MAECHING WITH COOLIES. 
Arriving in Kandy Tery early in the morning, ou 
proceeding to the hotel (Queen's), the coolies were 
told to rest in the stable-yai*d, until I could get a 
little rest and sleep, but half-an-hour had hardly 
elapsed when the whole stable-yard was in a commo- 
tion. Some one in the adjoining bedroom had been 
disturbed in his sleep by the talking of the coolies, 
and catching hold of his large riding-whip (travellers 
generally brought their saddles, bridles, and whips, 
into their bedrooms for security) kept laying about 
amongst the coolies, until be had them all dispersed, 
remarking, in very atrong language, that he was not 
to be done out of his night’s rest by a ‘‘lot of black 
rascals.” Judge of my consternation on seeing the 
result of so much time, labour, and trouble summari- 
ly treated in this w^ay. The Sinhalese interpreter 
and myself did all we could to explain and pacify^, 
but the coolies refused to be comforted. “ Had 
they not engaged to go to the estate, was not 1 
their master, and had they not been beaten in my 
service, without any great crime ?” Such is the general 
reasoning of the cooly. It was difficult, impossible, 
to bring them to see than I was in no way to be blamed 
for the treatment they received. Upon assuring them, 
if they would only wait till daylight, their wrongs 
would meet with redress, such was agreed upon. 
Having ascertained the name of the aggressor, as early 
as possible, I waited upon “ Loku Banda,” a descendant 
of the Kandyan royal family, and at that period Police 
Magistrate of Kandy. On stating the case, he issued 
a summons, or warrant, I forget which, to bring the. 
gentleman, guilty of this assault, up before the Police 
Court. But the gentleman had been too sharp for us : 
he was nowhere to be found. Having had an inkling 
of what was going on, he had quietly proceeded to the 
stable, with saddle and bridle, from his bedroom, 
mounted his horse, and was probably at the time 
many miles off into the interior. It may be remarked, 
“What about his hotel bill?” Hotel proprietors were 
not particular in this respect. Bills were allowed to 
lie over, or run on, until another visit from the coun- 
try took place ; almost every one had his hotel account. 
Of course, with this loose system, money was frequent- 
ly lost, but the charges were such that a few occasional 
losses would never inconvenience them. It was quite 
evident that, instead of pursuing my adversary with 
a warrant, the wisest policy was to get the coolies 
out of town and on the march as speedily as poS" 
sible. So, having settled by bill, we once more 
take the" road via Peradeniya, Oampola, and Pussellawa, 
which has already been described. One hundred or 
thereabouts, men, women and children, with only a 
