FLODDEN FIELD. 
^im not bonn^l to carry them out with the shedding 
of blood. I will not undertake the responsibility, and 
so, if you will put down your threat < n paper and 
present it to me, we will withdraw under protest of 
being in danger of our lives.” 
“Mr. Green, bring out your writing materials,” 
says his employer. They were^ ^^speedily produced, 
when a written note was drawn out stating that force 
would be met by force, and any attempt to take possess- 
ion of the estate or bungalow would be attended with 
bloodshed. 
‘‘That will do,” says the enemy, “ and now we with- 
draw. 
“And,” says Mr. Green’s employer, “away with you, 
and be ashamed of yourselves, in a civilized country 
under British rule and law, for adopting this most 
extraordinary proceeding. If you are wronged or in- 
jured in any way, or suppose you are, the law is open. 
Resort to it, not to two or three hundred coolies 
armed with big sticks. That for your coolies and 
sticks!” And he pitched the end of a lighted cigar 
into the “ crupper” of the last man that rounded the 
corner on their departure. The lighted cigar we be- 
lieve had taken effect, for, although nothing w^as to 
be seen, we heard shouts of “ appa-appa-a-a-a!” 
Mr. Green and his employer burst out a laughing, 
and thus were ended the eventful events of the day. 
For some time after the estate was called Flodden 
Field. The case was tried in the local Courts, and 
there can be no manner of doubt but that it was all 
duly reported in the Colombo Observer of 1849. The 
estate again lapsed into jungle and weeds, a case of 
dog-in -the manger with the proprietors, for they would 
neither sell, cultivate, nor allow others to cultivate. 
One would have thought the common-sense plan would 
have been, as the estate was partially reclaimed, to 
have allowed the purchaser to go on under protest, 
or, if taken from him, that he be refunded for money 
spent in its reclamation, for it was, evident all that 
the proprietors cared about was their own rights, and 
to establish those rights. 
After this true story let no one say a fiscal’s sale 
and receipt for the money is the best title-deed. 
CHAPTER XX. 
Selecting, Surveying, and Purchasing Land, in 
THE Olden Days. 
Coffee, in order to be a permanent and remunerative 
investment, must always be planted on forest land. 
Thus, the original cost of purchase is comparatively of 
M 
