578 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March i. i»94. 
in rather poor health. Mr. Turner renewed the 
otter he had made to John Walker .some months 
bctore, but not until it was modified into a 
partnership did he accept and abandon all idea 
of trying his fortune in Victoria. 
I^efore starting again for Ceylon lie married a 
Mi8s Fortay, a connection of his own, and 
shortly after the wedding he sailed for the East. 
The voyage was a very unfortunate one, for 
the ship met heavy weather in the South 
Atlantic, and became so leakj' that slie had to 
put into Bahia to refit. While waiting there 
his young wife died of yellow fever. Au.xious 
to get on, and especially to get away from a 
place which must have been rendered hateful 
to him, he left the leaky ship, and finding 
another bound for Colombo, and about to sail, 
be elected to come on in hei. He was the only 
passenger and had rather a lough tiuie of it. 
The captain was somewhat of a bully, and the 
sailors were not very well u.sed. liefoie Ceylon 
was reached, the growing iliscontfint among the 
crew was apparent to all, and one tine Sunday 
morning they struck ami refused to work. Jack 
had turned Sabbatarian ; he did not like every 
day to l)e esteemed alike, and was not going to 
have it. When the captain learned how matters 
stood, he mustered the crew on the <inarter-deck> 
and addressed them in forcible language. But 
neither that nor hi.S pistols could induce them 
to do unnecessary work on the Sabbath, and 
after much bluster, the skipper yielded the point, 
although with rather a batl grace. Later in the 
day it became evident that "Satan finds some 
mischief still, for idle hands to do I for the 
captain s Sunday pudding mysteriously disa|)- 
peared from the galley, and just when about to 
be served ap. This was past bearing, and again 
the crew were mustered, and individually ques- 
tioned regarding the daring act. Nothing how- 
ever was elicited ; a more innocent set of men 
never sailed under the British flag ; they did not 
even know that there had been a pudding pre- 
pared for dinner ; certainly not for theirs ; and 
one who had been the ringleader of the morning s 
revolt, and a sea-lawyer to boot, emphatically 
protested against the captain even looking at 
him as if he had taken the puddin ' ". A 
sad falling away here ! 
After arrival in Colombo, John Walker pro- 
ceeded to J<.andy, and began there his work in 
connection with coft'ee machinery ^vhicll ^^■as in 
time to carry his name into every tropical country 
where the plant was grown, and raise his firm 
into the premier position of pulper-makers. His 
partner, Mr. William Turner, returned home in a 
few y-iars, in ill-health, and left him free to 
carry out his own piano, 
I About this time the buhiuesb and preiuiaeh 
j of Meiisrs. AfHeck, Kngiueers, Kandy, Mere 
: tluongh the death of the uncle aiid nephew 
I for sale, liogambra n.'il's where tlicii- wurk>> were 
I situate<J, were better in every way than the 
I shop at Tiiiicomalei- Street- John Walker 
aiTanged lo buy them, and in due time vax.-Ateil 
j the old premises where he had been for seveinl 
j years. In taking over the AfHeck » butsiueoH, the 
I book debts weie included in tlie bargiuu, and 
I an allow ance of 5 o o was deducte<l to meet any 
; Jo.sse^ which might arise. A home actuary, 
whose duty it wa> to look intxj the term- 
i of the arrangement, was very emphatic ou 
i the iuadequa<'y of the provision made for bad 
1 debt>, and declared that from 2.5 o/o to .'WojO 
would at home have certainly Iwen allowed. 
I Ue did not see how 5 o,'o could |H>r<sibly cover it. 
j .lohn Walker used liowever to tell— t<j the credit 
of the <;eylon planters— that although lie ha«l to 
wait for a very long time for some of the 
accounts, yet eventually— with but one iiii-igni 
ticant exception — the whole of them were duly 
j paid. 
Besi<le> being an engineer, John Walker was 
also a planter, having from time to time l>eeti 
pos.sessed of "MeetotH, " in .MeilHiiiahanu^x ara, 
" Mahaoja ' in IJumbara ; anil " Uoseneath," 
"Hermitage" and "Anniewatte" in Uantane 
districts On his visits U> estates on professional 
duties he got well acquainted with the planting 
districts, heard of and saw all that was going on, 
and was ever ready to try on hi.- own properties, 
the newest methods of cultivation. \\ here he 
could advance the planting interests he did it, and 
it wrtJ* through observing the rude and inefficient 
style of tracing drains, by means of a plank 
which had to be dragged all aljout the place, 
that made him think of the Koad Tracer which 
goes by his name to this day. What a relief this 
simple instrument was to the planter with a 
large clearing to roa<l and drain, as comiwired 
to the lumbering old style, goes without .saying. 
It was a success from the first, won its way 
wherever it wa,s tiied, and it was a great .satis- 
faction to the inventor, when he learned that 
the Survey Department had found out its worth, 
and used it on one of the then proposetl routes of 
new railway, in taking the flying trace. Today 
there is hardly an estate in the islaml which has 
not got one of " Walkers Koad Tracers, and 
in many other lands where the inventor iias 
never been heard of, this handy little instrument 
extensively used and thoroughly appreciated. 
His Patent Disc Pulper too has carried his 
name to the far ends of the earth. I shall not 
attempt to adjudicate as to which one among 
the dili'erent patent pulpers, that in the old days 
competed for place ; deserred the highest positionj 
