, at the first glance tend to make the observer suspect that the

pearl had been fastened to the mussel by some adhesive substance. But we

had so frequently an opportunity of satisfying ourselves by actually

witnessing the entire process, that we could no longer doubt that the

carved figures are with the utmost care introduced into the animal, and,

after remaining a few days in the water, become attached to the mussel by

a distinct membrane. This, their membrane, afterwards becomes

interpermeated by the calcareous matter, till, finally, layers of

mother-of-pearl are deposited all around the nucleus, the whole formation

corresponding with the chalk-like concretions occurring in other

creatures.

[Footnote 91: The antiquity of this experiment is proved by the fact that

the _Topographia_ of Ischikiang speaks of a pearl, which had been sent to

the Imperial Palace at Pekin, 490 B.C., which resembled Buddha, and

apparently must have been produced by this same method; although likewise

the priests of Buddha, at that early epoch, might not have objected, in

the interests of their religion, to make capital out of such a specimen of

artistic skill.]

Besides the pearl-shells, the northern shores of Ceylon, especially

between the Island of Manaar and Karativoe, are especially rich in beds of

a volute mussel (_Turbinella rapa_, or _soluta gravis_), which are

exported in great numbers to India, where the Hindoo women saw them into

rings of all sizes, to be worn as ornaments on the arms, legs, fingers and

toes. The chank-shell is likewise a chief instrument of the Buddhists,

who, amongst other devout customs, blow three times a day on this sacred

shell, to summon believers to worship.[92] It is also used as a festive

ornament of the Indian temples, as well as a donation to the dead, which,

inspired by a religious feeling, the survivors place in the grave

alongside of the corpse of their illustrious departed.

[Footnote 92: According to the most ancient annals of the Cingalese, the

chank-shell is sounded in one of the superior heavens of the demigods

(similar to the conk-blowing Tritons of Grecian mythology), in honour of

Buddha, as often as the latter wanders abroad on the earth.]

The gems found on the island are distinguished, less for their intrinsic

value than for the great variety of precious stones which are present.

They are, with few exceptions, found to have been disengaged from the

primitive rocks, and washed into the alluvial soil, especially in the

outskirts of the mountainous districts, where they are rolled along the

beds of the streams together with other pebbles, or are washed out of the

alluvial deposits. Hitherto, they have only been searched for for purposes

of trade, and then only in the most desultory and thriftless way, no one

having as yet examined the rocks themselves, by the disintegration of

which the valuable stones are disengaged. There was, indeed, no detailed

information as to the wealth in precious stones of the island, until the

researches of the English mineralogist, Dr. Gygax, who has very lately

published on this subject many interesting observations and remarks. The

locality in which precious stones are most abundant is, so far as present

experience goes, the district of Saffragam, the capital of which in

consequence takes the name of Ratnapoora, or Anarhadnaporra, "the city of

rubies." They are also found at various other parts of the island; in the

plains on the West coast, between Adams' Peak and the sea, at Nuwera

Ellia, Kandy, Matelle, and Ruanwelli, near Colombo, as also in Matura, and

the river courses on the eastern side, towards the ancient Mahagam. The

geologist of the Expedition visited some mines of precious stones near

Ratnapoora. These are situated on the Kaluga-Sella, a small tributary of

the Kalu-Gunga, and lie, some in the very bed of the river, some on the

steep bank. They are about thirty feet deep, but having been some time

disused, they are full of water. The uppermost stratum of these pits or

mines is a rich fertile yellow loam, exactly resembling our diluvial

loams. This is succeeded, according to the report of the proprietor of the

mines, by a slimy black clay, and clayey sand, beneath which again is a

bituminous clay, holding numerous organic remains, such as leaves, trunks

of trees converted into a substance resembling lignite, and not

infrequently elephants' tusks and bones of animals; thereafter sand, and

lastly a bank of rolled gravel, forming a species of conglomerate with

red, yellow, and occasionally blue clay--being, in fact, what is known as

stone-gravel. This bank of pebbles is the layer in which the precious

stones occur, and these are most commonly found between the larger masses

of agglutinated matter, that are always found especially to abound in

gems, whenever they are superposed upon what is called malave, which

appears to be a sort of greenish-coloured talc-like half-decomposed mica.

The most valuable stones that are obtained from these mines are rubies and

sapphires. In the Kalu-Gunga, also, precious stones are occasionally

washed down, and as the geologist of the _Novara_ Expedition was

descending the river in a boat, from Ratnapoora to Caltura, he perceived

at several places, more particularly at the various rapids, men standing

in the water, provided with flat pan-shaped baskets, in which they sifted

the sand and pebbles.

The gems found on the island are rubies, sapphires topazes, amethysts,

garnets, cinnamon-stone, and tourmaline. On the other hand, all the

diamonds, emeralds, carnelians, agates, opals, and turquoises, which the

natives offer for sale, are imported from India. One precious stone, on

which the Cingalese set an exceedingly high value, because they

erroneously believe that it is peculiar to the island of Ceylon, whereas

it is also found on the southern shores of Hindostan, is the "Cat's-eye,"

a greenish transparent quartz, which, when polished in its natural shape,

or "_en cabochon_," exhibits in its interior a varying reflected light,

undoubtedly arising from the presence of fibres of asbestos, and which, in

fact, bears some resemblance to the eye of a cat. The natives, as a rule,

estimate the value and symmetry of this stone by the brilliancy and

tenuity of the beam which it emits, and the clear olive-coloured ground

upon which it shines in relief.

A vast number of men give themselves up to the exciting but most uncertain

occupation of searching for precious stones, and barter what they have

found, chiefly to Mahometan merchants, for clothes and salt. As, however,

the natives themselves set a high value on jewels, in consequence of

their small bulk admitting of their being readily concealed and easily

carried about, the finer descriptions are readily disposed of at a good

price, and, singular to say, it has frequently happened, as we ourselves

found by personal experience, that precious stones are dearer in Colombo

and Galle than in the European markets! The explanation of this paradox is

probably that the steady copious influx into the London and Paris markets

of precious stones from all parts of the earth where jewels are found,

admits of by no means such excessive fluctuations in value as at Ceylon,

where the supply actually on hand is so varying, and where the value of

the article almost always depends upon the rank and wealth of the Indian

purchaser. The foreign traveller very often cannot restrain a feeling of

surprise at seeing the fingers of the stately Mahometan jewellers adorned

with rings of costly gems, which are only offered for sale to himself at

an exorbitant sum.

The value of the precious stones of all sorts found in Ceylon in the

course of a year is estimated by Sir Emerson Tennent at about £10,000,

one-fourth, at least, of the entire quantity finding a market on the

island, a full half being sent to the jewel-polishers of India, so that

only the remaining fourth is exported to Europe.

