, the new growth is cut away every year after
fruiting.

Checking the vagrant inclination of pen and brain to travel afield,
let us turn to matters more relative to the expressed purpose of these
pages.

The island of Ceylon is favorably situated outside the region of the
cyclones which so frequently prevail in the Bay of Bengal and the
neighboring ocean, while it is also free from the hurricanes of the
Mauritius Sea and the volcanic outbursts of the Eastern Archipelago.
There is no evidence of seismic disturbance in this region, either
past or present. One does not leave waterspouts entirely behind in the
Gulf of Siam, on reaching the shore of this island. Just before the
season of the monsoons, they appear sometimes off this coast. They are
never, however, of a fierce, whirlwind character, so as to cause any
serious harm.

As regards climatic conditions, the coolest season of the year is
during the prevalence of the southwest monsoons, or from the end of
April to the end of October. The northeast monsoon is of shorter
duration, prevailing during November, December, January, and February.
Both these periods are ushered in by heavy thunder-storms and a
liberal downpour of rain. The reader who has never experienced an
equatorial land-storm has no conception of the fury of the elements
under such circumstances. The continued blaze of the fiery lightning
and the deafening crash which echoes through the skies are beyond
description. Timid people try to hide themselves in the dark corners
of the bungalows, while even the natives and animals often become
tremulous with fear. It must be admitted that fatal accidents are
frequent enough during these thunder-storms to keep an apprehension of
danger constantly alive. In the mountain regions about Kandy and
Ratnapura, where the echoes supplement the grand electric discharges,
the deafening noise and reverberation can only be compared to the
quick, sharp, detonating reports of heavy artillery. The monsoons
occur with the utmost regularity, both here and over a large portion
of the neighboring continent, and they are so regular that their
arrival can be calculated upon nearly to a day. Electrical phenomena,
thunder and lightning, are, as just intimated, often very grand. So,
also, is the prevalence of optical displays, such as rainbows and
mirage. As to moonlight nights and their dazzling exhibitions, like
those of the tropical regions generally, words are inadequate to
express