The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1924-01-03
.CEYL-()N ISLAND
OF WALKING FISH
Famous Cinnamon Gardens of
|, Colombo Given Over TO Park
and Home Sites.

WaShingt0n.-A land where hSheS
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 bulle-
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That city superseded the former prin-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 its 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-do residents nestle In bowers.
of won2rous beauty and sweet per-
fume
"Scanty remains of the ancient capt.
tai, Anaradhapura, lie in lofty noun
tains 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 it's vast size.
Near by is the sacred mountain
of Mihintale, with its huge irrigation
tanks, one of them begun FIVE centR
ries before the Christian era. This
tank covered 40 square miles with its
waters when It was new.
Buddha's Enormous Tooth.
Randy, 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 Buddh9 Is
preserved.
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 a 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
this mountain Buddha is supposed to
have assembled to heaven. Millions of
devout pilgrims worship there. Even
the non believer is impressed by the
scene at dawn, when the sun first tints
a sea Of clouds, and projects slender
shadows upon the countryside.
Immigrants supplanted Natives.
"When the civilization of the Sin
halese was at it's height more than
1000 years ago, the capital, Anaradha-
pura, was a marvellous city extending
over some $50 square miles. 1t was
clustered with magnificent palaces,
pagodas and monster relic-shrines of
delicate design. This civilization was
overthrown by Tamil mercenaries
whom the Sinhalese imported from
India; subsequently the island was
held successfully by the Portuguese,
Dutch and now by the English.
"The walking fish performs its ter
restrial antics when ponds dry up in
the hot season. Then it either bur
rows into the soft mud to wait for
rain, or, by night, crawls out Of the
last shallow depresslons and goes
writhing off through dripping grass on
the hunt for other pools, The natives
then literally catch fish. sometimes
gathering them up by the bushel.
"The islands area is about that OF
West Virginia and on it live more peo-
pie than there are in Texas"