The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-06-26
Hit the Nail
On the Head"
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tered, n the entire trip was as pleas
ant as il could well ave been.
l found Colombo TO be another large,
pretty, tropical English city with an
excellent harbor, and il Is also a great
coaling station. The haroor was once
a poor one, but in 1875 a great sea wall
called the breakwater was begun and
completed in later years at great ex-
pense, which resulted in one Of the
finest harbors in this part Of the world.
The first block Of stores was laid by
the Prince Of Wales On the above date
with great ceremony. The whole length
Of the wall is APP feet. is built of con-
crete blocks weighing 16 10 80 ton and
is twelve feet above water at low tide.
1t is a beautiful sight to see the large
waves from the ocean come against il
n the water fly high into the air.
The Island of Ceylon is called "a
paradise of palms, pearls and per-
fumes" In 1897 there were 1882, 4S7 in
habitants on the island including some
100000 in the city Of Colombo. The is
land contains an area Of "a, 700 square
miles. length 267, breadth 140. Abou
100000 acres are under rice cultivation
n about 80, 900 under other grains;
10000 under 100, 600 under
other palms; 100, 900 under coffee, 49,
900 under tea, $4,000 under cinchona,
$1,000 under cocoa and So, 900 under cin-
namon. l mention these items to show
where much of these kinds of products
we use in the states come from.
The principal daily papers printed in
Colombo in English are the Ceyton
Examiner, The Ceyton Independent,
The Ceylon Observer, The Ceylon
Standard n The Times of Ceylon.
On our way from Colombo here we
passed on u left the pretty island OF
Socotra some ninety miles in length.
1t Vas on this island that the ship
Alden of the Peninsular and Oriental
line was wrecked some two years ago.
The Arcadia, on which / am now sail
ing, is one of the Peninsular and Orien-
tails best mail and passenger ships. She
is 462 feet long, SO feet wide and is
carrying 246 passengers from New
Zealand, Australia and other parts OF
the world to London, the Paris exposi-
ton, etc.
Your correspondent is fleeing from
the awfully hot weather, the plague
the famine and other unpleasant things
in this part of the world, as fast as he
can to some more comfortable quarters
in higher ATTITUDES. 1t is all right fol
sightseeing, but under no circumstan-
ces would he wish to make any place
he has seen in this climate his home
long at a time.
We reached here at daylight this
III oo AK pidSu NC 10 mere III
n is allowed ashore and we FIND
nothing of any special interest, as Alder
is a small and much scattered towr
and it is one Of the hottest places, it is
said, in this part of the world. The
steamship Carthage has come in from
Bombay and we nave added to on,
passenger list some fifty more from
different places in India. The voyage
through the Red sea now begins an6
in about three days we hope to be as
far as Port Said. and in much bette,
weather.
Your correspondent is now congratu.
lating himself on getting SO far ON his
trip without any misfortune whatever
and is hoping soon to be where the
news facilities are much better an6
where he can get more news from the
states.
Respectfully YOURS,
]. A. CREWS.