X544(5)

PLATE V. ADAM'S PEAK AND SLAVE ISLAND, FROM THE GALLE-FACE ESPLANADE.

This view of the Peak is taken from the upper part of the Esplanade, looking across the western arm of the Lake and Slave Island, all of which having been already described, no further notice of them is necessary here. Some sheep have been introduced in the foreground to shew the character of these animals in Ceylon, and the opposite coast, from whence they are generally imported, by way of Jaffna. It will be perceived that they are lanky and long-legged, many of them being marked with brown or black spots, and more resembling goats, both in these respects and in the quality of their coats - for fleeces they cannot be called - than British sheep. They are very small when cut up, and it is usual to see half a sheep served up at table as a quarter is in England; the flavour of the meat, however, is frequently far from bad. So scarce were sheep in the neighbourhood of Colombo when the author landed there, in 1828, that a "mutton club" had been established by some members of the civil and military services to insure a sufficient supply of this essential article of food, which could not then be procured in the market, and for which goat's and kid's flesh frequently did duty, even at the regimental messes, and really the latter, when young and tender, is not to be despised. A laughable incident connected with this subject occurred to a married officer, who having ordered a quarter of mutton was served with goat's flesh instead. He refused to receive it, and sent it back, when the native butcher sent him a most amusing letter, telling him that if he wanted sheep he ought to have specially ordered it, for " sheep and mutton were two very different things;" meaning to say that there was goat-mutton as well as sheep-mutton. He even sued the officer in court for the value of the goat's flesh, but failing to establish his proposition to the satisfaction of the district judge, he was, of course, nonsuited.