"We use donkeys here for carrying burdens, just as they are used in nearly every part of the world. They are rather too weak for riding purposes, and you will not often see them with riding-saddles on their backs; the pack-saddle is almost as large as the animal that carries it, but it is lighter than you would suppose, as it is made from pandanus-leaves and coir-rope, and serves its purpose very well."
The greater part of this conversation occurred after the coach had started on its journey and before it reached the first station for changing horses. The road was excellent, and the team made such progress as to surprise the boys, who had thought such sorry animals could go little faster than a walk. The horses kept an even pace of about seven miles an hour, and hardly broke from a trot for miles where the road was level. The road was lined on each side by cocoa-nut-trees, and their new acquaintance told the boys that the trees continued without interruption all the way from Galle to Colombo.
The change of horses was made by the light of torches, and the kicking and general restlessness of the animals confirmed what the Englishman had said about their bad tempers. The drivers and stablemen seemed to have a wholesome respect for the brutes as long as they were in danger from their heels—but when the team was all ready, and the driver had mounted to his box, he made up for any previous forbearance by a liberal use of the whip.
GATHERING COCOA-NUTS.
After passing the first station the travellers settled down to sleep, and, as there were four of them, each had a corner to himself. The boys slept quite well during the night, waking only from an occasional jolt or when stopping at the stations for the change of horses. The night air was damp from the fog that poured in from the sea, and, by advice of their new acquaintance, they wrapped themselves well around the throat to avoid taking cold.
In the morning they were still among the cocoa-trees, and, as they looked out on the forest of tall trunks extending as far as they could see in any direction, the conversation naturally turned upon the uses of this product of the earth. The coffee-planter told them that there were fifteen varieties of the palm-tree in Ceylon, the most of them growing in the hilly regions of the interior of the island. "The cocoa-nut palm," said he, "grows only along the coast; you find it occasionally among the hills, but not often, and it never seems to flourish there."
"And I suppose its chief use is to produce cocoa-nuts?" Fred remarked, as the stranger paused.
"That is its principal use," was the reply; "but, according to the natives, it has ninety-nine others."