Ceylon in
1893.
DESCRIBING
THE PROGRESS
OF THE ISLAND SINCE 1803,
ITS
PRESENT
AGRICULTURAL
AND" COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES,.
AND ITS
Unequalled
attractions to Visitors.
WITH
USEFUL
STATISTICAL INFORMATION, SPECIALLY PREPARED MAP,.
AND
UPWARDS OF ONE HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS.
BY
JOHN FERGUSON,
Co-Editor
of " Ceylon Observer," " Tropical Agriculturist,"
" Ceylon Handbook," etc. Life Member of the Ceylon Branch of the
Royal Asiatic Society ;
Honorary
Corresponding Secretary of the Royal Colonial and Imperial Institutes,
"
Embassies from regions far remote ;
From
India and the Golden Chersonese,
* * * *
And
utmost Indian Isle TAPEOBANE."—MILTON
Excerpts
THE 'NORTH'.
The Lady Gordon approached
Kangesanturai, the port of Jaffna,
during the south-west monsoon, at
early daylight. It would be of
greater interest perhaps to make the
passage to Jaffna in the other
(north-east) monsoon,'when the steamer
has to thread her way among
the eight or nine little islands west
of Jaffna, passing Delft—Pliny's
"island, of the sun"—noted
in modern days as a breeding place for
horses, some R.2,000 worth of which
are still annually sold by Government—
Punkudutivu, Kayts, Mandativu, etc.
W c soon made experience of the
far-famed Jaffna roads, which in the
forty-five miles of the day's driving
altogether proved as smooth and
pleasant as the best of our Colombo
cinnamon-gardens roads.
Our first stage was to Tellippalai,
the seat of the very interesting
branch of the American Mission under
the care of the Rev. T. S. and
Mrs. Smith. Unfortunately they were
away in Southern India, and it
being vacation time, the scholastic
and. industrial institutions could not
be seen to advantage. But some of the
native teachers and scholars
located in the place did their best to
give us some idea of the arrangements,
and the work done in " Sanders
Hall" and other educational
sections, while the intelligence
manifested in reference to the carpentry,
ironwork, taxidermy, printing and
book-binding industrial departments,
showed a deep interest on the part of
the lads and their leaders in their
industrial occupations.
Our next visit, after turning a little
off the mainland to Jaffna through
carefully fenced fields, some of which
still bore crops of different kinds
of grain, gardens of vegetables, or,
farther on, of tobacco—all manifesting
the utmost care in culture—was to
Uduvil, one of the oldest and bestknown
stations of the American Mission. Here
we saw the venerable
Dr. Howland, senior, and his estimable
daughter, who, with a large
staff of competent Tamil teachers of
both sexes, manage one of the
largest educational and boarding
establishments for girls in the island—
perhaps the very largest and most
complete. Dr. Howland, though now
over seventy-three * years of age, is
wonderfully active and interested
* He died in August 1892,
Appendix V. 313
in his church and "parish,"
as well as schools. The sight of over 100 Tamil
girls, from five or six to, I suppose,
twelve or thirteen years of age, assembled
in their commodious and comfortable
though plainly-built hall, and
their singing of English, as well as
vernacular, hymns and lyrics, was a
novel and pleasing experience, and one
never likely to be forgotten. The
dormitories, kitchen, and other
arrangements by which the girls are
taught to make themselves generally
useful were pointed out, and wc
were persuaded, with kind help, to go
further afield (in place of going
direct to Jaffna) to see the similar
boys' establishment, or rather the
"Jaffna College " at
Batticotta. This enabled us to call at Manippay, the
station for village and school work of
Mrs. and Miss Hastings, who had
recently been bereaved by the
widely-lamented death of Dr. Hastings,
so universally esteemed in the north
for his good works and devoted
loving character.
314 Ceylon in 1893.
The drive along this cross-country
road for some seven miles to Batticotta,
and afterward for seven more miles by
a different road, into Jaffna
town, I may at once say, was most
enjoyable. Batticotta is surrounded
by far-extending arable farms
alternated with groves of palmyra and
coconuts, and vegetable gardens
cultivated to perfection. The Batticotta
educational establishment for boys and
young men must certainly be
the most extensive in the island. Dr.
W . W . Howland (son of the veteran
at Uduvi) and Mrs. Howland actively
supervise, assisted by Mr. Wallace
and a large staff. About 400
collegians and scholars of all degrees are
•connected, with this division of the
Mission, and the arrangements for
the different branches are most
complete, not the least interesting to us
strangers being the spacious (though
simply built) " hall" or circus for
gymnastics.
