ADAM’S PEAK AND THE BLACK RIVER.
_January 1st, 1891._--Sitting by an impromptu wood-fire in a little hut
on the summit of Adam’s Peak--nearly midnight--a half-naked Caliban out
of the woods squatting beside me, and Kalua and the guide sleeping on
the floor. But I find it too cold to sleep, and there is _no_ furniture
in the hut.
Altogether an eventful New Year’s day. Last night I spent at Kandy
with Kalua and his brother in their little cabin. They were both
very friendly, and I kept being reminded of Herman Melville and his
Marquesas Island experiences--so beautiful the scene, the moon rising
about ten, woods and valleys all around--the primitive little hut,
Kirrah cooking over a fire on the ground, etc. We were up by moon and
starlight at 5 a.m., and by walking, driving, and the railway, reached
Muskeliya at the foot of the peak by 2.30 p.m. There we got a guide--a
very decent young Tamil--and reached here by 7.30 or 8 p.m. Our path
lay at first through tea-gardens, and then leaving them, it went in
nearly a direct line straight up the mountain side--perhaps 3,000
feet--through dense woods, in step-like formation, over tree-roots
and up the rocks, worn and hacked into shape through successive
centuries by innumerable pilgrims, but still only wide enough for
one. Night came upon us on the way, and the last hour or two we had
to light torches to see our route. Elephant tracks were plentiful all
round us through the woods, even close to the summit. It is certainly
extraordinary on what steep places and rock sides these animals will
safely travel; but we were not fortunate enough to see any of them.
This is a long night trying to sleep. It is the wretchedest hut,
without a door, and unceiled to the four winds! Caliban makes the fire
for me as I write. He has nothing on but a cotton wrap and a thin
jersey, but does not seem to feel the cold much; and the guide is
even more thinly clad, and is asleep, while I am shivering, bundled
in cloth coats. There is something curious about the way in which the
English in this country feel the cold--when it is cold--more than the
natives; though one might expect the contrary. I have often noticed
it. I fancy we make a great mistake in these hot lands in not exposing
our skins more to the sun and air, and so strengthening and hardening
them. In the great heat, and when constantly covered with garments, the
skin perspires terribly, and becomes sodden and enervated, and more
sensitive than it ought to be--hence great danger of chills. I have
taken several sun-baths in the woods here at different times, and found
advantage from doing so.
[Since writing the above, I have discovered the existence of a
little society in India--of English folk--who encourage nudity, and
the abandonment as far as possible of clothes, on three distinct
grounds--physical, moral, and æsthetic--of Health, Decency, and
Beauty. I wish the society every success. Its chief object, as given in
its rules, is to urge upon people “to be and go stark naked whenever
suitable,” and it is a _sine quâ non_ that members should appear at all
its meetings without any covering Passing over the moral and æsthetic
considerations--which are both of course of the utmost importance
in this connection--there is still the consideration of physical
health and enjoyment, which must appeal to everybody. In a place like
India, where the mass of the people go with very little covering, the
spectacle of their ease and enjoyment must double the discomforts of
the unfortunate European who thinks it necessary to be dressed up to
the eyes on every occasion when he appears in public. It is indeed
surprising that men can endure, as they do, to wear cloth coats and
waistcoats and starched collars and cuffs, and all the paraphernalia
of propriety, in a severity of heat which really makes only the very
lightest covering tolerable; nor can one be surprised at the exhaustion
of the system which ensues, from the cause already mentioned. In
fact the direct stimulation and strengthening of the skin by sun and
air, though most important in our home climate, may be even more
indispensable in a place like India, where the relaxing influences are
so terribly strong. Certainly, when one considers this cause of English
enervation in India, and the other due to the greatly mistaken _diet_
of our people there, the fearful quantities of flesh consumed, and of
strong liquors--both things which are injurious enough at home, but
which are ruinous in a hot country--the wonder is not that the English
fail to breed and colonise in India, but that they even last out their
few years of individual service there.]
There is a lovely view of cloudland from the summit now the moon has
risen. All the lower lands and mountains are wrapped in mist, and
you look down upon a great white rolling sea, silent, remote from
the world, with only the moon and stars above, and the sound of the
Buddhist priests chanting away in a low tone round the fire in their
own little cabin or _pansela_.
