I had about eighty men at work; and the constant click-clack of
axes, the felling of trees, the noise of saws and hammers and the
perpetual chattering o the coolies gave a new character to the
wild spot upon which I had fixed.
The work proceeded rapidly; neat white cottages soon appeared in
the forest; and I expected to have everything in readiness for
the emigrants on their arrival. I rented a tolerably good house
in Newera Ellia, and so far everything had progressed well.
The "Earl of Hardwick" arrived after a prosperous voyage, with
passengers and stock all in sound health; the only casualty on
board had been to one of the hounds. In a few days all started
from Colombo for Newera Ellia. The only trouble was, How to get
the cow up? She was a beautiful beast, a thorough-bred
"shorthorn," and she weighed about thirteen hundredweight. She
was so fat that a march of one hundred and fifteen miles in a
tropical climate was impossible. Accordingly a van was arranged
for her, which the maker assured me would carry an elephant. But
no sooner had the cow entered it than the whole thing came down
with a crash, and the cow made her exit through the bottom. She
was therefore obliged to start on foot in company with the bull,
sheep, horse and hounds, orders being given that ten miles a day,
divided between morning and evening, should be the maximum march
during the journey.
The emigrants started per coach, while our party drove up in a
new clarence which I had brought from England. I mention this,
as its untimely end will be shortly seen.
Four government elephant-carts started with machinery, farming
implements, etc., etc., while a troop of bullock-bandies carried
the lighter goods. I had a tame elephant waiting at the foot of
the Newera Ellia Pass to assist in carrying up the baggage and
maidservants.
There had been a vast amount of trouble in making all the
necessary arrangements, but the start was completed, and at
length we were all fairly off. In an enterprise of this kind many
disappointments were necessarily to be expected, and I had
prepared myself with the patience of Job for anything that might
happen. It was well that I had done so, for it was soon put to
the test.
Having reached Ramboddé, at the foot of the Newera Ellia Pass, in
safety, I found that the carriage was so heavy that the horses
were totally unable to ascend the pass. I therefore left it at
the rest-house while we rode up the fifteen miles to Newera
Ellia, intending to send for the empty vehicle in a few days.
The whole party of emigrants and ourselves reached Newera Ellia
in safety. On the following day I sent down the groom with a
pair of horses to bring up the carriage; at the same time I sent
down the elephant to bring some luggage from Ramboddé.
Now this groom, "Henry Perkes," was one of the emigrants, and he
was not exactly the steadiest of the party; I therefore cautioned
him to be very careful in driving up the pass, especially in
crossing the narrow bridges and turning the corners. He started
on his mission.
The next day a dirty-looking letter was put in my hand by a
native, which, being addressed to me, ran something in this
style:
"Honord Zur "I'm sorry to hinform you that the carrige and osses
has met with a haccidint and is tumbled down a preccippice and
its a mussy as I didn't go too. The preccippice isn't very deep
bein not above heighy feet or therabouts - the hosses is got up
but is very bad - the carrige lies on its back and we can't stir
it nohow. Mr. _____ is very kind, and has lent above a hunderd
niggers, but they aint no more use than cats at liftin. Plese Zur
come and see whats to be done. "Your Humbel Servt, "H. PERKES."
This was pleasant, certainly - a new carriage and a pair of fine
Australian horses smashed before they reached Newera Ellia!
This was, however, the commencement of a chapter of accidents. I
went down the pass, and there, sure enough, I had a fine
bird's-eye view of the carriage down a precipice on the road
side. One horse was so injured that it was necessary to destroy
him; the other died a few days after. Perkes had been
intoxicated; and, while driving at a full gallop round a corner,
over went the carriages and horses.
On my return to Newera Ellia, I found a letter informing me that
the short-horn cow had halted at Amberpussé, thirty-seven miles
from Colombo, dangerously ill. The next morning another letter
informed me that she was dead. This was a sad loss after the
trouble of bringing so fine an animal from England; and I
regretted her far more than both carriage and horses together, as
my ideas for breeding some thorough-bred stock were for the
present extinguished.
There is nothing like one misfortune for breeding another; and
what with the loss of carriage, horses and cow, the string of
accidents had fairly commenced. The carriage still lay
inverted; and although a tolerable specimen of a smash, I
determined to pay a certain honor to its remains by not allowing
it to lie and rot upon the ground. Accordingly, I sent the
blacksmith with a gang of men, and Perkes was ordered to
accompany the party. I also sent the elephant to assist in
battling the body of the carriage up the precipice.
Perkes, having been much more accustomed to riding than walking
during his career as groom, was determined to ride the elephant
down the pass; and he accordingly mounted, insisting at the same
time that the mahout should put the animal into a trot.
