Fifty Miles into Central Ceylon.--Gorgeous Scenic
Effects.--Gampola.--The Singhalese Saratoga.--A Grand
Waterfall.--Haunts of the Wild Elephants.--Something about
these Huge Beasts.--European Hunters restricted.--An Indian
Experience.--Elephants as Farm Laborers in Place of
Oxen.--Tame Elephants as Decoys.--Elephant Taming.--Highest
Mountain on the Island.--Pilgrims who ascend Adam's
Peak.--Nuera-Ellia as a Sanitarium.--A Hill Garden.
From Kandy to Neura-Ellia--"Royal Plains"--(pronounced Nuralia) is a
pleasant drive of fifty miles through the Ramboda Pass, which is
justly celebrated for its series of beautiful waterfalls and
boisterous rapids, affording frequent views of great magnificence. It
is safe to say that in this respect it is the most remarkable part of
the island. The entire route is about six thousand feet above sea
level. At first the course of the Maha-velle-Ganga is closely
followed, the river being crossed at Peradenia by a somewhat
remarkable bridge, consisting of a single arch or span of a little
over two hundred feet, built of satinwood, with stout brick and stone
abutments. The bridge was erected in 1832, without the aid of a single
nail or bolt, and is apparently in perfect condition to-day. The
railway bridge crosses the stream below this point not far away,
resting upon three substantial stone piers. The centre of the
first-named structure is raised between sixty and seventy feet above
the ordinary flow of the water, which is generally of quite a placid
character, but at certain seasons of the year its volume and force are
such as to form a sweeping and dangerous torrent. When this is the
case, there are often borne upon the flood large cocoanut and other
trees, which have stood for many years upon the river's banks, until
thus undermined by the swift-flowing waters. The effect is then very
singular. The trees, which have thus been suddenly transported from
their birthplaces in a growing and often fruit-bearing condition, pile
themselves up after a most extraordinary fashion, forming what is
technically called a "jam."
The hillsides, as seen from the satinwood bridge, are terraced with
rice-fields, while in the distance stands the Allegalla Peak, an
isolated mountain thirty-four hundred feet in height, in connection
with which there are several Singhalese legends, each one more or less
impossible. This element, however, only makes the stories all the more
palatable to the native appetite.
This route takes one through Gampola, which, though it is
insignificant enough at the present time, was the native capital of
Ceylon nearly five hundred years ago. The place is situated amid a
grand panorama of magnificent hills on the banks of the river already
named, which is here crossed by a suspension bridge. The road from
this point to Neura-Ellia begins to ascend the hilly region along the
face of steep acclivities and precipitous banks. One can nearly reach
Neura-Ellia by rail, but the route we have described is by far the
most interesting in point of scenic effects.
This is a Singhalese watering-place, the Saratoga of the island, the
one popular health resort of the wealthy natives, as well as of
strangers and English officials whose headquarters are on the sea
coast. It is situated a little over one hundred miles eastward from
Colombo, at an elevation of nearly seven thousand feet, while the
surrounding mountains are between one and two thousand feet higher.
The English government has established a sanitarium here for invalid
soldiers, and a small detachment of infantry is always stationed on
the spot, more for form than because of any real necessity. It is a
region where cool, gray skies and frequent rains prevail, and where a
fire is needed most of the year, and indeed it is almost a necessity
after sunset at all seasons. The thermometer never rises above 70 deg.
Fahr., and the average temperature is 60 deg.. The change from oven-like
Colombo in midsummer to the air of this invigorating region is truly
delightful. When the author was at Neura-Ellia, early in January
(being at our antipodes, it was then summer in Ceylon), the weather
was lovely, his companions were cultured, appreciative, and
sympathizing, and everything joined in producing a store of delicious
and lasting memories. The strong, invigorating mountain breezes were
most enjoyable after a period of oppressive heat endured on the coast.
The locality recalled a somewhat similar experience in passing from
Calcutta to Darjeeling, an English sanitarium near the foot of the
Himalayan range of mountains, overlooking the plains of Hindustan on
the one hand, while on the other affording a view of that series of
mountains whose loftiest point, Mount Everest, forms the apex of our
globe, its cloud-capped, sky-reaching summit being nearly thirty
thousand feet above the level of the sea.
