The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1923-10-27
CEYL0N Is LAND
OF WALKING FISH
Famous Cinnamon Gardens OF
Colombo Given Over to Park
and Home Sites.


Washington.-A land where fishes
walk along the roads and climb rocks
and trees. where crabs fling sand into
the air and elephants play tricks like
sportive children-such, says a buile-
tin from the National Geographic So
ciety, Is Ceylon, where Great Britain
Is negotiating with the natives con-
corning important government reforms.
Colombo, the present capital" con-
tinues the bulletin, '.has a magnificent
artificial harbor built by the British.
That city superseded the. former prin-
cipal seaport. Gale. In the new port
city the native quarter, with It's beau
tiful Sinhalese girls, its. jewel grinders
and lace makers, contrasts sharply
with stately government buildings and
European customs of the English sec
ton.
Ancient Wonderfully.
1.-THE famous Cinnamon gardens,
where the Dutch formerly cultivated
that spice in enormous quantities, to-
day are given over mainly to a park
and bungalows and here houses of
well-to-Go residents nestle in bowers
of wopdrous beauty and sweet per-
fume.
'Scanty remains of the ancient capt.
tai, Anaradhapura lie in lofty noun
sains amid matted jungle growths.
Glowing descriptions of this ancient
wonderfully by Arab, Persian and
Greek voyagers led to the excavation
work, now going on, which has been
slow because of its vast size.
"Near by is the sacred mountain
of Mihintale, with its huge irrigation
tanks, one of them begun five centu-
ries before the Christian era. This
tank covered 40 square miles with it's
waters when it was new.
Buddf1a's Enormous Tooth.
Handy, the last native capital, sets |
picturesquely above the blue waters of |
a little lake, also artificial. In making |
it the native ruler ruthlessly drowned |
out scores of his subjects rice fields.
Hidden in gold and ruby-encrusted bell
shrines a mythical tooth of Buddha' is
preserved.
THE present tooth obviously could
not have grown in any human mouth
it is two inches long and half an inch
thick at the base. The visitor for
gives the fiction for the sake of the
August night celebration, when the
tooth is carried about the town accom-
panied by procession of devil dane
ers in their grOtesque masks.
Adams Peak, a strange mountain
Top where a huge natural depression
resembles an enormous human foot
also is an object of generation. From !
his mountain Buddha is supposed to
lave assembled to heaven. Millions of
levout pilgrims worship there. Even
he non-believer is impressed by the
scene at dawn, when the sun first tints
sea of clouds, and projects slender
hadows upon the countryside.
immigrants SuppIanted Natives.
when the civilization of the Sim .
alese was at its height, more than :
900 years ago, the capital Anaradha-
ura, was a marvellous city extending :
yer some 25O square miles. 1t was :
lustered with magnificent palaces, !,
agodas and monster relic-shrines of
elicate design. This civilization was :
verthrown by Tamil mercenaries
HON the Sinhalese imported from :
ldia; subsequently the island was
ED successfully by the Portuguese,
utch and now by the English.
"The walking fish performs its ter .
strial antics when ponds dry up in !
lie hot season. Then it either bur- q
,ws into the soft mud to wait for
lin, or, by night, crawls out of the
st shallow depressions and goes O
rithing off through dripping grass on a
e hunt for other pools The natives ID
en- literally catch fish, sometimes p
thering them up by the bushel. II
"The islands area is about that of Sc
est Virginia and on it live more peo- p
3 than there are in Texas" u