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Title: Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and
Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History, Antiquities and
Productions, Volume 1 (of 2)
Author: James Emerson Tennent
Release Date: September 28, 2004 [eBook #13552]
Language: English
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CEYLON; AN ACCOUNT OF THE ISLAND PHYSICAL, HISTORICAL, AND TOPOGRAPHICAL
WITH NOTICES OF ITS NATURAL HISTORY, ANTIQUITIES AND PRODUCTIONS
by
SIR JAMES EMERSON TENNENT, K.C.S. LL.D. &c.
Illustrated by Maps, Plans and Drawings
Fourth Edition, Thoroughly Revised
VOLUME I
LONDON
1860
[Illustration: Frontispiece for Vol I
NOOSING WILD ELEPHANTS--Vol 2 p 359 368 &c]
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME
PART I.
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
CHAPTER I.
GEOLOGY.--MINERALOGY.--GEMS.
I. General Aspect.
Singular beauty of the island
Its ancient renown in consequence
Fable of its "perfumed winds" (note)
Character of the scenery
II. Geographical Position
Ancient views regarding it amongst the Hindus,--"the Meridian of
Lanka"
Buddhist traditions of former submersions (note)
Errors as to the dimensions of Ceylon
Opinions of Onesicritus, Eratosthenes, Strabo, Pliny, Ptolemy,
Agathemerus 8,
The Arabian geographers
Sumatra supposed to be Ceylon (note)
True latitude and longitude
General Eraser's map of Ceylon (note)
Geological formation
Adam's Bridge
Error of supposing Ceylon to be a detached fragment of India
III. The Mountain System
Remarkable hills, Mihintala and Sigiri
Little evidence of volcanic action
Rocks, gneiss
Rock temples
Laterite or "Cabook"
Ancient name Tamba-panni (note)
Coral formation
Extraordinary wells
Darwin's theory of coral wells examined (note)
The soil of Ceylon generally poor
"Patenas," their phenomena obscure
Rice lands between the hills
Soil of the plains, "Talawas"
IV. Metals.--Tin
Gold, nickel, cobalt
Quicksilver (note)
Iron
V. Minerals.--Anthracite, plumbago, kaolin, nitre caves
List of Ceylon minerals (note)
VI. Gems, ancient fame of
Rose-coloured quartz (note)
Mode of searching for gems
Rubies
Sapphire, topaz, garnet, and cinnamon stone, cat's-eye, amethyst,
moonstone 37,
Diamond not found in Ceylon (note)
Gem-finders and lapidaries
VII. Rivers.--Their character
The Mahawelli-ganga
Table of the rivers
VIII. Singular coast formation, and its causes
The currents and their influence
Word "Gobb" explained (note)
Vegetation of the sand formations
Their suitability for the coconut
IX. Harbours.--Galle and Trincomalie
Tides
Red infusoria
Population of Ceylon
CHAP. II.
CLIMATE.--HEALTH AND DISEASE.
Uniformity of temperature
Brilliancy of foliage
Colombo.--January--long shore wind
February--cold nights (note)
March, April
May--S.W. monsoon
Aspect of the country before it
Lightning
Rain, its violence
June
July and August, September, October,
November. N.E. monsoon
December
Annual quantity of rain in Ceylon and Hindustan (note)
Opposite climates of the same mountain
Climate of Galle
Kandy and its climate
Mists and hail
Climate of Trincomalie (text and note)
Jaffna and its climate
Waterspouts
Anthelia
Buddha rays
Ceylon as a sanatarium.--Neuera-ellia
Health
Malaria
Food and wine 76,
Effects of the climate of Ceylon on disease
Precautions for health
CHAP. III
VEGETATION.--TREES AND PLANTS.
The Flora of Ceylon imperfectly known
Vegetation similar to that of India and the Eastern Archipelago
Trees of the sea-borde.--Mangroves--Screw-pines, Sonneratia
The Northern Plains.--Euphorbi� Cassia.--Mustard-tree of Scripture
Western coast.--Luxurious vegetation
Eastern coast
Pitcher plant.--Orchids
Vines
Botany of the Mountains.--Iron-wood, Bamboo, European
fruit-trees
Tea-plant--_Rhododendron_--_Mickelia_
Rapid disappearance of dead trees in the forests
Trees with natural buttresses
Flowering Trees.--Coral tree
The Murutu--Imbul--Cotton tree--Champac
The Upas Tree--Poisons of Ceylon
The Banyan
The Sacred Bo-tree
The India Rubber-tree--The Snake-tree
Kumbuk-tree: lime in its bark
Curious Seeds.--The Dorian, _Sterculia foetida_
The Sea Pomegranate
Strychnos, curious belief as to its poison
_Euphorbia_--The Cow-tree, error regarding (note)
Climbing plants, Epiphytes, and flowering creepers
Orchids--Brilliant terrestrial orchid, the
Wanna-raja.--Square-stemmed Vine
Gigantic climbing Plants
Enormous bean
Bonduc seeds.--Ratans--Ratan bridges
Thorny Trees.--Raised as a natural fortification by the
Kandyans
The buffalo thorn, _Acacia tomentosa_
Palms
Coco-nut--Talipat
Palmyra
Jaggery Palm--Arcea Palm
Betel-chewing, its theory and uses
Pingos
Timber Trees
Jakwood--Del--Teak
Suria
Cabinet Woods.--Satin-wood--Ebony--Cadooberia
Calamander, its rarity and beauty
Tamarind
Fruit-trees
Remarkable power of trees to generate cold and keep their fruit
chill
Aquatic Plants--Lotus, red and blue
Desmanthus natans, an aquatic sensitive plant
PART II.
ZOOLOGY.
CHAPTER I.
MAMMALIA.
Neglect of Zoology in Ceylon
Monkeys
Wanderoo
Error regarding the _Silenus Veter_ (note)
Presbytes Cephalopterus
P. Ursinus in the Hills
P. Thersites in the Wanny
P. Priamus, Jaffna and Trincomalie
No dead monkey ever found
Loris
Bats
Flying fox
Horse-shoe bat
Carnivora.--Bears
Their ferocity
Singhalese belief in the efficacy of charms (note)
Leopards
Curious belief
Anecdotes of leopards
Palm-cat
Civet
Dogs
Jackal
The horn of the jackal
Mungoos
Its fights with serpents
Theory of its antidote
Squirrels
Flying squirrel
Tree rat
Story of a rat and a snake
Coffee rat
Bandicoot
Porcupine
Pengolin
_Ruminantia_.--The Gaur
Oxen
Humped cattle
Encounter of a cow and a leopard
Buffaloes
Sporting buffaloes
Peculiar structure of the hoof
Deer
Meminna
Elephants
Whales
General view of the mammalia of Ceylon
List of Ceylon mammalia
Curious parasite of the bat (note)
CHAP. II.
BIRDS.
Their numbers
Songsters
Hornbills, the "bird with two heads"
Pea fowl
Sea birds, their number
I. _Accipitres_.--Eagles
Falcons and hawks
Owls--the devil bird
II. _Passeres_.--Swallows
Kingfishers--sunbirds
Bul-bul--tailor bird--and weaver
Crows, anecdotes of
III. _Scansores_.--Parroquets
IV. _Columbi�_.--Pigeons
V. _Gallin�_.--Jungle-fowl
VI. _Grall�_.--Ibis, stork, &c.
VII. _Anseres_.--Flamingoes
Pelicans
Game.--Partridges, &c.176
List of Ceylon birds
List of birds peculiar to Ceylon
CHAP. III.
REPTILES.
Lizards.--Iguana
Kabragoya, barbarous custom in preparing the cobra-tel poison
(note)
The green calotes
Chameleon
Ceratophora
Geckoes,--their power of reproducing limbs 185,
Crocodiles
Their power of burying themselves in the mud
Tortoises--Curious parasite
Land tortoises
Edible turtle
Huge Indian tortoises (note)
Hawk's-bill turtle, barbarous mode of stripping it of the
tortoise-shell
Serpents.--Venomous species rare
Cobra de capello
Instance of land snakes found at sea
Tame snakes (note)
Singular tradition regarding the cobra de capello
Uropeltid�.--New species discovered in Ceylon
Buddhist veneration for the cobra de capello
Anecdotes of snakes
The Python
Water snakes
Snake stones
Analysis of one
C�cilia
Large frogs
Tree frogs
List of Ceylon reptiles
CHAP. IV.
FISHES.
Ichthyology of Ceylon, little known
Fish for table, seir fish
Sardines, poisonous?
Sharks
Saw-fish
Fish of brilliant colours
Curious fish described by �lian (note)
Fresh-water fish, little known,--not much eaten
Fresh-water fish in Colombo Lake
Immense profusion of fish in the rivers and lakes
Their re-appearance after rain
Mode of fishing in the ponds
Showers of fish
Conjecture that the ova are preserved, not tenable
Fish moving on dry land
Instances in Guiana (note)
Perca Scandens, ascends trees
Doubts as to the story of Daldorf
Fishes burying themselves during the dry season
The _protopterus_ of the Gambia
Instances in the fish of the Nile
Instances in the fish of South America
Living fish dug out of the ground in the dry tanks in Ceylon
Other animals that so bury themselves, Melani�, Ampullari�, &c.
The animals that so bury themselves in India (note)
Analogous case of (note)
Theory of �stivation and hybernation
Fish in hot-water in Ceylon
List of Ceylon fishes
Instances of fishes failing from the clouds
Overland migration of fishes known to the Greeks and Romans
Note on Ceylon fishes by Professor Huxley
Comparative note by Dr. Gray, Brit. Mus.231
CHAP. V.
MOLLUSCA, RADIATA, AND ACALEPH�.
I. Conchology--General character of Ceylon shells
Confusion regarding them in scientific works and collections
List of Ceylon shells
II. _Radiata_.--Star fish
Sea slugs
Parasitic worms
Planaria
III. _Acaleph�_, abundant
Corals little known
CHAP. VI.
INSECTS.
Profusion of insects in Ceylon
Imperfect knowledge of
I. _Coleoptera_.--Beetles
Scavenger beetles
Coco-nut beetles
Tortoise beetles
II. _Orthoptera_.--Mantis and leaf-insects
Stick-insects
III. _Neuroptera_--Dragon flies
Ant-lion
White ants
Anecdotes of their instinct and ravages (text and note)
V. _Hymenoptera_.--Mason Wasps
Wasps
Bees
Carpenter Bee
Ants
Burrowing ants
VI. _Lepidoptera_.--Butterflies
Sylph
Lyc�nid�
Moths
Silk worms (text and note)
Wood-carrying Moths
Pterophorus
VII. _Homoptera_
Cicada
VIII. _Hemiptera_
Bugs
IX. _Aphaniptera_
X. _Diptera_.--Mosquitoes
General character of Ceylon insects
List of insects in Ceylon
CHAP. VII.
ARACHNIDE, MYRIOPODA, CRUSTACEA, ETC.
Spiders
Strange nests of the wood spiders
_Olios Taprobanius_
_Mygale fasciata_
Ticks
Mites.--_Trombidium tinctorum_
Myriapods.--Centipedes
Cermatia
Scolopendra crassa
S. pollipes
_Millipeds_--Iulus
_Crustacea_
Calling crabs
Land crabs
Painted crabs
Paddling crabs
_Annelid�_, Leeches.--The land leech
Medical leech
Cattle leech
List of Articulata, &c.307
PART III.
THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES.
CHAPTER I.
SOURCES OF SINGHALESE HISTORY--THE MAHAWANSO.
Ceylon formerly thought to have no authentic history
Researches of Turnour
Biographical sketch of Turnour (note)
The Mahawanso
Recovery of the "tika" on the Mahawanso
Outline of the Mahawanso
Turnour's epitome of Singhalese history
Historical proofs of the Mahawanso
Identity of Sandracottus and Chandragupta
Ancient map of Ceylon (note)
List of Ceylon sovereigns
CHAP. II.
THE ABORIGINES.
Singhalese histories all illustrative of Buddhism
A Buddha
Gotama Buddha, his history
Amazing prevalence of his religion (note)
His three visits to Ceylon
Inhabitants of the island at that time supposed to be of Malayan
type
Legend of their Chinese origin
Probably identical with the aborigines of the Dekkan
Common basis of their language
Characteristics of vernacular Singhalese
State of the aborigines before Wijayo's invasion
Story of Wijayo
The natives of Ceylon described as _Yakkos_ and _Nagas_
Traces of serpent-worship in Ceylon
Coincidence of the Mahawanso with the Odyssey (note)
CHAP. III.
CONQUEST OF WIJAYO, B.C. 543.--ESTABLISHMENT OF BUDDHISM, B.C. 307.
Early commerce of Ceylon described by the Chinese
Wijayo as a colonizer
His treatment of the native population
B.C. 505. His death and successors
A number of petty kingdoms formed
Ceylon divided into three districts: Pihiti, Rohuna, and Maya
The village system established
Agriculture introduced
Irrigation imported from India
The first tank constructed, B.C. 504 (note)
Rapid progress of the island
Toleration of Wijayo and his followers
Establishment of Buddhism, 307 B.C.
Preaching of Mahindo
Planting of the sacred Bo-tree
CHAP. IV.
THE BUDDHIST MONUMENTS.
Buddhist architecture introduced in Ceylon
The first _dagobas_ built
Their mode of construction and vast dimensions
The earliest Buddhist temples
Images and statues a later innovation
First residences of the priesthood
The formation of monasteries and _wiharas_
The first wihara built
Form of the modern wiharas
Inconvenient numbers of the Buddhist priesthood
Originally fed by the kings and the people
Caste annulled in the case of priests
The priestly robe and its peculiarities
CHAP. V.
SINGHALESE CHIVALRY.--ELALA AND DUTUGAIMUNU.
Progress of civilisation
The new settlers agriculturists
Malabars enlisted as soldiers and seamen
B.C. 237. The revolt of Sena and Gutika
B.C. 205. Usurpation of Elala
His character and renown
The victory of Dutugaimunu
Progress of the south of the island
Building of the great Ruanwell� Dagoba
Building of the Brazen Palace
Its vicissitudes and ruins
Death and character of Dutugaimunu
CHAP. VI.
THE INFLUENCES OP BUDDHISM ON CIVILISATION.
The Mahawanse or Great Dynasty
The Suluwanse or Inferior Dynasty
Services rendered by the Great Dynasty
Frequent usurpations and the cause
Disputed successions
Rising influence of the priesthood
B.C. 104. Their first endowment with land
Rapid increase of the temple estates
Their possessions and their vow of poverty reconciled
Acquire the compulsory labour of temple-tenants
Impulse thus given to cultivation
And to the construction of enormous tanks
Tanks conferred on the temples
The great tank of Minery formed, A.D. 272
Subserviency of the kings to the priesthood
Large possessions of the temples at the present day
Cultivation of flowers for the temples
Their singular profusion
Fruit trees planted by the Buddhist sovereigns
Edicts of Asoca
CHAP. VII.
FATE OF THE ABORIGINES.
Aborigines forced to labour for the new settlers
Immensity of the structures erected by them
Slow amalgamation of the natives with the strangers
The worship of snakes and demons continued
Treatment of the aborigines by the kings
Their formal disqualification for high office
Their rebellions
They retire into the mountains and forests
Their singular habits of seclusion
Traces of their customs at the present day
CHAP. VIII.
EXTINCTION OF THE GREAT DYNASTY.
B.C. 104 Walagam-bahu I
His wars with the Malabars
The South of Ceylon free from Malabar invasion
The Buddhist doctrines first formed into books
The formation of rock-temples
Apostacy of Chora Naga
Ceylon governed by queens
Schisms in religion
Buddhism tolerant of heresy but intolerant of schism
Illustrations of Buddhist toleration
Tolerance enjoined by Asoca
The Wytulian heresy
Corruption of Buddhism by the impurities of Brahnmanism
A.D. 275. Recantation and repentance of King Maha Sen
End of the Solar race
State of Ceylon at that period
Prosperity of the North
Description of Anarajapoora in the fourth century
Its municipal organisation
Its palaces and temples
Popular error as to the area of the city (note)
Multitudes of the priesthood described by Fa Hian
CHAP. IX
KINGS OF THE LOWER DYNASTY.
Sovereigns of the Lower Dynasty, a feeble race
Kings who were sculptors, physicians, and poets
Earliest notice of Foreign Embassies to Rome and to China
Notices of Ceylon by Chinese Historians
Fa Hian visits Ceylon A.D. 413
Anecdote related by Fa Hian (note)
History of "the Sacred Tooth"
Murder of the king Dhatu Sena, A.D. 459
Infamous conduct of his son
The fortified rock Sigiri
CHAP. X.
DOMINATION OF THE MALABARS.
Origin of the Malabar invaders of Ceylon
The ancient Indian kingdom of Pandya
Malabar mercenaries enlisted in Ceylon
B.C. 237. Revolt of Sena and Gutika
B.C. 205. Usurpation of Elala
B.C. 103. Second Malabar invasion
A.D. 110. Third Malabar invasion
Jewish evidence of Malabar conquest (note)396
A.D. 433. Fourth Malabar invasion
The influence of the Malabars firmly established
Distress of the Singhalese in the 7th century, as described by Hiouen
Thsang
A.D. 642. Anarajapoora deserted, and Pollanarrua built
The Malabars did nothing to improve the island
A.D. 840. A fresh Malabar invasion
The Singhalese seek to conciliate them by alliances
A.D. 990. Another Malabar invasion
Extreme misery of the island
A.D. 1023. The Malabars seize Pollanarrua and occupy the entire north
of the island
CHAP. XI.
THE REIGN OF PRAKRAMA BAHU.
A.D. 1071. Recovery of the island from the Malabars
Wijayo Bahu I. expels the Malabars
Birth of the Prince Prakrama
His character and renown
Immense public works constructed by him
Restores the order of the Buddhist priesthood
Intercourse between Siam and Ceylon
Temples and sacred edifices built by Prakrama
The Gal-Wihara at Pollanarrua
Ruins of Pollanarrua
Extraordinary extent of his works for irrigation
Foreign wars of Prakrama
His conquests in India
The death of Prakrama Bahu
CHAP. XII.
FATE OF THE SINGHALESE MONARCHY.
ARRIVAL OF THE PORTUGUESE, A.D. 1505.
Prakrama Baku, the last powerful king
Anarchy follows on his decease
A.D. 1197. The Queen Leela-Wattee
A.D. 1211. Return of the Malabar invaders
The Malabars establish themselves at Jaffna
Early history of Jaffna
A.D. 1235. The new capital at Dambedenia
Extending ruin of Ceylon
Kandy founded as a new capital
Successive removals of the seat of Government to Yapahoo, Kornegalle,
Gampola, Kandy, and Cotta
Ascendancy of the Malabars
A.D. 1410. The King of Ceylon carried captive to China
Ceylon tributary to China
Arrival of the Portuguese in Ceylon
PART IV.
SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS.
CHAPTER I.
POPULATION, CASTE, SLAVERY, AND RAJA-KARIYA.
Population encouraged by the fertility of Ceylon
Evidence of its former extent in the ruins of the tanks and canals
Means by which the population was preserved
Causes of its dispersion--the ruin of the tanks
Domestic life similar to that of the Hindus
Respect shown to females
Caste perpetuated in defiance of religious prohibition
Particulars in which caste in Ceylon differs from caste in India
Slavery, borrowed from Hindustan
Compulsory labour or Raja-kariya
Mode of enforcing it
CHAP. II.
AGRICULTURE, IRRIGATION, CATTLE, AND CROPS.
Agriculture unknown before the arrival of Wijayo
Rice was imported into Ceylon in the second century B.C.
The practice of irrigation due to the Hindu kings
Who taught the science of irrigation to the Singhalese (note)
The first tank constructed B.C. 504
Gardens and fruit-trees first planted
Value of artificial irrigation in the north of Ceylon
In the south of the island the rains sustain cultivation
Two harvests in the year in the south of the island
In the north, where rains are uncertain, tanks indispensable
Irrigation the occupation of kings
The municipal village-system of cultivation
"_Assoedamising_" of rice lands in the mountains
Temple villages and their tenure
Farm-stock buffaloes and cows
A Singhalese garden described
Coco-nut palm rarely mentioned in early writings
Doubt whether it be indigenous to Ceylon
The Mango and other fruits
Rice and curry mentioned in the second century B.C.
Animal food used by the early Singhalese
Betel, antiquity of the custom of chewing it
Intoxicating liquors known at an early period
CHAP. III.
EARLY COMMERCE, SHIPPING, AND PRODUCTIONS.
Trade entirely in the hands of strangers
Native shipping unconnected with commerce
Same indifference to trade prevails at this day
Singhalese boats all copied from foreign models
All sewn together and without iron
Romance of the "Loadstone Island"
The legend believed by Greeks and the Chinese
Vessels with two prows mentioned by Strabo
Foreign trade spoken of B.C. 204
Internal traffic in the ancient city of Ceylon
Merchants traversing the island
Early exports from Ceylon,--gems, pearls, &c.
The imports, chiefly manufactures
Horses and carriages imported from India
Cloth, silk, &c., brought from Persia
Kashmir, intercourse with
Edrisi's account of Ceylon trade in the twelfth century
CHAP. IV.
MANUFACTURES.
Silk not produced in Ceylon
Coir and cordage
Dress; unshaped robes
Manual and Mechanical Arts--Weaving
Priest's robes spun, woven, and dyed in a day
Peculiar mode of cutting out a priest's robe
Bleaching and dyeing
Earliest artisans, immigrants
Handicrafts looked down on
Pottery
Glass
Glass mirrors
Leather
Wood carving
Chemical Arts--Sugar
Mineral paints
CHAP. V.
WORKING IN METALS.
Early knowledge of the use of iron
Steel
Copper and its uses
Bells, bronze, lead
Gold and silver
Plate and silver ware
Red coral found at Galle (note)
Jewelry and mounted gems
Gilding.--Coin
Coins mentioned in the Mahawanso
Meaning of the term "massa" (note)
Coins of Lokiswaira
General device of Singhalese coins
Indian coinage of Prakrama Bahu
Fish-hook money
CHAP. VI.
ENGINEERING.
Engineering taught by the Brahmans
Rude methods of labour
Military engineering unknown
Early attempts at fortification
Fortified rock of Sigiri
Forests, their real security
Thorns planted as defences
Bridges and ferries
Method of tying cut stone in forming tanks
Tank sluices
Defective construction of these reservoirs
The art of engineering lost
The "Giants' Tank" a failure
An aqueduct formed, A.D. 66
CHAP. VII.
THE FINE ARTS.
Music, its early cultivation
Harsh character of Singhalese music
Tom-toms, their variety and antiquity
Singhalese gamut
Painting.--Imagination discouraged
Similarity of Singhalese to Egyptian art
Rigid rules for religious design
Similar trammels on art in Modern Greece (note)
And in Italy in the 15th century (n.)
Celebrated Singhalese painters
Sculpture.--Statues of Buddha
Built statues
Painted statues
Statues formed of gems
Ivory and sandal-wood carved
Architecture, its ruins exclusively religious
Domestic architecture mean at all times
Stone quarried by wedges
Immense slabs thus prepared
Columns at Anarajapoora
Materials for building
Mode of constructing a dagoba
Enormous dimensions of these structures
Monasteries and wiharas
Palaces
Carvings in stone
Ubiquity of the honours shown to goose
Delicate outline of Singhalese carvings
Temples and their decorations
Cave temples of Ceylon
The Alu-wihara
Moulding in plaster
Claim of the Singhalese to the invention of oil painting
Lacquer ware of the present day
Honey-suckle ornament
CHAP. VIII.
SOCIAL LIFE.
Ancient cities and their organisation
Public buildings, hospitals, shops
Anarajapoora, as it appeared in 7th century
The description of it by Fa Hian
Carriages and Horses
Horses imported from Persia
Furniture of the houses
Form of Government.--Revenue
The Army and Navy
Mode of recruiting
Arms.--Bows
Singular mode of drawing the bow with the foot (note)
Civil Justice
CHAP. IX.
SCIENCES.
Education and schools
Logic
Astronomy and astrology
Medicine and surgery
King Buddha-dasa a physician
Botany
Geometry
Lightning conductors
Notice of a remarkable passage in the Mahawanso
CHAP. X.
SINGHALESE LITERATURE.
The Pali language
The temples the depositaries of learning
Historiographers employed by the kings
Ola books, how prepared
A stile, and the mode of writing
Books on plates of metal (note)
Differences between Elu and Singhalese
Pali works
Grammar
Hardy's list of Singhalese books (note)
Pali books all written in verse
The _Pittakas_
The _Jatakas_--resemble the Talmud
Pali literature generally
The _Milinda-prasna_
Pali historical books and their character
The _Mahawanso_
Scriptural coincidences in Pali books (note)
Sanskrit works:
Principally on science and medicine
Elu and Singhalese works:
Low tone of the popular literature
Chiefly ballads and metrical essays
Exempt from licentiousness
Sacred poems in honour of Hindu gods
General literature of the people
CHAP. XI.
