CHAPTER XII. ATTRACTIONS FOR THE TRAVELLER AND VISITOR.* The Voyage a Pleasure Trip-Historical Monuments, Vegetation, etc.Variety of Climate-Colombo, the Capital-Kandy, the Highland Capital-Nuwara Eliya, the Sanatorium-The Horton PlainsAdam's Peak-Uva and its long-delayed Railway-Ancient Cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa-Occasional Pearl FisheriesProbable Expense of a Visit to Ceylon-The Alleged Inconveniences of Tropical Life. 10 the traveller and visitor Ceylon offers more attrac even than to the capitalist and would-be planter. It is a joke with disappointed men that the stranger can see on the hills of Ceylon the graves of more British sovereigns than of Kandyan kings! But the latter are not wanting, and no dependency of Britain-India not excepted-presents more attractions than Ceylon to the intelligent traveller, to the botanist, the antiquarian or the man of science, the orientalist, or even to the politician and the sociologist. Visitors from America and North India have said that Ceylon, for natural beauty, historical and social interest, is the "show-place of the universe," and that, as such, it might well, in these days of travelling sightseers, be leased by either a Barnum or Cook! The voyage of twenty-one to twenty-eight days from London to Colombo (of fourteen to twenty-one from Brindisi or Marseilles) on a first-class steamer of any of half a dozen lines competing at from £40 to £65 for the single, or less * See Appendix No. I. than double for the return passage, is, at the proper season of the year-September to March or April-a pleasure trip of the most enjoyable and instructive kind. The calling by some steamers at Gibraltar, Malta, Port Said, Suez, and Aden affords instruction and pleasure of a high order; while the beauty of Ceylon vegetation and scenery, the interest attaching to her people, towns, and ancient cities and monuments, amply reward even the worst seatraveller for the unpleasantness of a voyage. Tennent well says that Ceylon, from whatever direction it may be approached, unfolds a scene of loveliness and grandeur unsurpassed, if it be rivalled, by any land in the universe. Its names "Lanka, the resplendent," of the Brahmins; the " pearl-drop on the brow of Ind," of the Buddhists; "the island of jewels," of the Chinese; "the land of the hyacinth and ruby," of the Greeks; and "the home of Adam and Eve after losing Paradise," according to the Mohammedans--as Arabi and his fellow-exiles said soon after their arrival-will show the high esteem in which it has been held both in the East and the West. As for its history, as already mentioned, no region between Chaldea and China can tell so much of its past deeds as Ceylon, while the ruins of its ancient capitals in palaces, temples, dágobas, and tanks are only second to those of Egypt. These ruins are all now rendered accessible in a few days' trip by railway, coach, and other conveyance from Colombo, without risk or inconvenience, and at very little expense to the traveller.* As to vegetation and natural history generally, Ceylon is one huge tropical garden, presenting objects of intense interest to the botanist and zoologist, from the coral reef and pearl oyster banks around its coasts, and the palms See Appendix No. VI., and Burrows' "Guide to the Buried Cities of Ceylon"; also Guides to Colombo, to Kandy, and Nuwara Eliya, published by A. M. & J. Ferguson. and creepers bending down to meet "the leaguelong rollers thundering on its shores," to the grassy pathways running up to hills clothed to their summit with the most varied forest trees, or to the plateaux of Nuwara Eliya and the surrounding plains-" the Elysium of Ceylon "where, at an elevation of over 6000 feet, in grass, and flowers, and trees, a bit of There, in snug cottages, wood fires and blankets are often required to keep away the cold. In one day the visitor can pass from Colombo, with its average temperature of 81°, to the sanatorium, with its wintry comforts, and temperature falling to freezing-point occasionally, but averaging 57°; or, in a few months,—when the Uva railway is open he can pass on the same evening to a nearly perfect climate at an average temperature of 63° on the Haputale range.* During March, April, and May-" the season" at the sanatorium-the weather is very equable, comparatively dry, and delightful. September, and part of August and October, are very pleasant, and often January and February, as well as December sometimes; but thin ice on the water, and hoar frost on the herbage, are then not uncommon. The very wet months are June, July, and December. Sir Samuel Baker lived eight years continuously at Nuwara Eliya, and speaks very highly of its healthfulness.† Indian civilians and other residents declare that Nuwara Eliya is more pleasantly accessible to them than most of their own hillstations, the short sea-voyage from Calcutta or Bombay being an additional benefit to many who come from the hot dry plains of Central India. For invalids, the marine See reference to Uva in Appendix No. I. See Sir Samuel Baker's "Eight Years" and "Rifle and Hound in Ceylon." |