pecimens of this
sort find the best market in continental India, but the home
consumption of shell combs is enormous; every male Singhalese of any
pretension in the southern part of Ceylon wears one, and the majority
wear two in their long, straight hair.

The manner of dress among the Singhalese, the mode of wearing their
hair, and the assumption of shell combs by the men afford singular
evidence of the unchanging habits of an Eastern race. Seventeen
hundred years ago, Ptolemy, speaking of these people, designates the
same peculiarities which exist to-day. "The men," he says, "who
inhabit Ceylon allow their hair an unlimited growth, and bind it on
the crown of their heads, after the manner of women." It is also
curious that this custom should be confined to the Singhalese of the
southwest coast near Colombo. It is not a custom of the interior, or
of the northern portion of the island.

Almost every stranger, upon first landing at the capital, speaks of
the effeminate appearance of the men. With their delicate features,
their lack of beards, their use of hair-combs and earrings, together
with the wearing of an article of dress almost precisely similar to a
petticoat, it is often difficult at first to distinguish them from the
other sex.

CHAPTER XVI.

Point de Galle.--An Ancient Port, now mostly
deserted.--Dangerous Harbor.--Environs of the City a
Tropical Garden.--Paradise of Ferns and Orchids.--Neptune's
Gardens.--Tides of the Ocean.--Severe Penalties.--Floating
Islands of Seaweed.--Fable, like History, repeats
itself.--Chewing the Betelnut.--An Asiatic Habit.--All
Nations seek Some Stimulant.--Soil near Galle.--Cinnamon
Stones.--Diamonds.--Workers in Tortoise-Shell.--Millions of
Fruitful Palms.--Sanitary Conditions of Galle.

Next to Colombo, Point de Galle, with a population of about
thirty-three thousand, is the most important town in the island. The
port is somewhat difficult of access, and requires a local pilot to
effect a safe entrance, owing to the fact that there are several
sunken rocks very near the narrow channel. It is a treacherous harbor,
as all seamen trading upon this coast are well aware, and has, first
and last, swallowed up many a gallant vessel. Those early navigators,
the Phoenicians, the first really commercial people of whom history
informs us, made voyages to and from this port, and more than one
authority identifies it with the Tars