The chief commercial exhibit of the country was to be found in the Palace of Agriculture, where a space of 2,000 square feet had been allotted to it.  First and foremost was the great industry of tea cultivation.  Thirty years ago the island exported a million tons of coffee annually, and tea was an unknown article; last year the quantity of the leaf which was exported to all parts of the world exceeded 150,000,000 pounds (of which 18,000,000 was sent to the United States), while coffee hardly figures on the customs returns The industry is almost exclusively in the hands of Europeans.  All the chief producers were represented at the exposition, their interests forming the special province of an assistant commissioner.

The cocoanut palm and its cultivation was fully represented.  The nut itself, the various fibers, matting and ropes made from its husk, the copra or dried kernel, from which is extracted the oil now so largely used in the manufacture of best soaps and hair oils; the desiccated and “shredded” cocoanut, the demand for which among confectioners is rapidly increasing; cocoanut butter, an excellent emollient and substitute for lard; the arrack, distilled from the “toddy” extracted from the flower, a valuable liquor after a few years in cask; the vinegar and “jaggery,” or molasses; down to the brooms, made from the “ekels” or midrib of the leaves, were shown in infinite variety.

Rice, the staple food of the country, was represented in a few of its 350 varieties, and cinnamon in bark or oil, cloves, nutmegs, mace, cardamoms, pepper, vanilla, and citronella oil, cocoa and coffee, rubber, cinchona bark, from which quinine is prepared, croton seed, and annotto dye might also be seen.  The fibers included those of the Kitul and Palmyra palms and the silky niyande (sansevier zeylanical).  One hundred and twenty exhibitors were represented, and the value of the collective exhibit was $5,000.

The educational exhibit, which had been prepared under the direct supervision of the director of public instruction in Ceylon, illustrated the procedure adopted by the British Government in dealing with races with an advanced literature of their own, to whom a certain knowledge of English is a necessity.  The present conditions of education—­elementary, advanced, and technical—­were well depicted, and the exhibit contained in addition a collection of the various scientific journals issued by the Colombo Museum and the department of the botanical gardens in Ceylon.

Graphite, locally known as plumbago, the only commercial mineral of the country, might be seen in the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy.  More than 600,000 hundredweights of this valuable commodity were exported in 1899, the greatest demand being in the United States, where the article is employed in the manufacture of crucibles, for stove polish, and for lubricating purposes.  A few of the choice rubies and sapphires, for which the island is so famous, were on view in the Ceylon court.  Thirty firms and private individuals were represented in this department, the exhibits exceeding $12,000 in value.