CEYLON COCOA ESTATE 99 



leaping, also foot races of all kinds, putting the 

 weight, and high jumps. All the beauty and 

 fashion of the neighbourhood including the 

 Government House party, turned out to see 

 the sport, and a very pretty scene it made ; the 

 ladies' bright summer dresses as they crossed 

 and re-crossed the green sward looking like 

 flowers in the afternoon sunshine. 



But to me, a much more interesting sight 

 were two Buddhist processions that I met in 

 Kandy streets. The first was on the occasion 

 of the Sinhalese Wesak Festival. Forty-five 

 priests preceded by horns and tom-toms, and 

 clad in every shade of yellow silk, from cream 

 colour to orange, paraded the streets. The 

 great man of all had a large umbrella carried 

 over his head. Most of them had intellectual 

 faces, but a furtive downcast expression spoilt 

 the looks of many. Wesak is kept up with 

 great pomp by the Sinhalese, even the 

 villagers decorate their houses, placing arches 

 and flags, and Chinese lanterns in front of the 

 verandahs. The richer members of the Sinha- 

 lese community take the opportunity of feast- 

 ing their poorer brethren, and for at least a 

 week afterwards, the newspapers were full of 

 Wesak benefactions, such as the following, 

 culled from the " Ceylon Standard : " 



" Alms-giving was on a mighty scale. The Day- 

 " akas of Wiejenanda Temple in a most liberal manner 



