_Saturday, March 31st_.--Up early, and after rather a scramble we went
ashore at seven o'clock, just in time to start by the first train to
Kandy. There was not much time to spare, and we therefore had to pay
sovereigns for our tickets instead of changing them for rupees,
thereby receiving only ten instead of eleven and a half, the current
rate of exchange that day. It seemed rather sharp practice on the part
of the railway company (_alias_ the Government) to take sovereigns in
at the window at ten rupees, and sell them at the door for eleven and
a half, to speculators waiting ready and eager to clutch and sell them
again at an infinitesimally small profit.
The line to Kandy is always described as one of the most beautiful
railways in the world, and it certainly deserves the character. The
first part of the journey is across jungle and through plains; then
one goes climbing up and up, looking down on all the beauties of
tropical vegetation, to distant mountains shimmering in the glare and
haze of the burning sun. The carriages were well ventilated and
provided with double roofs, and were really tolerably cool.
About nine o'clock we reached Ambepussa, and the scenery increased in
beauty from this point. A couple of hours later we reached Peradeniya,
the junction for Gampola.
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