March 11th.—We have passed the Horsburgh lighthouse, and entered the Straits. Wooded banks on either side, diversified by hillocks, and a ship or two, give some animation to the scene. It is very hot, and I have been on the paddle-box getting what air I can, and watching a black wall of cloud covered with fleecy masses, which rests on the bank to our right, and seems half inclined to sweep over us with one of those refreshing pelts of which we had a succession last night. It is this habit of showers which renders the vicinity of the Line more bearable than the summer heat of other parts within the Tropics. However, the cloud sticks to the shore, so I have come down to write this line to you.
[Sidenote: Singapore.]
Singapore.—Sunday, March 13th, Seven A.M.—This place looks wonderfully green and luxuriant after China. The variety of costumes and colours too, Malay, Indian, Chinese, &c., and the pretty villas perched on each hillock among flowering trees, give it a festival air. Heavy showers of rain also keep the temperature down…. 3.30 P.M.—I went to church and embarked immediately after; and here we are, about ten miles from Singapore, going well through a calm sea, with a slight breeze rather against us. Twenty months ago I left this place at about the same hour with poor Peel for Calcutta.
March 21st.—Six A.M.—I have been an hour on deck watching the great bright stars eclipse themselves, and the sun break through the clouds right astern of us. It is a lovely day, and we are a little bent over by a breeze from the shore of Ceylon, along which we are now running. Noon.—Just anchored at Galle, after a run of about 270 miles in twenty-four hours…. We are surrounded by curious boats about two feet wide, prevented from capsizing by outriggers—beams of wood floating on the water on one side of them, and attached to them by poles of about eight feet in length. I believe these boats are wonderfully fast and safe.
[Sidenote: Ceylon.]
Colombo.—Sunday, March 27th.—We came yesterday to this place. A drive of seventy-two miles through an almost uninterrupted grove of cocoa-nut trees, interspersed with bread-fruit, jack-fruit, and other foliage, with occasional gleams of the Gloriosa superba. The music of the ocean waves hissing and thundering on the shore accompanied us all our journey. The road was good and the coach tolerable, so it was pleasant enough. To-day the heat is very great; hardly bearable at church. All Sir H. Ward's family are on the hill—Newra Elyia—some 6,000 feet above the sea; this being the hottest season in Ceylon. My writing is not very good, for I cannot sit still for the heat. I am walking about the room in very light attire, taking up my pen from time to time to indite a few words.
H.M.S. 'Furious.'—At Sea, April 9th.—Will this letter be delivered to you by the post or by the writer in person? Chi sa?… You will like to have a complete record of my experiences during my long absence. I am now again at sea, and I cannot say how this fact rejoices me. I was tired of Ceylon; and my longing to get home increases as the prospect of my doing so becomes more real. I was ill, too, at Ceylon. The heat was very great; and I was, I fear, somewhat imprudent. On the day after I despatched my last letter to you from Colombo, I started for Kandy, a pretty little countrytown seated in the centre of a circle of hills. I reached it at 5 P.M., time enough to walk about the very beautiful grounds of the 'Pavilion,' the Governor's residence. Next day, after seeing the shrine which contains the famous tooth of Buddha, I set off for the mountains, and reached a coffee estate of Baron Delmar's at about 6 P.M. We found ourselves in a fine cool climate, at about 3,000 feet above the sea. That night, however, I felt a shiver as I went to bed. I had a bad headache next morning, and when I arrived at Newra Elyia, the famous sanatarium, 6,000 feet above the sea, I was obliged to go to bed, and send for the doctor. I could not remain quiet, however, as the packet from England might be at Galle on the 3rd; so I had to hurry down on Friday from the mountain to Kandy and Colombo, where I arrived on Saturday evening more dead than alive. Sir H. Ward's doctor declared me to be labouring under an attack of jungle fever…. I sent for the 'Furious,' which conveyed me from Colombo to Galle on Monday the 4th. Frederick did not arrive till the 6th; so all ended well. It was an unspeakable comfort to me to meet Frederick at last We had a day to talk over our affairs, as he did not proceed till the afternoon of the 7th…. I am pleased with Ceylon, notwithstanding my mishaps. For a tropical climate it is healthy and bearable; but we happened to be there at the very hottest season. At Newra Elyia it is really cold, and, at the height of the coffee estates, very tolerable to vegetate in.
The rapid homeward journey along a beaten route offered little of interest to write about, especially as he was likely to be the bearer of his own letter. On the 19th of May he reported to the Foreign Office his arrival in London.
[1] The text of the Article respecting opium is as follows:—'Opium will henceforth, pay thirty taels per picul import duty. The importer will sell it only at the port. It will be carried into the interior by Chinese only, and only as Chinese property; the Foreign trader will not be allowed to accompany it. The provisions of Article IX. of the Treaty of Tientsin, by which British subjects are authorised to proceed into the interior with passports to trade, will not extend to it, nor will those of Article XXVIII. of the same Treaty, by which the transit-dues are regulated; the transit-dues on it will be arranged as the Chinese Government see fit; nor, in future revisions of the Tariff, is the rule of revision to be applied to opium as to other goods.'
[2] In an official despatch he describes it as 'a solitary rock of about 300 feet in height, picturesquely clothed with natural timber and ruined temples, around which are to be seen, at all hours of the day, groups of bonzes, in their grey and yellow robes, devoutly lounging, and conscientiously devoting themselves to the duty of doing absolutely nothing.'