Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 June 1884 — Night in Ceylon. [ARTICLE]

Night in Ceylon.

There is no twilight in Ceylon. When the sun sets, darkness falls suddenly upon the earth, and the stars shine out as if some hand had turned on the starlight. And it is thick darkness, too; so thick that an anthropological speculation is born in my mind, that the dark complexions of these people are due to the primitive survival of the night-like. A Shinghalese man is invisible against the night, and the tread of his bare foot is inaudible. The lighter, more visible varieties of their race would have been killed off by invaders and wild beasts, and those who mimicked the night would be passed by. In addition to this the predatory class wonld be successful in the proportion that, as is said in the book of Job, they were marked by the night. The Colombo coachman will not drive a step after 6 o’clock unless his lamps are lit, lest he should run over a sleeping native. This darkness lends a special beauty to the bungalows of the rich, which appear illuminated, the rays from their lamps, shining through the foliage in a mystical way, especially if they be cocoanut-oil lamps, which give a soft, spiritual light.—Moncure D. Conway.