GALLE. 191 



■enormous quantities, from a shark to a kind of white 

 bait ; dried fish and rice forming- their principal food, 

 as in all other Asiatic countries that have access to the 

 coast. 



At four p.m. we reached Galle, and the Oriental 

 hotel which provides comfortable accommodation. 

 Its wide verandah, neatly paved with many-coloured 

 tiles, I found taken possession of by a great number 

 of travellers, owing to the fresh arrival of two 

 P. and O. steamers, one from Europe, the other 

 from China, whilst natives were sneaking about 

 trying to pawn off bits of coloured glass for precious 

 stones ; others driving a hard bargain for combs, 

 paper-knives, porcupine spines, and little ebony 

 elephants ; also lace, embroidery, and mats met the 

 attention of lady purchasers principally, and many 

 of the articles offered for sale proved a decided 

 artistic taste on the part of the maker. Although 

 most of the rings one saw here were worthless, Ceylon 

 produces a great variety of very beautiful stones, 

 which mostly find their way to Europe to be cut, 

 and often return again, in their reduced size but 

 more marketable form, to Ceylon and India, where 

 good stones are highly appreciated by the wealthy 

 class of natives. 



Sapphires and cats-eyes, found in the Saffragram 



