366 
CEYLON 
rarely safe with white men. Eesnming my walk along the road, little 
was seen save a few Precis almana of the wet-season form. I walked 
and walked, with many a glance back in vain hopes of seeing the car. 
Beaching at last the Galagedara Best House I ordered food; while 
this was being prepared—consisting of tea, and nauseous bread, 
made, as is usual, with sugar instead of salt—the car arrived, but 
the chauffeur said it could go no further that night. There being no 
telegraph along that road the only thing to be done was to order a 
bullock hackery. After delays that seemed interminable the strange 
vehicle appeared. It may be described as a pair of wheels connected 
by a plank on which one has to balance one’s self behind a diminutive 
bullock. It was eleven miles to Kandy, the first three up a hill that 
seemed unending, but the rest of the road was better, so that the 
little beast trotted intermittently, and, with liberal use of the goad 
and torrents of Sinhalese expletives, we made perhaps 3 miles an 
hour. 
In this wise I returned, slowly, painfully, ingloriously, like a 
chhota raiyat , x where twelve hours earlier, I had dashed along a very 
bara sahib. 2 In spite of the tropical moon and the fire-flies it was 
very dark under the palms. Late as it was—for it had taken the best 
part of four hours to cover eleven miles—we made a small detour 
to the garage. The proprietor forthwith sent out a sleepy chauffeur 
with a more powerful machine to go and tow back home the lame 
duck—made in Germany, be it said. 
Haragama. 
Four times I made the fatiguing pilgrimage to Haragama, twice 
alone, once with Mr. Green, once with Mr. Tylecote. It is a ten- 
miles drive and Kandy horses are not swift. Certainly, when seen 
under favourable circumstances, it is a wonderful place. My first 
visit was on January 20th; at 7 a.m. that morning at Kandy the 
thermometer had fallen to 65° F. Having had a small second break¬ 
fast I left the carriage at 9.30 a.m.; at that hour very few butter¬ 
flies were on the move, but as I walked up the valley it got warmer 
and they gradually made their appearance. It was 3.30 p.m. before 
the carriage was regained, and with it food, and above all drink. For 
six hours I had walked under a tropical sun, a very task of Tantalus, 
to be for all that time within hearing of the brawling river the 
water of which I dared not so much as taste. A great part of the 
time I was walking under coco-palms, but could not persuade any 
Small farmer. 
2 Great master. 
