MY " Spicy ' Drive.

Native Life, Colombo.

Among The Palms.

Aside, however, from the drawbacks I have mentioned, it was a charming expedition. Only a few minutes after leaving the hotel, we entered a forest of stately palm-trees. This was indeed the Ceylon I had read of. For seven miles we rode through a vast park of tropical vegetation. Thousands of cocoanut-palms waved above us their drooping foliage and clusters of their bulbous fruit gleamed through the leaves like balls of gold. Ten such trees sometimes form a native's wedding-present to his daughter, though few are able to furnish such a handsome dowry.

Before visiting India I had never realized how valuable palm-trees are to the people, and in how many ways they can be utilized. Thus from their bark the natives manufacture ropes and matting; from the leaves are made baskets, hats, and palm-leaf fans; while the fibre of the nut furnishes rough clothing, sails, and fishing-nets. The sap yields sugar, the green fruit milk, the ripe fruit solid food; while from the kernel they obtain rich cocoanut-oil for their lamps and hair. Surely, of all the gifts that Mother Earth bestows upon her children few are so well appreciated as the palm.

We found that the native houses were built of sun-dried mud, solidified with bamboo plaiting, and had neither windows nor chimneys. All were exceedingly primitive and, I regret to add, not very clean. O Japan! Japan! As we travel through other Oriental lands, how we appreciate thy neatness! Some of the younger inmates of these structures wear the costume of Eden; but the adults are, considering the climate, tolerably clothed; yet if it ever comes to a choice between a garment and a piece of jewelry, the Hindu always takes the gem. A child, if its parents can afford it, will be adorned with bangles, anklets, and medallions before it gets a shirt or a petticoat. And, if this is the case among the poverty-stricken natives, it is easy to imagine to what an extent ornamentation is carried among those who can afford to gratify their love of it. A young girl of a wealthy family looks like a walking advertisement for a jewelry shop.

Native Houses.

other a gold ring; while from the cartilage above the lip, and sometimes from the lip itself, is hung a hoop of silver. Under these circumstances it is perhaps fortunate that in the Orient the art of kissing is unknown.

To appreciate the full extent of an Indian woman's decorations, one must behold her foot; for her toes are quite as richly ornamented as her fingers, while around her ankles are bangles of such weight as to be burdensome in walking. Yet, so dearly do Hindu women love their ornaments that they will hardly take them off at night, preferring to go about their household work clanking with bracelets and ablaze with gems. Indian widows, however, are prohibited from wearing ornaments. Hence, though the days of burning them alive upon their husband's tombs have passed away, Hindu widows still have their trials. The residences of foreigners in Colombo are called bungalows, and are only one story high, with airy rooms and deep, broad porticoes, almost as spacious as the house itself. Around them is invariably a grove of palms, and, as we drove along, we saw, among these shafts whose fringes rustled in the breeze, attractive groups of white-robed figures, apparently enjoying life amid the most delightful conditions. The natives say that "Ceylon is only forty miles from heaven," and even the foreign residents call it "paradise." In fact, the loftiest mountain on the island bears the name of "Adam's Peak," and a hollow in the summit is said to have been made by Adam's foot when he stepped from Eden.

Not Neat, But Gaudy.

A Bungalow.

Ceylon certainly has enchanting qualities, yet here the sun must be as much avoided as the Evil One, and while the original Paradise possessed but one serpent, this lovely island has a million. A common sight, therefore, is that of natives worshiping deities in the form of snakes, in order to propitiate their wrath. The majority of those who die from snake-bites in India are peasants, whose naked limbs and feet are exposed to attack while working in the fields. No other country in the world affords such opportunities for snake stories, but I shall confine myself to facts. They are sufficiently sensational. According to the official reports more than nineteen thousand human beings died in India in 1892 from snake-bites.