8o Coffee Planting. 



and was overgrown with weeds and creepers. In 

 reply to my inquiry as to the healthfulness of this 

 place, the former superintendent's ' replies were 

 at any rate straight-forward ; about 40 per cent, of 

 the coolies, he informed me, had died of fever in 

 the previous year ; the words he used, I well re- 

 collect, being that they " died off like rotten sheep/' 

 Quinine and other remedies he had tried, but found 

 them of no avail. I at once saw that vigorous 

 action would be required, and my resolution was 

 soon formed. I engaged some Cingalese carpenters 

 and contractors, and erected a strong comfortable 

 set of lines, large enough to house all the coolies 

 on the place, and surrounded with a wide cool 

 verandah, on the very top of the gorge. This spot 

 formed a sort of bridge or saddle, from which one 

 looked down on the low part of the estate on the 

 one side, and on the villages of the " low country" 

 on the other ; while before and behind the mountain 

 rose up some 800 to 1000 feet higher, so that 

 through the passage or opening there was nearly 

 always a fresh breeze passing one way or other. 

 In the immediate neighbourhood of the new lines 

 moreover, there was a copious stream of clear 

 water, so that altogether the situation was as 

 desirable a one as could well have been chosen. 

 The great objection of course was the long steep 

 ascent from the larger part of the estate, and the 



