June 1894.J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
793 
About this time the Rajawella, Pallekellie 
aud Degalla estates, in the Dumbara Valley 
were coiuuieneed and several new hands arrived 
from England. Wm. Rudd was later on joined 
by Charles Pitts and then by John Capper who 
was the oldest of the three. Geoige Bird was 
their Peria Dinai, and as an instance of his 
capacity for hard work, it may here be noted 
that he would think nothing of walking down 
from Peradcniya (where he had a house) to 
Kondesallie in time for morning parade. 
There were very few works on coffee planting 
at that date ; but a translation of the excel- 
lent pamphlet by Laborie, the Frenchman, 
was in the young planter's possession and from 
it Wm, Rudd obtained many a wrinkle. Being 
a practical engineer and fitter he was able to 
build his first coffee-pulper himself. In after 
years he built several otliers. Wm. Rudd and 
Charles Pitts jointly bought a piece of land 
somewhat farther down the river than Konde- 
sallie, and called it " Bally whindle./' It 
proved a failure for coffee. He also opened 
other land at Haragam in partnership with 
his uncle, Mr. Henry Rudd, who eventually 
took over the land and placed his eldest 
son, Henry, in charge, who, while here, contrac- 
ted malarious fever which never afterwards 
left him altogether. 
Althongh life at Kondesallie was r«ugh and 
isolated for the young planters, there was also 
a bright side. - Temptations were few, and game 
of all kinds was plentiful and close at hand. 
The romantic interest that attached to the no- 
velty of the life, with the bright prospect 
which shone before them in the future, doubtless 
sustained and cheered the pioneers. In 
1838, Messrs. Ackland & Boyd, who had the 
agency of most of the blocks of land then 
being opened as Coffee Estates, sent Wm. Rudd 
to the Balangoda district where he commenced 
work on St. Clements or Bombuwe, his ear- 
liest connection with this estate, of which any 
record is available, being in the month of May 
1838, when he was drawing a salary of 
£8 6s 8d. 
Marriage. — In December of this same year he 
married Miss Oteline Prins, the daughter of one 
of the old Dutch residents who liad elected to 
remain in Ceylon when so many of his rela- 
tives left for Batavia. Prins had by studying 
the English language qualified himself for the 
post of " King's Advocate Fiscal," which po- 
sition he occupied in the early years of the 
British occupation of Ceylon. From January 
18.19 Wm. Rudd's salary was raised to £12 10s 
per month, and he settled down to a some- 
what rougb and isolated life in the wilds of 
Balangoda. Living was cheap enough as com- 
pared with modern times. Three half-pence 
(one fanam) would purchase two dozen eggs 
and a full-grown fowl rarely cost more than 
threepence 1 Straw, for thatching purposes 
or for feeding cattle, could be purchased at the 
rate of 2,000 bundles for ten shillings. William 
Rudd was now an authority on the suitability 
of Iftiid for coffee. He had also gained a con- 
siderable topographical knowledge of the Kan- 
dyan country, and largely owing to his wife's 
kindly manner and treatment of the natives, 
he was on good terms with many of the Rate- 
mahatmayas and other Kandyan headmen, 
people of considerable local importance at that 
time. 
In 1840 Messrs. Ackland & Boyd thought 
that Wm. Rudd's experience and services could 
be better utilized in the Kandy District where 
the " wild rush " into coffee, of which Sir 
Emerson Tennent has given such a powerful 
description, had commenced. He says in an oft- 
quoted passage, — 
" The Governor, and tbe Council, the Military, 
tlifi J udges, tbe Clergy, and one half of the Civil 
Servants peueti-ated the hills and became purchasers 
of Grown hinds. » * t xhe rush for land was 
only paralleled by the movement towards tbe mines 
of California and Australia. " 
In accordance with instructions received from 
Messrs Ackland & Boyd, Bombuwe was given 
over to the management of Mr. A. Stephens 
at the end of April, 1840, and Wm. Rudd left 
the District, travelling to Kandy via Nuwara 
Eliya and seeing as much as possible of the 
hill country. Bombuwe <vas ultimately aban- 
doned in the bad year 1848 with 12 cwt. per 
acre ripening on the trees. 
On his arrival in Kandy, William Rudd was 
engaged by Messrs. Ackland & Boyd to open 
some land which had just been purchased by 
Jas, Swan on the Hantane range. This was 
the Galoya Estate, which takes its name from 
the large stream passing through it. 
As there was no kind of suitable accommo- 
dation near his new charge, the Superinteiulent 
was allowed the sum of £2 5s a month as 
rent of a house in Kandy for lus wife's oocu- 
pation, and this amount was duly charged to 
the estate until a bungalow was built and 
ready for occupation in May 1841. [His eldest 
son was born in this year.] Work on Galoya 
was soon going on in full swing, with .Mr. 
Dowdall as assistant. Nurseries of coffee were 
laid down and the first clearing of about 100 
acres was planted during the South- West luon- 
