, 1886-09-02
RunAl LIFE N cgYlon.
A Planters Experienoe-Not Hard Work
Tho Bothersomo Porcupine.

A Planter. Experienoe-Not Hard Work
The Bothersome Porcupine.
A young planter from the slope of
"The Knuckles" lately gave us the plea
sure of his company. The Knuckles,
5000 feet high, are thus named because
from a distant point, my verandah, for
instance. the ridge appears to be a row
Of regular peaks which shape the hori-
zon like the knuckles Of q human fist,
This planter has beer in Ceylon eight
years and four months, The fodr months
elapsed Immediately after his entrance
into a world of experiment.; then he
passed eighteen years in England, and
the next eight years on these mountains.
This embodiment of British brain and
brainy energy has charge of !, 200 cult
waited acres. They lie up and down
rather han around his @K~nuckle:" there
fore at different heights he raises the diff
ferent sorts of plants adapted to the
locality, tea being largely the chief, and
for its profits it is just at this moment
the plant of the future, all outlay and no
income. He is putting up large machin-
cry, and when the estates are working
properly and fourishingly, three or four
years hence, his 1000 acres which now
require 400 laborers will employ two
persons to each acre, i. e., 1000 men,
women and children. Children can pick
tea leaves, and the toddling tot minds
the creeping baby-a creation which ex-
lists in every Tamil family.
The Tamils are not dying out, though
they are Of the Dravidian. the oldest of
old peoples; from a hardy antiquity they
survive in very vital condition. Look
ing at their slender figures and little
feet, who would suppose that they were
to bear the heavy burdens of lifel But
the farming here is not so muscular a
work as it is in Illinois. 1t is more a
gardening, a plant culture. But Tamile
shoulders the planters "box" (trunk)
with the lifting strength of an Italian
porter, and more than of the weakened
Irishman on May-day in New York, who
groans under baggage and bangs it
down at the new residence, and demands
extra money for the weight.
The heather do not SO. They give a
smile instead of a groan, and are glad OF
the opportunity to work. Tamils are
neither Aryan nor African, but seem to
have as much vital vim as the Aryan;
black as negroes, they have none of the
African physiognomy except the color.
While we were eating banana fritters
and the other good things that form the
festive tropic dinner, the planter told
how his uppermost field, made of virgin
earth, run up into the original jungle
hat never had been molested since
Adam and Buddha left their tread marks
on this classic island. Buddha's on the
Alu Wihar bolders that fell to the foot
of the Natalie hills, the leading points in
the landscape now before my eye, while
the foot print of our gardener-parent is
said to be) on that Adams Peak"
whence, Immediately after the fall and
the curse, in deep meditation he looked
over this poisoning island.
The planter old what an amazing in
cursion of porcupines he is just now con-
tending with. The hungry little hog
having fierce and frightful quilts from
ears to tail, with only an undefended
nose, roots up and devours all the veg
etable food that lies in his way, and has
admirable taste in the selection of gar
den stuff. The planters adjoining neigh
Dor, i. e., the next knuckle of the range,
is not only a planter, but a loving
student of botany and zoology, which he
has in that situation excellent opportu-
mites of pursuing. Too good, he thought,
when lately confusion and broken pot
terry reigned over the length and breadth
of his verandah. The porcupine knocked
over his choice lower-pots; the blossoms
which diffused fragrance through his
bungalo, the tender leaves he had nursed
into development, were snipped off as
fine edibles by this ravaging and gusta-
tory beast. Porcu, pork; pine, spine or
prickle-a hog of thorns.
The jungle-cock was a creature which
the planter ~discoursed enthusiastically.
The domestic bird that supplies Europe
and America with eggs, the barn-yard
fowl, is in his native country and orig
inal state in Ceylon. He breeds no i'm
provement by crossing. The Jungle
cock the planter described as being a
prince in his way, admirable, beautiful.
The peacock is here also in native land.
At A%nurajapura. a famous city of Cey-
Ions ancient ruins, a p~eacock's feath-
cred skin, from beak to tail inclusive,
al be bought for $40 GO rupees).
Anurajapura more than 1000 years ago
was the center of civilization. Now it is
the center of jungle.