The scant time allotted to us at Colombo was zealously occupied in seeing

the utmost that we could of the many interesting objects that invited

attention. Among others, we visited one of the largest industrial

enterprises in Ceylon, known as Hultsdorf Mill, a cocoa-nut-oil factory,

the proprietorship consisting in shares, of which the largest holder is

David Wilson, Esq., the Austrian Consular Agent. Here are carried on all

the various processes connected with the manufacture, the preparation of

the oil-cake from the cocoa-nut, the expressure of the oil, &c., which are

carried on by apparatus, partly sent out from England, partly put up in

this country, all set in motion by steam-engines. The task assigned in

these factories to the natives, of whom above a thousand are employed in

the various departments, is, nevertheless, not the less important and

significant, that, while machinery is used in those processes where it is

necessary to use an agency far transcending the powers of mere human

labour, all collateral products, such as soap, candles, perfumery, as also

the implements and tools required for the works, and even the barrels and

chests required for the transport of the manufactures, are prepared and

used by handicraft labour.

To the thoughtful visitor it is a scene of no ordinary interest to behold

several hundreds of Cingalese, Hindoos, and Mozambique negroes, all

thoroughly conversant with the management of the most magnificent

invention of the nineteenth century. Here are a number of artisans

employed at the hydraulic presses and iron turning-lathes; in another

apartment the various parts of the different machines are being

constructed or put together, which regulate the pressure of the steam

supplied to the apparatus when in activity; in a third, persons are busy

examining and testing the resulting products with scrupulous precision.

With all its development, European industry has, in this quarter,

exercised but an obscure influence; and, thus far, has been productive of

but small results as a civilizing element among this population, which has

hitherto shown itself so little disposed to accept the Christian form of

civilization.

In the large warehouse belonging to Mr. Wilson, we also saw huge heaps of

"Kauris," or Cowries, (_cypræa moneta_), the renowned, or rather

ill-reputed, species of mussel, which comes from the Maldive Islands, and

plays so important a part in the commerce with the coast of Malabar and

the interior of Africa; while here, it constitutes the sole medium of

exchange, which is used by way of barter for almost all sorts of

agricultural produce, chiefly among the blacks.[93] These mussels are sent

from Ceylon to London, and thence back to the Eastern Coast of Africa, and

thus indirectly uphold the slave-trade, as, the native merchants of that

region barter these shells, so greatly sought after by all African tribes,

as ornament, for negroes and negresses, who are in turn sold to the

"speculators in human flesh." A ton of these shells, of which the smaller

description are most in request, and therefore the most valuable, costs

in Ceylon about £70 to £75.

[Footnote 93: The Malay name for this mussel is "beya," implying duty,

toll, tax, thus leaving it open to conjecture that that nation, in their

commerce with the Asiatic and African continents, have for untold ages

employed the same principles of currency and expressions of value as

ourselves.]

To the kindness and active interest in our objects of Mr. Wilson, in whose

agreeable villa at Mootwall--the plan and method of construction of which

reminded us of the beautiful planters' houses on the sugar estates of

Louisiana--we spent the last night of our stay at Colombo, we are also

indebted for a copy, with which he presented us, of the most ancient

annals of Ceylon, inscribed with an iron graver upon Talipot palm-leaves

in the highly-esteemed Pali language, and preserved between richly-carved

boards of the costly wood of the Kalamander tree (_Diospyrus Hirsuta_).

This carefully-preserved MS. includes, among others, the celebrated epic

poem "Mahawanso," (an abbreviation "Mahantaman Wanso," "Genealogy of

mighty men,") which recites under 100 heads, and in 9175 verses, the most

important events connected with the interior constitution and history of

the island, as also of all the battles fought by the inhabitants in

foreign countries from B.C. 543 to the year 1758, A.D. Of these, the most

renowned historic relics of the Cingalese, 38 chapters, of 262 pages 4to,

were translated into English by George Tumour, Esq., an eminent Pali

scholar, and printed at Ceylon, in the year 1837. Unfortunately, his

earnest desire to publish the rest of this highly-interesting work was

destined not to be gratified. The grave closed over him ere he could

realize his wish. At present, however, there is a prospect of the

translation of the "Mahawanso" being completed by Mr. James de Alwis, a

worthy follower in the footsteps of Mr. Turnour, chiefly through the

munificence of Government and of the Scientific Institutes, which were

invoked to supply the requisite assistance for the prosecution of an

undertaking likely to prove so unremunerative.

In addition to the copy of the "Mahawanso," we also procured a number of

other important Cingalese MSS. on Talipot palms, which were made use of by

Tumour, partly in his translation of the "Mahawanso," partly in his other

works upon Ceylon, and which embrace numerous valuable historical details

not comprised in the "Mahawanso." This complete collection of the most

antique annals of the Island of Ceylon, in the purchase of which we were

kindly favoured with the advice and assistance of Mr. Wilson at Colombo,

together with a variety of other Cingalese MSS. on palm leaves, collected

at a subsequent date, now form part of the collection of valuable books in

the Imperial Royal Library at Vienna.

Besides Mr. Wilson, our very best thanks are due to the Colonial

Secretary, Sir C. J. McCarthy, who had the kindness to provide several of

the members of the _Novara_ Expedition with the requisite letters of

introduction to the authorities in the interior of the Island: also to Mr.

John Selby, the very obliging proprietor of the _Examiner_; to Dr.

Kelaart, physician and naturalist; to Charles P. Layard, Esq., the

Government Agent for the Western Provinces; and to Captain Gosset,

Surveyor-General, for their numerous attentions. The last-mentioned

gentleman very kindly provided us with a pair of level-tubes which we

urgently needed for one of our levelling instruments, and which, in this

quarter of the globe, were more rare and difficult to be met with than

pearls or precious stones.

Our return from Colombo to Galle, was not less marked by misadventures

than our journey thither. As far as Caltura, where our amiable Father

Miliani was in waiting for us with his neat single-horse equipage, to

convey us to the beautiful parsonage of St. Sebastian Makùn, all went

tolerably smoothly with us. We arrived, as had been concerted, to

breakfast with this hospitable shepherd of souls. On our way to the

parsonage, we noticed that great respect was paid to the worthy Father, by

such of the Cingalese as met us. Their usual salutation was to bend

themselves to the earth, veiling their eyes at the same time, and bending

forward the outstretched head as though to implore a blessing. Father

Miliani, who held the reins in his left hand, while his right hand

flourished a long heavy whip, slightly inclined his body upon the

cabriolet, and so dismissed in peace the poor folk that besought his

benediction. When we had now got pretty near the parsonage, we were

suddenly brought to a halt by a couple of natives, of whom one implored

the spiritual ministration of the Father for his wife, then lying almost

_in articulo mortis_, while the other had brought with him, from the

sacristy of Makùn, the Communion-plate required for the purpose. The

priest, to whom this interruption seemed to come as a matter of course,

stopped, apologized for the unexpected delay, threw the reins to one of

the party, sprang from the waggon, and disappeared in the gloom of the

forest. It was not for long, as it proved; for the stately, handsome

figure of the priest of Makùn presently appeared between the cocoa-palms.

