[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.