428 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[OHAP. XIX. 
tropics. Now and then the sound of the sea penetrated to our 
ears. For we followed the west coast in a northerly direction. 
More could not be observed in the course of the night, and all 
the passengers were soon sunk in deep sleep. 
After seven hours’ brisk trot we came to a railway station 
and continued our journey by rail to Colombo, the capital of 
Ceylon. As there was nothing special to see or do there, I went 
on without stopping by the railway, which here bends from the 
coast to Kandy and other places. The landscape now soon 
became grander and grander. We had indeed before seen 
tropical vegetation at several places, but of the luxuriance which 
here struck the eye we had no conception. The pity was that 
men had come hither, had cleared and planted. 
“ In the lowlands I saw some cinnamon plantations. Ceylon 
cinnamon is very dear; in Europe cheaper and inferior sorts 
are used almost exclusively, and most of the plantations in 
Ceylon have been abandoned many years ago. Soon the train 
leaves the lowland and begins to ascend rapidly. The patch of 
coast country, where the coco-nut trees prevail, is exchanged for 
a very mountainous landscape; first hills with large open valleys 
between, then higher continuous mountains with narrow, deep, 
kettle-like valleys, or open hilly plateaus. In the valleys rice is 
principally cultivated. The hills and mountain sides were pro¬ 
bably originally covered with the most luxuriant primitive forest, 
but now on all the slopes up to the mountain summits it is cut 
down, and they are covered with coffee plantations. The coffee- 
plant is indeed very pretty, but grows at such a distance apart 
that the ground is everywhere visible between, and this is a 
wretched covering for luxuriant Ceylon. 
‘'At two o’clock in the afternoon we arrived at the station, 
Perideniya, the nearest one to Kandy. The famous botanical 
ofarden lies in its neighbourhood, and there I had to visit the 
superintendent of the garden. Dr. Thwaites. This elderly, but 
still active and enthusiastic naturalist is exceedingly interested 
in botanical research, and very obliging to all who work in that 
department. He received me in a very friendly manner, and 
it was due to him that the programme of my visit there was 
so full. 
“A botanic garden in Ceylon must naturally be something 
extraordinary. Nowhere else can grander or more luxuriant 
vegetation be seen than here. The garden has been especially 
famous for the number of different varieties of trees of immense 
size which it can show. Besides, all possible better known plants 
are to be found here, cultivated in the finest specimens. Spices 
