Oct. 1, 1899.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
225 
exercise to tlie full during the absence of both 
partners in Europe. In the same year in conjunc- 
tion with the late Mr. S. T. Kichmond he was 
appointed Assignee in the Bankruptcy of Messrs. 
James Swan & Co. In 1861, Mr. Darley, then resi- 
dent partner in Colombo, going home, not intend- 
ing to return, and Mr, Stephen Darley coming from 
Cochin to Colombo, as partner in conjunction with 
Mr. Mitchell, who had recently joined the firm, 
Mr. Lewis moved with his family to India to the 
vacant Cochin post, which he held, after good suc- 
cess in which he participated, nntil 1866, when the 
firm gave up business at Cochin. After visiting 
the Travancore Cofiee Plantations, Madras, 
Colombo, and Bombay, on his way, he rejoined 
his family at home in the same year. Not seeing 
his way to enter business in England, Mr. Lewis, at 
the instance of the partners in Loudon, returned to 
Ceylon as assistant to Mr. Mitchell, at that time 
Mr. Stephen Darley had retired from the firm. 
The death of the elder Mr. Darley in 1869, obliging 
Mr. Mitchell's absence from Ceylon, during which 
Mr. Lewis took charge of the business, also brought 
about changes which made an opening for Mr. 
Lewis' retirement, then necessitated by the state 
of his health which had broken down, Mr. and 
Mrs. Lewis leaving Ceylon and their many friends 
in November of 1870, after twenty-nine years con- 
nection with the island. 
Before closing, we may take over a contribution 
made by Mr. Lewis some four years ago to the 
Ceylon Observer, giving some recollections of his 
early days in Ceylon : — 
The writer's recollections commence iu 
THE VEAK 1841, 
when Sir Colin Campbell was Govsrnor of Ceylon. It 
waa then ceasing to be merely a military dependency 
of the British Crown, but was becoming a Colony, 
while Mercantile and Planting enterprise were be- 
ginning to develop. It is not intended to give a 
history of theae enterprises, but something may be 
said as to the causes for this change. In a word, 
it was the abolition of differential duties on coffee, 
•which had been imposed on the produce of Foreign 
Countries and even on that of our own possessions 
in favor of the West Indies. 
In these days, when few middle-class families have 
not some friend or relation connected with the Island, 
it may sound strange, that Ceylon in the "Forties 
waa very often confounded with Sierra Leone, and 
intending voyages were sympathised with as going out 
to one of the most unhealthy countries in the world. 
As nearly as 1837 — perhaps earlier— some few plant- 
ations had been commenced ; the Governor Sir Edward 
Barnes had himself opened land near Peradeniya, 
rendered possible by the opening of the road to 
Kandy under his energetic rule. 
PLANTING 
was very experimental in those days, and much 
capital was wasted by planting in unsuitable situ- 
ations. The great rush for land however began in 
1841, and land was then readily sold by the Govern- 
ment at Ss an acre, as a reference to the Government 
Gazette for that year will show. Unhappily much 
land was bought and planting commenced by Civil 
Servants and Military metj and much disaster fol- 
lowed leading to regulations which have lately beeu 
revised prohibiting such investments. Experience in 
cultivation and finance had to be acquired, wanting 
which many proprietors were mined, and by the year 
1847 few estates remained in the hands of the original 
owners. Experience at last came,— not a little assisted 
by the local press, through which every improvement 
became common property, producing valuable dia- 
cusssion. Wave after wave of alternate prosperity 
and depression have characterised the enterprise up 
to the time when Coffee had to give place io Tea. 
In those early days the 
SOCIETY 
outside the Civil and Military offices waa very 
limitel. A few merchants had officers in the Fort 
where their assistants mostly lived to protect the 
hard cash in the strong room ; no Bank having been 
established until 1841, when the " Bank of Cevlon " 
was opened. There was no decent hotel in those 
times : the Colombo Resthouse would now be a disgrace 
to an outstation ; but there was much hospital ty to 
strangers, and Captains of ships were always enter- 
tained by the merchants, to whom their vessels were 
consigned. Admission to the use of the Library 
with the privilege of attending the dances every 
fortnight, was by ballot. There were then two Regi- 
ments of Koyal Troops besides the Ceylon Rifles, 
Artillery and Gun Lascars. Not long before there 
had beeu 
FOUR EEOIMKNTS, 
stationed in the island. With the inflax of new 
people, houses and furniture were wanted, and except 
old Dutch furniture in the houses of Burghers, — often 
very handsome and made of valuable woods,— there 
was little to be had, except a few articles manufac- 
tured outside and brought in for sale on pingoes chiefly. 
It was not an uncommon thing for somebody to aay 
to another about to leave the Island: — "I am sorry 
you are going away, 
HAVE YOU ANY FURNITUHE TO SELL ? " 
Not only furniture, but gentlemen's and ladies' cloth- 
ing articles were dilScult to obtain beyond plain 
things which could be made by local tailors 
and needlewomen. The writer not knowing what 
head covering might be worn, brought out with 
him a silk hat costing 6s 8d which was admired 
by all beholders : many were the enquiries " Where 
did you get your hat ? " At that time the Colonial 
Secretary was wearing a beaver, the color of a 
fox's brush. Soon after, things changed by a cnrioua 
circumstance. A new Chief Justice came out, and 
iu his train a Scotch gentleman, who practised 
as a notary afterwards, and later on as a magistrate 
at an outstation. His wife, with an eye to the 
main chance, brought with her an invoice of ladies' 
goods which were sold off at once. This lady saw 
at a glance the nakedness of the land, and having 
a brother in the drapery trade communicated her 
views to him, which resulted in the establishment of 
A OENEnAL STORE 
of high character and which celebrated its jubilee 
only lately. Retail business by Europeans has since 
progressed largely in all its branches. One of the 
most pressing wants at that time was 
ROADS IN THE INTEEIOR. 
The Kandy, the Kurunegala, the Galle, the*Gampola, 
the Negombo, the Puttalam and the Matale roads alone 
existed. Estates which did not adjoin these roada 
were reached at best by bridlepaths, but most often 
by a mere track through jungle over rock and river 
which caused those clever and sure-footed Pegu 
ponies to be in great request,— rice and stores reach' 
ing the estates by coolies and tavalam bullocks. i?he 
facilities for locomotion now enjoyed independently 
of railways, are chiefly due to the late Major Skinner 
and hia able assistant Capt. Evatt and his subordi- 
nates. There were then mail coaches (so-called) on 
the Kandy and Galle roads which started daily at 
morning gun-flre. Our merchants were few ; the 
business of coffee curing and shipping had no 
then come into existence ; nor had the tyade i 
