CATT, CARRIE CHAPMAN DIARY, JAN. 20 - Feb. 1, 1912 Ceylon 1 [Ceylon] After eleven days at sea, sailing from Pt. Said, the Princess Juliana of the Stoomvaart Matschappe Nederlands arrived at Colombo where we disembarked and were soon on our way to our hotel in [different] a new variety of bus transportation [than we had ever seen] we were tired sleepy and at the moment bored. Then I startled Dr J by chuckling and turning to her [to Dr] her who still looked uninterested I asked "do you know where we are?" This is the Garden of Eden and if you doubt it, look here." Our slow moving vehicle was being followed by a swarm of boys from eight to twelve years of age and the only garment anyone of them wore was a brass fig leaf fastened about their loins by a string. [I had never heard that there was a item as f[?] the exact spot was where the Garden of Eden had been [?] held by anyone as to the [t?] of the Garden of Eden but I was right. We were there! and thousands of residents lived there who knew quite well that it was the G of E] 2 I had never heard that any theory located [the spot where] the Garden of Eden in Ceylon [had been] But here it was! Thousands, perhaps millions of residents and visitors believed implicitly that here had been the original home of Adam and Eve. They offered proof. Here is Mt Adam, very famous and very, very holy. Centuries ago, no one knows when, some one climbed it and found up on its summit a foot print. The print had five toes was six feet long and three wide and ever after the controversary [has] raged over the question "whose foot made that print?" The Hindoos claiming to have [having] the oldest religion in the world declared [claimed] it to be that of their God Siva's foot. The Buddhists dating from 600 BC insisted [declared it to be] it was Buddha's foot and as possession is nine tenths of the law, they seem to have the best of the arguments, for they have a shrine which is cared for by a few priests who live there. 3 They are generous in sharing with Hindoos, Christians, Jews and Mohammedans the right to join in the foot worship. The Jews, Christian and Mohammedans also have an advantage in the argument. The Mountain is named after their Adam. Further this claim is based upon a story so extremely logical(!) that all should believe without questioning! It seems that Adam was taken to Heaven and thrown out again on account of some unknown misdemeanor He lit on Mt. Adam and there he stood on one foot until he had expiated his sin. It took two centuries! Mother Eve meantime was [Rumicking?] about the Earth with no one to advise her what to eat or what world long trouble she got her children into. Nevertheless, 4 Adam found her and he said that as Ceylon was the next best place to Paradise they should settle there and they did! Further proof of the identity of the Garden of Eden is plentiful. Adam and Eve wore no clothes and were comfortable. . The same is true of their descendants. When our first parents were ordered to wear clothes they chose the fig leaf which is indigenous in Ceylon and the fashion is still continued More every possible variety of food known to mankind is at hand and plenty of it. The cocoanut the bamboo and the banana plus the breadfruit tree and many other bountiful givers of life grow here in great profusion and together they provide food shelter and clothes It would at least make a suitable Garden of Perfection where mankind could live idly and happily. 5 It used to be said that whatever is "believed by everyone and by all" is true. With that rule as a guide it may be added that millions of people through the centuries have ascended [this mountain] Mt. Adam as pilgrims Many died on the way being weak and ill; many arrived and died at the shrine and still others blew off the mountain in the climb upward. There is a fairly easy way to go with only eight miles of walking and three miles of hard climbing, but there is a more difficult way and it is much more conducive to the certain entrance into Heaven to go that way. After a hard climb the candidate finds himself on a rocky cliff almost overhanging the spot he aspires to reach. An iron ladder descends a portion of the way and after that he must step in links of a chain with nothing [is then] between him and eternity except those swinging chains. No one knows who put them there or when, but certainly it was [certainly] centuries ago. Ignorance and credulity have created through the ages countless myths and holy places where with proper ritual the steps of the candidate are promised a more [certain] direct path to Heaven. Religious instincts, caused by wonder of the unknowable - on all continents and by all people have been perverted into strange beliefs, followed by bigotry, superstition, and fierce fanaticisms. Wars innumerable have sprung from these attitudes of mind nations and peoples have been destroyed therein and the natural law of progress has been checked and even made to stand still. 7 them down and out [many of these squables we slaveish the truth should especially never be forgotten] by women. [I quote one only] The great among the clergy Catholic and Protestant who could prove that witches brought the destructive storms on sea and land could once be counted by the hundreds Those who charged Benjamin Franklin's lightning rods as a work of the Devil were as numerous, Some of these begoted efforts to find [ascertain] the truth, women particularly should never forget. One, I quote. In 1591 Eustace Macalyane a lady of rank was accused of having had aid to relieve labor pain at the time of the birth of her two sons and was burned alive on Castle Hill of Edinburgh For many a long year thereafter Dr. Simpsons [use] the introducer of chloroform continued 8 to be denounced as impious and a wicked opponent of the Holy Writ. Chloroform, the public said was an attempt "to avoid one part of the primeval curse upon woman." No myth of Asia Africa or the Islands of the Sea has displayed a clearer case of idiocy than this little act of Christian Scotland 352 years ago In the Western World our freedom of speech and worship and our freedom of education has produced skeptics, questioners and debaters who collectively have created a liberality in the average mind and thus spurred onward the progress of thinking, while 9 in many other countries that progress has been checked or actually stopped by the belief in nonsensical faiths A great war is raging all around the world. Let no one overlook the fact that religion, true [and] or false, imaginary [and] or real. truth searching [and] or bigoted is an enormous factor and will have a tremendous influence upon the post war world To return to Ceylon: Buddha brooding over his troubling problems and receiving his revelation, sat under 10 the great Bo tree in Peshawar, in Northern India He sat here in its shade for many days. A friendly cobra (whose sting is fatal) kept him company and spread his hood over him. Ever after the Bo tree and all the ones that have grown from its sprouts or cuttings have become holy, very holy. So also the Cobra is holy When a child the most wonderful thing in my geography was a picture of a banyan tree I never dreamed that I would ever see one, but they are plentiful in India Burmah Ceylon and the tropical islands The limbs grow downward and take root in the ground, thus a grove is 11 created with many trunks. The intertwining foliage produces a great roof. I saw many but never one without also seeing worshippers bringing their offerings of food and flowers. Our first Buddhist Temple was the Maligawa or Temple of the Tooth. This 12 Tooth has made many a perigrination and after having fallen into the hands of the enemy upon divers occasions, it always miraculously came back to its friends, On its last absence it was ground to a powder and the dust blown away, but the particles gathered themselves together again and once more the tooth appeared, this time 2 inches long. In August there is a great festival and the tooth is then taken from its hiding place and a procession through the town is made with the 20 sacred elephants owned 13 by the temple There are many priests also clad in yellow cotton robes The temple contains a room called the Library A case of about 200 English books all on Buddhism are there. All the other books are Asiatic Many are written in the Pali language said to be oldest written language [?] and some more written in Sanscrit the next oldest language Many boys were training for the priesthood We asked what they learned from their studies. The answer was: the Pali and Sanscrit languages and everything about Buddhism I asked if they were taught anything else and the answer was ["No"] an astonished "No" 14 Another shrine was opened at 6.30 revealing a golden shrine [within] set with many jewels [within] are six other shrines one within another and inside the innermost one is the famous and very holy Tooth of Buddha two inches long. Before these shrines is a silver table covered by temple flowers which the worshippers bring [brought] every day. At 6 30 there was also a service [and there was] a loud beating of tom-toms in all parts of the temple and on the street the din being fairly deafening announcing this service We often heard in different lands Christian Church Bells, the Koran shouted from the minerets and the tom toms of the Buddhists all calling the faithful to worship. 