This is a most remarkable mountain. For at least 2,000 years, and
probably for long enough before that, priests of some kind or another
have kept watch over the sacred footmark on the summit; for thousands
of years the sound of their chanting has been heard at night between
the driven white plain of clouds below and the silent moon and stars
above; and by day pilgrims have toiled up the steep sides to strew
flowers, and to perform some kind of worship to their gods, on this
high natural altar. The peak is 7,400 feet high, and though not quite
the highest point in the island, is by far the most conspicuous. It
stands like a great outpost on the south-west edge of the mountain
region of Ceylon, and can be seen from far out to sea--a sugar-loaf
with very precipitous sides. When the Buddhists first came to Ceylon,
about the 4th century b.c., they claimed the footmark as that of
Buddha. Later on some Gnostic Christian sects attributed it to the
primal man; the Mahomedans, following this idea, when they got
possession of the mountain, gave it the name of Adam’s Peak; the
Portuguese consecrated it to S. Eusebius; and now the Buddhists are
again in possession--though I believe the Mahomedans are allowed a kind
of concurrent right. But whatever has been the nominal dedication of
this ancient “high place,” a continuous stream of pilgrims--mainly of
course the country folk of the island--has flowed to it undisturbed
through the centuries; and even now they say that in the month of
May the mountain side is covered by hundreds and even thousands of
folk, who camp out during the night, and do _poojah_ on the summit by
day. Kalua says that his father--the jolly old savage--once ascended
“Samantakuta,” and like the rest of the Cinghalese thinks a great deal
of the religious merit of this performance.
_Ratnapura, Jan. 3rd._--Sunrise yesterday on the peak was fine, though
“sunrises” are not always a success. The great veil of clouds gradually
dissolved, and a long level “rose of dawn” appeared in the eastern
sky--Venus brilliant above it, the Southern Cross visible, and one
or two other crosses which lie near it, and the half moon overhead;
a dark, peaked and castellated rampart of lower mountains stretched
around us, and far on the horizon were masses of cumulus cloud rising
out of the lowland mists, and catching the early light; while the lower
lands themselves remained partly hidden by irregular pools and rivers
of white fog, which looked like water in the first twilight. A great
fan-like crown of rays preceded the sun, very splendid, of pearly
colors, with great beams reaching nearly to the zenith. We could not
see the sea, owing to mists along the horizon, nor was any habitation
visible, but only the great jungle-covered hills and far plains
shrouded in the green of coco-nut groves.
The shadow of the peak itself, cast on the mists at sunrise, is a very
conspicuous and often-noted phenomenon. Owing to the sun’s breadth, the
effect is produced of an _umbra_ and _penumbra_; and the _umbra_ looks
very dark and pointed--more pointed even than the peak itself. I was
surprised to see how distant it looked--a shadow-mountain among the far
crags. It gradually fell and disappeared as the sun rose.
There is another phenomenon which I have somewhere seen described as
peculiar to Adam’s Peak; though this must be a pious fraud, or one of
those cases of people only being able to see familiar things when they
are in unfamiliar surroundings, since it is a phenomenon which can be
witnessed any day at home. It is that if when there is dew or rain upon
the grass, and the sun is not too high in the heavens, you look at the
shadow of your head on the grass, you will see it surrounded by a white
light, or ‘glory.’ It arises, I imagine, from the direct reflection
of the sunlight on the inner surfaces of the little globules of water
which lie in or near the line joining the sun and the head, and is
enhanced no doubt by the fact that the light so reflected shows all
the clearer from having to pass through a column of shadow to the eye.
Anyhow, whatever the cause, it is quite a flattering appearance, all
the more so because if you have a companion you do not see the ‘glory’
round his head, but only round your own! I once nearly turned the
strong brain of a Positivist by pointing out to him this aureole round
his head, and making as if I could see it. He of course, being unable
to see a similar light round mine, had no alternative but to conclude
that he was specially overshadowed by the Holy Ghost!
