hish of the Scriptures. Ptolemy
speaks of the Avium Promontorium,--"The Promontory of Birds,"--which
marks the entrance to Galle, and here the Arabians, in the reign of
Haroun al Raschid, came to meet the junks from China, and to
interchange merchandise with them. Sir Emerson Tennent, after
describing the charming first view of the place when he landed here,
says: "Galle is by far the most venerable emporium of foreign trade
now existing in the universe; it was the resort of merchant ships at
the earliest dawn of commerce. In modern times it was the mart of
Portugal and afterwards of Holland; and long before the flags of
either nation had appeared in these waters, it was one of the
entrepots whence the Moorish traders of Malabar drew the productions
of the remoter East with which they supplied the Genoese and
Venetians, who distributed them over the countries of the West."

It is quite different at Point de Galle to-day. A significant state of
dullness reigns supreme in the ancient port, while the town seems to
be in a Rip Van Winkle sleep. How the early navigators so successfully
avoided the rocks and shoals of this coast, how they managed to
weather the confusing tides, hurricanes, and monsoons, is a mystery,
while so many of our stoutest ships, guided by experienced seamen, and
protected by all modern appliances, have been lost in the same tracks.
Is it possible that we of to-day are no better navigators than those
who sailed the Indian Ocean three thousand years ago? Were the voyages
of Columbus and his followers across the Atlantic in small,
half-decked caravels, miracles, or was the waste of waters so much
less tumultuous four centuries ago? A few steamships still make of
this place a coaling station, but these grow less in number annually,
though to maintain this small branch of business every facility is
freely given by the local authorities. If it were not that the English
officials devote all available pecuniary means and their tireless
energy to the advancement of the business interests of Colombo, quite
to the neglect of Point de Galle, the rocks which impede the entrance
of the latter port would long since have been treated to a liberal
dose of dynamite. Strangers express great surprise that these rocks,
which could so easily be demolished by well-known and inexpensive
means, should still be permitted to threaten navigation. We have seen
a record of thirteen steamships, up to January, 1893, which were
wrec