The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-06-22

Cevlon has several distinct races living
anon Il. Long before. history began To 10
written II had prosperous people. and contin-
ned So for ages. Il has old cities, deserted
ages ago and great tanks for gathering and
holding water for irrigation purposes, which
show that portions Of the island, now wild
and waste. were once teeming with popula-
ton. The ruins and the tanks are all that il
le,t rs "a record Of the people who built them.
Even the descendants Of these people have
dwindled down 20 a little over 20c0 and are
Wild savages. stunning civilized men The
Singnlese who have Persian and Arao blood
ia them. arc rather far, delicate IN form and
organization; expert manipulators in jewelry
and other nice work-alI Buddhists, and
number less than 2,O0O000 They were,
many generations ago, overTun by Tamils-
vigorous, hardy nearly black men from
southern lndia-who today number about
two-thigds Of. million, and are the hard
workers and Hindoo in religion. The mixed
blood-callol EaTasians and BHrghers-are
the descendants Of the Portuguese. who held
the island for nearly century and a half,
and o.; the Dutch, who controlled for cen
fury and third. and numbers less than 90
90 These with many Singalese, are Catho-
lies mostly. Other peoples swell the popuIa-
ton 10 100000, and are governed by less
than 500 Europeans These latter are
planters and officials Eurasians and full
natives have cinnamon gardens.
By the way, this plant when cultivated ia
kept down TO small shrub not OYER eight
feet high In the forest 1t grows to pretty
tree aud rs large, say, as the pear A garden
Is very pretty. the foliage being very glossy
and Of i.snt, cheerful cren. The bark on
the green stem, while spicy. has not the pun
ecncv of the cured article The sun in cur
In. seems to bring II out / Will here state
that the growing tea leaf has no more flavor
than an ordinary tlsteless weed, and gives no
promises 20 the unintiated Of that wonderful
quality which makes it the sweetest friend
and kndiieS; sOlacc OF 50 many countless
millions 81 human beings. II has not its
properties brought ont by sun heat but by
ire A few Of the fine brands in China are
sun cured. but do not reach the general
markets. being confined to the iardcrs Of very
ricl Celestial connoisseurs Cinnamon and
rice cultivation IS confined to the low, hot
lands OF the island, aud Is in the hands
generally Of the old Singalese population.
a NATIVE BOAT.
The native boat Is a queer thing-a log of
wood from ten 10 twenty feet long, turned
upward at each end, is dug out into shallow
trough. rarely over n foot wide On top of
this the boat is carried with boards TO a
length twice as great as the solid keel below,
and say two or 50 feet high, but no wider.
From this craft springs two bent poles to
light Log Of wood from Sax 10 ten feet OIL.
This out rigger makes the queer catamaran,
one Of the safest small boats which run out
into the sea. The native sits with one foot
IN and one outside Of the narrow trough, and
rows or sails far out on the deep, and can
brave storm the ordinary long boat could
not survive They are rOwed rapidly and
sail eight to twelve knots an hour. Two
email platforms. say four feet square, are
built on top. On this tho boatman carries
bis freight and the fisherman his nets. | am
told the fisherman frequently goes out forty
miles 10 sea.
All along the coast the natives are semi
amphibious 4 number o, half grown boys
surround steamers coming and going on
queer little RATS built Of three huoyant sticks
ten 70 twelve feet long and dashed together.
Upon this the half naked fellows sit on their
legs and paddle very rapidly. So expert are
ihev al diving that a silver coin, thrown
thirty % fifty feet of. never reaches the bot
tom tctore 1t is caught. Passengers get sew
eral OF thee boats around ia semicircle
from the steamer. then drop q small coin
close 10 the ship The boys spring toward it
and swim ur 90 the point, then 60 headlong
below. s4urmiug like frogs, after the shin
Ing metal They will even get a copper, II
not ycrg far off But they like the white
hes OF lie purer metal These boys are all
quite dark. but the bottoms Of their feet are
almost white. Whyl
The Sngalese are a comely looking race,
with features quite efeminate in their deli
cacy. This appearance is further increased
by Their lonr hair. tied in knot at the back
OF tie head and held smooth 10y light tor
toise comb, such as young girls at home wore
when was young. The dress is the universal
band Of cloth, here left to fail like skirt; a
Jacket is worn in the citieS-in the country
and villages only a cotton cloth is thrown
over the shoulders. The women have, to
great extent adopted q emiEuropean COS
tune At least those saw had.
TIE BULLOCK CART.
The Tami. population dress as the southern
Indian does. By the way, the tea and coffee
estates are worked and the heavy labor about
cities is done by coolies brought annually
from the coast OF southern India, from Nal
obar - Madras. This region furnishes coolie
labor west OF Singapore, as the Chinese do
east thereof.
This leads me 10 speak Of another mode Of
CONVEYANCE here and in lndia-the bullock
cart The Indian buliocks all have the hump,
tut In other respects they vary in form and
appearance as much as the different breeds OF
our cattlo-in ONE localities very tall and
long horned have seen yoke over SIX
teen hands high. and have seen horns over
three feet In length. These horns III whole
districts point up aud toward each other
In some localities they spread and often bend
downward. Ia Burmah the OF is fair sized,
but bis horns are very short In Ceylon he
is very small. compactly built and has little
nubs for horns lie is very pretty and very
Quick in motion. AT Kalutara, near the
south end Of the island, three Of us rode IN
a little cart drawn by n bullock forty one
inches high and not much longer from his
front % the root OF his tail The brave little
fellow trotted az a gait Of say SIX or seven
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