e more popular in
the card-room than even poker, and the rattle of the bones and the cries
of "Come, seben, come eleben, what's de mattah wid you dice," and other
kindred remarks natural to the game coming from the lips of the
chocolate-colored coon were to be heard at all hours.

The nights during this portion of our trip were especially fine, and we
enjoyed them immensely sitting on deck until the "wee sma' hours"
watching the starlight that turned the surface of the water into a great
field of glistening diamonds, and the silvery wake of the ship, that
stretched away out into the ocean like a track of moonbeams, growing
dimmer and dimmer until it was lost in the darkness that lay beyond.

It was just as the sun peeped above the distant horizon on the morning
of January 25th that we first caught a glimpse of the shores of Elephant
Island, lying just off the coast of Ceylon, and at ten o'clock the
shores of the island of Ceylon itself were full in sight. As we drew
nearer the narrow-bodied proas, the boats of the natives, paddled by
dark-skinned boatmen innocent of clothing came crowding about the
steamer in great numbers, while the white-winged gulls hung above the
vessel in clouds, darting so near to us at times that we could almost
touch them with our hands. Past Point de Galle, with its crumbling walls
of white cement, that made them appear as if they had but recently been
whitewashed, we steamed until we came in sight of Colombo, and stopped
at the entrance of the breakwater to await the arrival of the harbor
master. That gentleman was apparently in no very great hurry and the
hour and a half that we laid there awaiting his pleasure we spent in
looking at the great stone breakwater and the city that lies upon the
open coast, the harbor being an artificial and not a natural one. It was
after four o'clock when the harbor master's boat, manned by half-clad
Cingalese, came alongside, and a short time afterwards we steamed to a
place inside the breakwater and dropped our anchors.

In an incredibly short space of time the steamer was surrounded by boats
of all shapes, sizes and colors, manned by Malays, Cingalese and
Hindoos, clad in all the colors of the rainbow, and all talking and
yelling at the same time. Four little Cingalese boys, the oldest of
which could not have been more than twelve of age, and who paddled a
bamboo canoe around with barrel staves, attracted the most of our
attention. They could swim and dive