tura and its
Distilleries.--Edible Bird's Nests.--Basket-Making.--The
Kaluganga.--Cinnamon Gardens.--"The City of Gems."--A Magnificent
Ruby.--The True Cat's-Eye.--Vast Riches hidden in the Mountains.--Plumbago
Mining.--Iron Ore.--Kaolin.--Gem Cutting.--Native Swindlers.--Demoralizing
Effect of Gem Digging 307

CHAPTER XVIII.

Circumnavigating the Island.--Batticaloa, Capital of the Eastern
Province.--Rice Culture.--Fish Shooting.--Point Pedro.--Jaffna.--Northern
Province.--Oriental Bazaars.--Milk ignored.--The Clear Sea and White, Sandy
Bottom.--American Missionaries.--A Medical Bureau.--Self-Respect a Lost
Virtue.--Snake-Temples.--Ramisseram.--Adam's Bridge.--A Huge Hindu
Temple.--Island of Manaar.--Aripo.--The Port of Negombo.--Tamil
Coolies.--Homeward Bound.--A Farewell View 323

* * * * *

THE PEARL OF INDIA.

CHAPTER I.

Introductory.--Coming from the Eastward.--Interesting Ocean
Phenomena.--Denizens of the Sea.--Bird Travelers.--Delusive
Mirage.--A Thrilling Adventure.--Prompt Seamanship.--A
Struggle for Life.--Dust of the Sea.--A Dangerous
Wreck.--Night Watches.--Sighting the Island of
Ceylon.--Adam's Peak, among the Clouds.--A Beautiful
Shore.--Steamers and Sailing Ships.--Curious Native
Boats.--Singhalese Pedlers.--A Catamaran.--Tempting of
Providence.--An Author's Position.

After a pleasant sojourn in China and Japan, with Ceylon as his
objective point, the author came westward by way of the Malacca
Straits, crossing the Indian Ocean on a line of about the eighth
degree of north latitude. It is a lonely expanse of water, in
traversing which plenty of time was found for meditation. The
equatorial rains, though brief, were at times so profuse during the
voyage as to suggest the possibility of a second universal flood, and
also the advantage which might accrue from being web-footed; but the
air was mostly soft and balmy, the nights were gloriously serene and
bright. The transparency of the atmosphere magnified to dazzling
proportions the constellations which looked down so serenely upon us,
while the moon seemed to have taken a position vastly nearer to the
earth than is its wont at the north. The phosphorescent waves tossed
glowing gems, like fire-opals, about the ship's hull, while setting
our long wake ablaze with flashing light, and pr