The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-05-20

tention to the laying out of cricket
grounds.
One does not travel far in the Orient
until he becomes a crank on the sub
ject Of USter. He receives so many
warnings that he soon suspects that
disease turks in every gIassfUl. If he
tries tie bottled waters, they pail on
the taste. and If he relies on boiled
water. he is toTmented with fear that
il has not really been boiled or that
some other water has been accidentally
substituted. The Old Oaken Bucket
is recalled as a vision Of delight, and
the well at home is remembered with
an admiration never felt before. Tau
Get may be substituted for well by those
who live IN a city,
Colombo is situated on the island of
Ceylon. just below the southernmOst
point Of the mainland Of India. Here,
too. is a COmmOdioUs harbor visited by
ali merchant fleets 1t vies with Sing
apore as an equa t0riaI port The spicy
breezes" Of CeyIOn are immortalized in
song and story-it is the land
Where every prospect pIeases
And only man is vile"
At Handy. about seventy-five miles
from the coast, there is an excellent
botanical garden. Tivaling the garden
at ButtenzOrg. even as Handy itself ri
walls BuitenZOrg as a summer resort
CTHere- are ext ensive gardens at Sfnga-
pore and Penang. but they are inferior
to those on Ceylon and Java. These
gardens are about equally distant from
the equator. the former north. the lat
ter south. but the garden at kandy
has twice the altitude of the other We
We're interested in comparing the plants
and examining the new specimens.
While BUiteaz0rE Is superior in her col
lection of orchids the ferns at Handy
surpass anything We have seen Here
the yellow bamboo is added to the va
rietiee seen elsewhere; here, too. we
saw the screw palm whose leaves form
SPIRAL line ike the thTe7d Of a screw.
Another curious variety is the sealing
wax palm. the higher Joints of which
look exactly Ike red sealing wax The
travellers palm which We also saw in
Java. is to be found here. its name be
/ ing derived from the fact that each
leaf stem catches and holds sufficient
water to Stake q travellers thirst. The
TALBOT palm attracts the attention Of
all visitors not only because It's leaves
formed the parchment for the early
books Of Buddhism but because It flow
nrs hut once. and then. as If exhausted
by fts half centUry's effort, dies. The
sensitive pIe1t Grows wild here and
seems almost human in its perception
as II S5rf71-S from the slightest touch
and folds its leaves as if withered.
7 have eTread- S00ken Of the fruits
n the tro~1'cS. esoeciaIlv those Of lava.
hut 7 think 7 ought 70 qualify nv words.
Since reveling in nangOsteens. RAM
hu-anS etc have eaten an annie
and am cO0vfnre1 hat no tronicaI fruit
~a7 c0nDer4 With -. and when to the
7upIe are added the peach, the near
the plum and the cherry. and TO these
fruits Of the tree are added the grape,
the strawberry, the raspberry and the
blackberry not 70 speak of the pine
apples oranges and bananas Of our
southern states, who viii say that the
temperate zone f. not IS mighty favored
as the warmer lands?
We not only have an abundance of
both the 0eCcsSaTies and the luxuries
but we escape some of the torments of
the tropics. Amin ais. reptiles and in
sects run riot here. The tiger IS man
eating" the SeTDentS are large and
/ poisonous and tie insects are OmnipreS-
ent. We sometimes complain at home
Of the mosquito, whcin seems to be a
universal pest and IS found everywhere
. From GTetnlandS icy mountains "a
midas coral strands but here its ar
t-vitv j. perennial and =tS appetite
reaches its maximum In all the hotels
I the BEDS arc protected by MOSQUITO
bars for without them sleep would be
impossible The ant is even more an
noying than the MOSQUITO. for while
the former does most Of its proving at
night the latter improves each shin
ing hour
IF the natives play the sluegerd. If
is because they refuse to profit by the
example Of industry which the ant ever
presents TO them. It IS not uncommon
for the legs of dining tables and cup
boards to be set IL bowls Of water as
a protection from these insects. and
where this precaUtiOn is not taken the
diner divides his time between eating
and fighting ants. The white ant has q
literary turn Of mind and pays espe-
cal attention to books. We have heard
Of several libraries being ravaged by
this insect. the leaves being so perfor-
q ted that the books looked ike honey
combs In his search for knowledge
the ant has the eompanionship Of the
4ockrOach which grows here 10 the
length Of two or three inches. can fly
and stains what it cannot devour The
house lizard is always in evidence. One
evening we counted twenty-four OF
these interesting little reptiles in sight
al one time on our porch. At night
large lizards in the trees call h1aTsely
10 each other. and when it rains the
air is vocal with the croaking of frogs
and the singing of insects.