The Opelousas courier., 1892-08-27
ISLE OF. SPICE AND PALM,
cEyIoN ONE VAST FERNERy AND
HoTHoUsE GARDEN

Everything That Grows Under q
Tropical Sky Found There-An
Earthly Paradise.
9 T is worth a trip half way round
tt g world to visit this charm
Jig island of spices and palm
groves: Surrounded as Is Is by @
double glrdle Of golden sands, in which
are embedded precious gems Chat sparkle
| and twinkle in the lazlly rolling surf.
Long before the island is reached one
is greeted with it's %perfumed and spicy
hreezes as they are waited far out to
sea.
The island of Ceylon is situated, as is
well known, near the southeast q ex~
tretnits of India, only six degreN from
the equatoF. Under this tropical sun,
with several hundred inches 6f. tsins
fall annually in many places, the
island presents the appearance OF n
vast ~fernery and hot house garden-a
| paradise of fora, beautifully disposed
into PLAIN and highland, Valley ans peak,
where almost everything grows that IS
known to a tropical sky. For miles and
miles one rides through bowers OF wav-
ing palms of TALBOT, the leaves of which
have been used for $500 years; and are
still used to this day by the Buddhists
for their sacred scripture books. They
are prepared and the letters scratched
on them by means of a stylus, and so
whole inspired volumes are written just
as the Egyptians used to write on pa
pyrus:
Here one passes through gloves Of co..
coanut; areca and betel-nut palms, with
their long slender stems and beautiful
foliage and fuits. A cocoanut tree pro-
| duces from 100 to 800 nuts annuallys
and many natives would starve should
the crop fail--a thing which has not
happened for 1000 years.
We next drive along the roads lined
with towering feathery bamboos as thick
as ones body. From these houses are
built, furniture and utensils and orna-
n,ents are made. Then one sees the
broad -leaved bread fruit trees, bearinga
delicious fruit the size of a meloh; sugar
cant Of enormous size; large jackfrult
trees; huge india-rubber trees, FROM
which caoutchoue is obtained. These
trees have as many roots above the
GROUND as there are branches. Another
huge tree frequently seen is the bantam
or Indian fig three, with its hundreds of
branches that have taken root i'll the
ground. Then there is the sacred Be-
tree seen frequently. This tree sprang
up To proteet Lord Budda wherever he
CHANGED to rest: Then We pass orehardsS
of bananas; einchotias, allspice; nutmegs,
cannas, cloves, dracenas; trotons; elm
namon, erythroxylon cocoa, from the
leaves of which cocaine is obtained; pa
paya, from which a digestive ferment is
made; cocoa trees that yield chocolate,
and so on down to tea-fne ceylon tea,
Of which there are thousands of acres, just
as there were thousands of acres of coffee
some few years ago, yielding millions of
pounds of good coffee. But the death
blow came to coffee in the shape of a
fungus, and a green bug, which destroyed
the trees SO completely that Ceylon coffee
has now all but disappeared.
The nights in Ceylon, especially up in
the mountains, are perfectly delicious.
The atmosphere is cool, clear and per.
fumed with many delicate aromas from,
the Towering shrubs and spices. Myr-
lads of f~refies dart hither and thither
in giittering clusters, lighting up the
darkness like so many tiny electric lights.
Everywhere the crigkets and frogs and
NAM unknown birds and beasts sing and
cry in choruses thasslull one to forgetful-
ness in the sweet arms of Morpheus. In
the starry vault the beautiful southern
cross and many brilliant consultations
shine overhead like sc many unknown
worlds; which In fact they are, with the
north polar star scarcely above the hori-
zon, all making a | picture so pleasing that
once seen is never to be forgotten. 1t is
like a dream of fairyland.
CeYlon has an area of $4,000 square
miles and q population of 5000, 600
souls. Of these z, 200, 900 are CingaIese,
and all faithful Buddhists; 800, 900
Taneils, who are Brahmins and Hindoos;
5000 Europeans of many religious seets,
and the rest Mohammedans, japanese,
Chinese, Burmese, etc., with a handful
of aborigines found on the island $500
years ago, when Buddha first planted his
foot on Adams peak to preach and save
the human race. These aborigines are
called Veddahs, and live like animals in
the jungle and woods. They were mis-
taken by early travellers for monkeys,
which indeed they seem to resemble.
They go naked and speak an unknown
tongue.
Colombo is now the port of entrance for
all large vessels. The city is charmingly
situated on the blue Indian Oceans
sparkling sands. It is filed with avenues
of waving palms and towering shrubs,
and possesses many fine buildings and a
good English fort. The city has 40, 900
inhabitants, mostly Cingalese. They
live in small huts made of bamboos, in
the midst of %cocoanut groves. Their
huts have a large hole for a window and
half a side out, which answers for a
door. One room is usually all these huts
possess. In this the natives cook, eat
and sleep. Furniture is unknown. Their
beds are mats of palm leaves. They sit
on the floor, not cross legged, as do the
Turks, but in a squatting posture on
their launches. They live on jack fruit
largely coarse fruit, twelve inches
long by six wide, that grows on huge
trees. Besides this they eat cocoanuts,
bananas, bread fruit, nuts, rice and curry
and papaya, q fruit about the size and