toddy, and
sago. The usual pests of the tropics were not wanting to balance all
these pleasant sights. Beetles, dragon-flies, cock-chafers, locusts,
wasps, and vicious spiders, were visible everywhere; while the
omnipresent mosquito was ever looking out for a victim. The curious nest
of the tailor-bird, which sews leaves together and builds a dainty nest
inside of them, was pointed out to us, and specimens of the weaver
bird's nest, with entrance tubes over two feet in length. There were
also pendent nests built by a species of wasp in the trees, which
indicated a nefarious design to infringe upon bird architecture. The
peacock is found wild here in all its wealth of mottled, feathery
splendor. Storks, ibises, and herons flew up from the lagoons, and the
cooing of the gentle wood-pigeon reached the ear during the quieter
moments. The woods, and indeed all out-doors at Ceylon, seemed like a
conservatory of exotic birds and flowers.

There is a well-equipped railroad extending from Colombo northward to
the small but ancient city of Kandy, running thus about seventy-five
miles into the very heart of the ancient native kingdom, and giving the
traveler an excellent opportunity to view the inland scenery, which, at
many points, is grand and imposing. Kandy is perched in a basin of the
mountains, two thousand feet above the level of the sea, surrounded by
thickly wooded hills; beyond which are broad plains and thick jungles,
which are very rarely penetrated, and which have not been explored,
probably, for centuries. Here wild elephants are to be met with in
herds. It will be remembered, that they are indigenous to Ceylon, and
from here Hindostan was supplied in the centuries that are gone, when
the huge animal was employed in such large numbers during the Mogul
reign. In those days there were elephant fights, when these animals,
like gladiators at Rome, were trained to single combats, or duels, fur
the pleasure of cruel masters; and such was their spirit that one or
both were always sacrificed on such occasions. We afterwards saw, in
India, the arenas where these gladiatorial contests took place, one of
which was located in the fort at Agra. A well-known peculiarity of this
animal is the fact that it is almost impossible to breed from them in a
domestic condition, thus rendering it necessary to replenish the ranks
from the jungle. In their wild state elephants are a prolific animal;
otherwise Ceylon would long since have been