The herald., 1894-10-21

lul, mountain and valley. rivers and
waterfalls, grass lands and forest, and
the highest mountains are forest-clad to
the top. g..
Piduratallagalla. the highest noun
tain, raises her jungle.covered peaks
$3.50 feet above the sea, and the hills
are everlsetingly green all the year
round. Adams Peak ia the most sa-
cred mountain, 1900 feet high the tenn
pie on the top is the object of hundreds
of devout pilgrims, and there on the
top 10 to be seen the print of Adams
foot, about 8 y feet long and2@ wide.
But Handy, that lovely spot, sleeping
in the cradle of verdnnt hills, and mir
rored In the classy waters OF her island
dotted lake, words have never yet been
written to fully describe this lovely and
sacred spot. Putting Jerusalem frat.
Mecca second. Handy comes third in
the ordeIsf the most sacred cities OF
this esrta. Here ia the famous Temple
of the Tooth. the Delnda msligawa, the
headquarters OF the Buddhists, and en-
sh ined il the temple is Buddha's
tooth, the sscred relic ahown to thou
sands of pilgrims and exhibited to
prominent visitors from other parts of
tho world. The tooth is discolored
piece OF ivory, about three inches long.
| have never seen it. 1t is enshrined in
several rare and costly caskets, studded
with priceless gems and securely
guarded. The annual perehsra or sa-
cred procession takes place here when
the small temple in which the sacred
tooth ie kept is carried round the town
on an immense elephant, followed by 80
or 40 other elephants, and immense
crowds of devil dancers, torcnbearers,
tom-tom beaters, hornblowers, ETC.,
q wonderful and memorable sight, and
which cannot be equalled elsewhere.
Handy is 75 miles from Colombo and is
1900 feet above sea level. 1t is reached
by one of the finest railways in the
world, and the climb among the Mills,
along precipices and over torrents forms
one of the triumphs of engineering skill.
The line cost $3.50. 900 per mile, and tho
first portion. near Colombo. whore it was
foverish and marshy, cost q life !or each
sleeper laid down. The gauge ia feet 5
inches; the ballasting Two feet Of broken
blue granite, no earth or sand being
used. and extends two feet beyond the
rails. Everything was well done. to
Withstand the heavy rainialla during the
monsoons. 1t rains there sometimes.
have gauged as much as Is inches in "a
hours and over 80 inches in one week at
the break OF the monsoon, but that was
exec pt!onally heavy. The rainfall va
RES greatly, come places receiving little
or no rain. The general fall ia from so
to 250 i-ches per snnum.
The climate is mostly healthy, though
some portions are feverish anu unhealthy
for Europeans.
The sportsman finds Ceylon quite q
paradise. as anything from quail to ele-
plants are TO be found. The latter are
now highly protected, and license cost
ing $l0O has TO be obtained before one is
allowed to shoot an elephant; and only
one, a bull, must be shot. Deer are to
found, sambur Cor elk), spotted and red
deer small bear, cheetahs. jackals, buf-
faloes, jungle fowl, snipe. crocodiles, and
variety of the most deadly snakes. The
bite of the dreaded cobra di capella and
the tic polongs is fatal in a short time,
and few have over recovered when once
bitten.
The island is now famous for it's pure
and delicate teas. A great feature Of
this industry waa made at Chicago and
San Francisco exhibitions, and it was
quite revelation to most Of the visit-
ors when they tasted, for the first time,
our pure, delicious tea. When | went
to Cey Ion. about Is years ago, it was
nearly all in coffee, which was the finest
the world produced. Early in 1871 q
fungoid disease was detected on the
leaves. Little harm was done at first,
but it gradually spread. and soon began
to weaken the trees, 90 that crops be-
came shsrt, aud at last reached the
non paying point. We looked about for