On this page
-
Text (1)
-
November! 1, 1854.] THE LEADER. 1073
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Ceyi-On Has Been Pronounced By Tradition...
and we are hurried on from chapter to chapter by an incessant rattle of animal spirits and vivacity . Mr . Sullivan confesses himself more at home In the saddle than with a gun , but his campaign in the jungle is picturesquely told , and his occasional remorse betrays " a soul above sport . The visit to a coffee plantation is described with intelligence and accuracy . We owe it to Mr . Sullivan to warn him against a propensity to mistake slang for wit . In a writer so animated and well-informed , so weak a substitute is doubly regrettable . "We extract a few of the most salient of Mr . Sullivan ' s experiences and reflections His apology for Lord Torrington ' s severities in ' 48 is , we know , the opinion entertained by all who were in Ceylon at the time of that rebellion , which , but for the energetic measures of the governor , threatened to become a really formidable conspiracy . The following explanation of the execution of the Buddhist priest is , we believe , a correct statement of the facts : — The lies circulated about the Buddhist priest who was " executed at Randy , were at once the offspring of personal dislike and of popularity-seeking philanthrophy . The priest \ ras arrested , in the very act of administering to hundreds of rebels an oath of enmity and revenge against the British inhabitants . If individual treason is a capital ofFence , he deserved death ; if exciting a nation to revolt is criminal , he doubly deserved it ; and if debasing and misapplying the influence of his priestly office could add to his crime , he had trebly earned his fate . The account of his being shot in his robes , —which was compared to shooting the Pope or the Archbishop of Canterbury in full canonicals , — -was simply a fabrication , which designing men saw- might be foisted upon the British public , whose ignorance of Cingalese customs might lead them to suppose that the priest ' s robe was that only use ! in religious ceremonies , and that the degradation of the national faith was as much the object of the government as the individual punishment of the traitor himself . Such , however , -was not the case ; the Buddhist priests don the saffron robe on entering the priesthood , or rather on becoming students , and never lay it aside till they retire from the service , or till they quit their human form for that of a cobra or an elephant . They have no other article ef dress whatever , and if the priest had been deprived of that , he must have been exposed quite naked , degraded and disgraced , before all his people .
The punishment of treason was inflicted on him by a military court , and he would lave suffered equally , whether he had been a Brahmin or a Mahomedan , a Protestant or a Roman Catholic . He was tried and executed in the dress in which his crime was committed . Do we suppose that those -who lynched the Monk Clement , or shot the preachers of the Scotch covenant , waited to divest them of their ordinary attire , or intended to degrade the faith while they punished the traitor ? - Not only was Lord Torrington perfectly -warranted in acting as he did , but he ¦ wo uld have had ample reason on his side had he forfeited the whole of the Buddhist property in the island . Here is Mr . Sullivan's onslaught on the Missionaries : —
It is an ungrateful office to decry the efforts of Missionaries in foreign countries , especially amongst savages and uneducated natives , but still it is undeniably the duty of travellers to offer the fruits of their experience , gathered in the several parts of the world they may have visited , and to expose the almost utter uselessness of a system that deprives the mother country of the energies of some of the most zealous and noble of her children , and squanders sums that , if expended at home , would bring- to perfection fruit that has been implanted on good soil , but from neglect and want of attention is suffered to rot and perish . My experience , gathered from visits amongst the Indians of North and South America , the Arabs of Asia , and the natives of Ceylon and India , and supported by the testimony and opinion of unprejudiced persons , whose long residence amongst them had made them acquainted with all their habits , leads me to believe , that scarcely one real convert , whose belief is sincere and lasting , annually rewards the labours of
the hundreds who are engaged in the spiritual warfare . This opinion may appear incredible , and too frightful to be believed , and Exeter Hall would decidedly crush any one who ventured to assert such . a fact , but two instances will prove that it is not entirely without foundation . The Abbe" Dubois , who was for upwards of fifteen years the most energetic and enlightened of Roman Catholic Missionaries in India , declared when leaving that country , that during the whole period of his labours , he had not made one sincere Christian . A Baptist Missionary I visited in the Sioux country , told me that during thirteen years of uninterrupted residence and labour among the Indians , in which time he had educated scores of children , and translated two or three of the Gospels , he could not say that he had made one single couvert whoso profession was sincere . If the humane and Christian population of England would only inquire into these things , and instead of wasting their energies and their means in useless attempts to convert the heathen , whoso time is not yet come , would unite to convert the heathen at homo , they would find their labour crowned with certain success instead of as