d garden
products are raised for the support of the capital, with which it has
an inland water connection. This place is famous for its fruit
gardens,--exotic fruits, originally introduced from Java and the
Malacca peninsula. It is one of the most rural spots in the island,
famous for its cinnamon estates. The traveler's attention is sure to
be called to a noble specimen of the banian-tree at this attractive
seaside place, and also to an old and most curious, many-headed
cocoanut-tree. The town has a fine esplanade bordering the sea, and a
very comfortable rest-house for the stranger. After passing the Bight
of Negombo, we soon enter the harbor of Colombo, and as we do so, an
English mail steam packet is passed whose decks are crowded with
coolies bound for Tuticorin, a port two hundred miles away, across the
Gulf of Manaar. The planters of Ceylon import these dusky laborers
from southern India at harvest time, when the tea and coffee fields
yield their annual product. The poor creatures are very glad to earn a
small sum of money in this service, wherewith to eke out their
necessary home expenses. When the Ceylon harvest is over, they return
to their humble homes in this manner, the planters paying for their
transportation both ways.

From our standpoint on the bridge of the coasting steamer, we
overlook the forward deck of the mail packet, where the homeward bound
coolies form strangely picturesque groups in their rags and nakedness,
mingled with occasional bits of highly colored clothing. A white
turban, a red fez, a bandana kerchief bound about a woman's head,
whose infant is lashed to her back in sleepy unconsciousness, all
combine to produce a striking kaleidoscopic effect.

A southwest monsoon is coming on, and there will presently be a fierce
downpour of rain. The coolies will have but one night to pass on the
troubled sea, but it will be for them a wretched one,--seasick,
ill-fed, and poorly sheltered creatures. Their small annual pittance
is insignificant compensation for what they have to perform and what
they endure. There are two or three hundred of them, herded like
cattle; there is no cabin,--deck passage is all that is paid for; and
such is considered quite good enough accommodations for these very
humble Tamils. There is said to be compensation in the life of every
living being, but it is difficult to point out wherein the principle
applies to these low caste Indians.

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