162 EVERYDAY LIFE ON A 



No one who has not been in what the Bible 

 calls " a far country " can realise the fascination 

 which the sea has for emigrants. To us it 

 symbolises the link that binds us to home. 

 On its bosom glide the great ocean steamers 

 that bring us tidings of our dear ones, and it 

 is the friendly medium that will at last help us 

 to reach the haven where we would be — the 

 shores of dear Old England. 



September 2nd. — On returning from our 

 evening walk, Rob and I were surprised to see 

 a number of Sinhalese. They turned out to be 

 a Colombo man with his employees, who has 

 bought the cinnamon growing here, and comes 

 from time to time to collect it. Cinnamon, of a 

 kind, is indigenous throughout the jungles of 

 Ceylon, but has to be cultivated before it is 

 suitable for an article of commerce. Sir S. 

 Baker in his M Eight years in Ceylon " thus 

 describes the mode of treatment. 



"The tree (when wild) grows to the dimen- 

 44 sions of a forest tree, trie trunk being usually 

 44 about three feet, in circumference, but in its 

 44 cultivated state it is never allowed to exceed 

 44 the dimensions of a bush, being pruned down 

 i( close to the ground every year. This system 

 44 of close cutting induces the growth of a large 

 14 number of shoots, in the same manner that 

 44 withies are produced in England. 



44 Every twelve months these shoots attain the 