certain disappointment . SNAKES IN CEYJCON . Coylon is certainly a grand place for the study of ophiology , and the varieties are more numerous than charming . It is curious that , although every one of the four orders of Roptilia are represented in each hemisphere , not one appears in exactly the same form ; the serpents , alligators , batraehiana , and chelonians of cither hemisphere , though excessively aimilur , are not identical . All this must be a source of great interest and delight to the naturalist , but to the traveller it ia not ulwnys a cause of so much satisfaction . It msiy not bo uninteresting to name a few of the varieties , and their peculiarities , aa stated by competent authorities . Omitting all such as arc oviparous , and arc innocuous , except from their strength , I will mention those that are ovovlviparous and poisonous . Of cobras or hooded snakes there arc four kinds—the Cobra di Cajiello , or serpent it lunettes , esteemed sacred by the Buddhist , and looked upon as tho cmblom of wisdom , but still slain on nil occasions ; tho Cobra Minalle , with whose peculinrltioB I am not acquainted ; tho Cobra di Mortu , a delightful variety , of some six or nine inches in length , with a skull and cross-bones marked on tho head !! ( I give tho Htory as it was told to mo , but it is only fair to nay I don't bolievo it ); its bito i » nlrnost instantaneously fatal ; tho Cobra Aumliu , about six inchest long 1 , that ( littplaymi predilection for crawling into person ' s earn , and causing death by frenzy ( rule " Hamlet" ) . Of thoso four spoeios , I can only npouk from cxperioruic of tho oobrn di ctipollo , never having seen any individual of the other three . The Manny Polougit , or Tla I ' olonya , are the moat common in tho Kniulliui country ; they are very quick undi lively in their movcmcntH , and their bito is not attended with tho fearful agony that generally nccompanioH » rmko vouoin . Tho bito la auccoedod l » y a lethargic aputliy , very much lik . es that induced by laudanum , and tho only change of saving tho patient is to keep him moving , i ' ur if onco allowed to wlccp , it in tho sloop of doath , that knows no waking . Of nil annkoH tho cobvu is tho niont houut iful , and when erect , with itn hood expanded , gracefully moving in time to tho mimic , it ia certainly a inout Htriking and fnndtuitiiig «!> jfi <; f , 5 it « « yo , which in in general leaden and liowvy , booomoH , under tho influciicu of mimic , intdiiHcly bright and glittering . Thitt cil ' uct i « heightened by tho fact of snakes having no oyolld »; tho eye , although ho beautiful , in not tttroiur , and
cannot bear any strong glare . This was well known to the ancients , who had an idea that the flash of an emerald deprived them of sight . The poison from the fang of a cobra is like one or two drops of laudanum . It is said , and I believe with truth that it loses a joint of its tail every time it expends its poison . The cobra is par excellence the sacred snake among Hindoos and Buddhists , and with the latter has attained that enviable position from a myth of its having with its hood shaded Buddha , when sleeping , from the sun . It must have been a " pretty considerable tall snake that , and no mistake . ' The Cingalese believe that there is a world full of cobras , -whose forms are tenanted by the souls of men , who , in life , had been free from ev « ry vice but malice : they are Buddhists in faith , worship in temples , reside in furnished houses , and enjoy society , living- on the beat of " chicken fixings , " —they in facthave
may , , any variety of food they can desire , with this peculiarity , that it must always assume the form of a frog . They have a king , who is the biggest ; and they retain the distinctions of high and low caste ; the light-coloured snakes constituting the former , the darkeT ones the latter . I cannot imagine what there is so enticing in the existence or habits of snakes , that should have induced people in all ages to covet their form in a future state ? Cadmus and his wife , after having , by-the-by , had a good deal to do with dragons and snakes in their lifetime , were by choice converted into snakes ; and the pet boy of one of the mission schools at Kandy , being asked by a visitor what he hoped to become in a future state , answered , "A cobra . " The delight ^ of living in a land free from snakes and other noxious insects , 13 a blessing -which we do not appreciate till we have experienced the horror and annoyance of the contrary .
THE CEYLON H . IFLES . The Rifles were originally recruited entirely by Malays from the eastern islands , the recruiting head-quarters being at Singapore ; but , for some reason , the service has withia the last few years become unpopular , and few can be persuaded to join . The only Malays , therefore , that now join the Tanks are youngsters born and bred in the regiment itself . The vacancies have lately been filled up chiefly by Kaffirs . The Kaffirs , notwithstanding their thick skulls and unintellectual appearance , have a very remarkable turn for music ; and seven-eighths at least of the Rifle band keep time to the dulcet tones with blubber lips , woolly heads , and heels of African elongation . A belief has commonly prevailed in England that thin lips are advantageous for good execution on wind instruments , especially the flute and cornet-a-piston ; but this theory seems unfounded , for the Kaffir s ? olo-players of the Rifle band , with lips of any imaginary dimensions , both as regards width and thickness , strike the highest notes with , as much clearness and precision as any European performer could boast of ; they aie also excellent timeists .
