. Wanderings east of Suez in Ceylon, India, China and Japan. at the gates apprehendeda flagrant smuggler! Oh, no; it is merely GreatBritain arriving on the scene in the person of asmart-looking tea-planter who has honked downin his motor-car to see a comrade off on the mailsteamer; incidentally, some of the noise proceedsfrom a group of sailors on leave from a battleshipwho are wrangling with rickshaw men as to pro-per payment for having been hauled about the cityon a sight-seeing tour. And so it goes in day presents a picture not to be adequatelydescribed by a less gifted writer
. Wanderings east of Suez in Ceylon, India, China and Japan. at the gates apprehendeda flagrant smuggler! Oh, no; it is merely GreatBritain arriving on the scene in the person of asmart-looking tea-planter who has honked downin his motor-car to see a comrade off on the mailsteamer; incidentally, some of the noise proceedsfrom a group of sailors on leave from a battleshipwho are wrangling with rickshaw men as to pro-per payment for having been hauled about the cityon a sight-seeing tour. And so it goes in day presents a picture not to be adequatelydescribed by a less gifted writer than Kipling. Colombo is the westermost town of that great di-vision of Asia wherein subject races—black, brownand yellow—haul the white man in institution of the East stamps the superiorityof the European more than this menial office of thenative. Probably every American when broughtface to face with the matter says manfully that hewill never descend to employing a fellow creatureto run between shafts like an animal, that he (visi- 36. Colombo, Ceylons Seaport tor from a land where rights of mankind are equaland constitutional) may be spared from footweari-ness under a tropic sun. It is a noble impulse—butweak man is easily tempted. Hence, you decide totry the rickshaw just once. The sensation is found to be agreeable, surpris-ingly so. Your fellow mortal, you perceive, isdripping with persjDiration under the awful heatof the sun, while beneath the hood of the vehicleyou are cool and comfortable. Then you yield tothe savage defects of your moral make-up—anddecide never to walk another yard in the East, notwhen a rickshaw is to be had. The habit comesas easily as drinking, or anything that your con-science and bringing-up tell you is not quite right,although enjoyable. The rickshaw in Colombo is a splendid conve-nience. The runners rights are as loyally pro-tected as those of his employer, and he readily cov-ers six miles an hour at a swinging gait. If h
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