BUDDHISM AND DEMON-WORSHIP.
Buddhism as it exists in Ceylon
Which was the more ancient, Brahmanism or Buddhism
Various authorities (note)
Buddhism, its extreme antiquity
Its prodigious influence
Sought to be identified with the Druids (note)
Buddhism an agent of civilisation
Its features in Ceylon
The various forms elsewhere
Points that distinguish it from Brahmanism
Buddhist theory of human perfection
Its treatment of caste
Its respect for other religions
Anecdote, illustrative of (note)
Its cosmogony
Its doctrine of "necessity"
Transmigration
Illustration from Lucan (note)
The priesthood and its attributes
Buddhist morals
Prohibition to take life
Form of worship
Brahmanical corruptions
Failure of Buddhism as a sustaining faith
Its moral influence over the people
Demon-worship
Trees dedicated to demons (note)
Devil priests and their orgies
Ascendency of these superstitions
Buddhism as an obstacle to Christianity
Difficulties presented by the morals of Buddhism
Prohibition against taking away life (note)
PART V.
MEDI�VAL HISTORY.
CHAPTER I.
CEYLON AS KNOWN TO THE GREEKS AND ROMANS.
First heard of by the companions of Alexander the Great
Various ancient names of Ceylon (note)
Early doubts whether it was an island or a continent
Mentioned by Aristotle
Alleged mention of Ceylon in the Samaritan Pentateuch (note)
Onesicritus's account
Megasthenes' description
�lian's account borrowed from Megasthenes (note)
Ceylon known to the Phoenicians and to the Egyptians (note)
Hippalus discovers the monsoons
Effect of this discovery on Indian trade
Pliny's account of Ceylon
Story of Jambulus by Diodoros Siculus (note)
Embassy from Ceylon to Claudius
Narrative of Rachias, and its explanation (note)
Lake Megisba, a tank
Early intercourse with China
The Veddahs described by Pliny
Interval between Pliny and Ptolemy
Ptolemy's account of Ceylon
Explanation of his errors
Ptolemy discriminates bays from estuaries (note) v9
Identification of Ptolemy's names
His map
His sources of information
Agathemerus, Marcianus of Heraclea
Cosmas Indicopleustes
Palladius--St. Ambrosius (note)
State of Ceylon when Cosmas wrote
Its commerce at that period
In the hands of Arabs and Persians v4
Ceylon as described by Cosmas
Story of his informant Sopater
Translation of Cosmas
The gems and other productions of Ceylon--"a gaou" (note)
Meaning of the term "Hyacinth" (note)
The great ruby of Ceylon, its history traced (note)
Cosmas corroborated by the Peripius
Horses imported from Persia
Export of elephants
Note on Sanchoniathon
CHAP. II.
INDIAN, ARABIAN, AND PERSIAN AUTHORITIES.
Absurd errors of the Hindus regarding Ceylon
Their dread of Ceylon as the abode of demons
Rise of the Mahometan power
Persians and Arabs trade to India
Story in Beladory of the first invasion of India by the Mahometans
(text and note)
Character of the Arabian geographers
Their superiority over the Greeks
Greek Paradoxical literature
A.D. 851. The two Mahometans
Their account of Ceylon
Adam's Peak
Obsequies of a king
Councils on religion and history
Toleration
Carmathic monument at Colombo (note)
Galle, the seat of ancient trade
Claim of Mantotte disproved
Greek fire (note)
"_Kalah_" is Galle
The Maharaja of Zabedj help possession of Galle
Evidence of this in the Garsharsp-Namah
Derivation of "Galle" (text and note)
Aversion of the Singhalese to commerce
Identification of the modern Veddahs with the ancient Singhalese
Their singular habits, as described by Robert Knox, Ribeyro, and
Valentyn
By Albyrouni
By Palladius
By Fa Hian
By the Chinese writers (note)
By Pliny
For this reason the coast only known to strangers
Arabian authors who describe Ceylon
Albateny and Massoudi
Tabari (note)
Sinbad the Sailor
Edrisi
Kazwini
Cinnamon, no mention of
Was cinnamon a native of Ceylon?
No mention by Singhalese authors
No mention of by Latin writers
The _Regio Cinnamomifera_ was in Africa (note)
No mention by Arabs or Persians
First noticed in Ceylon by Ibn Batuta
By Nicola di Conti (note)
Ibn Batuta describes Ceylon
His Travels
CHAP. III.
CEYLON AS KNOWN TO THE CHINESE.
Early Chinese trade with Ceylon
Early Chinese travellers in India
Chinese translations of M.S. Julien
List of Chinese authors relating to Ceylon (note)
Their errors as to its form and site
Their account of Adam's Peak and its gems
Chinese names for Ceylon
Curious habit of its traders
They describe the two races, Tamils and Singhalese
Origin of the cotton "Comboy"
Costume of Ceylon
Early commerce
Works for irrigation noticed
Island of Junk-Ceylon
Galle resorted to by Chinese ships
Vegetable productions
Elephants, ivory, and jewels
Skill of Singhalese goldsmiths and statuaries
Pearls and gems sent to China
No mention of cinnamon
Chinese account of Buddhism in Ceylon
Monasteries for priests first founded in Ceylon
Cities of Ceylon in the sixth century
Patriotism of Singhalese kings
Domestic manners of the Singhalese
Embassies from China to Ceylon
Chinese travels prior to the sixth century
Fa Hian's travels in sixth century
First embassy from Ceylon to China, A.D. 405
Narrative of the image which it bore (note)
Ceylon tributary to China in sixth century
Hiouen-Thsang describes Ceylon in the seventh century (note)
Events in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries
King of Ceylon carried captive to China, A.D. 1405
Last embassy to China, A.D. 1459
Traces of the Chinese in Ceylon
Evidences of their presence found by the Portuguese
Modern Chinese account of Ceylon (note)
CHAP. IV.
CEYLON AS KNOWN TO THE MOORS,
GENOESE, AND VENETIANS.
The Moors of Ceylon
Their origin
The early Mahometans in India
Arabians anciently settled in Ceylon
Real descent of the modern "Moormen"
Their occupation as traders, ancestral
Their hostilities with the Portuguese
They might have been rulers of Ceylon
Indian trade prior to the route by the Cape
The Genoese and Venetians in the East
Rise of the Mongol empire
Marco Polo, A.D. 1271
Visits Ceylon
Friar Odoric, A.D. 1318
Jordan de Severac, A.D. 1323 (note)
Giov. de Marignola, A.D. 1349 (note)
Nicola di Conti, A.D. 1444
The first traveller who speaks of Cinnamon
Jerome de Santo Stefano (note)
Ludov. Barthema, A.D. 1506
Odoardo Barbosa, A.D. 1509
Andrea Corsali, A.D. 1515 (note)
Cesar Frederic, A.D. 1563
Course of trade changed by the Cape route
Irritation of the Venetians
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE FIRST VOLUME
MAPS.
"Gobbs" on the East Coast By ARROWSMITH
"Gobbs" on the "West Coast ARROWSMITH
Ceylon, according to the Sanskrit
and Pali authors SIR J. EMERSON TENNENT
Map of Ancient India LASSEN
Position of Colombo, according to Ptolemy
and Pliny SIR J. EMERSON TENNENT
Ceylon, according to Ptolemy and Pliny SIR J. EMERSON TENNENT
PLANS AND CHARTS.
Geological System By
Currents in the N.E. Monsoon
Currents in the N.W. Monsoon
Diagram of Rain in India and in Ceylon DR. TEMPLETON
Diagram of the Anthelia DR. TEMPLETON
Plan of a Fish-corral
Summit of a Dagoba, with Lightning
apparatus
WOOD ENGRAVINGS.
Marriage of the Fig-tree and the Palm By MR. A. NICHOLL
Fig-tree on the Ruins of Pollanarrua MR. A. NICHOLL
The "Snake-tree" MR. A. NICHOLL
The _Loris_ M.H. SYLVAT
The _Uropeltis grandis_ M.H. SYLVAT
A _Chironectes_ M.H. SYLVAT
Method of Fishing in Pools From KNOX
The _Anabas_ of the dry Tanks By DR. TEMPLETON
Eggs of the Leaf Insect M.H. SYLVAT
_Cermatia_ DR. TEMPLETON
The Calling Crab
Eyes and Teeth of the Land Leech DR. TEMPLETON
Land Leeches DR. TEMPLETON
Upper and under Surfaces of the
_Hirudo sanguisorba_ DR. TEMPLETON
The Bo-tree at Anarajapoora MR. A. NICHOLL
A Dagoba at Kandy From a Photograph
Ruins of the Brazen Palace By MR. A. NICHOLL
The Alu Wihara MR. A. NICHOLL
The fortified Rock of Sigiri MR. A. NICHOLS
Coin of Queen Leela-Wattee
Coin showing the _Trisula_
Hook-money
Ancient and Modern Tom-tom Beaters From the JOINVILLE MSS.
A Column from Anarajapoora
Sacred Goose from the Burmese Standard
Hansa, from the old Palace at Kandy
Honeysuckle Ornament From FERGUSSON'S
_Handbook of
Architecture_
Egyptian Yoke and Singhalese Pingo
Veddah drawing the Bow with his Foot By MR. R. MACDOWALL
Method of Writing with a Style MR. R. MACDOWALL
The "Comboy," as worn by both Sexes MR. A. FAIRFIELD
NOTICE TO THE FOURTH EDITION.
The gratifying reception with which the following pages have been
honoured by the public and the press, has in no degree lessened my
consciousness, that in a work so extended in its scope, and
comprehending such a multiplicity of facts, errors are nearly
unavoidable both as to conclusions and detail. These, so far as I became
aware of them, I have endeavoured to correct in the present, as well as
in previous impressions.
But my principal reliance for the suggestion and supply both of
amendments and omissions has been on the press and the public of Ceylon;
whose familiarity with the topics discussed naturally renders them the
most competent judges as to the mode in which they have been treated. My
hope when the book was published in October last was, that before going
again to press I should be in possession of such friendly communications
and criticisms from the island, as would have enabled me to render the
second edition much more valuable than the previous one. In this
expectation I have been agreeably disappointed, the sale having been so
rapid, as to require a fourth impression before it was possible to
obtain from Ceylon judicious criticisms on the first. These in due time
will doubtless arrive; and meanwhile, I have endeavoured, by careful
revision, to render the whole as far as possible correct.
J. EMERSON TENNENT.
NOTICE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
The call for a third edition on the same day that the second was
announced for publication, and within less than two months from the
appearance of the first, has furnished a gratifying assurance of the
interest which the public are disposed to take in the subject of the
present work.
Thus encouraged, I have felt it my duty to make several alterations in
the present impression, amongst the most important of which is the
insertion of a Chapter on the doctrines of Buddhism as it developes
itself in Ceylon.[1] In the historical sections I had already given an
account of its introduction by Mahindo, and of the establishments
founded by successive sovereigns for its preservation and diffusion. To
render the narrative complete, it was felt desirable to insert an
abstract of the peculiar tenets of the Buddhists; and this want it has
been my object to supply. The sketch, it will be borne in mind, is
confined to the principal features of what has been denominated
"_Southern Buddhism_" amongst the Singhalese; as distinguished from
"_Northern Buddhism_" in Nepal, Thibet, and China.[2] The latter has
been largely illustrated by the labours of Mr. B.H. HODGSON and the
toilsome researches of M. CSOMA of K�rr�s in Transylvania; and the
minutest details of the doctrines and ceremonies of the former have been
unfolded in the elaborate and comprehensive collections of Mr. SPENCE
HARDY.[3] From materials discovered by these and other earnest
inquirers, Buddhism in its general aspect has been ably delineated in
the dissertations of BURNOUF[4] and SAINT HILAIRE[5], and in the
commentaries of REMUSAT[6], STANISLAS JULIEN[7], FOUCAUX[8], LASSEN[9],
and WEBER.[10] The portion thus added to the present edition has been to
a great extent taken from a former work of mine on the local
superstitions of Ceylon, and the "_Introduction and Progress of
Christianity_" there; and as the section relating to Buddhism had the
advantage, previous to publication, of being submitted to the Rev. Mr.
GOGERLY, the most accomplished Pali scholar, as well as the most erudite
student of Buddhistical literature in the island, I submit it with
confidence as an accurate summary of the distinctive views of the
Singhalese on the leading doctrines of their national faith.
[Footnote 1: See Part IV., c. xi.]
[Footnote 2: MAX M�LLER; _History of Sanskrit Literature_, p. 202.]
[Footnote 3: _Eastern Monachism_, an account of the origin, laws;
discipline, sacred writings, mysterious rites, religious ceremonies, and
present circumstances of the Order of Mendicants, founded by Gotoma
Budha. 8vo. Lond. 1850; and _A Manual of Buddhism in its Modern
Development_. 8vo. Lond. 1853.]
[Footnote 4: BURNOUF, _Introduction � l'Histoire du Bouddhieme Indien_.
4to. Paris. 1845; and translation of the _Lotus de la bonne Loi_.]
[Footnote 5: J. BARTHELEMY SAINT-HILAIRE _Le Bouddha et sa Religion_.
8vo. Paris. 1800.]
[Footnote 6: Introduction and Notes to the _Fo[)e] Kou[)e] Ki_ of FA
HIAN.]
[Footnote 7: Life and travels of HIOUEN THSANG.]
[Footnote 8: Translation of _Lalitavist�ra_ by M. PH. ED. FOUCAUX.]
[Footnote 9: Author of the _Indische Alterthumskunde;_ &c.]
[Footnote 10: Author of the _Indische Studien_; &c.]
A writer in the _Saturday Review_[1], in alluding to the passage in
which I have sought to establish the identity of the ancient Tarshish
with the modern Point de Galle[2], admits the force of the coincidence
adduced, that the Hebrew terms for "ivory, apes, and peacocks"[3] (the
articles imported in the ships of Solomon) are identical with the Tamil
names, by which these objects are known in Ceylon to the present day;
and, to strengthen my argument on this point, he adds that, "these terms
were so entirely foreign and alien from the common Hebrew language as to
have driven the Ptolemaist authors of the Septuagint version into a
blunder, by which the ivory, apes, and peacocks come out as '_hewn and
carven stones_.'" The circumstance adverted to had not escaped my
notice; but I forebore to avail myself of it; for, although the fact is
accurately stated by the reviewer, so far as regards the Vatican MS., in
which the translators have slurred over the passage and converted
"_ibha, kapi_, and _tukeyim_" into [Greek: "lith�n toreut�n kai
pelek�t�n"] (literally, "stones hammered and carved in relief"); still,
in the other great MS. of the Septuagint, the _Codex Alexandrinus_,
which is of equal antiquity, the passage is correctly rendered by
"[Greek: odont�n elephantin�n kai pith�k�n kai ta�n�n]." The editor of
the Aldine edition[4] compromised the matter by inserting "the ivory and
apes," and excluding the "peacocks," in order to introduce the Vatican
reading of "stones."[5] I have not compared the Complutensian and other
later versions.
[Footnote 1: Novemb. 19, 1859, p. 612.]
[Footnote 2: _See_ Vol. II. Pt. VII., c. i. p. 102.]
[Footnote 3: 1 _Kings_, x. 22.]
[Footnote 4: Venice, 1518.]
[Footnote 5: [Greek: Kai odont�n elephantin�n kai pith�k�n kai lith�n].
[Greek: BASIA TRIT�]. x. 22. It is to be observed, that Josephus appears
to have been equally embarrassed by the unfamiliar term _tukeyim_ for
peacocks. He alludes to the voyages of Solomon's merchantmen to
Tarshish, and says that they brought hack from thence gold and silver,
_much_ ivory, apes, _and �thiopians_--thus substituting "slaves" for
pea-fowl--"[Greek: kai polus elephas, Aithiopes te kai pith�koi]."
Josephus also renders the word Tarshish by "[Greek: en t� Tarsik�
legomen� thalatt�]," an expression which shows that he thought not of
the Indian but the western Tarshish, situated in what Avienus calls the
_Fretum Tartessium_, whence African slaves might have been expected to
come.--_Antiquit. Judaic�_, l. viii. c. vii sec. 2.]
The Rev. Mr. CURETON, of the British Museum, who, at my request,
collated the passage in the Chaldee and Syriac versions, assures me that
in both, the terms in question bear the closest resemblance to the Tamil
words found in the Hebrew; and that in each and all of them these are of
foreign importation.
J. EMERSON TENNENT.
LONDON: November 28th, 1859.
NOTICE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
The rapidity with which the first impression has been absorbed by the
public, has so shortened the interval between its appearance and that of
the present edition, that no sufficient time has been allowed for the
discovery of errors or defects; and the work is re-issued almost as a
corrected reprint.
In the interim, however, I have ascertained, that Ribeyro's "Historical
Account of Ceylon," which it was heretofore supposed had never appeared
in any other than the French version of the Abbe Le Grand, and in the
English translation of the latter by Mr. Lee[1], was some years since
printed for the first time in the original Portuguese, from the
identical MS. presented by the author to Pedro II. in 1685. It was
published in 1836 by the Academia Real das Sciencias of Lisbon, under
the title of "_Fatalidade Historica da Ilka de Ceil�o_;" and forms the
Vth volume of the a "_Colle��o de Noticias para a Historia e Geograjia
das Na��es Ultramarinas_" A fac-simile from a curious map of the island
as it was then known to the Portuguese, has been included in the present
edition.[2]
[Footnote 1: See Vol. II. Part vi. ch. i. p.5, note.]
[Footnote 2: Ibid. p. 6.]
Some difficulty having been expressed to me, in identifying the ancient
names of places in India adverted to in the following pages; and
medi�val charts of that country being rare, a map has been inserted in
the present edition[1], to supply the want complained of.
[Footnote 1: See Vol. I. p. 330.]
The only other important change has been a considerable addition to the
Index, which was felt to be essential for facilitating reference.
J E.T.
INTRODUCTION.
There is no island in the world, Great Britain itself not excepted, that
has attracted the attention of authors in so many distant ages and so
many different countries as Ceylon. There is no nation in ancient or
modern times possessed of a language and a literature, the writers of
which have not at some time made it their theme. Its aspect, its
religion, its antiquities, and productions, have been described as well
by the classic Greeks, as by those of the Lower Empire; by the Romans;
by the writers of China, Burmah, India, and Kashmir; by the geographers
of Arabia and Persia; by the medi�val voyagers of Italy and France; by
the annalists of Portugal and Spain; by the merchant adventurers of
Holland, and by the travellers and topographers of Great Britain.
But amidst this wealth of materials as to the island, and its
vicissitudes in early times, there is an absolute dearth of information
regarding its state and progress during more recent periods, and its
actual condition at the present day.
I was made sensible of this want, on the occasion of my nomination, in
1845, to an office in connection with the government of Ceylon. I found
abundant details as to the capture of the maritime provinces from the
Dutch in 1795, in the narrative of Captain PERCIVAL[1], an officer who
had served in the expedition; and the efforts to organise the first
system of administration are amply described by CORDINER[2], Chaplain to
the Forces; by Lord VALENTIA[3], who was then travelling in the East;
and by ANTHONY BERTOLACCI[4], who acted as auditor-general to the first
governor, Mr. North, afterwards Earl of Guilford. The story of the
capture of Kandy in 1815 has been related by an anonymous eye-witness
under the pseudonyme of PHILALETHES[5], and by MARSHALL in his
_Historical Sketch_ of the conquest.[6] An admirable description of the
interior of the island, as it presented itself some forty years ago, was
furnished by Dr. DAVY[7], a brother of the eminent philosopher, who was
employed on the medical staff in Ceylon, from 1816 till 1820.
[Footnote 1: _An Account of the Island of Ceylon_, &c., by Capt. R.
PERCIVAL, 4to. London, 1805.]
[Footnote 2: _A Description of Ceylon_, &c., by the Rev. JAMES CORDINER,
A.M. 2 vols. 4to. London, 1807.]
[Footnote 3: _Voyages and Travels to India, Ceylon, and the Red Sea_, by
Lord Viscount VALENTIA. 3 vols. 4to. London, 1809.]
[Footnote 4: _A View of the Agricultural, Commercial, and Financial
Interests of Ceylon_, &c., by A. BERTOLACCI, Esq. London, 1817.]
[Footnote 5: _A History of Ceylon from the earliest Period to the Year_
MDCCCXV, by PHILALETHES, A.M. 4to. Lond. 1817. The author is believed to
have been the Rev. G. Bisset.]
[Footnote 6: HENRY MARSHALL, F.R.S.E., &c. went to Ceylon as assistant
surgeon of the 89th regiment, in 1806, and from 1816 till 1821 was the
senior medical officer of the Kandyan provinces.]
[Footnote 7: _An Account of the Interior of Ceylon_, &c., by JOHN DAVY,
M.D. 4to, London, 1821.]
Here the long series of writers is broken, just at the commencement of a
period the most important and interesting in the history of the island.
The mountain zone, which for centuries had been mysteriously hidden from
the Portuguese and Dutch[1] was suddenly opened to British enterprise in
1815. The lofty region, from behind whose barrier of hills the kings of
Kandy had looked down and defied the arms of three successive European
nations, was at last rendered accessible by the grandest mountain road
in India; and in the north of the island, the ruins of ancient cities,
and the stupendous monuments of an early civilisation, were discovered
in the solitudes of the great central forests. English merchants
embarked in the renowned trade in cinnamon, which we had wrested from
the Dutch; and British capitalists introduced the cultivation of coffee
into the previously inaccessible highlands. Changes of equal magnitude
contributed to alter the social position of the natives; domestic
slavery was extinguished; compulsory labour, previously exacted from the
free races, was abolished; and new laws under a charter of justice
superseded the arbitrary rule of the native chiefs. In the course of
less than half a century, the aspect of the country became changed, the
condition of the people was submitted to new influences; and the time
arrived to note the effects of this civil revolution.
[Footnote 1: VALENTYN, In his great work on the Dutch possessions in
India, _Oud_ _en Nieuw Oost-Indien_, alludes more than once with regret
to the ignorance in which his countrymen were kept as to the interior of
Ceylon, concerning which their only information was obtained through
fugitives and spies. (Vol. v. ch. ii. p. 35; ch. xv. p. 205.)]
But on searching for books such as I expected to find, recording the
phenomena consequent on these domestic and political events, I was
disappointed to discover that they were few in number and generally
meagre in information. Major FORBES, who in 1826 and for some years
afterwards held a civil appointment in the Kandyan country, published an
interesting account of his observations[1]; and his work derives value
from the attention which the author had paid to the ancient records of
the island, whose contents were then undergoing investigation by the
erudite and indefatigable TURNOUR.[2]
[Footnote 1: _Eleven Years in Ceylon_, &c., by Major FORBES. 2 vols.
8vo. London. 1840.]
[Footnote 2: See Vol. I. Part III. ch. iii. p. 312.]
In 1843 Mr. BENNETT, a retired civil servant of the colony, who had
studied some branches of its natural history, and especially its
ichthyology, embodied his experiences in a volume entitled "_Ceylon and
its Capabilities_," containing a mass of information, somewhat defective
in arrangement. These and a number of minor publications, chiefly
descriptive of sporting tours in search of elephants and deer, with
incidental notices of the sublime scenery and majestic ruins of the
island, were the only modern works that treated of Ceylon; but no one of
them sufficed to furnish a connected view of the colony at the present
day, contrasting its former state with the condition to which it has
attained under the government of Great Britain.
On arriving in Ceylon and entering on my official functions, this
absence of local knowledge entailed frequent inconvenience. In my tours
throughout the interior, I found ancient monuments, apparently defying
decay, of which no one could tell the date or the founder; and temples
and cities in ruins, whose destroyers were equally unknown. There were
vast structures of public utility, on which the prosperity of the
country had at one time been dependent; artificial lakes, with their
conduits and canals for irrigation; the condition of which rendered it
interesting to ascertain the period of their formation, and the causes
of their abandonment; but to every inquiry of this nature, there was the
same unvarying reply: that information regarding them might possibly be
found in the _Mahawanso_ or in some other of the native chronicles; but
that few had ever read them, and none had succeeded in reproducing them
for popular instruction.
A still more serious embarrassment arose from the want of authorities to
throw light on questions that were sometimes the subject of
administrative deliberation: there were native customs which no
available materials sufficed to illustrate; and native claims, often
serious in their importance, the consideration of which was obstructed
by a similar dearth of authentic data. With a view to executive
measures, I was frequently desirous of consulting the records of the two
European governments, under which the island had been administered for
300 years before the arrival of the British; their experience might have
served as a guide, and even their failures would have pointed out errors
to be avoided; but here, again, I had to encounter disappointment: in
answer to my inquiries, I was assured that _the records, both of the
Portuguese and Dutch, had long since disappeared from the archives of
the colony_.