15 [A mighty banyan tree said to be a direct descendant of the one under which Buddha sat was claimed to be 2500 years old] On the front of [the] one old temple were some very crude pictures which represent the seven chief sins and the kind of punishment [each will get] a sinner will get for each sin (1) murder (2) stealing (3) disobeying father and mother (4) usury (5) sacrilege (6) lying (7) speaking disrespectfully of the higher castes. The seventh had the worst punishment. Flames were blazing all about and through the sinner and yet he could not be destroyed An ancient King had a revelation that a thief who stole anything from Buddha 16 would be transformed into a worm, and there he would remain for 600,000 years! The priests have doubtless emphasized this punishment for thieves as a helpful way to protect the many valuable treasures of their Temple. Yet despite this terrible warning, a gold statue of Buddha was stolen from the Temple and that had happened in this very district in which this revelation had occurred and it hasn't been found yet! All the Buddhist Temples have Dagabas, a conical structure which is supposed to have been built to receive and to preserve some relic of Buddha. 17 About 2500 years ago there was a great Kingdom in Ceylon and its Capital was Anuradhapura The remains of that city are remarkable A very great temple covering eight acres of ground is here It had many dagobas and was largely built of brick An English archaeologist calculated that there had been bricks enough to build a town the size of Ipswich or Coventry in England or to build a wall 20 ft high from London to Edinburgh. Nearby is the nine storeyed "Brazen Palace" or monastery over where 1000 priests lived. (over) [There are many remains of other smaller monasteries and nearby is the oldest historical one existing] 18 There [are] is to be seen the remains of a royal palace of 4000 rooms and much evidence that the old city was truly great. Not only were there beautiful palaces, many great temples and dagobas, but much evidence that the territory round about was in a high state of cultivation There are [certain] reliable remains of reservoirs, canals and everywhere indication of extensive irrigation Remains of bronze statues have been found and very remarkable carved stone columns, friezes etc are now preserved 19 These temples are older than any [thing] remains of ancient times in India. Nearby is "the oldest historical tree now existing" (1912. [It grew from a cutting taken from the Buddha's original Bo tree and is at least 2500 years old but there is little left of it] The sister of the King brought a branch of the original tree under which Buddha sat when he received his revelation and from that beginning this tree, now at least 2500 years old, grew. It is very very sacred. 16 [It grew from a cutting from Buddha's original Bo tree and is at least 2500 years old (1911)] [17] 20 One, walled up dagoba, all overgrown with trees and bushes, is [the] said to preserve a stray hair from [the] between the eyebrows of Buddha Another [older than any relic in India] contains his right collar bone. One would suppose the priests would like to excavate these old dagobas, but they not only do nothing of that kind themselves but some 5000 petitioned the British government to stop their excavations as their shrines were being unhallowed! 21 A book on the Ruined cities of Ceylon and one on the Buried Cities of Ceylon are interesting authorities on this Ancient civilization Ceylon occupied by aborigines and the Singalese were attacked by the Tamils who made several invasions, destroyed the fine buildings, the cities and the government of the day. The Tamils and Singalese are now quite largely a mixed race. In 1587 the Portuguese took over Ceylon The Dutch dispossessed the Portuguese in 1656 and the English took the Island from the Dutch in 1815. For Centuries therefore Ceylon has had an overlord. The earlier masters merily exploited the country for its spices as it is the homeland of cinnamon 22 cloves camphor, tea nutmeg rubies etc The British have transformed Ceylon into a vast and glorious park with excellent roads everywhere always bordered by picturesque trees and hedges made gay and showy with brilliant flowers and fruits. The broad spreading bread fruit tree the jak fruit tree with fruits as large as pumpkins and the pepper tree with its pepper fruit ready for the universally favorite curry were among them. [which does the hibiscus too with its startling gloss of crimson was a pleasing frequent item on every road side In] many places there are rills, creeks and rivers, little water falls and rapids which varies the landscape and add much to its oftentimes exquisite attractions 23 There were astonishing numbers of brilliant red blossoms and the Hibiscus seemed to grow everywhere. Its scarlet flowers enliven the surroundings of every home. [The botanical gardens] The British Governor of Ceylon has three residences one in Columbo where it is always very hot, [Kandy] [and] one in Juralia 6,200 ft above the sea where it is quite cool and presents to the public a superb [a] botanical garden [of temperate zone] of trees and plants from the temperate zone; one in Kandy halfway between here [has] the magical garden of Tropical flora is located. These gardens are enlightening to those interested in botanical studies; 24 [An] Engaging attractions thoroughly modern were the tea plantations and the spice [cultivations] gardens. The cannon ball [and] tree, the candle trees and the snake vine which resembles a boa constrictor make thrilling sights, but little brown women picking tea was an introduction to up to date economic problems They used both hands to gather the young leaves and threw them into baskets carried by a strap on the forehead. They then sit on the ground, emptied out their leaves and picked them all over, throwing out any old leaves or big stems. The leaves are at once put in frames; covered with canvas. The leaves are tossed over once or twice and left for one day They are then put into a machine with heat. The motion is 25 something like that of a corn popper. Here, the leaves are shaken for 45 minutes. They then go into a hotter machine for 40 minutes and one still hotter for 20 minutes. The women then pick the leaves over again taking out the stems which were missed before. The leaves are then sifted by machine which [sifts] assorts them into four [parts] piles very course, middling coarse, fine, and dust. In all, they are sorted into seven varieties. The very best grade in Ceylon is Orange Pekoe These women get 8 cents per day. The work is easy and done in the open air. Children work also. As the people wear few clothes, live in houses that cost nothing and the Lord provides most foods free, perhaps 8 cts is fair wages The tea plantations are kept remarkably clean Men take a certain 26 number of acres to keep clean by hoeing. For this they receive 45 cents per month. We learn that poor as are these wages, the workers [they] are frequently punished for some error by cutting them down [from their wages]. The people are very ignorant and they are reduced to a virtual slavery. They are mainly kept in a compound and many sleep in one room. I remember the world used to say of a married woman "she has clothes shelter and food what more can she want?" So they say of the tea workers Ceylon, like India, [is] lives under the perpetual humiliation of Caste and the tea pickers are a very low caste and it is difficult to escape from it The story is told that there is a class of people in Ceylon called Rhodiyas A thousand years ago they were a honored caste of hunters and were given the task of providing meat every day 27 [meat] for the King's dinner. One day there was nothing to be had so they killed a nice fat baby for him. He liked the flavor very much and ordered that this kind of meat be given him every day. It was supplied for a time, then the supply gave out or perhaps the mothers rebelled, and then the King learned what he had been eating. These people were [then] condemned to be forever more the lowest caste and a long list of rules were given as to what they could not do They live in the Jungle and [no] members are rarely seen There are other people living in the Jungle and rarely seen called Veddahs [?] pronounce them the lowest type of human being but the Buddhist give them the title of the highest caste because they believe them to have been the very first people in the world 28 Near Kandy we saw at a distance a flat mountain plain where the British brought 5000 Boer prisoners from S. Africa When the war was over they were permitted to return after signing the usual oath of allegiance. There were 17 who refused to sign the oath and were still here in 1912. The well kept botanical gardens of Ceylon acquaint the traveler with all the most curious and important trees vines and bushes, indigenous in the Tropical countries of the world, the collective products of which furnish all of the harder working people of the continents with taste and flavor to make food more interesting such as tea of which in 1912 180 million pounds came from Ceylon, cinnamon cloves cocoa etc The Museum gave much 29 material of a long history while the shrines of many religions give glimpses of their origin and let it never be forgotten that all the great religions originated in Asia The Buddhist faith has the largest part of the population as its membership They eat no meat, and kill nothing not even a poison spider. It might contain some one's soul. The result is that in the Jungles of Ceylon there are still wild elephants and leopards, many monkeys and some apes. Several hives of [curious] strange great bats are also a curiosity. It follows that the Buddhists do not believe in war and are what we call conscientious objectors. It is a pity some of the other great faiths did not join in this application of "Thou shalt not kill" The thinking however is strictly founded on superstition and false