Show iSlAND k S Sn n Y Yx 4 x- x 4 A I t tY Y d a r 4 rj j p s 2 9 9 z Q y B K 4 i a R a F b bay ay x q 3 s s q r rc b wa waP P Py y fey M KS 4 N 0 p A Z m mf f q sF N Y G a rA J M p A AyO yO Jr Af AfA A DocIle Ceylon Temple Elephant Pr Prepared by National Geographic SocIety Washington D w C-w C NU Service duke duhe of Gloucester on his forthcoming to Ceylon will present the Island with the throne of Its native kings The Thelast Thelast last Tamil king of Haja Sinha was unpopular with hIs subjects Aided by the British they tIley deposed him in 1815 and sent his throne to England where ever sInce It has been preserved in Windsor castle Cc Ceylon Ion Is known to most of us only for its fragrant tea Yet aside from producing th the es of one of the world s most popular beverages the Island contributes many oher oher prod products products to commerce Coconut fiber for brushes tortoIse shell for combs and eye glasses graphite an important component of pencils citronella oil applied to ward off mosquitoes and used to deaden the taste of medicine A pear shaped Island halt half the size of New York state Ce Ceylon Ion lies In the Indian off the southern tip of India It Is a British possession and has no political connection with India though separated from it only by 22 22 mIles of water A epic relates that this strait was once bridged by a causeway cause the handiwork ork of nn an army of monkeys Legend rises like Ule incense from Cey Cey- Ceylon lon Ion A huge hollow in a rhododendron covered ered hm hill Is re ered as the footprint of Buddha call it Ad Adams Adam's ms m's peak Arabian legend relates that Adam and Eve Dve driven out of Paradise were allowed to enter this enchanting island In many ways a s it Is Isa isa a second Eden It is drugged with s sweet scents that breezes waft aft far out over the high seas Three days before mariners manners sigh sight t Ce Ceylon Ion they carp smell Its heavy fragrance which rises from flo floer er decked temples from blossoms trampled on the highway high ny from bloom bloomIng blooming Ing lotus frangipanni gardenia cinna- cinna cinnamon cinnamon mon and other spice trees Natives Have Idyllic LIfe BrItish modernIzatIon of the island has disturbed but little the almost Id idyllic mc existence of the natives orr the palm fringed shores where here surf rolls on yellow ellow sands they fish let lei leisurely surely from outrigger canoes British automobiles may speed 0 oser er the Is Island's lands nd's copper colored roads but Cey Cey- Ceylon's lons lon's slow mos mo lag ing bullock carts set the tempo for native life On any road arched over with tamarind trees festooned with pepper vines one passes cream m colored bullocks draw draw- drawIng drawing Ing huge thatch roofed prairie schoon schooners schooners ers bursting wIth families and their household belongings The brown brown- skinned women omen are slender and delicately featured often beau beautiful The men In their tight skirts and hair caught up In a bun appear effeminate Their mouths are stained scarlet from che chewing cheIng Ing soothing betel nuts Ceylon Is a land wrested rested from the jungle It well deserves Its ancient name of the island of dusky lea leases es for most of Its hills hillsand hillsand and low l ly ing plains are co covered ered with thick jungles Glossy jak trees barn bam bamboo boo boos ebony and other rare hardwoods are woven together by wild sines Ines Jungle has overgrown n Cc Ceylon's lons lon's an cleat clent clues The most extensive e ot of these miles north of Colombo was the capital of a hIgh high- highly ly Iy civilized Ceylon about B C A royal residence with DO 6 Buddhist priests among Its Inhabitants it must once have covered an area larger than London Hindu reduced It to toa toa a heap of granite posts and sculptured friezes It now Is strangled by creep creep- creepers ers The Ceylon archeology depart department went ment which erected government offices and bungalows there cleared glade glade- like corrIdors to it it so that th visitors may view its fascinating ruins Sunshine and Heavy Rains Ceylon's lons lon's climate Is fairly good for tor forthe the tropics tropics Though moIst and ener ener- ener enervating wIth warmth It Is tempered by sea breezes and Is healthful except In Inthe inthe the low v lying jungles where malaria has bas when taken heavy toll Infant mortality Is excessive due chiefly to malaria e