The preccippice isn't very deep
bein not above heighy feet or therabouts - the hosses is got up
but is very bad - the carrige lies on its back and we can't stir
it nohow. Mr. _____ is very kind, and has lent above a hunderd
niggers, but they aint no more use than cats at liftin. Plese Zur
come and see whats to be done. "Your Humbel Servt, "H. PERKES."
This was pleasant, certainly - a new carriage and a pair of fine
Australian horses smashed before they reached Newera Ellia!
This was, however, the commencement of a chapter of accidents. I
went down the pass, and there, sure enough, I had a fine
bird's-eye view of the carriage down a precipice on the road
side. One horse was so injured that it was necessary to destroy
him; the other died a few days after. Perkes had been
intoxicated; and, while driving at a full gallop round a corner,
over went the carriages and horses.
On my return to Newera Ellia, I found a letter informing me that
the short-horn cow had halted at Amberpuss?, thirty-seven miles
from Colombo, dangerously ill. The next morning another letter
informed me that she was dead. This was a sad loss after the
trouble of bringing so fine an animal from England; and I
regretted her far more than both carriage and horses together, as
my ideas for breeding some thorough-bred stock were for the
present extinguished.
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