July 13, 1 88a] 



NA TURE 



2 55 



charms " the highest conceivable development of Indian 

 nature." 



It was on November 21, 18S1, that the Austrian Lloyd 

 steamer Helios, bearing Prof. Haeckel and his numerous 

 chests, some containing scientific instruments, others 

 empty for the reception of specimens, came to an anchor 

 in the harbour of Colombo. He describes in a few 

 graphic words the vision of beauty which met his eager 

 gaze as the morning twilight cleared away, and the island, 

 with its fringe of delicate palm forests, and more thickly 

 wooded interior highlands, crowned in the centre by the 

 mysterious summit of Adam's Peak, expanded before him 

 in all the blaze of tropical sunshine. Directly in front lay 

 the fort and harbour, to the right (or south) the beautiful 

 suburb of Colpetty, in 'which the majority of the Euro- 

 peans have their residence, and to the left (or north), the 

 Pettah or "Black town," inhabited by the native races. 

 Prof. Haeckel was warmly received on landing by his 

 countryman, Herr Stipperger, the agent of the Austrian 

 Lloyd, in whose bungalow, on the northern side of the 

 town, at a considerable distance from the fort, and still 

 farther from Colpetty, he passed the two first weeks of his 

 stay in Colombo, which he describes as among the most 

 delightful of his life. His first drive in Ceylon, from the 

 Fort to Whist Bungalow, through the Pettah, opened out 

 before him. as he himself says, a quick succession of 

 scenes of Eastern beauty. The brown clay huts of the 

 natives, each with its garden of cocoa-nut palms and 

 plantains ; the motley population of red-brown Singhalese, 

 and darker Tamils, grouped round the doors, carry- 

 ing on all their domestic concerns in the open air, 

 combined with the bright red tint of the soil to 

 produce bewildering contrasts of form and colour, 

 together with a charming impression of primitive sim- 

 plicity, and harmony with surrounding nature. It would 

 be impossible to make even a passing mention of the 

 Singhalese and their domestic life without digressing 

 into a description of their most valued and often their 

 only possession, the cocoa nut palm of whose substance 

 every part is turned by them into account. 



" The number of cocoa palms on the island,'' says Prof. 

 Haeckel, " is calculated at 40,000,000, each palm yielding 

 from 80 to 100 nuts (8-10 quarts of oil). It is not 

 found in the northern half of the island, nor on a 

 great part of the eastern coast. Its place is here supplied 

 by the not less useful palmyra palm (Borassus flabelli- 

 formis). This is the same which covers the hot and 

 dry districts of Hindostan, growing in great profusion 

 near Bombay. Even from a distance the two palms vary 

 greatly. The palmyra is a fan-palm, with a strong, very 

 straight black stem, topped by a thick bunch of fan- 

 shaped leaves. The cocoa, on the other hand, is a 

 feather-palm, its slender white stem, 60 to 80 feet high, 

 is gracefully curved, and adorned with a bushy crown of 

 feathery leaves. The lovely Areca palm (Areca catechu) 

 has similar, but stiffer and smaller leaves, and a tapering 

 reed-like stem ; it is an invariable feature of a Singhalese 

 garden, carefully tended for the sake of the nut, which, 

 being chewed together with the leaf of the betel pepper, 

 colours the teeth and saliva red. Another palm, the 

 Kitool (Caryota urens) is cultivated chiefly on account of 

 its abundant sugar-sap, from which palm-sugar (Djaggeri) 

 and palm wine {Toddy) are prepared. Its stiff strong 

 stem supports a crown of double-feathered leaves re- 

 sembling those of the maiden-hair fern (Adiantum 

 capillus Veneris)!' 



