Word: ceylon
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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World War II did little to interrupt the astronomer-captain's hobby; bombs and torpedoes, in fact, appeared to avoid his ships. In the harbor of Trincomalee, Ceylon, Japanese airplanes sank two neighboring ships; U-boats in the West Indies knocked off three ships sailing close at hand. But nothing happened to any of Captain Drent's commands, and nothing interfered with his astronomical studies. The wartime blackout was actually a help: it allowed the captain's eyes to adjust to darkness, the better to observe the zodiacal light...
...their republic, but the struggle for self-government had been as placid and uneventful as most of life on the islands. It came about largely because the islands' Sultans themselves got tired of ruling. Huddled together far from the world's highways, some 400 miles southwest of Ceylon, protected first by the Portuguese, then the Dutch and finally the British, the little Maldives long knew few of the blessings and none of the curses of civilization...
...time the sons of the Sultanate, sent abroad to Ceylon or Egypt for their education, began to chafe at the strict Sunni Moslem laws which kept them virtual prisoners at home once they reached the throne. When the old Sultan died in the 19305, the islanders decided to do away with hereditary rule and elect new Sultans by popular vote. The first elected Sultan promptly abdicated. His successor, Prime Minister Amir Didi, was perfectly willing to run the government, but he chafed at the travel restrictions. So did his nephew, Amin Didi, who was designated to succeed...
...their own countries during the past year, and a similar number plan such travel for the coming year. A few letters described more unusual hobbies, such as one from Alfred H. Marsack, a British senior political officer in the Aden Protectorate. In the past year, Marsack went to India, Ceylon, Malaya and Borneo to get color pictures of "fish, orchids, reptiles and headhunters for lecture purposes." He wrote: "I cannot get a daily newspaper where I am; if I could, it would not replace TIME . . . I always look forward to enjoying its contents from cover to cover, advertisements included...
...Ceylon, which is not a U.N. member (it was vetoed by Russia), is the only commonwealth nation that has shipped any rubber to Red China in 1952. The U.S. State Department has retaliated by cutting off sulphur exports to Ceylon, and by canceling $500,000 in Point Four...