The Ceylon Government Railway: A Descriptive and Illustrated Guide, Mainly Extracted from the Author's Larger Work "The Book of Ceylon,"

Front Cover
Cassell, limited, 1910 - Sri Lanka - 240 pages

From inside the book

Contents

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 62 - ... loveliness remains vivid and unimpaired. If, as is frequently the case, the ship approaches the land at daybreak, the view recalls, but in an intensified degree, the emotions excited in childhood by the slow rising of the curtain in a darkened theatre to disclose some magical triumph of the painter's fancy, in all the luxury of colouring and all the glory of light.
Page 84 - Being thus posted under the walls of the castle, Captain Morgan commanded the sentry whom they had taken prisoner, to speak...
Page 176 - There, having approached the theras worthy of veneration and bowed down to them, proceeding together with the theras to the upper ferry of the river, he made his progress, ploughing the ground with a golden plough to mark the limits for the consecration. The superb state elephants, Mahapaduma and Kunjara, were harnessed to the golden plough.
Page 195 - The solid mass of masonry in this vast mound is prodigious. Its diameter is three hundred and sixty feet, and its present height (including the pedestal and spire) two hundred and forty-nine feet; so that the contents of the semi-circular dome of brickwork and the platform of stone seven hundred and twenty feet square and fifteen feet high exceed twenty millions of cubic feet. Even with the facilities which modern invention supplies for economising labour, the building of such a mass would at present...
Page 195 - ... in length. They would construct a town the size of Ipswich or Coventry ; they would line an ordinary railway tunnel twenty miles long, or form a wall one foot in thickness and ten feet in height, reaching from London to Edinburgh.
Page 62 - ... that incline towards the sea, and bend their crowns above the water. The shore is gemmed with flowers, the hills behind are draped with forests of perennial green ; and far in the distance rises the zone of purple hills, above which towers the sacred mountain of Adam's Peak, with its summit enveloped in clouds.
Page 177 - ... baskets borne down by the weight of flowers; triumphal arches made of plantain trees, and females holding up umbrellas and other (decorations); excited by the symphony of every description of music ; encompassed by the martial might of his empire ; overwhelmed by the shouts of gratitude and festivity, which welcomed him from the four quarters of the earth ; — this lord of the land made his progress, ploughing...
Page 28 - ... and 25 cents for reply. If, however, the articles lost were booked and placed on the van, inquiry will be made by wire without charge. Ammunition Only safety breech-loading cartridges may be despatched by passenger train, and they are charged for at ordinary prepaid parcels rates, provided they are packed in a box, barrel, or case of wood, metal, or other solid material of such strength that it will not become defective or insecure whilst being conveyed. Horses, car- The rates and regulations...
Page 76 - The infant is swung to sleep in a rude net of coir string made from the husk of the fruit ; its meal of rice and scraped cocoa-nut is boiled over a fire of cocoa-nut shells and husks, and is eaten off a dish formed of the plaited green 'leaves of the tree, with a spoon cut out of the nut shell.
Page 25 - Nanuoya are provided with accommodation for ' tafca twelve passengers, namely, two four-berth and two two-berth compartments, and lavatory accommodation. Each berth is numbered and provided with pillows, sheets, blankets and quilt, and an attendant accompanies each car. The charge for each berth in the sleeping-car is Rs. 2.50 in addition to the ordinary first-class fare for the distance to be travelled. A...

Bibliographic information