m to form a class by themselves, and they dress in the most
peculiar manner, as we see the children's nurses dressed in Rome, Paris,
and Madrid. The Singhalese nurses wear a single white linen garment
covering the body to the knees, very low in the neck, with a blue
cut-away velvet jacket covered with silver braid and buttons and open in
front, a scarlet silk sash gathering the under-garment at the waist. The
legs and feet are bare, the ankles covered with bangles, or ornamental
rings, and the ears heavily weighed down and deformed with rings of
silver and gold.

[Illustration: A SINGHALESE DANCER.]

The vegetation of Ceylon is what might be expected of an island within
so few miles of the equator; that is, beautiful and prolific in the
extreme. The cinnamon fields are so thrifty as to form a wilderness of
green, though the bushes grow but four or five feet in height. The
cinnamon bush, which is a native here, is a species of laurel, and bears
a white, scentless flower, scarcely as large as a pea. The spice of
commerce is produced from the inner bark of the shrub, the branches of
which are cut and peeled twice annually. The plantations resemble a
thick, tangled undergrowth of wood, without any regularity, and are not
cultivated after being properly started. Ceylon was at one time a great
producer of coffee, and still exports the berry, but a disease which
attacked the leaves of the shrub has nearly discouraged the planters.
Among the wild animals are elephants, deer, monkeys, bears, and
panthers--fine specimens of which are preserved in the excellent museum
at Colombo. Pearl oysters are found on the coast, and some magnificent
pearls are sent to Paris and London.

The bread-fruit tree is especially interesting, with its feathery
leaves, and its melon-shaped fruit, weighing from three to four pounds.
This, the natives prepare in many ways for eating, and as the tree bears
fruit continually for nine months of the year, it forms a most important
food-supply. Two or three trees will afford nourishment for a hearty
man, and half a dozen well cared for will sustain a small family, a
portion of the fruit being dried and kept for the non-producing months.
Banana groves, and orchards bending under the weight of the rich,
nutritious fruit, tall cocoanut-trees with half a ton of ripening nuts
in each tufted top, ant-hills nearly as high as native houses, rippling
cascades, small rivers winding through the green valleys, and flow