COFFEE PLANTING AND FINANCING. 151 
the planter must de is to engage a Sinhalese con- 
tractor, who undertakes the felling and clearing of 
say 100 acres as a_ beginning. When this has been 
“lone, and a good “burn” has disposed of the dead 
leaves and branches, the real work commences. If 
the land is not too far removed froma neighbouring 
estate, the new man can chum with its superintend- 
ent and ride to and from his own place. Generally, 
however there is no help for it, but to rough it in 
a hut made of leaves of the talipot palm, In anew 
istrict where Government has net had time to trace 
roads, or build bridges, he may pass weeks without 
seeing a white face. The follewing extract from the 
detter of a Dikoya planter, under date the 27th ul- 
tiwo, will serve to illustrate the difficulties attaching 
to his new positien :— 
“IT had a very narrow escape from being drowned 
*“Jast week, but I had the pleasure of saving a man’s 
** life G. S. whom you must remember on D. estate). 
““ Four of us were crossing alarge and deep river in 
**the Maskeliya, swimming with all eur clothes on. 
“*T got over first, then B.; but S. stuck half way, 
“‘and was drowning. J and B. jemped in and made 
**for him. He had got entangled, and we could not 
“* get him loose for a long time: B. then gave in, 
“and I was left alone. S. was by this time nearly 
<emmeensibis, i was quite exkausted when 2 Sinhalese 
““man came to my help, and then i let go and drifted 
“‘down. I fortunately struck against a dead stump 
“*and eaught hold ef it, just as the native and S.’s 
*“insensible body were sweeping past me. JI caught 
““hold of them and held them till we were all landed 
““ashore. S. was a leng time before he came round, 
“*Tt gave us all an awful fright.” 
The Maskeliya, where this occurred, is the most 
xecently opened district in the island, and forms part 
of an immense tract ef forest, lying under the shadow 
of the saered mountain, and henee named the Wil- 
derness of the Peak. Except once a year, when pil- 
grims from the Sabaragamuwa country wend their 
way through it by devious and uncertain paths up 
to the ‘‘holy footprint,” these vast solitudes are never 
trodden by man. The erack of the rifle has not as 
yet driven the elephant from his lair, nor startled 
the cheetah from his den in this awful wilderness. 
The Ceylon Government is not remarkable for its 
promptitude in giving reads to fresh districts. This 
seems rather like a breach of good faith on its part: 
for when land is put up for sale, it is understood 
that Government will lose no time in giving it a grant- 
in-aid road—that is to say a road, of which half the 
expense is borne by Government, and the other moiety 
sy the planters. Through this tardiness many a 
