virrigated land by damming the many rivers that flow through this arid region, in the manner well known from the Indus, and thereby creating large shallow lakes or “tanks”. The history of the Sinhalese race in ancient times was meticulously recorded in the ancient Pali language. The major portion of the scrolls were lying forgotten in the Temple of the Tooth, and were first deciphered by the English Civil Servant George Turnour who published the first 38 chapters out of a 100 in total in 1837. He unfortunately died whilst continuing his work on the second volume in 1842 but some years later with the knowledge of the key, the complete history of Lanka or the “Mahawanso” was published giving the longest and most detailed historical account to the present day of any civilisation. In the Mahawanso, mention was made of great cities such as Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, which many thought were figments of the imagination and only were folklore not to be taken seriously, and it was only years later that their ruins were discovered buried in the deep jungle, the buildings and dagobas covered in creepers and lianas. One mention is made in the Mahawanso of the great Bo tree at Anuradhapura , which was a cutting taken from the original tree in India under which Prince Gautama the first Buddah sat and recieved his “Enlightenment”. Like the cities too this tree was discovered, and I will mention here that the family of Harold Ratwatte claim to possess the original silver bowl that transported the original cutting from India and planted afterwards what is the oldest historical tree in the world.
Eventually after passing the beautiful Kantalai Tank full of crocodiles and water birds, and driving over its enormous bund also built by the ancient Sinhalese Kings some two thousand years earlier, we arrived in the blistering heat at Trincomalee and stopped by the waters edge amidst the yellow cassia bushes. Our home to be was Father’s Motor Torpedo Boat that he had purchased from the Royal Navy after the war, and had converted it into a comfortable houseboat permanently moored in Yard Cove one of the many snug inlets in that vast harbour. His new holiday home was named “Waterlily” after his lady friend, and had been cleverly adapted with two double room cabins below for guests, a kitchen, and a further double room in the bows for two servants. Father had his single cabin in the bridge house, and I slept on a camp bed just outside in the shelter of the two armoured sides of the ex-Oerlikon Gun placement. Over the whole top of the vessel he had built a permanent timber roof to keep off the sun and rain and with the sides open there was always a breeze regardless of wind direction. The reason that we had made the trip so soon after my arrival was that the following day there was to be a public auction of a bungalow at the end of Plantain Point. As bungalows with a good view were hard to obtain, and we had already lost Chardon Lodge to the Royal Navy, he felt that this opportunity was not to be missed, and so it was the following day he purchased “Plantain Point bungalow” which he bought in my name for Rs 18,000 or about £1,200.
Over the next few days we would rise early before dawn and go fishing, then back home for breakfast. Later there would be visits up the coast or to the town followed by lunch, a siesta and a turn first trolling for fish in the evening, and later once dark, drift fishing with hand lines over various reefs. This was especially enjoyable as it was quiet, and we would take a beer and sit in our 16 ft open motor boat with Babadeen the Moslem boatman, and watch the jungle as it cascaded into the sea. It teemed with fish eagles, parakeets, langur and macacaque monkeys. Often father who spent long periods there, would see wild elephant on the shore. On one occasion he even saw a small herd swim from Sober Island across the main inner harbour entrance which was about 1/4 mile wide and 600 ft deep to Ostenberg where the Royal Naval Dockyard was situated, and to the jungle behind. As they swam, they had their trunks raised, and he said that what really amazed him was the steady speed they made over the open water. On another occasion trolling by Sober Island one evening he saw an elephant on the shoreline, and at that moment he caught a fish. As he played it, the elephant waded into the sea onto a large flat submerged rock, suddenly he raised his trunk and trumpeted loudly and then flung himself off the rock into the sea to attack the boat, which luckily had the engine ticking over and he was able to quickly make his escape.
After we got back to Hugoland I packed my bags and Father took me to commence work, learning tea planting or “Creeping” with Ronald Williams on Ragalla Estate where I was to spend the next four months.

3/3 Next Chapter.