Page:McCosh, John - Advice to Officers in India (1856).djvu/309



1. CEYLON AND MAURITIUS.—These form another tour for six months. By leaving Calcutta by the bi-monthly Mail Steamers Ceylon may be reached in seven days. Galle, the port of landing, is not the place for an invalid to linger at, longer than is necessary to get out of it. It is at all sea: sons hot, steamy and oppressive, with frequent deluges of rain; and Colombo is very little better. A stage coach runs every alternate day from Galle to Colombo, distance from seventy to eighty miles, and thence to Kandy and Newr-Ellia; and private conveyances are also readily found.

Kandy is 1500 feet above the sea and a cantonment for European troops. Newr-Ellia is 6200 feet on an extensive plain, with an annual range of temperature from 35 to 75. It is a Convalescent Station for European troops, and is frequented by sick officers generally over the island. There is a good hotel there, and some houses for rent, and a short residence in fine weather and amidst the fine scenery is very pleasant; but the severity of the rains is a great