( 89 ) 
queness in the roadway leading to Kaxawa 
tactoiy and beyond it. 1 have seen nothins; so 
Vietty aiiywiieie as tlie groves of gvevilleas tliat 
spread in all directions on either side of the higli 
road here as far as the eye can reach, 1 went up 
among the tea to tlie highest attainable point on 
tlie northern slopes of ilaxawa, and the .sight of 
the ;:iove8 of grevilleas spreading down t.o the 
ifivinc-j below, reminded nif! of the fore::t of tall 
poplai s which made I he Villa Borghee at the 
foot of Monte Pincio in Kome so charmingly 
beautiful. What a wonderful difference 
THIS QUICK-GROWING AUSTRALIAN TREE 
(® Kobusta) has made in the aspect of the country 
vliieli has become its naturalised home- Almost 
every tea estate in the Kandyan province has been 
lieautitied by these tree?, which stand in stately 
lilp like an army of sentinels watching over the 
dwarf green bushes beneath, protecting them 
tilike from tierce winds and scorching heat. 
Speaking of the exceptionally hot weather we have 
had, a planter from the Kellebokke District said 
to me a week ago : " We are pretty well buined 
Kp.'' If this be so in the higher altitudes where 
he lives, what must it be in the low-lying districts. 
The drought however though severe, has not been 
very protracted. But the welcome rains have set 
in, and r.ho condition of tilings around us will 
soon alter for the better. 
— 
KANDY'S HAIL-STORM AND AN 
HISTORIC TREE. 
V — 
( Communicated, ) 
On Good Friday afternoon Kandy was 
visited by a hail-storn). The wind blew 
from nearly all points of the compass 
with much v'iolence ; and we had a perfect 
hail-storm of some duration, accompanied 
with vivid lightning and loud thunder peals. 
Trees fell in several parts of the town and 
amongst other things, the furious blowing 
brought down a very huge Nuqa tree, or the 
hirgest portion of it, which was a sort of 
land-mark and was to be seen as a promi- 
nent object in the Koyal Engineers' yard, 
right opposite to the old Post Office— only 
separated from it by the high road from 
Katukelle to the town. This tree, which 
■was probably over an hundred years old, 
is said to mark the spot where the foreign 
Ambassadors to the Kandyan Court halted 
until they had permission from the Emperor 
of Ceylon— the brother of the Sun and Moon- 
to proceed to the Old Palace tor an audience 
with the King. The Ambassadors, amongst 
whom were those old Hollanders and Britishers 
Mynheers, Takel and Francois Albertus Prins 
and Messrs. Phybus and Hugh Boyd, came 
to Kandy by a very circuitous route from 
the low-counti'y. After many days of hard 
travelling, they reached Oan-oruwe, and 
from thence they advanced through Katoo- 
kelle until they halted under the shadow 
of this great Nuga tree. At this spot there 
w.is a Mura-pola— a guard-house— and a 
gate- way which was barricaded with thorny 
shrubs and trunks of trees to render it 
impassable : hence the name Kutoo kelle ! 
HOBSON-JOBSON. 
( Communicated.) 
It is seventeen years since that treasury 
of ciiiious lore regarding things connected 
witli the East, JlobsonJohson," or ''A 
Glossary of Anglo-Indian Oolloquial Words 
and Phrases," by Col. Henry Yule and 
Dr. A. C. Burnell, was published ; and it 
had become so scarce that when a copy 
appeared for sale in the market it fetched 
a price double the original. Students as 
well as the public at large, therefoi'e, owe 
a debt of gratitude to Mr. John Murraj' 
for issuing a new and revised edition" under 
the competent editorship of Mr. Williani 
Crooke, B.A., of the Indian Civil Service, 
author of several works on Indian folk-lore, &c. 
The work as now issued contains b,- 
glossary of 986 pages, against 870 in the 
first edition ; while it has been I'endered far 
more useful by the addition of an index 
covering 35 pages (four columns to the page). 
The supplement of the original edition 
(which occupied 119 pages) has, to the great 
relief of the consultant, been embodied in 
the work ; and almost every word or phrase 
receives further explanation and additional 
illustration. In this additional matter Mr. 
Crooke has received valuable help from 
various scholars, especially from Sir. R. S. 
Whitev.'ay for Portuguese writers and Mr. 
W. W. Skeat for Malay words. All additions 
to this re-issue are distinguished by being 
printed within square brackets. In his Pre- 
face Mr. Crooke says : " No attempt has been 
made to extend the vocabulary, the new 
articles being either such as were acci- 
dentally omitted in the first edition, or 
a few relating to words which seemed to 
correspond with the general scope of the 
work." In concluding my notice of the 
first edition .'see Ceylon Literary Rerjifter), 
vol. I. pp 230 232, 238 240) I expressed the 
hope that Col. Yule might " live to issue a 
new edition, in which the eiroi's that have 
slipped into this one will be corrected, and 
whicli will contain the history of snch 
words : (Ceylon and other) as are not recorded 
here." The first part of this hope was (alas '.) 
not fulfilled ; the second part hixs here re- 
ceived partial fulfilment ; while as regards 
the last part I have to confess disappoint- 
ment. I quite sympathise with the reluc- 
tance that anyone would feel at tampering 
with the work of such a magnificent scholar 
as Sir Henry Yule ; but, as in tlii:^ new 
edition so much additional matter has been 
included, 1 certainly think the vocabulary 
might have been extended, .md I b?heve 
the lamented author would have approved 
of this. Of course this would have increased 
the bulk of the book ; but something 
might have been saved by omitting a 
quotation here and there (some of the 
* Hohson-Job-^on : A Glossary of ('ollnqaial Auglc- 
Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms. 
Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Dis- 
cursive. By Col. Ilenry Yule, IJ.E.. O.K., and 
A. C. Burnell, Ph. D.. C.I. E. New edition edited 
bv William Crooke, B.A., London : John Murray. 
A'lbemarle Street. 1903. [Price 28s. n«t. ! 
