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| Point de Galle, Ceylon, Copyright of P&O Heritage |
...The harbour opening out directly to the west receives the swell of the ocean, and the waves rolling in break in a surf on the flat shore at the bottom of the bay, even as now when there is little wind.
In the harbour lay a number of vessels but of no great size, and numerous boats lay near the shore or gathered round the Bentinck...
...People from the shore were now coming on board, most of them natives engaged in carrying out passengers luggage etc. Amongst these were several selling gold chains, bracelets, rings, cut precious stones and ornamental boxes. Several also of the profession of washerman, called dhobi, made their appearance, presenting to the passengers certificates of their qualification, offering to wash clothes in the course of 4 to 6 hours, and I believe that their services were taken advantage of by some.
After breakfast I went on shore with several others, and proceeded direct to the “Mansion House Hotel”. The walk from the shore to the hotel was very pleasing from the novelty and richness of the vegetation we met by the way, as well as of the appearance of the people and habitations. We had no crowd of donkeys and ponies as at Egypt and Aden: the only conveyances which presented themselves were a few one horse carriages rather narrow in their dimensions for four persons, and bullock carts for luggage and goods. We waited about the hotel for some time, some of our party having a little business to look after, and then had some refreshments of fruit drink when I had the opportunity of tasting some Indian fruit. After this our party set off in two carriages for a ride to Naukwally, a place at some distance in the country. The excursion was most pleasant; the day was somewhat cloudy and a little hazy, impairing the clearness of the view- a little but screening us from the violence of the direct sunshine, and so moderating the heat materially.... Every now and then we passed a cottage or a rural workshop on the roadside shaded by the luxuriant forest. Going on, the road began to rise amongst the hills, the trees became more varied approaching many of them, to the appearance of our own vegetation; fruits, mostly green hung suspended from many of them, with a fragrant odour spread all around. As we ascended the horses becoming tired, we got out and walked, and when we approached the extreme end of our excursion enjoyed the view from the eminence. Before us lay a valley of considerable length say 3 or 4 miles, covered with rich verdure; on each side rose hills irregular in form but all of them thickly wooded to the summit with a perfect profusion of vegetable life, while in the background, in the dim distance, rose the still loftier mountains with which the island abounds....
...We proceeded a little further to the termination of our excursion. Naukwally, the residence of a Mr Armitage, a quiet country house of one story, or bungalow, as such houses are called, situated amongst the trees. Mr Armitage was not at home, but the servants appeared to be accustomed to receive visitors and placed chairs for us in the verandah; they got some water for us and a few mangoes, and also plucked some green coconuts from the trees which they opened and poured out the liquor for us to drink. It was transparent like water, of a sweetish taste and refreshing. On one side of the house the view was more open, displaying another valley, also covered with verdure and surrounded by thickly wooded hills. Along the bottom of the valley lay sheets of water like the winding of a river of considerable size or, it might be, only lake like expansions of a smaller stream....
...After leaving a note of thanks to Mr Armitage subscribed by the visitors, and presenting the servants with a gratuity, we departed on our return to Galle. The road for a considerable part of the way was the same as that we had come by; during the latter part of the journey it was different; flatter and less wooded. We passed numerous groups of inhabitants on our way walking along the road both men and women, and took more particular notice of the cottages as we passed them. They were frequently very open; sometimes there was little more than a roof, below which family groups were congregated- women crouching on the floor, and young children tumbling about quite naked. In more than one place I observed that almost universal attendant on domestic life, a cat or a kitten, lying, taking its ease, or playing with the children...
.. At length... we reached the Hotel from which we had started, and as we had still some time to spare some of us took a walk through the town.The town is small consisting of a few streets of moderate length situated to the right of the coal stores at the bottom of the harbour, looking from the sea to the shore. We visited a portion of the ramparts where was a sentry on duty and a few large guns pointed seaward. We then passed through two or three small streets of small residences and arrived at some others where there were shops. In one street we passed a large building occupied as the barracks. The shops were principally for the sale of provisions; our time being limited I could not make observations, but the most of the other kind which I noticed were for the sale of earthenware and other domestic utensils and ornamental work. The most striking place was the market place, a wide street or oblong quadrangle, with a shed supported on pillars running up the middle. Each side of the street was occupied with shops, and the shed with stalls, or with goods for sale spread out on the pavement; the merchandise consisted of provisions principally of which rice and fresh fruit and vegetables formed a very prominent constituent.
