The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-05-10

Colombo is to get out of it and go up to l Randy That involves a railroad jour- ney of seventy-five miles made in about four hours. The ride is hot and tedi- ous, but full of interest and through a country of endless beauty. still, unless one be a wildly enthusiastic 'trotter," a tirelesS maniac of a sightseer he will
 do well, if his time is limited, to shy
 Randy and devote his time to the inn
 mediate vicinity of Colombo. Randy
 and the route to it. can be pleasantly
 and profitably studied by photographs. A better way, of course, is to have time
 enough to see them both.
 I find few people in the east who pay
 much attention to such things as bubon- ic plague in any Of it's forms, or to smallpox. The occidental is not abso- lutely immune from plague, but his chances of contracting it are not to be very seriously considered The special annoyance created by it is, perhaps, the system of quarantine for steamers. One knows he has no right to complain under the circumstances, but it takes highly developed philosopher to submit gracefully and cheerfully to several days of quarantine on land or on ship board in the tropics. Vaccination and faith in the efficacy of the process re- lieve one of any serious concern in the matter of smallpox.
 The traveller, for either business or pleasure, making temporary stay in eastern cities, runs no very alarming risks of their special diseases if he duly observes well-established physical laws. The menace to those whose stay is pro- longed undoubtedly lies In that inflrmi- ty locally known as liver A man eats too much and exercises too little, and gets liver. He goes home with liver, and, according to conditions, may or may not get over liver. It is probable that it is a kindly dispensation of Prov idenee that eastern hotels are not run on the system of elaborate menus which is prevalent at home. The ''chow" of even the best of taverns in the east and the far east is not sufficiently tempting to induce one to gorge himself and so bring on liver during a few weeks of travel.
 The comparative paucity and sim plcity of Oriental hotel menus does not seem to be due to any lack of supply in quantity or variety. Fish are obtaina- ble almost everywhere in great abun- dance of sizes and species. Meats are usually fair though far from notable for excellence. Fruits and vegetables are to be had, of course. in endless sup ply. Prices vary somewhatA locally, but the following, current in Colombo, may be taken as a fair average of ruling figures. Eggs are eleven cents per doz- en, American money; oranges rather an inferior variety, twenty-five cents per dozen; plantains (bananas), ten to twelve cents per bunch; chickens, twelve cents each: beef, six cents per pound, etc. Ordinary qualities of rice are quoted rather less than SIPS (Amer- ican) per bushel. Cocoanuts are worth about s1.20 per hundred Cheap native coffeeS are sold at from two to three dollars per bushel, and better grades of cleaned Liberian at about eight cents per pound, with finer grade of native at twelve to fifteen cents. It is evident that famine in India is due to mans improvidence combined with natures local eccentricity, rather than to any special niggardliness on natures part American kerosene is quoted at S2.75 (American) per case of ten gallons, with Russian oil about fifty cents under that Colombo (Ceylon) Correspondence of the New York Evening Post.