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[Page 12]
Feby 21st (Sunday)
Arrived Colombo 8 p.m. & anchored in the Breakwater, a very fine structure with a narrow entrance, but plenty of water & a Lighthouse built on one side of it. The Chief Engineer & I went ashore, or rather to the Lighthouse with the Pilot who piloted us in, & after looking over it we went on shore & up on to the Roof Garden of the Grand Oriental Hotel a very fine place about twice as big, almost, as the "Australia" in Sydney. Everything goes on the same in Colombo on Sundays as on other days & there were a lot of men & women in the Hotel, mostly in evening dress. They had just finished dinner which is on from 8 till 9.30 p.m. The people here have a "snack" (Chota Hassary) early in the morning, then breakfast at 9.30 & Tiffin (Lunch) at 3 p.m. There seems to be hundreds of Native servants in this Hotel, there being one or two stationed at every corner in the building & they all seem to find something to do for you, consequently a lot of "tipping" is necessary, but as amounts are small, it does not matter much. There's 100 cents to a rupee (1/4) & that goes a good way, when you get used to the business. After having a "Ginger beer" we got in a Rickshaw & rode round to Empire Theatre or Picture Palace. You buy tickets & go in & take a seat in a garden where there is a bar, it being mostly considered as a meeting place of the Clan