AvQ, ^, iSS6,] 



iJHE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



lit 



Netherlands India, he cannot be expected to be 

 violently opposed to the system, but he condemns 

 the practice of local sales, and the wasteful manu- 

 facture of the Government febrifuge, "by which 

 40 per cent of the alkaloid is destroyed." He does 

 not notice the liquid febrifuge with which experi- 

 ments are still, we believe, being carried on. The 

 question is one which must, sooner or later, be 

 decided by the Government handing over their 

 plantations to be worked as commercial undertakings 

 by private owners ; and the subject has been taken 

 up with this view by at least two Associations in 

 this Presidency. — Madras Mail. 



CEYLON AT "THE COLINDIES." 



The following is taken from the " Exhibition 

 Supplement to the Colonies and India ": — 



The effect of the Ceylon Court as we look on the 

 arches of the roof coloured in yellow, the sacred 

 colour of the Buddhists, and red, and the many pict- 

 ures—Sinhalese paintings ruiming all roimd the Court 

 in a frieze, telling the Birth Stories of Buddah — 

 with the porch at the entrance from the Private Ex- 

 hibition Gallery, resembling a giant "lych gate," 

 is exceedingly quaint, bright, and pretty. The first 

 impression is favourable, and this is more than con- 

 firmed on closer acquaintance. The gateway through 

 which we enter has a solid, rich, massy air, constructed 

 a8 it is of ebony, with tamarind pillars, the beautiful 

 longitudinal grain of the coconut palm, and the high 

 relief of the frieze and panels carved in Calamander 

 wood. This gateway is a fac-smile of one carved 

 in stone at the ancient Royal City of Yapahu. _ Above 

 in very high relief, seemingly of stone, is the figure of 

 Gautama Buddha, wrapped in contemplation, some 

 ten feet high. Flanking on either side of the figures 

 are two elephants carved in ebony, with ivory tusks.; 

 Starting with Buddha Gautama, Prince Siddartha, 

 son of Suddhudana, King of Kapilavastu, on the borders 

 of Nepal, born 600 years b. c, we shall not lose sight 

 of the Great Teacher who early taught "what light 

 shines beyond our broken lamps," or of the elephants 

 until wc quit the Court of Ceylon. 



Ou each side of the entrance arch two tall palmyra 

 palms — one polished, one an natnrel — stand as sentries , 

 there are high dadoes of the many-grained, beauti- 

 ful woods, and in each corner is raised a pyramid of 

 woods, the effort being very happy. In the smaller 

 trophies some 250 kinds are shown, and in the larger 

 planks are Calamander (or Coromandel), flowered 

 satinwood, ebony, tamarind, coconut and other ex- 

 quisite specimens, the strange names of which 

 would express no meaning to the casual visitor. 

 Here it may be as well to call atention to the 

 decorations on the walls — large palm flappers, arms, 

 spears, shields and implements, both of the aborigi- 

 nal inhabitants, the Veddas, and of the Sinhalese ; 

 painted masks used by the Devil Dancers and in 

 Sinhalese comedy ; skins of leopard, sambur, axis 

 (or spotted deer), buffalo, wild boar, bear, and tiger ; 

 peacocks' tails ; antlers, tusks, and tushes, and repre- 

 sentations of mythological animals taken from sculp- 

 tures on ruined monuments in Ceylon — the goose, 

 horse, bull, lion, and, naturally, the elephant. 



Facing us are cases of a series of " C's " — cinchona 

 cinammon, cloves, coconut, cacao, cardamoms, and 

 coffee, all well worthy of examination. The cinna- 

 mon in large bales — two and a half millions of pounds' 

 weight are exported annually ; the cinchona in an 

 artistic trophy and in cases— Jesuits' bark in c.ccchis. 

 and yet our troops in the Soudan were without 

 quinine ; the coconut in all its products — coir and 

 copra, oil and fibre, ropes and nets, walking sticks 

 and artistically-carved nuts, and arrack made from 

 the sap, in samples of fifty-year-old spirit — a fine 

 liqueur — and some distilled but the other day — not 

 only " a torchlight procession going down one's throat," 

 but an entire display of fireworks, including Catherine 

 wheels and fiery serpents. A model of a still is shown 

 and also of a " pot " still, to avoid what they term in 

 Ireland and Scotland " the pauger." Mr. David 

 Smith, M'F. iox Briglit(>u,froiu his estates at Kadirauc, 



Negombo, Dimbula, and Badulla — winner of many 

 medals, from our 1862, to Paris, 1878— and Messrs. 

