Autobiographical account of a Sri Lanka born Canadian, woven around his journey through Sri Lanka.

Excerpt from In Old Ceylon Then the procession of jewels continues. Sapphire has not yet shown you all it can do. From little brown canvas bags, such as those in which we Westerners some times carry mere contemptible sovereigns when we are so fortunate as to possess them, comes bounding forth, upon beds of snow-white paper, the moony refulgence of the star-stones. Of a soft dove - grey is the typical star sapphire, of a tender, clouded, milky blue, of pearly tones like a mountain mist, or softly cerulean as the bluebell; and, grey or white or blue, always there nestles at its heart a floating six-rayed star of pure light, that shifts and wavers across the surface of the stone as you move it to and fro. In the Old days, the cutters who roped the Kings of Lanka in Chains Of ruby and cat's-eye had the art Of so cutting these star-stones that ripple after ripple of radiance followed hard upon each other's heels as the jewel turned this way and that. But the secret lies long buried in the heart of dead Ceylon, and nowadays we must be contented with the hexagonal prism across that lovely clouded surface. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

An account of the aborigines and of part of the early civilization in Sri Lanka.

Excerpt from Old Ceylon: Sketches of Ceylon Life in the Olden Time The Coffee Estate on which I resided was situated in one of the wildest and most beautiful districts of the island of Ceylon, elevated far above the luxuriant lowlands, where fragrant spices and waving palms told of wide plains and balmy winds. The plantation was on a broad table-land, fully three thousand five hundred feet above the sea level, many miles removed from the only European town in the interior, and at least five miles from any other white man's dwelling. Within a short walk of the lower boundary of my property, was a small Kandyan village containing within itself the very pith and essence of Cingalese society, a true type of the native community of the interior. As I mixed so unreservedly and frequently with the people, and saw so much of their every-day-life, it may be interesting to give a faint outline of this little hamlet. Malwattie, which was its name, signifies literally, a "garden of flowers," and such in truth it was, when I first visited it. Unlike any European village, there was not such a thing as a row of houses or huts to be seen: shops were unknown in that primitive place, and until later years, no such incubus as a tavern keeper or renter was known there. Every little hut or cottage was carefully shaded from the view of its neighbour, fairly established on its own account, as much so, as though the inmates had written up in barbarous Cingalese characters, "No connexion with the house next door." I never could learn that there was any superstition among native hut builders, as to the variation in the aspect of their domiciles, but certain it was that no two dwellings faced precisely the same points of the compass. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.