The Ceylon Rifles are held in particular dread and abhorrence by the natives 5 and the latter feeling , without being tempered by any dread whatever , is the reciprocal sentiment-of the Bines , especially the Malays . In 1848 this feeling was illustrated by many , and in some cases bloody , instances . The Rifles are active , dapper men , and well drilled for a field day ; but , unfortunately , coming of races used to their own peculiar kind of warfare from childhood , they find it difficult to forget the manners and customs of their fathers , and are rather apt , in the heat of an engagement , to forget their European education , and discarding all the advantages of discipline and mutual dependence , to break their ranks , fling away their muskets , and , trusting entirely to their daggers and kreeses , to rush upon the enemy in their national manner , and work away each man ; oil his own hook- This , of course , answers very well in bush-fighting ; but if opposed by diseipline , would be utterly fatal . In several instances in the rebellion of 1848 , the detachments sent against the Kandians disobeyed the orders of their officers , and , to vise an expression especially applied to the Malays , " ran a muck" amongst their opponents . The loss they inflicted on the Kandians is not well ascertained , but there is little doubt that it was severe .
AN ELEPHANT . WORKING . We passed an . elephant working on the road , and it was most interesting to watch the half-reasoning brute ; he was tearing out large roots from the ground by means of a cliain and hook , fastened round his neck with a species of collar . He pulled like a man , or rather like a number of men , with a succession of steady hauls , throwing his whole weight into it , and almost going down on his knees , turning round every now and then to see what progress he was making . Ueally the instinct displayed by tho elephant in its domesticated state is little short of reason in its fullest sense- There is no doubt they do think , and also uct upon experience and memory and tlm ' ir capacity seems to increase in an extraordinary degree from their intercourse with man . The remarkable nicety and trouble they take in squaring and arranging the blocks of hewn stone when building a bridge is incredible , unless Keen ; they place
them with as much skill us any mason , and ivill return two or three times to gave the finishing touches when they think the work is not quite perfect . They retire a few yards , and consider what they havo effected , and you almost fanoy you can detect them turning their sagacious old noddles on one Hide , and shutting one ey « in a knowing manner , to detect any irregularity in thu arrangement . Sidney Smith ' s anecdotes of elephants ' reason , in his Lectures on Moral riulosophy , although most astonishing , do not fail for the want of corruhoratioii . 1 heard numerous anecdotes almost aa extraordinary aa those Uo mentions ; and , amongst others , ono of an elephant at Tinnevclly that had been engaged all duy in piling log . s of timber , but in the waning , becoming angry at sonic promise his keeper had neglected to fulfil , he went of his own accord and undid every sstrokc of work ha had completed during the duy .
IIOSI'ITAI . ITTf IN CI 3 V » , ON " . Hospitality is genuine and unrestricted juiimiy ( 1 ms planters in Ceylon ; you ride up to a bungalow , put your homo into tho Htablc , enter the hounc , and if tho owner bo at homo introduce yourself , or if you havo n companion introduce him , and lie performs the same kind oflico for you ; if the owner in not in , you nevurtliclcHH introduce yourself to hit ? butler , an the housekcepero airo called , light a cheroot , call for b « cr , & c , and make yourwelf at home till bin return . Tho ¦ eonvurHwlion on entering a planter ' s buntfulow , whether friomlor not , in unually on this vims :- — " Mantor at homoV" "No , war . " "Ucor got ? " "Yen , nar . " " » wr bring . Cheroot got V" " Ych , war . " " Now , then , you nigger , briiifjj a light , and got Houiollring to out . " " Yen , war . " This free-and-easy way of prouooriiiifr is expected nixl unlvoroiiHy practised . It ia a sort of communism of tho plcaminUtst thiHcrintion , and is nucoHsita ' tod by tho Htato and extent of tho population 5 for whore huiifrtilowH aro twolvo and twenty milo « apart , roods barely jmHaablo , and woiithor during » ix montliH of tho y « u » r inclement , tho wonted cormnonJouH and formal introduoLioiiH of more civilUc-d nocUity would bo out of place , and highly dmngi'uoabli ; to tho hungry , iimmhUsimhI \ oyagnr . I . II'K OV A COI ' 1 'KK-I'I , ANTKU . Tho life of a cofl ' oe-plantur i » jnonotouoiiw to a lU ^ rer , uncl to any ono without very considerable jpoworn of . solitary intellectual enjoyment , would tiu lit . llo Hliort of unbearable . During thu crop m : nhon , from thu niithllo of O < : tol > ur or litiKiiiiiiiig of November to tlio end of February , he can , iuduod , find eojiNtuiit , employment for eyeo and care , in watching mid linteiiiug t <> tho monotonous ruttlo of tli « puIjicrH , a « tlioy divoat the colujQ-burry of i | . H ncarlet overcoat ; but iiiin i » a kind of utilisation that , would rmrfcit tho moat patient in a f « nv daya ; them if * »» ' " 111 n % l > Ui ! il intomtt in It ; and if hia mind i » onguRotl at all , it muni be with ol » Jii < : tn outbid" tlm pulpiug-liuuM ) , ruLhur thun with thoHo within . Tho manager or uwimr on Ium eMtuto hi crop msuHon ft * in thin
November! 1, 1854.] The Leader. 1073
November ! 1 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 1073
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 11, 1854, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_11111854/page/17/
-