Читать книгу The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism (Vol. 1-4). The History of Sea Voyages, Discovery, Piracy and Maritime Warfare онлайн

165 страница из 418

Across the continent by railway, and we land easily in Calcutta. It has, with its suburbs, a larger population than Bombay, but can never rival it as a port, because it is a hundred miles up the Hooghly River, and navigation is risky, although ships of 2,000 tons can reach it. It derives its name from Kali Ghatta, the ghaut or landing-place of the goddess Kali. Terrible cyclones have often devastated it; that in 1867 destroyed 30,000 native houses, and a very large amount of human life.

CYCLONE AT CALCUTTA.

The sailor’s route would, however, take him, if bound to China or Australia, round the island of Ceylon, in which there are two harbours, Point de Galle, used as a stopping-place, a kind of “junction” for the great steamship lines, of which the splendid Peninsular and Oriental (the “P. & O.”) Company, is the principal. Point de Galle is the most convenient point, but it does not possess a first-class harbour. At Trincomalee, however, there is a magnificent harbour.

Ceylon is one of the most interesting islands in the world. It is the Serendib of the “Arabian Nights,” rich in glorious scenery, equable climate, tropical vegetation, unknown quantities of gems and pearls, and many minerals. The sapphire, ruby, topaz, garnet, and amethyst abound. A sapphire was found in 1853 worth £4,000. Its coffee plantations are a source of great wealth. Palms, flowering shrubs, tree ferns, rhododendrons, as big as timber trees, clothe the island in perennial verdure. The elephant, wild boar, leopard, bear, buffalo, humped ox, deer, palm-cat and civet are common, but there are few dangerous or venomous animals. The Singhalese population, really Hindoo colonists, are effeminate and cowardly. The Kandyans, Ceylonese Highlanders, who dwell in the mountains, are a more creditable race, sturdy and manly. Then there are the Malabars, early Portuguese and Dutch settlers, with a sprinkling of all nationalities.