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| Sunday, 24 November 2002 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Unusual impressions by Carol Aloysius
As she admits in the foreword to her book 'How to See Ceylon',which she wrote for the benefit of travellers to Ceylon in 1914, she owed her first impressions of the country she was visiting for the first time to her brother."From his intimate and introspective knowledge of the people, I have gathered in a small way a fuller understanding of the island", she writes of the formative impressions that were essential to her book.
After marrying Robert Lock, Assistant Director of the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens in 1910 and living inside the gardens for several years, it is not surprising that the writer waxes so eloquently about the natural wonders of the 'home' in her travel book. "Probably no spot in Ceylon has more admiration lavished on it than the Peradeniya Gardens". "How to See Ceylon" is no ordinary guide book for travellers. Although it follows a similar pattern to most such guide books by providing useful information on the country, its population, vegetation and climate, places to visit, rest houses, food and customs of the people, it does much more. It is perhaps the most comprehensive and authentic description of the country and its people by any writer at the time, and gives modern day readers a clear insight into the socio-economic conditions of Ceylon in the early 20th century.
The book further lifts the veil on a number of 'hidden' issues such as caste, superstitions, and certain customs and prejudices that existed among the different ethnic groups inhabiting the island, and also raises some important gender issues". It is the women that have the poorest time in village life ...the ordinary villager cultivates his patch of paddy and then lazes on a cane couch while his wife pounds the paddy, collects and chops firewood, fetches water and cooks", she notes in a critical comment on the traditional subservient role of the Sri Lankan woman. A painstaking writer, Bella Woolf amended each of the four editions that appeared since the book first went into publication in 1914, updating her facts to make her book both topical and relevant to her readers. The fourth and last edition appeared in 1929. Now after nearly 75 years, a fifth edition of the book has been printed by Visidunu Prakashakayo. While the text remains largely the same, (except for the legend of how Kandy earned its name 'Senkadagala' which she amended in her third edition (1924), the publishers have , in this latest edition included an introductory article by Richard Boyle titled "Bella Woolf: Seeing the Exotic Other", which makes an interesting summary of the book's contents.
'How to see Ceylon' starts out like most guide books with a general information section. What makes this section so fascinating for modern day readers is the wealth of invaluable and little known travel information it offers on a bygone era in this country, when tourists to Ceylon were called " passengers" and ship travel was the most popular mode of transporting such passengers to their various destinations around the globe. This being the case, it is natural that the writer should start out with steamship routes. She then proceeds to give her readers detailed and interesting information on the prevailing tariffs and modes of transport available by road and rail. A half hour ride by carriage within the limits of the Colombo Municipality cost fifty cents. A carriage ride to Mt. Lavinia or Kelaniya and back cost the same. For a first class carriage drawn by one horse from 6 a.m to 7 p.m within the Kandy Municipality, a traveller would have to pay ten times the amount- Rs. 5 while a similar ride for six consecutive hours would cost Rs. 2.50. As we read on, we find the rates and fares differed from town to town in that bygone era. Travelling within Nuwara Eliya was the most expensive, whether by carriage or by rickshaw. Rickshaw fares which were the lowest in the Colombo district (ten cents for a ten minute ride and 25 cents for a half hour ride) compared with Nuwara Eliya district where it cost 25 cents for first half hour with one coolie and 75 cents for more than half an hour with two collies drawing the rickshaw!. The author has also thoughtfully included meanings of certain native words they were likely to come across during their travels e.g. gala, gama, tota, pura, wewe. Perhaps the most interesting part of this section is the author's "Hints for Travellers". Here, the author advises visitors on the kind of food they should avoid eating to safeguard their health ("avoid drinking unboiled water and eating shell fish at hotels). She also offers advice on suitable clothing ("a toppee should always be worn until 4 pm even on dull days") and tells them to "avoid sitting in draughts during the North East Monsoon as the land wind is responsible for many chills". These snippets of advice also serve to give the modern day reader an insight into what life was like in the early 20th century. It was obvious that malaria was widespread at the time from the following piece of advice Bella Woolf gives to travellers going on motoring tours: "Be well provided with a supply of quinine and aspirin tabloids, chlorodyne, citronella oil, and mosquitol to ward off mosquitoes." Game hunters looking for ideal hunting grounds, are bluntly told that, "for those who are anxious to go and kill something.. there is ample opportunity in Ceylon". She even lists the kind of animals that could be hunted: sambur, spotted deer, paddy field deer, peafowl, partridge. The second half of the book traces the history of the island, its Constitution, history, inhabitants, climate and modes of travelling. In the course of this discussion readers are able to catch a glimpse of the society of early 20th century Ceylon, and it is here that the author reveals her talents as an evocative writer, as when she describes Kandy and Peradeniya as being "the two most beautiful corners in the world", and refers to the hill capital, "which lies round the lake set like a gem in the cup of green hills". Of Colombo she says, "It is the gay City of Ceylon... the meeting place of the world. It palpitates with life and with romance of whose who wander up and down the earth". She adds, that "the Encyclopedia Britannica would not be large enough to hold all the permutations and combinations of colour, occupations and incidents that make up the native streets of Colombo". On the best modes of travel to see Ceylon, the author says, "there are two methods of seeing Ceylon - one is by train and coach, the other is by motor." She also advises visitors to try the electric tram system as "a large portion of Colombo can be seen by this means". For those visiting Kandy and Nuwara Eliya,she insists that the train is the best form of travel." Even if the passenger has decided to see part of Ceylon by motorcar, he will do well to go up to Kandy by train, for otherwise he will miss some of the finest views in the island", she tells her readers. As we journey with her by train on the Colombo-Kandy line, we see through her eyes farmers working in their paddy fields, tall coconut palms, ponds and streams,the flash of a kingfisher's wing, a forest of plantains, and, "now and then glimpses of native streets and bazaars with the rainbow coloured crowds buying and chattering and the bullock carts lumbering to and fro..". The most mundane and ordinary objects and sights takes on a new interest as she describes the humble dhoby washing clothes on a rock by the river bank who she romanticises as a godlike creature as he "stands dripping wet in the sunlight on the river bank with a scarlet waist cloth and scarlet scarf around the head". In contrast to most straightforward travel books, Bella Woolf's book is an eloquent outpouring of impressions, of sights, sounds, colours and smells that are obviously still very new to the writer. History, folk lore, war and romance are the threads that bind together the rich tapestry of this unusual travel guide. For those who want to see, taste and enjoy the flavour of Ceylon, there certainly is no better book, even if it is one that was written a century ago!. Visidunu Prakashakayo Pvt Ltd should be congratulated on their effort to resurrect this book after so many years, and taken the trouble to include all the amendments it has undergone since it first appeared in print. The publishers have appealed to the public to help them trace the descendants of the author, a task which they failed to accomplish in spite of many efforts to do so. |
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Bella Woolf arrived in Ceylon in 1907, for the first time to stay with
her brother Leonard Woolf, well-known author of the popular "Village
in the Jungle", then stationed in Kandy, and living alone.
