March i, 1894.] tHE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
577 
Mr, Ritchie was rather taken aback when 
his offer was accepted by John Walker ; he was 
the only one of the ilelinquents, — there were two 
. others, I think — wlio had saved enough to do 
this, and lie then and there went to the bank, 
drew the money, paid it, and took his discharge. 
He was liowever refused a character ! It was 
not a very bright outk)ok for the young en- 
gineer, in a limited circle like the Colombo 
of those days, without a character and in 
search of employment ; but providence in the 
.shape of the minister of St. Andrew's, the late 
Dr. Macvicar, came to his help. John Walker had 
gone one day into the Fort, to try once more 
if he could hoar of any chance of work, when 
he met Dr. Macvicar. He was a member of 
Dr. Macvicar's congregation, and the doctor 
stopped, inquired what he was about, and how 
he was getting on. Learning how matters stood, 
he kindly gave John Walker letters of in- 
troduction to several of the Colombo firms. 
When David Wilson heard of this, he was very 
angry and wrote indignantly to the Padre for 
interfering with his employees ! A warm corre- 
spondence was the result, but the minister 
claimed to have as much if not more interest 
in his parishoner's welfare than the merchant had, 
and that in trying to help him into employ- 
ment he was but simply doing his duty. 
John Walker never forgot the kindly help 
which Dr. Macvicar had given him, and when 
he visited Scotland, he always found time to 
call at the Moffat Manse, where Dr. McVicar 
iiad his home, to renew the acquaintance- 
ship that had stood him in such good stead in 
the day of his need, and as an e.vpression of 
the gratitude which still filled his heart. 
Through the minister's introductions he was 
soon employed, being engaged as en- 
gineer for the "Perth" estate in the Kalu- 
tara district, where sugar cultivation was being 
gone in for on an extensive scale. This was 
in the year 184:5. "Perth" estate was e.v- 
pected to be an El Dorado, and every thing in 
regard to the management was in keeping with 
the golden prospects, which were hoped to be 
realized in the near future. The staff was 
immerous, and liighly paid ; the outlay on 
buildiiig.s and machinery was of the most liberal 
nature ; the cultivation was costly, and the 
end was — a collapse. During the time, however, 
when all was hopeful, the "Perth" estate was 
the sc^ne of many a revel ; and the " high 
jinks '' at the manager's bungalow were on 
the same magniiicent style as the estate was 
worked. Money was no object, and troops of 
revellers came from Colombo to assist in tlic 
spending of it. In time, however, the purse 
strings tightened. Sugar grew well enough, but 
tljcie WW a, diHiculty about tli€ ciystaliziny. 
What seemed all right when packed into casks 
one day, was found if kept for but a short 
time to have become moist again. So the work 
had to be done over. Besitles this, there were 
yearly deficits. Proprietors, however wealthy, 
can't live always upon hope, and thus it came 
about, that in course of time one pfter another 
of tiiat highly-paid staff were dispensed with, 
and John Walker alone remained to guide the 
broken fortunes of the " Perth " estate. 
It was rather a lonely life he led when all 
the Europeans were gone but himself, and the 
most e.Kciting element in these quiet years was 
an occasional visit to Kalntara, to serve as juror. 
Beef, not to speak of mutton, was then hard to 
obtain in the lowcountry ; the village fowl 
was the ."^tand-by, and so often and in so many 
forms did it appear on his table, that he felt 
after a time, almost ashamed to look a living 
one in the face ! To supplement his scanty 
larder, he went in for breeding the guinea fowl, 
doing so with great success, and in after days 
had much to tell of the bird's habits- He had 
no love for sport, but he assisted the "Perth" 
coolies on one occasion to dig a leopard out 
of a hole in which it was sheltering and saw 
it dispatched with the labourers' mamoties. 
John Walker was nine years on "Perth," and 
although the life was a placid and not un- 
pleasant one, there was little prospect ahead, 
so he too at last resigned. He was getting a 
little tired perhaps of Ceylon, besides he could 
afford a trip home. 
Before sailing for Scotland, which he did in 
1854, he paid his first visit to Kandy, and was 
offered employment by the late Mr. William 
Turner, an engineer, who supplied the planters 
with their machinery, and whose place was in 
Trincomalee Street. The prospects held out 
were not however sufficient to induce him to 
postpone his trip, so he returned to Scotland- 
After having spent .some time among his 
triends, the need by-and-bye arose to look out 
again for something to do, and as there was 
at that time a great demand in Melbourne for 
sawn timber to be used for building purposes, John 
Walker and his brother-in-law the late Mr. George 
Clarke,— years after a partner in Messrs. John 
'Walker & Co., — arranged to buy the requisite 
plant, and go out together and start a saw mill 
in the colony. The matter was well thought 
out, and the prospects of success were fair, but 
the ship ill which they sailed went ashore on 
a bright moonlight night on the coast of Ireland, 
and became a total wreck. Although no lives 
were lost, the whole of the ship's cargo was, 
and the saw-mill machinery witii it. 
After the wreck, John Walker returned to 
GUi;Sgow, and while there ac^doalally met Mr. 
\N IWiiiiu Tuiucr of Kaiid^, w ho luid come home 
