Show I A Visit to Ceylon CONTINUED FROM PAGE 76 J JA A SINGHALESE boy who could speak a little English waited by the hotel until we got ready to go out and then he constituted himself a guide W We were going to stay a week in Colombo and finding the boy quite pleasant we employed him As we walked through the streets our attention was first given to the characteristic characteristic characteristic charac charac- dress and general appearance i of the different races The men go ou out t bareheaded and barefooted They wear a shirt and short jacket have their hair long tie it up in a roll at the back of the head and wear a semicircular semi comb their large to keep hair back Some of them have no no j beards and feminine being a very race it is sometimes hard to distinguish distinguish distin distin- between men and women They are employed as waiters coachmen etc and are seldom seen at hard work The also wear a skirt and jacket but they have their heads shaved and wear a tall hat which has no projecting rim Like their Arabic ancestors they are traders The are the laboring race They were breaking stone on the roads and doing all sorts of hard work Their dress consists of a turban and a scanty garment about the hips There are quite a variety of vehicles to tobe be seen Heavy carts with tops ts i 1 u j f. f i i i t made of palm leaves are drawn by the Indian ox humped-ox and carry produce to market For passengers there are carts bullock-carts of more or less dignified appearance which are drawn either by the Indian ox humped-ox or by the little black Singhalese Singhalese Singhalese Sing Sing- halese cattle The latter are driven over the road at a good pace But the is the favorite conveyance It was imported from Japan about ten years ago and is now very much used The name in the Japanese language means II man man It is a two- two wheeled vehicle has a comfortable seat for one person and is drawn by a man The shafts are short and have a bar across the ends The scantily dressed Tamil gets between these shafts places one hand on the bar in front of him takes hold behind with the other hand and when his passenger says Go he goes on a good run In speed I think the comes next to the railroad railroad railroad rail rail- road that is of the means of traveling traveling traveling travel travel- ing in C Ceylon European residents seldom walk out If a person wants to go anywhere he shouts shou ts II boy II which is the call for a servant The waiter comes and receives the order He then goes to the door and shouts rickshaw Half-a-dozen Half are at hand in a few seconds and a person can be taken to any part of the town for a mere trifle In the heat of the day when a European European European Euro Euro- is afraid to go out without a parasol parasol parasol para para- sol the man continues to torun torun torun run along the streets and if he goes too too slow to suit his passenger the latter gives him a poke with his cane and the wheels immediately begin to turn faster A person never gets lonesome in this town for he is continually followed by a crowd of beggars A little boy leading a very old man called after us saying II Master give money This poor pool man No fader no give money master Some of the motley crowd are blind while others see but dimly yet they all manage to follow We passed the prison where several hundred convicts were hard at work breaking stone The laws of the colony are strictly enforced and the offenders have to labor under guard of British soldiers We next came to a Mohammedan Mosque and thought to enter but we were deemed un unworthy worthy Charlie told us we were but we didn't believe him He is a Buddhist and finding that we were interested in the native places of worship he took tork us to visit their tem tem- Here we were welcomed by the custodian and taken at once into the place of worship This is a small temple the room for prayer being only about fourteen feet long and ten feet wide In a glass case in the wall is a large wooden image of Buddha before which the worshipers kneel In front of the image is an old table on which is a contribution box for the special benefit of visitors The walls are covered with pictures of the early dISciples disciples disciples dis dIS- of Lord Buddha the know All ing The Lecture Hall a adjacent jacent to the temple has a shaped dome-shaped roof supported by pillars of stone The floor is the native dust and there are areno areno areno no seats provided The priest simply sits on the ground while the people gather around him and listen to his reading and discourse In the library we were shown a lot of Buddhist scriptures scriptures scriptures scrip scrip- tures which are written on strips of palm leaves and tied to together ether at one end The house ot of the priests is also here and some of the older ones were busy reading the sacred books to their younger brethren and having them repeat the passages They are dedicated to the church w when en infants When very young they are taken to the priests' priests house and there they spend a all 11 their days II in in single ingle blessedness They have no personal property but live on the alms of the people They are allowed to eat nothing after noon although they may feast from daylight until twelve o'clock if they can get something to feast on Their dress is a loose yellow robe which completely covers th the body from the neck to the ankles Their hair is cut short hort and they go out bareheaded and barefooted or with sandals