od-bye to our kind host, and
when we took our departure, we were quite laden with flowers, good
wishes, and messages for mutual friends in England. It was rather a
hot journey down, and the train seemed full, but the scenery was
lovely. As we approached Colombo the heat became greater, and in the
town itself it was almost insupportable.

We breakfasted at the hotel in the fort, where we were joined by Tom.
There is one very curious thing about the hotels here. The
sitting-rooms are all two stories high, with pointed raftered roofs.
The bedrooms are only screened off from each other, and from the
central room, by partitions eight or ten feet high, so that you can
hear everything going on from end to end of the building. I am not at
all sure that the larger amount of ventilation secured by this plan
compensates for the extra amount of noise and want of privacy,
especially when, as was the case to-day, there is a crying baby who
refuses to be pacified in one of the rooms, a poor little girl ill
with whooping cough in another, and some very noisy people, who are
making themselves both unhappy and cross over some lost keys, in a
third.

While we were at breakfast the crows were most amusing and
impertinent. Every door and window was open, and they were perched on
the top of the punkah, or on the iron crossbars supporting the roof,
watching their opportunity to pounce down and carry off the bits left
on our plates. They did not seem to mind the waiters a bit, and, with
their heads cocked on one side, looked as droll and saucy as possible.
People tell you all sorts of funny stories about them; but though they
are very entertaining to watch, and apparently perfectly tame, it
appears to be impossible to capture one alive.

By the time breakfast was over, we found that the 'Sunbeam' was
already under way, and steaming about the anchorage; so it was not
long before we were once more on board. Going out of harbour we passed
a large steamer whose passengers and crew cheered us and waved their
handkerchiefs until we were out of sight, and with that pleasant
homely sound ringing in our ears we bade a last farewell to Colombo,
and started on another stage of our homeward voyage. The heat was
intense, and there was a roll outside which at once made me feel very
uncomfortable. There was no wind all the afternoon, and the sun sank
into the sea, glorious and golden, as we took our last look at the
lovely island of Ceylon, the land of s