"After the palms the most important trees in the little 

 gardens of the Singhalese are the bread-fruit and the 

 mango. Of the former there are two kinds, the ordinary 

 bread-fruit (Artocarpus iiicisa), and the Jak tree (Arto- 

 carpns integrifolia), growing everywhere in great pro- 



1 Sir r. Emerson Tennent ('' Ceylon," I., p, 127), mentions, as curiously 

 illustrative of the minute subdivision of property in Ceylon, a case which was 

 decided in the district court of Gr lie, the su 'j<-ct in dispute being a claim to 

 the 2520th fart often cvcoa nu:' ,'rces ! 



fusion. Another tree frequently cultivated by the natives 

 is the curious cotton tree (Bomoax), Mingled with these 

 round the Singhalese huts is the beautiful banana or 

 pisang tree, well deserving the name of "fig of Paradise" 

 (Musa sapientum). Its beautiful yellow fruit, affording 

 excellent nourishment either raw or cooked, is here 

 seen in numerous varieties. Magnificent clusters of its 

 gigantic light green leaves topping a slender stem from 

 20 to 30 feet high overhang the Singhalese huts, and 

 form their loveliest adornment. Scarcely less effective 

 are the arrowy leaves of the Aroidens, especially of the 

 Caladium, cultivated for its esculent roots, the same being 

 the case with the Manihotj with its lovely clusters of 

 hand-shaped leaves (belonging to the Euphorbiaceae)." 



Prof. Haeckel next proceeds to give a short statistical 

 account of the population of Ceylon. In Columbo itself, 

 as well as in the whole southern and western crests of the 

 island (with the exception of the north-west) the large 

 majority of the population consists of Singhalese proper, 

 or descendants of the Indian Hindoos who overran 

 Ceylon in the sixth century B.C., but in the northern half 

 of the island, and on the east coast, as well as in large 

 tracts of the central highlands, the Singhalese have been 

 driven out by the Malabars or Tamils from the southern 

 parts of the Indian peninsula, more especially from the 

 Malabar coast. At present the Tamils comprise about a 

 third of the whole population of Ceylon, and their number 

 is yearly increasing ; they are stronger and hardier than 

 the Singhalese, and all the heavier labour falls to their 

 share, the Singhalese only occupying themselves in the 

 lighter kinds of agricultural work. Besides these, there 

 are the Indo-Arabians of Ceylon (called Moormen or 

 Moors), descendants of the Arabs who gained a footing 

 in the island more than two centuries ago. The residue 

 of the native population is composed of the wild abori- 

 gines (Yeddahs and Rodiyahs) of immigrant tribes from 

 various parts of Asia and Africa, and of Malays, Javan- 

 ese, Parsees, Afghans, Negroes, and Kaffirs ; in all about 

 25,000. Europeans number altogether only three to four 

 thousand, principally, of course, English and Scotch. 

 The whole of this motley population at the present time 

 may be calculated at 2,500,000, divided as follows : — 



Singhalese (chiefly Buddhists) 1,500,000 



Tamils (or Malabars, chiefly Hindoos) 820,000 



Indo-Arabians (Moors, chiefly Mohamedans) ... 150,000 



Mixed descendants of various races 10,000 



Asiatics and Africans (Malays, Chinese, Kaffirs, 



Negroes, &c.) 8»° 00 



Burghers (Portuguese and Dutch half-bloods) ... 6,000 



Europeans (chiefly English) 4,000 



Veddahs (aborigines) 2,000 



Total 2,500,000 



A considerable number of all the native races have been 

 converted to Christianity. 



Whist Bungalow, where, as we have already mentioned, 

 Prof. Haeckel spent the earlier part of his stay in Ceylon, 

 received its somewhat curious name from the passionate 

 addiction to card-playing of a former possessor. _ It is 

 situated on one of the most picturesque spots in the 

 neighbourhood of Colombo— that which lies to the north 

 of the fort on the angle between it and the mouth of the 

 river Kalanv. Some portions of the description of the 

 site of the bungalow and of his friend's garden must be 

 given in Prof. Haeckel's own words :— 



" The airy verandah commands a magnificent view of 

 the sea, of the mouth of the Kalany, and of a lovely little 

 island covered with vegetation, which lies in its delta. 

 Further north, the eye follows a long strip of cocoa wood 

 extending along the coast to Negombo. To the south 

 lies the garden of the Bungalow, and beyond it a pictur- 

 esque plot of land scattered over with fishing huts, 

 nestling under the shade of slender palms ; in their midst 

 a little Buddhist temple, and further on a rocky swamp 



