XXV 
THE SAMBUR 
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sanatorium had been established which every 
European who can afford the time and expense, 
visits for a certain period of the year. Common- 
sense would suggest that British troops should 
always be quartered in the most healthy position, 
and Newera Ellia was in former days accepted 
as the hill station for invalids. The only 
drawback in those days consisted in the distance 
and delay occasioned by bad roads, sometimes 
rendered impassable during the rainy season. 
Now that the railway was in being, the old 
difficulty had disappeared; but in the face of 
the absurdity the troops had been withdrawn ! ” 
I often wonder how England manages to 
get on as she does; she hobbles along through 
modern history after her own fashion, supported 
by the British taxpayer, the easily cajoled and 
easily skinned John Bull. With our small and 
expensive army, which is insufficient for our 
needs, we treat our soldiers in a manner that 
would be considered a disgrace if they were 
domestic animals. No person in Ceylon would 
keep his dogs in Colombo, if he could provide 
for them in the splendid climate of the hills. 
It is now forty years ago since I first introduced 
the brewing of beer into Newera Ellia. This 
succeeded admirably, so long as a good quality 
of malt was supplied from England; it was an 
interesting result of my early experiments to find 
an important brewery worked by a company, who 
make their own malt, and were about to grow 
