CHAPTER XIII.

COLOMBO.

COLOMBO, CEYLON, Dec. 18, 1889.

Six days from Singapore, we arrived here on the evening of the 16th instant, and at once went to our rooms at the Grand Oriental Hotel, which had been engaged some weeks in advance. Colombo is the capital of Ceylon, and has a population of one hundred and twenty thousand, and many large and handsome buildings.

As we passed along the coast last evening immense groves of cocoa-nut trees were seen from the vessel, extending along the shore for thirty miles or so. It was the hottest weather yet experienced, not more than eighty degrees, as shown by the thermometer, but very oppressive.

This morning, after an excellent breakfast at the hotel, I went with all the party on a drive in and around the city. It was dreadfully hot, and we had about such an entertainment as one might expect driving around New York or Chicago streets on a July day, with the thermometer at ninety degrees. The streets and roads are clean, wide, and in perfect order. We stopped at a large market, where the natives crowded around us, and where were tropical fruits of many kinds, some of which I had never heard of before. We passed many groves of cocoa-nut and banana trees laden with fruit, public and private buildings, and large and handsome bungalows, churches, and schools, but the people who crowded the streets were the most interesting to see--Indians, Malays, Singhalese, and Chinese, dressed in their native costumes, all industrious, orderly, and civil.

We called upon Arabi Pasha, who was banished from Egypt some years ago for heading a rebellion against the Khedive. His residence is a fine bungalow, surrounded by handsome grounds. He is a portly gentleman of about sixty-five years, speaking good English, and appeared very glad to see us. We spent a short half-hour talking with him, and then took our leave and continued our tour around the city. We saw numerous shops and plantations once more, and studied the remarkable people we met, and were especially interested by the young children swarming in the streets everywhere, and looking like little animated bronze statues.

We went through a fine museum and saw a great collection of historical objects belonging to Ceylon, one being a rudely sculptured figure of a lion carved in stone three hundred years ago.

This island is the great producer of the ruby, sapphire, and pearl, dealers in which have stores near, and are allowed to come around the hotel. They are very troublesome in their attentions, and, as is common among merchants in this part of the world, ask two or three times more than they expect to get for their goods.

I intended to go up to the mines, fifty miles off, where they obtain the ruby and sapphire, but was prevented from doing so. I also wished to see the divers go after pearl-oysters, but a couple of weeks ago one of them went down in the water and never came up, a shark having caught him. Since this accident none of his companions can be induced to do any diving, and for the present the industry, which is a very large and important one, is paralyzed.

There are no fat people in this country, and no drunkards. In a Buddhist temple, which I saw yesterday, was a painting of a drunkard. The culprit was represented in hell, enduring great agony, being pierced with daggers, and the ugliest-looking devil, with tusks like fish-hooks, standing over him, about to pull his teeth with big pincers. Any follower of Buddha looking at that picture would surely join a temperance society.

One morning, accompanied by two friends, I took a carriage and drove seven miles out into the country, through the native city, and along perfect country roads, passing through wonderful tropical plantations and beautiful flowers everywhere. Men and women stared at us as we passed, and crowds of bright, laughing children ran after the carriage, begging for pennies. One man had a basket of beautiful pink lotus flowers, one of which we bought.

At length we came to the oldest temple on the island, 2,300 years old, and where Buddha himself preached,--a splendid temple, the walls of which were covered with highly colored paintings, representing Temperance, Prudence, Fortitude, and Justice. There was the usual big statue of Buddha and the usual worshippers.

The ride was a delightful one, the children numerous and very funny, and beggars without number.

Another day we went by rail twenty-eight miles along the coast to the end of the road, the entire distance through groves of cocoa-nut trees extending as far back from the water as we could see. Once we passed under a banyan tree, the limbs of which had been trained over the road twenty feet high, in shape of an arch, then taking root and forming other trees on the opposite side. We spent the day at Lavini, a delightful sea-coast hotel, and enjoyed ourselves very much. It was quite a contrast to the hot city whither we returned for an eight-o'clock dinner.