24 COFFEE PLANTATIONS. 



and sheltered frequently by trees along the sides, and 

 for horses it was excellent, as a broad fringe of excel- 

 lent turf bordered the central carriage road for half a 

 mile at a stretch. On these cross roads permanent 

 relays of horses are not kept at the post-houses, so that 

 word has to be sent along the line before the travel- 

 ler, in order that the number required may be pro- 

 vided by the different native authorities. We always 

 found the people most obliging and attentive, and 

 willing to do everything to please us. If any one 

 did not like the pace of his horse, he had but to 

 express his dissatisfaction, and one of the attendants 

 instantly dismounted and shifted his saddle on to 

 any other he might choose without an instant's 

 hesitation. 



We began now to meet with coffee plantations, 

 mingled with fields of maize and small patches of 

 other crops. The coffee plantations were very 

 pleasant looking places. The coffee shrubs are 

 planted in rows, with tall trees between each row 

 to shelter the coffee from the sun. The alleys be- 

 tween the trees are carpeted by rich green turf, 

 forming pleasant glades. The plantations are gene- 

 rally neatly fenced, and are often extensive, as much 

 as twenty or thirty acres in one plot. Every now 

 and then we passed by the road side a noble tree 

 with wide-spread drooping branches, a species of 

 Banian-tree, under which was often a bullock -waggon 

 with its team, and a group of people resting in the 

 shade. The waggons were laden generally with paddy, 