Their loss, whilst in our custody, is the more remarkable, considering
the value which was attached to them by our predecessors. The Dutch, on
the conquest of Ceylon in the seventeenth century, seized the official
accounts and papers of the Portuguese; and a memoir is preserved by
VALENTYN, in which the Governor, Van Goens, on handing over the command
to his successor in 1663, enjoins on him the study of these important
documents, and expresses anxiety for their careful preservation.[1]
[Footnote 1: VALENTYN, _Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien_, &c., ch. xiii. p.
174.]
The British, on the capture of Colombo in 1796, were equally solicitous
to obtain possession of the records of the Dutch Government. By Art.
XIV. of the capitulation they were required to be "faithfully delivered
over;" and, by Art. XI., all "surveys of the island and its coasts" were
required to be surrendered to the captors.[1] But, strange to say,
almost the whole of these interesting and important papers appear to
have been lost; not a trace of the Portuguese records, so far as I could
discover, remains at Colombo; and if any vestige of those of the Dutch
be still extant, they have probably become illegible from decay and the
ravages of the white ants.[2]
[Footnote 1: Amongst a valuable collection of documents presented to the
Royal Asiatic Society of London, by the late Sir Alexander Johnston,
formerly Chief Justice of Ceylon, there is a volume of Dutch surveys of
the Island, containing important maps of the coast and its harbours, and
plans of the great works for irrigation in the northern and eastern
provinces.]
[Footnote 2: _Note to the second edition_.--Since the first edition was
published, I have been told by a late officer of the Ceylon Government,
that many years ago, what remained of the Dutch records were removed
from the record-room of the Colonial Office to the cutcherry of the
government agent of the western province: where some of them may still
be found.]
But the loss is not utterly irreparable; duplicates of the Dutch
correspondence during their possession of Ceylon are carefully preserved
at Amsterdam; and within the last few years the Trustees of the British
Museum purchased from the library of the late Lord Stuart de Rothesay
the Diplomatic Correspondence and Papers of SEBASTIA� JOZ� CARVALHO E
MELLO (Portuguese Ambassador at London and Vienna, and subsequently
known as the Marquis de Pombal), from 1738 to 1747, including sixty
volumes relating to the history of the Portuguese possessions in India
and Brazil during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Amongst the latter
are forty volumes of despatches relative to India entitled _Collec�am
Authentica de todas as Leys, Regimentos, Alvar�s e mais ordens que se
expediram para a India_, _desde o establecimento destas conqu�stas;
Orden�da por proviram de 28 de Marco de 1754_.[1] These contain the
despatches to and from the successive Captains-General and Governors of
Ceylon, so that, in part at least, the replacement of the records lost
in the colony may be effected by transcription.
[Footnote 1: MSS. Brit Mus. No. 20,861 to 20,900.]
Meanwhile in their absence I had no other resource than the narratives
of the Dutch and Portuguese historians, chiefly VALENTYN, DE BARROS, and
DE COUTO, who have preserved in two languages the least familiar in
Europe, chronicles of their respective governments, which, so far as I
am aware, have never been republished in any translation.
The present volumes contain no detailed notice of the _Buddhist faith_
as it exists in Ceylon, of the _Brahmanical rites,_ or of the other
religious superstitions of the island. These I have already described in
my history of _Christianity in Ceylon._[1] The materials for that work
were originally designed to form a portion of the present one; but
having expanded to too great dimensions to be made merely subsidiary, I
formed them into a separate treatise. Along with them I have
incorporated facts illustrative of the national character of the
Singhalese under the conjoint influences of their ancestral
superstitions and the partial enlightenment of education and gospel
truth.
[Footnote 1: _Christianity in Ceylon: its Introduction and Progress
under the Portuguese, the Dutch, the British and American Missions; with
an Historical Sketch of the Brahmanical and Buddhist Superstitons_ by
Sir JAMES EMERSON TENNENT. London, Murray, 1850.]
Respecting the _Physical Geography_ and _Natural History_ of the colony,
I found an equal want of reliable information; and every work that even
touched on the subject was pervaded by the misapprehension which I have
collected evidence to correct; that Ceylon is but a fragment of the
great Indian continent dissevered by some local convulsion; and that the
zoology and botany of the island are identical with those of the
mainland.[1]
[Footnote 1: It may seem presumptuous in me to question the accuracy of
Dr. DAVY'S opinion on this point (see his _Account of the Interior of
Ceylon, &c_., ch. iii. p. 78), but the grounds on which I venture to do
so are stated, Vol. I. pp. 7, 27, 160, 178, 208, &c.]
Thus for almost every particular and fact, whether physical or
historical, I have been to a great extent thrown on my own researches;
and obliged to seek for information in original sources, and in French
and English versions of Oriental authorities. The results of my
investigations are embodied in the following pages; and it only remains
for me to express, in terms however inadequate, my obligations to the
literary and scientific friends by whose aid I have been enabled to
pursue my inquiries.
Amongst these my first acknowledgments are due to Dr. TEMPLETON, of the
Army Medical Staff, for his cordial assistance in numerous departments;
but above all in relation to the physical geography and natural history
of the island. Here his scientific knowledge, successfully cultivated
during a residence of nearly twelve years in Ceylon, and his intimate
familiarity with its zoology and productions, rendered his co-operation
invaluable;--and these sections abound with evidences of the liberal
extent to which his stores of information have been generously imparted.
To him and to Dr. CAMERON, of the Army Medical Staff, I am indebted for
many valuable facts and observations on tropical health and disease,
embodied in the chapter on "_Climate_."
Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON (without committing himself as to the
controversial portions of the chapter on the _Geology_ and _Mineralogy_
of Ceylon) has done me the favour to offer some valuable suggestions,
and to express his opinion as to the general accuracy of the whole.
Although a feature so characteristic as that of its _Vegetation_ could
not possibly be omitted in a work professing to give an account of
Ceylon, I had neither the space nor the qualifications necessary to
produce a systematic sketch of the Botany of the island. I could only
attempt to describe it as it exhibits itself to an unscientific
spectator; and the notices that I have given are confined to such of the
more remarkable plants as cannot fail to arrest the attention of a
stranger. In illustration of these, I have had the advantage of copious
communications from WILLIAM FERGUSON, Esq., a gentleman attached to the
Survey Department of the Civil Service in Ceylon, whose opportunities
for observation in all parts of the island have enabled him to cultivate
with signal success his taste for botanical pursuits. And I have been
permitted to submit the portion of my work which refers to this subject
to the revision of the highest living authority on Indian botany, Dr.
J.D. HOOKER, of Kew.
Regarding the _fauna_ of Ceylon, little has been published in any
collective form, with the exception of a volume by Dr. KELAART entitled
_Prodromus Faun� Zeilanic�_; several valuable papers by Mr. EDGAR L.
LAYARD in the _Annals and Magazine of Natural History_ for 1852 and
1853; and some very imperfect lists appended to PRIDHAM'S compiled
account of the island.[1] KNOX, in the charming narrative of his
captivity, published in the reign of Charles II., has devoted a chapter
to the animals of Ceylon, and Dr. DAVY has described the principal
reptiles: but with these exceptions the subject is almost untouched in
works relating to the colony. Yet a more than ordinary interest attaches
to the inquiry, since Ceylon, instead of presenting, as is generally
assumed, an identity between its _fauna_ and that of Southern India,
exhibits a remarkable diversity of type, taken in connection with the
limited area over which they are distributed. The island, in fact, may
be regarded as the centre of a geographical circle, possessing within
itself forms, whose allied species radiate far into the temperate
regions of the north, as well as into Africa, Australia, and the isles
of the Eastern Archipelago.
[Footnote 1: _An Historical Political, and Statistical Account of Ceylon
and its Dependencies_, by C. PRIDHAM, Esq. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1849.
The author was never, I believe, in Ceylon, but his book is a laborious
condensation of the principal English works relating to it. Its value
would have been greatly increased had Mr. Pridham accompanied his
excerpts by references to the respective authorities.]
In the chapters that I have devoted to its elucidation, I have
endeavoured to interest others in the subject, by describing my own
observations and impressions, with fidelity, and with as much accuracy
as may be expected from a person possessing, as I do, no greater
knowledge of zoology and the other physical sciences than is ordinarily
possessed by any educated gentleman. It was my good fortune, however, in
my journies to have the companionship of friends familiar with many
branches of natural science: the late Dr. GARDNER, Mr. EDGAR L. LAYARD,
an accomplished zoologist, Dr. TEMPLETON, and others; and I was thus
enabled to collect on the spot many interesting facts relative to the
structure and habits of the numerous tribes of animals. These, chastened
by the corrections of my fellow-travellers, and established by the
examination of collections made in the colony, and by subsequent
comparison with specimens contained in museums at home, I have ventured
to submit as faithful outlines of the _fauna_ of Ceylon.
The sections descriptive of the several classes are accompanied by
lists, prepared with the assistance of scientific friends, showing the
extent to which each particular branch had been investigated by
naturalists, up to the period of my departure from Ceylon at the close
of 1849. These, besides their inherent interest, will, I trust,
stimulate others to engage in the same pursuits, by exhibiting the
chasms, which it still remains for future industry and research to fill
up;--and the study of the zoology of Ceylon may thus serve as a
preparative for that of Continental India, embracing, as the former
does, much that is common to both, as well as possessing within itself a
fauna peculiar to the island, that will amply repay more extended
scrutiny.
From these lists have been excluded all species regarding the
authenticity of which reasonable doubts could be entertained[1], and of
some of them, a very few have been printed in _italics_, in order to
denote the desirability of comparing them more minutely with well
determined specimens in the great national depositories before finally
incorporating them with the Singhalese catalogues.
[Footnote 1: An exception occurs in the list of shells, prepared by Mr.
SYLVANUS HANLEY, in which some whose localities are doubtful have been
admitted for reasons adduced. (See Vol. I, p. 234.)]
In the labour of collecting and verifying the facts embodied in these
sections, I cannot too warmly express my thanks for the aid I have
received from gentlemen interested in similar pursuits in Ceylon: from
Dr. KELAART and Mr. EDGAR L. LAYARD, as well as from officers of the
Ceylon Civil Service; the HON. GERALD C. TALBOT, Mr. C.E. BULLER, Mr.
MERCER, Mr. MORRIS, Mr. WHITING, Major SKINNER, and Mr. MITFORD.
Before venturing to commit these chapters of my work to the press, I
have had the advantage of having portions of them read by Professor
HUXLEY, Mr. MOORE, of the East India House Museum; Mr. R. PATTERSON,
F.R.S., author of the _Introduction to Zoology_, and by Mr. ADAM WHITE,
of the British Museum; to each of whom I am exceedingly indebted for the
care they have bestowed. In an especial degree I have to acknowledge the
kindness of Dr. J.E. GRAY, F.R.S. for valuable additions and corrections
in the list of the Ceylon Reptilia; and to Professor FARADAY for some
notes on the nature and qualities of the "Serpent Stone,"[1] submitted
to him. I have recorded in its proper place my obligations to Admiral
FITZROY, for his most ingenious theory in elucidation of the phenomena
of the _Tides_ around Ceylon.[2]
[Footnote 1: See Vol. I. Part II. ch. iii. p. 199.]
[Footnote 2: See Vol. II. Part VII. ch. i. p. 116.]
The extent to which my observations on _the Elephant_ have been carried,
requires some explanation. The existing notices of this noble creature
are chiefly devoted to its habits and capabilities _in captivity_; and
very few works, with which I am acquainted, contain illustrations of its
instincts and functions when wild in its native woods. Opportunities for
observing the latter, and for collecting facts in connection with them,
are abundant in Ceylon, and from the moment of my arrival, I profited by
every occasion afforded to me for studying the elephant in a state of
nature, and obtaining from hunters and natives correct information as to
its oeconomy and disposition. Anecdotes in connection with this subject,
I received from some of the most experienced residents In the island;
amongst others, Major SKINNER, Captain PHILIP PAYNE GALLWEY, Mr.
FAIRHOLME, Mr. CRIPPS, and Mr. MORRIS. Nor can I omit to express my
acknowledgments to PROFESSOR OWEN, of the British Museum, to whom this
portion of my manuscript was submitted previous to its committal to the
press.
In the _historical sections_ of the work, I have been reluctantly
compelled to devote a considerable space to a narrative deduced from the
ancient Singhalese chronicles; into which I found it most difficult to
infuse any popular interest. But the toil was not undertaken without a
motive. The oeconomics and hierarchical institutions of Buddhism as
administered through successive dynasties, exercised so paramount an
influence over the habits and occupations of the Singhalese people, that
their impress remains indelible to the present day. The tenure of temple
lands, the compulsory services of tenants, the extension of agriculture,
and the whole system of co-operative cultivation, derived from this
source organisation and development; and the origin and objects of these
are only to be rendered intelligible by an inquiry into the events and
times in which the system took its rise. In connection with this
subject, I am indebted to the representatives of the late Mr. TURNOUR,
of the Ceylon Civil Service, for access to his unpublished manuscripts;
and to those portions of his correspondence with Prinsep, which relate
to the researches of these two distinguished scholars regarding the Pali
annals of Ceylon. I have also to acknowledge my obligations to M. JULES
MOHL, the literary executor of M. E. BURNOUF, for the use of papers left
by that eminent orientalist in illustration of the ancient geography of
the island, as exhibited in the works of Pali and Sanskrit writers.
I have been signally assisted inn my search for materials illustrative
of the social and intellectual condition of the Singhalese nation,
during the early ages of their history, by gentlemen in Ceylon, whose
familiarity with the native languages and literature impart authority to
their communications; by ERNEST DE SARAM WIJEYESEKERE KAROONARATNE, the
Maha-Moodliar and First Interpreter to the Governor; and to Mr. DE
ALWIS, the erudite translator of the _Sidath Sangara._ From the Rev. Mr.
GOGERLY of the Wesleyan Mission, I have received expositions of Buddhist
policy; and the Rev. R SPENCE HARDY, author of the two most important
modern works on the arch�ology of Buddhism[1], has done me the favour to
examine the chapter on SINGHALESE _Literature,_ and to enrich it by
numerous suggestions and additions.
[Footnote 1: _Oriental Monachism,_ 8vo. London, 1850; and _A Manual of
Buddhism,_ 8vo. London, 1853]
In like manner I have had the advantage of communicating with MR. COOLEY
(author of the _History of Maritime and Inland Discovery_) in relation
to the _Medi�val History_ of Ceylon, and the period embraced by the
narrative of the Greek, Arabian, and Italian travellers, between the
fifth and fifteenth centuries.
I have elsewhere recorded my obligations to Mr. WYLIE, and to his
colleague, Mr. LOCKHART of Shangh�, for the materials of one of the most
curious chapters of my work, that which treats of the knowledge of
Ceylon possessed by the Chinese in the Middle Ages. This is a field
which, so far as I know, is untouched by any previous writer on Ceylon.
In the course of my inquires, finding that Ceylon had been, from the
remotest times, the point at which the merchant fleets from the Red Sea
and the Persian Gulf met those from China and the Oriental Archipelago;
thus effecting an exchange of merchandise from East and West; and
discovering that the Arabian and Persian voyagers, on their return, had
brought home copious accounts of the island, it occurred to me that the
Chinese travellers during the same period had in all probability been
equally observant and communicative, and that the results of their
experience might be found in Chinese works of the Middle Ages. Acting on
this conjecture, I addressed myself to a Chinese gentleman, WANG TAO
CHUNG, who was then in England; and he, on his return to Shangh�, made
known my wishes to Mr. WYLIE. My anticipations were more than realised
by Mr. WYLIE'S researches. I received in due course, extracts from
upwards of twenty works by Chinese writers, between the fifth and
fifteenth centuries, and the curious and interesting facts contained in
them are embodied in the chapter devoted to that particular subject. In
addition to these, the courtesy of M. STANISLAS JULIEN, the eminent
French Sinologue, has laid me under a similar obligation for access to
unpublished passages relative to Ceylon, in his translation of the great
work of HIOUEN THSANG; in his translation of the great work of HIOUEN
THSANG; descriptive of the Buddhist country of India in the seventh
century.[1]
[Footnote 1: _M�moires sur les Contr�es Occidentales_, traduites du
Sanscrit en Chinois, en l'an 648, par M. STANISLAS JULIEN.]
It is with pain that I advert to that portion of the section which
treats of the British rule in Ceylon; in the course of which the
discovery of the private correspondence of the first Governor, Mr.
North, deposited along with the Wellesley Manuscripts, in the British
Museum[1], has thrown an unexpected light over the fearful events of
1803, and the massacre of the English troops then in garrison at Kandy.
Hitherto the honour of the British Government has been unimpeached in
these dark transactions; and the slaughter of the troops has been
uniformly denounced as an evidence of the treacherous and "tiger-like"
spirit of the Kandyan people.[2] But it is not possible now to read the
narrative of these events, as the motives and secret arrangements of the
Governor with the treacherous Minister of the king are disclosed in the
private letters of Mr. North to the Governor-general of India, without
feeling that the sudden destruction of Major Davie's party, however
revolting the remorseless butchery by which it was achieved, may have
been but the consummation of a revenge provoked by the discovery of the
treason concocted by the Adigar in confederacy with the representative
of the British Crown. Nor is this construction weakened by the fact,
that no immediate vengeance was exacted by the Governor in expiation of
that fearful tragedy; and that the private letters of Mr. North to the
Marquis of Wellesley contain avowals of ineffectual efforts to hush up
the affair, and to obtain a clumsy compromise by inducing the Kandyan
king to make an admission of regret.
[Footnote 1: Additional MSS., Brit. Mus., No. 13864, &c.]
[Footnote 2: DE QUINCEY, _collected Works_, vol. xii. p. 14.]
I am aware that there are passages in the following pages containing
statements that occur more than once in the course of the work. But I
found that in dealing with so many distinct subjects the same fact
became sometimes an indispensable illustration of more than one topic;
and hence repetition was unavoidable even at the risk of tautology.
I have also to apologise for variances in the spelling of proper names,
both of places and individuals, occurring in different passages. In
extenuation of this, I can only plead the difficulty of preserving
uniformity in matters dependent upon mere sound, and unsettled by any
recognised standard of orthography.
I have endeavoured in every instance to append references to other
authors, in support of statements which I have drawn from previous
writers; an arrangement rendered essential by the numerous instances in
which errors, that nothing short of the original authorities can suffice
to expose, have been reproduced and repeated by successive writers on
Ceylon.
To whatever extent the preparation of this work may have fallen short of
its conception, and whatever its demerits in execution and style, I am
not without hope that it will still exhibit evidence that by
perseverance and research I have laboured to render it worthy of the
subject.
JAMES EMERSON TENNENT.
LONDON: _July 13th, 1859._
PART I.
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
CHAPTER I
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.--GEOLOGY.--MINERALOGY.--GEMS, CLIMATE, ETC.
GENERAL ASPECT.--Ceylon, from whatever direction it is approached,
unfolds a scene of loveliness and grandeur unsurpassed, if it be
rivalled, by any land in the universe. The traveller from Bengal,
leaving behind the melancholy delta of the Ganges and the torrid coast
of Coromandel; or the adventurer from Europe, recently inured to the
sands of Egypt and the scorched headlands of Arabia, is alike entranced
by the vision of beauty which expands before him as the island rises
from the sea, its lofty mountains covered by luxuriant forests, and its
shores, till they meet the ripple of the waves, bright with the foliage
of perpetual spring.
The Brahmans designated it by the epithet of "the resplendent," and in
their dreamy rhapsodies extolled it as the region of mystery and
sublimity[1]; the Buddhist poets gracefully apostrophised it as "a pearl
upon the brow of India;" the Chinese knew it as the "island of jewels;"
the Greeks as the "land of the hyacinth and the ruby;" the Mahometans,
in the intensity of their delight, assigned it to the exiled parents of
mankind as a new elysium to console them for the loss of Paradise; and
the early navigators of Europe, as they returned dazzled with its gems,
and laden with its costly spices, propagated the fable that far to
seaward the very breeze that blew from it was redolent of perfume.[2] In
later and less imaginative times, Ceylon has still maintained the renown
of its attractions, and exhibits in all its varied charms "the highest
conceivable development of Indian nature."[3]
[Footnote 1: "Ils en ont fait une esp�ce de paradis, et se sont imagin�
que des �tres d'une nature ang�lique les habitaient."--ALBYROUNI, Trait�
des �res, &c.; REINAUD, G�ographie d'Aboulf�da, Introd. sec. iii. p.
ccxxiv. The renown of Ceylon as it reached Europe in the seventeenth
century is thus summed up by PURCHAS in _His Pilgrimage_, b.v.c. 18, p.
550:--"The heauens with their dewes, the ayre with a pleasant
holesomenesse and fragrant freshnesse, the waters in their many riuers
and fountaines, the earth diuersified in aspiring hills, lowly vales,
equall and indifferent plaines, filled in her inward chambers with
mettalls and jewells, in her outward court and vpper face stored with
whole woods of the best cinnamons that the sunne seeth; besides fruits,
oranges, lemons, &c. surmounting those of Spaine; fowles and beasts,
both tame and wilde (among which is their elephant honoured by a
naturall acknowledgement of excellence of all other elephants in the
world). These all have conspired and joined in common league to present
unto Zeilan the chiefe of worldly treasures and pleasures, with a long
and healthfull life in the inhabitants to enjoye them. No marvell, then,
if sense and sensualitie have heere stumbled on a paradise."]
[Footnote 2: The fable of the "spicy breezes" said to blow from Arabia
and India, is as old as Ctesias; and is eagerly repeated by Pliny? lib.
xii. c. 42. The Greeks borrowed the tale from the Hindus, who believe
that the _Chandana_ or sandal-wood imparts its odours to the winds; and
their poete speak of the Malayan as the westerns did of the Sab�an
breezes. But the allusion to such perfumed winds was a trope common to
all the discoverers of unknown lands: the companions of Columbus
ascribed them to the region of the Antilles; and Verrazani and Sir
Walter Raleigh scented them off the coast of Carolina. Milton borrowed
from Diodorus Siculus, lib. iii. c. 46, the statement that:
"Far off at sea north-east winds blow
Sab�an odours from the spicy shore
Of Araby the Blest."
(_P.L._ iv. 163.)
Ariosto employs the same imaginative embellishment to describe the
charms of Cyprus:
"Serpillo e persa e rose e gigli e croco
Spargon dall'odorifero terreno
Tanta suavita, ch'in mar sentire
La fa ogni vento che da terra spire."
(_Oil. Fur._ xviii. 138.)
That some aromatic smell is perceptible far to seaward, in the vicinity
of certain tropical countries, is unquestionable; and in the instance of
Cuba, an odour like that of violets, which is discernible two or three
miles from land, when the wind is off the shore, has been traced by
Poeppig to a species of _Tetracera_, a climbing plant which diffuses its
odour during the night. But in the case of Ceylon? if the existence of
such a perfume be not altogether imaginary, the fact has been falsified
by identifying the alleged fragrance with cinnamon; the truth being that
the cinnamon laurel, unless it be crushed, exhales no aroma whatever;
and the peculiar odour of the spice is only perceptible after the bark
has been separated and dried.]
[Footnote 3: LASSEN, _Indische Alterthumskunde_ vol. i. p. 198.]
_Picturesque Outline_.--The nucleus of its mountain masses consists of
gneissic, granitic, and other crystalline rocks, which in their
resistless upheaval have rent the superincumbent strata, raising them
into lofty pyramids and crags, or hurling them in gigantic fragments to
the plains below. Time and decay are slow in their assaults on these
towering precipices and splintered pinnacles; and from the absence of
more perishable materials, there are few graceful sweeps along the
higher chains or rolling downs in the lower ranges of the hills. Every
bold elevation is crowned by battlemented cliffs, and flanked by chasms
in which the shattered strata are seen as sharp and as rugged as if they
had but recently undergone the grand convulsion that displaced them.
_Foliage and Verdure_.--The soil in these regions is consequently light
and unremunerative, but the plentiful moisture arising from the
interception of every passing vapour from the Indian Ocean and the Bay
of Bengal, added to the intense warmth of the atmosphere, combine to
force a vegetation so rich and luxuriant, that imagination can picture
nothing more wondrous and charming; every level spot is enamelled with
verdure, forests of never-fading bloom cover mountain and valley;
flowers of the brightest hues grow in profusion over the plains, and
delicate climbing plants, rooted in the shelving rocks, hang in huge
festoons down the edge of every precipice.
Unlike the forests of Europe, in which the excess of some peculiar trees
imparts a character of monotony and graveness to the outline and
colouring, the forests of Ceylon are singularly attractive from the
endless variety of their foliage, and the vivid contrast of its hues.
The mountains, especially those looking towards the east and south, rise
abruptly to prodigious and almost precipitous heights above the level
plains; the rivers wind through woods below like threads of silver
through green embroidery, till they are lost in a dim haze which
conceals the far horizon; and through this a line of tremulous light
marks where the sunbeams are glittering among the waves upon the distant
shore.
