United States or South Africa ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
From the taking of the first oyster to the draining of the last vatful of "matter," every step is attended by fickle fortune; and never is the interest of the people of Portugal or of Mexico keener over a drawing of a lottery, the tickets of which may have been sold at the very thresholds of the cathedrals, than is that of the natives of Ceylon and southern India over the daily results of a Manar fishery.
Alexander built it with great understanding. The streets are wide and straight, so that a man can look along them for a mile from gate to gate, from the gate of Reshid to the gate by the sea. Alexander also built for the harbour of Alexandria a pier, a king's highway running into the midst of the sea. And there he erected a large tower, a lighthouse, called Manar al Iskandriyyah in Arabic.
Father Xavier was employed in establishing Christianity in Travancore, when he received this embassy from Manar. As he could not forsake an infant church without a reasonable apprehension of its ruin, he sent to Manar one of the priests whom he had left on the coast of Fishery.
For Manar has no resemblance to Ceylon, though placed so near it: Ceylon being the most delicious and most fruitful part of all the East; where the trees are always green, and bear fruits and flowers in every season; where there are discovered mines of gold and silver, crystal, and precious stones; which is encompassed with forests of ebony, cinnamon, and cocoa; and where the inhabitants live to an extreme old age, without any of the incommodities which attend it, The wonder is, that, being distant from the equinoctial but six degrees, the air is temperate and pure, and the rains, which water it from heaven regularly once a month, joined with the springs and rivers which pass through it, refresh the ground in a greater measure than the scorching heats can parch it.
Scientists have long been aware that the pearl shell-fish possesses locomotive powers, which it uses when in quest of food or protection, and to escape impure localities. During the Dutch occupation of Ceylon, for example, there was a period of several years when the oysters' boycott of the Manar banks was virtually unanimous.
Amongst those idolatrous nations, which breathed after baptism, and desired to be instructed, the Manarois were the first, who made a deputation to the saint. The isle of Manar is situate towards the most northern point of Ceylon, and at the head of the sands of Remanancor. It has a very convenient port, and is a place of great traffic.
The distance from Colombo is less than two hundred miles through the Straits of Manar, and we landed on the following day, after a stormy passage, during which the rain came down with tropical profuseness.
After he had run over all these coasts, he was a second time at Cochin and at Goa; from Goa he took the way of Cambaya, and having crossed that whole region, which lies extended from the mouth of the river Indus, as far as Cochin, he made the tour of Cape Cori, and went to the islands of Ceylon, of Manar, and of Las Vaccas.
Word Of The Day