He had found the woman much less dangerously ill than he had been led to

expect by the report of the husband, the native converts to Christianity

being very much given to requesting the administration of the rites of the

Church, upon being attacked by the slightest indisposition, because they

anticipate much more benefit from spiritual treatment than from the

medicines of their body-curers. And now we proceeded on our way to the

parsonage at a smart gallop, which, however, did not prevent a zealous,

much-believing Cingalese from keeping up with the mettled horse, stride

for stride, for the entire distance, keeping close to the waggon as he ran

alongside. We were not then aware, indeed, whether this violent bodily

exercise was undertaken as a matter of choice or as a penance, but it

seemed to us, in any case, an act far less meritorious than prejudicial to

health.

In St. Sebastian de Makùn, the entire community were awaiting our arrival,

and escorted us by a romantic hill, and through a delicious palm-forest,

to the priest's abode. Here we found the porch of the house gaily adorned,

and metamorphosed with tropical fruits and flowers into a smiling fragrant

bower, with the feathery leaf of the cocoa-palm cut into thin strips. The

inventive ingenuity of the Cingalese had endeavoured to represent the

various birds found in tropical forests, which were suspended in

ornamental baskets of green leaves among the festoons. Over the entrance

to this bower, improvised out of materials supplied by the primeval

forest, was placed a picture painted by the good Father himself,

representing a large anchor, with the superscription in Italian "La

speranza non confunde!" (Hope never disappoints!) This was evidently a

delicate allusion of our kind-souled entertainer to the hope which he had

expressed during our previous visit, that he should see us on our return

from Colombo, "which had not been disappointed."

In the interior of the arbour appeared an elegantly appointed table, that

seemed ready to give way under the weight of good things spread upon it,

around which were placed a number of arm-chairs, worked in tapestry, while

the plastered floor was strewed with the glistening green leaves of the

_Ficus religiosa_. As soon as we had taken our seats, the members of the

community, consisting of more than a hundred tawny, half-naked Cingalese

(principally men and children), arranged themselves in a circle, and some

half-dozen dancers began to execute a very ordinary-looking dance to the

sound of a drum. The entire figure consisted in their simply approaching

each other from opposite sides, during which they struck the

hollow-sounding instrument pretty sharply, holding it in their hand the

while, after which they drew away from each other, and wound up by

dancing round in a circle in couples. A boy of eight, in glittering

costume, next performed a dance, in which he was accompanied by a grown-up

Cingalese who sung, occasionally accompanied by drum and fife. Frequently

we enquired what was the meaning of the vocal accompaniment to the dance,

but could get no information upon the subject. But we have always had

occasion to remark among the various primitive races, that they are rarely

able to give any connected account of the history of their dances or even

their songs, but simply go through a set of mechanical figures which they

have learned, or rehearse a set of words by rote, without being able to

assign any signification to either. Over and over again have we put the

question, only to receive the same stereotyped answer from Hindoos,

Negroes, Chinese, Malays, and Polynesians, that they could tell us nothing

more than that these songs and dances took their origin in the "olden

times." Breakfast was served in the arbour by Cingalese boys. As often as

the hospitable Father turned to apologize for his scanty means, which

prevented him from ministering to our entertainment as he could wish, some

new dish would be forthcoming, or some fresh kind of wine would be

produced, till one knew not which most to admire, the variety of the

entertainment, or its cost in preparation.

On inquiring of Father Miliani, in the course of conversation, whether he

had any acquaintance with the plants to which the natives ascribe healing

properties, he sent for a phial containing an oily substance, which;

according to the Cingalese herbalists, is composed of 57 different roots

and as many flowers, and has already been wonderfully efficacious in cases

of persons bitten by poisonous serpents. It is called by the natives,

_Visanili-Katail_ (oil against poison); and the priest of Makùn remarked

to us, he had himself had an opportunity of satisfying himself as to the

marvellous curative qualities of this vegetable substance, in the case of

persons who had been bitten by the most venomous snake in the whole

island, the _Cobra di Capello_, who had entirely recovered by the copious

use of this antidote. The application is very simple. The mouth is rinsed

out with it, and the patient further takes from 15 to 20 drops of the oil

internally. Unfortunately, we were not able to inquire more particularly

as to the ingredients from which the Visanili-Katail is compounded, of

which we eventually got a small quantity to carry away with us, after much

entreaty; but by way of compensation, Father Miliani was able to give us

much valuable information as to the manners, customs, and traditions of

his flock. He regretted, however, that they were all of a highly

impassioned strain, and that they constantly passed from one extreme to

the other. The following trait, which was pointed out to us by the Father

in the course of conversation, may serve to indicate the modes of thought

and observation of the natives. When the Cingalese perceived how eagerly

and with what warmth of friendship the Father received us, they inquired

of him whether he had been previously an acquaintance of ours, as they

were unable to conceive the existence of such hearty good-will between

persons who were utter strangers to each other. The priest, readily

appreciating the results which must flow from the reply he should give, in

confirming the devout souls of his children, replied that the reputation

of his name had long since penetrated to us, and we were unwilling to ride

by without turning aside to salute him, to which he had readily expressed

his assent, and had also long since been apprized of the important mission

of the Austrian ship of war, whose commander was termed by the natives,

with the bombast of their native tongue, "King of the Sea." At our

departure, the kind Father presented us with several interesting articles,

as _souvenirs_ of Makùn, while we, on our part, left with him a donation

in money to defray the expenses of erecting his church.

Father Miliani, the band of musicians, consisting of ten or twelve

wild-looking fellows, with all manner of barbarous musical instruments, of

which they made not less barbarous use, together with a laughing, yelling,

gesticulating crowd of half-naked Cingalese, with long raven locks

floating over their shoulders, accompanied us to our travelling chariot.

Here we took leave of the hospitable Father, the vehicle set out on its

route, and the whole brown retinue at once dispersed.

Hardly had we left the Mission of St. Sebastian Makùn behind us, ere our

troubles began afresh. At almost the very first station we came to, we

had to hire a horse from a resident at an exorbitant rate--the animal

belonging to the station, and which had been engaged for us, being utterly

useless. This gave occasion for fresh delays. The party letting the horses

was what is called a native doctor, who assumed the title of "native

vaccinator," and bitterly complained, that for his attendance four days in

every week, as required by the law, for the purpose of inoculation, he

only received from Government a monthly salary of £2 5_s._ sterling.

Whatever deficiency existed in his salary, he seemed determined to make up

for in the hire of his horse, which he charged for at the rate of ten

shillings for six miles! On the cash being forthcoming, our "native

vaccinator" did not disdain himself to take the reins, and, with his own

hands, apply the whip to his mare between the shafts of our vehicle. But

this mark of distinction was destined, ere long, to cost us dear. Hardly

had we proceeded a couple of miles under his care, when the hind-wheels of

the vehicle sunk into a rut, whence our Æsculapian steed lacked the

strength to extricate us. To complete the sum of our misfortunes, at the

very moment we were using our utmost endeavours to replace the waggon on

the regular track, it came on to rain heavily, and we were, in a

twinkling, wet to the skin. Some thirty young Cingalese, in the full dress

of Adam before the Fall, who were standing open-mouthed round the waggon,

could only be roused by threats from their passive attitude; and when,

finally, they lent a hand to assist, they, in their ill-timed zeal, came

near oversetting the waggon into the ditch on the opposite side. Next, we

exchanged this stubborn brute for one that was blind. For a brief space we

hoped the latter might probably be the more easily driven in consequence

of his not seeing what was going on around him; but these anticipations

were speedily dispelled, and in a rather unpleasant manner. The short

distance that now separated us from our destination seemed as though it

would never have an end; and, in a word, it was already verging on

midnight ere we reached Galle, where we had been expected to dinner five

hours before, by our hospitable friend, the Consul for Hamburg. Some of

the invited guests had already left this agreeable house, while others

were still seated at the whist-table, as, wearied and exhausted, we

entered the drawing-room. The circumstances that had so seriously delayed

our arrival were explained by way of apology, and proved the subject of

some goodnatured quizzing on our misfortunes by the guests present; and in

such agreeable society, and over a sumptuous supper, we speedily forgot

the trifling annoyances of our latest experiences.

In the course of a desultory agreeable conversation about the natural

beauties of the island, many were the plans of more distant excursions

which we projected this evening--which, however, upon more mature

consideration, all proved impracticable, owing to the scanty time at our

disposal. Thus we found ourselves, much against our wishes, compelled to

forego a visit to Kandy, and its beautiful environs, in which is situated

the renowned temple that enshrines the tooth of Buddha, the occupation of

which by the English was, in the eyes of the Cingalese, the most manifest

indication of their being the legitimate conquerors of the kingdom.[94]

Neither were we able to take part in an elephant hunt, although these

animals are found in the island in such quantities, that it is related,

with every appearance of accuracy, of a single elephant hunter, the late

Major Rodgers, who was struck dead by a flash of lightning a few years

since in the midst of the forest, that he had, in the course of his life

of active exercise, laid low fifteen hundred elephants with his own hand!

But permission was granted by the commander of the Expedition to the

geologist and one of the zoologists to remain in Ceylon, and rejoin the

frigate at Madras by the steamer which runs fortnightly, so as to enable

them to ascend the world-famous Adam's Peak, 7000 feet high, one of the

loftiest peaks in Ceylon, where, according to tradition, the founder of

the Buddhist doctrine, when last he visited the earth, in answer to the

supplications of a priest, left behind the print of his footstep

(_Sri-pada_), as a visible sign of his presence.

[Footnote 94: The legend relating to these relics, about which so many wars

were waged, goes back as far as the third century of the Christian era,

when Mahasana, a true believer, having become King of Ceylon, purchased

these teeth for numerous valuable presents, of one of his kindred, a

Calinga king in Bengal, who sent them over by his princes. The tooth

Dahata Wahansa immediately achieved a miracle--it illumined the entire

island, and supplanted all heretical teaching. It was forthwith enveloped

in a hundred cloths, and a temple erected to enshrine it, since which it

has been regarded as the Palladium of Ceylon. When, in 1560, this tooth

was transferred to the temple at Manaar by the Portuguese under Constantin

de Braganza, the king offered the Portuguese bigots 600,000 pieces of gold

by way of ransom. Braganza judged it more advisable to destroy the tooth.

But he little knew the adroitness and subtlety of the Buddhist priesthood.

The very next morning the tooth, that had been supposed to be destroyed

was marvellously found in a Lotos leaf in the temple, where it had been

deposited by Buddha himself!]

We cite, in the following extract, the most prominent features of this

venture, as supplied by the two members of the Expedition who undertook

it, so as to complete the description of the _Novara's_ visit to Ceylon:--

"On 13th January, 1858, we proceeded from Colombo to Ratnapoora, _en

route_, to visit Adam's Peak, a tolerably long and tedious journey. On the

margin of a river we encountered an elephant, who was engaged in assisting

the labourers on the public roads in that vicinity. While our car and the

baggage were being embarked here, and again put in order, this animal went

through a number of tricks, such as swaying to and fro, lying down,

raising his trunk, and trumpeting, the latter of which, at a sign from his

driver, he did with a vengeance, and for so doing was rewarded with a few

plantains. These exercises seem to constitute the first steps in taming,

as they were gone through in a similar manner by all the elephants we

afterwards saw, whether employed like this one in task-work, or maintained

for show, or made use of in the Temple service.

At mid-day we reached Ratnapoora, and as we were anxious to shorten as

much as possible our next day's journey, we decided on pushing forward in

the course of the afternoon, as far as the little village of Gilli-Mali,

seven miles further on. We had been provided by C. W. Layard, Esq., the

Government Agent in Colombo, with letters of introduction to his deputy,

Mr. Mooyart, at Ratnapoora, who, however, we unfortunately found was

absent from home. Next day, however, we had unmistakable evidence that our

letters had, very shortly after our departure, reached the hands they were

intended for, by a variety of precautions which the hospitable gentleman

must have at once arranged with a view to our greater comfort. While yet

on the second-half of our road to Gilli-Mali, night overtook us, and we

prosecuted our march by torch-light through the dense jungle. Our guides

and porters had shown some reluctance to enter this jungle, partly on

account of the swarms of land-leeches (_litchies_, as they are termed

here, doubtless by a corruption of the English name), which are especially

active during the night, partly from other causes of anxiety. Accordingly,

they kept reciting Cingalese ditties, alternated with shrill yells, or

shouted, so as to be heard at a distance; whether to drive away evil

spirits, or to frighten the _chetah_ or leopard, we could not ascertain.

No long time elapsed ere we ourselves began to perceive traces of having

been victimized by that most uncomfortable of guests, the land-leech. The

naked Hindoos were incessantly occupied with pulling off these painful

blood-suckers, and we had to call a halt from time to time, in order to

loosen and carefully fling them away, as they had succeeded in reaching

the skin, through the trousers immediately above the boot. They are found

up to an elevation of 4000 feet above the sea on the mountains, chiefly in

damp or wet localities, and are most active during the evening and night

in the selection of a victim.

At Gilli-Mali, we fell in with Mr. Braybrooke, an English engineer, who

most hospitably invited us to his bungalow, and with whom we conversed

upon topics relating to Ceylon, till far into the night.

Next day we had to ascend the Peak itself; which is in so far a difficult

undertaking on the side from which we approached it, that one has gained

no vantage-ground at Gilli-Malli, our last night's resting-place, towards

reaching the summit, so that one sees it in its entire colossal height of

above 7000 feet directly in front; whereas, in ascending from Kandy, one

has already, at Neuwera Ellia, attained an elevation of 4000 feet, which

can be performed in a carriage. We set out at 7 A.M., and after an

hour-and-a-half's march, gained the last village, Balahab-a-Dullu, in the

Buddhist temple of which is kept a flat metal dish, adorned with silver

_rosettes_, with which the imprint of the holy footstep is covered over at

the season of the annual pilgrimage. On the table, before a colossal

figure of Buddha, were strewn, as usual, a quantity of flowers presented

by the faithful; these were the flower-shrubs of the _Areca palm_,

_Hibiscus_, _Alamanda_, _Tagetes_; also, close to the wooden statue, are

placed several small figures of silver or wood, 3 or 4 inches long. The

priest also showed us a magnificent manuscript of at least 1000 palm

leaves, closely and beautifully engraved on both sides with Cingalese

characters, which belonged to the temple, and was guarded with great care.