From age to age a scene so lovely has imparted a colouring of romance to
the adventures of the seamen who, in the eagerness of commerce, swept
round the shores of India, to bring back the pearls and precious stones,
the cinnamon and odours, of Ceylon. The tales of the Arabians are
fraught with the wonders of "Serendib;" and the mariners of the Persian
Gulf have left a record of their delight in reaching the calm havens of
the island, and reposing for months together in valleys where the waters
of the sea were overshadowed by woods, and the gardens were blooming in
perennial summer.[1]
[Footnote 1: REINAUD, _Relation des Voyages Arabes, &c., dans le
neuvi�me si�cle_. Paris, 1845, tom. ii. p. 129.]
_Geographical Position_.--Notwithstanding the fact that the Hindus, in
their system of the universe, had given prominent importance to Ceylon,
their first meridian, "the meridian of Lanka," being supposed to pass
over the island, they propounded the most extravagant ideas, both as to
its position and extent; expanding it to the proportions of a continent,
and at the same time placing it a considerable distance south-east of
India.[1]
[Footnote 1: For a condensed account of the dimensions and position
attributed to Lanka, in the Mythic Astronomy of the Hindus, see
REINAUD's _Introduction to Aboulf�da_, sec. iii. p. ccxvii., and his
_M�moire sur l'Inde_, p. 342; WILFORD's _Essay on the Sacred Isles of
the West_, Asiat. Researches, vol. x, p. 140.]
The native Buddhist historians, unable to confirm the exaggerations of
the Brahmans, and yet reluctant to detract from the epic renown of their
country by disclaiming its stupendous dimensions, attempted to reconcile
its actual extent with the fables of the eastern astronomers by imputing
to the agency of earthquakes the submersion of vast regions by the
sea.[1] But evidence is wanting to corroborate the assertion of such an
occurrence, at least within the historic period; no record of it exists
in the earliest writings of the Hindus, the Arabians, or Persians; who,
had the tradition survived, would eagerly have chronicled a catastrophe
so appalling.[2] Geologic analogy, so far as an inference is derivable
from the formation of the adjoining coasts, both of India and Ceylon, is
opposed to its probability; and not only plants, but animals, mammalia,
birds, reptiles, and insects, exist in Ceylon, which are not to be found
in the flora or fauna of the Indian continent.[3]
[Footnote 1: SIR WILLIAM JONES adopted the legendary opinion that Ceylon
"formerly perhaps, extended much farther to the west and south, so as to
include Lanka or the equinoctial point of the Indian
astronomers."--_Discourse on the Institution of a Society for inquiring
into the History, &c., of the Borderers, Mountaineers, and Islanders of
Asia_.--Works, vol. i. p. 120.
The Portuguese, on their arrival in Ceylon in the sixteenth century,
found the natives fully impressed by the traditions of its former extent
and partial submersion; and their belief in connection with it, will be
found in the narratives and histories of De Barros and Diogo de Couto,
from which they have been transferred, almost without abridgment, to the
pages of Valentyn. The substance of the native legends will be found in
the _Mahawanso_, c. xxii. p. 131; and _Rajavali_, p. 180, 190.]
[Footnote 2: The first disturbance of the coast by which Ceylon is
alleged to have been severed from the main land is said by the Buddhists
to have taken place B.C. 2387; a second commotion is ascribed to the age
of Panduwaasa, B.C. 504; and the subsidence of the shore adjacent to
Colombo is said to have taken place 200 years later, in the reign of
Devenipiatissa, B.C. 306. The event is thus recorded in the _Rajavali_,
one of the sacred books of Ceylon:--"In these days the sea was seven
leagues from Kalany; but on account of what had been done to the
teeroonansee (a priest who had been tortured by the king of Kalany), the
gods who were charged with the conservation of Ceylon, became enraged
and caused the sea to deluge the land; and as during the epoch called
_duwapawrayaga_ on account of the wickedness of Rawana, 25 palaces and
400,000 streets were all over-run by the sea, so now in this time of
Tissa Raja, 100,000 large towns, 910 fishers' villages, and 400 villages
inhabited by pearl fishers, making together eleven-twelfths of the
territory of Kalany, were swallowed up by the sea."--_Rajavali_, vol.
ii. p. 180, 190.
FORBES observes the coincidence that the legend of the rising of the sea
in the age of Panduwaasa, 2378 B.C., very nearly concurs with the date
assigned to the Deluge of Noah, 2348,--_Eleven Years in Ceylon_, vol.
ii. p. 258. A tradition is also extant, that a submersion took place at
a remote period on the east coast of Ceylon, whereby the island of
Giri-dipo, which is mentioned in the first chapter of the _Mahawanso_,
was engulfed, and the dangerous rocks called the Great and Little Basses
are believed to be remnants of it.--_Mahawanso_, c. i.
A _r�sum�_ of the disquisitions which have appeared at various times as
to the submersion of a part of Ceylon, will be found in a Memoir _sur la
G�ographie ancienne de Ceylon_, in the Journal Asiatique for January,
1857, 5th ser., vol. ix. p. 12; see also TURNOUR'S _Introd. to the
Mahawanso_, p. xxxiv.]
[Footnote 3: Some of the mammalia peculiar to the island are enumerated
at p. 160; birds found in Ceylon but not existing in India are alluded
to at p. 178, and Dr. A. G�NTHER, in a paper on the _Geographical
Distribution of Reptiles_, in the _Mag. of Nat. Hist._ for March, 1859,
says, "amongst these larger islands which are connected with the middle
pal�otropical region, none offers forms so different from the continent
and other islands as Ceylon. It might be considered the Madagascar of
the Indian region. We not only find there peculiar genera and species,
not again to be recognised in other parts; but even many of the common
species exhibit such remarkable varieties, as to afford ample means for
creating new nominal species," p. 280. The difference exhibited between
the insects of Ceylon and those of Hindustan and the Dekkan are noticed
by Mr. Walker in the present work, p. ii. ch. vii, vol. i. p. 270. See
on this subject RITTER'S _Erdkunde_, vol. iv. p. 17.]
Still in the infancy of geographical knowledge, and before Ceylon had
been circumnavigated by Europeans, the mythical delusions of the Hindus
were transmitted to the West, and the dimensions of the island were
expanded till its southern extremity fell below the equator, and its
breadth was prolonged till it touched alike on Africa and China.[1]
[Footnote 1: GIBBON, ch. xxiv.]
The Greeks who, after the Indian conquests of Alexander, brought back
the earliest accounts of the East, repeated them without material
correction, and reported the island to be nearly twenty times its actual
extent. Onesicritus, a pilot of the expedition, assigned to it a
magnitude of 5000 stadia, equal to 500 geographical miles.[1]
Eratosthenes attempted to fix its position, but went so widely astray
that his first (that is his most southern) parallel passed through it
and the "Cinnamon Land," the _Regio Cinnamomifera_, on the east coast of
Africa.[2] He placed Ceylon at the distance of seven days' sail from the
south of India, and he too assigned to its western coast an extent of
5000 stadia.[3] Both those authorities are quoted by Strabo, who says
that the size of Taprobane was not less than that of Britain.[4]
[Footnote 1: STRABO, lib. v. Artemidorus (100 B.C.), quoted by Stephanus
of Byzantium, gives to Ceylon a length of 7000 stadia and a breadth of
500.]
[Footnote 2: STRABO, lib. ii. c. i. s. 14.]
[Footnote 3: The text of Strabo showing this measure makes it in some
places 8000 (Strabo, lib. v.); and Pliny, quoting Eratosthenes, makes it
7000.]
[Footnote 4: STRABO, lib. ii. c. v. s. 32. Aristotle appears to have had
more correct information, and says Ceylon was not so large as
Britain.--_De Mundo_ ch. iii.]
The round numbers employed by those authors, and by the Greek
geographers generally, who borrow from them, serve to show that their
knowledge was merely collected from rumours; and that in all probability
they were indebted for their information to the stories of Arabian or
Hindu sailors returning from the Eastern seas.
Pliny learned from the Singhalese Ambassador who visited Rome in the
reign of Claudius, that the breadth of Ceylon was 10,000 stadia from
west to east; and Ptolemy fully developed the idea of his predecessors,
that it lay opposite to the "Cinnamon Land," and assigned to it a length
from north to south of nearly _fifteen degrees_, with a breadth of
_eleven_, an exaggeration of the truth nearly twenty-fold.[1]
Agathemerus copies Ptolemy; and the plain and sensible author of the
"Periplus" (attributed to Arrian), still labouring with the delusion of
the magnitude of Ceylon, makes it stretch almost to the opposite coast
of Africa.[2]
[Footnote 1: PTOLEMY, lib. vii. c. 4.]
[Footnote 2: ARRIAN, _Periplus_, p. 35. Marcianus Heracleota (whose
Periplus has been reprinted by HUDSON, in the same collection from which
I have made the reference to that of Arrian) gives to Ceylon a length of
9500 stadia with a breadth of 7500.--MAR. HER. p. 26.]
These extravagant ideas of the magnitude of Ceylon were not entirely
removed till many centuries later. The Arabian geographers, Massoudi,
Edrisi, and Aboulfeda, had no accurate data by which to correct the
errors of their Greek predecessors. The maps of the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries repeated their distortions[1]; and Marco Polo, in
the fourteenth century, who gives the island the usual exaggerated
dimensions, yet informs us that it is now but one half the size it had
been at a former period, the rest having been engulfed by the sea.[2]
[Footnote 1: For an account of Ceylon as it is figured in the
_Mappe-mondes_ of the Middle Ages, see the _Essai_ of the VICOMTE DE
SANTAREM, _Sur la Cosmographie et Cartographie_, tom. iii. p. 335, &c.]
[Footnote 2: MARCO POLO, p. 2, c. 148. A later authority than Marco
Polo, PORCACCHI, in his _Isolario_, or "Description of the most
celebrated Islands in the World," which was published at Venice in A.D.
1576, laments his inability even at that time to obtain any authentic
information as to the boundaries and dimensions of Ceylon; and, relying
on the representations of the Moors, who then carried on an active trade
around its coasts, he describes it as lying under the equinoctial line,
and possessing a circuit of 2100 miles. "Ella gira di circuito, secondo
il calcole fatto da Mori, che modernamente l'hanno nauigato
d'ogn'intorno due mila et cento miglia et corre m�stro e sirocco; et per
il mezo d'essa passa la linea equinottiale et � el principio del primo
clima al terzo paralello."--_L'Isole piu Famose del Monde, descritte da_
THOMASO PORCACCHI, lib. iii. p. 30.]
Such was the uncertainty thrown over the geography of the island by
erroneous and conflicting accounts, that grave doubts came to be
entertained of its identity, and from the fourteenth century, when the
attention of Europe was re-directed to the nascent science of geography,
down to the close of the seventeenth, it remained a question whether
Ceylon or Sumatra was the Taprobane of the Greeks.[1]
[Footnote 1: GIBBON states, that "Salmasius and most of the ancients
confound the islands of Ceylon and Sumatra."--_Decl. and Fall_ ch. xl.
This is a mistake. Saumaise was one of those who maintained a correct
opinion; and, as regards the "ancients," they had very little knowledge
of _Further India_ to which Sumatra belongs; but so long as Greek and
Roman literature maintained their influence, no question was raised as
to the identity of Ceylon and Taprobane. Even in the sixth century
Cosmas Indicopleustes declares unhesitatingly that the Sielediva of the
Indians was the Taprobane of the Greeks.
It was only on emerging from the general ignorance of the Middle Ages
that the doubt was first promulgated. In the Catalan Map of A.D. 1375,
entitled _Image du Monde_, Ceylon is omitted, and Taprobane is
represented by Sumatra (MALTE BRUN, _Hist. de Geogr._ vol. i, p. 318);
in that of _Fra Mauro_, the Venetian monk, A.D. 1458, Seylan is given,
but _Taprobane_ is added over _Sumatra_. A similar error appears in the
_Mappe-monde,_ by RUYCH, in the Ptolemy of A.D. 1508, and in the
writings of the geographers of the sixteenth century, GEMMA FRISIUS,
SEBASTIAN MUNSTER, RAMUSIO, JUL. SCALIGER, ORTELIUS, and MERCATOR. The
same view was adopted by the Venetian NICOLA DI CONTI, in the first half
of the fifteenth century, by the Florentine ANDREA CORSALI, MAXIMILIANUS
TRANSYLVANUS, VARTHEMA, and PIGAFETTA. The chief cause of this
perplexity was, no doubt, the difficulty of reconciling the actual
position and size of Ceylon with the dimensions and position assigned to
it by Strabo and Ptolemy, the latter of whom, by an error which is
elsewhere explained, extended the boundary of the island far to the east
of its actual site. But there was a large body of men who rejected the
claim of Sumatra, and DE BARROS, SALMASIUS, BOCHART CLUVERIUS,
CELLARIUS, ISAAC VOSSIUS and others, maintained the title of Ceylon. A
_Mappe-monde_ of A.D. 1417, preserved in the Pitti Palace at Florence
compromises the dispute by designating Sumatra _Taprobane Major_. The
controversy came to an end at the beginning of the eighteenth century,
when the overpowering authority of DELISLE resolved the doubt, and
confirmed the modern Ceylon as the Taprobane of antiquity. WILFORD, in
the _Asiatic Researches_ (vol. x. p. 140), still clung to the opposite
opinion, and KANT undertook to prove that Taprobane was Madagascar.]
_Latitude and Longitude_.--There has hitherto been considerable
uncertainty as to the position assigned to Ceylon in the various maps
and geographical notices of the island: these have been corrected by
more recent observations, and its true place has been ascertained to be
between 5� 55' and 9� 51' north latitude, and 79� 41' 40" and 81� 54'
50" east longitude. Its extreme length from north to south, from Point
Palmyra to Dondera Head, is 271-1/2 miles; its greatest width 137-1/2
miles, from Colombo on the west coast to Sangemankande on the east; and
its area, including its dependent islands, 25,742 miles, or about
one-sixth smaller than Ireland.[1]
[Footnote 1: Down to a very recent period no British colony was more
imperfectly surveyed and mapped than Ceylon; but since the recent
publication by Arrowsmith of the great map by General Fraser, the
reproach has been withdrawn, and no dependency of the Crown is more
richly provided in this particular. In the map of Schneider, the
Government engineer in 1813, two-thirds of the Kandyan Kingdom are a
blank; and in that of the Society for the Diffusion of Knowledge,
re-published so late as 1852, the rich districts of Neuera-kalawa and
the Wanny, in which there are innumerable villages (and scarcely a
hill), are marked as "_unknown mountainous region_." General Fraser,
after the devotion of a lifetime to the labour, has produced a survey
which, in extent and minuteness of detail, stands unrivalled. In this
great work he had the co-operation of Major Skinner and of Captain
Gallwey, and to these two gentlemen the public are indebted for the
greater portion of the field-work and the trigonometrical operations. To
judge of the difficulties which beset such an undertaking, it must be
borne in mind that till very recently travelling in the interior of
Ceylon was all but impracticable, in a country unopened even by bridle
roads, across unbridged rivers, over mountains never trod by the foot of
a European, and amidst precipices inaccessible to all but the most
courageous and prudent. Add to this that the country is densely covered
with forest and jungle, with trees a hundred feet high, from which here
and there the branches had to be cleared to obtain a sight of the signal
stations. The triangulation was carried on amidst privations,
discomfort, and pestilence, which frequently prostrated the whole party,
and forced their attendants to desert them rather than encounter such
hardships and peril. The materials collected by the colleagues of
General Fraser under these discouragements have been worked up by him
with consummate skill and perseverance. The base line, five and a
quarter miles in length, was measured in 1845 in the cinnamon plantation
at Kaderani, to the north of Colombo, and its extremities are still
marked by two towers, which it was necessary to raise to the height of
one hundred feet, to enable them to be discerned above the surrounding
forests. These it is to be hoped will be carefully kept from decay, as
they may again be called into requisition.
As regards the sea line of Ceylon, an admirable chart of the West coast,
from Adam's Bridge to Dondera Head, has been published by the East India
Company from a survey in 1845. But information is sadly wanted as to the
East and North, of which no accurate charts exist, except of a few
unconnected points, such as the harbour of Trincomalie.]
_General Form_.--In its general outline the island resembles a pear--and
suggests to its admiring inhabitants the figure of those pearls which
from their elongated form are suspended from the tapering end. When
originally upheaved above the ocean its shape was in all probability
nearly circular, with a prolongation in the direction of north-east. The
mountain zone in the south, covering an area of about 4212 miles[1], may
then have formed the largest proportion of its entire area--and the belt
of low lands, known as the Maritime Provinces, consists to a great
extent of soil from the disintegration of the gneiss, detritus from the
hills, alluvium carried down the rivers, and marine deposits gradually
collected on the shore. But in addition to these, the land has for ages
been slowly rising from the sea, and terraces abounding in marine shells
imbedded in agglutinated sand occur in situations far above high-water
mark. Immediately inland from Point de Galle, the surface soil rests on
a stratum of decomposing coral; and sea shells are found at a
considerable distance from the shore. Further north at Madampe, between
Chilaw and Negombo, the shells of pearl oysters and other bivalves are
turned up by the plough more than ten miles from the sea.
[Illustration]
[Footnote 1: This includes not only the lofty mountains suitable for the
cultivation of coffee, but the lower ranges and spurs which connect them
with the maritime plains.]
These recent formations present themselves in a still more striking form
in the north of the island, the greater portion of which may be regarded
as the conjoint production of the coral polypi, and the currents, which
for the greater portion of the year set impetuously towards the south.
Coming laden with alluvial matter collected along the coast of
Coromandel, and meeting with obstacles south of Point Calimere, they
have deposited their burthens on the coral reefs round Point Pedro; and
these gradually raised above the sea-level, and covered deeply by sand
drifts, have formed the peninsula of Jaffna and the plains that trend
westward till they unite with the narrow causeway of Adam's
Bridge--itself raised by the same agencies, and annually added to by the
influences of the tides and monsoons.[1]
[Footnote 1: The barrier known as Adam's Bridge, which obstructs the
navigation of the channel between Ceylon and Ramnad, consists of several
parallel ledges of conglomerate and sandstone, hard at the surface, and
growing coarse and soft as it descends till it rests on a bank of sand,
apparently accumulated by the influence of the currents at the change of
the monsoons. See an _Essay_ by Captain STEWART _on the Paumbem
Passage_. Colombo, 1837. See Vol. II. p. 554.]
On the north-west side of the island, where the currents are checked by
the obstruction of Adam's Bridge, and still water prevails in the Gulf
of Manaar, these deposits have been profusely heaped, and the low sandy
plains have been proportionally extended; whilst on the south and east,
where the current sweeps unimpeded along the coast, the line of the
shore is bold and occasionally rocky.
This explanation of the accretion and rising of the land is somewhat
opposed to the popular belief that Ceylon was torn from the main land of
India[1] by a convulsion, during which the Gulf of Manaar and the narrow
channel at Paumbam were formed by the submersion of the adjacent land.
The two theories might be reconciled by supposing the sinking to have
occurred at an early period, and to have been followed by the uprising
still in progress. But on a closer examination of the structure and
direction of the mountain system of Ceylon, it exhibits no traces of
submersion. It seems erroneous to regard it as a prolongation of the
Indian chains; it lies far to the east of the line formed by the Ghauts
on either side of the peninsula, and any affinity which it exhibits is
rather with the equatorial direction of the intersecting ranges of the
Nilgherries and the Vindhya. In their geological elements there is,
doubtless, a similarity between the southern extremity of India and the
elevated portions of Ceylon; but there are also many important
particulars in which their specific differences are irreconcilable with
the conjecture of previous continuity. In the north of Ceylon there is a
marked preponderance of aqueous strata, which are comparatively rare in
the vicinity of Cape Comorin; and whilst the rocks of the former are
entirely destitute of organic remains[2]; fossils, both terrestrial and
pelagic, have been found in the Eastern Ghauts, and sandstone, in some
instances, overlays the primary rocks which compose them. The rich and
black soil to the south of the Nilgherries presents a strong contrast to
the red and sandy earth of the opposite coast; and both in the flora and
fauna of the island there are exceptional peculiarities which suggest a
distinction between it and the Indian continent.
[Footnote 1: LASSEN, _Indische Alterthumskunde_, vol. i. p. 193.]
[Footnote 2: At Cutchavelly, north of Trincomalie, there exists a bed of
calcareous clay, in which shells and crustaceans are found in a
semi-fossilised state; but they are all of recent species, principally
_Macrophthalmus_ and _Scylla_. The breccia at Jaffna contains recent
shells, as does also the arenaceous strata on the western coast of
Manaar and in the neighbourhood of Galle. The existence of the
fossilised crustaceans in the north of Ceylon was known to the early
Arabian navigators. Abou-zeyd describes them as, "Un animal de mer qui
resemble � l'�crevisse; quand cet animal sort de la mer, _il se
convertit en pierre_." See REINAUD, _Voyages faits par les Arabes_, vol.
i. p. 21. The Arabs then; and the Chinese at the present day, use these
petrifactions when powdered as a specific for diseases of the eye.]
_Mountain System_.--At whatever period the mountains of Ceylon may have
been raised, the centre of maximum energy must have been in the vicinity
of Adam's Peak, the group immediately surrounding which has thus
acquired an elevation of from six to eight thousand feet above the
sea.[1] The uplifting force seems to have been exerted from south-west
to north-east; and although there is much confusion in many of the
intersecting ridges, the lower ranges, especially those to the south and
west of Adam's Peak, from Saffragam to Ambogammoa, manifest a remarkable
tendency to run in parallel ridges in a direction from south-east to
north-west.
[Footnote 1: The following are the heights of a few of the most
remarkable places:--
Pedrotallagalla 8280 English feet.
Kirrigalpotta 7810 English feet.
Totapella 7720 English feet.
Adam's Peak 7420 English feet.
Nammoone-Koolle 6740 English feet.
Plain of Neuera-ellia 6210 English feet.]
Towards the north, on the contrary, the offsets of the mountain system,
with the exception of those which stretch towards Trincomalie, radiate
to short distances in various directions, and speedily sink down to the
level of the plain. Detached hills of great altitude are rare, the most
celebrated being that of Mihintala, which overlooks the sacred city of
Anarajapoora: and Sigiri is the only example in Ceylon of those solitary
acclivities, which form so remarkable a feature in the table-land of the
Dekkan, starting abruptly from the plain with scarped and perpendicular
sides, and converted by the Indians into strongholds, accessible only by
precipitous pathways, or steps hewn in the solid rock.
The crest of the Ceylon mountains is of stratified crystalline rock,
especially gneiss, with extensive veins of quartz, and through this the
granite has been everywhere intruded, distorting the riven strata, and
tilting them at all angles to the horizon. Hence at the abrupt
terminations of some of the chains in the district of Saffragam,
plutonic rocks are seen mingled with the dislocated gneiss. Basalt makes
its appearance both at Galle and Trincomalie. In one place to the east
of Pettigalle-Kanda, the rocks have been broken up in such confusion as
to resemble the effect of volcanic action--huge masses overhang each
other like suddenly-cooled lava; and Dr. Gygax, a Swiss mineralogist,
who was employed by the Government in 1847 to examine and report on the
mineral resources of the district, stated, on his return, that having
seen the volcanoes of the Azores, he found a "strange similarity at this
spot to one of the semi-craters round the trachytic ridge of
Seticidadas, in the island of St. Michael."[1]
[Footnote 1: Beyond the very slightest symptoms of disturbance,
earthquakes are unknown in Ceylon: and although its geology exhibits
little evidence of volcanic action (with the exception of the basalt,
which occasionally presents an appearance approaching to that of lava),
there are some other incidents that seem to suggest the vicinity of
fire; more particularly the occurrence of springs of high temperature,
one at Badulla, one at Kitool, near Bintenne, another near Yavi Ooto, in
the Veddah country, and a fourth at Cannea, near Trincomalie. I have
heard of another near the Patipal Aar south of Batticaloa. The water in
each is so pure and free from salts that the natives make use of it for
all domestic purposes. Dr. Davy adverts to another indication of
volcanic agency in the sudden and profound depth of the noble harbour at
Trincomalie, which even close by the beach is said to have been hitherto
unfathomed.
The Spaniards believed Ceylon to be volcanic; and ARGENSOLA, in his
_Conquista de las Malucas_, Madrid, 1609, says it produced liquid
bitumen and sulphur:--"Fuentes de bet�n liquido y bolcanes de perpetuas
llamas que arrojan entre las asperezas de la monta�a losas de
a�ufre."--Lib. v. p. 184. It is needless to say that this is altogether
imaginary.]
_Gneiss_.--The great geological feature of the island is, however, the
profusion of gneiss, and the various new forms arising from its
disintegration. In the mountains, with the exception of occasional beds
of dolomite, no more recent formations overlie it; from the period of
its first upheaval, the gneiss has undergone no second submersion, and
the soil which covers it in these lofty altitudes is formed almost
entirely by its decay.
