Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-01-11

The coolies that row you and your
I luggage ashore would never carry
your luggage; lower-caste coolies must
do that. The dirty driver Of BULLOCK
cart will take your luggage to the no.
tells, but it must be loaded and I'M
loaded for him by separate sets OF
coolies.
Every native who sees you arriving
or departing will crowd around you
and extend his hand, expecting a fee.
In the streets the young and old greet
you with their salaam (salutation) and
ask aims.
The people are neither energetic noI
ambitious and prefer to lounge aroune
rather than to work. They stroll
around or work in the boiling sun
bareheaded, apparently unmindful or
the fierce sun, which is very powerful
and dangerous to Europeans if exposed
to its direct ways.
Foreign NatiOnalities.
All nationalities of Egypt and India
are in Colombo, but there are absolute
ly no Cinnamon whatsoever, the Chi
nese not being able to compete with
native labor and grow rich. The jim
rikishamen are natives. The national
tiles from Egypt and India swarm the
chief streets, on which are located
their small shops. Their incessant
wall and salutation is Il am waiting
for thee" you promised me" "Come
inside, just to look, not to buy" and
so on. A dozen, all at once, persist in
calling every European passer-by.
They are very amusing, at times an
noying, but always so polite as to pre-
clude taking offense. Precious stones
and jewelry are their chief articles of
trade.
They are great prevaricators, very
willy and exceedingly shrewd in palm
ing off almost worthless stones in
cheap alloy settings upon passengers
| from the various steamships.
All the Cingalese, with few eXcep-
lions, chew the betal leaf and arrac nut
combination. White lime, obtained
| from the burnt shells is spread upon
! the betel leaf and chips of dried arrac
nut (grown on the arrac palm) is put
with the leaf and chewed. The COM
| binatiOn results in a deep-red juice,
which colOrs the lips, the saliva, the
| gums, etc, bright red. The chewers
appear to have a mouthful of blood.
It is very hideous at first, but one soon
! fails to be impressed with the sight
! The betel leaf (there is no betel NUT
is the leaf of a tropical vine (creeper).
Light pink-tinted lime is fad in
dulged in by few. Some add several
cloves, cardamon and pinch Of leaf
tobacco as a special flavoring.
An Elephant Hunt.
Ceylon has no tigers, but it has
large tiger cats, elephants and snakes
! galore. The deadly cobra, adder and
python are the most dreaded of the
reptiles.
In the interior of Ceylon | had rather
a novel experience, that of witnessing
an elephant kraal.
Several weeks previously two herds
of elephants had been surrounded by
some $500 native coolies under the
orders of their Ratamahatmayas, pre-
paratory to the kraaling. The plot of
wilderness and jungle surrounded by
the circle of coolies extended over an
Every night, by firing blank ammu-
milton, kindlirg fires, bel ting tomtoms
and loud shouting, the elephants were
driven several hundred yards nearer
| 10
repeated nightly until the elephants
were half a mile or less from the
mouth of the stockade. This chase
sometimes requires more than two
months.
The circle of coolies then opens and
inclOses within its ranks the entire
stockade. This stockade was built of
stout tree trunks deeply and firmly i'm
bedded in the ground at a distance of
two feet apart. These treeposts pro-
jected some IA feet above the earth
and were reinforced by three parallel
lines of horizontal crosspieces, secure
ly tied to the posts with wild vines and
creepers. The whole was further
strengthened by a series of slanting
braces firmly fixed in the ground and
having horizontal crosspieces also
bound to them. The stockade OF
'kraal' was about 500 feet square, and
built in the jungle, with it's entrance
part of the Jungle The entrance for
the game was from so to 70 feet wide
and at the north side of the stockade
Beyond the stockade, on the south
opposite its entrance, was "Kraal
Town" which consisted of several doz-
ems of native shops and a number OF
bungalows, built of palm leaves and
lined inside with white cloth, all tenn
porary for the occasion. The bunga
lows were gayly decorated with bunt-
ing and flags. A kind of grand stand
had been erected just outside the stock
ade, on the south side, next to "KraaI
Town"
An Exciting Spectacle.
About a. m. we fastened to the
grand stand.
The drive-in had already com
menced, the shouts of the heaters and
the firing Of their guns resounding or
all sides. The heaters came nearer and
nearer, the cracking trees, vines and
jungle growth became terrific as the
rushing elephants approached nearer
to the stockade.
The excitement and interest were in.
tense.
Repeatedly some of the elephants
, made determined attempts to break