le of Kalani
contains a sitting statue of Buddha, with one each of Ganesa, Vishnu,
and Siva. The walls of the interior are covered with curious paintings
representing various legends, so that altogether it forms one of the
local objects of interest which the stranger should not fail to visit.
While upon this subject of places worthy of note in the neighborhood
of the capital, let us mention Avisawella, whither one goes by an
admirable and pleasant road into the Kalani tea district, fifteen or
twenty miles northeast of Colombo. Such excursions afford delightful
glimpses of rural island scenery, of birds, trees, flowers, and native
life, showing the humble class of country people at home, engaged in
their legitimate domestic occupations. A fifteen or twenty mile trip
and back is not too far to accomplish in a jinrikisha, and it is also
an extremely comfortable mode of traveling. It is just ten years, at
this writing, since this comfortable little vehicle was first
introduced into Ceylon, during which time it has become a great
favorite as a cheap and rapid means of transportation. The author has
made a similar jaunt inland from Yokohama, in a single day, the cooly
who drew the jinrikisha coming in at last in as fresh a condition as a
well-driven horse would do. It must be remembered that roads in Japan
and Ceylon are as perfectly smooth and hard as our best macadamized
ones in this country. The average of our Massachusetts inland roadways
will by no means compare favorably with the three thousand miles and
more of those which traverse this island in the Indian Ocean.

The choicest portion of Colombo as a place of residence is the suburb
nearest to Victoria Park, which is but little removed from the
business and bustle of the town. We say "bustle" of the town, but it
is a misleading word when it is applied to tropical life. The people
of equatorial regions think that haste makes waste, and so everything
is done quietly, and not without due consideration. This is a
temperament induced by the climate,--one into which even Europeans
lapse, after dwelling here for a considerable length of time. It is
stated that there are not more than six thousand Europeans upon the
entire island, but we are inclined to consider this an underestimate.
Statistics show that the rate of mortality as compared with the number
of the entire population is such as to prove the climate to be an
unusually healthy one for the tropics. There are certain