130 EVERYDAY LIFE ON A 



miles from Matale, still further on the Great 

 North Road. It was a most interesting drive. 

 Every minute one kept passing typical scenes 

 of tropical life, both animate and inanimate. 

 Every variety of palm lined the road. Here 

 hedges of aloe, throwing up their tall blossom 

 spike high in the air, there perennial sun- 

 flowers made a blaze of yellow. Now and then 

 one came to avenues of cotton trees, the lower 

 trunks clothed and interlaced with the luxuriant 

 foliage of the pepper plant. Whilst all along 

 the road we met groups of coolies in their 

 costumes of orange, every shade of red, helitrope, 

 and white. This was once the main route by 

 which the coolies went and came from Southern 

 India. The route was closed by Government 

 lest plague might thereby be imported, but it is 

 much to be hoped, in the planting interest that 

 it may soon be re-opened. 



At Matale, which is the railway terminus, 

 there was a quarantine station at which the 

 immigrants were detained if they had not been 

 sufficiently long on their journey to fulfil the 

 regulation number of days between leaving 

 India and going to an Estate. To cater for the 

 wants of these travellers, native shops line the 

 road at frequent intervals, where chatties, curry 

 stuffs, rice, dried fish, fruit and cakes are sold. 

 There are also many shady ambulams wherein 

 they could rest from the heat and glare of the 