At a solitary house on the road, we left our guides and porters to discuss

their modest repast, which, in consequence of the strict ordinances of the

Buddhist faith, consists of vegetable substances only. Reclining on a mat

spread on the ground, each took a piece of green plantain leaf, scattered

upon it a little rice which they had just brought with them, and some

chili (red Spanish pepper), and thence conveyed their simple food to their

mouth with the hand. This frugal meal was speedily concluded, and we once

more pushed forward. From this point we had the dense covert of the high

forest trees, the lofty foliage of which afforded a most agreeable shade,

and kept us comparatively cool. The path, which consists simply of

ravines, formed by the rush of torrents during the rainy season, is so

steep that it seems like one uninterrupted flight of stairs, the steps of

which seem partly constructed by Nature, partly by the hand of man.

Frequently they are artistically chiselled in the solid rock; at one

stupendous precipice a Cingalese monarch has had four flights, of 250

steps in all, hewn out of the living rock. Here and there, also, ladders

have been contrived, the rounds of which are composed of pieces of bamboo

bound together, by which one clambers up. The whole route bears marks of

being much used, and is considerably worn, the stones being rubbed quite

smooth. Under the damp shade of the forest are found a vast quantity of

the most beautiful ferns and _Lycopodium_ (Club-moss; or Wolf's-claw, as

it is called in Sweden, whence the Linnæan name); from the delicate beauty

of the _Jungermania_ (Star-tip), to the tree-like fern, _Filius

Phyllophisidos_, which vies with the giants of the forest. The more deeply

shaded spots are adorned here with beautiful balsams, a genus of plants

which, besides being unusually luxuriant and beautiful in this district,

exhibits certain peculiarities of form not usually met with.

At one place, called Nihilabellagalla, there was pointed out to us, at a

few paces to the side of the road, near a rugged projecting rock with a

steep declivity in front, a narrow valley which seemed to be closed in by

perpendicular walls of rock on the opposite side. This _cul de sac_, we

were informed, was a favourite resort of numerous wild elephants. A shot

fired at this point, with the gun directed towards the rocks opposite,

returned a thundering echo.

By 4 P.M. the last halt, or resting-place, was reached, above which the

singular-looking cone towers sheer overhead, some 500 or 600 feet high.

The vapours which, during the entire day, had been playing about the

summit, from time to time lifted like a veil, as though to indulge us with

an opportunity of beholding this sublime mountain-peak under the magical

effect of twilight. Our native retinue, which had gathered fresh

accessions of strength at every place we passed, and now consisted of from

24 to 30 persons, showed no inclination to proceed farther, but appeared

desirous of passing the night at the last halting-place, which was nothing

but a sort of hovel. It was only by a resolute expression of our

determination to reach the summit the same evening that they gave in.

Their reluctance arose from an idea that no one could with impunity pass

the night on the highest point of the mountain--which, indeed, is natural

enough, since the sharp night-air at such an elevation may well be

prejudicial to the health of those who are not sufficiently protected

against its attacks.

The last portion of the ascent is so steep, and so difficult, that all

superfluous baggage was left behind, and we took with us only what was

absolutely indispensable. Thus far we had seen occasional traces of

elephants, sometimes so fresh, that they could not have been more than an

hour old. According to a report of Major Skinner, the unmistakable marks

of one of these animals was remarked in the year 1840 quite close to the

rock which bears the sacred footprint! At the steepest points, iron

ladders have been made fast, by which the visitor has to scramble up.

There were, also, innumerable chains fastened to the rock, of every

description and variety of link, which swung to and fro by dozens on

either hand, some eaten away with age and rust, some forged quite lately,

it being considered a meritorious work to provide such as a protection

against the occurrence of accidents. By 6 P.M., we at last reached the

summit, and were rewarded with a panoramic view of indescribable

magnificence. The mists were almost entirely dispersed, and in the clear,

calm, evening light, the eye wandered at pleasure over the vast, almost

limitless, panorama at our feet, as far as the sea, barely visible in the

grey distance. Bounding our view from north-west to east, the mountain

ranges rose by three distinct terraces of hills, each behind the other,

and in regular gradations, till they culminated in the highest peak on the

island, the Pedro-talla-galla, which overtops Adam's peak by nearly 1000

feet,[95] but presents no pre-eminent peak, similar to that on which we now

stood. The remainder of the horizon was filled with low mountains, which

gradually became more and more flat as they approached the coast. The

followers of three religions,--Buddhists, Brahmins, and Mahometans, stand

face to face with each other on this space of barely a few steps, in order

to bow before these visible emblems, in sincere devotion to the invisible

Deity. The highest surface, which is nearly level, is of an irregular oval

form, and is about 60 or 70 feet in length, by from 36 to 40 feet in

breadth, and is inclosed within a wall 5 feet in height, with two

entrances on the west and south, while the north-east corner is shut out

by an artificially rounded rock, easily surmounted, however, by any one

who ascends it. In the middle of this enclosure stands a block of rock

some 10 or 11 feet high, which, on the extreme top, has a depression, the

divine _Sri-pada_, or Holy Footstep. The adoration consists chiefly of

offerings of flowers which are brought up hither, and presented with

innumerable genuflections, invocations, and exclamations of "_Sadoo_,"

which corresponds to the Christian Amen. The impressed foot-print is

ascribed by the Buddhists to the last incarnation of Buddha, the gentle

hermit Gautama; while it is regarded by the Brahmins as the footstep of

Siva, and by the Mahometans as that of Adam, as being the spot on which

the progenitor of the human race stood so long, doing penance after his

expulsion from Paradise, until the Almighty pardoned him.

[Footnote 95: The precise relative elevations of the two mountains are,

Pedro-talla-galla 8280 feet, Adam's Peak 7420 feet. Two other peaks of the

main range are also higher than Adam's Peak, viz. Totapella 7720 feet, and

Kirrigal-potta 7810 feet, while the plains, or table-lands, of Welinani

and Neuwera Ellia are, respectively, no less than 6990 feet and 6210 feet

above the level of the sea.]

