Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-30
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

Ion, and he has determined their impress
zion of 1t. For everybody knows his hymn.
From Greenland's Icy Mountains" which
runs:
What though the spicy breezes
Blow soft DER Ceylon's Isle.
Where every prospect pleases,
And only man Is vile.
That is a trife hard on Ceylon but it has
forever marked this island as identified
with Christian missions. And they are
here, not SO. apparent, perhaps. as the
pleasing prospects for this is a singuiarly
beautiful land, but still easily discernible
to a seeking eye. The first signs OF Chris,
tianity in this land of palms, spices and
tea are the lofty church spires of Colombo;
the next. the silver crosses about the necks
of the diving boys.
AS the ocean liner approaches her moor
ings she is surrounded by a fleet of home
made canoes containing native boys crying:
olive! Dive! Ten cents! All right! All
right! Dive! Diver And wonderful little
amphibious animals they are, following the
glitter of a far-fung coin clear to the bot
tom of the bay, or indulging in fight I'M
der water for the possession of 1t. Given
the opportunity one of the lustrous-eyed
urchins with the sun-bleached hair will
dive thirty feet from the ships rail in pur-
suit of coin. Long after the passengers
have wearied Of the amusement the boys
and their oft-repeated song. "Ta-ra-ra-ra-
boom delay" until the traveller is quite
ready to assent to the hymn writer's decla-
ration that the Singhalese are vile"
These boys are mostly Roman Catholic,
as are nne-tenths Of the Christians in the
island. So effective has mission work been
that Christians are always included by the
natives in any enumeration Of the religions
of Ceylon. Ten per cent Of the islands pop
ulation Of three and half million people Is
Christian. The prevailing faiths are in this
numerical ORDER Buddhist. Hindu, Moham-
medan and Christian. Except for the
crosses and scapulars-the natives do not
wear clothes enough to conceal their scapu-
lars-the Christians may not be known by
any outward token. In the case Of men,
they commonly wear long hair and the
comb on top of their heads which gives
them a Mephistophenan appearance; the
poorer people are naked to the waist or
wear only breechclost.
The same is true Of the Buddhists. The
Hndus are Tamils, from India, and they
are smeared on face and body with vari-
Gus sect marks in ashes. The Tamil women
wear nose rings, bracelets, finger rings,
anklets and toe rings. The Mohammedan
men wear turbans feZ caps and their
women, at least of the better class, go
yelled
/ The Singhalese are a fine-looking but
somewhat feminine people. With good
features, an erect carriage and 1.-THE,
well-formed bodies shining in the sun,
these soft-eyed men look like philoso-
piers; 1t is distinctly a shock to find
that practically every one you meet is
either quick to beg gratuity or skillful
in cheating you. The children, veritab1e
black cherubs. run after your carriage,
touching their foreheads and crying:
Got no mommer. got no pepper. Please.
master, penny" 1t is not wailing men
delaney; the persistent little beggars are
all the while trying to smile the money
out Of your pockets. But the spirit Of
servility seems general; self-respecting
independence is a quality chiefly notable
for its absence.
This Is a center of Buddhism. It Is to
Handy. the ancient capital. that Budd-
hists make pilgrimages from all over
the island, and also from India. Our
Buddhist guide naively informed US that
"All the world comes to Handy every
full MOON" For at Handy is the IA
nous shrine containing Buddha's tooth
The tooth that is annually displayed is
bogus, the original having been taken
away and destroyed by the Portuguese.
although the temple attendants deny
this. Said one Of them: "Of course. this
is the real tooth. else why would mil
lions of people worship It," This reason
ing satisfied him, as it did the other
devout worshipers whom I saw at the
shrine of the tooth. In this temple there
is a rather startling representation. in
series of pictures in colors, of future
Dun1SnmontS, was SURPRISING 10 NnQ
that a warm destiny awaits liars; my
experience with Buddhists had led me to
believe that there must be a special
merit attached to lying. In the temple
sidered: for was not the great Buddha
once a rabbit? I saw men worshiping
the sacred DO tree, under which Buddha
sat and meditated. One of the pictures
in the temple was described as 'the
Buddhist Christ the Buddha who is COM
ing again." showing by the phraseology
the influence that Christianity has had
upon Buddhism: Here in Ceylon Budd-
Christian methods. Thus 1t employs
street preaching. Sunday schools. young
mems Buddhist associations and tract
distribution.
Ask the driver Of a Colombo ghari to
take you to see a banyan tree and he will
drive you to the Young Mems Christian
Association grounds, where a large and
beautiful specimen Of the famous tree
shades the imposing red brick building
which represent Americas interest in the
young men Of Colombo. On the other side
of the front of the building is sacred
DO tree. which imparts sanctity to the site.
in the eyes of the Buddhists. The original
location of the association building, given
by the city, took in this BIO tree, but as 1t
could not be cut down without riot. the
building was finally erected between the
DO and the banyan trees.
Better proof of the worth Of the asso-
citation than these environments, in the
eyes
Is the fact that it's dusky members make
such a good showing in athletics. 1t was
my fortune to see the Y. NJ c. A. team
defeat the proud English cricketers on the
latter's own grounds. to the music of
LAT to 60. The Englishman is a good sports
man and the victory was greeted with
cheers from the clubhouse. The whole sit
uation is extraordinary. considering the
white mans attitude toward the native
races, and it is fine tribute to the
ISOLATION. AS throwing light on the old
charge that native Christians are thieves
and liars, and the least desirable employees,
I was informed that the crack bowler on
the association team is the only native
clerk employed in the government stores
who is permitted to go and come .as he
pleases, without inspection at the door.
The vigor and popularity of the associa-
ton in Ceylon are attested by the fact
that there are nineteen branches scat
tered over the island, with 1850 members,
of whom $50 are members of student
associations comprising Burghers (as the
half-cestes, or Eurasans. are called here,
Europeans, Singhalese and Tamils. Re
ligiously, these divided into Parsees,
Mohammedans, Buddhists, Hindus and
Christians In one of the small branches
four men lodge; one of these is a Canadian
one a Burgher one a SinghaleSe and one