 Leechman, of Colombo, contribute two exhaustive 

 collections. In cases here are spices and flavourings, 

 nutmegs, both unpeeled and peeled, and mace, vanilla, 

 and pepper. On the right hand side, against the 

 wall, all the varieties of rice are shown, including 

 the grain unhusked, or paddy, and the rice of com- 

 merce, as we know it. Tea, shown on the left of 

 the Court, in singularly handsome cases, is an assort- 

 ment from twenty-one districts, varying in elevation 

 from the sea level to an altitude of 6, .500 feet. 

 In photographs, the entire story of tea-growing is given. 

 Planting a new clearing, pruning, plucking, and 

 weighing, withering on trays, rolling, fermenting, firing, 

 sorting, packing, and shipping, together with views 

 of tea fields and stores. Sugar, arrow-root, and cas- 

 sava flour, are exhibited ; and tobacco, both in leaf 

 from Jaffna and Batticuloa, and in the Dumbera 

 cigars of Mr. J. K. Ingleton. On an exquisite table 

 of Calamander wood in the centre of the Court, is 

 a large ivory tusk, carved into the semblance of a 

 coconut flower resembling a number of ears of 

 "Champion" wheat. This is a veritable Curio, And in an 

 interesting display on the left, Messrs. A. M. — 

 c.M.G. — & J. Ferguson, of the Cei/lon. Obsercet; Co- 

 lombo, present a series of their publications, and 

 their well-known " Handbook." Now, in the centre 

 is a "Hackery" — a light cart, resembling a buggy, for 

 trotting bulls. This should prove a new sensation for 

 the Paris Hiopodrome or our William Holland. In 

 case to left, on the lower shelf, a collection of Ceylon 

 shells ; above, boxes and book-shelves and other 

 articles in porcupine-quill work, carved ebony boxes, 

 plaited boxes from Matara, moonstone jewellery, 

 musical instruments, coconut-shell carving and a 

 wonderful gathering of tortoise-shell work, turned to 

 every purpose, from chairs to cigar-cases, combs to 

 paper-knives — a pretty show of a characteristic art 

 of Ceylon. This tortoise work is an important in- 

 dustry on the southern coast at Point de Galle and 

 Colombo. On the right, Mr. C. W. Kosset, in two 

 cases, presents his ethnological collection fromMaldivo 

 Islands, an exhaustive gathering needing a catalogue 

 to itself. Photographs of the natives of the Maldives 

 the Vedda Country, the ruins of Anuradhapura and 

 Ceylon scenery, are to be seen on adjacent screens. 

 In the centre, a finely-inlaid table of various woods 

 in curves, on which lies a large block of water sap- 

 phire. Now, on the left, wc can pass under a giant 

 samboo arch to h Ceylon Tea House, the four 

 Ceylon carriages built in Colombo, and Old London, 

 and] on the right to to the Imperial Gallery. Now 

 a case of ivories, large tusks, tushes and teeth, with 

 carvings, pnlni trees, a coconut flower, elephants, the 

 stands of cut teeth, teeth cut into boxes, showing a 

 charming wavy grain, lacquer and painted ware in 

 boxes large aud small, betel boxes, vases, cups, and 

 " ringer " jugf. And in the corner the curious pain- 

 ted wood furniture, the decoration in rings of di- 

 verse colours, from Tanga,lle. Ou the left, Kandyan 

 silver work from Ratnapura, Kegalle, and the Kandy 

 Art Association ; and in loan exhibits. Low Country 

 silver work, brass work from Colombo, Jaffna, Ne- 

 gombo, and Batticaloa, and some charming speci- 

 mens of bowls of copper, brass and silver — the effect 

 of the raised decoration being delicious. Sacred 

 books of Buddha written in Pali characters on palm 

 leaves, robes of Buddhist priests, fans, and alma 

 bowls — these mostly lent by the High Priest of 

 Adam's Peak, to which the " grand old gardener " 

 is supposed to have climbed, leaving Mrs. Eve-Adam 

 to await his return — are here. These books lie flat 

 and have a cover top and bottom, on the latter being 

 two pegs, on which through holes the leaves pass. 

 These, with arms, figures of Buddha sleeping will 

 repay patient inspection. Behind, a series of water- 

 colour views of the beautiful scenery, by Miss Gordon 

 Cumming ; of the island is a marvellous map by D. C. 

 Gabriel Perera, S. Benedict's Institute, Colombo. 

 The Benedictines of old had their Scriptonun, in 

 which they produced the illuminated MSS. and 

 " Books of Hours " so highly prized, and this would 

 not be considered unworthy of the old skill. With 

 a peu Mc. Vcx^xB, uot ouly givey a map of Ceylon, 



