A Day's Work In Such A Country Is Hard Indeed Carrying A Heavy
Rifle For Some Five-And-Twenty Miles,
Sometimes in deep sand,
sometimes on good ground, but always exposed to the intensity of
that blaze, added to the
Reflection from the sandy soil, and the
total want of fresh air and water. All Nature seems stagnated; a
distant pool is seen, and a general rush takes place toward the
cheering sight. The water is thicker than pea soup, a green scum
floats through the thickened mass, and the temperature is upward
of 130 Fahrenheit. All kinds of insects are swarming in the
putrid fluid, and a saltish bitter adds to its nauseating flavor.
I have seen the exhausted coolies spread their dirty cloths on
the surface, and form them into filters by sucking the water
through them. Oh for a glass of Newera Ellia water, the purest
and best that ever flows, as it sparkles out of the rocks on the
mountain-tops! what pleasure so perfect as a long, deep and
undisturbed draught of such cold, clear nectar when the throat is
parched with unquenchable thirst!
In some parts of Ceylon, especially in the neighborhood of the
coast, where the land is flat and sandy, the water is always
brackish, even during the rainy season, and in the dry months it
is undrinkable.
The natives then make use of a berry for cleansing it and
precipitating the impurities. II know the shrub and the berry
well, but it has no English denomination.
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