<A  MONTHLY. 
Vol.  XVI.]  COLOMBO,  JUNE  ist,  1897.  |No.  12. 
“PIONEERS  OF  THE  PLANTING  ENTERPRISE  IN  CEYLON.” 
{Second  Series.) 
JOHN  TYNDAL.I>, 
PIONEER  PLANTER,  VOYAGER  AND  EXPLORER;  ALSO  AS  “JACK 
TYNDALL  ’’—HUMOURIST  AND  RACONTEUR 
HE  subject  of  our  Memoir  — 
universally  known  among 
liis  many  friends,  ar.d 
indeed  all  over  Ceylon,  as 
“ Jack  Tyndall” — was  edu. 
cated  at  Elizabeth  College, 
Guernsey,  and  H.E.I.C, 
Military  College,  Addis- 
combe.  He  came  out  to  India  in  February  1845, 
and  in  the  same  year  crossed  over  to  Ceylon, 
He  lived  with  Mr.  G.  S.  Duff,  Manager  of  the 
Oriental  Bank,  Colombo,  for  a month,  and  then 
took  up  a ])Ost  on  Sir  John  Wilson’s  estate, 
Nilainbe,  as  assistant  under  Mr.  Louis  Bird, 
where  he  reniaine  1 for  three  years.  Writing  of 
this  time,  Mr.  Tyndall  says:—  “ My  bungalow  was 
called  Polkavilla.  In  those  days  I did  not  kill 
myself  with  work,  taking  life  remarkably  easy,  and 
I was  much  appreciated  in  consequence.  These 
three  years,  I may  .say,  were  the  h.appiest  of  my  life  ; 
and  I always  look  back  to  them  with  a feeling  of 
great  pleasure,  and  to  my  Pcria  Dumi  and 
his  charming  Avife,  Annie  Bird,  I attribute  most 
of  this  by  being  thrown  into  their  society.” 
Towards  the  middle  of  1848  things  began  to  look 
very  “blue”  and  depressing  in  Ceylon  ; the  value 
of  Coffee  depreciated  ; failures  of  well-doing  and 
respected  firms  in  Colombo  and  Kandy  shook 
confidence  in  the  Island’s  prosperity,  followed  a 
short  time  after  by  Avhat  was  called  the  “ Kandyan 
Rebellion,”  which  might  have  been  sqtiashed— say.s 
Mr.  Tyndall— by  a dozen  policemen,  but  led  to 
troops  being  .sent  from  India,  and  a foolish 
panic.  “ It  was  about  this  time  that  I went 
down  to  Galle  for  the  purpose  of  meeting  my 
sister  and  brother-in-law  who  Avere  on  their  Avay 
to  Hongkong.  The  steamer  they  Avere  coming  out 
hy  (P.  & O.,  of  course,  the  only  line)  broke 
down  somewhere  on  the  Ale.xandria  side,  and 
my  stay  Avas  protracted  from  day  to  day  in  ex- 
imctation  of  the  Suez  steamer’s  arrival. 
(There  Avas  no  telegraph  in  those  early 
dap.)  Bogaars  Hotel  Avas  then  the  chief  hostelry 
(‘Grand  Oriental’  not  dreamt  of),  and  though 
the  proprietors  did  their  best,  the  cuisine  a\us 
not  quite  up  to  the  mark,  and  Avith  the  house 
full  of  passengers,  supplies  fell  short  and  com, 
plaints  became  day  by  d.ay  more  aggravating. 
Amongst  the  hotel  guests  aAvaiting  the  steamer- 
Avere  Mr.  W.  W.  Cargill,  tlie  chief  originator  of  the 
Oriental  Bank  Corporation,  Limited,  and  Mr.  W. 
Ayrton,  then  a renoAvned  Bombay  laAvyer,  on  his 
AVay  to  Calcutta,  and  Avho  afterwards  bAmeM.P. 
for  the  Tower  Hamlets,  and  Commissioner  for  Pub- 
lic Works  in  the  P.ilmerstou-Gladstone  Ministry* 
As  I had  become  very  intimate  with  them 
one  evening  when  the  conversation  h.ad  again 
turned  on  the  wretched  food  supplied,  I said 
‘Do  yon  like  snipe  ? for  I know  there  is  some 
good  shooting  in  the  paddy-lields  away  from 
