24 TEA 



At half-jDast four, the horn sounds a third reveille, 

 and this time there is nothing half-hearted in the 

 summons to be up and doing ; a warning growl merges 

 into a loud command, which resounds with shrill per- 

 sistence. The " lines " begin to show signs of activity ; 

 men, women and children rise from their mats, fires 

 are lit on earthen floors, pots and pans are balanced 

 on the faggots, and every member of the vast labour 

 battaUon attached to the estate is soon breakfasting 

 on the remains of last night's curry. Meanwhile, the 

 managerial staff have risen to prepare for duty. And 

 now you and I must join the awakened world, although 

 darkness still tries to persuade us it is not yet time to 

 get up ; but further delay would make us too late for 

 the roll-call, the first scene of outstanding interest in 

 the work-day history of life on a Ceylon tea plantation. 



As we dress, we have " early tea," which is to say 

 a good enough meal to fortify us for several hours to 

 come, and a little before six we join the Peria Dooray 

 in the gallery of the bungalow. Together we make 

 our way through a garden beautiful, where bowers of 

 English roses and patches of sweet-scented violets 

 flourish amidst a profusion of tropical blooms ; striking 

 the tail end of a path through the tea-bushes, we head 

 for the muster-ground, a few hundred yards distant. 



For a couple of minutes we seem to be very far 

 away from the busy world ; the landscape is a deserted 

 country scene, a medley of grey-green hills peering 

 through grey-blue mist, and arousing admiration that 

 is near akin to awe. Then, so suddenly is a transfor- 

 mation effected that many of you exclaim, " Look, 

 look;" and no wonder you are excited. The scene 

 has now become a blaze of colour, and in the midst of 



