and have been known to use them on the slightest occasion, they can otherwise scarcely be esteemed agreeable body-servants. It is the height of a Malabar, Cingalese, or Malay boy's ambition to procure a good situation as dressing-boy or butler; and it is a curious fact that the only race who will not take service at any price, are the Moormen of the island, the most plodding and moneymaking of all the inhabitants.

This energetic race scorn all domestic employments, and confine themselves entirely to the occupations of hawkers, merchants, and carriers, owning bullocks and bullock-carts, and carrying loads and making their money by such like independent labour: they have in many instances amassed large fortunes, and are still doing so in an increasing ratio. In many parts of the island, especially in the south-eastern portion, the best Paddy districts and the best cocoa-nut plantations are invariably owned and cultivated by Moormen. Their history is, I believe, somewhat obscure, and it is not fully ascertained whether they came from the mainland after the Mahommedan conquest of India, or whether they are not the descendants of the old Egyptian and Arabian traders from the Red Sea, who supplied the Western World with ivory and cassia and other eastern products, long before the exact locality from whence they were

derived was known to the consumers.

I incline

to the latter supposition, for in their person and energetic habits they display a much greater resemblance to the Fellahs of Egypt and the boatmen of the Red Sea, than they do to the luxurious and indolent Mussulmans of India: their constant intercourse with the Red Sea, and with the sacred localities of Mecca and Medina, would fully account for their having embraced the Mahommedan faith, of which they are now very strict followers.

After we had been in Colombo some ten or twelve days, we received a very kind invitation from the planters from the upper country, to accompany them on an elephant-shooting trip. I am not one of those who are so "excruciatingly " fond of shooting, probably from the fact of my being a very bad shot; and my ideas of sport are so closely connected with the sensation of being outside a horse, that I fairly confess I would any day rather have a rattling gallop over a good grass country, than slay all the elephants and pheasants in England or Ceylon. But it would never have done to have left the "Mother of Elephants" (as the island is called), without seeing some of her progeny in their wild state; and moreover, it offered an opportunity of testing the beauty of the island, which, if not Paradise itself, is, as Matthews said of Plymouth, "only three doors

removed on the right hand side from it." We consequently accepted the invitation with pleasure, and immediately commenced an active search for tattoos or ponies.

Ceylon is not self-supplying in the matter of horse-flesh, but depends entirely upon foreign importation. Australia, the Cape, Persia, India, and Arabia, furnish the horses; Pegu, Sumatra, and the Deccan, the ponies. Of the latter, the Pegu pony is by far the most valuable, a good one fetching from 20l. to 30%.; they are very handsome, strong, well-plucked, and enduring. The exportation from Pegu is a strict monopoly, and the punishment of death is decreed, and I believe inflicted, on any natives who may assist in exporting mares, or who in any way facilitate the diffusion of the breed in foreign countries. Whether the conquest of Pegu will open the market I cannot say. The Australian and Cape horses are the finest animals, but they are seldom "well topped," and are almost invariably badly paced, badly broken, and badly mouthed. The Arab horses are neat hacks, but mere weeds, and go too close to the ground to be always agreeable. Altogether the horses in Ceylon are not of the first quality, and compared with Prussian, English, or American horses, are miserable specimens of the equine race. I don't think I saw a horse in the

island that would have fetched 40%. at Tattersalls. A half-bred Arab or a good Mahratta tattoo, are the most agreeable and economical, and by far the most useful animals. We searched the stables and examined numerous steeds of various styles and sizes, but could not meet with anything that at all promised to be serviceable in a jungle trip. At length, as I was giving up the search in despair, and had made up my mind to trust to luck to supply me with some four-legged animal up country, I was fortunate enough to make the acquaintance of a gentleman lately returned from the jungle, and he offered to dispose of his pony to me, warning me at the same time that though very strong and hardy, he was rather a "headstrong animal:" however, as I infinitely prefer a wicked horse to one with no spirit whatever, I did not consider this any very great disadvantage; so after arranging about the price, &c., we proceeded to view the noble animal. He was not a "tartar of the Ukraine breed," but a pony of the Acheen breed, and a handsome one at that, combining a greater amount of strength in a smaller space than I have ever seen in a quadruped before: if he had been a hand and a half higher he would have fetched 100 guineas. He was a pony possessing a remarkably mild aspect, and standing in his stall, he really looked as if "butter would not melt in his mouth;"

but, when he was brought out, I could see by the watchful eye his horse-keeper kept on his movements, and by the alacrity with which the other horse-keepers "cleared out," that his master had not belied his disposition. However, as this was no particular object, and as in other respects he appeared the very animal I required, Punchy, (meaning a baby elephant, and by which name he was immediately christened,) together with his horse-keeper, bucket, and several small articles, became my property, for the sum of 117. or 127. Certainly the goddess Até must have presided in person over the birth of Mr. Punchy, and endued him quintá parte, with the quintessence of her disposition, for it is impossible to conceive: any animal, biped or quadruped, in whom the love of mischief was more irresistible: he was always at it, and could not be quiet for a single instant. If not engaged in biting some other horse, or chasing some unfortunate cooly to make him drop his load, he would amuse himself by trying to bite my foot and leg when I was not looking out: the only person he would do anything for con amore was his horse-keeper, the most patient and long-suffering of pariahs; and the incessant means of annoyance he practised on him, nipping his back, pulling his turban off his head, (a grievous insult to a Hindu,) treading on his heels, or drag