ON November 16, 1851 I started from Kandy, accompanied by my brother,
Lieutenant V. Baker,* (*Now Colonel Valentine Baler, late 10th Hussars.)
then of the Ceylon Rifle Regiment. Having sent on our horses from Newera
Ellia some days previous, as far as Matille, sixteen miles from Kandy,
we drove there early in the morning, and breakfasted with F. Layard,
Esq., who was then assistant government agent. It had rained without
ceasing during twenty-four hours, and hoping that the weather might
change, we waited at Matille till two o'clock P.M. The rain still poured
in torrents, and giving up all ideas of fine weather, we started.
The horses were brought round, and old Jack knew as well as I did that
he was starting for a trip, as the tether rope was wound round his neck,
and the horse-cloth was under his saddle. The old horse was sleek and in
fine condition for a journey, and, without further loss of time, we
started for Dambool, a distance of thirty-one miles. Not wishing to be
benighted, we cantered the whole way, and completed the distance in
three hours and a half, as we arrived at Dambool at half-past five P.M.
I had started off Wallace and all the coolies from Newera Ellia about a
week beforehand; and, having instructed him to leave a small box with a
change of clothes at the Dambool rest-house, I now felt the benefit of
the arrangement.
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