AND THE MALAY STATES 



33 



The air was rapidly growing drier, a decided relief after the steamy 

 atmosphere at the sea level : nor did I note the heat as I leaned out to see 

 as much as possible of the great tea plantations that now filled the 

 valleys, and encroached often on the steep hill and mountain sides. The 

 soil, where it was in evidence, had a reddish look, and would not suggest 

 fertility were it not for the luxuriant growth it produced. 



After a journey, full of intense interest, we reached Peradeniya 

 station, and, alighting from the train, I found Director Willis awaiting 

 me. One of his coolies took my luggage in charge, while his master and 

 I walked up the broad, shaded road that runs by the beautiful entrance 



FICUS BENGALENSIS BANYAN TREE 



[In the main street at Kalatnra.] 



to the Royal Botanic Gardens, A few minutes brought us to the Willis 

 bungalow, a very pretty two-story house, set on a little eminence, and 

 hemmed in with foliage plants, flowers, and magnificent shade trees. As 

 the new governor of Ceylon, Sir Henry Blake, had requested the presence 

 of my host in Colombo, he turned me over for the moment to Mr. J. B. 

 Carruthers, F. L. s., the mycologist and assistant director. Mr. Car- 

 ruthers, by the way, had but just returned from a month's visit to various 

 Hevea plantations, where he had been studying the canker that had 

 appeared upon some of the Hevea trees. He was of the opinion that 



