ere wuz fifty acres
under most perfect cultivation. Here the Chinese fad of dwarfing and
training trees wuz carried to perfection; there wuz trees trained
into all sorts of shapes. One wuz a covered carriage about three feet
high, with a horse, all tree, but natural as life; and then there wuz
pagodas and men and wimmen and animals and birds all growin' and
havin' to be trimmed by the patient Chinese gardener. The tree they
can use best is a evergreen with a little leaf and a white flower not
much bigger than the head of a pin. But there wuz not only every
tropical tree you could think on, palm, cocoanut, nutmeg, cinnamon,
tea, coffee, and clove bush, but trees and plants from every part of
the world, some from America.

Here wuz a Victoria lily in its full beauty, the dark green leaves
edged with brown and red, as big round as our washtub, and turned up
on the edges about two inches. Each plant has one leaf and one flower.
And we see the most lovely orchids here; Dorothy thought them the most
beautiful of all. Well, in a day or two we sot out for Ceylon's isle.

As we drew nigh to Ceylon I sez to Josiah: "Did you ever expect,
Josiah Allen, to feel

"'The balmy breezes
That blow from Ceylon's Isle
Where every prospect pleases,
And only man is vile?'"

And he sez, holdin' on his hat, "I shouldn't call these breezes very
bammy, and you no need to lay such a powerful stress on _man_,
Samantha, that term, man, means wimmen too in this case."

"Yes," sez Arvilly, who wuz standin' nigh, "that term, man, always
includes wimmen when there is any blame or penalty attached, but when
it sez 'Man is born free and equal,' it means men alone."

"Yes," sez Josiah, smilin' real pleasant, "you've happened to hit it
jest right, Arvilly."

"Well," sez I, "do look and enjoy the beauty that is spread out right
before you." Our good ship made its way into the harbor of Colombo,
through a multitude of boats with men of every color and size at their
oars and all gesticulating and jabbering in axents as strange to us as
Jupiter talk would be. Some of the boats wuz queer lookin'; they are
called dugouts, and have outriggers for the crew to set on. They carry
fruit and provision to the steamers in the bay, and take passengers to
and fro.

Bein' took by one to terry firmy, we soon made our way through the
chatterin' strange lookin' crowd of every color and costoom to a
tarven where we obtained food and needed rest,