Show A Visit to Ceylon FOR several months we h had d been reading and thinking about Ceylon F The Pearl of the Seas but little did we realize how appropriate this name is until we sailed along its coast and on the evening of February 1st 1893 cast r. r anchor in the harbor of Colombo Colom Lo It was just getting dark the whole western western wes wes- i tern sky was aglow with the brilliant red sh shades ldes of the sun which had apparently apparently appa appa- i sunk into the blue sea The eastern sky was beautifully tinted by bythe bythe bythe the rising moon while overhead the planets Jupiter and Mars were shining t. t brightly This being the first clear night that we had had since crossing the equator we turned our attention to the stars The Southern Cross had hadt hadl l t disappeared but the North Star which t we had lost sight of for three years t now re-appeared re and stood about seven degrees above the horizon Although f- f farther away from home than we had 0 ever been before the sight of this star made us feel that we were really nearer But we did not need to look so far faraway faraway faraway away for something attractive The harbor was beautifully decorated with the colored lights of ships and beyond these was a famous revolving lighthouse lighthouse lighthouse light light- house which threw a beam far out on the sea We had no so sooner ner stopped than the deck was crowded with natives who turned our steamship into a marketplace marketplace marketplace market market- place and circus There were r hawkers of jewels and precious stones walking sticks Ceylon linen suits and andall andall andall all sorts of native curios Take your measure says the tailor II and me bring suit at six in mornin Only five rupees Buy moonstones moonstones moonstones moon moon- stones says the next man II only ten each You take em London sell fur sixty Me no sell any today Sell to you eight jest fur luck No that is too much says my companion Till 1111 give you one is shilling for a dozen Ail All right you take em is the prompt answer There was one man on the crowded deck who had plenty of room he was a snake Sitting on the floor with a basket in front of him he raised the lid and up came the head of a big snake The charmer took it up gently gentl and placed it around his neck played with it for foi a few minutes and then put it back in the basket He had drawn a j crowd an and now he wanted to show them what a wizard h he was Some of t the e passengers lent him money and at his magic touch it would disappear and J come back again at his command But J Jit it never came back to the persons who 1 lent ent it a aIt It was nearly midnight before these people went away and then the noise didn't cease for there were sixteen 4 barges alongside of the ship and Hin Hin- 1 doos of the Tamil tribe were working all night carrying baskets of coal up on deck and dumping them below We thought that it was almost too warm to live to say nothing of work Yet 4 these people stand it quite well f They are not encumbered with much clothing however their whole dress consisting of about a half a yard of linen J The next morning we hired a catamaran catamaran cata cata- t maran and went on shore A train of J attendants guides coolies and beggars followed us to our hotel The guides j told us all about their country and people the coolies carried a parcel d deach each and the beggars went before us 1 bowing gracefully calling us II Master and then putting out their hands for 1 money A little girl about four years j jold old came running after us and thinking d I 1 looked very fatherly she put up her hand to me and said Papa Pa pa give money papa The sun being two hours high it was 1 too hot to go out sight-seeing sight so we spent the middle of the day at the hotel L j If That we we may better u understand t the e er r people of Ceylon I here give a few historical historical his his- i facts concerning them There r are many about the early history of the island but the first knowledge we have of it is that it was f F Lt i inhabited by a very low type of human F beings much like the natives of Aust Aus- Aus t They are called and j now number only two or three thousand 1 During the great persecution persecution of the Buddhists about two centuries before ti Christ the Singhalese tribe were were wre driven K out of Bengal and they took refuge in Ceylon It thus came to be called II The Sacred Home of Buddhism There are about two millions of this thisE E race all of whom are fa faithful to the theU U religion of their fathers Some time after Christ the from India invaded the island They number num- num t ber nearly seven hundred thousand and andare andare are worshipers of Brahma In the t fifteenth century Arab merchants settled on the coast They are called Moor Moor- t men are and number two thousand Then there are i J. J Eurasians descendants of the Portuguese Portuguese f guese and Dutch who occupied the island at later dates and the English who now govern the colony From these facts it is evident that Ceylon is a good place to study religions religions religions reli reli- gions and races Milton Bennion s TO BE CONTINUED |