Souvenir hunters

A street scene in the Pettah, a trading centre of Colombo. Two unidentified Australian sailors are seen haggling with a Sinhalese jeweller about the price of a necklace, beating him down to one rupee from his original price in double figures. In the right foreground is a rickshaw, a common form of personal transport. Squatting on the pavement is a scantily clad native lad trying to sell peanuts and betel-nuts. In the background is a native woman carrying a basket on her head and the ubiquitous oxen and cart. These are of the carrion type and the streets of Colombo would be less clean if it were not for their presence.