CEYLON COCOA ESTATE 53 



mentioning it, as I have been so much laughed 

 at — egg plant, which it seems is only another 

 name for the bringal, which grows almost wild 

 in Ceylon, but which a London seedsman gave 

 me as a rarity likely to do well in a tropical 

 climate. N.B. — I would say to people coming 

 to Ceylon — Don't bring Bringals, for it is 

 carrying coals to Newcastle, and you will be 

 unmercifully chaffed. 



Febuary. 7th. — The kitchen garden is going 

 on well, we have mustard and cress, radishes 

 and lettuces, already beginning to show them- 

 selves. The locale of Jack and the Beanstalk 

 must surely have been in Ceylon ; for in no 

 other country have I seen seeds grow so 

 quickly into plants. Both beans and cucumbers 

 made an appearance in three days. The 

 garden wants a good deal of watering, and all 

 the water has to be brought from a neighbour- 

 ing well in a cask on wheels drawn by a small 

 black bull. 



As I pass this well in the late afternoon, and 

 see its protecting circle of masonry, its canopy 

 of overhanging roof, and the Eastern women 

 hastening after work to take their turn in 

 drawing up water to cook their evening meal ; 

 it takes me back to the old Bible stories, and 

 makes living realities of Rachel and Rebecca, 

 and the woman of Samaria, such as they never 

 were to me before. 



