Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 19, 2025
KANDY, January 30th: We left Nuwara Eliya, on the morning of January 30th, for Kandy, arriving there at 2 P.M. The train passed through a country similar to that before described, only there was a greater descent, Kandy having less altitude than Nuwara Eliya. We had anticipated much of Kandy, Ceylon's ancient capital and the scene of action in the days of the old Kandyan kings.
In one of the large villa-bungalows nestling on the hillside overlooking the verdant amphitheatre of Kandy lived that notable political prisoner, Arabi Pasha, with his ample harem and a host of body servants, forming a bit of Egyptian domestic life transported bodily to this Indian isle.
These thrive to such perfection at Newera Ellia, and also in Kandy, that they should succeed in a high degree in the medium altitudes of the coffee estates. There are immense tracts of country peculiarly adapted for sheep-farming throughout the highlands of Ceylon, especially in the neighborhood of the coffee estates.
Lavalliere, then District Judge of Kandy, informed me that he saw a snake-charmer in the jungle, close by the town, search for a cobra de capello, and, after disturbing one in its retreat, the man tried to secure it, but, in the attempt, he was bitten in the thigh till blood trickled from the wound.
When travelling on the top of the coach from Colombo to Kandy, I might have thought myself in my own Highlands, as mountain after mountain came into view, and our road in its descents and ascents skirted precipices, where safety demanded the most careful driving. Long, winding valleys, through which rivers flowed, with falls and cascades here and there, reminded me of our finest straths.
Now in Ceylon, the central district, answering to this peach-stone, constitutes a fierce little Liliputian kingdom, quite independent, through many centuries, of the lazy belt, the peach-flesh, which swathes and enfolds it, and perfectly distinct by the character and origin of its population. The peach-stone is called Kandy, and the people Kandyans.
I had a bad headache next morning, and when I arrived at Newra Elyia, the famous sanatarium, 6,000 feet above the sea, I was obliged to go to bed, and send for the doctor. I could not remain quiet, however, as the packet from England might be at Galle on the 3rd; so I had to hurry down on Friday from the mountain to Kandy and Colombo, where I arrived on Saturday evening more dead than alive.
Here again we stopped a little while to run up to Kandy and to visit the ruined city of Anarajapura with its great Buddhist topes that once again gave rise to religious argument between my two friends. Leaving Ceylon we struck across the Indian Ocean for Perth in Western Australia. It was a long voyage, since to save our coal we made most of it under canvas.
When the Duke and Duchess of York visited Kandy the high priests of the temple exhibited the tooth; and on occasions it is supposed to be carried in processions through the streets on the back of an elephant but deception and trickery in connection with the tooth come easy. The enshrined humbug reposes on a massive silver table, encrusted with gems and festooned with jeweled chains.
The modern Spanish bull-fight is only a degree more cruel, and both exhibitions are equally indicative of the national character of the promoters. The one residence worthy of mention in Kandy proper is the Pavilion or Governor's House, built by Sir E. Barnes. This is a very elegant modern structure, combining European architecture with tropical adaptations, and is surrounded by a broad colonnade.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking