ernally. They
are very sweet, having a thin skin and plenty of juice, together with
a flavor equal to those of the Indian River district in Florida, and
superior to those of California. Prices are very moderate; a large
ripe pineapple costs twopence, and half a dozen oranges are sold for
the same sum. Statistics show that between nine and ten thousand acres
are devoted to the raising of pineapples in Ceylon, where they ripen
to great perfection. The little open-air shops are called "caddies,"
and are always presided over by native women, who, under an air of
oriental indifference as to whether you purchase their wares or not,
are yet exercised by suppressed eagerness to have you do so. A few of
these simple caddies were observed to be prettily decorated with
wreaths of myrtle, yellow flowers, and wisps of sweet lemon grass,
hung on either side of the fruit, dispensing an exquisite fragrance
which dominated all the offensive odors of the locality. This
arrangement betrayed a woman's hand, prompted by a certain delicacy of
fancy and an eye for natural beauty. There always exists this
half-effaced charm within the bosom of the humblest of the sex,
whether in Crim Tartary, the Sandwich Islands, or the Parisian
boulevards. The surroundings are kaleidoscopic in effect, composed of
contrasting races, bronzed men in white turbans, native women very
nearly nude, queer physiognomies, busy itinerant salesmen, boisterous
children covered only by their copper-colored skins, mingling with
native domestic servants in fancy dresses of red and yellow, and
bejeweled nurses, sent by their European mistresses to purchase some
favorite fruit. The scene is constantly shifting, and the combinations
rapidly changing. Every fresh visit to this portion of Colombo reveals
some new phases of oriental life, which are often recalled to the
mind's eye when one is far away and compassed by very different
surroundings.

Native women pass and repass, bearing upon their heads broad, shallow
baskets full of ripe fruit or vegetables, on their way to the English
portion of the town, while other itinerants offer dark brown edible
cakes made from mysterious sources. The great weight which a
Singhalese or Tamil woman can carry on her head is something
marvelous, far exceeding that of an Irish laborer's hod of bricks or
mortar borne upon the shoulder. The humbler class of Eastern women all
practice this mode of transporting merchandise from the period of
thei