In the lower ranges of the hills, gigantic portions of gneiss rise
conspicuously, so detached from the original chain and so rounded by the
action of the atmosphere, aided by their concentric lamellation, that
but for their prodigious dimensions, they might be regarded as boulders.
Close under one of these cylindrical masses, 600 feet in height, and
upwards of three miles in length, the town of Kornegalle, one of the
ancient capitals of the island, has been built; and the great temple of
Dambool, the most remarkable Buddhist edifice in Ceylon, is constructed
under the hollow edge of another, its gilded roof being formed by the
inverted arch of the natural stone. The tendency of the gneiss to assume
these concentric and almost circular forms has been taken advantage of
for this purpose by the Singhalese priests, and some of their most
venerated temples are to be found under the shadow of the overarching
strata, to the imperishable nature of which the priests point as
symbolical of the eternal duration of their faith.[1]
[Footnote 1: The concentric lamellar strata of the gneiss sometimes
extend with a radius so prolonged that slabs may be cut from them and
used in substitution for beams of timber, and as such they are
frequently employed in the construction of Buddhist temples. At
Piagalla, on the road between Galle and Colombo, within about four miles
of Caltura, there is a gneiss hill of this description on which a temple
has been so erected. In this particular rock the garnets usually found
in gneiss are replaced by rubies, and nothing can exceed the beauty of
the hand-specimens procurable from a quarry close to the high road on
the landward side; in which, however, the gems are in every case reduced
to splinters.]
_Laterite or "Cabook_."--A peculiarity, which is one of the first to
strike a stranger who lands at Galle or Colombo, is the bright red
colour of the streets and roads, contrasting vividly with the verdure of
the trees, and the ubiquity of the fine red dust which penetrates every
crevice and imparts its own tint to every neglected article. Natives
resident in these localities are easily recognisable elsewhere, by the
general hue of their dress. This is occasioned by the prevalence along
the western coast of _laterite_, or, as the Singhalese call it,
_cabook_, a product of disintegrated gneiss, which being subjected to
detrition communicates its hue to the soil.[1]
[Footnote 1: According to the _Mahawanso_ "Tamba-panni," one of those
names by which Ceylon was anciently called, originated in an incident
connected with the invasion of Wijayo, B.C. 543, whose followers,
"exhausted by sea-sickness and faint from weakness, sat down at the spot
where they had landed out of the vessels, supporting themselves on the
palms of their hands pressed to the ground, whence the name of
Tamba-pannyo, '_copper-palmed_,' from the colour of the soil. From this
circumstance that wilderness obtained the name of Tamba-panni; and from
the same cause also this renowned land became celebrated under that
name."--TURNOUR'S _Mahawanso_, ch. vi. p. 50. From Tamba-panni came the
Greek name for Ceylon, _Taprobane_. Mr. de Alwis has corrected an error
in this passage of Mr. Turnour's translation; the word in the original,
which he took for _Tamba-panniyo_, or "copper-palmed," being in reality
_tamba-vanna_, or "copper-coloured." Colonel Forbes questions the
accuracy of this derivation, and attributes the name to the _tamana_
trees; from the abundance of which he says many villages in Ceylon, as
well as a district in southern India, have been similarly called.
(_Eleven Years in Ceylon_, vol. i. p. 10.) I have not succeeded in
discovering what tree is designated by this name, nor does it occur in
MOON'S _List of Ceylon Plants_. On the southern coast of India a river,
which flows from the ghats to the sea, passing Tinnevelly, is called
Tambapanni. Tambapanni, as the designation of Ceylon, occurs in the
inscription on the rock of Girnar in Guzerat, deciphered by Prinsep,
containing an edict by Asoka relative to the medical administration of
India for the relief both of man and beast, (_Asiat. Soc. Journ. Beng._
vol. vii. p. 158.)]
The transformation of gneiss into laterite in these localities has been
attributed to the circumstance, that those sections of the rock which
undergo transition exhibit grains of magnetic iron ore partially
disseminated through them; and the phenomenon of the conversion has been
explained not by recurrence to the ordinary conception of mere
weathering, which is inadequate, but to the theory of catalytic action,
regard being had to the peculiarity of magnetic iron when viewed in its
chemical formula.[1] The oxide of iron thus produced communicates its
colouring to the laterite, and in proportion as felspar and hornblende
abound in the gneiss, the cabook assumes respectively a white or yellow
hue. So ostensible is the series of mutations, that in ordinary
excavations there is no difficulty in tracing a continuous connection
without definite lines of demarcation between the soil and the laterite
on the one hand, and the laterite and gneiss rock on the other.[2]
[Footnote 1: From a paper read to the Royal Physical Society of
Edinburgh by the Rev. J.G. Macvicar, D.D.]
[Footnote 2: From a paper on the Geology of Ceylon, by Dr. Gardner, in
the Appendix to Lee's translation of RIBEYRO'S _History of Ceylon_, p,
206. The earliest and one of the ablest essays on the geological system
and mineralogy of Ceylon will be found in DAVY'S _Account of the
Interior of Ceylon_, London, 1821. It has, however, been corrected and
enlarged by recent investigators.]
The tertiary rocks which form such remarkable features in the geology of
other countries are almost unknown in Ceylon; and the "clay-slate,
Silurian, old red sandstone, carboniferous, new red sandstone, oolitic,
and cretaceous systems" have not as yet been recognised in any part of
the island.[1] Crystalline limestone in some places overlies the gneiss,
and is worked for oeconomical purposes in the mountain districts where
it occurs.[2]
[Footnote 1: Dr. Gardner.]
[Footnote 2: In the maritime provinces lime for building is obtained by
burning the coral and madrepore, which for this purpose is industriously
collected by the fishermen during the intervals when the wind is off
shore.]
Along the western coast, from Point-de-Galle to Chilaw, breccia is found
near the shores, from the agglutination of corallines and shells mixed
with sand, and the disintegrated particles of gneiss. These beds present
an appearance very closely resembling a similar rock, in which human
remains have been found imbedded, at the north-east of Guadaloupe, now
in the British Museum.[1] Incorporated with them there are minute
fragments of sapphires, rubies, and tourmaline, showing that the sand of
which the breccia is composed has been washed down by the rivers from
the mountain zone.
[Footnote 1: Dr. Gardner.]
NORTHERN PROVINCES.--_Coral Formation_.--But the principal scene of the
most recent formations is the extreme north of the island, with the
adjoining peninsula of Jaffna. Here the coral rocks abound far above
high-water mark, and extend across the island where the land has been
gradually upraised, from the eastern to the western shore. The
fortifications of Jaffna were built by the Dutch, from blocks of breccia
quarried far from the sea, and still exhibit, in their worn surface, the
outline of the shells and corallines of which they mainly consist. The
roads, in the absence of more solid substances, are metalled with the
same material; as the only other rock which occurs is a loose
description of conglomerate, similar to that at Adam's Bridge and
Manaar.
The phenomenon of the gradual upheaval of these strata is sufficiently
attested by the position in which they appear, and their altitude above
high-water mark; but, in close contiguity with them, an equally striking
evidence presents itself in the fact that, at various points of the
western coast, between the island of Manaar and Karativoe, the natives,
in addition to fishing for chank shells[1] in the sea, dig them up in
large quantities from beneath the soil on the adjacent shores, in which
they are deeply imbedded[2], the land having since been upraised.
[Footnote 1: _Turbinella rapa_, formerly known as _Voluta gravis_ used
by the people of India to be sawn into bangles and anklets.]
[Footnote 2: In 1845 an antique iron anchor was found under the soil at
the northwestern point of Jaffna, of such size and weight as to show
that it must have belonged to a ship of much greater tonnage than any
which the depth of water would permit to navigate the channel at the
present day.]
The sand, which covers a vast extent of the peninsula of Jaffna, and in
which the coco-nut and Palmyra-palm grow freely, has been carried by the
currents from the coast of India, and either flung upon the northern
beach in the winter months, or driven into the lake during the
south-west monsoon, and thence washed on shore by the ripple, and
distributed by the wind.
The arable soil of Jaffna is generally of a deep red colour, from the
admixture of iron, and, being largely composed of lime from the
comminuted coral, it is susceptible of the highest cultivation, and
produces crops of great luxuriance. This tillage is carried on
exclusively by irrigation from innumerable wells, into which the water
rises fresh through the madrepore and sand; there being no streams in
the district, unless those percolations can be so called which make
their way underground, and rise through the sands on the margin of the
sea at low water.
_Wells in the Coral Rock_.--These phenomena occur at Jaffna, in
consequence of the rocks being magnesian limestone and coral, overlying
a bed of sand, and in some places, where the soil is light, the surface
of the ground is a hollow arch, so that it resounds as if a horse's
weight were sufficient to crush it inwards. This is strikingly
perceptible in the vicinity of the remarkable well at Potoor[1], on the
west side of the road leading from Jaffna to Point Pedro, where the
surface of the surrounding country is only about fifteen feet above the
sea-level. The well, however, is upwards of 140 feet in depth; the water
fresh at the surface, brackish lower down, and intensely salt below.
According to the universal belief of the inhabitants, it is an
underground pool, which communicates with the sea by a subterranean
channel bubbling out on the shore near Kangesentorre, about seven miles
to the north-west.
[Footnote 1: For the particulars of this singular well, see Vol. II. Pt.
IX. ch. vi. p. 536.]
A similar subterranean stream is said to conduct to the sea from another
singular well near Tillipalli, in sinking which the workmen, at the
depth of fourteen feet, came to the ubiquitous coral, the crust of which
gave way, and showed a cavern below containing the water they were in
search of, with a depth of more than thirty-three feet. It is remarkable
that the well at Tillipalli preserves its depth at all seasons alike,
uninfluenced by rains or drought; and a steam-engine erected at Potoor,
with the intention of irrigating the surrounding lands, failed to lower
it in any perceptible degree.
Other wells, especially some near the coast, maintain their level with
such uniformity as to be inexhaustible at any season, even after a
succession of years of drought--a fact from which it may fairly be
inferred that their supply is chiefly derived by percolation from the
sea.[1]
[Footnote 1: DARWIN, in his admirable account of the coral formations of
the Pacific and Indian oceans, has propounded a theory as to the
abundance of fresh water in the atolls and islands on coral reefs,
furnished by wells which ebb and flow with the tides. Assuming it to be
impossible to separate salt from sea water by filtration, he suggests
that the porous coral rock being permeated by salt water, the rain which
falls on the surface must sink to the level of the surrounding sea, "and
must accumulate there, displacing an equal bulk of sea water--and as the
portion of the latter in the lower part of the great sponge-like mass
rises and falls with the tides, so will the fresh water near the
surface."--_Naturalist's Journal_, ch. xx. But subsequent experiments
have demonstrated that the idea of separating the salt by filtration is
not altogether imaginary; as Darwin seems to have then supposed; and Mr.
WITT, in a remarkable paper _On a peculiar power possessed by Porous
Media of removing matters from solution in water_, has since succeeded
in showing that "water containing considerable quantities of saline
matter in solution may, by merely percolating through great masses of
porous strata during long periods, be gradually deprived of its salts
_to such an extent as probably to render even sea-water
fresh_."--_Philos. Mag_., 1856. Divesting the subject therefore of this
difficulty, other doubts would appear to suggest themselves as to the
applicability of Darwin's theory to coral formations in general. For
instance, it might be supposed that rain falling on a substance already
saturated with moisture, would flow off instead of sinking into it; and
that being of less specific gravity than salt water, it would fail to
"displace an equal bulk" of the latter. There are some extraordinary but
well attested statements of a thin layer of fresh water being found on
the surface of the sea, after heavy rains in the Bay of Bengal. (_Journ.
Asiat. Soc. Beng_. vol. v. p. 239.) Besides, I fancy that in the
majority of atolls and coral islands the quantity of rain which so small
an area is calculated to intercept would be insufficient of itself to
account for the extraordinary abundance of fresh water daily drawn from
the wells. For instance, the superficial extent of each of the
Laccadives is but two or three square miles, the surface soil resting on
a crust of coral, beneath which is a stratum of sand; and yet on
reaching the latter, fresh water flows in such profusion, that wells and
large tanks for soaking coco-nut fibre are formed in any place by merely
"breaking through the crust and taking out the sand."--_Madras Journal_,
vol. xiv. It is curious that the abundant supply of water in these wells
should have attracted the attention of the early navigators, and Cosmas
Indicoplenstes, writing in the sixth century, speaks of the numerous
small islands off the coast of Taprobane, with abundance of fresh water
and coco-nut palms, although these islands rest on a bed of sand.
(_Cosmas Ind_. ed. Thevenot, vol. i. p. 3, 20). It is remarkable that in
the little island of Ramisseram, one of the chain which connects Adam's
Bridge with the Indian continent, fresh water is found freely on sinking
for it in the sand. But this is not the case in the adjacent island of
Manaar, which participates in the geologic character of the interior of
Ceylon. The fresh water in the Laccadive wells always fluctuates with
the rise and fall of the tides. In some rare instances, as on the little
island of Bitra, which is the smallest inhabited spot in the group, the
water, though abundant, is brackish, but this is susceptible of an
explanation quite consistent with the experiments of Mr. Witt, which
require that the process of percolation shall be continued "during
_long_ periods and through _great masses of porous strata_;" Darwin
equally concedes that to keep the rain fresh when banked in, as he
assumes, by the sea, the mass of madrepore must be "sufficiently thick
to prevent mechanical admixture; and where the land consists of loose
blocks of coral with open interstices, the water, if a well be dug, is
brackish." Conditions analogous to all these particularised, present
themselves at Jaffna, and seem to indicate that the extent to which
fresh water is found there, is directly connected with percolation from
the sea. The quantity of rain which annually falls is less than in
England, being but thirty inches; whilst the average heat is highest in
Ceylon, and the evaporation great in proportion. Throughout the
peninsula, I am informed by Mr. Byrne, the Government surveyor of the
district, that as a general rule "_all the wells are below the sea
level_." It would be useless to sink them in the higher ground, where
they could only catch surface water. The November rains fill them at
once to the brim, but the water quickly subsides as the season becomes
dry, and "_sinks to the uniform level, at which it remains fixed for the
next nine or ten months_, unless when slightly affected by showers."
"_No well below the sea level becomes dry of itself_," even in seasons
of extreme and continued drought. But the contents do not vary with the
tides, the rise of which is so trifling that the distance from the
ocean, and the slowness of filtration, renders its fluctuations
imperceptible.
On the other hand, the well of Potoor, the phenomena of which indicate
its direct connection with the sea, by means of a fissure or a channel
beneath the arch of magnesian limestone, rises and falls a few inches in
the course of every twelve hours. Another well at Navokeiry, a short
distance from it, does the same, whilst the well at Tillipalli is
entirely unaffected as to its level by any rains, and exhibits no
alteration of its depths on either monsoon. ADMIRAL FITZROY, in his
_Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle_, the
expedition to which Mr. Darwin was attached, adverts to the phenomenon
in connection with the fresh water found in the Coral Islands, and the
rise and fall of the wells, and the flow and ebb of the tide. He
advances the theory propounded by Darwin of the retention of the
river-water, which he says, "does not mix with the salt water which
surrounds it except at the edges of the land. The flowing tide pushes on
every side, the mixed soil being very porous, and causes the water to
rise: when the tide falls, the fresh water sinks also. _A sponge full of
fresh water placed gently in a basin of salt water, will not part with
its contents for a length of time if left untouched_, and the water in
the middle of the sponge will be found untainted by salt for many days:
perhaps much longer if tried."--Vol. i. p. 365. In a perfectly
motionless medium the experiment of the sponge may no doubt be
successful to the extent mentioned by Admiral Fitzroy; and so the
rain-water imbibed by a coral rock might for a length of time remain
fresh where it came into no contact with the salt. But the disturbance
caused by the tides, and the partial intermixture admitted by Admiral
Fitzroy, must by reiterated occurrence tend in time to taint the fresh
water which is affected by the movement: and this is demonstrable even
by the test of the sponge; for I find that on charging one with coloured
fluid, and immersing it in a vessel containing water perfectly pure, no
intermixture takes place so long as the pure water is undisturbed; but
on causing an artificial tide, by gradually withdrawing and as gradually
replacing a portion of the surrounding contents of the basin, the tinted
water in the sponge becomes displaced and disturbed, and in the course
of a few ebbs and flows its escape is made manifest by the quantity of
colour which it imparts to the surrounding fluid.]
An idea of the general aspect of Ceylon will be formed from what has
here been described. Nearly four parts of the island are undulating
plains, slightly diversified by offsets from the mountain system which
entirely covers the remaining fifth. Every district, from the depths of
the valleys to the summits of the highest hills, is clothed with
perennial foliage; and even the sand-drifts, to the ripple on the sea
line, are carpeted with verdure, and sheltered from the sunbeams by the
cool shadows of the palm groves.
SOIL.--But the soil, notwithstanding this wonderful display of
spontaneous vegetation, is not responsive to systematic cultivation, and
is but imperfectly adapted for maturing a constant succession of seeds
and cereal productions.[1] Hence arose the disappointment which beset
the earliest adventurers who opened plantations of coffee in the hills,
on discovering that after the first rapid development of the plants,
delicacy and languor ensued, which were only to be corrected by
returning to the earth, in the form of manures, those elements with
which it had originally been but sparingly supplied, and which were soon
exhausted by the first experiments in cultivation.
[Footnote 1: See a paper in the Journal of Agriculture, for March, 1857,
Edin.: on _Tropical Cultivation and its Limits_, by Dr. MACVICAR.]
_Patenas_.--The only spots hitherto found suitable for planting coffee,
are those covered by the ancient forests of the mountain zone; and one
of the most remarkable phenomena in the oeconomic history of the island,
is the fact that the grass lands on the same hills, closely adjoining
the forests and separated from them by no visible line save the growth
of the trees, although they seem to be identical in the nature of the
soil, have hitherto proved to be utterly insusceptible of reclamation or
culture by the coffee planter.[1] These verdant openings, to which the
natives have given the name of _patenas_, generally occur about the
middle elevation of the hills, the summits and the hollows being covered
with the customary growth of timber trees, which also fringe the edges
of the mountain streams that trickle down these park-like openings. The
forest approaches boldly to the very edge of a "patena," not
disappearing gradually or sinking into a growth of underwood, but
stopping abruptly and at once, the tallest trees forming a fence around
the avoided spot, as if they enclosed an area of solid stone. These
sunny expanses vary in width from a few yards to many thousands of
acres; in the lower ranges of the hills they are covered with tall
lemon-grass _(Andropogon schoenanthus)_ of which the oppressive perfume
and coarse texture, when full grown, render it distasteful to cattle,
which will only crop the delicate braird that springs after the surface
has been annually burnt by the Kandyans. Two stunted trees, alone, are
seen to thrive in these extraordinary prairies, _Careya arborea_ and
_Emblica officinalis_, and these only below an altitude of 4000 feet;
above this, the lemon-grass is superseded by harder and more wiry
species; but the earth is still the same, a mixture of decomposed quartz
largely impregnated with oxide of iron, but wanting the phosphates and
other salts which are essential to highly organised vegetation.[2] The
extent of the patena land is enormous in Ceylon, amounting to millions
of acres; and it is to be hoped that the complaints which have hitherto
been made by the experimental cultivators of coffee in the Kandyan
provinces may hereafter prove exaggerated, and that much that has been
attributed to the poverty of the soil may eventually be traced to
deficiency of skill on the part of the early planters.
[Footnote 1: Since the above was written, attempts have been made,
chiefly by natives to plant coffee on patena land. The result is a
conviction that the cultivation is practicable, by the use of manures
from the beginning; whereas forest land is capable, for three or four
years at least, of yielding coffee without any artificial enrichment of
the soil.]
[Footnote 2: HUMBOLDT is disposed to ascribe the absence of trees in the
vast grassy plains of South America, to "the destructive custom of
setting fire to the woods, when the natives want to convert the soil
into pasture: when during the lapse of centuries grasses and plants have
covered the surface with a carpet, the seeds of trees can no longer
germinate and fix themselves in the earth, although birds and winds
carry them continually from the distant forests into the
Savannahs."--_Narrative_, vol. i. ch. vi. p. 242.]
The natives in the same lofty localities find no deficient returns in
the crops of rice, which they raise in the ravines and hollows, into
which the earth from above has been washed by the periodical rains; but
the cultivation of rice is so entirely dependent on the presence of
water, that no inference can be fairly drawn as to the quality of the
soil from the abundance of its harvest.
The fields on which rice is grown in these mountains form one of the
most picturesque and beautiful objects in the country of the Kandyans.
Selecting an angular recess where two hills converge, they construct a
series of terraces, raised stage above stage, and retiring as they
ascend along the slope of the acclivity, up which they are carried as
high as the soil extends.[1] Each terrace is furnished with a low ledge
in front, behind which the requisite depth of water is retained during
the germination of the seed, and what is superfluous is permitted to
trickle down to the one below it. In order to carry on this peculiar
cultivation the streams are led along the level of the hills, often from
a distance of many miles, with a skill and perseverance for which the
natives of these mountains have attained a great renown.
[Footnote 1: The conversion of the land into these hanging farms is
known in Ceylon as "assuedamizing," a term borrowed from the Kandyan
vernacular, in which the word "assuedam�" implies the process above
described.]
In the lowlands to the south, the soil partakes of the character of the
hills from whose detritus it is to a great extent formed. In it rice is
the chief article produced, and for its cultivation the disintegrated
laterite (_cabook_), when thoroughly irrigated, is sufficiently adapted.
The seed time in the southern section of the island is dependent on the
arrival of the rains in November and May, and hence the mountains and
the maritime districts at their base enjoy two harvests in each
year--the _Maha_, which is sown about July and August, and reaped in
December and January, the _Yalla_ which is sown in spring, and reaped
from the 15th of July to the 20th September. But owing to the different
description of seed sown in particular localites, and the extent to
which they are respectively affected by the rains, the times of sowing
and harvest vary considerably on different sides of the island.[1]
[Footnote 1: The reaping of other descriptions of grain besides rice
occurs at various periods of the year according to the locality.]
In the north, where the influence of the monsoons is felt with less
force and regularity, and where, to counteract their uncertainty, the
rain is collected in reservoirs, a wider discretion is left to the
husbandman in the choice of season for his operations.[1] Two crops of
grain, however, are the utmost that is taken from the land, and in many
instances only one. The soil near the coast is light and sandy, but in
the great central districts of Neuera-kalawa and the Wanny, there is
found in the midst of the forests a dark vegetable mould, in which in
former times rice was abundantly grown by the aid of those prodigious
artificial works for irrigation which still form one of the wonders of
the island. Many of the tanks, though partially in ruins, cover an area
from ten to fifteen miles in circumference. They are now generally
broken and decayed; the waters which would fertilise a province are
allowed to waste themselves in the sands, and hundreds of square miles
capable of furnishing food for all the inhabitants of Ceylon are
abandoned to solitude and malaria, whilst rice for the support of the
non-agricultural population is annually imported from the opposite coast
of India.
[Footnote 1: This peculiarity of the north of Ceylon was noticed by the
Chinese traveller FA HIAN, who visited the island in the fourth century,
and says of the country around Anarajapoora: "L'ensemencement des champs
est suivant la volont� des gens; il n'y a point de temps pour
cela."--_Fo[)e] Kou[)e] Ki_; p. 332.]
_Talawas_.--In these districts of the lowlands, especially on the
eastern coast of the island, and in the country watered by the
Mahawelli-ganga and the other great rivers which flow towards the Bay of
Bengal and the magnificent estuary of Trincomalie, there are open glades
which diversify the forest scenery somewhat resembling the grassy
patenas in the hills, but differing from them in the character of their
soil and vegetation. These park-like meadows, or, as the natives call
them, "talawas," vary in extent from one to a thousand acres. They are
belted by the surrounding woods, and studded with groups of timber and
sometimes with single trees of majestic dimensions. Through these
pastures the deer troop in herds within gunshot, bounding into the
nearest cover when disturbed.
Lower still and immediately adjoining the sea-coast, the broken forest
gives place to brushwood, with here and there an assemblage of dwarf
shrubs; but as far as the eye can reach, there is one vast level of
impenetrable jungle, broken only by the long sweep of salt marshes which
form lakes in the rainy season, but are dry between the monsoons, and
crusted with crystals that glitter like snow in the sunshine.
On the western side of the island the rivers have formed broad alluvial
plains, in which the Dutch attempted to grow sugar. The experiment has
been often resumed since; but even here the soil is so defective, that
the cost of artificially enriching it has hitherto been a serious
obstruction to success commercially, although in one or two instances,
plantations on a small scale have succeeded to a certain extent.