These streets are thronged with people, most of them busy trafficking, but as it was necessary to return to the vessel I am obliged to abandon my observations, which I should have willingly prolonged...The country houses were often built of a kind of wickerwork, some of them filled up with clay; others were built either of brick or of wicker work and clay, but plastered over and whitewashed or coloured, with windows without glass. They were all I think of only one story and had sloping roofs; these were covered with tiles of native manufacture about 12 inches long and 7 inches broad in the form of a semicircular groove; more correctly like a cylinder of these dimensions divided lengthwise into two. The roof was first covered with these arranged side by side with the concavity looking upwards, the upper rows of course resting on the upper surfaces of the rows below them , as we arrange our own tiles...
...I have already noticed the complexion of the inhabitants as varying considerably ,generally darkish brown sometimes so light as to be almost – yellow -,though this was not very common , and more frequently dark and inclining to black ; the hair always jetty black except when grey from age. Some of them had long hair hanging curly on their shoulders, others had combed back and gathered and twisted into a knot behind like a woman’s and frequently with a comb also, so that as their general appearance was effeminate, at first they were readily taken for women, particularly when they were young and beardless: indeed we came to distinguish the two sexes much more readily by their dress than in any other way. The first Dhobi or washerman who presented himself on board the Bentinck was very like a woman...
...The dress of the men consisted of a cloth of white cotton, or coloured or printed cotton, wrapped round the loins: sometimes this hangs down to the ankles., and occasionally a light jacket may also be seen amongst the wealthier class of people; but, in general, the cloth was tucked up between the thighs for facility of movement, and this constituted the whole amount of clothing in most cases, as they generally had no headdress but their hair. The women wore the cloth round the middle hanging down to the ankles, and with few exceptions also a light spencer which covered the upper part of the person, but was not joined or connected to the lower part of the dress, so that as it was short- a small portion of the skin was sometimes visible between the two. Their dress was generally white. Neither sex wore shoes of any kind: their feet were bare.
Few of the women were good looking; the old ones were decidedly the reverse. Many of the men were rather good looking but effeminate in appearance; some had good figures though in general they were slender and not robust. Their teeth were often stained very brown, I believe from their habit of chewing the betel nut or betel leaf- strikingly different from the beautifully white teeth of the negroes. The men of sufficient age had generally more on lip beard.
The population of Galle appeared to be abundant enough, but I believe that there is by no means an amount of population in Ceylon equal in proportion to that of India. The island is mountainous throughout, the amount of flat land suitable for growing rice and grain is therefore comparatively limited, so much so , I am told, that it does not produce grain enough for the support of its own population, and that supplies are brought from India. Rain falls very frequently, and this, along with the perpetual summer, covers hill and dale. mountain and valley with the never fading verdure of a luxuriant vegetation and through therefore the whole surface is fitted for the cultivation of perhaps many crops subservient to the wants of man, yet the difficulties in the way of transit occasioned by the mountainous character of the country have, at least hitherto, stood in the way of any important application of the land to such purposes. With reference to the natural fertility Ceylon has been called the Garden of the World and it was therefore with regret that I could not longer enjoy the beauties of its scenery, that I repaired to the shore to return to the ship.
Along with a fellow passenger therefore I returned to the Bentinck in one of the Ceylon canoes already described, in time for dinner. About 2 o’clock the coals had been all got on board and nearly all the cargo, and the officers and crew were busy preparing to get the vessel out of the harbour. Before, it became dark, having got a pilot on board for the purpose, in which, after some difficulty and delay, they, at length succeeded in accomplishing in safety. It is a thing which requires care , as we learned that the last mail steamer but one from Calcutta , the “Madras” when entering the harbour in a rather hazy morning had run upon the rocks ,from the pilot’s mistaking a buoy, and been so much injured that she proceeded to Bombay for repair, instead of continuing her route.
Before leaving Galle I may mention that the Hotels and Post Office are not situated beside the rest of the town but a little apart: after passing through a gateway near the landing place, the road to the Hotels turned to the left, that to the town to the right.
Before starting many of the passengers who were to remain at Galle came aboard to make their adieus. But at last, after they had departed, and the last boat bringing cargo had pushed off, the Bentinck began to move, soon cleared the entrance of the harbour, and after stopping to send off the pilot was soon on her way to pass round the southern coast of Ceylon to the eastward. This is necessary, as there is a reef of rocks across the channel between Ceylon and the mainland, called Adam’s Bridge, rendering the navigation impracticable for large vessels.
The lightning played beautifully amongst the dark clouds above the horizon as we proceeded on our course, which, at first Southwest to clear the land, soon changed to south, southeast and east.
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The full journal will soon be published by Annet House Museum, Linlithgow. Waldie's journey to India forms a key feature of the museum's Waldie exhibition.