The _sripada_--“sacred foot”--is better than I expected: a natural
depression in the rock, an inch or so deep, five feet long,[1] of an
oblong shape, and distantly resembling a foot; but they have “improved”
it in parts by mortaring bits of tile along the doubtful edges! There
are no toes marked, though in “copies” of it that I have seen in
some Buddhist shrines the toes are carefully indicated. The mark is
curiously situated at the very summit of the rock--which is only a few
feet square, only large enough, in fact, to give space for the foot
and for a little pavilion, open to the winds, which has been erected
over it; and on the natural platform just below--which (so steep is
the mountain) is itself encircled by a wall to prevent accidents--are
some curious bits of furniture: four old bronze standard lamps, of
lotus-flower design, one at each corner of the platform, a bell, a
little shrine, and the priests’ hut before mentioned. Looking into the
latter after dawn, I beheld nothing resembling furniture, but a pan in
the middle with logs burning, and three lean figures squatted round it,
their mortal possessions tied in handkerchiefs and hanging from the
roof.
[1] Captain Knox, above quoted, speaks of it as “about two feet
long”; but he does not appear to have actually seen it.
The priests were horribly on the greed for money, and made it really
unpleasant to stay on the top; but I delayed a little in order to
watch Caliban doing _poojah_ at the little shrine I have mentioned. He
brought a hot ember from the fire, sprinkled frankincense on it, burned
camphor and something that looked like saltpetre, also poured some kind
of scented water on the ember, causing fragrance. Very ancient gnarled
rhododendron trees, twenty or thirty feet high, rooting in clefts and
hollows, were in flower (carmine red) all round the top of the rock. No
snow ever falls here, they say; but there are sometimes hoar frosts,
which the natives mistake for snow. I don’t suppose the temperature
that night was below 50° Fahr., but it felt cold, very cold, after the
heat of the lowlands.
The sun rose soon after six, and at 7.30 we started downwards, on
the great pilgrim-track towards Ratnapura. The final cone, for about
1,500 feet, is certainly a steep bit of rock. I have seen it from
several points of view, but the summit angle was always under 90°.
Steps are cut nearly all down this part, and chains hang alongside in
all places of possible difficulty--chains upon chains, things with
links six inches long, all shapes and curiously wrought, centuries and
centuries old--the pious gifts of successive generations of pilgrims.
Here and there are long inscriptions, in Cinghalese characters, on the
rock-faces; and everywhere signs of innumerable labor of successive
travelers in hewing and shaping the path all the way--not to mention
resting-sheds and cabins built in convenient spots lower down. These
however are largely fallen to decay; and indeed the whole place gives
one the impression that the _sripada_ has come somewhat into disrepute
in these modern times, and is only supported by the poorer and more
ignorant among the people.
Ratnapura is only 150 feet or so above the sea; and for twenty-four
miles the path to it from the summit--well-marked but single file--goes
down over rocks and through vast woods, without coming to anything
like a road. Nearly the whole, however, of this great descent of
7,000 feet is done in the first twelve miles to Palábaddala--a tiny
hamlet at the very foot of the mountains--and I don’t know that I
ever felt a descent so fatiguing as this one, partly no doubt owing
to the experiences of the day and night before, and partly no doubt
to the enervation produced by the climate and want of exercise; but
the path itself is a caution, and the ascent of it must indeed be a
pilgrimage, with its huge steps and strides from rock to rock and from
tree-root to tree-root, and going, as it does, almost straight up and
down the mountain side, without the long zigzags and detours by which
in such cases the brunt is usually avoided. All the same it was very
interesting; the upper jungle of rhododendrons, myrtles, and other
evergreen foliage forming a splendid cover for elephants, and clothing
the surrounding peaks and crags for miles in grey-green wrinkles and
folds, with here and there open grassy spaces and glades and tumbling
watercourses; then the vegetation of the lower woods, huge trees 150
or even 200 feet high, with creepers, orchids, and tree-ferns; the
occasional rush of monkeys along the branches; butterflies and birds;
thick undergrowth in parts of daturas, pointsettias, crotons, and
other fragrant and bright-colored shrubs; down at last into coco-nut
plantations and to the lovely Kaluganga, or Black river, which we
forded twice; and ultimately along its banks, shadowed by bamboos and
many flowering trees.
