340 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov. I, M$ 4 . 
lifter being landed— not immediately. I believe one 
would think the Railway people could do a good 
thing by getting hold ot it -if it has been trained 
to work. On asking the reason why the coaonut 
palms were in tucb a d hpidated condition we were 
told it was the result of a visit from the 
LOCUiTS, 
which appear to have oauscd something like a 
famine in the interior. 
THE U8AMBAKA MOUNTAINS 
at the foot of which Cowley and Maudoeloy arc- 
working are visible from Tuoga and give a fine 
appearanoe to the harbour. 
Half a days easy steaming brought the "Safari'' 
to 
ZANZIBAR, 
the great central port of East Africa— alrecdy 
muoh advanced during the past decade, acd the 
future of whioh has every element of prosperity if 
there was only a deoent nowepaper to air ire wants 
and capabilities. 
Looated in the very building iu which I so- 
journed in 1878 (altered in name and arrange- 
ment) I have already observed a vaEt number of 
additions to the buildings around me — including a 
new palaoe for the Sultan, adjoining the old one 
and used for receptions. Sixteen days from Bombay 
and twenty two from Colombo— (3,500 miles of 
sea) have brought me to my present haven of rest, 
and it remains to be seen whether the future wi'l 
do better for me in the land of Ham than the 
past has done in the spioy isle of Eastern waters. 
A PLANTER'S EARLY DAYS IN CEYLON.— 
NO. I. 
(By an old Planter.) 
Haputale, Oct. 6. 
I reached the roadstead of Colombo from Europe, 
after encountering frightful weather for days past — how 
many I cannot say — all round the south end of Ceylou 
from Dondra Head, where we first sighted land, till we 
reached Colombo ; and a few hours after I trod 
terra firma, the gallant 
ship " sybella " 
was sunk on the Drunken Sailor rocks in a terrible 
storm, and liteially broken into fragments. This 
sad event took place with the big burst of the 
North-East monsoon, in the month of November 
1857. After spending a few weeks in Point de Galle, 
with relatives there, I returned to Colombo and was 
engaged by the head of the firm, then in Colombo, 
to take charge of a coffee estate in 
A NORTHERN DISTRICT, 
famous for coffee and rain, and for jovial and hearty 
coffee planters. A mug and compact little district 
I found it to be, encircled by hills and overshadowed 
by mountain peaks, hid away from the haunts of 
civilization and separated from the cart road. This 
wild region could only bo reached by descending a 
steep hillside, and by a most unique and dangerous 
bridle path called 
JOHN'S HILL ROAD. 
On one side of this hillside was a deep ravine and 
the road in its curious curves touched the very side 
of the hill next the ravine as if it invited horse and 
rider to try a tumble into the deep recesses of the 
ravine below. Noble specimens of the 
ARRA TREE, 
delighted the traveller with their massive, tall, ronnd 
trunks, high as the highest mast of a man-of-war ; 
the like of ; which in girth and height I have never 
a ince seen in Ceylon. At the base of this hill ran the 
HOOLOOOANOA. 
over a rocky bed. There the planter had to be 
ferried over by old Charon as I called him. Some- 
how I felt right glad when I passed over this rapid 
river and reached the tavalam road on tin other 
side. A ride of some four miles brought me to the 
" ELEPHANT PLAINS ESTATE," 
and there I resided with the kind Superintendent 
for & couple of weeks, when I tuok up my own 
special duties as superintendent of the 
K'OVA COWEE ESTATE. 
There was no kind of bungalow; it had recently 
been burnt to the ground, and consequently 1 had 
taken up my quarters iu the coffee store, k «at 
crop time ; lots of coolies were picking daily ripe cherry, 
amid falling rain, and yet they looked cheerful and 
happy. We measured the cherry at 4 p.m. — the 
conductor and myself — and during the day I looked 
after the pulping, curing, <Vc, all altogether new 
work to me. Indeed it was a very 
LONELY BOUT 01 A LITE 
to me; on'y one person on the estate that knew 
English, Mr. Appaccoty, a Jaffna Turn 1 ; and in the 
evenings more especially, 1 felt sad and de«erted. 
The furniture saved from the fire consisted of two 
couches, two chairs, and a small table, that was all. 
After dinner every evening I had a fire lighted, to 
keep out the damp and cold, warmed myself with a 
cup or two of coffee, smoked my cigar and foil into 
the arms of Morpheas. At the end of the first 
month Mr. Appacooty left me, for Jaffna, he said, and 
except my Tamil boy, there was no one op the 
estate that I could speak a word of English to, and 
I could not speak mauy Tamil wards myself. Never- 
theless, the estate's works u(nt on as umal — pulping 
and washing and curing and picking cherry — that 
was all. During the latttr pait of November and 
December, 
THE COOLIES 
seemed as happy as they could be with their eamblies 
sheltering their heads and bodies from the con- 
stant rains. I look n sort of liking to the Tamil 
lace, from the first day I saw them working so 
willingly amid storm and rain. No other labourers 
would thus brave the elements, at Wast I have not 
met with them, and as tropical laboarets they are 
invaluable and are a docile kindly race of peop'e. 
Had Europeans had to depend on 
THE SINHALESB, 
I do not believe half-a-dozen coffee or tea estates 
would ever have been opened out. For some reason 
or other they won't work in the rain, neither for 
love nor money. From the very first the Tamils and 
myself agreed well ; and though I was q iite a 
stranger to them, their w»ys, customs, language, &c, 
yet after my arrival on the estate the work went on 
without any interruption or hinderance and th y 
accepted me as their durai without dispute, or hesi- 
tation. Still my life wa3 a solitary one. I had the 
curing of the coffee to attend to daily, pickers to 
look after — some 170 or 180 in number — measuring 
of the cherry in the evenings ; and the e Btering of 
the coo'ics' names in check-roll, and here I may well 
remark that the v. hola of the K'ova-tence estate was 
oovered with weeds that grew close together and 
were almost ai high as the coffee trees, weeds that 
bore a white flower and this nuisance was called the 
GOAT WEED. 
It seemed strange to me that on an estate yieldi' g 
good coffee crops, weeds should ba allowed to grow 
all over the place, some 200 acres in extent, with- 
out an attempt to eradicate them, but so it was. 
How the place had been allowed to be seeded all 
over with weeds was a mystery to me and I 
waited an explanation. Meantime I was informed, that 
all hands were required to gather in the cherry, 
as it would drop, if not speedily picked, fsy/n the 
constant rain, which quickly destroyed the cherry 
stalk and that weeding must remain iu abeyas\ge. Iu 
those early days of planting life I drew my 