beliefs. DIARY OF CARRIE CHAPMAN-CATT- CEYLON - (PART VII) JAN. 20TH TO FEB. 1ST 1912~ Photos referred to are in back of book Chapter IV. Mihintale Eight miles to the East of Anuradhapura, the solitary mountain of Mihintale rises abruptly from the jungle-covered plain. The road to it, passing between the Brazen Palace and the resthouse, skirts a part of the bund of Nuwara-vewa (the "city tank") between the second and third mile-posts. This noble tank is said to be the Jayavewa, mentioned in the Mahawanso as having been constructed by King Pandukhabaya about 400 B.C. It has been recently restored. At Mihintale there is a small resthouse, where ordinary supplies can be got if ordered beforehand. The mountain itself was possibly the scene of an ancient hill-worship anterior to the introduction of Buddhism. Its sanctity in the eyes of Buddhists is due to the fact that on its summit alighted the great missionary prince, Mahindo*, when arriving from India to preach the * See Part I, Ceylon. We arrived at Colombo after eleven days at sea from Pt. Said. The Princess Juliana, of the Stoomvaarts Matschappi Nederland proved a good investment. The Dutch are good navigators, excellent eaters and the cleanest scrubbers in the world. The ship was therefore most comfortable. The passengers were nearly all Dutch. The Dr. was quite the belle of the ball, as a good many had read her newspaper letters, so she found friends at once. As there was no one to talk to, I had plenty of time for reading the guide books, which was just what we wanted. Early in the trip, the passengers were ordered on deck with their life preservers on, and were shown their places at the life boats. I had never seen this done before, and think it a most necessary and wise precaution. A petition from passengers of the second class asked the Doctor to lecture on woman suffrage, and she did so, nearly all first class and second class being present. So many wanted to ask questions that she went back again the next day. Later they asked me to speak, and I was surprised to see so large a number. An old Australian arose and backed me up as a climax. The Dr. said the passengers talked of little else after so many speeches, but I couldn't understand what they were saying. On our last day, we had another novel ship experience- one rare for passengers. The purser, who was my right hand table mate, took us to see the cold storage places where the food is carried. The rooms were carefully tempered according to the requirements of the food, and kept at the same temperature - below freezing in the meat and fish rooms, and above for fruit and eggs. It was just the thing I wanted to see. -2- Toward the last I talked with more people, but it was rather a painful process, so I preferred my books. The last day was tedious as all last days are. We should have arrived at 10 a.m. We got to our hotel about 11 p.m. We were disembarked by means of a small launch belonging to the company. This is never a nice experience at night. Representatives of some hotels came aboard and when we saw the nice fat turbaned Hindoo labeled "Galle Face Hotel" we were delighted. Alas, we were informed that every room was full. Our next choice the Grand Oriental met with the same response. When we got on shore, I staid with the luggage, (I'm surely getting English) and the Dr. rushed to the Bristol near by. There she found one double room and took it. We found a room with two front windows covered with a sort of venetian blind - no glass and an electric fan going directly above and between our two beds. We gave our beds a good dose of Keating's powder, the friend of the Oriental traveller, and retired. We longed for the good ship beds. The gentle wind was not cool, but it was unusual and kept us awake. An upper sheet was all the provision for cover, and was quite sufficient. We arose rather late, and after divers plunges into the very bottom of every package, we were at last dressed in our thinnest attire, had some tea and bread and butter, and were ready for business. We decided to go to Cooks first to see about our Ceylon trip. We found rickshas with nice Hindoo boys in charge. These accommodate one, so we each took one. Cooks was nearby. We decided to proceed at once to Kandy where it is cooler and the hotels not so full, and ordered our rickies to go to the telegraph office. While I was sending the message, the Dr. had been talking with the -3- boys, for both spoke English pretty well. The result was we made a bargain to take us to Mt. Lavinia, a place where people go especially for Sunday luncheons. It was 7 miles away, but the boys took us there and ran most of the way. The first day in a new country is always a delightful experience. In this case, our late arrival the night before had prevented us from getting any impression at all. The day was a red hot steamy New York August day. A tropical sun was pouring its rays upon us, but the little cover of the rickshaw was a protection. The road was a perfectly macadamed one as smooth as a floor and not dusty. In every direction were cocoanuts and other palms. We began to study out the people so we could distinguish the different brands. One we quickly learned. The original civilized people of the Island were the Singalese. They were conquered by the Tamils. These two occupy the land together. The Singalese were long hair which is very black, greasy and straight. It is combed straight back and done up in a little knob at the neck. The women wear theirs in precisely the same way, but usually the women have some ornamental pins in theirs. The men wear a circular tortoise sheel comb in theirs, which is very easily distinguished. But the young men shave and sometimes do not wear combs, and then it is extremely difficult to tell the difference between a young man and a woman. Both men and women wear a sort of skirt made of a straight piece of cloth wound around the body. There is no difference in the material or manner of putting it on between the sexes. The women wear a skirt, a very close fitting jacket, cut low in the neck, and with nothing beneath it. The upper classes wore very [Photo] [Mount Lavinia Hotel and Sea Shore, Ceylon.] Where we lunched. The boats called Cattermarans have a canoe like piece of wood at the side to steady it & a square sail -4- pretty ones, the lower usually had a strip of skin four or five inches wide showing between the jacket and skirt. The young men, and old too for that matter of the lower classes - nearly all we met were entirely bare above the waist. All were barefooted. Very many men and women wore a bath towel over their heads as a protection from the sun. The trip took so much longer than expected that we found ourselves at Mt. Lavinia at 12:20. We made a bargain with the boys to stay by until 2 o'clock. The hotel was charmingly situated on a rocky point and a magnificent tide was coming breaking in fine surf over the rocks. It was sending landward a life giving breeze, which we liked best of all. We sat on the cool terrace awhile and then went in for a wonderful lunch. There was fried fish, then lobster salad, then deviled crabs. Then came some meat which we passed. The curry which is a part of every eastern lunch or tiffin was a wonder. Rice of course with the center of it, but there was stewed bread fruit and shrimps and only the cook knows what else. I ate little and liked it, but when I had finished my mouth tasted as it used to do after mother had given me a cup of red pepper tea for a cold! We wound up with a slice of delicious paw-paw. We lingered near the cool point as long as possible and regretfully left it. By this time the sun was sending down melting rays. We returned by another route which took us to the Cinnamon Gardens. There were once cinnamon plantations, but now is largely occupied by European residences. There were plenty of cinnamon trees however, and their spicy perfume was proof of genuineness. Victoria Park in which sets the Museum Building, has been made out of this [Photo] [Mount Lavinia Hotel and Sea Shore, Ceylon.] Small shop. The large things are green cocoanuts sold for drink. -5- plantation also, and is one of the most beautiful spots imaginable. Trees grow to great size here, and their limbs are long and spreading, casting beautiful big spot of shade which must be welcome at all times of the year. Few trees lose their leaves, or rather, they drop the old ones and take a new at the same time, so it is perpetually green. The whole day seemed to have been spent in a well kept part. The roads were good and clean, the woods had no broken brush to litter the green grass beneath, the little houses along the way were well swept in front and the people looked clean and tidy compared with those in Syria, Palestine and Egypt. Further, they all look happy and apparently the whole population speak some English. Children ran after us with all sorts of begging pleas, but no one of them looked underfed or poor. Three little girls came together and ran a long distance after us, saying, "You are my mamma. Mammas give their little girls pocket money. Give me some." Not discouraged by a vain chase after us when we went out, they came again when we returned, but with the same result. The whole child population is beggared, because doubtless some people give them money. Twice children in their mother's laps- probably two years old, shook their little hands at us and said, "Good morning." They are pretty little brown things and their Mothers do not bother them with clothes. Even among the Blacks of So. Africa the little girls wear a "moocha" or some little bit of skin or bead work over the "place," held in place by a string of beads, but here