There are several fairly good hotels at Neura-Ellia, two
banking-houses, a church, a club-house, and a large number of private
cottages scattered about the hills and valley, overlooking a lake of
some two miles in length and a mile in width. This has been stocked
with trout, and now affords a liberal supply of that palatable fish to
the residents.
Not far away, on the Fort McDonald River, there is a grand waterfall,
with a plunge of three hundred perpendicular feet into a dark and
narrow chasm. The river approaches this point over a long succession
of wild, swirling, and foaming cataracts, reminding one of the rapids
above Niagara Falls, though far inferior in breadth and the body of
water which they convey. The hoarse anthem and echo accompaniment of
the McDonald Falls, when heard for the first time, are truly
awe-inspiring.
One has not far to go in the surrounding mountain region to find the
haunts of the wild elephants. They are still to be met with in
considerable numbers, their capture being considered the great
achievement of the chase among hunters of large game. From here
Hindustan has drawn its supply of these animals for many centuries.
The elephant rarely breeds in servitude while domesticated for the use
of man, but in its wild state is a prolific animal, otherwise Ceylon
would long since have been cleared of them. The mother elephant
carries her infant twenty-two months, and after birth suckles it for
two years. The female does not attain her maturity until she is
fifteen years old; the male in his twentieth year. The mother elephant
gives birth to but one calf at a time; twins have never been known.
Small herds range these hills to a height of six thousand feet, where
the nights are often frosty and the cold quite severe. Though they are
natives of tropical regions, this animal seems to be but little
affected by the cold, always avoiding, when it is possible, the direct
rays of the sun. This peculiarity is noticeable in them even when they
are exhibited in our cold northern climate. Unless aroused by the
hunters and driven from deep, cool coverts in the dense forests, the
elephant remains hidden during the daytime. Their roaming for forage
and water, like that of most wild animals, is altogether nocturnal.
Their sustenance is principally the leafage of young shoots of trees,
the wild fig being their favorite. The tender roots of the bamboo
also form a large source of food supply. Rice, however, is the
elephant's choice above all other esculents, and sometimes a small
herd will devastate a whole plantation in a single night. The planters
generally build a bamboo fence about their rice-fields in the
districts liable to be visited by these animals. This would at first
thought seem to be entirely insufficient to keep off so powerful a
creature, but the fact is that a wild elephant in Ceylon is so wary
that he will not trespass upon land thus guarded. Some instinct
teaches him to avoid the place and to seek for food elsewhere. A
simple rope drawn about a field, it is said, will keep him at a
distance. He shrewdly suspects a trap, and has seen so many of his
comrades seized upon and carried away into captivity by means of
corrals, traps, and ropes, that he has learned to associate the idea
of capture with such things, and is constantly on the lookout lest he
also fall a victim to the stratagems of the huntsmen. It is common to
consider one hundred years as the average period of an elephant's
life, but the author has seen an animal doing service in India which
was known to exceed this limit by a score of years.
European sportsmen, attracted to Ceylon in search of this big game,
sacrificed the elephants in mere wantonness until government
interfered, and a heavy fine is now imposed upon any one who kills an
animal of this species. There is no danger of the natives doing
anything of the kind. In the first place they have not the
inclination, and in the next they are not permitted to own firearms of
any sort. Some rich and reckless Englishmen, nevertheless, kill an
occasional elephant simply for the sake of boasting of their prowess,
and pay the government fine accordingly. We say the natives have no
inclination to hunt the elephant, but the wild Veddahs do sometimes
kill them. The animals of this species found in Ceylon are of a
distinctive breed, with some marked differences from those native to
Africa, and are noted for their high degree of intelligence. They are
most prized in India, where they are used by those who can afford to
keep them. The intelligence of this monarch of the forest is shown in
his selection of the most available paths for passing from one part of
the country to another. Major Skinner, the famous road-builder of
Ceylon, tells us how invaluable he found the tracks of the elephants
as a guide in laying out his government routes through the island. He
says the most available crossings of hills, valleys, and rivers were
already distinctly marked by elephant paths, and he followed them with
entire confidence that his engineers could do no better for him, with
all their experience, aided by the most accurate instruments.
