Here most of the passengers got out, bound
for Neuera-ellia, the sanatorium of Ceylon, 7,000 feet above the sea.
Soon after leaving the station, we passed the Satinwood Bridge. Here
we had a glimpse of the botanical garden at Kandy, and soon afterwards
reached the station. We were at once rushed at by two telegraph boys,
each with a telegram of hospitable invitation, whilst a third friend
met us with his carriage, and asked us to go at once to his house, a
few miles out of Kandy. We hesitated to avail ourselves of his kind
offer, as we were such a large party; but he insisted, and at once set
off to make things ready for us, whilst we went to breakfast and rest
at a noisy, dirty, and uncomfortable hotel. It was too hot to do
anything except to sit in the verandah and watch planter after planter
come in for an iced drink at the bar. The town is quite full for
Easter, partly for the amusements and partly for the Church services;
for on many of the coffee estates there is no church within a
reasonable distance.
About four o'clock the carriage came round for us, and having
despatched the luggage in a gharry, we drove round the lovely lake,
and so out to Peradeniya, where our friend lives, close to the Botanic
Gardens. Many of the huts and cottages by the roadside have
'small-pox' written upon them in large letters, in three languages,
English, Sanscrit, and Cingalese, a very sensible precaution, for the
natives are seldom vaccinated, and this terrible disease is a real
scourge amongst them.
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