Although, curiously enough, the fig is not grown as a fruit in Ceylon,
yet the _ficus_ is one of the most important families of trees here,
and many of the forest trees belong to it. There is one very handsome
variety, whose massive grey stem rises unbroken to a great height
before it branches, and which in order to support itself throws out
great lateral wings or buttresses, reaching to a height of twelve or
twenty feet from the ground, and spreading far out from the base of
the trunk,--each buttress perhaps three or four inches thick, and
perfectly shaped, with plane and parallel sides like a sawn plank, so
as to give the utmost strength with least expenditure of material.
This variety has small ovate evergreen leaves. Then there are two or
three varieties, of which the banyan (_ficus Indica_) is one, which are
parasitic in their habit. The banyan begins existence by its seed being
dropped in the fork of another tree--not unfrequently a palm--from
which point its rootlets make their way down the stem to the ground.
With rapid growth it then encircles the victim tree, and throwing out
great lateral branches sends down from these a rain of fresh rootlets
which, after swinging in air for a few weeks, reach the ground and
soon become sturdy pillars. I have thus seen a banyan encircling with
its central trunk the stem of a palm, and clasping it so close that a
knife could not be pushed between the two, while the palm, which had
grown in height since this accident happened to it, was still soaring
upwards, and feebly endeavoring to live. There is a very fine banyan
tree at Kalutara, which spans the great high-road from Colombo to
Galle, all the traffic passing beneath it and between its trunks.
Some of the figs fasten parasitically on other trees, though without
throwing out the pillar-like roots which distinguish the banyan; and
it is not uncommon to see one of these with roots like a cataract
of snakes winding round the trunk of an acacia, or even round some
non-parasitic fig, the two trees appearing to be wrestling and writhing
together in a fierce embrace, while they throw out their separate
branches to sun and air, as though to gain strength for the fray. The
parasite generally however ends by throttling its adversary.
There is also the bo-tree, or _ficus religiosa_, whose leaf is of a
thinner texture. One of the commonest plants in open spots all over
Ceylon is the sensitive plant. Its delicately pinnate leaves form a
bushy growth six inches to a foot in depth over the ground; but a
shower of rain, or nightfall, or the trampling of animals through it
causes it to collapse into a mere brown patch--almost as if a fire had
passed over. In a few minutes however after the disturbance has ceased
it regains its luxuriance. There are also some acacia trees which droop
their leaves at nightfall, and at the advent of rain.
There are two sorts of monkeys common in these forests--a small
brown monkey, which may be seen swinging itself from tree to tree,
not unfrequently with a babe in its arms; and the larger _wanderoo_
monkey, which skips and runs on all fours along the ground, and of
which it is said that its devotion to its mate is life-long. Very
common all over Ceylon is a little grey-brown squirrel, with three
yellow longitudinal stripes on its back; almost every tree seems to
be inhabited by a pair, which take refuge there at the approach of a
stranger, and utter a sharp little whistle like the note of an angry
bird. They are very tame however, and will often in inhabited places
run about the streets, or even make their appearance in the houses in
search of food.
The Hindus take no pleasure in killing animals--even the boys do not,
as a rule, molest wild creatures--and the consequence is that birds and
the smaller four-footed beasts are comparatively bold. Not that the
animals are made pets of, but they are simply let alone--in keeping
with the Hindu gentleness and quiescence of disposition. Even the
deadly cobra--partly no doubt from religious associations--is allowed
to go its way unharmed; and the people have generally a good word for
it, saying it will not attack any one unless it be first injured.
On the whole the trouble about reptiles in this country seems to me
to be much exaggerated. There are some places in the forests where
small leeches--particularly in the wet seasons--are a great pest.
Occasionally a snake is to be seen, but I have been rather disappointed
at their rarity; or a millipede nine inches long. The larger scorpion
is a venomous-looking creature, with its blue-black lobster-like body
and claws, and slender sting-surmounted tail, five inches long in all;
but it is not so venomous as generally supposed, and most of these
creatures, like the larger animals--the chetah, the elk, the bear,
the elephant, etc.--keep out of the way of man as well as they can.
