JAUNTS IN THE JUNGLE. 



fowl soup, the venison stew, or the snipe curry, I 

 further guarantee to keep him from starvation, on 

 condition that he puts up with the " cuisineries" of 

 my Malay factotum, and allows his lively imagination 

 to fancy he perceives in the " nigger's" desperate 

 attempts at stews, grills, and broils, the nascent genius 

 of a Soyer. 



It is still night and darkness. Awaking to a 

 strong smell of coffee and a state of half-conscious- 

 ness, the first reflection that dawns on the intellect is 

 the insane resolve, over champagne and claret at mess 

 the previous night, to leave Kandy next day, at four 

 in the morning. 



Around, the Coolies are fighting and scrambling 

 as to who shall carry the lightest package of the 

 commissariat department, and in a state of mind 

 any thing but angelic, having kicked the lazy, extor- 

 tionate convoy (did a real nigger ever yet go to 

 Heaven?) out of the house with their respective 

 loads, I swallow the milkless decoction (supposed to 

 be coffee), and lighting a cheroot to counteract 

 the effects of a dense fog, start on my first day's 

 journey through the precipitous scenery between 

 Kandy and Newera Ellia. 



The plain to be traversed before getting out of 

 the town, was once the scene of the old Malabar 

 monarchs' ideas of regal pleasures and delectabilities. 

 B 2 



