May 1, 1900.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
729 
honorable in all his dealings, and tender-hearted 
as the most motherly woman, never in a hurry 
and inclined to be somewhat prosy ; yet, one rare'y 
wearied in waiting for the completion of David's 
story. Joe, too, was as good a fellow as ever 
dropped an H or entertained a neighbour, and no 
better planter ever mustered coolies in Kakwana. 
M. Moss, though he kept his guns cleaner 
than his estate, was all round a gentleman and 
a "sportsman to be depended upon in any emergency. 
Poor Reid was a waif fraeBuchan, whose splendid 
penmanship was his only redeeming qualiiication. 
Such were the lords of a district 60 miles in cir- 
cumference, sparsely inhabited and very partially 
cultivated. Yet in this " Wilderness of the Peak" 
I contrived to spend some of the pleasantest 
years of my planting life. Jusr, |as on board- 
ship we get CO know men more faiinliarly than 
it would be possible in a crowded city, I became 
intimately associated here with two men who had 
a considerable influence on my after-life — men 
whom I elsewhere might never have had the 
same chance of knowing. 
W. HAY WODEHOUSE AND. J. W. BIRCH. 
The first and best was Mr. Haye Wodehouse 
(CCS.) whom I met at the Ratnapura resthouse on 
the way up, and was so struck with his courteous, 
kindly bearing to all around him, so different from 
the average John Bull who bullies appus and kicks 
kudirakarens that I reported him on my arrival 
at Rakwana as the most amiable man I had ever 
met. 
" Ah I " said David with a kindly twinkle, " let us 
invite him up," which we did, and for two years 
I saw much of the Temple Lands Commisioner, 
who frequently stayed with me for a week, and 
whom I as frequently accompanied on many of his 
pilgrimages through village lands ; in the intervals 
many scores of letters passing betweerr us. Son 
of Canon Wodehouse, a family of stupendous 
pedigree, Wodehouse was a highly polished, 
scholarly aristocrat with all the advantages I had 
most lacked, yet he was pleased to discover many 
affinities in our reading tastes. We agreed to take 
out on joint account some of the best magazines 
of the day, and much of our correspondence 
related to the different writers ar:d their styles. 
This of itself was an education for me which I 
greatly appreciated. 
My other friend, J. W. Birch (c.C.S.) was in many 
respects the very antipodes of W. H. W. — Wodey 
always dignified and leisurely, whether dressed 
for dinner or enjoying his matutinal pipe, was 
ever the pink of propriety. B. was ready, rough 
and careless of his toggery, but an energetic, 
clever man of outstanding ability. W. inclined to 
be lazy, but always suave and kind to the meanest 
cooly ! B. simply indefatigable, could work day 
and night and lick a dozen Sinhalese into shape 
before breakfast. "Does not know the word 
difficulty," said Sir H. Robinson, — W. scrupulous 
in statements and refined in his language ; B. 
would swear till all was blue, and illustrate his 
after-dinner yarns with the most monstrous of 
Rougemont-like fables ; and " if you don't 
believe me ask — — " he would say, being 
a relative and airother well-known economist 
of truth. Both W. and B. were men wh'»m it 
was interesting and profitable to know, fai- above 
theaveragein administrative ability, while as letter- 
writers the best I ever came across, never too 
busy to reply to a note, yet never like the fussy 
man asking to be excused while he did so. 
Dear Wodey has slept soundly in Borella for the 
past 30 years ; but the last visit I paid in Colombo 
two years ago was to his grave. " Poor Colonial 
Birrch, " as H. S. O, Russell was wont to call him, 
was assassinated in Perak. 
Mr. Russell, by tire way, who actoil for sometime 
as Agent at Ratnapura, was altogether a different 
type from Birch ! Hb ruled the districc with a 
dignified hauteur — slow, sarcastic, but very choice 
in his language. In the most polite way he could 
make his belted peon tremble with fear, as he 
deliberately exclaimed when vei'y angry, '■ You son 
of a misgui led woman !" An admirable ad- 
ministrator, however, the district was never more 
conscientiously ruled than in his day : no shady 
gem-pit digging, rro broken heads by H. S. O. R., 
and the day soon came when he was promoted 
to the Central Proviirce. 
CALLED TO THE CP. AS V.A. 
About the sanre time I also had "a call" — as the 
ministers say — and selecting Kandy as my centre, 
entered upon the busiest portion of my life ; 
travelling as V.A. over the length and breadth of the 
island, for the next ten years, almost continuously 
in the saddle. It may be thought that the wilds of 
Sabarauarnawa was not a very good training ground 
for an Estate Inspector in the C.P., but as a matter 
of f;ict, nry planting experience was acquired in 
Aberdeenshire. What I had chiefly to learrr in 
Ceylon was the nature of the different localities 
on an island where every few miles give a clrarrge 
of soil and climate. Coffee-planting in rugged but 
riclrly-cropping Rangala was quite a different 
matter from the culture of the same plairt in the 
leafy dales of Dimbiila ; and estates in poor patchy 
Sabar.agamwua required more careful treatnrent 
than those iir the nrore happy-go-lucky Haputale. 
This experience I had now anrple opportunity of 
acquiring. Beginning with a modest dozen estates, 
they gradually increased upon my hands, till at the 
end of my second year I had three tinres that 
number, and in a few years more the numbers rose 
to 100 or about one-twelfth of the island's extent of 
Coffee, and my duties were not merely to report 
on the condition of the estates, but to direct the 
cultivation and estimate the crops. Those were 
the days jjefore Hcmileia vastatrtx. 
My remuneration was now over £2,000 stg. per 
annum, equal to that of the Lord Bishop ! 
RETIREMENT. 
And yet I retired at the age of 40 ! Some remain 
the year too many; perad venture others retire 
prematurely; but who knows? Ther'e was much to 
induce me to stay ; but the superior attractions of 
Aberdeenshire prevailed. 
As showing the cordial relations between a V.A. 
and his Colombo Agents in the seventies, the 
following letter from a leading firm may suffice : — 
"Colombo, 14th October-, 1873. 
" Dear Sir, 
"In now relinquishing your valuable services, 
" we beg to reciprocate sincerely the good feelings 
"expressed in your letter, and to assure you that 
' tlie intereour-e carried on between us, has 
" afforded us the utmost satisfaction in every way. 
"The able and conscientious nature of your 
" Reports has been much appreciated by ourConsti- 
" tuents both here an. I in England, and we feel satiji- 
"fied that their several properties have benefitted 
" much by the good directions you have been able 
" to give to the Superintendents in charge. 
" We remain, &c., 
*'George Steuart & Co," 
