304 
THE TROPICAL 
AGEICULtL'RIST. 
iNov. 1, 1898. 
Bon, the founder of the firm of J. M, liobertson cSc 
Co., was then livinf» at "The Priorj," Slave Ishand, 
and under liis hospitable roof he spent a pleasant 
montii before proceeding upeountry and made the 
acqu.aintance of many kind friends, amongst them 
being Mr. and Mrs. Saunders (father and mother 
of Sir F. R. Saunders), Bishop Chapman, K. 
Tatham, Captain Evatt, Dr. Willisford and Mr. 
Charles Shand. Most of the Civil Servants and 
merchants lived either in Slave Island or Kol- 
lupitiya. More than one pleasant evening was 
spent at the old Ceylon Rifle Mess, now occu- 
pied by the Colombo Comniorcial Company. 
There were few roads through the Cinnamon 
Gardens and scarcely any houses, while packs of 
jackals used to run howling through the main 
road in Slave Island at night. The old Fort 
was guarded at night and no one could enter 
without the password. 
From Colombo Mr. J'owden Smilh went direct 
to Delta estate, I'ussellawa, to learn coll'ee 
planting under Mr. F. R. Sahonadiferc, to whose 
able instiuotion and kind advice he owed more than 
to anyone else. lie stayed a week as his guest 
at the big Delta bungalow before beginning 
work, and whilst there made the acquaintance 
of Mr. George Slierriff of Hellebodde, than whom a 
truer friend and kinder host never breathed. 
Many were tliose who spent the night under 
his hospitable roof on their way to and from 
Nuwara Eliya during the season ; or if they 
wished to push on to Ramboda or Pussellawa, 
he would meet them on the road-side with a 
large basket of refreshments under a little strip 
of jungle he had cliristened the " Retreat." 
Pussellawa was then the crack coffee district 
in the island F. R. Sabonadifere on Delta 
whose hospitality at the big bungalow was un- 
bounded and whonr all who knew loved ; " Jack " 
Tyndall at Glenloch where Sir Henry Ward 
usually broke the journey when he went to 
reside at his house, " Rosebank," Nuwara Eliya, 
now owned by Miss Barbara Layard ; Maurice 
Worms at Ilotliscliild, a " chow " dog chained 
to each verandah post of the bungalow and a 
bull-dog at one end near the iron safe, kept 
guard — a glass of good old port wine was 
offered to each guest who called to see him ; 
Col. Lilley with F. Kelson as his manager on 
Nayapane ; Jack Gordon on Wavendon ; General 
Fraser on Rangbodde ; Flavilland Durand on 
Choisy; Capb. "Gilks" Wilkinson on Newmarket; 
J. M. Sutherland on Stellenberg; A. J. Le 
Mesurier on East Delta; Walter Agar on Hanna- 
galla and 0. J. Mais on Black Forest. So Mr. 
Bowden Smith h.ad the good fortune to be sur- 
rounded by men of culture and high standing 
on his first arrival in Ceylon, and though junior 
to most of them had the privilege of their friend- 
ship. Alas ! nearly all of thera have " crossed the 
bar." " Jack" Tyndall was a frequent visitor at 
Le Mesurier's and Mr. Bowden Smith's bungalows 
on East and North Delta and many a practical 
joke did he play on each of the j'oung 
planters. 
Delta estate was then in its prime and from 
1859 to 1863 it yielded average annual crops of 
over 11 cwt. of coffee per acre all round, in 
addition to which a great deal of crop was lost 
each year for want of labour to gather it. During 
crop months all hands had to be employed jjick- 
ing and by the end of December the weeds were 
as high as the cofl'ee. But though tlie yield 
was large the price of coffee was low and any 
proprietor who obtained GOs. a cwt. all round for 
his crop was considered very fortunate. Trans- 
port was also a matter of considerable difficulty 
and carts were sometimes as long as two month* 
on the ro.id between Colombo and Pussellawa. 
Rice was always issued to coolies at 7s- 6d. per 
bushel and the loss under this head amounted 
to about £1 an acre. The currency was altered 
to rupees and cents under Sir Hercules Robinson's 
rule. Before the bridge over the Mahaweligang\ 
was completed in 1860, communication between 
Pussellawa and Gampola was occasionally cut off 
altogether as the river was so rapid after heavy 
rains that the old ferry boat could not cross. 
On these occasions the arrival of the beef and 
bread cooly fro'u Gampola was anxiously looked 
for. Shingles for covering the roofs of bungalows 
and lines were lirst used on Delta in 1858, 
having been introduced into the planting districts 
by Mr. F. P.. Sabonadiere. In 18o9 Mr. Bowden 
Smith accompaniad Mr. J. Murray Robertson 
on a tour of inspection through Kotmale 
and Dimbula. Nearly the whole of the latter 
district was at that time a dense forest with- 
out e\en a bridle road beyond Mount Vernon 
estate. The old bridle road from Kotmale to 
Nuwara Eliya passed under the Great Western 
and through Hanugalla, Wattegodde, Louisa and 
Radella estates and was much frequented by 
elephants. The coffee on Louisa was at that 
time covered ^vith "black bug^' which caused 
the berries to drop off and the crops secured 
scarcely covered working expenses. Most of the 
high estates in Pussellawa and Ramboda suffered 
more or le.ss at this time from " black bug." Mr. 
Bowden Smith then had the pleasure of making 
the acquaintance of R. J. Coibet, Keith Mac- 
Lellan, "Col." Hood, Andrew Hunter, " Plum'- 
Duff, James MacDonald and J, F. McLeod all 
good men and true and thorough sportsmen— 
all of whom he met frequently afterwards and 
greatly valued their friendship. 