The Maharajah of Jeypoor, India, whose generous and regal hospitality
the author has enjoyed, sends elephants to bring his invited guests to
visit him, and also returns them to their residences in the same
manner. The animals which were employed on the occasion referred to
came originally from the Kandy hills in Ceylon. They were docile
creatures, which knelt at the word of command for us to mount to the
frame seats on their backs. Each carried six persons besides the
driver. We were told that it costs as much to feed one elephant as to
keep eight horses. This independent prince has a territory about the
size of Massachusetts, with a million and a half of contented
subjects. His capital--Jeypoor--is the finest and most thrifty native
city in all India, where, wonderful to say, there are no beggars, nor,
so far as a transient visitor could discover, nuisances of any sort to
complain of. It was a dusty season, as is well remembered, but the
streets and squares of the capital were being carefully sprinkled by
native water-carriers,--in a very primitive manner, to be sure, but
showing a due consideration for the comfort of the public.
There is a vast difference between a tame and a wild elephant; the
latter, when entirely subdued and domesticated, is of comparatively
little consequence. His main occupation in our country is that of
eating peanuts, candies, and fruit doled out to him by visitors to the
menageries, and the performance of a few highly sagacious tricks. In
their wild state they are the wariest and most cunning of all the
denizens of the forest. Nor are they devoid of courage and ferocity
when brought to bay, and many experienced hunters have lost their
lives in Ceylon while pursuing them. When domesticated in this island
they are of great service to the farmers, especially in plowing,
harrowing, and rolling the newly broken land. A cultivator which would
anchor half a dozen yokes of native bullocks is walked away with in
the easiest manner imaginable by a single elephant. They are
particularly sagacious in dam-building across streams, and in the
construction of bridges, placing the heavy materials just where they
are required, and even fitting large logs and stones in their proper
places. The amount of food which so large an animal requires is,
however, a serious drawback to their employment. Besides five or six
hundred pounds of green fodder, an elephant must eat at least twenty
pounds of some kind of grain daily, rice preferred, to keep him in
working condition. They are usually seen, in their wild state, in
small herds of ten or twelve, the majority being females, and
generally each one has a calf or baby elephant by her side. There are
also certain males, known as "rogues," that roam the forests singly,
generally vicious old creatures, discarded by their companions, and
always bent upon mischief. These are desperate in the extreme, often
courting a conflict with the hunters, fiercely charging them right and
left. Why they have been excommunicated from the ranks of their former
companions cannot be known, but they are always avoided, both by the
natives and by hunters. No attempt is ever made to domesticate a
"rogue" elephant. They recognize that they are forever ostracized from
the fellowship of their kind, and make no attempt to join other
elephants. The theory is that they have become permanently crazed.
It is well-known that all elephants are liable to brief periods of
delirium, during which they are very dangerous. When the symptoms of
such an occurrence begin to evince themselves, their keeper, always
prepared for such an event, doubles their chains and otherwise
securely confines them until the paroxysm is over. The recovery is
hastened by a brief period of starvation, neither food nor drink being
given the animal until he becomes entirely docile.
For a considerable time, there was an understanding that the rogue
elephant might be hunted and killed, when such an one made his
appearance, but this liberty was taken advantage of by sportsmen, and
when they killed an animal he was represented to have been a rogue
whether he was really so or not, and the authorities were therefore
obliged to enforce the law as regarded all these animals.
The Ceylon elephant is not of the ivory-producing species, though some
of the males do develop good-sized tusks like those of Africa. The
animals of this island have short "grubbers," as they are called,
protruding from their mouths eight or ten inches, with which they
uproot certain species of their favorite food, such as the tender
undergrowth of the juicy bamboo. Had the Ceylon elephant been an
ivory-bearing animal, he would probably have been more closely pursued
by the hunters, and have long since disappeared from the island, which
is so much more accessible than the wilds of Africa, whence the
world's supply is now almost wholly derived.
