HAPPINESS AND THE PURSUIT OP IT. 
All old planters will well recollect cart contractors, who 
were the responsible parties, upon whom the agency 
firms were down for defaulting cartmen. It used 
to be the constant cry that these men got rich and fat 
at the cost of proprietors, and even of cartmen them- 
selves. But what could we have done without them? 
If they did get rich, they also had their own troubles, 
and many a loss to put down, and up with, per contra, 
and many a man has earned his money with less trou- 
ble and worry than they did. We well remember two 
of the leading contractors’ names that used to be signed 
at the bottom of the cart-notes, holding themselves re- 
sponsible for the safe and correct delivery of the goods. 
These names were Kandappa” and ‘‘ Mathes.” When 
we saw their names signed at the bottom of the waybill, 
opposite the printed word “Contractor,” we knew that 
however much we might be annoyed and put to in- 
convenience by late deliveries or no delivery at all, 
there was no risk of ultimate final loss, for the cart 
contractor would “stump up.” The|e contractors must 
have experienced something of the life of the 'puddoch 
under the harrow who, when he was tumbled and tossed 
about, was fain to exclaim, “ Too many masters,” 
when every tooth gave him a “tang” or rug. The 
superintendent wrote to the agent ? “ Carts long past 
due, not to be heard of anyw'here, coolies all starving, and 
at great loss, buying at famine prices in the bazar.” 
The agent v/ould despatch a messenger from his office 
to bring up the contractor for a conference. This im- 
portant person might be enjoying his noonday sleep or be 
disturbed in his endeavours at making a wonderful large 
dish of rice become most wonderfully small, at all events 
to outward appearance, when he had to start up, and 
promptly obey the summons to appear at the office. He 
would there state that messengers had been sent up- 
country to endeavour to trace the cartmen, instead of 
doing which all trace of them, who had gone to trace, 
was also lost. He would be then told to “pay up, ” or 
procure other carts’and rice at his own expense to make 
up for the loss, but he would ask for and crave for a 
little time, in order to make an investigation himself. 
If allowed, he would start off on the Kandy road, driv- 
ing in a small bullock hackery, very slowly, for every 
batch of carts on the road he would stop and question, 
if they had seen or heard anything of the objects of his 
search ; he would pull up at every cattle-shed, and peer 
in to see if there were any bags of rice piled up inside 
for the same purpose ; none of the verandahs of the 
bazars escaped his searching glance. At last, at the 
bottom of the pass, he sees heaped up inside a shed 
an immense number of bags of rice. On stepping in, 
taking out a note-book, and comparing the marks on the 
