Life and Work in Benares and Kumaon, 1839-1877Kennedy, James
History
Life and Work in Benares and Kumaon, 1839-1877
Kennedy, James
India -- Description and travel; India -- History -- British occupation, 1765-1947 -- Biography; Missionaries; Missions -- India
During the hot season and rains of 1858 I suffered greatly from boils
and feverishness. After applying in vain the usual means of cure
prescribed, I was advised to try a sea voyage. I accordingly arranged to
go down the Bay of Bengal to Point de Galle in Ceylon, and to await
there the arrival of my wife from England, so as to return with her to
India.
[Sidenote: VOYAGE TO CALCUTTA.]
The rebellion still flickered in Bahar. A part of the road to Calcutta
was in the hand of Kower Singh, a rebel chief; and travellers like
myself to the capital from the North-West were on that account happy to
avail themselves of the river steamers. We had the clear sky and the
gentle breeze of that delightful season in Northern India. From morning
to night we sat under a thick awning, reading or talking, as we were
inclined, refreshed by the breeze, and interested in the various objects
presented to our view on the river and its banks. The fortnight of the
voyage passed most pleasantly, and I arrived in Calcutta half cured of
my ailments. I was happy to find myself in time for the outgoing steamer
of the P. and O. Company, on which I took passage to Point de Galle. On
landing I saw the last newspaper received from England with the list of
passengers for successive steamers, and from it I learned that my wife
was to come a month later than I had anticipated. This left me with five
or six weeks in Ceylon to dispose of myself as I best could. I made up
my mind to travel through the island. I accordingly left Galle by coach
the next day for Colombo, the capital. After staying there a few days I
set out for Kandy, the old capital; held on to Newera Ellia, the
sanatorium of the island, lying under Pedro Talla Galla, its highest
mountain; ascended the mountain, made my way back by another route to
Kandy, and then proceeded to Galle, where I was happy to meet my wife
and child, with whom I went on to Calcutta.
When I landed at Galle I was not aware that I knew a single individual
in the island, but I was not an hour at the hotel to which I went before
I found myself in company with a medical gentleman, a native of
Perthshire, who knew my friends; and on my arrival at Colombo I was
recognized on the street, by my resemblance to my father, by a person
who had never seen me previously, but who knew him. It struck me it
would be dangerous for me to attempt an incognito, which, happily, I had
no temptation to do. During my travels in Ceylon I met several from the
North of Scotland whom I had known intimately, and among them one who
had been for years my schoolfellow. My countrymen were there, as
elsewhere, prominent members of the community.
[Sidenote: THE SCENERY OF CEYLON.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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