water may chance to be, and
the surf is always raging in these open roadsteads. The canoes consist
of the trunk of a tree hollowed out, some twenty feet in length, having
long planks fastened lengthwise so as to form the sides or gunwales of
the boat, which is a couple of feet deep and about as wide. An
outrigger, consisting of a log of wood about one-third as long as the
canoe, is fastened alongside at a distance of six or eight feet, by
means of two arched poles of well-seasoned bamboo. This outrigger
prevents any possibility of upsetting the boat, but without it so narrow
a craft could not remain upright, even in a calm sea. The natives face
any weather in these little vessels.

It will be remembered that to this island England banished Arabi Pacha
after the sanguinary battlefield of Tel-el-Keber. It is one of the most
interesting spots in the East, having been in its prime centuries before
the birth of Christ. It was perhaps the Ophir of the Hebrews, and it
still abounds in precious stones and mineral wealth. Here we observe the
native women strangely decked with cheap jewelry thrust through the tops
and lobes of their ears, in their lips and nostrils, while about their
necks hang ornaments consisting of bright sea-shells, mingled with
sharks' teeth. If we go into the jungle, we find plenty of ebony,
satin-wood, bamboo, fragrant balsam, and india-rubber trees; we see the
shady pools covered with the lotus of fable and poetry, resembling huge
pond-lilies; we behold brilliant flowers growing in tall trees, and
others, very sweet and lowly, blooming beneath our feet. Vivid colors
flash before our eyes, caused by the blue, yellow, and scarlet plumage
of the feathered tribe. Parrots and paroquets are seen in hundreds.
Storks, ibises, and herons fly lazily over the lagoons, and the gorgeous
peacock is seen in his wild condition. The elephant is also a native
here, and occasionally hunts are organized upon a grand scale and at
great expense by English sportsmen who come here for the purpose, and
who pay a heavy fee for a license.

Ceylon lies just off the southern point of India; and though it is a
British colony, its government is quite distinct from that of the
mainland. It forms a station for a large number of troops, and is about
three times the size of Massachusetts.

Many of the native women are employed by the large number of English
families resident here, especially by officers' wives, as nurses. These
last see