, giving battle upon the slightest
provocation.

At a point where the cars were stopped for a few moments to obtain a
supply of water for the engine, a female monkey was seen among the
trees, the mother of twins, holding the little things in her arms and
nursing them in a manner so human as to form a most ludicrous picture.
Presently, leaving her little ones in a safe place, she came down to
the cars, and was regaled from our lunch basket with what to her must
have been rare tidbits, supplied from the cuisine of the Grand Hotel
at Colombo. As a rule, the monkey tribe avoid Europeans or white men,
suspecting treachery, while they care very little for the native
people, who rarely interfere with them. The affection of the mother
monkey for its young is something very touching. If one of its little
progeny dies, the mother still clings to it, sometimes for several
days, carrying it about in her arms, until finally some instinct
causes her to lay it away, covered with leaves and the tender young
branches of the bamboo. Europeans have a cruel way of obtaining young
monkeys to take away from the island. It is accomplished by shooting
the mother, after which the bewildered little one is easily secured.
One of these small monkey orphans was brought on board the steamship
in which we left Ceylon, by its cruel captor. It was touching to see
how the diminutive creature had transferred its trust and affection
from its natural guardian to its present owner, to whom it clung
incessantly. Poor little fellow! it was well that it did not know its
new protector to be the sole cause of all its troubles. It proved to
be a bad sailor, and was so seasick that it soon died, but it clung to
its adopted friend to the last moment, who was, we are glad to say,
exceedingly kind to the little waif.

After passing through the low country on the way to Kandy, we began
gradually to climb an up-grade. This was at Rambukana, about fifty miles
from Colombo, two powerful engines being now required to move even our
short train, made up of four cars. The road winds zigzag fashion about the
hills, in startling proximity to the deep, threatening abyss, while the
ever-changing scenery of the Kaduganawa Pass becomes far-reaching and
grand, varied by precipitous declivities, deep green gulches, and falling
waters. The shelving rocks are here festooned with climbing plants,
daintily enriched by blossoms of vivid hues, and flowering creepers. As one
can easily b