This depression, in which only the most unbridled imagination can see any

resemblance to the human foot, is about 5 feet in length by 2-1/2 in

breadth, and is set, as it were, in a level stratum of mortar, several

inches in height, by six in breadth, shaped to resemble the outline of the

human foot. At its anterior extremity, it presents a straight line, on

which the five toes are artificially formed by several tolerably thick,

narrow crevices, filled with mortar, and about 8 or 9 inches in length,

which jut inwards, the great toe being on the right or east side, and thus

indicating that it is a representation of the left foot. At the heel end

the setting of mortar is somewhat narrowed and rounded off. Over the whole

affair a wooden temple with balustrades open on all sides, has been

erected, which is fastened by iron chains to the rock, and to beams of

rhododendron fastened on the N.W. side, outside the wall, to prevent its

being swept away by the storms which, on this lofty, exposed peak,

occasionally rage with great vehemence. These cables, as also several of

the poles by which the temple was supported, were thickly hung with carved

figures of Buddha enveloped in linen cloth, which, originally the votive

offerings of pilgrims, and bleached by long exposure, fluttered in the

breeze. On the front of the temple is erected a penthouse roof, shading a

bench beneath, on which several of our porters, who regarded our impious

presence, and still more impious admeasurements of the holy footprint,

with a horror which they flattered themselves was unobserved, deposited

their offerings of flowers, and humbly bent the knee. On the west side,

under two small distinct roofs, were two bells, and quite apart, on the

rock itself, and somewhat in the background, a smaller temple. Between the

block of rock and the inner half of the enclosure, a small house has been

erected, 12 feet long by 6 feet broad, which is used as a shelter at night

by the priests who are on duty during the pilgrimage season,[96] in which

we too took up our quarters. Suddenly, from the depths below there arose,

through the unbroken silence of the night, a confused murmur, in which the

sounds of human voices were plainly recognizable. The singularity of such

a phenomenon produced a certain degree of excitement among our

superstitious spectre-dreading followers, inasmuch as it had never

happened that strangers undertook the ascent of the peak at night, seeing

it gives trouble enough to reach the summit by daylight. By degrees we

perceived a number of torches borne by natives, who, with loud and

long-continued cheers, set about slowly ascending the ladders. To the

inquiries of our followers they made no reply; and we had, in a word, to

wait a considerable interval, until, indeed, the leading torch-bearer had

reached the summit, ere we were enlightened as to the object of this

mysterious nocturnal visit. How great, and let us add, agreeable was our

surprise at finding ourselves suddenly surrounded by a choice array of

wines, with food of various sorts, which the overflowing hospitality of

Mr. Mooyart had dispatched after us to the summit of Adam's Peak, together

with his card, the whole being conveyed in huge baskets by the supposed

spectres! A cheerful fire speedily blazed up, at which our tea and

provisions were cooked, and, as may well be supposed, while, enjoying our

delicate fare, we thankfully toasted the kind and thoughtful donor.

[Footnote 96: The dry season, occurring in the south-west side of the

island from January to April, is likewise the chief season of pilgrimage,

at the end of which the entire amount of the offerings, annually averaging

from £250 to £300 sterling, is handed over to the High-Priest of Buddha.]

Deep silence once more fell on all around, no cry of any wild beast

reached us at this elevation, no hum of insect broke upon the awful

stillness. Our coolies lay cowering together around the drooping blaze,

seeking some shelter against the night air. One division stowed themselves

away in a second sleeping-house for priests, which had been run up some

twenty paces distant, in which we also were in the end fain to seek

shelter from the ever-increasing keenness of the air, the temperature of

which fell to 54°.5 Fahr., where, with our wrappers drawn close around us,

and stretched at full length on the bare rock, we awaited the approach of

morning.

The first faint glimmer of dawn invited us once more to the open air, in

order to contemplate the wonderful aspect of Nature at this elevation. We

had, after leaving Ratnapoora, taken barometrical and thermometrical

observations, with the view of determining the elevation at nine different

stations, which had been, wherever practicable, selected in such manner,

that by means of them the various limits of certain classes of vegetation

were indicated, which in many instances are marked out with extraordinary

distinctness upon the perpendicular side of the peak. These series of

observations, which were at the same time supplemented by investigations

as to the temperature of the soil and of various springs, will be compared

with the results of previous scientific visitors to the summit of Adam's

Peak, and published in another form. The geology of the isolated pinnacle

of Adam's Peak, so far as the dense covering of primeval forests permitted

us to observe, is uncommonly simple and uniform. The chief directions of

the lofty chain of mountains in Southern Ceylon, separated from each other

by level plateau-like depressions, is from S.S.E. to N.N.W., corresponding

likewise with the chief directions of the strata of gneiss, of which these

mountains are composed. The gneiss is uniformly of a species not often met

with, studded with garnets, and between its strata are inserted single

beds of hornblende-gneiss and splinters of pure hornblende, as also

granulite-gneiss and pure granulite. The steep, final cone of the rock

consists of a granulitic gneiss of varying texture from coarse to fine,

and abounding in garnets. Everywhere, even up to the highest summit, the

gneiss is decomposed on the surface into laterit-like products. The huge

blocks of brown ironstone, however, which are found near the summit, in

the hollow path by which it is customary to ascend, owe their origin to

the decomposition of the hornblende.

After these interesting observations, admeasurements, and investigations,

made at the summit of the most remarkable peak in the world, had been

brought to a conclusion, we set out on our return to Gilli-Mali, which we

reached late at night. Here we found, at the abode of our hospitable

entertainer, Mr. Braybrooke, a fresh guest, who likewise intended to

ascend Adam's Peak the following day. This was the well-known Count Medem,

a Russian gentleman, who has frequently traversed both the old and new

worlds, and was now about making a second visit to China.[97] The next day

saw us at Ratnapoora, from which point we continued our return journey on

the waters of the Kalu-Gunga, or Black River, as far as Caltura.

[Footnote 97: Count Medem died the same year at Shanghai.]

Our boat consisted of two trunks of trees hollowed out and fastened

together, upon which was erected a semicircular tilt, covered with the

leaves of the Fan Palm (_Borassus Flabelliformis_), under which one might

sit or lie at pleasure, sheltered from the sun. As the mail-car that runs

daily from Colombo to Caltura was already full, we were compelled, in

order to pursue our journey to Galle, to make use of the native waggon, or

bullock-bandy. This is a two-wheeled cart drawn by oxen, and covered with

a semicircular tilt of palm-leaves, beneath which there was room for two

persons to lie at full-length packed closely together. The oxen, of a

breed that have humps and erect horns, are small, and walk with a quick,

short tramp, while their entire bodies are tattooed with Cingalese

characters and ornaments. The horns are usually adorned with metal tips,

and frequently are dyed, the one red, the other green. The cross-piece of

the pole is fastened to the neck instead of the customary yoke, and the

cord for guiding the animal passes through the nose. The driver either

strides along between the two oxen, or sits with his back to them on the

pole. The rate of progression by this national conveyance is so slow, that

the mail-car which left Colombo the day after overtook us long ere we

reached our destination, and it was with some difficulty we reached Galle

in time for the overland steamer which was to bring us to Madras."

[Illustration: PLATE VI.--TRACK FROM POINT DE GALLE TO MADRAS.]

