Kandy was the capital of what was known as the Kandy Kingdom, and was subjected to attacks by both the Portuguese and Dutch from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, when England added that section of Ceylon to her possessions, in 1815.
Buddha's tooth and other sacred Hindu relics having been brought to Kandy at an earlier date was the means of bringing that pretty place in Ceylon to the fore. It has not been made clear whether Buddha had but one molar or a full set, but the inference is that he had but one tooth, as the sacred bone is referred to as Buddha's tooth. There is no question about Buddha having been quite a traveler, as the imprints of his foot will be shown visitors at places separated by many hundreds of miles. And in connection with the foot imprint, it is always designated as Buddha's foot, so, if the one-tooth theory is to be entertained, his having but one foot, or one leg, would be equally as tenable. The tooth, anyway, like the Koh-i-Noor diamond, was considered a treasure, and for that precious reason it had been stolen on several occasions, but the original molar seems to have got lost, or some one is secreting it until the price of that particular bone advances to a fabulous figure. But the Hindus of Ceylon had to have a Buddha tooth, so an imitation "grinder" was made—a piece of discolored ivory two inches long and about an inch in diameter, which looks more like a crocodile's tooth than that of a man. The sacred tooth is said to repose now under a golden lotus flower, and the flower is hidden by seven metal shrines containing jewels in a sacred building in the courtyard of Maligawa Temple. In front of the temple is a tank containing tortoises, from whose "coverings," perhaps, the Singhalese will make haircombs later.
Taking a short trip from Kandy, a river was reached, and the ferry boat was slowly pulled from one side to the other by men with ropes. The boat was crowded with ox teams and almost naked natives. A short distance from the ferry landing seven elephants were seen bathing in the river. Continuing along a tropical overgrown road, at a bend we were confronted with three elephants in charge of mahouts, each carrying by its teeth four sacks of copra. A rope had been placed around the center of the bags, was pulled tight, and a short end of it was held by the elephants' grinders. The products were being brought to the ferry by the big beasts, and oxen would then draw this to Kandy, the nearest railroad center. By the same means tea and other products are transported, and provisions from Kandy are delivered at the other side of the river, from which point elephants advance the wares beyond. The elephants are owned by an heir of the old Kandy rulers, and on certain holidays they are brought to the city, when they parade about the former capital fifteen times.
Women standing in water nearly to their knees were engaged at transplanting rice stalks in paddies. The paddies, or beds, which are banked with earth from 6 to 12 inches on all sides to retain water, range in area from a space six feet square to a plot containing acres. In these the rice is sown, and when the stalks have grown to about a foot high most of them are transplanted. In some parts of the paddy the rice will be too thickly sowed, and in other sections not thick enough. The stalks in the thickets will then be pulled out, those left being the regular growth. The surplus stalks will next be transplanted in thinly sowed places of the bed. By this means the paddy would be equally sown; and it was interesting to observe the alertness with which the work progressed. At a place in India a dozen men were seen baling water from a ditch into a paddy with their hands, illustrating the crude methods in use. Rice is the staple food of natives in Ceylon.
In both India and Ceylon one never sees a woman servant engaged at housework in European homes or hotels. Men are exclusively employed at this occupation, women doing the harder work in the fields, carrying water, bricks, etc.
The Royal Botanical Garden, located a few miles from Kandy, was the most interesting one seen. We had visited the clove groves at Zanzibar, and specimens were growing in the Kandy garden, but we had not seen the nutmeg tree before. The nutmeg grows on a tree as large as the buckeye, or horse chestnut, and is of the same nature, differing in one respect, however, the nutmeg being protected by an inner shuck. It falls from the tree, when the outer shuck cracks, but is protected by the inner or second covering. It is then the size and color of a pink peach, but when the second shuck has been removed the nutmeg of commerce is seen. The vanilla bean hung from vines in the garden; the pepper vine was seen among the plants growing; the sago palm grew there, also the "candlestick" tree, besides other rare growths. Some of the larger trees in this garden were bare of leaves, which tropical oddity was accounted for by the presence of flying foxes—the same as those mentioned in Leg Four—hanging by the claws of one leg from the limbs during the day. There were thousands of these large bats, and, as in Tonga, they were considered sacred, and no one would kill them.
In this part of Ceylon most of the land was under tea cultivation. Tea exports from the island are nearly 190,000,000 pounds a year.
While oxen are the means of transportation in both India and Ceylon, automobiles may be seen skimming about the good roads in both countries.
A return was made to Colombo, where a ship, on which passage had been engaged, was about due to leave that port. I had sailed on English, Swedish and German vessels till I had reached Bombay; but from Colombo I started east on a Japanese ship.