The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-03-18
in PICTURESQUE CEYLoN
TEA GROWING ONE OF THE GREAT
INDUSTRIES OF THE ISLAND.
Gay Native Costumes Attract the
Customs Predominant I'm Cities.
of the indianapolis Journal.

the tourist usually has letters. the stereo-
typed trip over the continent of Asia would
be but little more than a visit to a success
sion OF British cities and hotels. 1t is true
that each of these cities has a native quar-
ter, but il is usually very unattractive and
gives but small idea of that which one
wants TO see, viz. homes. habits, religion
and civilization. The missionaries in
variably have country circuits, speak the
language and have made native character
special study. In China there are no
roads. and il is almost impossible to see
the native farmer and small villager, and
here the missionary is indispensable to
the tourist, and they are always ready and
willing to do their utmost. and regret to
add most Of them have to take their pay
in invidious criticism.
Ceylon is very much like Luzon. Both
islands are about Of size, only the one is
British and the other Spanish-all the
difference in the world. The principal city
of Ceylon is its port of entry, Colombo, a
somewhat tiresome semi-English city of
100000 people. Like Manila, it is intoler-
ably hot Seventy-fiye miles in the interior
is Ceylon's ancient capital. Kanday, the
most interesting place in the island. Here
is tropical nature in all of its splendor, but
assisted, as it should always be, by art.
The railway from the coast to Kanday
rises some 1000 feet and runs through a
| succession of cocoa palm and tea farms
Tea is a very diminutive. dapper little
shrub, an intense blue. and growing about
the height of a prosperous potato vine. 1t
is planted about two feet apart and kept
perfectly clean from all weeds. Last year
Ceylon exported 130,000,000 pounds of tea;
| yet the growers complain that there is no
| money in it. They say the cocoanut crop is
| far more profitable, but there again man
is never quite happy, for it takes fifteen
years to mature the palm from its plant
| so as to gather steady crops.
The inhabitants of Ceylon are either
Tamils or Cingalese; the men of the latter
are known by their long hair, knotted be-
| hind, and round comb on the top of their
heads. like very little school girls. Both
| Tamils and Cingalese have dress of their
| own. the like of which is found nowhere
| else except in India proper. They are
! handsome folk, especially the women and
children. The children go, for the most
| part, Naked little boys wholly so; little
| girls under five years practically so. Like
! Adam and Eve. they do not know that
| they are unclothed. Neither did ever be-
fore have any idea how miserably awk-
ward and uncomfortable are our American
| and European costumes, both male and
| female.
| AN ORIENTAL TOWN.
/ Cingalese woman takes long bolt of
| calico, either pure white or brilliant in red
| and scarlet, Grapes the lower half of it
| around her waist letting it fall just below
her knees; then she takes the upper half
/ throws it over her shoulders and draws it
! across her breast, while her back is for the
| most part bare and so are her head and
| feet for shoes and headgear are unknown
| yet there is not q particle of her person ex-
| posed which modesty requires to be COW
| cred. These dusky women look with hor-
ror upon our ladies' low-necked dresses. In
Kanday there are fair sprinkling of we'll
dressed American and British ladies' but
when placed beside these Cingalese women
| they suffer by comparison, but then Ceylon
| has one kind Of a climate and Europe and
| the United States another, and dress is,
| after all, a matter of climate 1 think as
| beautiful sight as human eye ever rested
| upon is one of these sun-soaked streets of
| Kanday and the people, a perfect blaze Of
brilliant color, perpetually winding about
| like the glasses OF kaleidoscope L spend
hours watching and never tire of it, The
yellow robes of the priests add variety to
/ the spectacle.
| The majority Of the people of Ceylon are
| Buddhists. In one of the principal streets
| of Kanday, not one hundred rods apart,
are three buildings; one is marked Bud
| dhist School for Girls" another "Moham-
| medan School for Boys, and the third "St.
Stephens College" Stepping into book
store. found a large assortment of school,
books in the native language, and the shop
| keeper told me that he sold them indiffer-
emily to all the schools, the same books
being used in each. The Buddhist religion
| is very much alive here in Ceylon. Open
| ing its city directory, / find seven pages
| devoted to the various Buddhist societies
| in the city OF Colombo. These include the
entire list Of charities. etc. They have
their newspapers. tracts, magazines, etc.
am bound to say that Mohammedans are
| less active, but then Ceylon is a very old
home of the Buddhist religion and 1t is
! alive to the situation and adopts Chris
tian methods of propagation.
| The CingnaleSe i've III miserable SnackS
| or huts, are great liars, and, in fact, are
/ without morality. Does this arise from
their low wages? In the country a laborer
| gets Is cents a day. and in the city Is cents.
/ have nowhere met with such mean and
| petty shifts to make money as here. Some
| times I think the good bishop was right
| when, speaking of Ceylon, he said: Every
/ prospect pleases, and only man is vile.''
MATRIMONIAL CUSTOMS.
There is curious kind Of custom here.
| Instead of man having an assortment of
| wives the woman has an assortment of
husbands. Perhaps this is the reason why
these women dress so well; they have va
| riety of purses to draw from. These hus-
| bands are usually brothers, a fact that
| must add to the domestic peace, but must
make it rather hard on the children. Think
| of poor little soul that has six fathers,
and doesn't know which is which!
The variety of trees and plants here Is
wonderful. None OF them grow in our
Northern States. The indigo plant, CHINA
| mon, quinine or cinchona, and the rubber
| are some OF the most useful The coffee
plant, for some reason, does not thrive
| 1,or~ nor daar tba oottau The orp n, an n