little Adams and Eves six and eight years old ran about unconscious that popular sentiment was in favor of fig leaves. [Photo] [Double Bullock Cart, Colombo] This is the wagon used for all purposes Our baggage was carried in one. They are drawn by bullocks, a small kind of cattle with hump on neck. [Photo] [Tamil Barber, at work shaving the Head] Note the way the barber is shaved. All know he is a barber by that sign. He is a very low caste man. These "barber shops" are open places frequently seen. -6- We came back to our hotel about 5 p.m. The Dr. at once took her book and pen and went to the corridor below stairs to write her "impressions," while they were fresh. I peeled off my wet garments, turned on the electric fan and unpacked and repacked all my things, taking two hours for the job. Then I joined the crowd below, sending off a few postals before dinner at 7.30. The hotel has a very wide long corridor - the length of a city block next the street, but protected from it by a sort of lattice work. On the other side at one end is the office, then a writing room and parlor, then the dining room, and the rest of the space is devoted to small shops. Here, jewelry, carved elephants, big and little, in ebony, cocoanut, ivory and alabaster are to be had. I am sure there are literally thousands in those shops. After dinner we made a call upon all of them. No sooner does a guest sit down in the corridor, which is a real cool place, than these energetic merchants, young Hindoos, surround him like flies about a lump of sugar. At first they invite him to come to their shop. If that doesn't work, they return first with one thing and then another, until he really buys something (which probably he does not want). The Hindoos are called the Jews of the East, and thy are certainly clever. We retired, well satisfied with our day. Monday we finished packing, took our breakfast, went to the bank and Cooks, for money, mail and tickets, and then I repaired to a shop where I purchased a pith helmet, which the books advise all newcoming people to wear. All European men and most women wear them. The sun must be kept from the spine and especially the base of the neck, so a scarf about the hat hangs down like a widow's veil behind. [*Photo*] Native Transport, Ceylon. [*Photo*] Scene from fishing Village. -7- Sometimes a sort of curtain is worn. In due time we were on the train. My last purchase was a nice palm leaf fan, which I have not seen of late. This I waved energetically. The route was charming. Everywhere I got an emphasis of my first impression - that Ceylon was a beautiful park, all well kept. We passed through cocoanut groves which are most satisfying to the lover of nature. The tall straight trunk of the tree has no leaves or branches except the big clump at the top. At its base, sheltered by a few lower leaves, is the big bunch of nuts. These trees are close enough together to make a fine shade beneath and as the ground is covered with green grass, and no rubbish allowed, the groves are exquisitely picturesque. Here and there a little cottage of mud walls, whitewashed, with thatched roof, was seen nestling in a cosy spot of these beautiful groves. Always the family were sitting in front on the ground. "Everybody works but father," must be altered to read, "no one works, not even father." Nature looks after her beloved here. The benevolent cocoanut, blossoms, and fruits the year round, so there is always a supply. Nearly every want is met by this generous friend of the Ceylonese. The women braid the leaves together making a crude mat of them. The trunks of the trees are set up in the form of a house, and these mats are hung up to make the walls. If the walls are of mud, then there is a veranda made of these mats. Grass is used for the thatch. The wagons of the country very unlike any we have seen, are covered with a frame decked in these mats, or possibly braided especially for them. The cocoanut itself is green when new, yellow when grown, but unripe. At that time the water is ready for drinking. At every station these cocoanuts were on [*Photo*] Snake Charmers, Ceylon Very Common Scene -8- sale by Ceylonese "newsies." We bought one for eight cents (the man opened it for us) and we had all the drink we needed for the hot journey. It does not taste at all like the sweet milk of the ripened cocoanut. It has an agreeable flavor and is cool. I think one nut must hold six or eight glasses full. When ripe the white meat is good food. The outside shell and the covering of that shell are used for the fiber. Oil is expressed from the rolled cocoanut and the product is known to commerce as copra. This is used to get oil for soap, etc. Bananas always plentiful at all times of the year, are easily grown and are to be seen on every hand. The beautiful bread fruit tree is plentiful and the bamboo, most beautiful of all the tropical flora, makes not only an additional touch to the picturesqueness of this land, but it supplies all the wants left after the cocoanut has done its best. At one point on the journey there was a small stream and a simple cocoanut log was spread across it for a bridge. European shoes would have difficulty with its rounded sides, but the natives are used to climbing with their bare feet and have nearly as much use of toes as the apes. Our railroad climbed higher and higher, revealing glimpses of beautiful mountains, with tiny valleys of "paddy land" as the rice fields are called. We thought it not so wonderful as the view for some four hours before reaching Pietermaritzburg in Natal, but it was certainly beautiful and different from any other land we had seen. We arrived at 5:30 at Kandy, and came to a new house- the Hotel Suisse. It is out of the town on a hillside overlooking a charming lake. As we are now 2000 feet above Columbo, it is cooler here. We found a clean, comfortable unique place, de- [*Photo*] Colombo Sea Shore by Moonlight. The Cocoanut -9- lightfully adapted to a hot climate. The Governor is provided with a home in Colombo, one in Kandy, and one in Nurvara Eliya, pronounced NURALIA. The last is 6000 ft. above the sea. We arranged to begin our Eastern trip in proper fashion, which is to go out before breakfast, remain indoor during the middle of the day, and go out again in the early evening. As we had not done this in Colombo, we realized how tired one may get from the heat of the sun. So we rose at 6 a.m., and dressed and each had morning tea and toast in her room. We took our carriage at 7.15 and started for the famous Royal Botanical Gardens called Peradereiya Gardens, four miles away. Again the road was perfect and bordered by the most luxuriant vegetation and great overhanging trees. It was a marvelous park drive again. The gardens contain every sort of tree and plant of the tropical countries. We took especial interest int he clove, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg trees. They somewhat resemble each other. The allspice was in blossom and its white feathery sprays filled the whole air with sweet perfume. The nutmegs were fully formed but green. They closely resembled apricots in shape and texture of skin. The center was soft and could be easily cut through with a knife. In time it will become a nut. Each of these trees exudes a mild aroma of the fruit it bears. The cinnamon tree grows to a height of twenty to thirty feet and is supposed to be native to this Island. It bears a fruit about the size of an acorn, but this is of no use. The small branches are topped off at a certain size and are barked. There are several processes necessary, soaking to loosen the bark, and drying after the peeling and rolling into quills while it is damp. There are [*Photo*] Rice Fields, Ceylon These ridges are always seen on the rice fields & are made to hold water. The rice is practically grown in standing water. We saw it just coming up & in ripe fields. Like everything else, it doesn't bother to keep the season. [*Photo*] Along the way. -10- 40,000 acres of cinnamon trees, in Ceylon. The product is supposed to be the finest flavor here of any in the world. Of course, there is much adulteration- other barks, soaked in cinnamon oil distilled from the chips. Cassia is used also. The guide books knowing the tourist would not remember his Bible very well, tells us that "Moses was commanded to take 250 shekels of cinnamon as part of the ingredients for manufacturing holy annointing oil for consecration purposes, "and probably he got it from Ceylon. The strange part of the cinnamon story is that the Portuguese some centuries back make slaves of a low caste people called Chalias who had adopted the calling of "cinnamon searchers and peelers," and sent them out systematically to bring in the aromatic bark. The Dutch drove out the Portuguese but kept up the slavery of these people. They in turn were driven out by the all conquering british under whose rule (The Portuguese took the Island in 1507, the Dutch in 1656 - the British in 1815) has somewhat ameliorated the condition of low caste people. Even now the cinnamon workers are called Chalias and I believe are, but now some of those people have escaped and entered other trades. To return to the nutmeg. When the nut grows hard a film of bright scarlet forms over it, and this is mace. We saw some of them which had this cover. The candle tree was the most curious of all. Its seed pods were exact copies of yellow candles of the usual length, and when they fall off the tree the stem makes a wick. I would have taken my oath that there were [was] real candles under the tree. They are from Brazil. Most of the wonders seem to come from that country. I think I will go there next year! [*Photo*] [*Tree Climbers Ceylon*] [*Photo*] [*Climbing Cocoanut Palm.