| Show A Visit to Ceylon CONCLUDED PROM PAGE ACROSS the street from the gardens is the Museum of Ceylon The building building building build build- ing is large and contains a fine natural history collection as well as many native works of art The statues of the Singhalese kings look so natural that one might easily fancy they were living living liv liv- ing men We wanted to visit the leper asylum asylum asylum lum which is about four miles from our hotel and not yet having had the luxury of a ride in a cart bullock-cart we hired one to take us out there Our driver was one of those who are so economical in the matter of clothing We asked if he knew the way to the leper asylum He answered answered answered an an- II Yes but we found afterwards that th t he would say II Yes to everything we asked him and didn't seem to know anything else The cart was wa s so small that there was as just room for us to squeeze in at the back and there we sat with our heads poked down under the cover and our legs hanging out behind Our coachman sat in front with his back near ours and his feet out on the shafts one on each side of the little black bull which he drove He held the reins in his left hand and with his right hand kept twisting the animals animal's tail to make him go at the same time giving a peculiar yell We started early in the morning expecting to get back for breakfast at att atten atten t ten n But we had not gone far before we discovered that our driver knew nothing about where we wanted to go He drove in almost every direction but never went near the leper asylum The day became very hot and the novelty of such a ride wore away We made him understand that we wanted to go back to the hotel but before getting there we were so tired of our seat that we got out and walked The charge for any public conveyance is fixed by law and a printed tariff must be shown to every passenger This we examined and paid our bul bul- lock-driver lock all that was due him He wanted more as it is customary to give a few cents in addition to the fixed tariff if the driver has served well Leaving his cart he went along with us kneeling before us and saying II Master rupee rupee master When he found that he couldn't get the rupee he gave us an exhibition of his wrath Standing off about two rods he spit upon the ground with great force threw dust in the air with his hands and kept making hideous faces and cursing us in his native tongue much to our amuse amuse- ment Indeed we thought th this s performance performance performance per per- was worth more than the cart ride Our two-fold two purpose having failed we hired a carriage drawn by horses and a man who knew the way and this time we arrived at the leper asylum without Jt delay The doctor in charge received us kindly and took us through all the buildings where we saw about two hundred and thirty patients Some of them looked like ordinary people while the appearance of others was almost enough to turn a person sick Many had the nose an ear or some other organ entirely eaten away The doctor would put his fingers on them pointing pointing pointing point point- ing out the characteristics of the disease disease disease dis dis- ease and didn't seem to be at all afraid of it It is is' very seldom that a pati patient nt is is cured they are only brought here to tobe tobe tobe be taken care of and to be made com com- A small Episcopal church and anda a Buddhist temple are provided for those who desire to worship Having spent a week on the coast we decided to go to Kandy Randy which is about seventy-five seventy miles inland and is situated in the mountains about two thousand feet above sea The railroads are owned by the government t and are ue man managed aged by government officials They employ porters to wait on the passengers without without without with with- r out charge As soon as our shaws stopped at the station-house station porters porters por por- f came out and carried our satchels f into the car and so all along the way if a person wanted anything he had 1 only to give the order The first part of the journey was over overa a flat country only about thirty-feet thirty above sea This was covered with jungles swamps and fields of rice In Inthe Inthe Inthe the jungles were a great variety of trees among which we could recognize the banana the mango the fruit bread-fruit the bamboo the cocoanut and others Much of the swampy swamp country which appeared to be unfit for cultivation was covered with rice fields W saw We e sa saw w this grain being planted and harvested and growing in all stages of development t e f On reaching the mountains the grade was so steep that we had to have two J engines As we wound around the r. r sides of the mountains and looked up j at the peaks and down at the little valleys all covered with dense foliage here and there broken by a native village village village vil vil- lage and terraced d hillsides covered with growing rice nce our tongues failed us and we sat in silence and wondered at the loveliness of Ceylon Let any person who is not an admirer of nature travel f through this mountain region and I am amm sure that his heart of stone would be softened and he would acknowledge the indescribable beauty of Gods God's works s sIt I It t was after sunset when we arrived r at Kandy which is a city of two thousand thousand thousand thou thou- q a sand inhabitants Here are the palaces g gardens and artificial lakes of the Kandian Singhalese kings They were the most powerful in Ceylon and successfully resisted the Portuguese and Dutch but in 1815 the last king was conquered by the British and banished to India The palace judgment hall and grounds are now the property of Great Britain Here also is the temple of the most noted Buddhist F temple on the island and near by are the tombs of the kings Their bodies are laid away in vaults under the sacred i ibo bo tree in the shade of which Buddha sat and meditated I 4 Sr f past Half-past six is the evening hour of prayer at the temple and at that time i isome some of the attendants began to beat drums with all their might keeping it up the whole of the evening I do not know whether it was to call the people in or to awaken their gods that they 1 might listen to the prayers of the wor wor- If it was for the latter purpose purpose purpose pur pur- i pose then they did not give them much chance to hf hear ar We walked in passing under a stone arch up steps x through halls and into an open court t tin in the center of which was a small v two-story two building the holy place ii J i The Te w walls on the outside were covered It with images and before these the people bowed and said their prayers I V. The worshipers would sometimes fall k flat on their faces with arms stretched 1 t out and the palms of the hands on the r floor It being time for the priests to en enter ter the h holy oly place a bugle was J x sounded and a number of men marched J in procession out of one of the rooms and across the court They were led r. r by a man who wore nothing but a white whites s hat and strip of white cloth wrapped L ft s around the middle of the body He was followed by six priests dressed in l their ye yellow v o robes and after them came several men who were dressed like their t. t leader only that they wore no hats Atthe At Atthe the door they bathed their hands and if feet and then entered We followed closely after them The t lamps were i lighted te and we found ourselves in an uninviting room at one end of which a were some heavy doors opening into ri the treasury where many relics and precious stones were locked up We r all went up a narrow stairway and from fi the first room we passed behind a curtain curtain cur cur- l. tain where in a glass-case glass was an image of Buddha cut out precious stone and with it some rubies sapphires sapphires sap sap- l' l and other games We were then taken into other parts of the tempIe temple tem tem- temple pIe and shown more valuable stones and sacred images of Buddha We were constantly followed by beggars and as we passed out found the doorway doorway door door- door door- doorway way crowded with them The city is situated between two i mountains on the tops of which are marks of ancient fortifications These are called the Eastern and Western Redoubts We climbed to the top of s the latter and there saw the place where the worshipers Demon-worshipers used every e year to sacrifice a young woman to the god of pestilence to appease his wrath and secure prosperity hid for twelve months She was selected I for her beauty then taken with great gnat j pomp to the summit of the mountain tied to a stake and left to die From this place we had a fine view of the country A little to the south we could see Adams Adam's Peak which is looked upon with veneration by all the natives In a rock on the top of this mountain there is said to be a large foot The say that it was made by Adam They believe that the garden of Eden was in Ceylon To the it is the footprint of Lord Buddha and to the that of Siva Not so says the Christian it is the footprint of St. St Thomas for he preached to the crossed over to Ceylon and made his ascension from this peak So they all go there to worship During our stay in Kandy we visited the Royal Botanical Gardens of Pera- Pera where whre we saw the trees from which rubber india-rubber nutmeg sago spice and many other articles of comm commerce are obtained We also visited plantations of coffee cacao from which cocoa and chocolate are made tea and a tea factory all of which we found interesting and instructive After spending nearly a week in the mountains we returned to Colombo passing once more through those charming charming charming charm charm- ing valleys and jungles cocoanut groves i and rice fields before we said Goodby Goodby Good Goodby by Ceylon Milton oil Bennion n. n I |
