kindly go down to the coach. A swarm of
coolies immediately appeared from some mysterious hiding-place, and
conveyed us all, bag and baggage, down the hill, and packed us into
the coach. Even this concession on our part did not induce the horses
to make up their minds to move for at least another quarter of an
hour. Then we had to stop at the hotel to pick up somebody else; but
at last we had fairly started, eleven people in all, some inside and
some perched on a box behind. The horses were worse than ever, tired
to death, poor things; and as one lady passenger was very nervous and
insisted on walking up all the acclivities, we were obliged to make up
our pace down the hills. The Pass looked lovely by daylight, and the
wild flowers were splendid, especially the white datura and scarlet
rhododendron trees, which were literally covered with bloom.

By daylight, the appearance of the horses was really pitiable in the
extreme--worn-out, half-starved wretches, covered with wounds and
sores from collars and harness, and with traces of injuries they
inflict on themselves in their struggles to get free. When once we had
seen their shoulders, we no longer wondered at their reluctance to
start; it really made one quite sick to think even of the state they
were in.

If some of the permanent officials were to devote a portion of their
time to endeavours to introduce American coaches, and to ameliorate
the condition of the horses on this road, they would indeed confer a
boon on their countrymen. The coachman, who was as black as jet, and
who wore very little clothing, was a curious specimen of his class,
and appeared by no means skilled in his craft. He drove the whole way
down the steep zigzag road with a loose rein; at every turn the horses
went close to the precipice, but were turned in the very nick of time
by a little black boy who jumped down from behind and pulled them
round by their traces without touching the bridle. We stopped at
Rangbodde to breakfast, and again at Pusillawa. This seemed a bad
arrangement, for we were already late; it resulted in the poor horses
having to be unmercifully flogged in order to enable us to catch the
train at Gampola, failing which, the coach proprietors would have had
to pay a very heavy penalty.

From Gampola we soon arrived at Peradeniya, where we met Mr. Freer,
who was going down to Colombo. Tom had decided previously to go
straight on, so as to have the yacht quite ready for an early