EN ROUTE TO EGYPT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 6, 7 May 1915, Page 2

EN ROUTE TO EGYPT.

FIRST TASTE OF THE EAST. COLOMBO FROM THE SEA. A Stratford resident has received the following letter from a Stratford member of the third New Zealand reinforcements:—

After sundown on March 10th we sighted a lighthouse on the coast of Ceylon and early next morning we were within a few miles of Colombo. j In the morning twilight the most preeminent feature was a fine range of j dulls well back from the sea with one ! well-defined peak which ran up sharp- | ly. These hills left the impression that the rainfall in their vicinity would ! be plentiful and regular. The harbor i is wholly artificial and is a fine one. We did not see it on a stormy day. but the works had the appearanace of being able to afford shelter, against any weather. The works consist of three portions—a concrete mole running from the east, a rough stone mole from the west, and a concrete wall running across between the mole-heads. Ships pass in or out round each end of the central portion. The town presents an agreeable appearance from the harbor. We were anchored well away from the town proper and the shore was covered with thick vegetation, having a pleasingly cool and calm look. The town proper has large imposing buildings; and altogether the prospect was a great deal more inviting than at Albany. The land is slightly indicating. The number of ocean-going steamers in the harbor surprised me. When we arrived there were about a dozen. 1 thought that probably it might he a particularly busy day; but next day a certain number left port and fresh steamers arrived and kept the number in port up. One needs to be actually on the spot to realise the extent to which Colombo is used as a of call. 1 always knew it was so used, 'but never really realised the "strong" of the port of Colombo until my eyes actually fell on the crowd of oceangoing steamers (freight and passenger) of all lines and nationalities. An air of importance is lent to the place by large engineering works on the water-front. All ships anchor in the harbor. There appear to be no wharfs for berthing, but there is a fine landing jetty for passengers. The Aparima and the rest of the troopships took in water and coal. The water is brought alongside in barges in which are placed a number of large tanks. Accompanying those barges is a smaller barge fitted with a pump, driven by a steam engine, and the water is pumped slowly into the ship. Coal also comes alongside in barges and is shifted entirely by hand power. Over the ship's side is hung a staging consisting of three platforms, the second being shorter than the lowest, and the top one shorter still. The coal, in small sacks, is passed to the bottom of the staging and up to four men on the lower platform. These raise it to the second platform, where four men raise it to four more on the top platform, who pass it to men on deck, who carry it to the traps into the bunkers. All the laborers, of course, are Cingalese. The Cingalese are inclined to be finebuilt, their legs and arms being well on the thin side, but they appear to do quite as much work as bulkier men would. As can easily be imagined, the natives come round the ships in port in shoals, arriving in all sorts of craft, though mostly in row-boats of the usual variety. On most of the rowboats there are short masts at the bow and stern which serve to hold up an awning. Some of the boats were of queer make, and. one consisted of a very narrow body with an outrigger. About five Cingalese gentlemen entertained the soldiers by diving for money. They made it plain that copper coins were no good, stating that they could not see them, and threepennies and sixpences formed their chief haul. These diving gentlemen could only ply their calling in the absence of the Harbor Police, Cingalese gentlemen in bluejacket garb who patrolled the vicinity of the transports in a row-boat. When the police appealed the diving gentlemen had to dress in a hurry and pretend to he thinking out sums. The coal and water barges are brought to the vicinity of the ship by a tug, and are then cast adrift to look after themselves, being laid alongside with the help of long oars or sweeps, which have round blades, usually lashed to the shaft of the oar with rope. They are just as careful at the port of Colombo as they are at the ports of Wellington and Lyttelton, and during our stay two boats were fired on for not observing the rules of the harbor. By night a powerful searchlight sweeps a wide .stretch of open sen. The harbor works seem to bo complete ; and contemplating them one could not help thinking of Xew Plymouth and speculating on the time when Taranaki's harbor will ho completed. Of course it will novyr in our time conic to pass that there will ho at Now Plymouth the amount of shipping there is at Colombo; and it is plain that only because of the largo amount of shipping at Colombo is there such a lino harbor. At the sumo time, when Xew Plymouth has a good harbor it will naturally attract shipping. At night the lights of the town, the breawkater (lights, the port lighthouse, and the searchlight combine to make a pretty (picture. One noticed the natives on itbe barges alongside the transport preparing meals, which were cooked in a tin-lined box, with doors opening over all one side, which had no chimney i