I.
GRAINS OF SINGALESE SAND.”
I HAD to make two voyages to India before I took up my quarters there. In each of these, owing to the exchange of boats at Ceylon, I had to stay in that delightful island a fortnight on each trip. This delay anywhere else would be an abominable nuisance, but there is so much to see in Ceylon, and the people there are so graciously hospitable, that one does not mind the delay—at least, I did not; far from it.
My first visit was on my way to the Paris Exhibition in 1878. At that time Galle was the stopping-place, and the delay did not extend over a couple of days—just time enough to visit Wak-wallah and the surrounding district; long enough, however, to wish for a more extended stay in so delightful an earthly paradise.
Like all fresh arrivals in Ceylon we were rather perplexed as to the sex of its inhabitants. The weather being rather more than tropical, we proposed, prior to dinner, an adjournment to the various bath-rooms of the hotel, and gave orders accordingly. When I entered my bath-room I was rather startled to find there what I considered a rather prepossessing “young person,” who offered to assist in the operation contemplated to cool my body after the exertions of the day. In view of the petticoats, long black hair, high pole-comb, and effeminate appearance of my bath attendant, I felt inclined to resent the intrusion, until perfectly satisfied that this individual belonged to that portion of humanity upon whom the Queen is allowed to confer the companionship of that distinguished order—the Bath.
On my return to Ceylon in 1882 the port of call for nearly all mail steamers had been removed to Colombo—a great improvement on Galle, inasmuch as the city is in every sense superior, while the harbour accommodation is excellent in every respect.
Considering that a trip from Australia barely occupies more than a fortnight, I am surprised that during the winter months there are so few who avail themselves of the facilities afforded almost weekly to spend a month or more in so charming an island. The means of communication on board the P. & O. and Orient steamers is in itself attractive, and at the end an earthly paradise—scenery almost beyond description, a most interesting people to study, and a thorough change of everything in every sense of the word.
Of all countries I ever visited, Ceylon is one I shall always return to with pleasure.