us diverge for a single moment.

Secular education is the true and only available missionary among
Asiatic tribes. Honest and experienced religionists are beginning to
see and admit the correctness of this conclusion. The preaching to
them by various Christian sects of very contradictory tenets of faith
confuses these simple people, who are still often shrewd enough to
detect broad inconsistencies, as well as to analyze and reason
concerning missionary efforts among them. They say very logically to
those representatives who are sent from America or Europe: "We are
agreed here upon Buddhism. When you Christians can agree among
yourselves as to which of your many doctrines is the right one, it
will be time enough for you to try to teach us to discard a faith
which our fathers have believed for thousands of years." More than one
intelligent Singhalese has expressed himself to this effect in our
presence. We leave it to the reader if these people are not perfectly
logical in their position.

Who can wonder that confusion inevitably arises in the simple mind of
a native of this Indian isle, who attempts to reconcile our
multitudinous sects and schisms?

We were speaking of the English portion of Colombo, which consists of
a few broad streets shaded by thrifty tulip-trees, an official
residence known as Government House, the long line of barracks already
referred to, a cathedral, a clock-tower (serving also as a
lighthouse), a club-house, hospital, some indifferent shops, two or
three banking establishments, a public library, and three or four
large hotels. The Colombo Library is situated on the corner of Queen
Street, and contains some twenty-five thousand volumes. Its facilities
are freely shared by strangers as well as by the citizens. The
lighthouse referred to is a hundred and thirty-two feet above sea
level; that on the end of the breakwater is a trifle less than forty
feet. The former shows a triple flash at brief intervals, visible at
night some twenty miles at sea. Among its ancient buildings, much
interest centres upon the Dutch church, and its curious old graveyard.

There are no less than six newspapers published in this circumscribed
community; two are in Singhalese, one in Tamil, and three in English.
We do not imagine that they have much of a circulation, and yet unless
they were self-supporting they would not probably be issued.
Type-setting is cheap in Colombo, and the quality of the paper used is
inexp