68 EVERYDAY LIFE ON A 



I followed a very commonplace looking path, 

 which I pass almost daily, and it led me into a 

 most lovely gorge, something like an Isle of 

 Wight chine. The path clings to the precipi- 

 tous side, but below a stream meanders, some- 

 times through groves of broad leaved plantains 

 and huge feathery ferns, at others precipitates 

 itself over granite boulders. The banks are 

 lined with cocoa, coffee and cocoanut palms, 

 whilst beyond where the gorge opens out into 

 the valley, one catches glimpses of the Rangalla 

 mountains — sapphire blue in the early morning 

 light. In this sunless spot, damp and dark 

 with dense folliage, I positively shivered with 

 cold, and was glad of a warm wrap, whilst on 

 the higher ground the thermometer was standing 

 70 degrees in the shade. The entrance is only a 

 stone throw from our store, so I shall often go 

 there,if only for the sensation of feeling cool, but 

 shall always first take the precaution of 

 swallowing a quinine five grain tabloid, for 

 here chill inevitably means fever. 



March 16th. — I have just been with Rob on 

 his round of work. He first visited the 

 " poochee " men. Poochee is the generic 

 Ceylon name for pestilent insects, and truly their 

 name is legion. Cocoa has one destructive 

 poochee, coffee another, and cocoanut palms a 

 third. A number of coolies are told off to go the 

 round of the Estate, field by field, to eradicate 



