CEYLON COCOA ESTATE 115 



is very greedy and always cries out piteously 

 for food, whenever he sees the servants carrying 

 dishes to or from the kitchen. We feed them 

 on boiled rice and fruit, but they much 

 appreciate bread, sugar and lettuce leaves. 



June 15. — We have had a tremendous south- 

 west gale ; at times I thought the roof of the 

 bungalow would have been blown away. Large 

 branches of trees were snapped off like so much 

 matchwood, and occasionally we heard a 

 mighty crack, and then a thud, telling that 

 some exhausted rubber tree had fallen a victim 

 to the blast. The gale was accompanied by 

 heavy rain, which dripped through the badly 

 tiled roof in all directions ; so you may imagine 

 it was not a comfortable experience, but 

 uncomfortable as it was, we bore it with 

 cheerful equanimity, for we knew that the fresh 

 cool breezes brought renewed health in their 

 train, and the drenching rain meant a good 

 planting season, and revived life to the drooping 

 cocoa, and coffee. 



These low country bungalows are built for 

 the hot weather, and are not suited for wind and 

 rain, as you can well imagine when I tell you 

 that our small sitting-room has two double 

 glass doors, two windows opening outwardly, 

 another door, to say nothing of a high unceiled 

 roof, only lined with thin white calico no fire- 

 place, and a large open space at the top of the 