At Batticotta there is, in a
comparatively good state of preservation,
a fine specimen of the churches,
dating from the middle of last century,
with which the Dutch endowed each
" parish" into which they divided
their much-loved Jaffna possession. In
the " God's acre " at Tellippalai
and at Uduvil, and in the church of
the latter and at Batticotta, many
such names came before m e in
gravestone or wall, including Father and
Mrs. Spaulding and Miss Agnew, who
gave over half-a-century each to
the Mission and never returned to the
Far West; Dr. Poor, who was
attended in his last illness by Dr.
Green (M.D.), would have his little
joke even when dying, as he said :
" A poor patient and a green doctor!"
Dr. Green himself, after leaving as
notable a mark on the island, or
rather on its sons, as any man who
ever came to Ceylon—by so many
Tamils trained in his medical
class—returned to America, only to find
that, practically, .his lifework had
been given to Jaffna, I hacl the
privilege of visiting his home at
Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1884, but
I found the good doctor on his
deathbed. Then there were the names
of Hoisington, Sanders and Apthorp,
who used to tease his Virginian
wife about her slave-owning relatives,
and some more, alhclassical and
revered in the history of Tamil
Missions in the north. An interesting
feature of the same is the extent to
which son and daughter have followed
father and mother in this Mission.
In one respect, I could not help
feeling during this visit to the north
—as afterwards in the Eastern
Province—the great advantage held by
the missionaries to the Tamils over
most of their brethren in the
Sinhalese districts, at any rate in
Colombo, Galle and Kandy. It lies
in the far closer relation existing
between them and their native work
—the absence of calls on behalf of
English-speaking congregations and
operations which necessarily absorb so
much attention in the south.
The town of Jaffna appeared to
advantage as we approached it from
Batticotta in the early afternoon. In
contrast to the expanse of lowlying
fields and bare tidal shore tothe
west, the fort looked quite commanding
in position. Looking at the flat and
apparently stoneless country comprised
in the peninsula, surprise may be felt
as to where the materials,
especially for the walls, were
obtained to construct the Jaffna fort.
The native town in its many admirable
streets looked the perfection
of cleanliness, though the continuity
of close fencing, preventing the
free circulation of air, could not but
be objected to in the case of the
dwellings of Hindus and Moormen. There
is no want of open spaces,
however, on the fort and esplanade
side of the town. The latter looks
well with the " Longden
clocktower," though the timepiece like its
founder is inclined to
"wait-a-bit" or "bide-a-wee" occasionally.
Inside the fort the most conspicuous
object is the old Dutch Presbyterian
church, after the pattern and very
much of the size of Wolvendal.
Appendix V. 315
Facing the esplanade are the Anglican
and Wesleyan churches, and
close to the latter the headquarters
of the Mission, in an ancient Dutch
residence. This has been added to from
time to time in order to
accommodate the very extensive
educational establishments both for boys
and girls, with a training institution
for teachers just over the w a y—
•all carried on under the immediate
superintendence of the resident
missionary and his wife, for the time
Mr. and Mrs. Rcstarick, with Miss
Stephenson in charge of the girls'
boarding school. The work done here
by a succession of able and. devoted
missionaries of both sexes, the
Percivals, Kilners, and Biggs, has had
a notable effect on the youth and
manhood and womanhood of Jaffna. The
Rev. J. and Mrs. Pickford had
recently taken charge of the Church
Mission in the north, with headquarters
at Nellore. Before, however, reaching
that suburb of the
capital we had a message that
enthusiastic Father Lytton of railway
fame was on the look-out for ns, and
our coachman seemed to know all
about it and what to do ; for without
a word he drove into the quadrangle
of St. Patrick's College, where a
juvenile brass band, in neat uniforms,
were performing. This is the only band
in Jaffna, and entirely composed
of young Tamil lads, some of whom at
least belonged to families or
" caste," who considered it
greatly beneath them to touch wind (" blowing
") instruments, but the "
Fathers" remaining firm as to the foolishness
of such prejudices and determined to
make no caste distinctions—even
though some mothers besought them with
tears—the result is now a
very competent, contented, indeed
proud band of players. Most of the
pupils were absent, but those who were
hastily called together and made
to stand in line by the Principal,
Father Dunn (like Father Lytton,
from the Emerald Isle), were
sufficient to show the great importance of
the institution.
