Sketcher

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 18, 29 July 1893, Page 4

Sketcher

MADRILAND TO; BRITAXIST. 1 - (By Aukoba.) , No. 9. ' Most of us have read books in which the pleasures of travelling by a P. and G. boat have been depicted, but all the books that have ever been written' are very tame after one has really enjoyed the reality. (If the Invercargill agent will condescend to r-ead my humble contribution, I have no doubt he will forward me, for nothing, a return ticket by the next mail,, as I am about to render the company a bigger service than they have' had rendered them for a longtime.-) I joined my steamer at Melbourne, and, of course, as is usual, examined every little nook from stem to stern before I finally settled down in my really spacious cabin. I was almost tempted to forget, after I had got my things arranged, that I was on the water at all. There seemed to be so much room, and everything seemed to fit m so beautifully, that had it not been for a certain undulation caused by the windsi: and waves, I could easily haye" imagined that I was on shore. / is most beautifully 'fitted:’ everything is provided that can ’possibly minister to the comfort and well-being of the passengers. I won’t trouble you with further details of our surroundings, but take up the “ thread of my discourse ” at Colombo. Of all the strange sights that I have ever seen, or am ever likely to see, I think nothing could possibly surpass our arrival and stay in Colombo. At seven o’clock in the morning, nearly every passenger had found his way on to the deck, and was eagerly scanning the shore, near to which we were passing. The first glimpse soon showed us that we had now reached a part of the earth which was vastly different to that which we had previously travelled over. Tall palm trees laden with immense cocoa-nuts, and all kinds of beautiful tropical plants. A very shax-p turn brought us in sight of Colombo, and there the fun commenced. I am sure 1 am not exaggerating when I say that there were over a hundred little boats and catamarangs (spelling doubtful) coming full tilt at our big steamer. The excitement on board, as to which of tke boats would reach the ship first, was intense. On they came, filled with 'natives dressed in gayest of Oi'iental colours, and, ixx the majority cases, without any dress at all. It was sight for sore eyes to seethe way in which the owners of those little “ cockle shells ” shot in and out amongst the other boats. They scrambled up the side of the ship, and in less time than it takes me to write it, the deck was crowded with a whole army of the most importunate vendox-s I have evex- seen in my life. Lace,, jewellery, baskets, elephants, fruit,' -flowers, and beautiful Indian silks. Their prices, to begin, with are exorbitant; they always ask five times the value of the article, and evidently wouldn’t be quite happy if you purchased a thing without ax-gu-ing. The idea of “ beating down ” the price was at first to many.of us a disagreeable idea, but it is wonderful what experts in the art many of us became in time. Whilst all the excitement of buying and selling was progressing on deck, a merrier scene was being enacted below. Dozens of youths and boys sitting in the rudest of canoes were doing their utmost by unearthly exclamations, and a strange clapping sound, caused by the flapping of the arm against the side of the naked body, to attract our attention. The burden of their cry was, “ Dive, dive, ‘ tree ’ penny for a dive.” For a 'time threepenny pieces were showered upon them, and into the water they dived; like so many fish. But threepences don't last for ever, and Avhen they saw that the supply had run out they reduced’ the price of their performance to a “penny a dive.” : - Ik. was yei*y funny, and so interesting that many of us ..forgot to hear the breakfast bugle which

- a. t -:T of the excitement. v r eye^p,-;-.jbhe ( :des brands of Nature have to attended' to, hnd 1 ver^. jreluc)antleryverwexit be|o\y, to ‘ satisfy, pur; inner, main ' ‘ After; breakfast we' returned tqjjthp; scene ( of 1 cbnfusipn and ’ took—many of us—our, fifistl lesson in harterin g. j A dozen ,m en 1 assail you .together, they all talk, at once, ahdi all you can do is simply to stand and laugh at, them. If you move away they follow, you, and for dogged persistency I am sure these men are hot to be beaten in the Northern or Southern. Hemisphere. One Invercargill friend had kindly told me . to be sure and look out for “a treasure of a guide” called “ Kadir Khan.” Tasked one of the Cingalese if he wer-e on board. “ Oh, yes,” he replied, “me take , you to him”’ He went away and brought the supposed Kadir. Feeling a little dubious as to whether: he really was the man I wanted, I went away and asked another’, with the result that I had another “Kadir Khan ” introduced to me. Wondering how many of this guide there x-eally were I .proceeded with my quest, with the result that I found five altogether. Each man I asked brought me, I suppose, his specialfriend, and tlxej’ wer-e going to go shares in the profits. They didn’t get much profit out of me, however. One man came up to me and calmly told me that he remembered me very well. According to him 1 bad been in Ceylon about five years ago. I was a very good lady tben—bought lots of things from him. I thanked him for remembering what had never happened; and hoped it wouldn’t occur again. A scene which attracted a good deal of attention was a snakecharmer*. The whole performance made one feel creepy and queex-, and yet somehow one’ was fascinated by the antics of the creatux-e and his master. From snake-charming we turned to mango-tree growing, and this is really a wondex’ful feat. By the singing of strange ditties, the performance of wondex-fnl evolutions, and the manipulation of the soil ai’oun 1 a tiny bx’own seed, a beautiful shrub is’produced,, standing some two feet, from the ground. If tbei’e be trickery in it, then it is very -clever trickery, but certainly the most careful watching cannot detect the slightest inccnsistoncy. For a shilling they will perform any tr ick under the sun, throwing in a few small ones to make up the weight. But we soon grew tired of the excitement, novel iljpugh it was, and decided that we would wend our way once more towards terra firma.