KANDY, ISLAND OF CEYLON, _Sept. 16, 1851_.
I find myself now one hundred and forty-four miles from Point de
Galle, the place where I left the steamer on my route from Penang to
Singapore. Galle is a small fortified town which was first occupied by
the Portuguese, taken afterwards by the Dutch, and finally acquired by
the English, who are now in full and complete possession of this large
island, extending from 6° to 10° N. Lat., from the Tropic of Cancer, at
the west entrance of the Bay of Bengal opposite the Coromandel coast.
It is about two-thirds the size of Ireland, and once contained a large
population, but at present only one and a half million. From Point de
Galle I proceeded to Colombo, the chief commercial mart, distant by
land seventy-two miles, winding along through almost uninterrupted
cocoa-nut groves, for some sixty miles, with long lines of thatched
cabins, villages at intervals, and the most peculiar and primitive
population in many respects I have ever met with. The natives along
the coast are copper-colored, with fine features and slender forms;
they wear long hair, falling half down their backs when loose and male
and female wear two shell combs, one over the crown, and the other of
great height to make the coiffure behind; it is difficult at first to
distinguish the sexes among the young. The cocoa-nut tree is the chief
support; they pay some attention to fishing, however, in the oddest
vessels that ever floated, consisting in many instances of simple
“dug-outs,” with an outrigger of bent boughs, which are lashed to the
side of the vessel, and to the end is attached a pointed log, floating
on the surface, and if the canvas is carrying the bark over, they
balance it by sitting on the outrigger, sailing with great rapidity.
The harvest of the cocoa is now at hand. The milk is refreshing, and
quenches thirst; the fruit is not only eaten, but large quantities
of oil are made from it for use and exportation. The bark is rotted
in pits of water, and bruised, then the fibres are pulled and made
into cordage and rope of different kinds. The trees stand from six
to fifteen feet apart, and are from fifty to eighty feet in height;
large use is made of the liquid that exudes from the off-shoots near
the top of the tree, which is distilled into arrack, and the natives
may be seen like ourang-outangs, moving from the tops of the trees
on the cordage made from the fibre to aid in climbing, while lower
down are the earthen vessels in which the juice is collected. After
passing through the cocoa-nut forests the cinnamon plantations present
themselves, within a range of eight to ten miles of Colombo, and are
mostly owned by foreigners.
One of the vices to which the natives are mostly addicted is the
excessive use of the betel, which is a composition of the betel-leaf,
the areka-nut, and chanam or luire, made from the muscle-shell, to
which is sometimes added tobacco; it not only has a stimulating
effect, but causes the lips, teeth, and inside of the mouth to appear
blood-red, and tends in time to blacken the teeth, which is considered
by some a mark of beauty. The stranger, when he first finds himself
among a group of dark, ebony Kandians, and copper-colored Cingalese,
with a sprinkling of Malabars in the primitive state, and in the
costume of our first parents, with their mouths full of betel, imagines
he has fallen among demons; at least I did, though I soon became
accustomed to the sight.
The old kingdom of Kandy successfully resisted the Dutch and
Portuguese, and for a long time the English, as from their fastnesses
in the mountains, without roads to facilitate the enemy, the natives
were long enabled to keep possession of the interior, after their
sea-ports were occupied, and until they finally succumbed to the
English. It lies seventy-two miles from Colombo, and fourteen hundred
and sixty-seven feet above the level of the sea, and is characterized
by the grandeur of the mountain scenery, and its wooded hills and
luxuriant vegetation. The climate is very pleasant, its average
temperature being 74°. The approach to this place is full of interest
and novelty.
You find the paddy or rice fields in the valleys cultivated by the
natives, who subsist mostly upon rice, made into curry, adding a sauce
composed of cocoa, pepper, ginger, and coriander seed. Most of them
are Boodhists, and touch no animal food, it being contrary to their
religion to take life. They are often seen with almost naked skins, and
hatless heads, their hair tied up in a bunch behind or falling over
their shoulders, following black, uncouth, and sluggish buffaloes,
which drag a rude wooden plough through the muddy field, inundated from
the mountain streams.
Since the English have occupied the country, the colonial government
has opened good roads, and much attention has been given to the
planting of coffee, which is the chief source of profit, and enables
it to place its troops in different parts of the island. An attempt at
rebellion in this the most warlike province, two years since, after a
considerable massacre, was soon suppressed. The road to Colombo is now
much travelled by two-wheeled carts with high covered tops of cocoa-nut
plaited branches, drawn by diminutive black cattle, about three or four
feet high, with short horns, looking not unlike large calves, but tough
and strong. Travelling Bandys are frequently seen; they are about the
size of a good dog cart, with a small bullock in the shafts, and a cord
running through his nose and over his head, to the sides of which a
pair of lines are attached; two or three persons sit inside with their
knees drawn up to the chin. The cabins by the road-side are in low and
sheltered positions; they are furnished with two or three stools, a few
plaited mats, earthen water-jars, a rice mortar, and some few culinary
articles. Such of the women as are not engaged in weeding and reaping
in the fields busy themselves in preparing betel, cooking curry, or
in attending to their children. In approaching Colombo, as also this
place, appearances change, the difference of caste, of which they were
very particular under the old regime, being still seen.
The Kandians, despising the effeminate combs of the low-country people,
wear a gay-colored handkerchief tied around the head, leaving the top
exposed; they wear a white or fancy colored cloth of double breadth
wrapped around the loins, while Mormons or Mussulmans with turbans, and
Hindoos with painted faces, and also Malabars and other races, make
up the picturesque masquerade. The Rhodias, or outcasts, a sort of
Gipsies, are not permitted to wear any garment other than a sense of
propriety suggests. The better caste of women appear here with heads
uncovered, a long cloth of single breadth wrapped around the loins and
falling to the ankles, and a portion thrown over the left shoulder.
They wear silver, crystal, and brass bangles or bracelets, and flat
ear-rings about the size of a quarter dollar, and the thickness of a
child’s tin whistle; the holes of the ears are cut and distended by
weights while young, to receive their flat rings; they also wear gold
clasps in the top of the ear, which gives them a strange appearance,
particularly with the addition of rings in the nose and on the toes.
Umbrellas and dried branches of the tallipot tree are much in use to
prevent the action of the sun’s rays. This is the residence of Governor
Anderson, whose houses and grounds are quite pretty. There are some
fifty foreigners, inclusive of ladies, as civilians, in addition to a
regiment of troops, partly Europeans and partly Malays.
From Singapore we passed up the Straits of Malacca to Penang, on Prince
of Wales Island, where we coaled and remained one day, which gave an
opportunity for a ride to see the town, and then proceeded to Ceylon,
making the distance of some fourteen hundred miles within eight days to
Point de Galle, where I left the steamer on my way north to Calcutta,
while she proceeded to Suez.