^'BOHOMA WATURA.” 
happy ; the box cooly rests his box on the edge of 
the barge, takes off his headcloth and wraps it tight 
round his waist, fully prepared for any extremity ; 
we fake off our spurs, put them in the pocket, and 
grasp the mane of the pony, for the barge has no 
railings. We are now in the mid stream and full 
current of a raging torrent. We look in advance, 
and see the water tumbling in full force, until it is 
lost to sight in the jungle round the corner. The 
boatmen now stand by the oars, and pull away, to 
get out of the mid-stream, but their exertions seem 
of no avail— down goes the boat — it approaches the 
narrow shelving landing-place on the other side ; if 
it passes that, we are carried away by the stream 
down into the jungles beyond any possibility of get- 
ting up again. There is the white foam on the huge 
rocks and boulders ahead, the boat will be dashed 
against them, and we, the box cooly, and the old 
pony, will become a supper for the alligators ! Some- 
thing of the same thoughts seem to be passing through 
the mind of the box cooly, he is looking very grave 
and mutters Swdmi, swdmi,^^ and just then, as if 
in answer to the call, perhaps the box cooly thinks 
he has saved our lives, and may afterwards cast it 
up to the old pony, the ferry raft gives a short 
swing round, in answer to the sticks and oars of the 
boatmen, and quietly touches the landing-place, in 
the quiet eddy. 
The ferry-men, who were quite used to this sort of 
thing, wipe their faces and say, Bohoma watura.'"' 
It has often struck us as strange so few accidents 
happened in crossing the Gampola ferry, having only 
a recollection of one, but no lives were lost ; during 
a flood the boat missed the landing place, or the rope 
thrown on shore from the boat to be grasped by 
some one there had missed, and down goes the boat, 
into the rapids and jungles below, but there was 
neither accident nor loss of life, the only inconveni- 
ence being that of course the barge could not be 
worked up the river again, until the flood moderated. 
These floods at the ferry never could be calculated 
on. It might be a bright hot day at Gampola, in 
fact, no rain for days, and the river would be tumbl- 
ing and rolling down, swollen up to its banks, and 
quite dangerous to cross ; this proceeded from heavj^ 
rains ialling on the mountain ranges up-country, where 
the river passed through, and thus it was, that, dur- 
ing the rainy seasons, one never could be sure, when 
this ferry would be in flood or not. 
If you were pushed for time, you had always to 
calculate allowances for tff'sj when coming down from 
