swimmingly, and you begin to think that your
boatman's words were the words of truth. Thus
was I, unhappily, deluded the last time I made
the voyage.

At nine P.M. I re-embarked from Chilaw, but
when I had, with much toil, reached the
neighbourhood of Calpentyn, the wind blew dead in
our teeth, and it was evident that it had made
up its mind to blow for a week at least. I
am devoutly thankful that I never was the
magistrate of Calpentyn. That unfortunate
individual lives all alone in a ruined fort, the walls
of which look exactly as if they had the mange.
The surrounding scenery is cocoa-nut and sand,
ankle-deep. My host kept no horse, for he
could get no grass for a horse to eat, and his
visitors were principally dugongs (or mermaids)
and sea turtle. After remaining for a day or
two, I resolved to abandon my boat and take to
land journeying. A tradition was current in
Calpentyn that there was a man on the other
side of the lake who had a pony. Could I
but succeed in securing this animal how happy
should I be. But, to say the truth, I felt
almost as sceptical as if I were going in
search of a unicorn. After dinner one evening,
I started with two servants, some light
baggage, and a gun, for the region to which story
directed me, and we poled across the lake in a
canoe. We arrived long before dawn at a river
which seemed to have as many mouths as
Cerberus, and as my boatmen were perfectly
ignorant which mouth they ought to take, and as
each mouth they attempted proved unnavigable
after a short distance, my patience was
somewhat tried. Fortunately, at daybreak, we saw
and hailed a couple of men in a canoe who
directed us how to go, and after rowing for a
few miles we landed and proceeded on foot by a
narrow path towards the pomparipo, or "rest-
house."

Walking through forests with a gun is always
interesting when you know that at any moment
you may meet any animal from an elephant to a
jungle-cock. The sun was well up when we
emerged from the wood, and saw the dilapidated
bungalow on the open plain. My first question
was for the rest-house keeper. On him my
hopes depended, for he was the reputed owner
of the pony. Alas! he was away, and the pony?
he had gone on its back—"whither?" Oh joy
—to a place some sixteen miles off, but in the
direction in which I was travelling. Should I
wait for his return, or should I go on? I
would go on foot; but we must sleep in the
forest. No matter. On we went as soon as the
sun would permit, with a few Coolies.

As darkness was closing in, we reached a
tank in the heart of the forest. Here we
encamped, lighted a fire to keep off the wild
beasts, and slept till two in the morning, when
I roused my people, and we continued on
our weary way through heavy sand. An
elephant had preceded us, but we did not come
upon him. With the first streak of day we
reached the village where the pony was to be
found. With the greatest caution l proceeded
to reconnoitre my ground, for my fear was that
should the owner see me, he might mount his
gallant steed and gallop off, thinking I was
going to his rest-house, and not wishing it to be
known that he had deserted his post. Such are
Asiatics ! Europeans (of course) never do such
things. After prowling about I saw a sight
which sent the blood rushing to my toes and
back again to my heart. I saw—The Pony;
he was tethered in a garden near a house; the
inmates were buried in sleep; I cautiously
advanced, silently grasped his rope, and he was
mine!

Having secured my prize, I aroused the
inmates of the hut. The door was opened by an old
lady, who seemed much surprised at the unusual
sight of a white man, for this line of road
is seldom travelled, and the bungalows are
falling into decay. Of course she pretended
not to know where the owner of the pony
was; but when I had satisfied her that I
had no evil intentions, she called him, and I
proceeded to present in due form the letter of
introduction with which I had provided myself
at Calpentyn, in testimony of my respectability
and fitness to be trusted with the animal. To
do the man justice he behaved very fairly,
and the high contracting parties came to an
agreement which left the pony with me, either
permanently or temporarily, as I should decide
at the end of the next day's journey. With
a light heart I that afternoon careered out
of the village on my gallant steed. What was
distance to a man with a quad and a gun, a
pillow, a rug, a suit of clothes, a cook and a
butler!

We passed some elephants recently captured,
and slept at Aripo, a place periodically teeming
with life for a few weeks during the pearl
fishery, but otherwise almost deserted. Next
morning we reached Manaar, which is separated
from the mainland by an arm of the sea. Through
this, I rode for three weary miles, when I found
myself among the shipping, and a ferry canoe
took me across the channel, towing the pony
after us. Here poor " Pomparipo" well-nigh
met with a watery grave. Whether he was
fatigued, or whether he suffered from some
physical infirmity, or whether he lost his presence of
mind, or whether he was tired of life, I cannot
say; but no sooner did he find himself out of
his depth than he gave a groan, turned up the
whites of his eyes, went over on his side, and
resigned himself to fate. I was obliged to hold
up his head by main force, momentarily
expecting that his rotten bridle would break; however,
we managed to get him across; and I thought
it best to restore him to his home and friends
as soon as possible, and I believe he reached
them in safety, as I did mine at last.

Watersports may frequently be seen off the
coast of Ceylon. A very little time ago one of
them was the cause of a most terrible
catastrophe. The coffee districts of Ceylon are
entirely dependent on India for their labour, and a
certain number of vessels chartered by government