labourers busy digging-trenching in manure under the farmer's direction, probably for a crop of tobacco. Here again a large herd of cattle, or of goats, or rather Jaffna sheep, returning home from such pickings of pasture as could be found on roadsides or damp hollows, while the goats and sheep showed their agility, in this the dry season, in standing up to the lower branches of trees and making a meal of the leaves. Here again were boys watching for the ripe fruit of the palmyra to fall. Of course, it is well known that, what the coconut is to the Sinhalese between Colombo and Galle, that and much more is the palmyra to the Tamils of the Jaffna peninsula. But we are now hastening on towards Point Pedro: we crossed a great estuary of the sea (Sirukalli?) by a grand viaduct, and the view over the expanse of low fields with the estuary running out to meet what seemed the ocean in the distance led our military companion to exclaim, "The Medway! and certainly the resemblance to that lowlying part of Kent was very strikingly seen as the shades of evening were falling. In the immediate neighbourhood of Point Pedro, the village cultivation-horticulture and market gardening-has always been described as carried almost to perfection; every house or hut has its carefully tended garden, with fruit trees or beds of vegetables or both, each with its well or wells, and enclosed in a perfect fence. These fences, by the way, among the Jaffna Hindus, in the country as well as the towns, have one useful (?) purpose in keeping off the effects of the "evil eye," in which they are firm believers! It is curious to read of H. M. 52nd Regiment invading and occupying Point Pedro "Fort from Negapatam, and thence marching to Jaffna. How strange to read even as tradition that the "King of Jaffna" some 500 years ago organised a fleet in which an army was carried to fight against the troublesome Moormen and their forts at Chilaw, Negombo, and Colombo! Of the great coasting trade to and from Jaffna in the past much could be said; also of local industries, in boat and ship building, spinning and weaving cotton, working in metals, especially as jewellers, etc. The "King of Cotta" in 1410 is said to have loaded a ship at Colombo with goods to despatch to his son, the "King or "Prince' of Jaffnapatam. The prosperity of the little peninsula was, however, we may be sure, never greater than at present. The growth and export of tobacco, a really important industry, of sheep, cattle, etc., and of palmyra timber, enables the people to buy grain and all other necessaries to supplement their local production; there is a considerable trade in chank shells- we found the shore in front of the Custom House at Jaffna strewed with bags or piles of them ready for shipment to Southern India. An average of some 50 to 60 elephants are shipped yearly from the Northern Province (paying R.1,000 a head each as royalty to Govern. ment); but we found afterwards when at Batticaloa that perhaps half of this number are from other than the Northern Province! At any rate the Government Agent of the Eastern Province gave passes for 21 elephants caught in his territory which were to be travelled overland to the north for shipment. The resulting export revenue should, therefore, be divided. Leaving Point Pedro in the early hours, the Lady Gordon speedily ran down the north-east coast, and in the forenoon we were off Mullaittivu, and looking at the spot where the P. & O. S.S. Indus came to grief in November 1885, her masts, if not yards, being still visible. Thence the glimpses of the coast were few and far between till we arrived at the neighbourhood of Trincomalee. I suppose the northeast shore between these two stations is at present about the most COFFEE STORES AND "BARBACUES" (DRYING GROUND). The Property of Messrs. Alston, Scott, & Co., Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo. From a Photograph by Juan de Silea. man- if not God-forsaken portion of the island; and yet is not without attractions and resources, if only there were readier means of communication, and population sufficient, and sufficiently energetic, to take advantage of what is available. It is a most striking fact that some of these advantages, which fail to attract the attention of the Tamils of the north and east, are sufficient to draw away from our distant southwestern and southern coasts a people usually considered so much less enterprising than the Tamils, namely the Sinhalese! What have our friends who are inclined to speak of the Tamils as "the Scotchmen of the East" to say to the fact, that all the most important fishing along the east coast-the deep-sea fisheries entirely-is in the hands of Sinhalese ? The first sight of Trincomalee is disappointing. Notwithstanding that Fort Frederick stands boldly up like an eyrie or watch-tower over the entrance to a mysterious country, there is nothing to arrest attention in the soft-looking laterite rocks or broken hillsides, and certainly no promise from the outside of what awaits the voyager seeking the harbour within. You have a feeling that there is deep enclosed water beyond this fortified hill which like a sentinel doth stand to guard what may be an enchanted land; but, as in the case of the approach to Sydney, New South Wales, or San Francisco from the Pacific, there is little indication of the grandeur and beauty "within the gates." Sunset poured its yellow flood on Fort Frederick as the signal flags for the Lady Gordon were hoisted and left flying; but ere we had passed the entrance, leaving Foul Point lighthouse in its solitary state far to the south, sunshine was exchanged for the unusual sight over Trincomalee in August of a succession of dark clouds breaking into most