Of course native woodmen and others tramping bare-legged through the
tangles occasionally tread on a snake and get bitten; but the tale
of deaths through such casualties, though it may seem numerically
large, taken say throughout Ceylon and India, is in proportion to the
population but a slight matter--about 1 in 15,000 per annum.
There are many handsome butterflies here, especially of the
swallow-tail sort--some of enormous size--and a number of queer
insects. I saw a large green mantis, perhaps six inches long--a
most wicked-looking creature. I confess it reminded me of a highly
respectable British property owner. It sits up like a beautiful green
leaf, with its two foreclaws (themselves flattened out and green to
look like lesser leaves) held up as if it were praying--_perfectly_
motionless--except that all the time it rolls its stalked eyes slowly
around, till it sees a poor little insect approach, when it stealthily
moves a claw, and pounces.
The birds are not so numerous as I expected. There are some
bright-colored kinds and a few parrots, but the woods seem quiet on
the whole. The barbet, a green bird not quite so big as a pigeon, goes
on with its monotonous bell-like call--like a cuckoo that has lost its
second note--on and on, the whole day long; the lizards cluck and kiss,
full of omens to the natives, who call them “the crocodile’s little
brothers”--and say “if you kill a little lizard the crocodile will come
and kill you”; the grasshoppers give three clicks and a wheeze; the
small grey squirrels chirrup; the frogs croak; and the whole air is
full of continuous though subdued sound.
At Palábaddala, the tiny little hamlet at the foot of the mountains,
I was dead-beat with the long jolting downhill, and if it had not
been for the faithful Kalua, who held my hand in the steeper parts, I
should fairly have fallen once or twice. Here we stopped two hours at
a little cabin. Good people and friendly--a father and mother and two
lads--the same anxious, tender mother-face that is the same all over
the world. They brought out a kind of couch for me to lie on, but would
not at first believe that I would eat _their_ food. However, after a
little persuasion they made some tea (for the people are beginning to
use tea quite freely) and some curry and rice--quite palatable. I began
to eat of course with my fingers, native fashion; but as soon as I did
so, they saw that something was wrong, and raised a cry of _Karandi_!
(spoon); and a boy was sent off, despite my protests, to the cabin of a
rich neighbor half a mile off, and ultimately returned in triumph with
a rather battered German-silver teaspoon!
I felt doubtful about doing another twelve miles to Ratnapura; however
thought best to try, and off we went. But the rest had done little
good, and I could not go more than two miles an hour. At 4 p.m., after
walking about four miles, we came out into flat land--a good path,
little villages with clumps of palm and banana, lovely open meadows,
and tame buffalos grazing. Thence along the side of the Kaluganga, most
lovely of rivers, through thickets of bamboo and tangles of shrubs,
and past more hamlets and grazing grounds (though feeling so _done_,
I thoroughly enjoyed every step of the way), till at last at a little
kind of shop (_kadai_) we halted, about 6 p.m. Got more tea, and a
few bananas, which was all I cared to eat; and then went in and lay
down on a trestle and mat for an hour, after which we decided to stay
the night. Kalua stretched himself near me; the men of the place lay
down on the floor--the women somewhere inside; the plank shutters were
built in, and lights put out. I slept fairly well, and woke finally at
the sound of voices and with dawn peeping in through the holes in the
roof. Had a lovely wash in a little stream, and an early breakfast of
tea, bananas, and hot cakes made of rice, coco-nut, and sugar--and then
walked four miles into this place (Ratnapura), where at last we came to
a road and signs of civilisation.
The rest-house here is comfortable; have had another bath, and a good
solid breakfast, and made arrangements for a boat to start with us this
evening down the river to Kalutara (60 miles).
_Sunday, Jan. 4th._--After walking round the town yesterday, and
getting fruit and provisions for our voyage, we embarked about 6 p.m.,
and are now floating lazily down the Kaluganga. The water is rather
low, and the speed not good; but the river is very beautiful, with
bamboos, areca-palms, and other trees, leaning over in profusion.
