Page:Three Years in Europe.djvu/130

98 this great world of ours, was mainly the object of this my second visit to Europe. And my brother too was with us, now on his first visit to Europe. And no pilgrim to Jerusalem or anchorite to Jaggannath ever wended his way with a keener ardour than what impelled him at this period of his life to visit the Eldorado of his dreams, the Europe of to-day.

Madras has very little to shew to visitors except the People's Park and the collection of animals there; but my children gazed on the luxuriant foliage and soft verdure of Ceylon with the keen rapture which many an older traveller has felt when first visiting this gem of the tropic. Heckel, the great German admirer of Darwin, calls Ceylon a paradise on earth, and many other travellers whom I have met, have also expressed a similar opinion. Among other places in Colombo I visited a Buddhist temple, and had the satisfaction of speaking with the learned priest in Sanscrit during our short interview.

In the Indian Ocean we saw a number of whales, spouting water high in the air. These whales are neither so large nor so valuable as the whales which are sought for with so much eagerness in Northern latitudes.

Aden pleased my children more than I had expected. The bleak and towering rocks of the place and the narrow pass through which we drove were new sights to them. The tanks were of course visited.

I passed through the Suez Canal now for the first time. When I went to Europe last in 1868, the Canal had not been