( 19 ) 
In the first chapter the author records his 
impressions of Colombo and its suburbs, in- 
chidiug Movint Lavinia. Almost everything 
he saw seems to have struck him favourably, 
one of the few exceptions being the black 
European umbrella so connnonly carried by 
the natives, which he denounces as out of 
harmony with the surroundings. He falls 
into a curious error in describing the Roman 
Catholic cathedral as "the most important 
and most ancient monument iii Colombo, 
constructed by the Portuguese, who forgot 
to finish it." He also says that the visitor 
to the Kelani temple goes by the southern 
high road ; apparently the temple at Wella- 
watta is meant. The goat's-foot ipomoja at 
Mount Lavinia attra-^ted his attention, and 
he says he saw it nowhere else. Were Mr. 
William Ferguson living, Galle Face beach 
would doubtless still blaze with this blossom. 
The chapter ends with a description of the 
gems of Ceylon and the methods adopted 
by the wily dealers to entice strangers to buy. 
In the next chapter, M. Bruyas describes 
his journey to Kandy by the railway which 
he strangely terms narrow. His opinion of 
our mountain scenery may be gauged by 
the following quotation :— " it was one of 
the most beautiful spectacles that one could 
have viewed. Although a great mountaineer, 
a hubituti of the Alps, acquainted with the 
Pyrenees and the Tyrol, I declare that the 
line to K.iudy and further on that to Nur- 
relya filled I'ne with enthusiasm : it is still 
mountains, but the light is completely dif- 
ferent." In Kandy M. Bruyas was fortunate 
^enough to witness ' a perahera and to view the 
sacred tooth relic ; he had a very poor opinion 
of the latter and its surroundings. The temple 
of the tooth, he says, was designed by a Portu- 
guese architect, though he <^oes not quote his 
authority ; and he mistook the United Service 
Library for a Buddhist library. The Pera- 
deniya Gardens did not equal his expecta- 
tions ; and of the plants that he took thence 
not one grew at Nice. He was interested in 
witnessing the manufacture of tea on an 
estate in Dunibara, where he also saw cofi'ee 
and cacao growing. Regarding Ceylon tea 
M. Bruyas says : — 
The tea of Ceylon is marvellously good and, 
luoreover, one can feel -sure that it is clean. 
AVhen one has seen tea manufactured in China, 
one is highly disgusted : the steel tables that 
roll it are, in Cluua, the dirty hands o£ unclean 
people, and there niav fall into the material 
tliat i« being nnumfactured all Morts of bodies 
as foreis^n as they are little appetising. In Eng- 
land tlie Cevlon tea luis taken well, and tliey 
would like to make Lhe conquest of America. 
The 'i)lauk spot is .Jaiian. which is also going to 
set up factories, and durinj;- my voyage co Ceylon 
the arrival of tv.o .Japanese, wlioni the news- 
papers (lesi.^nateii " .Japanese tea spy" [nk-J, had 
put tlie country in convmol ion. I was fori^evting 
tlie cliief thine;: in Ceylon, tea can only he 
C'.iltiv.Ued fi.au five huniiivi metres of altitude 
to ei.sliteen hundred. Tiie seii air does not suit 
it at all. and tlie lirsu condition of tins culture 
is to have very cheap labour; all those beauties 
who picked the little leaves with their little 
hands, in spite of their jewels, are paid ahoiU 
lifly eeiUimes, a day, on which they sustain Ihem- 
selve.s, buy hraceiet-s and eeoiioiui.se, and are 
much hapuier than tlje work-women of Paris 
who earn ihree francs. 1 believe the tea would 
sell very well in France, but it is quite useless 
to try. ' 
In Kandy our author was present at a 
gymkhana (or a gyniiiacka, as he calls it), 
and was amused by an impromptu dance at 
the Queen's Hotel. He was pleased to meet 
a French planter from Mauritius, settled on 
an estate near Gampola, who engaged him 
to send out young Frenchmen to learn tea 
planting. 
Leaving Kandy, M. Bruyas went by train 
and coach to Nuwara Eliya (or, as he prefers 
to spell it, Nurrelya), where he was struck 
with the " Gracilea or Gravilea " (sic) trees. 
A Russian couple arrived at the hotel at 
the same time as M. and Mme. Bruyas, and 
left next morning : "and that is called tra- 
velling " comments our author, who adds : 
"As for myself, I spent four days at Nur- 
relya without regretting them." He also 
asks why the fever-stricken officials of Indo- 
China and Tonkmg should not come to Nu- 
wara Eliya for a change since their govern- 
ment has not found means to ci'eate a health 
resort for them in Indo-China or even in 
France. He ascended Pedro, saw no view, 
but found a reminder of France in a sardine 
tin. He throws unjustifiable doubt on the 
veracity of M. Cotteau, who states that when 
he ascended Pedro some years before he 
found fresh traces of wild elephants. We 
had a similar experience. At Hakgala gardens 
M. Bruyas was conducted with mystery to 
see a tree that bore fruit occasionally — the 
common hog-plum ! From Nuwara Eliya oiu' 
author drove to Badulla ; and he speaks 
highly of the Ceylon resthouses, and adds, 
Why there are not similar institutions in 
France? From Badulla M. and 3Ime Bruyas 
drove via Bandartiw^jla and Haputale to 
Balangoda and Ratnapura, — a route easier to 
descend than ascend, though Murray stupidly 
recommends the latter, says M. Bruyas. The 
grand scenery duly impressed the travellers ; 
but the last part of their journey was ren- 
dered unpleasant by the illness of the driver's 
runner, who had an attack of ^vhat seemed 
to be cholera. However, ere arriving at 
Ratnapura he had recovered. The Maha 
Saman Devale was visited ; and with refei'- 
ence to the Portuguese mural tablet M. 
Bruyas somewhat flippantly observes: "One 
does not know which to pity more, the 
beloved native, or the knight who bakes in 
his armour under the sun of Ratnapm'a." 
In the city of gems the travellers witnessed 
gem digging and polishing and bought some 
specimens. From iiatnapnra to Kalutara the 
journey was made by boat down the Kalu- 
ganga ; and so Colombo was once more 
reached. 
lu the next chapter jM. Bruyas describes 
some of the contents of the Colombo Museum, 
situated "in the midst of the Cvnamous- 
Park." 
Starting off onco more, M. and Mme. 
Ih'iiyas went by the "Lady Gordon" south- 
about, calling at tlie various ports," and 
having an luipleasant experience at Trinco- 
inalec, where, in conse(iuence of our author's 
taking a kodak snap-shot within the fort 
he was nearly .arrested as ;i spy. and be- 
lieves th.it he was "shadowed" afterwards. 
At Point Pedro our tTavellei"s disembarked 
