CEYLON COCOA ESTATE 157 



to them as politely as we could, the fact that 

 we had now had enough, presenting at the same 

 time a little token of our friendship and good 

 feeling in the shape of some welcome rupees. 

 This was the prettiest dancing I had seen. 

 Usually the female dancers are personated by 

 men, and in consequence the movements are 

 heavier and more laboured than they ought to 

 be ; but these children were fairy-like and dainty, 

 and the glitter of their jewellery and especially 

 of the little brass cymbals worn like wings on 

 their shoulders made an extremely bright, pretty 

 picture. There is scarcely a day passes without 

 my longing to have the brush of an artist to 

 paint these scenes, sometimes so exquisitely 

 beautiful, at others so exquisitely comic. It is 

 impossible with pen, ink, and paper, to depict 

 what I see, or to convey to my readers a true 

 impression of the charm of this beautiful 

 country. 



The fine bungalow which we now inhabit is 

 a relic of the old coffee days when salaries were 

 higher and prices lower, and the rupee had a 

 two shilling purchasing value. A good deal of 

 the furniture has at one time or another been 

 removed elsewhere, but enough solid, handsome 

 pieces remain to give a clue to the history of 

 the past ; and with the addition of sundry odds 

 and ends of our own in the shape of dhurries, 

 curtains, pictures, books, cushions and table- 



