perquisites. Nevertheless, it did not on the whole
amount to more than a very decent living for
a young single man.

Such being the state of affairs, it cannot be
matter for surprise that Janzs should have
felt certain doubts about the future rising
amidst his happy dreamings, as he wended
his way home to his humble low-roofed
bungalow; and thence to Katrina, who dwelt
with her father not far away on an old Dutch
farm.

If Janzs had been happy before, how much
was his delight increased when the old Dutchman,
his future father-in-law, pointed out to
him a fine piece of pasture-ground and woodland
which he intended to give him on the
wedding-day. Money he had little enough
of, but he had some rich land, and the
young couple were to be put in possession of
some thirty acres, which might, one day, be
made to yield a comfortable addition to the
clerk's little income. Here was a field for
Katrina and Janzs to build hopes upon.
Thirty acres of forest and pasturage! The
thing appeared almost too extensive to
contemplate in imagination. The Fort of Galle
occupied but twenty acres, and was it possible
that he, a poor Custom-House clerk, should
become the proprietor of half as much more
land than was spanned by that sturdy,
rambling, old fortress?

The next day, Janzs engaged a canoe to
take them both to the identical spot; and
after duty—-as soon as cargoes of rice, salt-
fish, and coir-rope could be hurried through
the usual official routine—-he hastened from
the old dark office, and conducted Katrina
to the bank of the river that flows from
the lofty mountain peaks, past the Fort
of Galle, into the Indian Ocean. Half an
hour's navigation, by means of poles, took
them to the scene of their speculations.
They passed many a pretty retired nook,
many green paddy fields and palm topes;
many deep shady dells, overtopped by
clustering bamboos and towering arekas, where
the echo of the cool splashing waterfall was
only broken by the low, soft, note of wood-
pigeon, or chattering voice of the monkey.
They were delighted beyond their fondest
expectations with the spot. It was so near to
the town; it was so delightfully situated; it
was so nicely timbered; why, there were
sufficient trees upon it to build half-a-dozen
bungalows, and still leave enough for pleasant
shade and firewood. And then the soil!
Janzs, it is true, did not understand quite so
much about agriculture, as he did of entries
and bonds, and registers; but Katrina
declared it was magnificent. She had never seen
such soil; why, it would grow anything. In
short, they both arrived at the conclusion that
a handful of copper challies, flung broadcast
upon the ground on any showery morning,
would take root before night, and grow into
rix-dollars. Returning home, they indulged in
all sorts of wild speculations about the future.
Katrina, naturally of an imaginative turn,
ventured to hint at a regular farm, cows and
all; and Janzs afterwards declared that she
even went so far as to suggest a flock of goats;
but little Katrina always denied the charge
most stoutly. They were to cultivate everything
that would be wanted for food or
raiment, from chillies for curry up to cotton for
dresses. In short, they were to have a little
Eden of their own making, where discord and
care should never enter; where only sweetest
blossoms and flowers and richest fruits should
be found; where nothing that was bad,
where everything that was good, should be
seen. It was to be a bright spot that "Garden
by the River."

Well, they were married and were happy,
as all young married people are and deserve
to be, and let us hope always will be. In
Ceylon, amongst the Dutch descendants to
this day, it is a common occurrence for young
couples to take up their abode for the first
year or two of their married life under the
roof of the bride or bridegroom's parents. It
may be that economy sometimes renders this
prudent; or it may happen that the young
wife does not feel quite experience enough
to undertake housekeeping all at once, and
prefers a little further schooling on many
points of domestic details. Be this as it
may, it was a common custom in the days I
am writing of; and since Janzs was an orphan,
they took up their residence with old Lourenz,
his new parent. The week of feasting and
festivities, and congratulations over, they settled
quietly down at the paternal farm, as
contentedly and as happily as though it were all
their own. The little stream at the bottom
of the long lawn that wound round the shrubbery
so coaxingly and silently, did not run
more smoothly than the current of their new-
found existence. Janzs toiled harder than
ever at export and import duties, and
occasionally expressed regret to the head
storekeeper, an old white-headed Malay, that there
was not double the quantity of shipping entering
the port. At his new home the clerk had
little to complain of. Many a sacrifice did
old Lourenz make to the comfort of the young
couple. Janzs had free and unlimited access
to his tobacco-store and his dozen or two of
venerable meerschaums. Janzs was allowed
one of the oldest and most valuable drinking-
horns for his own especial use; and, moreover,
Janzs was permitted to sit, in the cool of
the evening, under the same wide-spreading
mango-tree, and then, pipe in mouth, fall
gently asleep, while Katrina sang an old scrap
of a Dutch song, or plied her needle, or drove
away the mosquitoes from her father and
husband.

Yet with all this, Janzs occasionally felt
not quite at ease, and was ungracious enough
to vent his restless mood in presence of the
father; who heeded not his desire for a little
more independence, but quietly refilled his
pipe, and settled the question with the