582 ikings of tbe tRofc, IRifle, an& (Bun 



too, of the best herds of cattle and sheep in the island, 

 and the tea-plantations which Baker inaugurated have 

 been so successful that their teas came to be quoted at 

 the top of the market. For eight years Baker remained 

 in Ceylon, but I am disposed to think that it was the 

 splendid sport, to which I have already referred, rather 

 than interest in the settlement that kept him there so 

 long. 



In 1855, the year of his return from Ceylon, Baker's 

 life was darkened by the death of his wife. He sought 

 solace for his loss in active employment, and was 

 appointed to superintend the construction of the railway 

 bridge across the Dobrudja, connecting the Danube 

 with the Black Sea. He found opportunities, too, of 

 gratifying his love of sport and his thirst for adventure. 

 But his mind was unsettled, he had no definite object 

 in life, and when the Crimean War was over and no 

 chance of further adventures presented itself he had 

 serious thoughts of taking holy orders. Writing to an 

 intimate friend on February 26th, 1857, ne savs : " You 

 may be astonished at my future intention to enter the 

 Church^ if the difficulty of age can be got over, which 

 I think will be no great obstacle." 



He has left no record of the reasons which induced 

 him to abandon this project, but probably on reflection 

 he saw that the clerical profession was utterly unsuited 

 to his temperament. Only in the field of missionary 

 work could his adventurous spirit have found any satis- 

 faction, and what he had seen of missionaries in Ceylon 

 and elsewhere had led him to form but a poor opinion 

 of their character and their work. 



