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[Page 54]
is scarcely less brilliant. Natives of various sects dressed in brilliant colours mingle with Europeans in latest western fashion, the Cinghalese themselves mostly in whites, their long hair neatly coiled & adorned with large combs come & go silently whilst poorer classes dressed only in a loin cloth gaze pathetically at one & beg for backsheesh or try to sell imitation jewellery. Motor Cars vie with antique wagons drawn by small hump backed bullocks for roadway whilst Rickshaws draw by scantily clad natives ( not half as grand as the Durban men) run hither & hither, ringing their bells to clear a passage. 'Tis a memorable scene.
Tuesday 15th Today we passed lying at anchor slowly taking on coal. No one was allowed on shore & the time was passed in various ways. Some went in swimming, it being beautiful in the water, almost too warm, & here one native had his boat capsized by a hilarious mob, whilst others gained