METALS.--The plutonic rocks of Ceylon are but slightly metalliferous,
and hitherto their veins and deposits have been but imperfectly
examined. The first successful survey attempted by the Government was
undertaken during the administration of Viscount Torrington, who, in
1847, commissioned Dr. Gygax to proceed to the hill district south of
Adam's Peak, and furnish a report on its products. His investigations
extended from Ratnapoora, in a south-eastward direction, to the
mountains which overhang Bintenne, but the results obtained did not
greatly enlarge the knowledge previously possessed. He established the
existence of _tin_ in the alluvium along the base of the mountains to
the eastward towards Edelgashena; but so circumstanced, owing to the
flow of the Walleway river, that, without lowering its level, the metal
could not be extracted with advantage. The position in which it occurs
is similar to that in which tin ore presents itself in Saxony; and along
with it, the natives, when searching for gems, discover garnets,
corundum, white topazes, zircon, and tourmaline.
_Gold_ is found in minute particles at Gettyhedra, and in the beds of
the Maha Oya and other rivers flowing towards the west.[1] But the
quantity hitherto discovered has been too trivial to reward the search.
The early inhabitants of the island were not ignorant of its presence;
but its occurrence on a memorable occasion, as well as that of silver
and copper, is recorded in the Mahawanso as a miraculous manifestation,
which signalised the founding of one of the most renowned shrines at the
ancient capital.[2]
[Footnote 1: Ruanwell�, a fort about forty miles distant from Colombo,
derives its name from the sands of the river which flows below
it,--rang-welle, "golden sand." "Rang-galla," in the central province,
is referable to the same root--the rock of gold.]
[Footnote 2: _Mahawanso,_ ch. xxiii. p. 166, 167.]
_Nickel_ and _cobalt_ appear in small quantities in Saffragam, and the
latter, together with _rutile_ (an oxide of titanium) and _wolfram_,
might find a market in China for the colouring of porcelain.[1]
_Tellurium_, another rare and valuable metal, hitherto found only in
Transylvania and the Ural, has likewise been discovered in these
mountains, _Manganese_ is abundant, and _Iron_ occurs in the form of
magnetic iron ore, titanite, chromate, yellow hydrated, per-oxide and
iron pyrites. In most of these, however, the metal is scanty, and the
ores of little comparative value, except for the extraction of manganese
and chrome. "But there is another description of iron ore," says Dr.
Gygax, in his official report to the Ceylon Government, "which is found
in vast abundance, brown and compact, generally in the state of
carbonate, though still blended with a little chrome, and often
molybdena. It occurs in large masses and veins, one of which extends for
a distance of fifteen miles; from it millions of tons might be smelted,
and when found adjacent to fuel and water-carriage, it might be worked
to a profit. The quality of the iron ore found in Ceylon is singularly
fine; it is easily smelted, and so pure when reduced as to resemble
silver. The rough ore produces from _thirty_ to _seventy-five_ per
cent., and on an average fully _fifty_. The iron wrought from it
requires no puddling, and, converted into steel, it cuts like a diamond.
The metal could be laid down in Colombo at �6 per ton, even supposing
the ore to be brought thither for smelting, and prepared with English
coal; but _anthracite_ being found upon the spot, it could be used in
the proportion of three to one of the British coal; and the cost
correspondingly reduced."
[Footnote 1: The _Asiatic Annual Register_ for 1799 contains the
following:--
"_Extract from a letter from Colombo, dated 26th Oct. 1798_.
"A discovery has been lately made here of a very rich mine of
_quicksilver,_ about six miles from this place. The appearances are very
promising, for a handful of the earth on the surface will, by being
washed, produce the value of a rupee. A guard is set over it, and
accounts sent express to the Madras Government."--P. 53. See also
PERCIVAL'S _Ceylon_, p. 539.
JOINVILLE, in a MS, essay on _The Geology of Ceylon_, now in the library
of the East India Company, says that near Trincomalie there is "un sable
noir, compos� de d�triments de trappe et de cristaux de fer, _dans
lequel on trouve par le lavage beaucoup de mercure_."]
Remains of ancient furnaces are met with in all directions precisely
similar to those still in use amongst the natives. The Singhalese obtain
the ore they require without the trouble of mining; seeking a spot where
the soil has been loosened by the latest rains, they break off a
sufficient quantity, which, in less than three hours, they convert into
iron by the simplest possible means. None of their furnaces are capable
of smelting more than twenty pounds of ore, and yet this quantity yields
from seven to ten pounds of good metal.
The _anthracite_ alluded to by Dr. Gygax is found in the southern range
of hills near Nambepane, in close proximity to rich veins of _plumbago_,
which are largely worked in the same district, and the quantity of the
latter annually exported from Ceylon exceeds a thousand tons.
_Molybdena_ is found in profusion dispersed through many rocks in
Saffragam, and it occurs in the alluvium in grey scales, so nearly
resembling plumbago as to be commonly mistaken for it. _Kaolin_, called
by the natives _Kirimattie_, appears at Neuera-ellia at Hewahette,
Kaduganawa, and in many of the higher ranges as well as in the low
country near Colombo; its colour is so clear as to suit for the
manufacture of porcelain[1]; but the difficulty and cost of carriage
render it as yet unavailing for commerce, and the only use to which it
has hitherto been applied is to serve for whitewash instead of lime.
[Footnote 1: The kaolin of Ceylon, according to an analysis in 1847,
consists of--
Pure kaolin 70.0
Silica 26.0
Molybdena and iron oxide 4.0
____
100.0
In the _Ming-she_, or history of the Ming dynasty, A.D. 1368-1643, by
Chan-ting-yuh, "pottery-stone" is; enumerated among the imports into
China from Ceylon.--B. cccxxvi. p. 5.]
_Nitre_ has long been known to exist in Ceylon, where the localities in
which it occurs are similar to those in Brazil. In Saffragam alone there
are upwards of sixty caverns known to the natives, from which it may be
extracted, and others exist in various parts of the island, where the
abundance of wood to assist in its lixiviation would render that process
easy and profitable. Yet so sparingly has this been hitherto attempted,
that even for purposes of refrigeration, crude saltpetre is still
imported from India.[1]
[Footnote 1: The mineralogy of Ceylon has hitherto undergone no
scientific scrutiny, nor have its mineral productions been arranged in
any systematic and comprehensive catalogue. Specimens are to be found in
abundance in the hands of native dealers; but from indifference or
caution they express their inability to afford adequate information as
to their locality, their geological position, or even to show with
sufficient certainty that they belong to the island. Dr. Gygax, as the
results of some years spent in exploring different districts previous to
1847, was enabled to furnish a list of but thirty-seven species, the
site of which he had determined by personal inspection. These were:--
1. Rock crystal Abundant.
2. Iron quartz Saffragam.
3. Common quartz Abundant.
4. Amethyst Galle Back, Caltura.
5. Garnet Abundant.
6. Cinnamon stone Belligam.
7. Harmotome St. Lucia, Colombo.
8. Hornblende Abundant.
9. Hypersthene Ditto.
10. Common corundum Badulla.
11. Ruby Ditto and Saffragam.
12. Chrysoberyl Ratganga, North Saffragam.
13. Pleonaste Badulla.
14. Zircon Wallawey-ganga, Saffragam.
15. Mica Abundant.
16. Adular Patna Hills, North-east.
17. Common felspar Abundant.
18. Green felspar Kandy.
19. Albite Melly Matt�.
20. Chlorite Kandy.
21. Pinite Patna Hills.
22. Black tourmaline Neuera-ellia.
23. Calespar Abundant.
24. Bitterspar Ditto.
25. Apatite Galle Back.
26. Fluorspar Ditto.
27. Chiastolite Mount Lavinia.
28. Iron pyrites Peradenia.
29. Magnetic iron pyrites Ditto, Rajawelle.
30. Brown iron ore Abundant.
31. Spathose iron ore Galle Back.
32. Manganese Saffragam.
33. Molybden glance Abundant.
34. Tin ore Saffragam.
35. Arseniate of nickel Ditto.
36. Plumbago Morowa Corle.
37. Epistilbite St. Lucia.]
GEMS.--But the chief interest which attaches to the mountains and rocks
of this region, arises from the fact that they contain those mines of
_precious stones_ which from time immemorial have conferred renown on
Ceylon. The ancients celebrated the gems as well as the pearls of
"Taprobane;" the tales of mariners returning from their eastern
expeditions supplied to the story-tellers of the Arabian Nights their
fables of the jewels of "Serendib;" and the travellers of the Middle
Ages, on returning to Europe, told of the "sapphires, topazes,
amethysts, garnets, and other costly stones" of Ceylon, and of the ruby
which belonged to the king of the island, "a span in length, without a
flaw, and brilliant beyond description."[1]
[Footnote 1: _Travels of_ MARCO POLO, _a Venetian, in the Thirteenth
Century_, Lond. 1818.]
The extent to which gems are still found is sufficient to account for
the early traditions of their splendour and profusion; and fabulous as
this story of the ruby of the Kandyan kings may be, the abundance of
gems in Saffragam has given to the capital of the district the name of
_Ratnapoora_, which means literally "the city of rubies."[1] They are
not, however, confined to this quarter alone, but quantities are still
found on the western plains between Adam's Peak and the sea, at
Neuera-ellia, in Oovah, at Kandy, at Mattelle in the central province,
and at Ruanwelli near Colombo, at Matura, and in the beds of the rivers
eastwards towards the ancient Mahagam.
[Footnote 1: In the vicinity of Ratnapoora there are to be obtained
masses of quartz of the most delicate rose colour. Some pieces, which
were brought to me in Colombo, were of extraordinary beauty; and I have
reason to believe that it can be obtained in pieces large enough to be
used as slabs for tables, or formed into vases and columns, I may
observe that similar pieces are to be found in the south of Ireland,
near Cork.]
But the localities which chiefly supply the Ceylon gems are the alluvial
plains at the foot of the stupendous hills of Saffragam, in which the
detritus of the rocks has been carried down and intercepted by the
slight elevations that rise at some distance from the base of the
mountains. The most remarkable of these gem-bearing deposits is in the
flat country around Ballangodde, south-east of Ratnapoora; but almost
every valley in communication with the rocks of the higher ranges
contains stones of more or less value, and the beds of the rivers
flowing southward from the mountain chain are so rich in comminuted
fragments of rubies, sapphires, and garnets[1], that their sands in some
places are used by lapidaries in polishing the softer stones, and in
sawing the elephants' grinders into plates. The cook of a government
officer at Galle recently brought to him a ruby about the size of a
small pea, which he had taken from the crop of a fowl.
[Footnote 1: Mr. BAKER, in a work entitled _The Rifle and the Hound in
Ceylon_, thus describes the sands of the Manic Ganga, near the ruins of
Mahagam, in the south-eastern extremity of the island:--"The sand was
composed of mica, quartz, sapphire, ruby, and jacinth; but the large
proportion of ruby sand was so extraordinary that it seemed to rival
Sinbad's story of the vale of gems. The whole of this was valueless, but
the appearance of the sand was very inviting, as the shallow stream in
rippling over it magnified the tiny gems into stones of some magnitude.
I passed an hour in vainly searching for a ruby worth collecting, but
the largest did not exceed the size of a mustard seed."--BAKER'S _Rifle
and Hound in Ceylon_, p. 181.]
Of late years considerable energy has been shown by those engaged in the
search for gems; neglected districts have been explored, and new fields
have been opened up at such places as Karangodde and Weraloopa, whence
stones have been taken of unusual size and value.
It is not, however, in the recent strata of gravel, nor in those now in
process of formation, that the natives search for gems. They penetrate
these to the depth of from ten to twenty feet, in order to reach a lower
deposit distinguished by the name of _Nellan_, in which the objects of
their search are found. This is of so early a formation that it
underlies the present beds of rivers, and is generally separated from
them or from the superincumbent gravel by a hard crust (called _Kadua_),
a few inches in thickness, and so consolidated as to have somewhat the
appearance of laterite, or of sun-burnt brick. The nellan is for the
most part horizontal, but occasionally it is raised into an incline as
it approaches the base of the hills. It appears to have been deposited
previous to the eruption of the basalt, on which in some places it
reclines, and to have undergone some alteration from the contact. It
consists of water-worn pebbles firmly imbedded in clay, and occasionally
there occur large lumps of granite and gneiss, in the hollows under
which, as well as in "pockets" in the clay (which from their shape the
natives denominate "elephants' footsteps") gems are frequently found in
groups as if washed in by the current.
The persons who devote themselves to this uncertain pursuit are chiefly
Singhalese, and the season selected by them for "gemming" is between
December and March, when the waters are low.[1] The poorer and least
enterprising adventurers betake themselves to the beds of streams, but
the most certain though the most costly course is to sink pits in the
adjacent plains, which are consequently indented with such traces of
recent explorers. The upper gravel is pierced, the covering crust is
reached and broken through, and the nellan being shovelled into conical
baskets and washed to free it from the sand, the residue is carefully
searched for whatever rounded crystals and minute gems it may contain.
[Footnote 1: A very interesting account of _Gems and Gem Searching_, by
Mr. WM. STEWART, appeared in the _Colombo Observer_ for June, 1855.]
It is strongly characteristic of the want of energy in the Singhalese,
that although for centuries those alluvial plains and watercourses have
been searched without ceasing, no attempt appears to have been made to
explore the rocks themselves, in the debris of which the gems have been
brought down by the rivers. Dr. Gygax says: "I found at Hima Pohura, on
the south-eastern decline of the Pettigalle-Kanda, about the middle of
the descent, a stratum of grey granite containing, with iron pyrites and
molybdena, innumerable rubies from one-tenth to a fourth of an inch in
diameter, and of a fine rose colour, but split and falling to powder. It
is not an isolated bed of minerals, but a regular stratum extending
probably to the same depth and distance as the other granite formations.
I followed it as far as was practicable for close examination, but
everywhere in the lower part of the valley I found it so decomposed that
the hammer sunk in the rock, and even bamboos were growing on it. On the
higher ground near some small round hills which intercept it, I found
the rubies changed into brown corundum. Upon the hills themselves the
trace was lost, and instead of a stratum there was merely a wild chaos
of blocks of yellow granite. I carefully examined all the minerals which
this stratum contains,--felspar, mica, and quartz molybdena, and iron
pyrites,--and I found all similar to those I had previously got adhering
to rough rubies offered for sale at Colombo. _I firmly believe that in
such strata the rubies of Ceylon are originally found_, and that those
in the white and blue clay at Ballangodde and Ratnapoora are but
secondary deposits. I am further inclined to believe that these extend
over the whole island, although often intercepted and changed in their
direction by the rising of the yellow granite." It is highly probable
that the finest rubies are to be found in them, perfect and unchanged by
decomposition; and that they are to be obtained by opening a regular
mine in the rock like the ruby mine of Badakshan in Bactria described by
Sir Alexander Burnes. Dr. Gygax adds that having often received the
minerals of this stratum with the crystals perfect, he has reason to
believe that places are known to the natives where such mines might be
opened with confidence of success.
Rubies both crystalline and amorphous are also found in a particular
stratum of dolomite at Bullatotte and Badulla, in which there is a
peculiar copper-coloured mica with metallic lustre. _Star rubies_, the
"asteria" of Pliny (so called from their containing a movable six-rayed
star), are to be had at Ratnapoora and for very trifling sums. The blue
tinge which detracts from the value of the pure ruby, whose colour
should resemble "pigeon's blood," is removed by the Singhalese, by
enveloping the stone in the lime of a calcined shell and exposing it to
a high heat. _Spinel_ of extremely beautiful colours is found in the bed
of the Mahawelli-ganga at Kandy, and from the locality it has obtained
the name of _Candite_.
It is strange that although the _sapphire_ is found in all this region
in greater quantity than the ruby, it has never yet been discovered in
the original matrix, and the small fragments which sometimes occur in
dolomite show that there it is but a deposit. From its exquisite colour
and the size in which it is commonly found, it forms by far the most
valuable gem of the island. A piece which was dug out of the alluvium
within a few miles of Ratnapoora in 1853, was purchased by a Moor at
Colombo, in whose hands it was valued at upwards of four thousand
pounds.
The original site of the _oriental topaz_ is equally unknown with that
of the sapphire. The Singhalese rightly believe them to be the same
stone only differing in colour, and crystals are said to be obtained
with one portion yellow and the other blue.
_Garnets_ of inferior quality are common in the gneiss, but finer ones
are found in the hornblende rocks.
_Cinnamon-stone_ (which is properly a variety of garnet) is so extremely
abundant, that vast rocks containing it in profusion exist in many
places, especially in the alluvium around Matura; and at Belligam, a few
miles east from Point-de-Galle, a vast detached rock is so largely
composed of cinnamon-stones that it is carried off in lumps for the
purpose of extracting and polishing them.
The _Cat's-eye_ is one of the jewels of which the Singhalese are
especially proud, from a belief that it is only found in their island;
but in this I apprehend they are misinformed, as specimens of equal
merit have been brought from Quilon and Cochin on the southern coast of
Hindostan. The cat's-eye is a greenish translucent quartz, and when cut
_en cabochon_ it presents a moving internal reflection which is ascribed
to the presence of filaments of asbestos. Its perfection is estimated by
the natives in proportion to the narrowness and sharpness of the ray and
the pure olive-tint of the ground over which it plays.
_Amethysts_ are found in the gneiss, and some discoloured though
beautiful specimens in syenite; they are too common to be highly
esteemed. The "Matura Diamonds," which are largely used by the native
jewellers, consist of zircon, found in the syenite not only uncoloured,
but also of pink and yellow tints, the former passing for rubies.
But one of the prettiest though commonest gems in the island is the
"Moon-stone," a variety of pearly adularia presenting chatoyant rays
when simply polished. They are so abundant that the finest specimens may
be bought for a few shillings. These, with _aqua marina_, a bad
description of _opal rock crystal_ in extremely large pieces,
_tourmaline_, and a number of others of no great value, compose the list
of native gems procurable in Ceylon.[1] Diamonds, emeralds, agates,
carnelians, opal and turquoise, when they are exhibited by the natives,
have all been imported from India.
[Footnote 1: Caswini and some of the Arabian geographers assert that the
diamond is found at Adam's Peak; but this is improbable, as there is no
formation resembling the _cascalhao_ of Brazil or the diamond
conglomerate of Golconda. If diamonds were offered for sale in Ceylon,
in the time of the Arab navigators, they must have been brought thither
from India, (_Journ. As. Soc. Beng._ xiii. 633.)]
During the dynasty of the Kandyan sovereigns, the right of digging for
gems was a royalty reserved jealously for the King; and the inhabitants
of particular villages were employed in their search under the
superintendence of hereditary officers, with the rank of "Mudianse." By
the British Government the monopoly was early abolished as a source of
revenue, and no license is now required by the jewel-hunters.
Great numbers of persons of the worst-regulated habits are constantly
engaged in this exciting and precarious trade; and serious
demoralisation is engendered amongst the villagers by the idle and
dissolute adventurers who resort to Saffragam. Systematic industry
suffers, and the cultivation of the land is frequently neglected whilst
its owners are absorbed in these speculative and tantalising
occupations.
The products of their searches are disposed of to the Moors, who resort
to Saffragam from the low country, carrying up cloth and salt, to be
exchanged for gems and coffee. At the annual Buddhist festival of the
Pera-hara, a jewel-fair is held at Ratnapoora, to which the purchasers
resort from all parts of Ceylon. Of late years, however, the condition
of the people in Saffragam has so much improved that it has become
difficult to obtain the finest jewels, the wealthier natives preferring
to retain them as investments: they part with them reluctantly, and only
for gold, which they find equally convenient for concealment.[1]
[Footnote 1: So eager is the appetite for hoarding in these hills, that
eleven rupees (equal to twenty-two shillings) have frequently been given
for a sovereign.]
The lapidaries who cut and polish the stones are chiefly Moors, but
their tools are so primitive, and their skill so deficient, that a gem
generally loses in value by having passed through their hands. The
inferior kinds, such as cinnamon-stones, garnets, and tourmaline, are
polished by ordinary artists at Kandy, Matura, and Galle; but the more
expert lapidaries, who cut rubies and sapphires, reside chiefly at
Caltura and Colombo.
As a general rule, the rarer gems are less costly in Europe than in
Colombo. In London and Paris the quantities brought from all parts of
the world are sufficient to establish something like a market value;
but, in Ceylon, the supply is so uncertain that the price is always
regulated at the moment by the rank and wealth of the purchaser. Strange
to say, too, there is often an unwillingness even amongst the Moorish
dealers to sell the rarest and finest specimens; those who are wealthy
being anxious to retain them, and few but stones of secondary value are
offered for sale. Besides, the Rajahs and native Princes of India,
amongst whom the passion for jewels is universal, are known to give such
extravagant prices that the best are always sent to them from Ceylon.
From the Custom House returns it is impossible to form any calculation
as to the value of the precious stones exported from the island. A
portion only appears, even of those sent to England, the remainder being
carried away by private parties. Of the total number found, one-fourth
is probably purchased by the natives themselves, more than one-half is
sent to the Continent of India, and the remainder represents the export
to Europe. Computed in this way, the quantity of precious stones found
in the island may be estimated at 10,000_l_. per annum.
RIVERS.--From the mountainous configuration of the country and the
abundance of the rains, the rivers are large and numerous in the south
of the island--ten of considerable magnitude flowing into the sea on the
west coast, between Point-de-Galle and Manaar, and a still greater
number, though inferior in volume, on the east. In the low country,
where the heat is intense and evaporation proportionate, they derive
little of their supply from springs; and the passing showers which fall
scarcely more than replace the moisture drawn by the sun from the
parched and thirsty soil.
Hence in the plains there are comparatively few rivulets or running
streams; the rivers there flow in almost solitary lines to the sea; and
the beds of their minor affluents serve only to conduct to them the
torrents which descend at the change of each monsoon, their channels at
other times being exhausted and dry. But in their course through the
hills, and the broken ground at their base, they are supplied by
numerous feeders, which convey to them the frequent showers that fall in
high altitudes. Hence their tracks are through some of the noblest
scenery in the world; rushing through ravines and glens, and falling
over precipitous rocks in the depths of wooded valleys, they exhibit a
succession of rapids, cataracts, and torrents, unsurpassed in
magnificence and beauty. On reaching the plains, the boldness of their
march and the graceful outline of their sweep are indicative of the
little obstruction opposed by the sandy and porous soil through which
they flow. Throughout their entire course dense forests shade their
banks, and, as they approach the sea, tamarisks and over-arching
mangroves mark where their waters mingle with the tide.
Of all the Ceylon rivers, the most important by far is the
Mahawelli-ganga--the Ganges of Ptolemy--which, rising in the south near
Adam's Peak, traverses more than one-third of the mountain zone[1],
drains upwards of four thousand square miles, and flows into the sea by
a number of branches, near the noble harbour of Trincomalie. The
following table gives a comparative view of the magnitude of the rivers
that rise in the hills, and of the extent of the low country traversed
by each of them:--
Square Miles Square Miles Length of
Embouchure. drained in drained in the Course of
Mountain low Country, the main
Zone. about Stream.
Mahawelii-ganga near Trincomalie 1782 2300 134
Kirinde at Mahagan 34 300 62
Wellawey near Hambangtotte 263 500 69
Neivalle at Matura 64 200 42
(Three Rivers) near Tangalle 56 200
Gindura near Galle 180 200 59
Kalu-oya at Caltura 841 300 72
Kalany Colombo 692 200 84
The Kaymel or
Mahaoya near Negombo 253 200 68
Dederoo-oya near Chilaw 38 700 70
----------------------------
4212 5100
[Footnote 1: See _ante_, p. 12, for a definition of what constitutes the
"mountain zone" of Ceylon.]
In addition to these, there are a number of large rivers which belong
entirely to the plains in the northern and south-eastern portions of the
island, the principal of which are the Arive and the Moderegam, which
flow into the Gulf of Manaar; the Kala-oya and the Kanda-lady, which
empty themselves into the Bay of Calpentyn; the Maniek or Kattragam, and
the Koombookgam, opposite to the Little Bass rocks and the Naveloor, the
Chadawak, and Arookgam, south of Batticaloa. The extent of country
drained by these latter streams is little short of thirteen thousand
square miles.
Very few of the rivers of Ceylon are navigable, and these only by canoes
and flat-bottomed paddy boats, which ascend some of the largest for
short distances, till impeded by the rapids, occasioned by rocks in the
lowest range of the hills. In this way the Niwalle at Matura can be
ascended for about fifteen miles, as far as Wellehara; the Kalu-ganga
can be traversed from Caltura to Ratnapoora; the Bentotte river for
sixteen miles to Pittagalla; and the Kalany from Colombo to the foot of
the mountains near Ambogammoa. The Mahawelli-ganga is navigable from
Trincomalie to within a short distance of Kanda[1]; and many of the
lesser streams, the Kirinde and Wellawey in the south, and the Kaymel,
the Dedroo-oya, and the Aripo river on the west of the island, are used
for short distances by boats.