Ratnapura (the city of jewels) is only a small town--hardly so big as
Kurunégala--just about one long street of little booths and cabins,
a post-office, court-house and cutcherry, and the usual two or three
bungalows of the English agent and officials standing back in park-like
grounds in a kind of feudal reserve. The town derives its name from
the trade in precious stones which has been carried on here for long
enough--rubies, sapphires, and others being found over a great part of
the mountain district. In perhaps half the little shops of Ratnapura
men and boys may be seen squatted on the floor grinding and polishing
jewels. With one hand they use a bow to turn their wheels, and with
the other they hold the stone in position. The jewels are also set and
offered for sale--often at what seem very low prices. But the purchaser
must beware; for the blessings of modern commerce are with us even
here, and many of these precious stones are bits of stained glass
supplied wholesale from Birmingham.
This boat, which is of a type common on the river, consists of two
canoes or “dug-outs,” each twenty feet long, and set five or six
feet apart from each other, with a flooring laid across them, and a
little thatched cabin constructed amidships. The cabin is for cooking
and sleeping--a fire and cooking pots at one end, and mats laid at
the other. At the front end of the boat sit the two rowers, and the
steersman stands behind. We have a skipper and four crew (an old
man, Djayánis; a middle-aged man, Signápu; and two lads, Duánis and
Thoránis). The name of the skipper is Pedri. About two miles below
Ratnapura we drew to the shore and stopped below a temple; and Pedri
and the old man went up to offer money for a favorable voyage! They
washed a few coppers in the river, wrapped them in a bo-tree leaf,
which had also been washed, sprinkled water on their foreheads, and
then went up. They soon came back, and then we started.
[Illustration: RICE-BOATS ON THE KALUGANGA.
(_A clump of bamboos on the right._)]
Hardly any signs of habitation along the river. Now and then rude
steps down to the shore, and a dark figure pouring water on its own
head. The river varying, a hundred yards, more or less, wide. At about
seven it got too dark and we halted against a sandbank, waiting for
the moon to rise, and had dinner--rice, curried eggs, and beans, and a
pineapple--very good. Then got out and sat on the sand, while the boys
lighted a fire. Very fine, the gloom on the tall fringed banks, gleams
from the fire, voices of children far back among the woods, playing in
some village. After a time we went back on board again, and sat round
teaching each other to count, and laughing at our mistakes--_ekkai_,
_dekkai_, _tonai_, _hattarai_--one, two, three, four. The Cinghalese
language (unlike the Tamil) is full of Aryan roots--_minya_, man;
_gáni_, woman; and so on. The small boy Thoránis (12 years) learnt his
“one two three” in no time; he is pretty sharp; he does the cooking,
and prepares our meals, taking an oar between times. The man Pedri
seemed good to the lads, and they all enjoyed themselves till they got
sleepy and lay in a row and snored.
Started again at moonrise, about midnight; after which I went to sleep
till six or so, then went ashore and had a bath--water quite warm. Then
off again; a few slight rapids, but nothing much. We go aground every
now and then; but these boats are so tough--the canoes themselves being
hollowed trees--that a bump even on a rock does not seem to matter
much. The lads quite enjoy the struggle getting over a sandbank, and
Duánis jumps down from his perch and plunges through the water with
evident pleasure. The old man Djayánis steers--a shrewd-faced calm thin
fellow, almost like a North American Indian, but no beak. See a monkey
or a kite occasionally; no crocodiles in this part of the river, above
the rapids; some large and handsome kingfishers, and the fruit-crow,
whose plumage is something like that of a pheasant.
Kalua enjoys the voyage. It suits his lazy sociable temperament, and
he chats away to Pedri and the crew no end. His savage strength and
_insouciance_ are splendid. All over Adam’s Peak he walked barefoot,
with no more sign of fatigue than if it had been a walk round a
garden,--would lie down and sleep anywhere, or not sleep, eat or
not eat, endure cold or heat with apparent indifference; yet though
so complete a savage physically, it is interesting to see what an
attraction for him civilisation, or the little he has seen of it,
exerts. He is always asking me about Europe, and evidently dreaming
about its wealth and splendor. All the modern facilities and inventions
are sort of wonderful toys to this child of nature; and though I think
he is attached to me, and is no doubt of an affectionate disposition,
still it is partly that I am mixed up in his mind with all these
things. I tried one day to find out from K. his idea of god or devil,
or supreme power of any kind; but in vain. His mind wandered to things
more tangible. Many of the Cinghalese however have rather a turn for
speculations of this kind; and at one hotel where I was staying the
chamber-servant entertained me with quite a discourse on Buddha, and
ended by ridiculing the Christian idea that a man can get rid of the
results of sin by merely praying to God or believing in Jesus.
