LXV.
Kandy, Island of Ceylon, Sept. 16, 1851.
I find myself now one hundred and forty-four miles from Point de Galle, the place where I left the steamer on my route from Penang to Singapore. Galle is a small fortified town which was first occupied by the Portuguese, taken afterwards by the Dutch, and finally acquired by the English, who are now in full and complete possession of this large island, extending from 6° to 10° N. Lat., from the Tropic of Cancer, at the west entrance of the Bay of Bengal opposite the Coromandel coast. It is about two-thirds the size of Ireland, and once contained a large population, but at present only one and a half million. From Point de Galle I proceeded to Colombo, the chief commercial mart, distant by land seventy-two miles, winding along through almost uninterrupted cocoa-nut groves, for some sixty miles, with long lines of thatched cabins, villages at intervals, and the most peculiar and primitive population in many respects I have ever met with. The natives along the coast are copper-colored, with fine features and slender forms; they wear long hair, falling half down their backs when loose and male and female wear two shell combs, one over the crown, and the other of great height to make the coiffure behind; it is difficult at first to distinguish the sexes among the young. The cocoa-nut tree is the chief support; they pay some attention to fishing, however, in the oddest vessels that ever floated, consisting in many instances of simple “dug-outs,” with an outrigger of bent boughs, which are lashed to the side of the vessel, and to the end is attached a pointed log, floating on the surface, and if the canvas is carrying the bark over, they balance it by sitting on the outrigger, sailing with great rapidity.
The harvest of the cocoa is now at hand. The milk is refreshing, and quenches thirst; the fruit is not only eaten, but large quantities of oil are made from it for use and exportation. The bark is rotted in pits of water, and bruised, then the fibres are pulled and made into cordage and rope of different kinds. The trees stand from six to fifteen feet apart, and are from fifty to eighty feet in height; large use is made of the liquid that exudes from the off-shoots near the top of the tree, which is distilled into arrack, and the natives may be seen like ourang-outangs, moving from the tops of the trees on the cordage made from the fibre to aid in climbing, while lower down are the earthen vessels in which the juice is collected. After passing through the cocoa-nut forests the cinnamon plantations present themselves, within a range of eight to ten miles of Colombo, and are mostly owned by foreigners.
One of the vices to which the natives are mostly addicted is the excessive use of the betel, which is a composition of the betel-leaf, the areka-nut, and chanam or luire, made from the muscle-shell, to which is sometimes added tobacco; it not only has a stimulating effect, but causes the lips, teeth, and inside of the mouth to appear blood-red, and tends in time to blacken the teeth, which is considered by some a mark of beauty. The stranger, when he first finds himself among a group of dark, ebony Kandians, and copper-colored Cingalese, with a sprinkling of Malabars in the primitive state, and in the costume of our first parents, with their mouths full of betel, imagines he has fallen among demons; at least I did, though I soon became accustomed to the sight.
The old kingdom of Kandy successfully resisted the Dutch and Portuguese, and for a long time the English, as from their fastnesses in the mountains, without roads to facilitate the enemy, the natives were long enabled to keep possession of the interior, after their sea-ports were occupied, and until they finally succumbed to the English. It lies seventy-two miles from Colombo, and fourteen hundred and sixty-seven feet above the level of the sea, and is characterized by the grandeur of the mountain scenery, and its wooded hills and luxuriant vegetation. The climate is very pleasant, its average temperature being 74°. The approach to this place is full of interest and novelty.
You find the paddy or rice fields in the valleys cultivated by the natives, who subsist mostly upon rice, made into curry, adding a sauce composed of cocoa, pepper, ginger, and coriander seed. Most of them are Boodhists, and touch no animal food, it being contrary to their religion to take life. They are often seen with almost naked skins, and hatless heads, their hair tied up in a bunch behind or falling over their shoulders, following black, uncouth, and sluggish buffaloes, which drag a rude wooden plough through the muddy field, inundated from the mountain streams.
Since the English have occupied the country, the colonial government has opened good roads, and much attention has been given to the planting of coffee, which is the chief source of profit, and enables it to place its troops in different parts of the island. An attempt at rebellion in this the most warlike province, two years since, after a considerable massacre, was soon suppressed. The road to Colombo is now much travelled by two-wheeled carts with high covered tops of cocoa-nut plaited branches, drawn by diminutive black cattle, about three or four feet high, with short horns, looking not unlike large calves, but tough and strong. Travelling Bandys are frequently seen; they are about the size of a good dog cart, with a small bullock in the shafts, and a cord running through his nose and over his head, to the sides of which a pair of lines are attached; two or three persons sit inside with their knees drawn up to the chin. The cabins by the road-side are in low and sheltered positions; they are furnished with two or three stools, a few plaited mats, earthen water-jars, a rice mortar, and some few culinary articles. Such of the women as are not engaged in weeding and reaping in the fields busy themselves in preparing betel, cooking curry, or in attending to their children. In approaching Colombo, as also this place, appearances change, the difference of caste, of which they were very particular under the old regime, being still seen.
The Kandians, despising the effeminate combs of the low-country people, wear a gay-colored handkerchief tied around the head, leaving the top exposed; they wear a white or fancy colored cloth of double breadth wrapped around the loins, while Mormons or Mussulmans with turbans, and Hindoos with painted faces, and also Malabars and other races, make up the picturesque masquerade. The Rhodias, or outcasts, a sort of Gipsies, are not permitted to wear any garment other than a sense of propriety suggests. The better caste of women appear here with heads uncovered, a long cloth of single breadth wrapped around the loins and falling to the ankles, and a portion thrown over the left shoulder. They wear silver, crystal, and brass bangles or bracelets, and flat ear-rings about the size of a quarter dollar, and the thickness of a child’s tin whistle; the holes of the ears are cut and distended by weights while young, to receive their flat rings; they also wear gold clasps in the top of the ear, which gives them a strange appearance, particularly with the addition of rings in the nose and on the toes. Umbrellas and dried branches of the tallipot tree are much in use to prevent the action of the sun’s rays. This is the residence of Governor Anderson, whose houses and grounds are quite pretty. There are some fifty foreigners, inclusive of ladies, as civilians, in addition to a regiment of troops, partly Europeans and partly Malays.
From Singapore we passed up the Straits of Malacca to Penang, on Prince of Wales Island, where we coaled and remained one day, which gave an opportunity for a ride to see the town, and then proceeded to Ceylon, making the distance of some fourteen hundred miles within eight days to Point de Galle, where I left the steamer on my way north to Calcutta, while she proceeded to Suez.