218 AUSTRALIA AND HOMEWARD. 



dred and twenty thousand children in these schools, 

 where every morning by governmental regulation the 

 Bible is studied for one hour. Attendance during that 

 hour is not compulsory, but pupils seldom or never 

 absent themselves. 



The present Governor, as most of his predecessors 

 have done, takes a lively interest in the improvements 

 of the country and its population. Mr. Langdon, 

 Chairman of the Wesleyan Kandy District, tells me 

 that the Governor feels a deep interest in his 

 Christian work in the interior, and encourages it in 

 every possible way. 



The kings of Kandy were the last of all the native 

 kings to hold out against the foreigners. There was 

 a Kandyan tradition that their conquerors were to be 

 a people who should make a road through the rocky 

 hills. No one had attempted this until the British 

 got possession of the country. The almost impene- 

 trable interior has been opened up by the British. 

 High hills were tunnelled for cart routes for the sake 

 of getting at the valuable spices and other productions 

 inland. 



When the English landed, in 179G, there was not 

 in the whole island a single practicable road. Before 

 Sir E. Barnes resigned, in 1831, every town of 

 importance was approached by a carriage road. He 



