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This amphitheater was often two miles across, every foot of the ground minutely cultivated and a perfect sea of verdure. But, as we went up, the palm gave place to the pine; cold succeeded to heat; and to be at all comfortable at our hotel we were obliged to order fire in our rooms. Beautiful for situation as was Nurwara Eliya, we were glad, on account of the January cold, to leave it.
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.
They are present from Jaffna in the north, from Galle in the south, from Nuara Eliya in the mountains, from everywhere some come on foot, some by curious carts drawn by buffaloes or bullocks, some by railroad train. All are unshod, and the head of each is bare and shaven.
The scenery grew bolder as we went along, and at the Junction we took the narrow gauge for our mountain climb. This ascent was another triumph of engineering skill, winding around long and bold curves. Nuwara Eliya is located sixty-two hundred feet above the sea, but, surrounded by mountains, the country has the appearance of being a valley.
From the top of the pass, six thousand feet high, there was a panoramic view of mountain scenery with the Katinale valley below and the gray-crested Peacock Mountain as a centrepiece. Nuwara Eliya is a famed summer resort, with beautiful walks, tennis, cricket, and social clubs; the English Church is finely located, with the usual well-kept close.
The mountain resort of Nuwara Eliya is a great boon even to the inhabitants of sea-swept Colombo; and it is also appreciated to its full by the tourist who has been surfeited with the close atmosphere of cities or grown tired of sea voyages.
Tea was then experimented with. In 1875 barely a thousand acres were under tea; now the acreage is 385,000. A journey from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya, in the mountains, is through an interminable tea-garden, and on every hand is proof of substantial investment of capital.
Before I tell you of our visit to Buddhist temples, I must speak of the refuge from them which we found at Nurwara Eliya, sixty-two hundred feet above the sea. Colombo is only six degrees north of the equator. Here in January the sun casts hardly any shadow at noon, and the middle of the day is hot. Later in the year the heat is intense, day and night.
The spacious entrance hall at the Galle Face Hotel presented an animated appearance, with beautifully gowned ladies, and their attendants, seated around little tables sipping tea and consuming fruit-cake and sandwiches. NUWARA ELIYA: On Tuesday morning, January 28th, we left Colombo for the north.
Kandy, the ancient up-country capital, is cooler, and Nuwara Eliya, in the mountains, is actually cold at night. When white people do anything in Colombo work, attend church, play bridge, or billiards a native keeps them moderately comfortable with swinging punkahs.
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