AND THE MALAY STATES 
33 
The air was rapidly growing drier, a decided relief after the steamy 
atmosphere at the sea level ; nor did I note the heat as I leaned out to see 
as much as possible of the great tea plantations that now filled the 
valleys, and encroached often on the steep hill and mountain sides. The 
soil, where it was in evidence, had a reddish look, and would not suggest 
fertility were it not for the luxuriant growth it produced. 
After a journey, full of intense interest, we reached Peradeniya 
station, and, alighting from the train, I found Director Willis awaiting 
me. One of his coolies took my luggage in charge, while his master and 
I walked up the broad, shaded road that runs by the beautiful entrance 
"FICUS BENGALENSIS" — BANYAN TREE 
[In the main street at Kalatura.] 
to the Royal Botanic Gardens. A few minutes brought us to the Willis 
bungalow, a very pretty two-story house, set on a little eminence, and 
hemmed in with foliage plants, flowers, and magnificent shade trees. As 
the new governor of Ceylon, Sir Henry Blake, had requested the presence 
of my host in Colombo, he turned me over for the moment to Mr. J. B. 
Carruthers, f. l. s., the mycologist and assistant director. Mr. Car- 
ruthers, by the way, had but just returned from a month’s visit to various 
Hcvea plantations, where he had been studying the canker that had 
appeared upon some of the Hcvea trees. He was of the opinion that 
