under the shelter of the hotel piazza. We were
waited upon with prompt regard to our necessities, and assigned to
comfortable apartments. The rooms were divided by partitions which did
not reach to the ceiling, the upper portion being left open for
ventilation; a style of building peculiar to the climate, but not
calculated to afford much more privacy than the Japan paper partitions
in the tea-houses. But the hotel at Colombo was a very good one in all
of its belongings, and the table excellent. While we sat at our meals,
in the spacious dining-hall, long lines of punkas, or suspended fans,
were worked by pulleys running outside, so that during these hours we
were comfortable, notwithstanding the heat.

This island, situated just off the southern point of India, stands in
the same relation to it that Madagascar does to Africa, and is very
ancient in its historical associations, having been in the prime of its
glory four hundred years before the coming of Christ, and how far back
of that period its history extends is only problematical. It is
separated from the continent by a strait called the Gulf of Manar, and
is about the size of Massachusetts; containing, also, nearly the same
aggregate population. It is believed to be the Ophir of the Hebrews,
abounding as it does, to-day, in precious stones, such as rubies,
sapphires, amethysts, garnets, and various mineral wealth. It is also,
taken as a whole, one of the most beautiful regions of the world; the
very gem of the equatorial region.

The English government have here large and admirably arranged barracks,
suitable for the housing of a small army, the troops numbering at this
writing between three and four thousand; but more than double that
number can be provided for in the broad, open buildings, specially
adapted to the service and the climate. The object is undoubtedly to
maintain at this point a military depot, with which to supply troops in
an emergency to India or elsewhere in the East. But it should be
remembered that Ceylon, though a British colony, is quite separate from
that of India, so near at hand. It is presided over by a governor,
appointed by the Queen of England, an executive council of five, and a
legislative council of fifteen. For the first time since landing in the
East, we saw no Chinese. They ceased at Penang; for Chinamen, like some
species of birds, move in flocks; they never straggle. There is here a
sprinkling of Nubians, but the general popu