anti malaria work and IDa ma maternal and child w welfare work me are slowly producIng good results The Island alternates between scorch Ing sunshIne and heavy sho showers ers At I times Umes the air is very cry still and hot hotl I Thunder 0 oser er hills and jungles pre precede precede cede midsummer raIns so torrential that every e ery leaf drips Clumps of giant bamboo already over feet giantI hIgh I shoot up another foot In a single day Liquid bird calls echo through drenched jungles The Tho streams leaping from fall to fall down do n the central uplands to the coast gush In torrents and sometimes flood the land Formerly when scant rain fell the rIvers dried up into parched water water- watercourses courses carpeted with grass Deer from the woods out on them and aDd wild nd s swine sIne Ine plowed them up at night The northwest and southeast st corners of Ceylon became burning des des- deserts deserts erts To counteract this irrigation was be- be begun begun gun centuries ago Irrigation is need need- needed needed ed because rIce Is the staple food of its inhabitants The early kings made a great grent part of Ceylon cultivable able by constructing artificial lakes or tanks Modern Ceylon Is doing e extensive IrrIgation work dam dam- dammIng damming mIng up rivers and conser Ing water In reservoirs for dry tImes This ha hai not only converted arId and land Into agrI- agrI agrIcultural agricultural cultural areas but has checked floods and malarIa Ceylon's prosperity depends entirely on her agrIculture The son soil Is extreme extreme- extremely extremely ly fertile and about one fourth of the theland theland land Is under cultivation The valleys are a patch patchwork of vIvId green rIco rice fields The hills are striped with rows ros ro roof s of tea bushes and rubber trees The tea industry largely in the hands of Europeans is the mainstay of the is island island land exporting about 20 million pounds annually Most of the work on the rubber and tea estates Is done by TamIl Immigrants who ho mIgrate an annually Dually from Crom South IndIa and return home at the end of the season In 1931 these Tamil Immigrants composed 1305 per cent of the total population ot of otI I Ceylon One sees Tamil s omen In bright red and white draperies wInd wind- winding ing down paths between the waist waist- high tea bushes chatterIng and throw throw- throwIng throwing Ing tea over oer their shoulders Into baskets Aside from tea and citronella oil Ceylon ports chiefly raw materials cacao cinnamon coconuts areca nuts rubber and cardamoms Island Is a Jewel Box Unlike the who do most of the unskilled labor the are skilled workers being largely jewel grInders weavers lacquer makers mahers Ce Ceylon Ion Is a je jewel el bo boa of precious stones In Colombo the for jewel grinders and wholesale and retail Jewel sellers one may purchase pearls pearl gloss glo Ing rubles rubies sapphires ame- ame amethysts amethysts moonstone and those weird stones green Iy by day y and sullen red under artificIal lIght The early Greeks knew Ce Ceylon Ion as the Lind of Rubies The Island is noted for its pearls The pearl fisheries are located on the estern coast COlst along the Gulf GuU of Along thIs shore which is sea bottom become land by slow up up- upheaval hewal for tor 10 or 12 mIles Inland the plo plow turns up o oyster ster shells every ery everywhere where here Here at the time of pearl fish fish- fishIng Ing thousands of boats are arc anchored off shore temporary villages sprIng up 0 complete with snake chirm ers era and magicIans to lure the money of the newly rIch pearl dIvers Pearls or of rare value are sometimes discovered discovered ered Legend has It that pearls from here found their way ny to Cleopatra's earrings and the Queen of Sheba's necklace Ceylon's fauna would populate a weird zoo Rose colored flamIngoes mate in Its artificIal lakes Man eating crocodiles bask on the shores Through shoulder high grass wild buffaloes watch tame buffaloes plowing rice rlee fields TIle The air rings with ot of wild peafowl vl and white white beaded fishing eagles The jungles fill the tropIc nIght Ith uncanny and catcalls The blood curdling call of the devil bIrd makes ones one's flesh creep and ones one's hair stand on end The brown ba hack bak k owl makes a cry like a strangled cat Above the chatterIng of monkeys one hears the trumpeting ot of Yo wild ele- ele elephants elephants |