New-York tribune., 1909-10-24
GORGEOUS CEYL0N
THE ISLEFR0M WHICH
COMES THE FINE TEA.
Picturesque and Magnificent
Tea Country and It's Cap
ital, Handy.
XIII.

One has only to attempt to make others
see through his eyes the wonderful island
of Ceylon to realize the impossibility of
doing il with the aid of mere words and
cold type, and within the necessarily cir
cumscribed limits OF available newspaper
space. Word pictures must ever feebly
portray contrasting scenes of ravishing
loveliness, sensuous beauty and lofty
grandeur that are alike the admiration
and the despair of painters. And even to
marshal for the readers artistic enjoy
ment or economic instruction the variety
Of races and racial customs, habits and
employments, to linn the bewildering dis
play, the survivals of a hoary past. side
by side with, and intermingled with, the
very much alive civilization of the twen-
tieth century, would better be suited TO
the capacity OF the kaleidoscope than the
pen. And yet, so fascinating is the sub
ject, one is loath to relinauish the attempt
and confine himself to the soberer task
set before him, by rapidly diminishing
space and time, OF telling only that ger
name 10 Ceylon's odorous. invigorating and
altogether delightful product-and, indeed,
most important product-tea.
So, for description of Nuwara Eliya, the
playground OF Ceylon. with it's remark
able combination OF attractions. which
f1t Il for the worlds health and pleasure
resort, the reader will have to turn to
the guide books. unless he cares to col
lect a library on the subject-for writer's
numberless from the western world have
used up reamS OF paper and the resources
of all modern tongues In the effort to emu
merate or portray the scenic and cli-
matte glories of this Eden within six de-
greeS of the equator and 6ixty-two hun
dred feet above the sea- He will have
to roam through the pages OF innumerable
writer's, ancient and modern, from Marco
Polo and Fabian to Tennent and Cave. 20
get mental pictures of the thriving and
quaint villages and towns OF the interior
their bazaars, their daily life and the
products of their industry. their caste dis
tincttonS, their customs and traditions and
their superStidons.
And even of the tea country only a skele-
ton narrative is permitted here; imagi
nation must clothe that skeleton. Nor is
there any fear that that can overdo the
picture for Nature herself has given form
to this her most enchanting handiwork,
and has laid on 1t colorS such as no human
mind can conceive.
The tea properties, which number more
than thousand, and range from one hun
dred acres to one thousand, are mostly to
be found In the Central Province, the
mountain zone ana range from zone Sne hum a
level. While few of the sixty tea dis
tricts are in the lowlands-some of the
most extensive. situated in the lovely
kelani Valley. even claiming equality witt
the greatest of the upper leyels-the chief
both as TO acreage and the quality OF theiI
product, are Hantane. the highest point o.
| tea growing. with about 1900 acres divided
| into fifty estates; Natalie, famed for IT.
antiquarian interests. which has some 60.
| 900 acres. nearly half under cultivation
| and famed for tea and cacao; Dolosbage
| with seventy estates that have-at varyine
| heights from 1000 to 1000 feet-16.0oo Of
their 1900 acres in tea; Pussellawa ane
| Rambodde-the former notable in old cof
fee days for planters efforts, and as tn
scene of one OF the earliest nurseries o.
| tea-with 20,O00 OF their $1,000 acres devoted
to tea; Mariawatte, famous for the mar
| vellous yield-one thousand pounds to thu
| acre-and high quality of its tea; Masker
| liya, nearest district to Adams Peak
q, 600 acres; Dimbula, the largest tea dis
trict Of them all. with its 5000 acres O
| tea, and Agra Patnass noted for the com
| plete combination of all the characteristics
| of climate and soil for the highest clas
| of Ceylon tea.
And Handy. the mountain. capital o
| Ceylon," is the headquarters OF the indus
| try, for this, "the fast Of the historical
| capitals of Lanka.'' is the home Of tn
Planters Association. AS such 1t deserve
| more extended description than can b.
given in this number, and so will be made
/ The ''DiaC0 de resistance" of the next.