We have now passed the _nárraka-gála_ (bad rock) rapid, which is
about half-way down the river, and is the only rapid which has looked
awkward, the river narrowing to five or six yards between rocks,
and plunging over at a decided slope. We went through with a great
bump, but no damage! The sun and smells on board are getting rather
trying; this dried-fish smell unfortunately haunts one wherever there
are native cabins. But we shall not be long now before reaching my
landing-place, a little above Kalutara.
There are a good many boats like ours on the river, some laden with
rice going down, others poling upwards--sometimes whole families on the
move. Quantities of ragged white lilies fringing the shore.
_Jan. 6th._--Kalua and I left our friends and their boat in the
afternoon, and spent Sunday night at P----’s bungalow. P. is manager
of a tea plantation--a bit of a Robinson Crusoe, living all by
himself--native servants of course--with two dogs, a cat, and a
jackdaw (and at one time a hare!) sharing his meals. Some of these
planter-fellows must find the life a little dreary I fancy, living
isolated on their plantations at a considerable distance from European
neighbors, with very small choice of society at the best, and prevented
no doubt by their position from associating too closely with the only
folk who are near them--their own employees. The more kindly-hearted
among them however do a good deal for their workers in the way of
physicking and nursing them when ill or disabled, advising them when in
difficulties, etc.; and in these cases the natives, with their instinct
of dependence, soon learn to lean like children on their employer, and
the latter finds himself, after a few years, the father (so to speak)
of a large family. There are 200 Tamil coolies permanently employed on
this plantation, and a hundred or two besides, mostly girls and women,
who come in to work when wanted from neighboring Cinghalese villages.
[Illustration: GROUP OF TAMIL COOLIES, OR WAGE-WORKERS.]
But the system, like the commercial system wherever it is found
to-day, is pretty bad and odious in itself, and is no doubt in many
cases a cover for shameful abuses. The Tamil coolies--men, women, and
children--come over in gangs from the mainland of India. An agent is
sent out to tout for them, and to conduct them by sea and land to their
destination. On their arrival on the tea-estate each one finds himself
so many rupees in debt for the expenses of transit! An average wage is
6_d._ a day, but to keep them up to the mark in productiveness their
work is “set” for them to complete a certain task in a certain time,
and if they do not come up to their task they get only half pay; so
that if a man is slow, or lazy, or ill, he may expect about 3_d._ per
diem! Under these circumstances the debt, as may be imagined, goes on
increasing instead of diminishing; the estate is far up country, away
from town or village, and the tea company acts as agent and sells rice
and the other necessaries of life to its own coolies. Poor things, they
cannot buy elsewhere. “Oh, but they like to be in debt,” said a young
planter to me, “and think they are not doing the best for themselves
unless they owe as much as the company will allow.” He was very young,
that planter, and perhaps did not realise what he was saying; but what
a suggestion of despair! Certainly there may have been some truth in
the remark; for when all hope of ever being out of debt is gone, the
very next best thing is to be in debt, as much as ever you can. At the
end of the week the coolie does not see any wage; his rice, etc., has
forestalled all that, and more; only his debt is ticked down a little
deeper. If he runs away to a neighboring estate he is soon sent back
in irons. He is a slave, and must remain so to the end of his days.
That is not very long however; for poor food and thin clothing, and the
mists and cool airs of the mountains soon bring on lung diseases, of
which the slight-bodied Tamil easily dies.
“I dare say 3_d._ a day seems a very small wage to you,” said the
planter youth, “but it is really surprising how little these fellows
will live on.”
“It is surprising, indeed, when you see their thin frames, that they
live at all.”
“Ah, but they are much worse off at home; you should see them when they
come from India.” And so the conversation ended.
And this is how our tea, which we set so much store by, is produced
in Ceylon and other places. These plantations are sad-looking places.