*] -11- Among the things which especially attracted us in the Gardens was the Cannon ball tree from Brazil, hung full of perfectly round balls about five or six inches thick - very curious. The India Rubber Tree with most curious roots. The Talipot palm avenue-bordered by these curious palms with ringed stems, (see sketch opposite) large at the bottom, whereas most palms are the same size all the way up. The dark part is a new growth at the top - the whole is so smooth and without a blemish that they seem unnatural. It blossoms once in a hundred years. We had the good fortune to see one in bloom - a great bunch of long feathery green sprays coming out of the top. A vine called the smoke vine is like a boaconstrictor. A great tree with Latin name only, was covered with the most beautiful scarlet fruit about the size of small apples. These were poison. The red cotton-wood - great trees were covered with big scarlet blossoms. There were an astonishing number of brilliant red blossoms; indeed the Hibiscus grows everywhere and its scarlet blossoms enliven the surroundings of every home. The bat drive has an enormous clump of tall bamboos. At the top the famous bats could be seen hung from their claws like dead leaves. A small boy thumped the stalks of the bamboos and directly the air was full of these bats, as big as hens. They are a species peculiar to this Island. They are called "flying foxes." It was a wonderful sight - all those beautiful palms, dozens of varieties, date, sago, etc. There was the pepper tree too, with its pepper fruit ready for the curry. All the way there we saw the great trees loaded with Jak fruit and our dearly loved paw-paws. Upon our return we drove to the market, which is the best and most interesting we have seen anywhere. It occupies a big square, is clean and tidy. [*Photo*] [*Photo*] The Sacred Elephants - at least they look so. See photo 12 for real ones. -12- There were meat, fish and dry goods booths, but the things which interested me were the fruit and vegetable shops. I immediately wanted to keep house. I never saw such an array - even in California. There were five kinds of green beans, five kinds of squash, peas, corn, eggplant, carrots, onions, radishes, okra, and many strange but appetizing looking things. There were oranges yellow and green (the green is a variety which apparently is not shipped to us), bananas, pineapples, jaks, pawpaws, grapes and many small strange fruits. The sight made our mouths water. Directly we were home and seated at the breakfast table at 10 o'clock. Breakfast is not served before 9. We asked for fruit. In response, an immense slice of paw paw for each was brought, a plate of sliced pineapple, another of oranges and another of bananas. Verily, I said this is the Garden of Eden. I read my books industriously until lunch in order that nothing should escape us. I am to be a vegetarian in India, for I do not believe in cold storage for fish or meat in a red hot country. Here it is a delight to be one, and meat eating is offensive to the soul. We lunched on more paw paw, and pineapple, with a course of fresh vegetables. Then came the nape of the siesta, which is the order of this country. At 4 p.m. we were in our carriage again and we took what is known as Lady Horton's and Lady McCarthy's drives. They were repetitions of the morning - beautiful roads, bordered by indescribably beautiful and luxuriant vegetation, in which the cocoanut, the banana, the bread fruit, the jak, the cocoa, the nutmeg, the cinnamon with a dash here and there of the brilliant red blossoms of the hibiscus and the long stems of the gardenia [*Photo*] ELEPHANT AND CUB COLOMBO [*Photo*] A group of Buddhists Priests: Imagine the gowns to be a bright yellow. [*Photo*] In the Suburbs of Manila -13- bearing its beautiful red flowers, made up a panorama of nature which to a farmer reformer surpassed all previous experiences. I should have recorded the cocoa tree, with its fruit shaped like this (picture) subdued red. It contains seeds which are sent to Holland. There the juice is extracted, the seeds ground and the product is cocoa and chocolate. We reached the river at about 5:30 and followed a boy to its banks, where the sacred elephants were taking their afternoon dip. They belong to the Buddhists Temple and are togged out in finery and paraded on great festival occasions. The Temple owns about twenty. There was a general scramble of small boys and girls, elephant keepers and what nots after our pennies which rapidly disappeared. We drove still further and arrived at The Maligawa Temple, or Temple of the Tooth at six. This was our first formal introduction to Buddhism, although we had seen the priests plentifully enough on the street. They are smooth shaven as to head and beard, barefooted and covered with a sort of toga of yellow cotton. They usually carry an umbrella or the more primitive big palm leaf used as a sun shade, and a fan. Originally they were expected to beg for their food and not to eat unless they got it. They still do so in Burmah, but here they are provided with food by their members. They are permitted one meal a day and that must be taken before noon. They do not marry, while priests, but may leave the priesthood and do so at any time. There is always a home where these monks live in connection with each Temple of any consequence. Every Temple must have a relic and this one is very holy, for it has a very special relic - a tooth. [*Photo*] [*Young Buddhist Priest.*] [*Photo*] [*Kandy Perahara, Ceylon.*] -14- of Buddha. The architecture is unimpressive. A moat lies between the temple and the street. On one side of the bridge crossed to enter the Temple, there is water, the other side is grass grown. This water is simply full of big tortoises which come to the surface after popped corn sold to the visitor, who is expected to feed them. My first impression was that this temple was the first dirty place I had seen in Ceylon, and that the priests were the dirtiest people. An English speaking boy acted as guide. In August there is a great festival (harvest) and the tooth is taken from its hiding place and a procession through the town is made with the sacred elephants and much to-do. An octagonal room, in reality, the town looking part of the building in the picture is a library. The books are all sacred books of Buddha, but a case of books on one side, holding probably a couple of hundred books are English books which have been written on Buddhism. The oriental books are written on the bark of the Taliput palm (the one which blossoms once in a hundred years). I bought a leaf made up to sell- an exact imitation, for 8 cents. These are put together with rods through the holes with nicely embossed cover of leather. They are quite curious but not so very old - say 500 years. They are written however in the oldest written language, the Pali, and some I remember were written in Sanscrit, the next oldest language. In the monastery boys are fitted for the priesthood. We saw boys not more than ten years old wearing the yellow robe. We asked what they learned and we were told, the Pali and Sanscrit language and everything about Buddhism! I asked if they were taught anything else, and they said, "No." In fact, each religion teaches its priests about -15- its own faith and nothing more - an excellent way to keep them loyal to it. There are some carvings which are not particularly interesting, and some painted walls and ceilings not remarkable except that they represent Singalese art. A statue of Buddha had before it a table covered with flowers, the offering the Buddhists make. This was the audience room. At 6:30 after much ceremony, the outer shrine was opened revealing a golden shrine set with many jewels. Within this are six other shrines one within another, and inside the innermost one is the tooth - two inches long! The books describe it, for at the festival it can be seen, but we did not see it. Before this shrine is a silver table, and it was covered with flowers. It sounds very pretty to think of worshipers coming with flowers and casting them before the sacred relics, but the "Temple flower" smells like and is sickeningly sweet. We returned through the audience room. (At 6:30, the time for the service, there was a beating of tomtoms, in all parts of the temple and on the street, the din being fairly deafening. This is done three times a day; 5 a.m., about noon and at 6:30. We have heard the Christian Church bells, the Koran shouted from the minaret, and the tomtoms of the Buddhists - all for the same purpose, to call the faithful to worship.) It was full of creatures, probably men, with heads on the ground. A priest was evidently repeating something which they said after him, or possibly it was a sort of responses. The only lights were small candles which escorted us upstairs and down. We were begged from on every side, and barely got out with our pocket books, let alone the contents. We did not think much of Buddhism. The famous tooth has had many a peregrination and after having fallen into the hands of the enemy upon divers occasions, and always miraculously coming back to its friends, it was at last [*Photo*] Typical. The head covering is a towel worn to keep the sun off. Tea Plucking. [*Photo*] [*Tea Pluckers Ceylon*] Shows the kind of basket used & the way it is carried -16- ground to a powder, and the dust thrown away, and after that event, this long tooth appeared. An exact copy of the footprint of Buddha, six ft. long, which is on top of Mt. Adam was also there. As we shall not climb that mountain we were glad to see it. This is a perfect