Eight Years Wanderings in Ceylon | Page 6

boxes, tent, gun-cases,
and all the paraphernalia of a shooting-trip.
What unforeseen and apparently trivial incidents may upset all our
plans for the future and turn our whole course of life! At the expiration
of twelve months my shooting trips and adventures were succeeded by
so severe an attack of jungle fever that from a naturally robust frame I
dwindled to a mere nothing, and very little of my former self remained.
The first symptom of convalescence was accompanied by a peremptory
order from my medical attendant to start for the highlands, to the
mountainous region of Newera Ellia, the sanita rium of the island.
A poor, miserable wretch I was upon my arrival at this elevated station,
suffering not only from the fever itself, but from the feeling of an
exquisite debility that creates an utter hopelessness of the renewal of
strength.
I was only a fortnight at Newera Ellia. The rest-house or inn was the
perfection of everything that was dirty and uncomfortable. The
toughest possible specimen of a beef-steak, black bread and potatoes
were the choicest and only viands obtainable for an invalid. There was
literally nothing else; it was a land of starvation. But the climate! what
can I say to describe the wonderful effects of such a pure and
unpolluted air? Simply, that at the expiration of a fortnight, in spite of
the tough beef, and the black bread and potatoes, I was as well and as
strong as I ever bad been; and in proof of this I started instanter for
another shooting excursion in the interior.
It was impossible to have visited Newera Ellia, and to have benefited in
such a wonderful manner by the climate, without contemplating with
astonishment its poverty-stricken and neglected state.
At that time it was the most miserable place conceivable. There was a
total absence of all ideas of comfort or arrangement. The houses were
for the most part built of such unsubstantial materials as stick and mud
plastered over with mortar - pretty enough in exterior, but rotten in ten
or twelve years. The only really good residence was a fine stone
building erected by Sir Edward Barnes when governor of Ceylon. To

him alone indeed are we indebted for the existence of a sanitarium. It
was he who opened the road, not only to Newera Ellia, but for
thirty-six miles farther on the same line to Badulla. At his own expense
he built a substantial mansion at a cost, as it is said, of eight thousand
pounds, and with provident care for the health of the European troops,
he erected barracks and officers' quarters for the invalids.
Under his government Newera Ellia was rapidly becoming a place of
importance, but unfortunately at the expiration of his term the place
became neglected. His successor took no interest in the plans of his
predecessor; and from that period, each successive governor being
influenced by an increasing spirit of parsimony, Newera Ellia has
remained "in statu quo," not even having been visited by the present
governor.
In a small colony like Ceylon it is astonishing how the movements and
opinions of the governor influence the public mind. In the present
instance, however, the movements of the governor (Sir G. Anderson)
cannot carry much weight, as he does not move at all, with the
exception of an occasional drive from Colombo to Kandy. His
knowledge of the colony and of its wants or resources must therefore,
from his personal experience, be limited to the Kandy road. This apathy,
when exhibited by her Majesty's representative, is highly contagious
among the public of all classes and colors, and cannot have other than a
bad moral tendency.
Upon my first visit to Newera Ellia, in 1847, Lord Torrington was the
governor of Ceylon, a man of active mind, with an ardent desire to test
its real capabilities and to work great improvements in the colony.
Unfortunately, his term as governor was shorter than was expected. The
elements of discord were at that time at work among all classes in
Ceylon, and Lord Torrington was recalled.
>From the causes of neglect described, Newera Ellia was in the
deserted and wretched state in which I saw it; but so infatuated was I in
the belief that its importance must be appreciated when the knowledge
of its climate was more widely extended that I looked forward to its
becoming at some future time a rival to the Neilgherries station in India.

My ideas were based upon the natural features of the place, combined
with its requirements.
It apparently produced nothing except potatoes. The soil was supposed
to be as good as it appeared to be. The quality of the water and the
supply were unquestionable; the climate could not be surpassed for
salubrity. There was a carriage road