630 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
| \I vrch i, t <9; 
been known either to buy, or take shares in, 
estates of coconuts as welt as tea, or in Plant- 
tation Companies of which the number is fast 
becoming "legion''; and in running over pur new 
Directory list, we can place our linger on not 
a few names, representing a large stake in the 
island's prosperity, which five or six years ago 
were quite unknown out here. 
But, perhaps, what we have written about 
travellers and visitors galore in the future to 
this " Showland of the World" has most prac- 
tical interest to local hotel proprietors and we 
are quite willing it should be so. Keeping our 
own hands quite free of any investment in Hotel 
Companies, however sound and attractive, we 
can be depended on to be editorially impartial, 
as well as critical, should the Occasion arise. 
But making all due allowance for the uncer- 
tainties of the future, we cannot think of any 
investment more likely to be permanently remu- 
nerative than that in some of the island's hotel 
property. We need say nothing of the large 
and well-established concerns in Colombo, the 
steamer port and focus of trade. But we would 
venture to remark on how excellent must be the 
prospect before a really commodious, central as 
well as in every sense, first-class hotel in Kandy. 
Who was ever disappointed with our Highland 
capital — the seat of the old Kandyan Kings — 
unique in history, in beauty of vegetation and 
in all its surroundings'? "A thing of beauty 
is a joy for ever" expresses the feelings of most 
visitors in respect of our central capital. Kandy 
is bound to go on and prosper and is sure of a 
multitude of visitors year by year enough to 
fill its big Hotel and the quiet villa Boarding Houses 
on its shady hill-sides. So must Hatton be- 
come another centre of attraction : the very 
name "Adam's Peak Hotel'' is a splendid adver- 
tisement. Who would want to leave Ceylon with- 
out climbing the famous Peak — one of the most 
striking mountains of its kind in the world — like 
Fusiyamain Japan, Vesuvius or Etna or Fremont's 
Point on the " Rockies", for the expanse of 
landscape revealed from the summit. Nuwara 
Eliya will always bold its own and Bandara- 
wela is becomingly increasingly popular ; while 
we quite look for a revival of interest in Point- 
de-Galle with all its many local attractions. 
But enough of our towns and hotels : we have 
to deal with the island at large and we think 
the prosperity of the whole community ma}' 
well be strengthened by more visitors being at- 
tracted to our shores. Even the poor lace- 
workers of Cotta and the basket-weavers of 
Kalutara must rejoice in these days of multiplied 
steamers, passengers and travellers. As, how- 
ever, we may be considered a partial and pre- 
judiced writer on the subject of the beauties 
and attractions of Ceylon and its future pros- 
perity, let us quote in conclusion the words 
of one of the most cultivated and travelled of our 
reoent visitors and one who has written freely of 
what he has seen in the island. Dr. Alan Walters 
sa y S : — The guarantee of prosperity is found in the 
central — even magnificent — geographical position of 
Ceylon, her ready command of cheap labour, 
her superb climate, and the amazing fecundity 
with which Nature, out of a loan rather than a 
fat soil, pours forth her fruits in answer to human 
toil. As an emporium of commerce, a coaling 
station, and a half-way house for the far East 
and South — China and Australasia — the place of 
Ceylon on the map is unrivalled. To the traveller, 
apart from the Cyclopean antiquities, which will 
no doubt before long be made accessible to the 
madding crowd by a railway — conductors, coupons, 
and all the rest of it— there are al>ounding 
attractions in this beautiful inland, be he artist 
or ennui/t', sportsman, naturalist, or scribe. The 
way there is, in these day*, as easy as rolling 
ott' a log; it in only the way back that is hard 
— hard because as the low, palm-fringed shores 
sink beneath the horizon, and the Peak of Adam 
cloaks itself afar in a mantle of majestic mystery, 
you feel and know that yonder Hashing point of 
light in your wake keeps watch by the gateway 
of an Eden where you fain would have lingere»l, 
and marks the portal of a summer isle where the 
brain-fogged workman may stand apart from the 
strain and stress of life, ami the lotus-eater 
(among the visitors with leisure) may take his till. 
MR. BLECHYNDEN IN AMERICA. 
R 'ports received from Mr Blechynden indicate 
that he has been pursuing a very vigorous cam- 
paign in America during the last few months in 
the interests of Indian Tea. After giving de- 
monstrations with his native servants in a large 
number of stores in different parts of New York 
and Brooklyn, which attracted large crowds of 
people and resulted in a demand springing up 
for Indian Tea, he proceeded to Chicago, where, 
in addition to the same kind of demonstrations, he 
also attended a Food Show, an essentially American 
institution, held periodically in the various towns in 
the States. His men were also located for some 
litt'e time at two of the enormous stores in Chi- 
cago one of which. Messrs. Seigel Cooper & Co., 
claims to be the largest store in the world, the 
building occupying an entire block in length or 
about one-eight of a mile and nine storeys high. 
The result of this sto e was extremely encouraging, 
and the firm are contemplating introducing different 
grades of Indian Tea under theii own brands. 
Subsequently Mr. Blechynden secured space for 
a booth or stall in an exhibition which had 
been organised by some leaders of Society in 
Chicago as a sort of miniature r;production of the 
World's Fair. This was styled "Echoes of the 
White City and opened on the 13th November 
closing on the '27th. A very attractive show was 
organised here with the aid of photographs of the 
Tea industry and other articles from India at a 
comparatively moderate cost, and in addition to the 
native servants, Mr. Blechynden was assisted by a 
number of young American ladies who were dressed 
picturesquely in the costume of Indian women. 
He his now returned to New York and is again 
working ou the same lines in new districts in that 
vast city. — Pioneer, March 1. 
" BOND TEA." 
In the House of Commons, on Feb. 12th, The 
Home Secretary, replying to Mr Frve, said he was 
aware that an attempt had been made by different 
firms to promote the sale of their tea by a system 
known as "bond tea," which hid been held to con- 
stitute an illegxl offer. He was not, however, aware 
of any failure of the police to carry out the law, 
but he would make further inquiries with a view to 
secure its strict enforcement. — Daily Chronicle. 
DEAFNESS. 
An essay describing a really 
genuine Cure for Deafness, 
Ringing in Ears, &c. , no matter how severe or long- 
standing, will be sent post free. — Artificial Ear- 
drums and similar appliances entirely supersede 1. 
Address THOMAS KEMPE, Victoria Cham- 
bers, 19, Southampton Buildings, Holborn, 
London. 