Buddha forbade the priests to marry in order that he might more effectually break up the castes of the and establish the equality of mankind Charlie our guide next took us to the temples On the way we met many of the people coming from worship having their besmeared besmeared besmeared be be- smeared with some white substance which they received while at prayer We first came to a small temple which is dedicated to Brahma the Creator From its style of architecture and the many images that adorn its walls a person might at once recognize it as a place of worship Here as at atthe atthe atthe the mosque we were counted unworthy to enter We passed on to the larger and more magnificent temples of Siva the Destroyer Destroyer Destroyer De De- and Vishnu the Preserver At Atthe Atthe Atthe the latter place the priest opened the doors and allowed us to put our heads in and nd look around We might stretch our necks as far as we pleased but our feet had to remain on the outside The floor of this temple is made of blocks of stone the walls are covered with little images and paintings which are not the most perfect works of art On one side of the room is an altar i having a burning taper on each side of it In the center of the room are two old tables on which are the present ever-present contri contribution boxes now unfortunately out of our reach The priests have the ther r front part of the head shaved and all the clothing they wear is a loose gart garf gar gar- I fI f t af J f ment which reaches from the waist l nearly to the knees 1 In the central part of the city the natives are as thick as bees in a hive it is a wonder that they do not swarm A AThe The streets are narrow and business u is generally carried on behind a counter which is open to the street where a s person stands and buys instead of going going go go- go 3 ing inside The barber shops are r nothing more than stalls furnished with witha a razor a pair of shears and a man Here the Moorman comes and sits on j the floor while the barber sits by his side and shaves his head At the back of the shops are the homes of the natives not natives not at all inviting in appearance appearance ap ap- The fruit market is a large open shed where a great variety of fruit and vegetables vegetables vege- vege J d tables tables are sold All kinds of tropical t fruit t are very cheap limes sell for six cents equal to two cents U. U S. S A. A coin a dozen and oth other r fruit is proportionally pro pro- a t cheap J JAt At Lake Colombo which lies on the border of the native quarters there is always a lively scene in the evening i i Large crowds gather there to wash t themselves their animals and their 3 clothing Men cattle and horses all a swim together and those that have clothes to wash wade out into the lake lay the clothes on on rocks which are provided provided provided pro pro- vided and beat them with sticks dipping dipping dip dip- t ping them in the water at intervals At the same time of the day women r and nd children may be seen at the wells for now as of old the women of the East are the II hewers of wood and j drawers of water These women All J though poorly dressed and hard at 1 work are nearly always well supplied 1 with jewels It is very common to see seea a woman who is dressed in rags have her ears loaded from top to b bottom with rings a dozen or more in each ear a jewel fastened in each side of I I i ti her nose a chain around her neck I bracel bracelets ts on her wrists and ankles and ands andI s I rings on her fingers and toes The little children seldom wear any clothing at all but they generally have havea a chain with a locket around the waist another about the neck and bracelets bracelet on the arms and legs The mother has hasa a very odd way of carrying her child Having a calabash in her right hand u she leans slightly in that direction and the child rides astride of her left side using the short ribs and the top of the hip bone for a saddle while the mother steadies him with her left hand We made a tour through the suburbs to to the Cinnamon Gardens a place which seems to attract many visitors The Europeans and wealthy natives live out here Their homes are a great contrast contrast contrast con con- to those thoe that have been described The houses are neat and roomy are surrounded by lawns flower gardens and the dense foliage of the tropics and are situated along b boulevards boulevards that rival those of Paris Pans Here people who have a little wealth retire to l lead ad adan an easy and I might say lazy life Labor is so cheap and the climate so fosters laziness that the European employs employs employs em em- ploys a lot of servants to do all his work When out riding he has not only a coachman but a footman who sometimes stands upon a l little platform at atthe atthe atthe the back of the carriage carnage but oftener the poor fellow has to run along behind and keep up with the horses Where style is desired he has two footmen run in front of the horses They are dressed dresse gaudily and anel each is armed with a spear which he carries in an upright position in front of the right shoulder The governor of Ceylon goes out in a very fine carriage and has two out riders who keep about four rods in advance and everybody must get get out of the way for the governor It Those Cinnamon Gardens which we wet t arted out to 10 see are only a lot of cin cin- C f. f I Jk namon trees growing without any cultivation Milton oil Bennion TO HE BE CONTINUED CO U |