[Footnote 1: For an account of the capabilities of the Mahawelli-ganga,
as regards navigation, see BROOKE'S _Report, Roy. Geog. Journ._ vol.
iii. p. 223. and _post_, Vol. II. p. 423.]
All these streams are liable, during the fury of the monsoons, to be
surcharged with rain till they overflow their banks, and spread in wide
inundations over the level country. On the subsidence of these waters,
the intense heat of the sun acting on the surface they leave deserted,
produces a noxious and fatal malaria. Hence the rivers of Ceylon present
the curious anomaly, that whilst the tanks and reservoirs of the
interior diffuse a healthful coolness around, the running water of the
rivers is prolific of fevers; and in some seasons so deadly is the
pestilence that the Malabar coolies, as well as the native peasantry,
betake themselves to precipitate flight.[1]
[Footnote 1: It has been remarked along the Mahawelli-ganga, a few miles
from Kandy, that during the deadly season, after the subsidence of the
rains, the jungle fever generally attacks one face of the hills through
which it winds, leading the opposite side entirely exempted, as if the
poisonous vapour, being carried by the current of air, affected only
those aspects against which it directly impinged.]
Few of the larger rivers have been bridged, except those which intersect
the great high roads from Point-de-Galle to Colombo, and thence to
Kandy. Near the sea this has been effected by timber platforms,
sustained by piles sufficiently strong to withstand the force of the
floods at the change of each monsoon. A bridge of boats connects each
side of the Kalany, and on reaching the Mahawelli-ganga at Peradenia,
one of the most picturesque structures on the island is a noble bridge
of a single arch, 205 feet in span, chiefly constructed of satin-wood,
and thrown across the river by General Fraser in 1832.
On reaching the margin of the sea, an appearance is presented by the
outline of the coast, near the embouchures of the principal rivers,
which is very remarkable. It is common to both sides of the island,
though it has attained its greatest development on the east. In order to
comprehend its formation, it is necessary to observe that Ceylon lies in
the course of the ocean currents in the Bay of Bengal, which run north
or south according to the prevalence of the monsoon, and with greater or
less velocity in proportion to its force at particular periods.
[Illustration: CURRENT IN THE NE MONSOON.]
In the beginning and during the strength of the northeast monsoon the
current sets strongly along the coast of Coromandel to the southward, a
portion of it frequently entering Palks Bay to the north of Ceylon; but
the main stream keeping invariably to the east of the island, runs with
a velocity of from one and a half to two miles an hour, and after
passing the Great Bass, it keeps its course seaward. At other times,
after the monsoon has spent its violence, the current is weak, and
follows the line of the land to the westward as far as Point-de-Galle,
or even to Colombo.
[Illustration: CURRENT IN THE S.W. MONSOON]
In the south-west monsoon the current changes its direction; and,
although it flows steadily to the northward, its action is very
irregular and unequal till it readies the Coromandel coast, after
passing Ceylon. This is accounted for by the obstruction opposed by the
headlands of Ceylon, which so intercept the stream that the current,
which might otherwise set into the Gulf of Manaar, takes a
south-easterly direction by Galle and Donedra Head.[1]
[Footnote 1: For an account of the currents of Ceylon, see HORSBURGH's
_Directions for Sailing to and from the East Indies, &c._; vol i. p.
516, 536, 580; KEITH JOHNSTON's _Physical Atlas_, plate xiii. p. 50.]
There being no lakes in Ceylon[1], in the still waters of which the
rivers might clear themselves of the earthy matter swept along in their
rapid course from the hills, they arrive at the beach laden with sand
and alluvium, and at their junction with the ocean being met
transversely by the gulf-streams, the sand and soil with which they are
laden, instead of being carried out to sea, are heaped up in bars along
the shores, and these, being augmented by similar deposits held in
suspension by the currents, soon extend to north, and south, and force
the rivers to flow behind them in search of a new outlet.
[Footnote 1: Pliny alludes to a lake in Ceylon of vast dimensions, but
it is clear that his informants must have spoken of one of the huge
tanks for the purpose of irrigation. Some of the _Mappe-mondes_ of the
Middle Ages place a lake in the middle of the island, with a city
inhabited by astrologers; but they have merely reproduced the error of
earlier geographers. (SANTAREM, _Cosmog_. tom. iii. p. 336.)]
These formations once commenced, their growth proceeds with rapidity,
more especially on the east side of the island; as the southern current
in skirting the Coromandel coast brings with it quantities of sand,
which it deposits, in tranquil weather, and this being carried by the
wind is piled in heaps from Point Pedro to Hambangtotte. Hence at the
latter point hills are formed of such height and dimensions, that it is
often necessary to remove buildings out of their line of
encroachment.[1]
[Footnote 1: This is occasioned by the waste of the banks further north
during the violence of the N. E. monsoon; and the sand, being carried
south by the current, is intercepted by the headland at Hambangtotte and
thrown up these hills as described.]
[Illustration: "GOBBS" ON THE EAST COAST]
At the mouths of the rivers the bars thus created generally follow the
direction of the current, and the material deposited being dried and
partially consolidated in the intervals between the tides, long
embankments are gradually raised, behind which the rivers flow for
considerable distances before entering the sea. Occasionally these
embouchures become closed by the accumulations without, and the pent-up
water assumes the appearance of a still canal, more or less broad
according to the level of the beach, and extending for miles along the
coast, between the mainland and the new formations. But when swollen by
the rains, if not assisted by artificial outlets to escape, they burst
new openings for themselves, and not unfrequently they leave their
ancient channels converted into shallow lagoons without any visible
exit. Examples of these formations present themselves on the east side
of Ceylon at Nilla-velle, Batticaloa, and a number of other places north
and south of Trincomalie.
On the west coast embankments of this kind, although frequent are less
conspicuous than on the east, owing chiefly to the comparative weakness
of the current. For six months in the year during the north-east monsoon
that side of the island is exempt from a current in any direction, and
for the remaining six, the current from the south not only rarely
affects the Gulf of Manaar, but as it flows out of the Indian Ocean it
brings no earthy deposits. In addition to this, the surf during the
south-west monsoon rolls with such turbulence on the level beach between
Colombo and Point-de-Galle, as in a great degree to disperse the
accumulations of sand brought down by the rivers, or heaped up by the
tide, when the wind is off the land. Still, many of the rivers are
thrown back by embankments, and after forming tortuous lakes flow for a
long distance parallel to the shore, before finding an escape for their
waters. Examples of this occur at Pantura, to the south of Colombo, and
at Negombo, Chilaw, and elsewhere to the north of it.
[Illustration: GOBBS ON THE WEST COAST]
In process of time these banks of sand[1] become covered with
vegetation; herbaceous plants, shrubs, and finally trees peculiar to
saline soils make their appearance in succession, and as these decay,
their decomposition generates a sufficiency of soil to sustain continued
vegetation.
[Footnote 1: In the voyages of _The Two Mahometans_, the unique MS. of
which dates about A.D. 851, and is now in the Biblioth�que Royale at
Paris, Abon-zeyd, one of its authors, describes the "Gobbs" of Ceylon--a
word, he says, by which the natives designate the valleys deep and broad
which open to the sea. "En face de cette �le y a de vastes _Gobb_, mot
par lequel on d�signe une vall�e, quand elle est � la fois longue et
large, et qu'elle d�bouche dans la mer. Les navigateurs emploient, pour
traverser le _gobb_ appel� 'Gobb de Serendib,' deux mois et m�me
davantage, passant � travers des bois et des jardins, au milieu d'une
temp�rature moyenne."--REINAUD, _Voyages faits par les Arabes_, vol. i.
p. 129.
A misapprehension of this passage has been admitted into the English
version of the _Voyages of the two Mahometans_ which is published in
PINKERTON'S _Collections of Voyages and Travels_, vol. iii.; the
translator having treated gobb as a term applicable to valleys in
general. "Ceylon," he says, "contains valleys of great length, which
extend to the sea, and here travellers repair for two months or more, in
which one is called Gobb Serendib, allured by the beauty of the scenery,
chequered with groves and plains, water and meadows, and blessed by a
balmy air. The valley opens to the sea, and is transcendently
pleasant."--PINKERTON'S _Voyages_, vol. vii. p. 218.
But a passage in Edrisi, while it agrees with the terms of Abou-zeyd,
explains at the same time that these gobbs were not valleys converted
into gardens, to which the seamen resorted for pleasure to spend two or
three months, but the embouchures of rivers flowing between banks,
covered with gardens and forests, into which mariners were accustomed to
conduct their vessels for more secure navigation, and in which they were
subjected to detention for the period stated. The passage is as follows
in Jaubert's translation of Edrisi, tom. i. p. 73:--"Cette �le
(Serendib) depend des terres de l'Inde; ainsi que les vall�es (in orig.
aghbab) par lesquelles se dechargent les rivi�res, et qu'on nomme
'Vall�es de Serendib.' Les navires y mouillent, et les navigateurs y
passent un mois ou deux dans l'abondance et dans les plaisirs."
It is observable that Ptolemy, in enumerating the ports and harbours of
Ceylon, maintains a distinction between the ordinary bays, [Greek:
kolpos], of which he specifies two corresponding to those of Colombo and
Trincomalie, and the shallower indentations, [Greek: lim�n], of which he
enumerates five, the positions of which go far to identify them with the
remarkable estuaries or _gobbs_, on the eastern and western coast
between Batticaloa and Calpentyn.
To the present day these latter gulfs are navigable for small craft. On
the eastern side of the island one of them forms the harbour of
Batticaloa, and on the western those of Chilaw and Negombo are bays of
this class. Through the latter a continuous navigation has been
completed by means of short connecting canals, and a traffic is
maintained during the south-west monsoon, from Caltura to the north of
Chilaw, a distance of upwards of eighty miles, by means of craft which
navigate these shallow channels.
These narrow passages conform in every particular to the description
given by Abou-zeyd and Edrisi: they run through a succession of woods
and gardens; and as a leading wind is indispensable for their
navigation, the period named by the Arabian geographers for their
passage is perhaps not excessive during calms or adverse winds.
An article on the meaning of the word gobb will be found in the _Journal
Asiatique_ for September, 1844; but it does not exhibit clearly the very
peculiar features of these openings. It is contained in an extract from
the work on India of ALBYROUNI, a contemporary of Avicenna, who was born
in the valley of the Indus.--"Un golfe (gobb) est comme une encoignure
et un d�tour que fait la mer en p�n�trant dans le continens: les navires
n'y sont pas sans p�ril particuli�rement � l'�gard du flux et
reflux."--_Extrait de l'ouvrage d'_ ALBYROUNI _sur l'Inde; Fragmens
Arabes et Persans, relatifs � l'Inde, recueill�s par_ M. REINAUD;
_Journ. Asiat., Septembre et Octobre_, 1844, p. 261. In the Turkish
nautical work of SIDI ALI CHELEBI, the _Mohit_, written about A.D. 1550,
which contains directions for sailors navigating the eastern seas, the
author alludes to the _gobbha's_ on the coast of Arracan; and conscious
that the term was local not likely to be understood beyond those
countries, he adds that "gobbha" means "_a gulf full of shallows,
shoals, and breakers_." See translation by VON HAMMER, _Journ. Asiat.
Soc. Beng._ v. 466.]
The process of this conversion may be seen in all its stages at various
points along the coast of Ceylon.
The margin of land nearest to the water is first taken possession of by
a series of littoral plants, which apparently require a large quantity
of salt to sustain their vegetation. These at times are intermixed with
others, which, though found further inland, yet flourish in perfection
on the shore. On the northern and north-western coasts the glass
worts[1] and salt worts[2] are the first to appear on the newly raised
banks, and being provided with penetrating roots, a breakwater is thus
early secured, and the drier sand above becomes occupied with creeping
plants which in their turn afford shelter to a third and erect class.
[Footnote 1: Salicornia Indica.]
[Footnote 2: Salsola Indica.]
The Goat's-foot Ipomoea[1], which appears to encircle the world, abounds
on these shores, covering the surface to the water's edge with its
procumbent branches, which sending down roots from every joint serve to
give the bank its first firmness, whilst the profusion of its
purple-coloured flowers contrasts strikingly with its dark green
foliage.
[Footnote 1: Ipomoea pes-capr�]
Along with the Ipomoea grow two species of beans[1] each endowed with a
peculiar facility for reproduction, thus consolidating the sands into
which they strike; and the moodu-gaeta-kola[2] (literally the "jointed
seashore plant,") with pink flowers and thick succulent leaves.
[Footnote 1: The Mooduawara (_Canavalia obtusifolia_), whose flowers
have the fragrance of the sweet pea, and _Dolichos luteus_.]
[Footnote 2: Hydrophylax maritima.]
Another plant which performs an important function in the fertilisation
of these arid formations, is the _Spinifex squarrosus_, the "water
pink," as it is sometimes called by Europeans. The seeds of this plant
are contained in a circular head, composed of a series of spine-like
divisions, which radiate from the stalk in all directions, making the
diameter of the whole about eight to nine inches. When the seeds are
mature, and ready for dispersion, these heads become detached from the
plant, and are carried by the wind with great velocity along the sands,
over the surface of which they are impelled on their elastic spines. One
of these balls may be followed by the eye for miles as it hurries along
the level shore, dropping its seeds as it rolls, which speedily
germinate and strike root where they fall. The globular heads are so
buoyant as to float lightly on the water, and the uppermost spines
acting as sails, they are thus carried across narrow estuaries to
continue the process of embanking on newly-formed sand bars. Such an
organisation irresistibly suggests the wonderful means ordained by
Providence to spread this valuable plant along the barren beach to which
no seed-devouring bird ever resorts; and even the unobservant natives,
struck by its singular utility in resisting the encroachments of the
sea, have recorded their admiration by conferring on it the name of
_Maha-Rawana roewula_,--"the great beard of Rawana or Rama."
The banks being thus ingeniously protected from the action of the air
above, and of the water at their base, other herbaceous plants soon
cover them in quick succession, and give the entire surface the first
aspect of vegetation. A little retired above high water are to be found
a species of _Aristolochia_[1], the Sayan[2], or _Choya_, the roots of
which are the Indian Madder (in which, under the Dutch Government, some
tribes in the Wanny paid their tribute); the gorgeous _Gloriosa
superba_, the beautiful _Vistnu-karandi_[3] with its profusion of blue
flowers, which remind one of the English "Forget-me-not," and the
thickly-matted verdure of the _Hiramana-doetta_[4], so well adapted for
imparting consistency to the soil. In the next stage low shrubs make
their appearance, their seeds being drifted by the waves and wind, and
taking ready root wherever they happen to rest. The foremost of these
are the Sc�volas[5] and Screw Pines[6], which grow luxuriantly within
the actual wash of the tide, while behind them rises a dense growth of
peculiar plants, each distinguished by the Singhalese by the prefix of
"Moodu," to indicate its partiality for the sea.[7]
[Footnote 1: _Aristolocia bracteata_. On the sands to the north of
Ceylon there is also the _A. Indica_, which forms the food of the great
red and white butterfly (_Papilio Hector_).]
[Footnote 2: _Hedyotis umbellata_. A very curious account of the Dutch
policy In relation to Choya dye will be found in a paper _On the
Vegetable Productions of Ceylon_, by W.C. ONDAATJIE, in the _Ceylon
Calendar_ for 1853. See also BERTOLACCI, B. iii. p. 270.]
[Footnote 3: Evolvulus alsinoides.]
[Footnote 4: Lippia nodiflora.]
[Footnote 5: Sc�vola takkada and S. Koenigii]
[Footnote 6: Pandanus odoratissimus.]
[Footnote 7: _Moodu-kaduru (Ochrosia parviflora); Moodu-cobbe
(Ornitrophe serrata); Moodu-murunga (Sophora tomentosa_,) &c. &c.
Amongst these marine shrubs the Nil-picha (_Guettarda speciosca_), with
its white and delightfully fragrant flowers, is a conspicuous object on
some parts of the sea-shore between Colombo and Point-de-Galle.]
Where the sand in the lagoons and estuaries is more or less mingled with
the alluvium brought down by the rivers, there are plants of another
class which are equally characteristic. Amongst these the Mangroves[1]
take the first place in respect to their mass of vegetation; then follow
the Belli-patta[2] and Suriya-gaha[3], with their large hibiscus-like
flowers; the Tamarisks[4]; the Acanthus[5], with its beautiful blue
petals and holly-like leaves; the Water Coco-nut[6]; the �giceras and
Hernandia[7], with its sonorous fruits; while the dry sands above are
taken possession of by the Acacias, _Salvadora Persica_ (the true
mustard-tree of Scripture[8], which, here attains a height of forty
feet), Ixoras, and the numerous family of Cassias.
[Footnote 1: Two species of _Rhizophora_, two of _Bruguiera_, and one of
_Ceriops_.]
[Footnote 2: Paritimn tilliaceum.]
[Footnote 3: Thespesia populnea.]
[Footnote 4: Tamarix Indica.]
[Footnote 5: Dilivaria ilicifolia.]
[Footnote 6: Nipa fruticans.]
[Footnote 7: Hernandia sonora.]
[Footnote 8: The identification of this tree with the mustard-tree
alluded to by our Saviour is an interesting fact. The Greek term [Greek:
sinapis], which occurs Matt. xiii 31, and elsewhere, is the name given
to _mustard_; for which the Arabic equivalent is _chardul_ or _khardal_,
and the Syriac _khardalo_. The same name is applied at the present day
to a tree which grows freely in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, and
generally throughout Palestine; the seeds of which, have an aromatic
pungency, which enables them to be used instead of the ordinary mustard
(_Sinapis nigra_); besides which, its structure presents all the
essentials to sustain the illustration sought to be established in the
parable, some of which are wanting or dubious in the common plant, It
has a very small seed; it may be sown in a garden: it grows into an
"herb," and eventually "becometh a tree; so that the birds of the air
come and lodge in the branches thereof." With every allowance for the
extremest development attainable by culture, it must be felt that the
dimensions of the domestic _sinapis_ scarcely justify the last
illustration; besides which it is an annual, and cannot possibly be
classed as a "tree." The khardal grows abundantly in Syria: it was found
in Egypt by Sir Gardner Wilkinson; in Arabia by Bov�; on the Indus by
Sir Alexander Burnes; and throughout the north-west of India it bears
the name of kharjal. Combining all these facts, Dr. Royle, in an erudite
paper, has shown demonstrative reasons for believing that the _Salvadora
Persica_, the "kharjal" of Hindostan, is the "khardal" of Arabia, the
"chardul" of the Talmud, and the "mustard-tree" of the parable.]
Lastly, after a sufficiency of earth has been formed by the decay of
frequent successions of their less important predecessors, the ground
becomes covered by trees of ampler magnitude, most of which are found
upon the adjacent shores of the mainland--the Margoza[1], from whose
seed the natives express a valuable oil; the Timbiri[2], with the
glutinous nuts with which the fishermen "bark" their nets; the
Cashu-nut[3]; the Palu[4], one of the most valuable timber trees of the
Northern Provinces; and the Wood-apple[5], whose fruit is regarded by
the Singhalese as a specific for dysentery.
[Footnote 1: Azadirachta Indica.]
[Footnote 2: Diospyros glutinosa.]
[Footnote 3: Anacardium occidentale.]
[Footnote 4: Mimusopa hexandra.]
[Footnote 5: �gle marmelos.]
But the most important fact connected with these recently formed
portions of land, is their extraordinary suitability for the growth of
the coco-nut, which requires the sea-air (and in Ceylon at least appears
never to attain its full luxuriance when removed to any considerable
distance from it)[1], and which, at the same time, requires a light and
sandy soil, and the constant presence of water in large quantities. All
these essentials are combined in the sea-belts here described, lying as
they do between the ocean on the one side and the fresh-water lakes
formed by the great rivers on the other, thus presenting every requisite
of soil and surface. It is along a sand formation of this description,
about forty miles long and from one to three miles broad, that thriving
coco-nut plantations have been recently commenced at Batticaloa. At
Calpentyn, on the western coast, a like formation has been taken
advantage of for the same purpose. At Jaffna somewhat similar
peculiarities of soil and locality have been seized on for this
promising cultivation; and, generally, along the whole seaborde of
Ceylon to the south and west, the shore for the breadth of one or two
miles exhibits almost continuous groves of coco-nut palms.
[Footnote 1: Coco-nuts are cultivated at moderate elevations in the
mountain villages of the Interior; but the fruit bears no comparison, in
number, size, or weight, with that produced in the lowlands, and near
the sea, on either side of the island.]
_Harbours_.--With the exception of the estuaries above alluded to,
chiefly in the northern section of the island, the outline of the coast
is interrupted by few sinuosities. There are no extensive inlets, or
bays, and only two harbours--that of _Point-de-Galle_ which, in addition
to being incommodious and small, is obstructed by coral rocks, reefs of
which have been upreared to the surface, and render the entrance
critical to strange ships[1]; and the magnificent basin of Trincomalie,
which, in extent, security, and beauty, is unsurpassed by any haven in
the world.
[Footnote 1: Owing to the obstructions at its entrance, Galle is
extremely difficult of access in particular winds. In 1857 it was
announced in the _Colombo Examiner_ that "the fine ship the 'Black
Eagle' was blown out of Galle Roads the other day, with the pilot on
board; whilst the captain was temporarily engaged on shore; and as she
was not able to beat in again, she made for Trincomalie, where she has
been lying for a fortnight. Such an event is by no means unprecedented
at Galle."--_Examiner_, 20 Sept. 1857.]
_Tides_.--The variation of the tides is so slight that navigation is
almost unaffected by it. The ordinary rise and fall is from 18 to 24
inches, with an increase of about a third at spring tides. High water is
later on the eastern than on the western coast; occurring, on full and
new moon, a little after eleven o'clock at Adam's Bridge, about 1
o'clock at Colombo, and 1.25 at Galle, whilst it attains its greatest
elevation between 5 and 6 o'clock in the harbour of Trincomalie.
_Red infusoria_.--On both sides of the island (but most frequently at
Colombo), during the south-west monsoon, a broad expanse of the sea
assumes a red tinge, considerably brighter than brick-dust; and this is
confined to a space so distinct that a line seems to separate it from
the green water which flows on either side. Observing that the whole
area changed its position without parting with any portion of its
colouring, I had some of the water brought on shore, and, on examination
with the microscope, it proved to be filled with _infusoria_, probably
similar to those which have been noticed near the shores of South
America, and whose abundance has imparted a name to the "Vermilion Sea"
off the coast of California.
THE POPULATION OF CEYLON, of all races, was, in 1857, 1,697,975; but
this was exclusive of the military and their families, both Europeans
and Malays, which together amounted to 5,430; and also of aliens and
other casual strangers, forming about 25,000 more.
The particulars are as follow:--
|Provinces |Whites. |Coloured. |Total. |Population|
| |Males.|Females.|Males.|Females.|Males.|Females. | to the |
|sq. mile. |
|Western. |1,293|1,246|293,409|259,106|294,702|260,352 | 146.59 |
|N. Western | 21| 11|100,807| 96,386|100,828| 96,397 | 59.93 |
|Southern | 238| 241|156,900|149,649|157,138|149,890 | 143.72 |
|Eastern | 201| 143| 39,923| 35,531| 40,124| 35,674 | 16.08 |
|Northern | 387| 362|153,062|148,678|153,449|149,040 | 55.85 |
|Central | 468| 204|143,472|116,237|143,940|116,441 | 52.57 |
| |2,608|2,207|887,573|805,587|890,181|807,794 | 69.73 |
CHAP. II.
CLIMATE.--HEALTH AND DISEASE.
The climate of Ceylon, from its physical configuration and insular
detachment, contrasts favourably with that of the great Indian
peninsula. Owing to the moderate dimensions of the island, the elevation
of its mountains, the very short space during which the sun is passing
over it[1] in his regression from or approach to the solstices, and its
surrounding seas being nearly uniform in temperature, it is exempt from
the extremes of heating and cooling to which the neighbouring continent
of India is exposed. From the same causes it is subjected more uniformly
to the genial influences of the trade winds that blow over the Indian
Ocean and the Bay of Bengal.
[Footnote 1: In his approach to the northern solstice, the sun, having
passed the equator on the 21st of March, reaches the south of Ceylon
about the 5th of April, and ten days later is vertical over Point Pedro,
the northern extremity of the island. On his return he is again over
Point Pedro about the 27th of August, and passes southward over Dondera
Head about the 7th of September.]