drawing [*sketch*] and certainly looks like the foot of a prophet! We got home very tired. The Dr. threw herself on her bed and dropped asleep. I did not think there was time. When the dinner bell rang, I went to her room and found her in a state of distress. She felt something run over her feet and jumped from her bed, and there on one of the supports of the mosquito bar in an upper corner, was a rat. The chamberman came and we left two men trying to kill it. I went to bed early and had a fine night of it, but it is needless to say the Dr. was not at ease. She did not believe the men had killed it, though they said they had. In the night, she opened her door wide, took her umbrella and punched about in all sorts of places. Sure enough she drove out the rat and he left a happier woman behind. We found no more excursions suitable for early morning, so we slept comfortably late, and after a nine o'clock breakfast I wrote on this belated record all the morning. After lunch we each took a ricksha and went first to the Museum of old Kandyan art. Workmen doing the old work, still pound brass and silver and decorate pottery there. I bought two pieces of brass. Then we went over [to] the same road as that taken for the botanical gardens, to a tea plantation. It is owned by an Englishman, Robt. Wilson, 864 acres. We saw girls and women plucking the tea - only the young new leaves. They use both hands and throw it unto the baskets, which are carried by means of a [*Photo*] [*Native Hut in the Interior Ceylon*] -17- strap on the forehead. They sit on the ground, empty out their leaves and pick them all over, throwing out any old leaves or big stems. The leaves are at once put on frames, covered with canvas. If it is raining they use artificial heat. The motion is something like that of a corn popper. Here the leaves are shaken for 45 minutes. They then go into a hotter machine for 40 minutes, and still another for 20 minutes. Women then pick the leaves over again, taking out the stems which were missed before. he leaves then go into a sifting machine, which easily and automatically sifts the leaves into four sorts, -very course, middling coarse, fine and dust. The tea dust is the poorest quality, the coarse comes next. There are in all seven varieties, or rather grades of tea, the very best grade being Orange, Pekoe. The whole thing was very interesting, but they charged 64 cents each for the privilege. The women get 8 cents a day. There are children also from 8 years up, but the work is easy and done in the open air. It is at least healthy. We learned to know the vine of the Betel leaf. Here tobacco is little used, but the whole population chew the betel leaf. It makes a scarlet saliva which colors the inside of the lips, stains the teeth, and in old age turns them black. I believe it is not especially harmful. Eight cents a day is not much, but it may be enough. The people were no clothes to speak of, live in houses which cost nothing, and the Lord provides their food. Again all along our roadway, I never lifted my eyes wihout sighting a [*Photo*] [*Rhodiyas, Ceylon*] -18- great clump of bananas, cocoanuts, paw-paws, cocoa, etc. Nature is certainly astonishingly bountiful. Upon our return, we stopped in the town abit and here I am up to-date with my record. Now I must pack once more. NEWARA ELIYA (pronounced Nuralia) Hotel New Keena, Jan.25,1912. The trains are so slow that it took us all day to come here. It was a pleasant picturesque journey, over mountain country by zigzag turns, with views of pretty rills and brooky water falls and rivers, and everywhere on mountain top and in valley tea "estates." We saw a good many groups of "pluckers", and several tea drying houses. These fields are kept as clean as a German Garden. Men take a certain number of acres to keep clean by hoeing, and they get 45 cents per month for this work. It is claimed that tea is produced under better conditions than in other countries here. Yesterday everything was bright and happy in appearance, but we have passed through the great tea district today and the people who do the work are a very much lower class- Tamils mostly. We learn that many of these men and women do not receive their 25 cts. (8 American cents) per day, but often excuse is found to cut it down. If they do not fill their baskets they are unpaid for punishment, etc. - a virtual slavery when the people are very ignorant and poor. They are also kept in a sort of compound where they sleep many in a room. The white residents say they are satisfied - they have all they need. I remember the world used to say of a married woman, "she has clothes, shelter -19- and food, what more can she want," so I am skeptical about the contentment of these people. I suppose all the generations after them will pick tea in this way, as the caste of tea pickers is a low one and it is difficult to get out of it. These low castes are little better than slaves. Formerly, we learn the old Brahmans declared four castes. the first was the priests or Brahmans, naturally they gave themselves the best place; then came the military, then the trades, and lowest those foreigners who had been captured or enslaved by war. That was centuries ago. Time gave every trade a caste, and it remained fixed. No Hindoo wants to change it, for his soul is going to live again in another body in this world. It is a reward to be born into a higher caste, a punishment to go lower, and that is the thing every Hindoo dreads above all things. In Ceylon there is a class of people who are called the Rhodiyas. The story goes that a thousand or more years ago, a caste of hunters very honorable, were charged with the task of providing meat every day for the King's dinner. One day there was nothing to be had, so they killed a nice fat baby for him. He liked the flavor very much, and ordered that hereafter he would have that kind of meat every day. For a few days it was supplied, then the supply either gave out, or the mothers rebelled, so the hunters were found out and the king learned what he had been eating. Then these people were condemned to be forever more the lowest caste and a long list of rules were given as to what they could not do. They could not live in the towns, and they could only get their living by collecting wild honey and preparing strips of bullock's hides for ropes, etc. They could not approach the dwellings of higher class people, and were forbidden to wear anything above the waist. -20- This could not have been a great privation then as it was probably usual. It is still for men, but not for women. Since the British came in, their conditions are a little less hard, and some have left the caste and got something else to do. But they are nomads and water in quest of wild bees. The records agree that they are particularly good looking. The story of these unfortunates and their pitiful lives extending over centuries ought to quench the thirst of the Theosophists for the Transmigration of Souls upon which the whole system of caste is based. To-day, we saw the far-famed Mt. Adam. It is the proper caper to ascend it, but that not being in our line, we pass it by. Centuries ago, no one knows when, a supposed footprint was found on its summit. The fact that it was six ft. long and two or three wide and that it only partly resembled a foot, did not deter people from believing it to be a real foot print, but whose? The Hindoos being the oldest religion, claimed it for one of their God's Siva. The Buddhists dating from 600 B.C. declared it to be the foot of Buddha, and the Mohammedans, having adopted the story of creation from the Jews, declared it to be that of Adam. The Buddhists have the best of it, as possession is nine-tenths of the law. They have a shrine there and a few priests live there. They are more generous than the Christian sects in Jerusalem, for they freely allow the Hindoos and Mohammedans to join in the foot worship. Millions of people have ascended this mountain as pilgrims. Many die on the way, being weak and sick; many arrive and die at the shrine, and still others blow off the mountain in the climb upward. There is a fairly easy way to go with only eight miles of walking and three miles of hard climbing. -21- but there is a more difficult way, and it is much better for the soul to go that way. After a hard climb, the candidate for peace of soul finds himself on a rocky cliff almost overhanging the spot he wishes to reach. An iron ladder descends a portion of the way and after that he must step in links of a chain and there is nothing between him and eternity, except those swinging chains. These are so old no one know when they were put there, but it is believed they have been there many centuries. The population is naturally divided over the important question of whose foot is on the top of Mt. Adam. We are for Adam for several reasons. First, the story is so simply logical, it appeals to us. Adam was taken to Heaven and thrown out for some misbehavior. He let on Mt. Adam, and there he stood on one foot until he had expiated his sin. It took two centuries. Meanwhile, our dear Mother Eve was knocking about with no one to see what she ate or what trouble she got all of us children of hers into. Adam found her however, and he said they should settle in Ceylon, as the next best place to Paradise. Surely our parents had their troubles! It is plain to me, and out to be to any reasonable being, that a man would leave a foot print after standing in one spot for two centuries! I am further convinced that this was the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve wore no clothes and were comfortable- their descendants here do the same. Then when they