. The sea road to the East, Gibraltar to Wei-hai-wei; six lectures. ing up massesof foam as high as the masts of the vessels which lieinside in a great basin, calm as a lake, a mile and a halflong and over half a mile wide. Here is a safe anchoragefor a fleet, with coaling jetties and a dry dock whichcan take the largest vessel afloat. Like so many modern seaports Colombo owes every-thing to engineering. Forty years ago the roadstead wasopen to the swell from the southwest, except for theshelter of the little headland from which the main break-water now juts out. In those days our vessel would
. The sea road to the East, Gibraltar to Wei-hai-wei; six lectures. ing up massesof foam as high as the masts of the vessels which lieinside in a great basin, calm as a lake, a mile and a halflong and over half a mile wide. Here is a safe anchoragefor a fleet, with coaling jetties and a dry dock whichcan take the largest vessel afloat. Like so many modern seaports Colombo owes every-thing to engineering. Forty years ago the roadstead wasopen to the swell from the southwest, except for theshelter of the little headland from which the main break-water now juts out. In those days our vessel wouldhave called at Galle. a hundred miles away at the southerncorner of the island. We can journey to Galle now byrailway along the coast, through interminable grovesof coconut palms, with glimpses of the sea breaking onthe coral reefs on our right and Adams peak rising intothe clouds on our left. Galle was in early times thechief port of the island, the meeting point of Arab tradersfrom the west and Chinese from the east ; it is a pic- 57 58 THE SEA ROAD TO THE EAST. Colombo Harbour. o6 turesque, old-world town, with many relics of the Dutchoccupation ; but Colombo has now taken its place asthe commercial centre. Here is a view of the Gallelighthouse, taken from the walls of the old Dutch forti-fications ; the building behind the palms is a newMohammedan mosque. In a quiet corner we see nativefishing boats, with more palms in the background. Hereagain is a Hindu temple, dating from the time of theDutch occupation : the lions over the gate may perhapshave been copied from some European coat-of-arms, asthey look rather different from the usual native away in the northeast is Trincomali, a vast land-locked bay, with unlimited deep and safe anchorage, theonly good natural harbour in the island, in fact one ofthe best natural harbours in the whole world. Herewas for many years the headquarters of the Navy inIndian waters ; but it is out of the track of steamersand away from
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