s nose he bade
the driver hold him steadily by the horns. Taking a knife from his
pocket, the new-comer forced the animal's mouth open and adroitly made a
deep incision in one of the bars which form the roof, instantly causing
the blood to flow freely therefrom. After the lapse of a very few
minutes, the bullock recovered, standing once more quite firmly upon its
feet, as soon as the pressure upon its brain was relieved by the flow
of blood. The creature had experienced an attack of what in horses is
called blind-staggers, produced by a rush of blood to the brain,
undoubtedly occasioned in this instance by the great heat and by
over-exertion. The cavalryman's readiness with his knife produced just
the sort of relief which was required in such an exigency.

"The bullock could not have been driven very fast," said an English
lady, who had regarded the scene intently from the piazza of the
hotel, "because it does not perspire at all; see, its hide is
perfectly dry."

"That sort of hanimal doesn't sweat only on the nose," said the
cavalryman, as he coolly wiped his knife and returned it to his
pocket, adding, "'Orses does, but hoxen doesn't."

It is a noticeable fact that European horses cannot endure the climate
of Ceylon; some which are imported from Australia manage to give
satisfaction for a limited period. The breeding of these animals is
not a success in the island, and the natives do not use them at all.

Colombo has a hundred and thirty thousand inhabitants, and is divided
into what is known as The Fort and Black Town, the former being the
portion devoted to the official quarters and the residences of the
English, the latter mostly to the very humble homes of the natives.
Black Town is quite oriental and very dirty, dispensing a most
unmistakable odor like a faint tincture of musk. It stretches along
the harbor front for more than a mile, until it ends at the Kalani
River, and contains a most heterogeneous mingling of races, each
individual decked in some distinctive garb of his original
nationality, the majority, however, exhibiting only the bronzed skin
covering to their bones which nature provides. Even these nude figures
form an anomalous sight, often having their heads covered with
monstrous, elaborate white turbans, and only a thin piece of cotton
about their loins. The houses, or cabins as they would more properly
be called, are of one story, dingy and poor, generally constructed of
mud upon bamboo frame