to live in. The look of the streets is further damaged by the widely spread appearance of shut-up tenements. When the Cingalese family go forth to their daily work they put up a shutter in the place where the door ought to be, and all that is needful is done. There being no windows to the houses, a row, when thus shut up, looks like an agglomeration of deserted sheds.

The Governor, who seems to have been well looked after, has a pretty residence here in a wood on an eminence overlooking the town. A winding walk leading to the top of the hill, whence a fine view of the town and valley is obtained, skirts the Governor's garden, and is named after Lady Horton, wife of a former governor. The finest building in Colombo is Government House, which, with its lofty rooms, broad verandahs, cool corridors, and pleasant garden, is the perfection of a tropical residence.

The artisans of Kandy turn out some simple brass-work and a curious kind of pottery. These are soon examined, and Kandy, from a tourist's point of view, lives chiefly on the beauty of its Botanic Gardens. They are situated in the suburb called Peradeniya, and are reached by a drive of nearly four miles along the high-road to Colombo. We drove

out early in the morning, long before the sun was in full blaze. We met a long stream of men and women hurrying into town carrying baskets of vegetables and fruit and bundles of packets. The principal industry on the long stretch of road appears to be the barbers'. There was a barber's shop at every few hundred yards, a low shed, in which a man was squatted on the floor beside the implements of his art awaiting custom-sometimes, with better luck, actually engaged on a job. The process is a little peculiar. Artist and subject squat on the ground face to face and knee to knee, the artist pulling the subject's head about as his convenience may require. As frequently as not the Cingalese does not squat on the ground, but, stooping down, hangs his weight on his knees with only his feet on the ground. I saw two acquaintances meet on the high-road. After an interchange of salutation, they both sank down in this position, and, putting up their umbrellas, prepared for a morning's gossip.

Kandy, being the principal object of attraction for the British and American tourist, has suffered the consequent demoralization of the floating inhabitants. Boys and men hang about the door of the hotel in search of any odd job that shall look like work and bring in

annas.

Another art, brought to curiously high perfection, is that of mutually helping each other to prey upon the foreigner. Being told that a small boy hanging about the hotel was a useful guide, well up in botany and arboriculture, I engaged him for the day, and speedily discovered that he was utterly useless. "What's that?" I asked him, pointing to a curious white flower.

"A kind of flower," he replied with perfect confidence, and brimming over with self-satisfaction at coming out successfully from an early test.

"What's that?" I asked a little later, indicating an unfamiliar member of the palm family.

"A kind of tree," he promptly answered.

One of his minor triumphs was to point out what he called "a bunyan tree," meaning a banyan; and once, when we heard a familiar whistle and roar, he, with a wave of his hand towards the passing object, said, "A train" -all of which made us glad we had taken a guide.

He accompanied us to Lady Horton's Walk, and had not gone many paces when we were joined by another youth, whom our guide genially introduced, and who accompanied us on the walk, confirming the younger one as to

this being

kind of tree."

a kind of flower" and that "a

When we got back to the hotel our budding courier said, with a patronizing wave of the hand

"You give him something?"

I said I would do so with great pleasure, and consulted him as to the precise amount, explaining that I had meant to present him with a rupee for himself, and expressing my appreciation of his generosity in desiring to share it with his companion. Hereupon the youth's advocacy of his friend's claim abruptly cooled, and I heard nothing more on the subject. Something better still happened on driving to the station. The coachman drove off without waiting for his fare. Presently, when we were seated in the carriage, he sent a friend for his fare, and the friend asked for something for himself for conveying the money!

The Botanic Gardens cover nearly a hundred and fifty acres of land, and stand fifteen hundred feet above the sea. The climate is admirably suited for garden cultivation, being hot, moist, and very equable. I learn from Dr. Trimen, the director, that the mean annual temperature is about 77°, April and May being the hottest and December the coldest months. The gardens were

established sixty years ago, being partly formed out of a royal park attached to the palace of the kings of Kandy. They are beautifully situated, lying within a loop of the river, musically named Mahaweli, which surrounds them on all sides, except the south, where they are bounded by the high-road. We took our guide with us, but the little impostor was stopped at the gates, as he knew he would be. This is done on the principle of division of plunder. The attendants within the gardens have the perquisite of showing strangers round, and brook no rival near the throne. a nuisance, greatly marring the pleasure of strolling through the gardens, for one cannot take a turn without being accosted by one of these men wanting to sell a handbook, to "show the fernery," or presenting a flower or specimen of fruit, with a too obvious eye for annas.

It is

The gardens are, however, quite good enough to compensate for petty annoyances of this kind. Whilst rare specimens of tree and plant are lovingly cultivated, the original beauty of the ground, its undulating sweep, and in some spots its virgin jungle are left undisturbed. Always there is the flowing river, with the view caught here and there of the satinwood bridge that crosses it like a