Strange to say, the elephant in his domesticated or tame state takes
absolute pleasure in acting as a decoy to enable the hunters to
capture wild ones. After the pursuers have, with the tame elephant's
help, driven the wild animal into a corral or stout inclosure in the
forest, and have also, still aided by the tame elephant, secured the
wild one by tying his two hind feet securely to some stout tree, he is
left for a day or two to strain and fret himself until he has fairly
worn out his strength, before he is again approached. Almost the
entire process of breaking in or training a wild elephant is that of
starvation. When at last his spirit is completely broken and his
strength gone for the time being, he becomes amenable to discipline,
almost as much so as one which has been in captivity for years. He
then partakes with eagerness of the food and water which is brought to
him, accepting the same as a sort of peace offering, and gradually
becomes attached to the keeper who has charge of him, and with whose
presence the creature associates the idea of relief and comfort. From
this time forward, firmness and kindness complete the taming process.
It is a mystery how and where they die in their wild state. No
corpses are ever found, except of those which have come to a violent
death by the bullets of the hunters. It is seldom that the animal is
now shot. This is only done in extreme cases, as a live elephant is so
much more valuable than a dead one that the object is now to corral
them, tie them up, and tame them.
The mountains encircling Piduru Talagalla are covered with trees to
their very summits, from a distance seeming to be wrapped in a rich
mantle of deepest green. This elevation is the loftiest on the island,
considerably exceeding Adam's Peak, the legendary apex of Ceylon, a
conclusion arising from the fact that the latter is to be seen from
the ocean before any other portion of the island, and long before the
lighthouse of Colombo is made out from on ship-board. The dense forest
in this region contains many wild animals besides elephants.
A high degree of religious importance attaches to the act of ascending
Adam's Peak, which is situated fifteen miles south of Neura-Ellia.
Consequently, at certain seasons of the year, the mountain side is
covered with pilgrims, who camp there during the night, and perform
their religious devotions on the summit during the day. A special
effort is made by the pilgrims to reach the top so as to see the sun
rise, and to meet its first rays upon bended knees in devout prayer,
like the ancient fire-worshipers. Steps are cut in the steep, rocky
sides of the precipitous ascent, to overcome the abruptness of which,
here and there, requires the aid of chains, which are fastened
securely in the solid rock for this purpose. Judging from the style
and condition of these, they have probably been in use for centuries.
Religious faith must be all-absorbing with a people, to bring them
such distances from northern India to bow down to a supposititious
footprint in Ceylon.
All Eastern people are famous for making distant pilgrimages to what
are considered sacred places, and especially Buddhists, who attach
immense importance to such performances.
Before leaving Neura-Ellia, let us say a word as to its fitness for
invalids, since Ceylon is becoming more and more of a resort for such
persons, especially those afflicted with weakness of the lungs. It may
be fairly questioned if this locality be not too damp for pulmonary
invalids. It is very often wrapped in cold, dense clouds for many
hours together, so that the air is heavy with a sort of Scotch mist.
Still, the place is growing, and many persons have great faith in its
sanitary importance. The number of English cottages is increasing, and
the hotels are well filled in the summer season. The cost of living at
this resort in the hills is so great that only those who have long
purses can afford it. Rents are high, and domestic articles of
consumption cost about double what is usually charged at Colombo,
whence nearly all table provisions are brought.
Six miles from here is an interesting hill garden, designed to
supplement that already described near Kandy, and which is under the
same able management. Flowers do not receive much attention in either
of these conservatories, useful and remarkable trees taking precedence
of all other forms of vegetation. Here one sees some examples of the
goraka, with its stem and branches quite yellow from the gamboge which
they exude; tall ferns like baby palms, fifteen feet in height; and
other peculiar trees clad in crimson bloom or blossoms of snowy
whiteness, together with some hardy fruits.
On approaching the coast, one often meets with what is called the
screw pine, but which, it would seem, should be called the screw palm.
It bears sword-like leaves, similar to the South American yucca, and
is decked with blossoms of wonderful fragrance. The most peculiar
characteristic of the tree, however, is its aerial roots, which are
thrown from the trunk above ground, but when they reach the soil they
take root in it and serve as props to the delicate stem. The effect is
grotesque and artificial.