Though so late for our-engagement at
Point Pedro we did not miss
Nellore, I am glad to say : the fine
old church is situated in what may
be considered "the most pleasant
suburb oE Jaffna—distinguished by
nmbrageous trees and an abundance of
vegetation. W e were glad to
find Mr. and Mrs. Pickford so fully
entered on their extensive and
responsible work—a work which it is
feared caused the premature death
of the Rev. E. M. Griffith through its
pressure of manifold duties. Mr.
Pickford was enjoying better health
than in Colombo, the overseeing and
directing of Chundlkuli and Kopay, as
well as Nellore, stations entailing
a good deal of travelling. W e visited
the very interesting girls' boarding
school so intimately connected with
the earnest labours of Mrs. and
Miss Griffith, and now under Mrs.
Pickford's care; and then Mr. Pickford
accompanied and helped us along our
road as far as Kopay church, the
steeple of which, in the great
"cyclone" of December 1884, was blown
down, falling into and exactly filling
an adjacent well! The station is a
flourishing one, and a training
institution for teachers and catechists is
located there.
Continuing our journey, we had now a
wdde stretch of agricultural
•country before us, and plenty of
leisure to observe various forms of
agricultural labour among the most
industrious people of the north.
Working at their wells, raising water
for irrigating their fields, was that
which more particularly claimed
attention. Well sweeps, such as may
be seen in the gardens of some Tamils
in Colombo, were universal; and.
the walking up and down the long lever
as the bucket rose and fell must
be wearisome labour when continued for
hours. Occasionally two men,
or father and son, stood on the sweep,
while a third attended to the
hucket. The care taken of the water
and the " neatness " of the fields
and little vegetable gardens were very
striking. Here were half a dozen
316 Ceylon in 1893.
labourers busy digging—trenching in
manure under the farmer's direction,
probably for a crop of tobacco. Here
again a large herd of cattle, or of
goats, or rather Jaffna sheep,
returning home from such pickings of
pasture as could be found on roadsides
or damp hollows, while the goats
and sheep showed their agility, in
this the dry season, in standing up
to the lower branches of trees and
making a meal of the leaves. Here
again were boys watching for the ripe
fruit of the palmyra to fall. Of
course, it is well known that, what
the coconut is to the Sinhalese between
Colombo and Galle, that and much more
is the palmyra to the Tamils of
the Jaffna peninsula.
But we arc now hastening on towards
Point Pedro ; we crossed a
great estuary of the sea (Sirukalli
?)' by a grand viaduct, and the view
over the expanse of low fields with
the estuary running out to meet
what seemed the ocean in the distance
led our military companion
to exclaim, " The Medway ! "
and certainly the resemblance to that
lowlying pari of Kent was very
strikingly seen as the shades of evening
were falling. In the immediate
neighbourhood of Point Pedro, the
village cultivation—horticulture and
market gardening—has always been
described as carried almost to
perfection; every house or hut has its
carefully tended garden, with fruit
trees or beds of vegetables or both,
each with its well or wells, and
enclosed in a perfect fence. These
fences, by the way, among the Jaffna
Hindus, in the country as well as
the towns, have one useful (?) purpose
in keeping off the effects of the
" evil eye," in which they
arc firm believers I
It is curious to read of H. M. 52nd Regiment
invading and occupying
Point Pedro "Fort " from
Negapatam, and thence marching to Jaffna.
How strange to read even as tradition
that the " King of Jaffna" some
500 years ago organised a fleet in
which an army was carried to fight
against the troublesome Moormen and
their forts at Chilaw, Negombo,
and Colombo ! Of the great coasting
trade to and from Jaffna in the
past much could be said : also of
local industries, in boat and ship
building, spinning and weaving cotton,
working in metals, especially as
jewellers, etc. The "King of
Cotta" in 1410 is said to have loaded a ship
at Colombo with goods to despatch to
his son, the " King " or " Prince "
of Jaffnapatam. The prosperity of the
little peninsula was, however,
we may be sure, never greater than at
present. The growth and export
of tobacco, a really important
industry, of sheep, cattle, etc., and of
palmyra timber, enables the people to
buy grain and all other necessaries
to supplement their local production;
there is a considerable trade in
chank shells—we found the shore in
front of the Custom House at Jaffna
strewed with bags or piles of them
ready for shipment to Southern
India. An average of some 50 to 60
elephants are shipped yearly from the
Northern Province (paying R.1,000 a
head each as royalty to Government)
; but wc found afterwards when at
Batticaloa that perhaps half
of this number are from other than the
Northern Province ! At any
rate the Government Agent of the
Eastern Province gave passes for 21
elephants caught in his territory
which were to be travelled overland to
the north for shipment.