welcome showers. Meantime the Lady Gordon is rapidly running into harbour, and the passengers on deck have more than enough to absorb them; for each fresh turn-indeed every few yards onwards-reveal fresh beauties and a new surprise. We find words vain to describe how the disappointment of the previous half-hour is turned into the fullest gratification. The grand Australian and Californian harbours, as well as that of New York, have all the effect of magnificent cities to back them. The Derwent at Hobart, and the Bay of Naples, are very fine in their way, but I can only think, for comparison, of Nagasaki, the first port in Japan, which you approach as if you sailed up to Kandy by the Peradeniya strath. But for varied and extensive natural beauty Trincomalee will ever stand first in my estimation. Well does Tennent speak of "The magnificent basin of Trincomalee, which, in extent, security and beauty is unsurpassed by any haven in the world." On rounding Fort Frederick and standing well in for the harbour, Kottiyar with its populous and industrious Tamil village comes into view across a wide expanse of water, fully exposed, however, to the north-east monsoon. Visions of Robert Knox and his father and their melancholy experience of over two hundred years ago are recalled. But our little steamer is following a winding course, rounding points and threading between islands all more or less clad in tropical verdure to the water's edge, until we find ourselves, as the afternoon closes in, in a splendid basin of water, not simply shut off from the currents and storms of the ocean, but doubly landlocked, the entrance from the sea being completely hidden from sight, and only islands and bays and jetties being visible. Meantime, the sight of Fort Ostenburg, the Naval Yard, and Admiralty House and grounds, all in succession, and bounded by deep water to the very shore, reminds us-even without the presence of a single man-of-war-that we are in the great naval station of the East, the headquarters of the Indian fleet which watches our British interests from Calcutta to Capetown and from Singapore to Aden and Zanzibar. What was wanting to complete the scene? Even amidst so much natural beauty, and with so many vantage points within ken, how could we help missing the villas, the embowered bungalows and gardens running down to the boat-houses at the water's edge, which would have marked each hillside and island, and would have formed a fitting frame or fringe all round this romantic but admirable sheet of water, had it only been ordained that Trincomalee should become the commercial and political capital of Ceylon! The Lady Gordon has cast anchor in front of a jetty (which doubtless if it were worth while she might have run alongside), and before a line of Customs offices and warehouses presenting a great contrast in their still blankness to those left behind at the Western capital. We were able to enjoy a drive round the noble esplanade and to mark the situation of the "Pettah," Back Bay, the fort occupied by the garrison, the coast line and the broken hilly country running close up to the town, enabling one to understand how in seasons of drought, denizens of the jungle (deer, cheetahs, perhaps bears and elephants) have been known to come in round about the town. At any rate, the officers at Trincomalee should not have far to travel for sport, while they are surrounded by a variety of romantic prospects-striking, beautiful, sublime-far excelling those appertaining to any other station in Ceylon. I must give a quotation-from Tennent-touching on one or two points omitted in the foregoing observations : "Trincomalee, though a place of great antiquity, derived its ancient renown less from political than from religious associations. The Malabar invaders appear to have adopted it as the site of one of their most celebrated shrines; and a pagoda which stood upon the lofty cliff, now known as the Saamy Rock, and included within the fortifications of Fort Frederick, was the resort of pilgrims from all parts of India. With this edifice, which is still spoken of as the Temple of a Thousand Columns," is connected one of the most graceful of the Tamil legends. An oracle had declared, that over the dominions of one of the kings of the Dekkan impended a peril, which was only to be averted by the sacrifice of his infant daughter; who was, in consequence, committed to the sea in an ark of sandal wood. The child was wafted to the coast of Ceylon, and landed south of Trincomalee, at a place still known by the name of Pannoa, or the smiling infant,' where, being adopted by the king of the district, she succeeded to his dominions. Meantime, a Hindu prince, having ascertained from the Puranas that the rock of Trincomalee was a holy fragment of the golden mountain of Meru, hurled into its present site during a conflict of the gods, repaired to Ceylon, and erected upon it a temple to Siva. The princess, however, hearing of his arrival, sent an army to expel him, but concluded the war by accepting him as her husband; and in order to endow the pagoda which he had built, she attached to it the vast rice-fields of Tamblegam, and formed the great tank of Kandelaia, or Gan-talawa, for the purpose of irrigating the surrounding plain. In process of time the princess died, and the king, retiring to the Saamy rock, shut himself up in the pagoda, and was found translated into a golden lotus on the altar of Siva.*** "The scene of this sacrilege * is still held in the profoundest veneration by the Hindus. Once in each year, a procession, attended by crowds of devotees, who bring offerings of fruits and flowers, repairs, at sunset, to * The Portuguese destruction of the Temple of a Thousand Columns. |