were ordered to wear clothes, a fig leaf was considered sufficient for the climate, and it is! Further, the fig is native here. Now what further proof could be required! I am sure now that Eve was a very naughty young woman to have stolen the only forbidden thing, for [*Photo*] [*The Kaltura Banyan Tree, Ceylon*] [?] one both sides street [*Photo*] [*Banyan Tree, Kalutrara, Ceylon*] Same here -22- whatever it was, there was quite plenty for all needs without it. Naughty Eve, poor Adam! It is cold in this place as it is 6200 ft. above the sea, and is January. I have my coat on and there are grate fires. It is doubless quite warm in the middle of the day. The Governor has his summer residence here. It is a rare thing in a tropical country to find a cool spot. The hotel has kerosene lamps, but seems comfortable. When I was a child, the most wonderful thing in my geography was a picture of the Banyan tree. I little dreamed that I should see one, but they are plentiful although not native. The parks are full of them and they are magnificent. There are two species both figs, but not edible ones. It was under such a tree that Buddha sat, lost in thought for many a day, until his system of salvation for man was worked out. That was in Peshawar in Northern India. It has been claimed that the very tree was still there. A few years ago it blew down, but new ones sprung from the old roots - miracle - so it is there still. Cuttings from that tree have gone all over the tropical world, planted by the faithful, and one at the Temple of the Tooth is claimed as 2500 years old. I neglected to record that on the front of that Temple are some very crude pictures which represent the seven chief sins and the kind of punishment each will get. (1) murder, (2) stealing, (3) disobeying father and mother, (4) usury, (5) sacrilege, (6) lying, (7) speaking disrespectfully of the higher castes. That fellow had the very worst punishment. Flames were blazing all about and through him, and yet he could not be destroyed. -23- One of the Kings long ago had a revelation and that was that a thief who stole fro Buddha anything for his own profit would be transformed into a worm, and there he would be for 600,000 years! That has been a solmn belief of these peopel and doubtless has been thoroughly emphasized by teh priests as a good way to protect the many valuable treasures of their Temple. Yet in spite of this awful warning, a gold statue of Buddha was stolen from the Temple in the very district in which this edict was pronounced and they haven't found him yet! KANDY, HOTEL SUISSSE, Jan. 2, 1912. Yesterday morning, immediately after morning tea, for breakfast is not served before 9, we took a carriage for Hagala, another government botanical garden six miles away, and the chief sight of Nuwara Eliya. As it is at an altitude of 6200 ft., the tropical curiosities of the Pradeniya Gardens are not possible. Instead, a fine collection of plants and trees of temperate zones has been collected. The arrangement is not more tasty, nor plants more wonderful than those of many another garden, but the growth is certainly more luxurious. It was a beautiful mountain drive, with mountains surrounding us on all sides. At a distance from the garden on a mountain plain, or at least falt place on the top of a group of hills (the place is pointed out) where the British brought the Boer prisoners to the number of 5000. When the war was over, they were told that they could go back provided they signed the usual oath of allegiance which the Conquerors think is their due. All did so but 17; they wouldn't. One is -24- still here and as we hope to see him this afternoon, I'll record what became of him later. We drove about the town upon our return and found many beautiful English homes. It is here the British must come to recoup their forces after living a time in the tropical lowland. We took our train at 2:30 and arrived at 9:30. We found no dining car on the train and had no dinner. At Hattan, the point where the pilgrims begin their trip up Adam's Peak, we stopped five minutes. The boy in charge of the refreshment room either could not understand English, or was too paralyzed at the sight of us to comprehend our wants. I grabbed some small cakes and ran back. At the hotel however, they gave us a nice little supper, and we went to bed happy. This morning we took some rickshas and started out in quest of educational facts. We visited Trinity College, with fine buildings and an old school. The three highest men were out of town, and we could learn little. Then we attempted to visit the Kandyan girls school, but the boys took us to a lace school. However, if was up a mountain road from which we got a fine view of Kandy and all the valley. We found a beautifully located airy house under the C.M.S. (Church Missionary Society) All the Missions teach pillow lace making. It looks like torchon, could not be distinguished from machine lace, yet costs much more. It seems a pity not to teach them something more useful. We could learn little here. We descended by a pretty circuitous route to the real school. The school was started 22 years ago to teach the daughters of Kandyan chiefs. Their brothers were being educated in Trinity College, and also Christianized. Only very high caste girls go. They are Singalese with Tamil blood, but are the real -25- descendants of the old Kandy Kings. They wear a cloth over the shoulder instead of the lowcut waist. Some nine of these girls have passed the Cambridge Senior Exam. and more the Junior Exam. They are fitted to enter college when the senior exam. is passed. Mission teachers however are so narrow-minded, they never know anything except their own work, and in no country seem to have a comprehension of the work for the whole country. We got some cues however which may lead to something later. There are still wild elephants on this Island and leopards, as well as smaller game. We have seen several leopard skins for sale. There is also a wild tribe - the original aborigines, the Veddahs. They were a very low tribe as referred to by writers on ethnology, but I can find out little about them except that they live far away in the jungle. One thing however is amusing. The Scientists regard such people as very low, but the Buddhists regard them as the highest caste of all, because they were here first - that's rather good of them. In Nuwara Eliya, when I rose in the morning, I thought, "how well I feel," and I was not tired at all with the walk in the garden. We talked incessantly and told each other stories and were as happy as two children. Most days we talk very little. When we got back to the hotel we walked down town to send a tele- gram to our Kandy hotel, quite a long walk. We rickied back as it was up hill, but not because we were tired. We both feel as though we had had two big cups of strong coffee - all this was the altitude. It gave me no palpitation and no bad effect. We have now come down 4000 ft. Alas, to-morrow we descent to 300, and the tucker will come out of us I suppose. [*Photo*] (1) The largest Temple at Anarahhapura. All the tree covered hill is the Temple overgrown, and of course its entrances are closed and overgrown B.C. 89 Abhayageriya, nearly as high as St. Peters (2) Supposed to be the best preserved. -26- COLOMBO GALLE FACE HOTEL, JAN. 31, 1912. We had a pleasant ricksha ride out in the country on a by-road in our search for the Rebel Boer. We found a charming bungalow under tall swaying cocoanuts, the path bordered by roses and many other flowers. Alas, the Boer lived in Colombo. The estate was in the hands of a Burgher Supt. and those people are called with Dutch ancestry. We paid a call and returned in time for dinner. We arose the next morning at 5:30 and took our train for Anuradhapura. We arrived at 1:30 and the journey was without incident. This was a great nation and 2500 years ago, Amuradhapura was its capital. The Sinhalese (so called from Sinha (lion). They have a legend that they came from a lion father. The Tamils came from the North and there were wars and the capital was destroyed. They left it after a complete destruction probably and that was probably before Christ. The place became overgrown with plants and trees and in time was only a jungle inhabited by elephants and other beasts. Here it remained until 30 years ago the British government began excavations, cleared away a great deal of jungle and is still at work. There are other similar "buried relics" as they are called, but this is the greatest. Photo 18 shows hotel, the bullock carts in which we rode from station, and a ricksha. After a rest we took a carriage and a guide and did all we could before dark. We saw (postal) 1, 2 and 3, and a number of Pokunas as tanks or reservois were called,- There are many of them; The remains of what is supposed to be the Queen's Palace presents a moonstone, which the [*Photo*] [*The Ruined City Anuradhapura, Ceylon.