At 6 A.M. of the 16th January, the _Novara_ set sail from the roads of

Point de Galle with light breezes off the land, and steered southerly in

order to avoid the Basses or Baxos, a much-dreaded rocky shoal,

traditionally alleged to be the remains of the island of Giri, swallowed

up by the sea, and which, owing to the very strong current, require the

utmost care to be observed, in order to avoid drifting right upon them.[98]

[Footnote 98: A late survey, instituted with the intention of erecting a

lighthouse on the "Basses," proved a failure, in consequence of the ground

having sunk in while an examination was being made by the diver, and left

nothing but holes filled with water, in which, according to the report of

the fishermen, besides fish and molluscs, sea-snakes are occasionally

seen, of a light-gray colour, and about 4 or 5 feet in length.]

The evening before our departure, the Consul for Hamburg had requested

from the Commander of the Expedition the favour of a free passage to

Madras, on board our frigate, for a native of Berlin, named Neupert. This

man had come to Ceylon a long time previously with a company of

rope-dancers, and had at first made a good deal of money as an acrobat and

juggler, despite the dangerous competition of the Indian practitioners,

but had afterwards lost his all, and had been for some weeks in a pitiable

plight. The request was at once acceded to, and Neupert came on board

during the night. His luggage did not encumber him much. However, although

the greatest part of his effects had disappeared in Galle, he fortunately

had kept his various apparatus; and, by way of showing his gratitude for

the free passage that had been accorded to him, professed his willingness,

in the course of the voyage, to give us some specimens of his skill on

deck. Accordingly, one fine afternoon, he gave us an entertainment out on

the open ocean, which not alone hugely pleased the sturdy tars grouped

together on the forecastle, but ultimately, in consequence of a collection

set on foot for the unfortunate Berlin acrobat, procured him enough ready

money to enable him to pass the first week after his arrival at Madras

free from anxiety, besides supplying him with a fresh outfit.

Within a few days after our departure from Galle, several severe cases

occurred of hemeralopia, chiefly among members of the ship's band. Every

evening, as darkness set in, these men lost all power of distinguishing

objects, and had to be led about like blind men. In Vienna, we had been

advised by various physicians there, with a view to the confirmation or

refutation of the popular belief, to try the use of boiled ox-liver;[99]

and, as one of the oxen shipped at Ceylon had been slaughtered, we were in

a position to make the desired experiment, which, it must be confessed,

proved eminently successful. This time, moreover, several of those thus

afflicted were treated with cooked pig's-liver, which was given them to

eat, while the steam rising from the dish was applied to their eyes. But

we had, on our return voyage, the most convincing proof of the efficacy of

the liver of animals of the ox tribe in cases of night-blindness, when

above twenty of those afflicted, after frequent relapses during the voyage

from Valparaiso to Gibraltar, were treated in the last-named port with

ox-liver, and dismissed permanently cured.[100]

[Footnote 99: This cure is likewise very much resorted to, even of late

years, among the Highlands of Scotland!]

[Footnote 100: During the entire voyage round the globe, there occurred 75

cases of _Hemeralopia_; the largest number of which, 60, occurred between

Cape Horn and Gibraltar. The remainder were isolated cases, occurring at

Rio, Ceylon, the Nicobar Islands, and on the voyage from China to Sydney.]

The voyage from Ceylon to Madras was, on the whole, monotonous and void of

interest, with the exception of one single event, which no one on board is

likely to forget for the remainder of his life. About 3.30 P.M. of the 2nd

January, 1858, there suddenly resounded from the hold, the astounding cry

of "Fire! fire!" Everyone rushed, in the utmost excitement, on deck. It

turned out that a by no means insignificant quantity of pure alcohol,

which was stowed away in the hold for the preservation of specimens of

natural history, had, from some unknown cause, caught fire. Forthwith the

pumps were manned, the sails clewed up, all the portholes closed, so as to

cut off the slightest draught, and all the hammocks of the crew trundled,

_pêle-mêle_ on deck anyhow, out of the quarter-nettings, in which they are

stowed away during the day, there to be dipped in sea-water, and in that

wringing-wet condition applied, partly in extinguishing the flames, partly

in preventing the fire from spreading. In less than a quarter of an hour

the worst danger was over, and our wonted quiet restored, despite the

first terrible excitement. On a more searching investigation, several of

the tin carboys in the hold, filled with spirits of wine, and kept between

layers of sand in iron chests, were found to have been corroded till the

liquor had oozed through, while the air, having free access to the sand,

had become strongly impregnated with gas. This atmosphere, impregnated as

it was with alcoholic fumes, took fire on one of the sailors carelessly

entering the hold with a badly-fastened lantern, and in a moment the light

flames which speedily enveloped the man in such a confined space, at once

gave the alarm. The full carboys remained uninjured by the fire. Had such

a catastrophe happened, and the whole quantity of spirit (about 40

gallons) taken fire, considering the immense quantities of combustible

matter we had on board, among the rest a ton-and-a-half of gunpowder, the

upshot must have been of a far less agreeable nature. The extraordinary

lightning-like activity displayed by the entire ship's company on this

occasion was something wonderful. Each man seemed to have got wings. There

was the most laudable emulation displayed by all hands in seeking to save

the lives of themselves and others from such a terrible doom.

On the 30th January, at 7.30 P.M., we anchored in Madras Roads, so dreaded

for their insecurity, about three nautical miles from the shore, and in 9

fathoms (56 feet English). Even in the calmest weather there is a

tremendous surf on this coast, and from October to December, in which

strong gales blow from the N.E., it is all but unapproachable. For this

reason, so soon as the wind increases so as to endanger the ships in the

roads, a flag is hoisted on a staff at the Master Attendant's office, that

they may put to sea at once. On the second signal, all ships must quit the

Roads for fear of being dashed through the surf upon the beach.

From the city we heard a running fire of musketry and some salutes with

cannon, which, considering the prevalence of warlike rumours and movements

in the then circumstances of India, made us conjecture that the natives of

the Coromandel coast were also in insurrection against the English.

However, we learned afterwards that the musketry and salvoes proceeded

from the troops stationed near the drilling-ground, who were receiving

their general on his return from parade with a salute. The following day

(Sunday, the 31st January, 1858) the European community of Madras fell

into a precisely similar error in consequence of our salute, which they,

being at that hour assembled at worship, mistook for a much less peaceful

and agreeable intimation, so that the majority, dreading an outbreak,

hurried to their houses in deep anxiety.

[Illustration: MASULI BOAT AT MADRAS.]

[Illustration: VIEW OF MADRAS (AND PROPOSED PIER).]

IX.

Madras.

DURATION OF STAY FROM 30TH JANUARY TO 10TH FEBRUARY, 1858.

