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panion during^ long journey from England to 
Haniadan was Edward Ledwich Mitford Esq., now 
of His Majesty's Civil Service in the island of 
Ceylon. We were both equally careless of com- 
fort and unmindful of danger. We rode alone ; 
our arms were our only protection ; a valise 
behind our saddles was our ward robe, and we 
tended our horses, except when relieved from the 
duty by the hospitable inhabitants of a Turcoman 
village, or an Arab tent. Thu.=, unembarrassed 
by needless luxuries, and uninfluenced by the 
opinions and prejudices of others, we mixed 
amongst the people, acquired, without effort, 
their manners, and enjoyed, without/ alloy, their 
emotions, which scenes so novel and spots so 
rich in varied association cannot fail to produce. 
I look back, with feelings of grateful delight, 
to those happy days, when, free and unheeded, 
we left at dawn the humble cottage or cheerful 
tent, and lingering as we listed, unconscious of 
distance and of the hour, found ourselves, as the 
sun went down, under some hoary ruin, 
tenanted by the wandering Arab, or in some 
crumbling village, still bearing a well-known 
name. No experienced dragoman measured 
our distances, and appointed our stations. 
We were ^honoured with no conversations 
by Pashas, nor did we seek any civilities from, 
Governors. We neither drew tears, nor curses 
from villagers, by seizing their horses or searching 
their houses for provision ; their welcome was 
sincere ; their scanty fare was placed before us; 
we ate, and came and went in peace." 
Mitford was the first Englishman who came out 
to Ceylon overland, and the experiences of his 
travels are embodied in an enchanting work 
entitled: "A land march from England to 
Ceylon, forty years ago, through Dalmatia, Mon- 
tenegro, Turkey, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, 
Assyria, Persia, Afghanistan, Scinde, and India, 
of t,COO miles on horse-back. Illustrated with 
original sketches by Edward Ledwich Mitford. 
F. R. G. S. 2 vols. London. Allen and Company 
1881." The following extract explanatory of the 
author's migration to Ceylon will be read with 
interest : — 
" In 1839, after five years' residence and travell- 
ing in Morocco, I found myself in the unenviable 
position of being without occupation, when my 
attention was directed to the probability of em- 
ployment in the Colony of Ceylon, either in the 
Government service, or in the newly-opened en- 
terprise of coffee-planting, and thither I resolved 
to proceed. To reach Ceylon, I must either take 
the long sea-voyage round the Cape or the shorter 
and inconvenient one by the Mediterranean and 
Ked Seas, with the caravan across the Isthmus 
of Suez. But moved by a love of travel, after 
consulting the map, I resolved to undertake the 
journey entiiely by land. * * * At this time, 
a friend introduced to me a i elation of his, who, 
he thought, would accompany me. I was some- 
what taken aback of his youthful appearance,, 
he being nearly a decade younger than myself. 
However, he accompanied me as far as Hamadau 
in Persia, when to my great regret he parted 
company, he returning home by Bushire and 
Bagdad, and I continuing the other halt of the 
journey alone." 
There were the remains of a half finished house^ 
below the Powder Magazine, on the right of the 
road leading to the Kachcheri and Maligawa at 
Knrunegala, which (as well as the ground on which 
it stood) belonged to Mitford. It is amusing to know 
how he became the owner. Mitford, when Assist- 
ant to the Government Agent at Knrunegala, for 
wanb of a house, built the structure in question, 
at his own cost and on his own responsibility, 
fancying that there would be no d.fiiculty in ob- 
taining the necessary olficial sanction for such an 
urgent want, on completion of the work. . Ac- 
cordingly, the building progressed : the walls were 
raised, the wood-work of the roof completed, and 
only the tiles had to be put on, to make the 
house habitable. But, alas ! 
THE BliST LAID PLANS OF MICE AND MEN 
GANG AFT AGLEY." 
The Government, through its officers, condemned 
the building, and refused to sanction the expenses 
incurred in its construction. Ail this fell rather 
heavily on Mitford, who was forced, under the 
circumstances, to purchase the ground and tene- 
ment as it then stood. Foolishly no steps were 
taken to complete the building , and there it was 
everyday adding to its dilapidation — a monument 
of oihcial determination and private obstinacy 
or worse! Mitford continued to pay the assess- 
ment taxes on this property through his local 
agents for many years after his retirement from 
the service and departure from the island. In the 
" eighties,'' Government, after previous refusals, 
deigned to accept an offer for the purchase of the 
land and bought it up. The tottering building, 
latterly only the stones were to be seen — was 
razed to the ground, and the brisks purchased by 
the contractor who utilised them for the building 
of the Town Hall at Kurunegala. 
A cross-street in the town of Kurunegala, is 
called " Mitford Street " owing to the residence 
of that official having been there during his 
employment in the service." 
