more enjoyable if we had
not been so pestered by boys selling flowers and bunches of mace in
various stages of development. It certainly is very pretty when the
peach-like fruit is half open and shows the network of scarlet
mace surrounding the brown nutmeg within. From Wockwalla the view
is lovely, over paddy-fields, jungle, and virgin forest, up to
the hills close by and to the mountains beyond. There is a small
refreshment-room at the top of the hill, kept by a nice little mulatto
woman and her husband. Here we drank lemonade, ate mangoes, and
watched the sun gradually declining, but we were obliged to leave
before it had set, as we wanted to visit the cinnamon gardens on our
way back. The prettiest thing in the whole scene was the river running
through the middle of the landscape, and the white-winged,
scarlet-bodied cranes, disporting themselves along the banks among the
dark green foliage and light green shoots of the crimson-tipped
cinnamon-trees. We had a glorious drive home along the sea-shore
under cocoa-nut trees, amongst which the fireflies flitted, and
through which we could see the red and purple afterglow of the sunset.
Ceylon is, as every one knows, celebrated for its real gems, and
almost as much for the wonderful imitations offered for sale by the
natives. Some are made in Birmingham and exported, but many are made
here and in India, and are far better in appearance than ours, or even
those of Paris. More than once in the course of our drive, half-naked
Indians produced from their waist-cloths rubies, sapphires, and
emeralds for which they asked from one to four thousand rupees, and
gratefully took fourpence, after a long run with the carriage, and
much vociferation and gesticulation. After _table-d'hote_ dinner at
the hotel we went off to the yacht in a pilot boat; the buoys were all
illuminated, and boats with four or five men in them, provided with
torches, were in readiness to show us the right way out. By ten
o'clock we were outside the harbour and on our way to Colombo.

_Friday, March 30th_.--It rained heavily during the night, and we were
obliged to sleep in the deck-house instead of on deck. At daylight all
was again bright and beautiful, and the cocoanut-clad coast of Ceylon
looked most fascinating in the early morning light. About ten o'clock
we dropped our anchor in the harbour at Colombo, which was crowded
with shipping. 175,000 coolies have been landed here within the last
two or three m