June  r,  1897.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
819 
mallie,  and  was  afterwards  Sheriff  of  Madras. 
When  there  I met  a man  who  had  broii{>ht  over 
horses  from  Australia,  and  after  a time  we 
became  great  friends,  lie  propo.sed  that  I should 
join  him  in  the  purcliase  of  a small  craft  to 
take  back  his  three  grooms  to  Melbourne,  then 
proceed  to  his  station  in  Brisbane,  and  then  go 
to  the  South  Sea  Islands  to  load  up  with  sandal- 
wood, and  then  sail  for  China  to  sell  it.  Well, 
whether  the  ‘ Bittern,’  a schooner  of  45  tons’ 
would  not  sail,  or  how  it  was,  we  were  12G  days 
at  sea,  the  last  22  days  living  on  a wineglass 
of  boiled  rice  per  man  (12  all  told),  but  we  had 
plenty  of  sugar,  all  other  provisions  had  given 
out,  some  being  damaged  and  thrown  overboard. 
After  being  nearly  wrecked  in  Shark’s  Bay  on 
the  north  of  Western  Australia,  we  at  last  dropped 
bur  anchor  off  Freemantle,  and  there  my  journey 
came  to  an  end,  as  after  some  weeks,  whilst  ro- 
litting  ‘ the  Bittern’  which  was  all  gone  to  pieces,  I 
met  my  first  wife,  the  daughter  of  the  late 
Colonial  Secretary  of  Western  Australia,  Peter 
Brown.  We  were  married  on  the  1st  August, 
1850,  and  embarked  shortly  after  for  Madras  ; 
from  there  after  some  weeks’  stay  I returned  to 
Ceylon,  and  here  begins  the  second  episode  of  my 
Ceylon  life.  I may  as  well  add  here  that  my  friend 
and  companion  on  the  ‘ Bittern’  got  safely  to  Bris- 
bane, and  afterwards  sold  her  in  Sydney,  and  the 
last  of  her  was  on  some  reef  off  the  New  Hebri  ies* 
He  afterwards  went  into  business  in  Burma,  and 
died  there  and  a more  cheerful  and  unselfish 
companion,  u[uight  and  honourable,  nevei  lived 
than  William  Birrell.  Peace  be  with  him. 
“ On  my  return  to  Ceylon  I found  temporary 
emplojunent  on  the  Kellieivatte  estate,  the  property 
of  Donald  Stewaid,  afterwards  proprietor  of  Tys- 
pane,  Kotmale.  Dimbula  was  then  but  little  planted 
up.  Adjoining  Kelliewatte  was  Bogaliawatte, 
tbe  then  property  of  Jack  Bannister,  and  a most 
excellent  neighbour  he  was.  He  afterwards 
married  Miss  Thwaites,  a very  charming  woman. 
On  this  side  of  the  Dimbirla  river,  there  were  only 
in  those  days  the  Union  estate  managed  by 
James  Wright,  and  Niagara  partially  opened. 
On  the  other  side  leading  towards  Nuwara  Eliya 
w'as  Wattegodde,  then  the  projDerty  of  William 
Fairholme  and  W.  Johnston  ; beyond  thatRadella 
the  property  of  Fred  and  Edward  Palliser;and 
farther  on  Pal  la  Radella  the  estate  of  Andrew 
Hunter,  a fine  noble  fellow  he  was,  and  universal 
favourite  with  everybody.  The  Louisa  estate 
was  cleared  and  planted  in  this  year  (1850-51)  up 
to  300  acres  by  James  Wright  of  the  ‘Union’ 
for  Mes.sr.s.  Odier.  Some  100  acres  of  the  Med. 
decoombra  forest  had  been  felled  by  the  Messrs. 
AVorms,  but  for  some  reason  they  never  planted 
it,  allowing  it  to  revert  to  chena  ; and  a great 
deal  of  trouble  it  gave  me  in  1868  from  its 
croj)s  of  weeds,  when  this  magnificent  property 
came  into  the  hands  of  my  employers,  the  Ceylon 
Company,  Limited,  after  they  took  over  Messrs. 
Worms’  proiierties  in  1SG3-G4.  I left  Kelliewatte 
in  (March  1851,  and  became  a.s.sistant  to  Frank 
Sabonadiere  on  the  North  Division  of  Delta. 
There  I remained  until  May  1852,  when  1 bought 
Glenloch  from  Mr.  Fimson,  a Bombay  Civil  Ser- 
vant. Previous  to  this  1 was  on  ihe  point  of 
purchasing  Pooprassie,  Pusseliawa,  a large  .acreage, 
about  200  acres  oiiened,  stores,  bungalow’’,  (kc. , 
&c.,  for  £1500  ! Messrs.  Cray  A' Co  , of  Bombay, 
were  either  the  Proprietors  or  Agents  (I  forget 
wliich),  but  1 u as  told  to  go  and  settle  up 
matters  with  old  ‘ Billy  Thompson,’  their  Colombo 
Agent.  Duff  advised  me  to  beat  him  down  on 
his  £1,500  figure,  .and  I got  .as  far  as  offering  him 
£1,450.  ‘ No,’  said  old  Billy  T.,  ‘ the  price  is 
£1,5C0,  .and  tliere  is  a man  coming  here  at  2 o’clock 
to  buy  it  at  that  figure,  but  / irant  you  to  buy 
it.  Now,’ said  he,  ‘ I’ll  lend  you  the  odd  £50  to 
complele  the  purchase,  as  I w.anb  to  do  you 
a good  turn,  and  you  will  make  a fortune  out 
of  the  pl.ace.’  But  1 would  not  consent  to  this 
kind  offer  on  his  p.art.  At  2 p. m..  Mi.  Segar 
of  the  hotel  came  in  and  stumped  up  the 
£1,500  on  the  spot,  and  I believe  fie  did  make 
a fortune  out  of  it.  I think  I gave  £4,250  for 
tilenloch.  Estates  were  then  rather  a drug  in 
the  market,  bub  the  [irosperity  of  tlie  Island  was 
at  this  time  (1852)  on  .a  fair  w.ay  to  reco\’ery.  In 
1854  I sohl  some  380  acres  of  forest  land 
(60  .acres  planted)  to  John  Northmore,  and  left  for 
England  in  May,  returning  to  Ceylon  in  February 
18.55  to  Glenloch.  Shortly  after  my  return  I 
[ilanted  some  40  acres  additional  to  this  projierty. 
We  had  admirable  neighbours  round  about  us 
my  dear  old  friend,  George  Shirreff,  next  door  on 
Helbodde,  E’lank  Sabonadiere  on  Delta,  Capt. 
Reddie  at  Huntley  Lodge,  Lyon  Fraser  on  (favel- 
lamtenne,  and  Jack  Goialon  (afterwards  of  George 
Steuart  &,  Co.’s)  on  Wavendon.  Besides  these, 
Maurice  Worms  on  Rothschild,  Jabriel  living  chiefly 
in  Colombo,  and  the  ‘Reverend  John’  on  Melfort. 
Those  w’ere  rare  old  days,  and  w'e  saw  much  of 
one  another,  and  nothing  could  equal  the  good 
fellowship  w'hich  existed  betw  een  us.  Of  all  these 
there  remain  only  J.ack  Gordon,  and  the  ‘ Reverend 
John,’  I believe,  to  show’  for  the  lot,  always  ex- 
cejiting  John  North  aore  lately  returned  from 
Hatton  very  much  alive.  In  1856-57  I bought 
part  of  General  Fraser’s  estate,  Rangbodde, 
which  I called  ‘ Bluelields’  after  a Jamaica 
property  of  my  uncle’s.  In  the  same  year  I was 
sent  for  by  the  Governor,  Sir  Gemge  Anderson, 
w’ho  informeil  me  that  he  had  received  instruc- 
tions from  the  then  Secretary  of  State  (Sir 
Roundell  Palmer*)  to  do  all  he  could  to  advance 
♦ More  likely  Sir  John  Pakington  ?— Ed.  T.  A. 