"Catamarans" and "Massuli" boats.--Difficulty of disembarkation,

and plans for remedying it.--History.--Brahminism.--Festival

in honour of Vishnu.--Employment of Heathens under a Christian

Government.--Politics and Religion.--Laws of Brahminic faith.--

The Observatory.--Museum of Natural History and Zoological

Garden.--Academy of Fine Arts.--Medical School.--Infirmary.--

Orphan Asylum.--Dr. Bell.--Lancastrian Method of Teaching

Children first applied in Madras.--Colonel Mackenzie's

Collection of Indian Inscriptions and Manuscripts.--The Palace

of the former Nabob of the Coromandel Coast.--Journey by rail

to Vellore.--_Fête_ given by the Governor in Guindy Park.--

Visit to the Monolithic Monuments of Mahamalaipuram.--

Excursion to Pulicat Lake.--Madras Club.--_Fête_ in honour of

the members of the _Novara_ Expedition.--"Tiffin" and dance on

board.--Departure from Madras.--Zodiacal light.--Shrove

Tuesday in the tropics.--Arrival at the Island of Kar-Nicobar.

The morning after our arrival in Madras Roads, a native boat came

alongside, of the sort known as "Catamarans," having on board two

natives, who brought off from the authorities of the port the customary

papers to be filled up. This extraordinary and very primitive boat

consists of merely two or three trunks of trees bound together

raft-fashion, on which these daring boatmen kneel. As a great part of

their body is necessarily under water, they carry the papers and letters

entrusted to them for transmission to the ships in the Roads, in

turban-like wrappings which envelope their heads. Ordinarily, these men

are excellent swimmers, a most requisite accomplishment to enable them to

regain their boats, in the event of being swept off by the waves, or to

save themselves and others from the innumerable sharks, which frequent the

entire Coromandel coast, and render it eminently dangerous. About noon, a

larger boat approached us, manned by from 15 to 20 natives, who offered

their services as caterers, washers, agents, servants, in short as

"Dubashes" a sort of Hindoo _factotum_; while each individual, shrieking

and vociferating at the top of his voice, held high in the air, with

outstretched arm, a number of written testimonials of ship-captains that

had already employed him. These boats, called "Massuli," or "Musli" boats

(from _Muchly_--fish), about 36 feet long by 5 or 6 in width, and in which

alone it is possible to bring passengers and goods to land, are light, as

flexible as if made of leather, and are fastened together with the elastic

fibres of the cocoa-nut, being in every particular specially adapted to

yield to the tremendous blows of the heavy surf, which a boat of ordinary

construction could not possibly live through. They are for the most part

pretty deep, and are usually manned with from 12 to 15 naked natives, who

make use of an exceedingly smooth pallette-shaped paddle. In one of these

boats, the officers of the frigate on leave, and the naturalists of the

Expedition, were conveyed to land in the midst of a fresh breeze from the

N.E. The more we approached the shore, the more formidable was the

appearance of the tumultuous tempest-driven waves. Amid frightful yells

and hurrahs, we passed in safety the first and second lines of surf. But

we had yet to encounter the third, and by far the most furious. The

boatmen spread a couple of cloths over our heads, to prevent our getting a

soaking; the boat made several violent plunges forward, and was for an

instant apparently covered by the tremendous foaming billows, but seemed

to glide in a most extraordinary manner over these, and finally was neatly

laid alongside the beach on the crest of the last breaker. This is the

critical moment, and the most disagreeable, because the boat is, by this

manipulation, thrown on its side, and one feels disposed to rush out, ere

the returning wave throws the boat high and dry on the sand. The noisy

shrieks of the boat's crew and Coolies, or Lascars (Indian porters), with

which the disembarkation is accompanied, combine to render it still more

annoying and unpleasant. One feels a sensation of satisfaction at having

gone through this remarkable, and to some extent wholly peculiar,

experience; but no one was ever known to encounter it voluntarily a second

time. The glowing picture, which numbers of travellers have drawn of the

landing at Madras, might impress many readers with the idea that their

representations were most probably tinged somewhat with a colouring of

romance; but, in view of our own experience at what is confessedly the

pleasantest season of the year, there can be at certain times no

description, however vividly sketched, but what must lag behind the

reality.

There could hardly have been selected a more unsuitable site for a city,

than that of Madras, and it is only the circumstance that the entire

Coromandel coast presents no more eligible haven, as also the importance

of the place as the chief city of the Carnatic, which alone has a

population of 5,000,000, that has enabled Madras to boast a population of

700,000 inhabitants, and a commerce of such magnitude that 6000 vessels,

British and foreign, are annually[101] cleared inwards and outwards, laden

with upwards of 650,000 tons of produce and goods of a total value of more

than £8,000,000 sterling.

[Footnote 101: In the year 1857, the number of trading vessels was 6241,

carrying 652,146 tons merchandise, of which 1438 were square-sailed ships;

and 4803 native boats and Chinese junks. The imports of goods and metals

amounted to Rs. 40,563,826 (about £4,050,000 in round numbers); the

exports to Rs. 40,060,656 (about £4,000,000 in round numbers). We are

indebted to the kindness of Dr. Balfour for a variety of interesting

statistical _data_, the information contained in which must be transferred

to the statistical portion of the _Novara_ publications.]

The spot at which vessels anchor can by no stretch of terms be called a

roadstead, being in fact nothing but an open strip of coast running nearly

due north and south, so that during the N.E. monsoons, the sea that sets

in is something extraordinary, and produces a tremendous surf. At no

season of the year is it practicable to reach the shore by ordinary

ship-boats, because the beach, being utterly unprovided with any

artificial appliances, is left in its natural state--that is to say,

covered with fine sand, which lies so level that the depth is only nine

fathoms two miles out at sea! Singular to say, no steps have to this day

been taken to carry out the proposition, made many long years ago, of

remedying this difficulty in reaching land, by the construction of a mole

or pier, although three or four plans have already been presented by

distinguished engineers. The last and most feasible scheme, and the most

likely to be put in execution, consists in constructing a mole 1000 feet

in length and 60 feet in breadth, to be erected upon iron piles driven

into the sand, and with a cross-piece at the seaward extremity--the mole

construction resembling the letter =T=. On either side of the mole,

tramways will be laid down to facilitate the transport of goods that have

been discharged. The entire cost of this undertaking would be about

£100,000--an entirely disproportionate, and, indeed, insignificant amount,

when one takes into consideration the important consequences which must

result to trade and passenger traffic on the completion of this erection.

The earliest British settlement was at Armegon, about 36 miles north of

Pulicat (or about 78 miles N. by W. of Madras). The cession of a piece of

land by the native Rajah of Besnayor induced the president of the old

factory at Armegon, Mr. Francis Day, to abandon the latter, and in the

year 1639, the Fort of St. George was erected at the newly-selected

station, where formerly stood the little Hindoo village of Ischinapatam.

This fort formed the nucleus, at a later period, of the city of Madras,

which is built on the flat alluvial soil along the coast, and at present

comprises an area of about 30 (English) square miles. Its extent along the

beach from north to south is about 9 miles by an extreme width of 3-3/4

miles. Madras, like all the rest, consists of a White town, exclusively

inhabited by Europeans, and a Black town, or _Pettah_, in which the

natives and all coloured residents carry on business.