The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-01-14

Peculiar Sinshalese as
Seen by American
Journalist.

COLOMBO.-Cevlon offers so many
unusual sights to the eyes of the trav-
oIar from the other side of the world.
that his first night : sleep in this wave
washed Island is almost certain to be
disturbed by disquieting visions. "See
the cobra. marster. l make i'm sit up
high. - and the lean conjurer, long OF
limb ana slender OF girth, blows upon
his shriu pipe as the swaying serpent
uncoils itself and spreads it's highly
colored hood. See the big ruby.
marster, taken from the eye of the
idol in the temple of the Sacred
TOOTH says the suave dealer in gems,
as with much guile he lures you to his
store house stocked with jewels that
are both precious and spurious. A COM
parison of the feats of a diving boy
who sports in the water and a trained
monkey that cavorts on land tends
to strengthen ones belief in the Oar
winian theory
At the table the waiter refuses to
brush the ants from the cloth because
he is a Buddhist and considers it
wicked to destroy life. Outside your
window a rabble of crows quarrel in
the palm tree, and in your room a
half dozen lizards scamper over the
walls and ceiling in a relentless pur-
suit of flies. As you lie on your back
and watch these agile marauders
scurrying overhead, you shudder as
you think, what if their feet should
FL, hn J
drous color crash that marks the vivid
sunsets of the Indian Ocean, and as
twilight falls strange sounds come out
of the darkened clumps of foliage
around you. Swart, turbaned coolies
form groups in the street, and chatter
in their impossible lingo, calling to :
mind all you have ever read about /
the mystery and misery of the East. Is
it any wonder that in my sleep that /
first night a cobra danced the fandango
on my chest, and a fakir made a
mango tree grow out of my pillow?
Kissing in the East.
What an absorbing thing is this
study Of how the other half of the
world lives! Will the wonders ever
cease? Two women in saluting kiss
each other on the nose. AT first I
thought it was a miss of the mark, but
it seems that the people out here pre-
fer rub on the nasal organ to a pres
sure of the lips as the custom goes in
u. S. A In the barber shop the work
man and his customer sit on the floor
facing each other. while the scalp of
the patron is shaved until it shines
like billiard ball. The tool used is
a broken piece of glass. The Singha-
lese miser protects his treasure by teth-
ering cobra to guard it. Strange in
deed is the appetite that could crave ,
birds nests, but the Ceylon epicure re-
CARDS them as the finest delicacy the
market affords.
The Kandyan chiefs of Ceylon are
dandies of the first water. They wear
seven pieces of fine silk or linen, gem |
orally embroidered in gold and heav-
lily fringed. 1t is the standard that
each piece must be nine yards in
length, making a total of sixty-three
yards that are wound round and round
the waist, being so arranged as to taper
toward the feet over white trousers
forming little frill at the ankles.
This mass of dry goods is overtopped
with fancy jacket. Sixty-three yards
of goods is not the limit by any means,
as some of the more extravagant chiefs
wear as much as $50 yards of material
on their august persons.
Beware Of the EVIL Eye
The whole East is very much afraid
of the ''evil eye The traveller who
thinks to win mother 8 heart by ad- :
hiring her baby makes the mistake
Of his life, for admiration is supposed
TO imply covetousness, which is merely
one form of the "evil eye" Many de-
vices are resorted to in the attempt to !
forestall its malign influence. Children :
are loaded with jewels, or purposely :
eft with dirty faces. Mohammedans $
suspend ostrich eggs from the ceiling a
IF their rooms to thwart the baneful
power. Earthenware jars thickly daub-
ID with white paint are placed on the
'oofs of houses to attract the wicked I
,orce which hight otherwise be direct t
ID toward the inmates If you ever q
.onfe East remember to beware of the g
evil eye a
The marriage ceremony in Ceylon is o
n exceptional procedure. 1t is not T