The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1876-11-22
STRANGELY EErRornED

STRANGELY BETEsOTHED
''Going out, Ellen, are ytu?" said my
father, as he frightened the rein of bis
sturdy hiIl-pony "Well, my dear,
have to face the heat, too, and shall envy
you the shade of your favorite trees be
side the big tank. That M4labtr head
man | spoke of, who has brought over Il
gang of coolies from the mainland, has
promised to meet me in front of the
joss-house in the Nal Tantee village, to
see if we can come to terms. | shall be
back before tiffin time, | hope"
And, with a kindly nod and smile, he
rode off at a brisk trot his horsekeeper,
a bare-footed Cingalese lad, easily keep
ing pace with the pony, and running
swift and silent, like brown shadow be
side his masters stirrup.
Times had changed, and for the worse,
since Mr.. Travers had been reckoned
among the most thriving coffee planters
/ in Ceyon. Our once famous plantation,
called Travers after the family that had
possessed it for two generations, was not
now the source of profit that, in my grand
/ fathers time, it had been. The rich soil,
worn out by overeropPing and neglect,
no longer yielded its heavy harvest of
red brown berries while to reclaim fresh
| land from the jungle was both toilesome
and costly The estate gave US the
means of maintenance, and little
more.
[ was an only child, and my father was
| a widower; so that our actual necessi-
| ties, in that cheap and frugal country,
! were easily provided for. Nor should l
have had care in the world, save for
the old, old story of love, the course of
which hard circumstances would not suf-
| fer to run smooth. Our nearest neigh
! bor-and Christian neighbors, with
white faces and English speaking
tongues. were scarce in Northern Ceyion
was Mr.. Forster, planter, by far
wealthier than we were. Now, Oswald
Forster and | were plighted lovers; and
the very idea of an engagement between
| his only son and the daughter of his en-
barrassed neighbor was gail and worm
wood to Oswald's father, a proud, strong
willed man, who managed his thriving
property so as to extract from beegah of
arabic land its utmost yield in silver ru-
pees.
DESTROYS to eface from Oswald's
mind the idea of marrying poor little
/ Ellen Travers, Mr.. Forster, with his
wifes concurrence, proposed tn send his
son to Europe, confident that foreign
travel and change of scene would soon
obliterate from his memory the image of
the lonely little girl beside the great
Tank of Minary.
And now word concerning the tank
itself, the name of which, fear, conveys
to European readers but very made
| quate conception of the stupendous re
| atty The Tank of Minary, Justly
reck0ned among the n.aryels WHICH the
Islands of CeYlon has still to show, is
perhaps the grandest of artificial lakes
ever planned by mortal engineer More
than two thousand years have passed
since, before the Christian era, Budd
hist King babe his subjects toll to erect
the massive walls of hewn stone and
tough chunam that environ that vast
sheet Of water, twenty-five miles in cir
conference.
With the Minary Lake, or Tank,
which lay close to my own home, L have
been from childhood familiar; and
dearly loved the mirror like expanse Of
its calm waters studded With floating
islands of the crimson blossomed lotus of
India. the red flowers and green leaves OF
which covered many thousand acres OF
the surface. Strange fish of brilliant
colors glided in glittering shoals through
the deep, clear water, rarely disturbed
bv PROV or paddle Bright birds OF
every size, from. the scarlet famingo to
the tiny orole or the towering djutant,
haunted it; and all around grew in
dense profusion the mighty trees and
Towering creepers of the virgin forest,
whence came, at times, the complaining
cry of the mountain eat, the beIling OF
the deer, the panther's snarl or the
crashing of cane and sapling as the wild
elephants forced their way through the
traekless recaSses Of the jungle.
am bonGG-ta admit that there were
other tenants of the lake and forest less
attractive than the bright plumnged
birds and the pretty little lizards basking
in the patches of yellow sunshine. ALI
ratCrs we're very common, snakes plenti-
full, and the SCORPION, tie ceLftipefe, and
tree-leeeh were often to be met with in
the more swampy and tangled tracks of
the woodlands.
But We, who are colonial born, learn
; disregard of the creeping things that
surround US which astonisaes a new ar
! rival from Europe, and had never in my
: life known what 1t vas to feel real fear
of beast or reptile.
!, / watched my fathers retiring figure
until 1t disappeared among the feathery
bamboos that lined the Eatn, ard then,
turning my back on the white house, with
its green verandas, walked on under the
!, shadow of the great forest trees, till |
reached the embankment of the Minary
Tank.
Half an hours walking brought me
within sight Of a ruinous summer house,
built on the edge OF The lake by sore
former Dutch proprietor, and yet
mounted by large ball of gilded
perched on a pole. Near this sun
house it was my custom to meet Os
And it would be but very seldom II
were to meet hencefour;h, since
/ fellow, he was to sail by the Lc
/. housie, expected at Point de Gall
| alst CT the month.
On my way | paused now
familiar as was the prospect, t.
the wide expanse OF the lake.
waters of which rolled away SC
that it was hard to conceive I.
seemed almost entitled to take ra
inland sea, could be actually the W,
human hands.
Flocks of wild fowl, with white