grown on the plantation system for export. There is already a larger area under the coconut palm in this form than under tea, and the coconut as a commercial product increases steadily in importance. It is interesting to note that it is the wealthier natives and not the foreign planters who are mainly responsible for the development of this profitable business. In the northern part of the island we find another species of palm tree, the 23 palmyra. This palm is almost as important to the Tamils who inhabit the district as the coconut is to the Sinhalese further south. [Illustration: _Copyright._) (_See page 65._ KANDY.] [Illustration: _Copyright._) (_See page 74._ ELEPHANTS BATHING.] [Illustration: _Copyright._) (_See page 61._ MARKET IN THE PETTAH.] As we approach Kandy the scenery grows wilder and the hills steeper, and we may perhaps catch sight of a different kind of cultivation. Long rows of low bushy plants are growing in the fields, and scores of dark brown natives, men, women and children, are picking the leaves. We are entering the 24 tea-planting district. In the distance is the planter’s house and near it the sheds where the leaf is dried and packed for 25 the market. Here and there, in this part of our journey, we may notice stretches of desolate scrub breaking up the forest area. A century ago there was a continuous belt of forest between Kandy and the lowlands, jealously preserved by the native kings as a barrier against the invader; now only patches of this remain. The native has a method of cultivation styled _chena_: this consists in burning a piece of the forest, cultivating it for a year or two and then moving on to a new patch. The trees do not grow again, but a low scrub springs up, useless for any purpose. When the Government interfered with this wasteful practice the damage was past repair. We now reach Kandy, a beautiful old-world town, set in the forest high up among the hills, and full of relics of past 26 history. Here we see it, looking across the artificial lake on which it stands; and here is one of its streets. The people 27 in this district are old-fashioned and little touched by foreign influence. They still retain many of the old feudal ideas. Here we have a group of chiefs, in the picturesque native 28 dress, though the effect is rather spoilt by the clothes of the Europeans; and here is a portrait of a chief showing his 29 dress of ceremony with its elaborate ornaments. These dignified chiefs are very different from the native as we saw him at Colombo. All round us are ruins of temples and public buildings, often half buried in the jungle; but we can still see the 30 Audience Hall of the old kings of Kandy, with its carved wooden pillars. It is now used as a modern Court of Justice.