Commercialism somehow has a way of destroying all natural beauty in
those regions where it dwells. Here the mountain sides are torn up,
the immense and beautiful forests ravaged from base to summit, and
the shaly escarpments that remain planted in geometrical lines with
tea-shrubs. You may walk for miles through such weary lands, extending
rapidly now all over the mountain region from the base to near the tops
of the highest mountains, the blackened skeletons of half-burnt trees
alone remaining to tell of the old forests, of which before long there
will be but a memory left.
It is curious, when one comes to think of it, that such huge spaces of
the earth are devastated, such vast amounts of human toil expended,
in the production of two things--tea and wine--which to say the least
are not necessaries, and which certainly in the quantities commonly
consumed are actually baneful. If their production simply ceased,
what a gain it might seem! Yet the commercial policies of the various
nations stimulate these, and always to the neglect of the necessaries
of life. They stimulate the stimulants. We need not be hypercritical,
but there must be something peculiar in the temper of the modern
nations that they make such tremendous sacrifices in order to act in
this way.
[Illustration: TAMIL GIRL COOLIE, PLUCKING TEA.]
On each tea-plantation there are the “lines” (rows of huts) in which
the coolies live, and the “factory”--a large wooden building, with rows
of windows, a steam engine, and machinery for the various processes
concerned--withering, fermenting, rolling, firing, sorting, packing,
etc. The tea-bushes (a variety of the camellia) are not allowed to
grow more than three or four feet high. In Ceylon the plucking goes on
almost all the year round. As soon as the young shoots, with five or
six leaves, have had time to form since the last plucking, a gang of
workers comes round--mostly girls and women for this job--each with a
basket, into which they pluck the young leaves and the little rolled-up
leaf-bud, most precious of all. When taken to the factory the leaves
are first spread out to wither, then rolled by machinery (to look
like buds), then dried or baked by artificial heat. After this they
are sorted through a huge sieve, and the finest quality, consisting of
the small leaf-bud, is called Flowery Pekoe; the next size, including
some of the young leaf, is called Broken Pekoe; and the coarser leaves
come out as Pekoe Souchong, Souchong, etc. The difficulty with tea, as
with wine, is that no two yields are alike; the conditions of plucking,
fermenting, firing, etc., all make a difference in the resultant
flavor. Hence a dealer, say in London, who reckons to supply his
customers with tea of a certain constant flavor, has simply to _make_
such tea as best he can--namely by “blending” any teas which he can lay
hold of in the market, and which will produce the desired result. The
names given in these cases are of course mostly fictitious.
* * * * *
I may as well insert here one or two extracts from letters since
received from our friend “Ajax,” which will perhaps help to show the
condition of the coolies in the tea-gardens where he is now working. He
says:--
“One gets very fond of the coolies, they are so much like children;
they bring all their little grievances to one to settle. A man will
come and complain that his wife refuses to cook his food for him; the
most minute details of family affairs are settled by the sahib of the
garden. The coolies have a hard time, and are treated little better
than slaves; most willing workers they are. Still all I can say is
that they have a much better time than the very poor at home, such as
the factory girls, tailoresses, etc., and laborers. On this garden
they have met with exceptionally hard lines; the manager being an
ill-bred man has had no consideration for his men, and they have died
in hundreds from exposure to weather in the garden and houses, which
had all crumbled away from neglect. Many families of ten or eleven
in number have dwindled away to one or two. In one case, two little
fellows of eight and nine, living together on five rupees a month, are
the only representatives (of a former family)....
“I was sorry to leave (the former garden), very; I had got to know the
coolies, 300 of them at any rate who were under my charge, and they
had got to know me. Many of them wanted to come with me here, but that
is not allowed. Some said they would ‘cut their names,’ that is take
their names off the garden labor-register, and go wherever I went,
but of course they could not do that. I don’t know why they were so
anxious to come, because I know I worked them very hard all the time I
was there. I think my predecessor used to fine them and thrash them a
good deal, often because he did not know what they said, and could not
make them understand. I like the coolies very much, and one gets quite
attached to some of them; they seem instinctively polite; and if you
are ill, they tend you just like a woman--never leave one in fact. The
higher and more respectable class of Baboos are just as objectionable,
I think.”