The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1895-01-18


the Howlands, the Doctors Poor, the
Saunders and others just as good ana
strong have been fighting back mon
sters of 1perstition and cruelty great
err than any that ever swung the tusk
or roared in the iungies.
But passing up and down the streets
of Ceylon you find all styles of people
within five minutes: Afghans, Kafiirs,
Portuguese, Moormen, Dutch, English,
Scotch, Irish, American, all classes,
all dialects, all manners and customs,
all styles of salaam. The most inter
esting thing on earth Is the human
race, and specimens Of all braches of il
confront you in Ceylon. The island OF
the present is a quiet and incon-
spicuo0s affair compared with what IL
J once was. The dead cities of Ceylon
We're larger and more imposing than
are the living cities On this island
are dead New Yorl1s, and dead Pekins,
and dead Edtnburghs, and dead Lon
dons. Ever and anon at the stroke of
( the archeologist's hammer the tomb of
some great municipality flies open, and
there are other buried cities that will
yet respond to the explorers pick
AK. The Pompeii and IIerculaneum
underneath Italy are small COM
pared with the Pompeiis and Hercula-
nouns underneath Ccylon. Yonder is
an eXhumed city which was founded
500 years before Christ, standing in
pomp and splendor for 1900 years
Stairways up which fifty men might
pass side by side. Carved pillars. some
of them fallen, some of them aslant,
some of them erect. Phidiases and
Christopher Wrens never heard of here
performed the marvels of sculpture
and architecture. Aisles through
which royal professions marched.
Arches under which kings were car
ried. City with reservoir twenty miles
in circumference. Extemporized lakes
that did their cooling and refreshing
for twelve centuries. Ruins more sug-
gestive than Melrose and Kenilworth.
Ceylonian Karnaks and LuXors Ruins
retaining much of grandeur, though
wars bombarded them and time
put his chisel on every block,
and more than all, vegetation
put its anchors, and prizes, and
wrenches in all the crevices Dago-
has, or palaces where relics of saints
or deities are kept Dagobas four
hundred feet high, and their fallen
material burying precious things foI
the sight of which modern curiosity
has digged and blasted IN vain. Pro
cession of elephants in imitation,
wrought into lustrous marble. Troops
of hor es in full run. Shrines, chap
els, cathedrals wrecked on the noun
tain side. Stairs of moon stone. Elk
quisite scrolls rolling up more myster
les than will ever be unrolled. 0vel
sixteen square miles, the ruins of one
city strewn. Throne rooms on which
at different times sat 165 kings, reign
ing in authority they inherited. Walls
that witnessed coronations, assassina
tions, subjugations, triumphs. Altar:
at which millions bowed ages before
the orchestras celestial woke the
shepherds with midnight overture.
When Lieut.. Skinner, in 1892, dis
/ covered the site of some Of these cities
he found congregated in them undis
5 turbed assemblages of leopards, porcu
pines. hamiugoes and pelicans; reptiles
summing themselves on the affairs
, prima donnas rendering ornithologica
: chant from deserted music halls. One
king restored much of the grandeur
rebuilt 800 residences, but ruin sooI
, resumed its scepter. But all is down
, the spires down; the pillars down; the
/ tablets down; the glory of splendid
, arches down. What killed those cities.
Who slew the New York and Londor
: healthed with host of plaques? Wa.
it foreign armies laying siege? Was Il
, whole generations weakened by theil
: own vices? Mystery sits amid the
, monoliths and brick dust. Finger OF
, lip in eternal silence while the cen
turtles guess and guess in vain. w,
i simply know that genius planned
those cities. An eminent writer esti
mates that a pile of bricks in one ruiz
, of Ceylon would be enough t.
, build wall ten feet high from Edin
| burgh to London; 1000 pillars with
| carved capitals are standing sentine
, for ten miles. You can Judge some
what of the size of the cities by the
: reservoirs that were required to Stake
their thirst; judging the size of the city
| from the size of the cup out of which
, it drank Cities crowded with inhab
) tants; not like American or English
T cities, but xedtogether as only bar
I barrie tribes can pack them. But theil
knell was sounded; their light went
out. Giant trees are the only roya.
, family now occupying those palaces
, The growl of wild beasts, where once
: the guffaw OF wassail assembled. Anur
adhapura and Pollonara will never be
, rebuilded. Let all the living cities Of
the earth take warning. Cities are
human, having time to be born and
time to die. No more certainly have
they q cradle than a grave. A last
; Judgment is appointed for individuals
but cities have their last Judgment in
this world. They bless, they curse,
they worship, they blaspheme, they
suffer, they are rewarded. they are
overthrow.
, Preposterousl says some one, to
J think that any of our American OF