CEYLON COCOA ESTATE 75 



CHAPTER VI 



The weather is getting very hot in the daytime, 

 but the nights are generally pleasantly cool. 

 The thermometer all last week stood close upon 

 ninety degrees in the shade and draught of our 

 verandah. I find the best way not to feel the 

 heat is to keep oneself constantly employed 

 with writing, reading, or needlework. The 

 difficulty is to get enough books. Friends are 

 kind in lending them to one another, and a new 

 work or magazine often goes the round of 

 a whole district. Our great standby is the 

 11 Book Tambi," who is a sort of circulating 

 library in himself. He and his attendant go 

 from house to house with a bundle of books, 

 some extremely uninteresting, but there are 

 always others to be found one has not read 

 before, and often very good novels issued in the 

 " Home and Colonial Series." A man who 

 buys new books and soon gets tired of them is 

 a perfect boon to a district. Such a one we 

 had, but he lately brought out a bride from 