*] This temple Thuparama, is older than anything in India 307 B.C. It was built to enshrine the right collarbone of Buddha [*Photo*] -27- archeologists say is worth going there to see. A peculiarity of Ceylon architecture is the moonstone. it is merely a half circle stone set in the ground as the approach to the entrance stairs. They are still used and in this hotel the foot mat at the door is so shaped. The wonder of the old buildings was the stone carving. There seemed to be a general plan for these designs, but the details were worked out by the carver. It is done in granite. There are 13 trumpeting elephants, one for each lunar month, 13 geese each carrying rows of lotus buds in its mouth, and the other rows of design are lotusflowers, etc. Certainly, this stone is the most wonderful carving I ever saw done in stone. The Temple, Thuparama, is older than anything in India, 307 B.C. It was building to enshrine the right collarbone of Buddha. The second morning we drove 8 miles to Mihintale. The mountain is overgrown with trees, so that nothing can be seen at a distance. At the base these steps of stone can be seen and nothing more. (Picture Next page) The steps are very low, so that by going slowly and cooling off often, we climbed them easily. They were shaded by beautiful trees most of the way. Originally the mountain must have been a wonderful temple, as there is evidence of many little dagobas as they called their temples. About half way up we were entertained by the sight of about twenty five large apes, called wanderys. They were disporting themselves in the trees nearby, and not at all alarmed by our presence. On top of the mountain a dagoba had been built now all overgrown, but below a flat plain had been occupied by the chief temple. Evidently it had been levelled for the purpose. There a half dozen Monks [*Photo*] [*Photo*] [*River Scene, Ceylon*] -28- in their yellow robes were keeping the sacred spots. In the walled up and overgrown dagoba on top is the hair from the eyebrow of Buddhist. One would suppose these priests would like to excavate these old dagobas, but they not only do not do anything of that kind themselves, but some 5000 petitioned the British government to stop their work, as their shrines were being unhallowed! One boy priest said he had a fever and he looked it. He showed us where he slept - a cave with a chill in it like a cellar. We went to see the snake pool with the carved cobra, and here these priests get their drinking water. We might as well have written his epitaph before we left! Poor fools! A small black bird with bright yellow beak and legs, slender and graceful, about the size of our doves walked up to us and came as near as an affectionate kitten. Directly we heard, "Mother, Mother" quite clearly, and looked about for a child. Only the pretty bird was there, and the guide explained that it was a Myna bird and could talk. Later it talked a good deal, but it spoke Synhalese and we could not understood the conversation. From the height we could see the apex of three dagobas and comprehend the great ruin. The whole plain was a jungle of big trees, overspread with luxuriant trailing vines, and choked with underbrush. The old city itself was truly great. There were beautiful palaces, many great temples or dagobas, and it is believed that the whole of that part of the island was in a state of high cultivation, as there are remains of reservoirs, canals, and everywhere indication of extensive irrigation. There was a Brazen Palace wherein a thousand priests resided - a royal palace of 4000 rooms, etc. Here the first sacred "bo" tree was planted. Mahindas sister brought a branch of the original one under which Buddha [*Photo*] -29- sat when he received his revelation. It is not 2500 years old and is doubtless authentic as to age. Here came the tooth, the first temple for it was erected. With a collarbone, a hair from [*x*] an eyebrow and a tooth of the great Buddha, the town ought to have been saved! In those days Buddhist women preached and had nunneries under their own direction. Now Buddhism seems to be [*x*] rather a masculine affair. When Buddha was getting his revelation, a nice cobra came and spread out his hood over his head and protected him, so the cobra was always sacred. It is said they even worshipped them. When the moon is new and when it is full, there are extra worshippings [*x*] which is as near a sabbath as the Buddhists have. They never [*x*] kill anything, not even a b.b. It might contain the soul of their grandmother. We saw on our first drive a great number of small monkeys, two jackals, and the second day, large apes and wild cocks, and all were as undisturbed by our presence as though they were tame. That could only happen in a Buddhist country. The Synhalese were finally overcome by the Tamils and the two are somewhat mixed. They have been a subject race for centuries. [*x*] They were never fighters. The gentle doctrine "Do not kill," the hot depressing climate, and their subject condition, has made them very effeminate. It is very disconcerting to come up behind a graceful woman with a pretty skirt, barefeet, a waist, and shawl on her head, the long black hair hanging down her back to discover that she has a black mustache! There is another evidence that this is the Garden of Eden. We have seen many little boys and girls with a string around the loins supporting a brass fig leaf. It does not matter that the leaf is usually not doing its duty! [Photo] Galle Face Hotel, Colombo. [Photo] Hindoo Temple, Pettah, Colombo. -30- From Anuradupura we came back to Colombo and this time got into the Galle Face Hotel. We went to the Museum and there we saw a great collection of toe rings. Formerly they were worn by the high brows. All the people on the street with few exceptions are barefooted and as these people never wore shoes, they have as much prehensile power of the big toe as the apes. To return, the faces are those of women, and very nice sweet tempered ones at that. The people all look happy, satisfied and prosperous. They live the simple life in full ideality. They require no clothes, little shelter and little food - happy creatures! But they are not climbing upwards very fast. A growing people, alas, must suffer growing pains! There is no smoking among the natives. It is a happy discovery to one who is not in love with tobacco. The native habit which takes the place of it is betel chewing. The betel is a vine. The leaves are collected, and a small pinch of a mixture composed of pounded areca nuts, lime and tobacco is placed on each leaf. The leaf is folded so as to keep the contents intact. Little partitions driven into a stick xxx are made and a folded leaf is stuck between these supports. The women are the sellers and the preparers of these leaves. We tried the leaf without the mixture and found it peppery - red hot. When the mixture is with it, the saliva is scarlet. What effect it has on the body I do not know, but it ruins the teeth, turning them black first. After our visit to the Museum, we went to the Pettah, or native shot quarter. It is always an interesting sight. Our rickies took us. To-day I called upon [Counsel] Consul - Mr. Magelsson, to whom [Photo] Little Abel with his fig leaf [Photo] Street Scene, Pettah, Colombo. -31- Mr. Hay had given me a letter. I found him in Australia. His assistant, Mr. Moser, from Virginia, was once on the N.Y. Post and had heard my name. He was on the other side, but volunteered the information that our side would win. I then called upon an Editor to whom I had a letter and found him out of town. I then went to the Director of Instruction for information and he was gone. I made an appointment for this afternoon, and will go again. To-morrow we leave and will spend the preliminary hours of the day packing. I have bought my bed, - a mattress, my two rugs, a cotton blanket, two sheets, a pillow, six towels, go in a bag which locks with a padlock. The first ten days in India will be hot. It is hot here, but I fear hotter there. I haven't seen a white man living here who doesn't look as though he ought to go home to his motherland. The women of Ceylon are basket and lace makers, and do very good embroidery. They also keep small shops and seem industrious and happier than in Egypt. There is a caste of gold workers, high for trade castes and they have been doing the same kind of work for centuries. The devil dancer are the native doctors, who beat tomtoms and cry and shout when one is sick. I believe they cure as often as the educated kind. At least they are in great demand! [Photo] Betel Leaf Seller, Colombo. 32. [Photo] Ceylon Gold-Workers, Colombo. [Photo] Devil dancers, Ceylon. [Paper] Camphor leaf [Paper] Cinnamon Leaf [Paper] Tea 33 [Photo] THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY TOOTH, KANDY, (FRONT VIEW) No 1 Plate & Co, Ceylon (copyright) No I. 34. [Photo] BUDDHIST HIGH PRIEST. No. 2 Plate & Co Ceylon (copyright) 35 [Photo] INDIA RUBBER TREES, PEREDENIYA GARDENS, KANDY No 3. No. 3. 36. [Photo] THE COLPETTY ROAD, LEADING TO MOUNT LAVINIA, COLOMBO. No 4 No. 4. Scene on the road exact [Photo] SINGHALESE FAMILY GROUP. Plate & Co, Ceylon. (Copyright) No, 5. Scene on road. 38. [Photo] TYPICAL ROADSIDE VIEW BORELLA COLOMBO No 6 Plate & Co, Ceylon, (copyright) No. 6. 39. [Photo] SINGHALESE MAN (BULLOCK DRIVER) Plate & Co, Ceylon. (copyright) No. 7, See Comb 40. [Photo] KANDY PEREHERA, (RELIGIOUS FESTIVAL) PLATE & Co CEYLON, (COPYRIGHT). No. 8- 41. [Photo] "RODIYA GIRL". Plate & Co, Ceylon (copyright) No. 9. 42. [Photo] "RODIYA GIRL". Plate & Co, Ceylon (copyright) No. 10. 43. [Photo] THE SHADOW OF ADAMS PEAK. Plate & Co, Ceylon (copyright) No. 11. 44 [Photo] Photo 12 ELEPHANTS BATHING IN THE RIVER AT KADUGASTOTTA. Plate & Co, Ceylon. (Copyright) No. 12 Sacred Elephants. 45- [Photo] Photo 13 TAMIL GIRLS, (HIGH CASTE) Plate & Co, Ceylon (copyright) No 13. 46- [Photo] HERD OF WILD ELEPHANTS IN JUNGLE PLATE & Co. CEYLON. (COPYRIGHT) No. 14. 47. [Photo] VEDDAHS (WILD MEN OF CEYLON) PLATE & Co. CEYLON. (COPYRIGHT) Photo 15 No. 15. 49 No. 17. NUWARA ELIYA, FROM THE RAMBODA PASS. PLATE & CO, CEYLON. (COPYRIGHT) 48 No. 16. GROUP OF PALMS, PEREDENIYA GARDENS, KANDY. PLATE & CO. CEYLON (COPYRIGHT). 50. [Photo] THE REST HOUSE, ANURADHAPURA PLATE & CO CEYLON. (COPYRIGHT) 18 No. 18. Transcribed and reviewed by volunteers participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.