Just before sunset we went to have a last look at those lovely
Botanical Gardens. They were more beautiful than ever in the afternoon
light, and I saw many things which had escaped my notice before. I
have made acquaintance with the taste of all sorts of new fruits while
here, more than in our former journey; but this is to be explained by
the proximity of the Botanical Gardens. I expected to revel in fruit
all through the tropics, but, except at Tahiti, we have not done so at
all. There is one great merit in tropical fruit, which is, that
however hot the sun may be, when plucked from the tree it is always
icy cold; if left for a few minutes, however, it becomes as hot as
the surrounding atmosphere, and the charm is gone.
On my return, when I went to dress for dinner, I found on my table a
nasty-looking black beast about six inches long. It looked very
formidable in the half-light, like a scorpion or centipede. It turned
out, however, to be quite harmless, and a sort of millipede, and
rather handsome, with jet-black rings, and hundreds of orange-coloured
legs. There are a great many venomous snakes in Ceylon, but they
always get out of the way as fast as they can, and never bite
Europeans. All the roofs of the thatched bungalows swarm with rats,
and in every house is kept a rat-snake, which kills and eats these
rats.
Pages:
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580