Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-03

have spent IS days on salt water.
In this time they have traversed the
Pacific and Indian Oceans, and the Arabian
and Red Seas. They have been vexed by
no severe storms, and, though they have
twice crossed the equator, have experienced
no extreme heat. Indeed, they have at no
time known discomforts comparable to
those of hot July or August day in New
York. The ocean voyages, in word, have
been singularly comfortable; at times they
have been delightful.
But there may be a surfeit even of delight,
and when the Salier dropped anchor of this
historic city this morning there were sc
beaming faces on her deck, rejecting the
genuine delight of 36 grateful hearts.
Of the Sc one belonged to Clarence
Duval. the black mascot; one to 6 Cinga-
lese boy that Spalding picked up in Ceylon,
and is going to send home either to train as
reserve mascot or to put to a less orna-
mental use as a servant. The other 81
hearts and faces were the property OF
the players, the managers, Messrs. Spald1ng
and Leigh Lynch, and of the ladies of the
party, Mesdames Spalding, Lynch, Will
hanson and Anson. Henceforward the
ratio of land and water will be fairly re-
Versed.
SPICY CEYLoN.
The sole break in the 80 days' voyage lust
concluded was made at Colombo, the chief
city of Cevlon, that island whose 'tspicy
breezes'' have been waited over the civilized
world in Bishop Heber's hymn. This was
on the 25th of January. Previous to that
date nothing but seasickness occurred to
break the monotony OF the trip. Not that
any one was i'll on the Indian Ocean. Into
its basin the waters of the South Pacific and
Indian Oceans dash themselves in greater
or less strife. according TO the season of the
year. A week in this tempestuous region
made serious ravages in the records of some
of the ball players who had ridden the
Pacific with the eqanimity of hearse.
After two weeks of mingled languor,
ennui, and German cooking, the SaIier
sighted the Island of CeyIon. Land Was
sighted at noon, and four hours later we
dropped anchor in the harbor. The ap-
proach to Colombo is a most agreeable sur
prise to one uuacquainted with Oriental
scenery. The Salier ran for miles along a
high shore, crowned with nodding cocoanut
trees, past old Point de Gale and around
the new breakwater built by the English to
and provisioning station for her ships.
Once inside the harbor, the scene changed
from one of placid beauty to one of indie
scribable cIamor and liYelinesS. Almost in
stantly the ship was beset on every side
with minor craft, such as no ball PLAYER
ever saw within the limits of his own coun-
try.
Each boat is marked. Licensed to carry
two frst-class or three coolies,'' and each
Il G.,1. Il.
plement. The passengers were Cingalese
merchants, Tamils, Hindoos, Turks, and
heather of various nations, and each had a
separate design upon the passengers, oil
which the central idea was the passage OF
some of the latter's money into the purses OF
the former The ladder was let down and
the heather swarmed aboard. One had the
certificate of a clergyman that he was a
model Christian and a washerman; another,
similar evidence of his ability as tailor.
Others had rupees to change for English
gold, a commodity which is very scarce in
Ceylon. The most numerous and most
odious OF them all were the gem merch-
ants, who offered precious stones ranging
all the way from cats eye to a ruby of the
purest ray serene.
FRAUDS AND DIVERS.
The BOYS had been sufficiently warned
washerman's certificate would be forgery,
the tailor botch, the money changer a
cheat and that the liens" of the noisy ped
dlers were of glass and manufactured for
this trade in Birmingham. They therefore
escaped the wlles and opportunities of the
pirates, and spent the time before they were
able to go ashore in contemplation of the
lively scene in the harbor. They saw the
coal luggers pull out from the docks, their
cargoes packed in gunny sacks, to be laden
into the ships hold by Tamils as black as
the coal and naked to the skin save for a
garment barely deserving the name of
breech clout. The gigs from several men,
of-war pulled through the water at a lively
rate to and from the shore, the glistening
white costumes of their crews contrasting
sharply with the black backs of the native
oarsmen. A thousand native boats
beside those that beset the Salier
pulled hither and thither their long
spoon-shaped oars beating time to the
rude, incoherent songs of the lowers. Along
side the ship appeared directly craft
stranger than all. 1t was sort of raft, con-
strucred of fine strips of bamboo, lashed to-
gether, and it was manned by four coffee
colored boys, entirely naked save for the be-
aforementioned clout. The youngsters squat
fairly on their launches, piled their paddles
throw silver into the water. "Trow it!
t'row it! We dive! we diver' And dive
they did. One of the boys hurled six
pence into the dark water, about 20 feet from
where the Youngsters sat. The smallest OF
their number was in directly swimming with
all his might in the right direction. He
sank under the water, was out of sight for
half minute, and anon reappeared, the sill
yer in his hand, exhibited proudly to the
crowd. He chucked the coin into his mouth
and was ready for another dive. This
amusement, purchased at the cost of nu-
merous sixpences, served for an hour.
CEyLoN CITIZENS.
Captain Thalenhorst having been per-
shaded to hold the Salier over until 6 o clock
the following afternoon, in order to permit
q game to be played, the party went ashore
in catamarans, and were escorted by a
retinue OF peddlers, guides, beggars and
curious nondeScripts TO the Grand Oriental
Hotel. which was near the landing.
The day in Ceylon is to the untraveled
American a liberal education in Oriental
ism-compressed into a single lesson. In
the city OF Colombo, we were told. there are
Is races, speaking as many different Ian
puages or dialects. Not one of all the 15 but
is wholly unlike in every essential and non-
essential regard wholly; unlike the races,
languages or dialects to be seen or heard in
the United States. Walking the crowded
streets the next day Everybody walks in the
middle of the street in Colombo) the ball
players saw these new races, which are the
most ancient in the world, mingled in
kaleidoscope confusion. Here a Moham-
medan in long robe and sugar-loaf cap; here
a stately Parsee in garb half European, hall
Eastern, clear-featured, specialized, con-
templstive; here, perhaps, Brahman,
%hite-robed, austere; here, there and every