The island is seldom visited by hurricanes[1], or swept by typhoons, and
the breeze, unlike the hot and arid winds of Coromandel and the Dekkan,
is always more or less refreshing. The range of the thermometer exhibits
no violent changes, and never indicates a temperature insupportably
high. The mean on an annual average scarcely exceeds 80� at Colombo,
though in exceptional years it has risen to 86�. But at no period of the
day are dangerous results to be apprehended from exposure to the sun;
and except during parts of the months of March, and April, there is no
season when moderate exercise is not practicable and agreeable. For half
the year, from October to May, the prevailing winds are from the
north-east, and during the remaining months the south-west monsoon blows
steadily from the great Indian Ocean. The former, affected by the wintry
chills of the vast tracts of land which it traverses before crossing the
Bay of Bengal, is subject to many local variations and intervals of
calm. But the latter, after the first violence of its outset is abated,
becomes nearly uniform throughout the period of its prevalence, and
presents the character of an on-shore breeze extending over a prodigious
expanse of sea and land, and exerting a powerful influence along the
regions of southern Asia.
[Footnote 1: The exception to the exemption of Ceylon from hurricanes is
the occasional occurrence of a cyclone extending its circle till the
verge has sometimes touched Batticaloa, on the south-eastern extremity
of the island, causing damage to vegetation and buildings. Such an event
is, however, exceedingly rare. On the 7th of January, 1805, H.M.S.
"Sheerness" and two others were driven on shore in a hurricane at
Trincomalie.]
In Ceylon the proverbial fickleness of the winds, and the uncertainty
which characterises the seasons in northern climates, is comparatively
unknown; and the occurrence of changes or rain may be anticipated with
considerable accuracy in any month of a coming year. There are, of
course, abnormal seasons with higher ranges of temperature, heavier
rains, or droughts of longer continuance, but such extremes are
exceptional and rare. Great atmospheric changes occur only at two
opposite periods of the year, and so gradual is their approach that the
climate is monotonous, and one longs to see again "the falling of the
leaf" to diversify the sameness of perennial verdure. The line is faint
which divides the seasons. No period of the year is divested of its
seed-time and its harvest in some part of the island; and fruit hangs
ripe on the same branches that are garlanded with opening buds. But as
every plant has its own period for the production of its flowers and
fruit, each month is characterised by its own peculiar flora.
As regards the foliage of the trees, it might be expected that the
variety of tints would be wanting which forms the charm of a European
landscape, and that all nature would wear one mantle of unchanging
green. But it has been remarked by a tasteful observer[1] that such is
far from the fact, and though in Ceylon there is no revolution of
seasons, the change of leaf on the same plant exhibits colours as bright
as those which tinge the autumnal woods of America. It is not the
decaying leaves, but the fresh shoots, which exhibit these brightened
colours, the older are still vividly green, whilst the young are
bursting forth; and the extremities of the branches present tufts of
pale yellow, pink, crimson, and purple, which give them at a distance
the appearance of a cluster of flowers.[2]
[Footnote 1: Prof. Harvey, Trin. Coll. Dublin.]
[Footnote 2: Some few trees, such as the margosa (_Azadirachta Indica_),
the country almond (_Terminalia catappa_), and others, are deciduous,
and part with their leaves. The cinnamon shoots forth in all shades from
bright yellow to dark crimson. The maella _(Olax Zeylanica)_ has always
a copper colour; and the ironwood trees of the interior have a perfect
blaze of young crimson leaves, as brilliant as flowers. The lovi-lovi
(_Flacourtia inermis_) has the same peculiarity; while the large bracts
of the muss�nda (_Muss�nda frondosa_) attract the notice of Europeans
for their angular whiteness.]
A notice of the variations exhibited by the weather at Colombo may serve
as an index to the atmospheric condition of the rest of the island,
except in those portions (such as the mountains of the interior, and the
low plains of the northern extremity) which exhibit modifications of
temperature and moisture incident to local peculiarities.
[Sidenote:
Wind N.E.
Temperature, 24 hours:
Mean greatest 85.6�
Mean least 69.2�
Rain (inches) 3.1]
_January_.--At the opening of the year, the north-east monsoon, which
sets in two months previously, is nearly in mid career. This wind,
issuing from the chill north and robbed of its aqueous vapour in passing
over the elevated mountain regions on the confines of China and Thibet,
sweeps across the Bay of Bengal, whence its lowest strata imbibe a
quantity of moisture, moderate in amount, yet still leaving the great
mass of air far below saturation. Hence it reaches Ceylon comparatively
dry, and its general effects are parching and disagreeable. This
character is increased as the sun recedes towards its most southern
declination, and the wind acquires a more direct draught from the north;
passing over the Indian peninsula and almost totally digested of
humidity, it blows down the western coast of the island, and is known
there by the name of the "along-shore-wind." For a time its influence is
uncomfortable and its effects injurious both to health and vegetation:
it warps and rends furniture, dries up the surface of the earth, and
withers the delicate verdure which had sprung up during the prevalence
of the previous rains. These characteristics, however, subside towards
the end of the month, when the wind becomes somewhat variable with a
westerly tendency and occasional showers; and the heat of the day is
then partially compensated by the greater freshness of the nights. The
fall of rain within the month scarcely exceeds three inches.
[Sidenote:
Wind N.E.
Temperature, 24 hours:
Mean greatest 89�
Mean least 71�
Rain (inches) 2.1]
_February_ is dry and hot during the day, but the nights are cloudless
and cool, and the moonlight singularly agreeable. Rain is rare, and when
it occurs it falls in dashes, succeeded by damp and sultry calms. The
wind is unsteady and shifts from north-east to north-west, sometimes
failing entirely between noon and twilight. The quantity of rain is less
than in January, and the difference of temperature between day and night
is frequently as great as 15� or 20�.[1]
[Footnote 1: Dr. MACVICAR, in a paper in the _Ceylon Miscellany_, July,
1843, recorded the results of some experiments, made near Colombo, as to
the daily variation of temperature and Its effects on cultivation, from
which it appeared that a register thermometer, exposed on a tuft of
grass in the cinnamon garden in a clear night and under the open sky, on
the 2nd of January, 1841, showed in the morning that it had been so low
as 52�, and when laid on the ground in the place in the sunshine on the
following day, it rose to upwards of 140� Fahr.]
[Sidenote:
Wind N.E. to N.W.
Temperature, 24 hours:
Mean greatest 87.7�
Mean least 73.1�
Rain (inches) 2.1]
_March_.--In March the heat continues to increase, the earth receiving
more warmth than it radiates or parts with by evaporation. The day
becomes oppressive, the nights unrefreshing, the grass is withered and
brown, the earth hard and cleft, the lakes shrunk to shallows, and the
rivers evaporated to dryness. Europeans now escape from the low country,
and betake themselves to the shade of the forests adjoining the
coffee-plantations in the hills; or to the still higher sanatarium of
Neuera-ellia, nearly the loftiest plateau in the mountains of the
Kandyan range. The winds, when any are perceptible, are faint and
unsteady with a still increasing westerly tendency, partial showers
sometimes fall, and thunder begins to mutter towards sunset. At the
close of the month, the mean temperature will be found to have advanced
about a degree, but the sensible temperature and the force of the sun's
rays are felt in a still more perceptible proportion.
[Sidenote:
Wind N.W. to S.W.
Temperature, 24 hours:
Mean greatest 88.7�
Mean least 73.6�
Rain (inches) 7.4]
_April_ is by far the most oppressive portion of the year for those who
remain at the sea-level of the island. The temperature continues to rise
as the sun in his northern progress passes vertically over the island. A
mirage fills the hollows with mimic water; the heat in close apartments
becomes extreme, and every living creature flies to the shade from the
suffocating glare of mid-day. At length the sea exhibits symptoms of an
approaching change, a ground swell sets in from the west, and the breeze
towards sunset brings clouds and grateful showers. At the end of the
month the mean temperature attains its greatest height during the year,
being about 83� in the day, and 10� lower at night.
[Sidenote:
Wind N.W. to S.W.
Temperature, 24 hours:
Mean greatest 87.2�
Mean least 72.9�
Rain (inches) 13.3]
_May_ is signalised by the great event of the change of the monsoon, and
all the grand phenomena which accompany its approach.
It is difficult for any one who has not resided in the tropics to
comprehend the feeling of enjoyment which accompanies these periodical
commotions of the atmosphere; in Europe they would be fraught with
annoyance, but in Ceylon they are welcomed with a relish proportionate
to the monotony they dispel.
Long before the wished-for period arrives, the verdure produced by the
previous rains becomes almost obliterated by the burning droughts of
March and April. The deciduous trees shed their foliage, the plants
cease to put forth fresh leaves, and all vegetable life languishes under
the unwholesome heat. The grass withers on the baked and cloven earth,
and red dust settles on the branches and thirsty brushwood. The insects,
deprived of their accustomed food, disappear underground or hide beneath
the decaying bark; the water-beetles bury themselves in the hardened mud
of the pools, and the _helices_ retire into the crevices of the stones
or the hollows amongst the roots of the trees, closing the apertures of
their shells with the hybernating epiphragm. Butterflies are no longer
seen hovering over the flowers, the birds appear fewer and less joyous,
and the wild animals and crocodiles, driven by the drought from their
accustomed retreats, wander through the jungle, and even venture to
approach the village wells in search of water. Man equally languishes
under the general exhaustion, ordinary exertion becomes distasteful, and
the native Singhalese, although inured to the climate, move with
lassitude and reluctance.
Meanwhile the air becomes loaded to saturation with aqueous vapour drawn
up by the augmented force of evaporation acting vigorously over land and
sea: the sky, instead of its brilliant blue, assumes the sullen tint of
lead, and not a breath disturbs the motionless rest of the clouds that
hang on the lower range of hills. At length, generally about the middle
of the month, but frequently earlier, the sultry suspense is broken by
the arrival of the wished-for change. The sun has by this time nearly
attained his greatest northern declination, and created a torrid heat
throughout the lands of southern Asia and the peninsula of India. The
air, lightened by its high temperature and such watery vapour as it may
contain, rises into loftier regions and is replaced by indraughts from
the neighbouring sea, and thus a tendency is gradually given to the
formation of a current bringing up from the south the warm humid air of
the equator. The wind, therefore, which reaches Ceylon comes laden with
moisture, taken up in its passage across the great Indian Ocean. As the
monsoon draws near, the days become more overcast and hot, banks of
clouds rise over the ocean to the west, and in the peculiar twilight the
eye is attracted by the unusual whiteness of the sea-birds that sweep
along the strand to seize the objects flung on shore by the rising surf.
At last the sudden lightnings flash among the hills and sheet through
the clouds that overhang the sea[1], and with a crash of thunder the
monsoon bursts over the thirsty land, not in showers or partial
torrents, but in a wide deluge, that in the course of a few hours
overtops the river banks and spreads in inundations over every level
plain.
[Footnote 1: The lightnings of Ceylon are so remarkable, that in the
middle ages they were as well known to the Arabian seamen, who coasted
the island on their way to China, as in later times the storms that
infested the Cape of Good Hope were familiar to early navigators of
Portugal. In the _Mohit_ of SIDI ALI CHELEBI, translated by Von Hammer,
it is stated that to seamen, sailing from Diu to Malacca, "the sign of
Ceylon being near is continual lightning, be it accompanied by rain or
without rain; so that 'the lightning of Ceylon' is proverbial for a
liar!"--_Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng._ v. 465.]
All the phenomena of this explosion are stupendous: thunder, as we are
accustomed to be awed by it in Europe, affords but the faintest idea of
its overpowering grandeur in Ceylon, and its sublimity is infinitely
increased as it is faintly heard from the shore, resounding through
night and darkness over the gloomy sea. The lightning, when it touches
the earth where it is covered with the descending torrent, flashes into
it and disappears instantaneously; but, when it strikes a drier surface,
in seeking better conductors, it often opens a hollow like that formed
by the explosion of a shell, and frequently leaves behind it traces of
vitrification.[1] In Ceylon, however, occurrences of this kind are rare,
and accidents are seldom recorded from lightning, probably owing to the
profusion of trees, and especially of coco-nut palms, which, when
drenched with rain, intercept the discharge, and conduct the electric
matter to the earth. The rain at these periods excites the astonishment
of a European: it descends in almost continuous streams, so close and so
dense that the level ground, unable to absorb it sufficiently fast, is
covered with one uniform sheet of water, and down the sides of
acclivities it rushes in a volume that wears channels in the surface.[2]
For hours together, the noise of the torrent, as it beats upon the trees
and bursts upon the roofs, flowing thence in rivulets along the ground,
occasions an uproar that drowns the ordinary voice, and renders sleep
impossible.
[Footnote 1: See DARWIN'S _Naturalist's Voyage_, ch. iii. for an account
of those vitrified siliceous tubes which are formed by lightning
entering loose sand. During a thunderstorm which passed over Galle, on
the 16th May, 1854, the fortifications were shaken by lightning, and an
extraordinary cavity was opened behind the retaining wall of the
rampart, where a hole, a yard in diameter, was carried into the ground
to the depth of twenty feet, and two chambers, each six feet in length,
branched out on either side at its extremity.]
[Footnote 2: One morning on awaking at Pusilawa, in the hills between
Kandy and Neuera-ellia, I was taken to see the effect of a few hours'
rain, during the night, on a macadamised road which I had passed the
evening before. There was no symptom of a storm at sunset, and the
morning was bright and cloudless; but between midnight and dawn such an
inundation had swept the highway that in many places the metal had been
washed over the face of the acclivity; and in one spot where a sudden
bend forced the torrent to impinge against the bank, it had scooped out
an excavation extending to the centre of the high road, thirteen feet in
diameter, and deep enough to hold a carriage and horses.]
This violence, however, seldom lasts more than an hour or two, and
gradually abates after intermittent paroxysms, and a serenely clear sky
supervenes. For some days, heavy showers continue to fall at intervals
in the forenoon; and the evenings which follow are embellished by
sunsets of the most gorgeous splendour, lighting the fragments of clouds
that survive the recent storm.
[Sidenote:
Wind S.W.
Temperature, 24 hours:
Mean greatest 85.8�
Mean least 74.4�
Rain (inches) 6.8]
_June_.--The extreme heat of the previous month becomes modified in
June: the winds continue steadily to blow from the south-west, and
frequent showers, accompanied by lightning and thunder, serve still
further to diffuse coolness throughout the atmosphere and verdure over
the earth.
So instantaneous is the response of Nature to the influence of returning
moisture, that, in a single day, and almost between sunset and dawn, the
green hue of reviving vegetation begins to tint the saturated ground. In
ponds, from which but a week before the wind blew clouds of sandy dust,
the peasantry are now to be seen catching the re-animated fish; and
tank-shells and water-beetles revive and wander over the submerged
sedges. The electricity of the air stimulates the vegetation of the
trees; and scarce a week will elapse till the plants are covered with
the larv� of butterflies, the forest murmuring with the hum of insects,
and the air harmonious with the voice of birds.
The extent to which the temperature is reduced, after the first burst of
the monsoon, is not to be appreciated by the indications of the
thermometer alone, but is rendered still more sensible by the altered
density of the air, the drier state of which is favourable to
evaporation, whilst the increase of its movement bringing it more
rapidly in contact with the human body, heat is more readily carried
off, and the coolness of the surface proportionally increased. It
occasionally happens during the month of June that the westerly wind
acquires considerable strength, sometimes amounting to a moderate gale.
The fishermen, at this period, seldom put to sea: their canoes are drawn
far up in lines upon the shore, and vessels riding in the roads of
Colombo are often driven from their anchorage and stranded on the beach.
[Sidenote:
Wind S.W.
Temperature, 24 hours:
Mean greatest 84.8�
Mean least 74.9�
Rain (inches) 3.4]
_July_ resembles, to a great extent, the month which precedes it, except
that, in all particulars the season is more moderate, showers are less
frequent, there is less wind, and less absolute heat.
[Sidenote:
Wind S.W.
Temperature, 24 hours:
Mean greatest 84.9�
Mean least 74.7�
Rain (inches) 2.8]
_August_.--In August the weather is charming, notwithstanding
withstanding a slight increase of heat, owing to diminished evaporation;
and the sun being now on its return to the equator, its power is felt in
greater force on full exposure to its influence.
[Sidenote:
Wind S.W.
Temperature, 24 hours:
Mean greatest 84.9�
Mean least 74.8�
Rain (inches) 5.2]
_September_.--The same atmospheric condition continues throughout
September, but towards its close the sea-breeze becomes unsteady and
clouds begin to collect, symptomatic of the approaching change to the
north-east monsoon. The nights are always clear and delightfully cool.
Rain is sometimes abundant.
[Sidenote:
Wind S.W. and N.E.
Temperature, 24 hours:
Mean greatest 85.1�
Mean least 73.3�
Rain (inches) 11.2]
_October_ is more unsettled, the wind veering towards the north, with
pretty frequent rain; and as the sun is now far to the southward, the
heat continues to decline.
[Sidenote:
Wind N.E.
Temperature, 24 hours:
Mean greatest 86.3�
Mean least 71.5�
Rain (inches) 10.7]
_November_ sees the close of the south-west monsoon and the arrival of
the north-eastern. In the early part of the month the wind visits nearly
every point of the compass, but shows a marked predilection for the
north, generally veering from N.E. at night and early morning, to N.W.
at noon; calms are frequent and precede gentle showers, and clouds form
round the lower range of hills. By degrees as the sun advances in its
southern declination, and warms the lower half of the great African
continent, the current of heated air ascending from the equatorial belt
leaves a comparative vacuum, towards which the less rarefied atmospheric
fluid is drawn down from the regions north, of the tropic, bringing with
it the cold and dry winds from the Himalayan Alps, and the lofty ranges
of Assam. The great change is heralded as before by oppressive calms,
lurid skies, vivid lightning, bursts of thunder, and tumultuous rain.
But at this change of the monsoon the atmospheric disturbance is less
striking than in May; the previous temperature is lower, the moisture of
the air is more reduced, and the change is less agreeably perceptible
from the southern breeze to the dry and parching wind from the north.
[Sidenote:
Wind N.E.
Temperature 24 hours:
Mean greatest 85�
Mean least 70�
Rain (inches) 4.3]
_December_.--In December the sun attains to its greatest southern
declination, and the wind setting steadily from the northeast brings
with it light but frequent rains from Bay Of Bengal. The thermometer
shows a maximum temperature of 85� with a minimum of 70�; the morning
and the afternoon are again enjoyable in the open air, but at night
every lattice that faces the north is cautiously closed against the
treacherous "along-shore-wind."
Notwithstanding the violence and volume in which the rains have been
here described as descending during the paroxysms of the monsoons, the
total rain-fall in Ceylon is considerably less than on the continent of
Throughout Hindustan the annual mean is 117.5 and on some parts on the
Malabar coast, upwards of 300 inches have fallen in a single year[1];
whereas the in Ceylon rarely exceeds 80, and the highest registered in
an exceptional season was 120 inches.
[Footnote 1: At Mahabaleshwar, in the Western Ghauts, the annual mean is
254 inches, and at Uttray Mullay; in Malabar, 263; whilst at Bengal it
is 209 inches at Sylhet; and 610.3 at Cherraponga.]
The distribution is of course unequal, both as to time and localities,
and in those districts where the fall is most considerable, the number
of rainless days is the greatest.[1] An idea may be formed of the deluge
that descends in Colombo during the change of the monsoon, from the fact
that out of 72.4 inches, the annual average there, no less than 20.7
inches fall in April and May, and 21.9 in October and November, a
quantity one-third greater than the total rain in England throughout an
entire year.
[Footnote 1: The average number of days on which rain fell at Colombo in
the years 1832, 1833, 1834, and 1835, was as follows:--
Days.
In January 3
February 4
March 6
April 11
May 13
June 13
July 8
August 10
September 14
October 17
November 11
December 8
---
Total 118]
In one important particular the phenomenon, of the Dekkan affords an
analogy for that which presents itself in Ceylon. During the south-west
monsoon the clouds are driven against the lofty chain of mountains that
overhang the western shore of the peninsula, and their condensed vapour
descends there in copious showers. The winds, thus early robbed of their
moisture, carry but little rain to the plains of the interior, and
whilst Malabar is saturated by daily showers, the sky of Coromandel is
clear and serene. In the north-east monsoon a condition the very
opposite exists; the wind that then prevails is much drier, and the
hills which it encounters being of lower altitude, the rains are carried
further towards the interior, and whilst the weather is unsettled and
stormy on the eastern shore, the western is comparatively exempt, and
enjoys a calm and cloudless sky.[1]
[Footnote 1: The mean of rain is, on the western side of the Dekkan, 80
inches, and on the eastern, 52.8.]
In like manner the west coast of Ceylon presents a contrast with the
east, both in the volume of rain in each of the respective monsoons, and
in the influence which the same monsoon exerts simultaneously on the one
side of the island and on the other. The greatest quantity of rain falls
on the south-western portion, in the month of May, when the wind from
the Indian Ocean is intercepted, and its moisture condensed by the lofty
mountain ranges, surrounding Adam's Peak. The region principally
affected by it stretches from Point-de-Galle, as far north as Putlam,
and eastward till it includes the greater portion of the ancient Kandyan
kingdom. But the rains do not reach the opposite side of the island;
whilst the west coast is deluged, the east is sometimes exhausted with
dryness; and it not unfrequently happens that different aspects of the
same mountain present at the same moment the opposite extremes of
drought and moisture.[1]
[Footnote 1: ADMIRAL FITZROY has described, in his _Narrative of the
Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle_, the striking degree in which this
simultaneous dissimilarity of climate is exhibited on opposite sides of
the Galapagos Islands; one aspect exposed to the south being covered
with verdure and freshened with moisture, whilst all others are barren
and parched.--Vol. ii. p. 502-3. The same state of things exists in the
east and west sides of the Peruvian Andes, and in the mountains of
Patagonia. And no more remarkable example of it exists than in the
island of Socotra, east of the Straits of Bab el Mandeb, the west coast
of which, during the north-east monsoon, is destitute of rain and
verdure, whilst the eastern side is enriched by streams and covered by
luxuriant pasturage.--_Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng._ vol. iv. p. 141.]
[Illustration: DIAGRAM EXHIBITING THE COMPARATIVE FALL OF RAIN ON THE
SEABORDE OF THE DEEKAN, AND AT COLOMBO, IN THE WESTERN PROVINCE OF
CEYLON.
One maximum at the spring change of the monsoon anticipating a little
that on the West coast of India; another at the autumnal change
corresponding more exactly with that of the East coast. The entire fall
through the year more equably distributed at Columbo.]
On the east coast, on the other hand, the fall, during the north-east
monsoon, is very similar in degree to that on the coast of Coromandel,
as the mountains are lower and more remote from the sea, the clouds are
carried farther inland and it rains simultaneously on both sides of the
island, though much less on the west than during the other monsoon.
_The climate of Galle_, as already stated, resembles in its general
characteristics that of Colombo, but, being further to the south, and
more equally exposed to the influence of both the monsoons, the
temperature is not quite so high; and, during the cold season, it falls
some degrees lower, especially in the evening and early morning.[1]
[Footnote 1: At Point-de-Galle, in 1854, the number of rainy days was as
follows:
Days.
January 12
February 7
March 16
April 12
May 23
June 18
July 11
August 21
September 16
October 20
November 15
December 13]
_Kandy_, from its position, shares in the climate of the western coast;
but, from the frequency of the mountain showers, and its situation, at
an elevation of upwards of sixteen hundred feet above the level of the
sea, it enjoys a much cooler temperature. It differs from the low
country in one particular, which is very striking--the early period of
the day at which the maximum heat is attained. This at Colombo is
generally between two and three o'clock in the afternoon, whereas at
Kandy the thermometer shows the highest temperature of the day between
ten and eleven o'clock in the morning.
In the low country, ingenuity has devised so many expedients for defence
from the excessive heat of the forenoon, that the languor it induces is
chiefly experienced after sunset, and the coolness of the night is
insufficient to compensate for the exhaustion of the day; but, in Kandy,
the nights are so cool that it is seldom that warm covering can be
altogether dispensed with. In the colder months, the daily range of the
thermometer is considerable--approaching 30�; in the others, it differs
little from 15�. The average mean, however, of each month throughout the
year is nearly identical, deviating only a degree from 76�, the mean
annual temperature.[1]
[Footnote 1: The following Table appeared in the _Colombo Observer_, and
is valuable from the care taken by Mr. Caley in its preparation;
_Analysis of the Climate at Peradenia, from 1851 to 1858 inclusive._
|Months. | Temperature. | Rainfall. | Remarks. |
| | | | |Aver-| |Average| |
| |Max. |Min.|Mean.|age | In.|of | |
| | | | | of | |Years / |
| | | | |Years| \ / |
|January |85.0 |52.5|74.06|6 |4.04 |6 |Fine, sunny, heavy dew at |
| | | | | | | |night, hot days, and cold |
| | | | | | | |nights and mornings. |
|February |87.75|55.0|75.76|7 |1.625 |6 |Fine, sunny, dewy nights, |
| | | | | | | |foggy mornings, days hot, |
| | | | | | | |nights and mornings cold. |
|March |89.5 |59.5|77.42|7 |3.669 |6 |Generally a very hot and |
| | | | | | | |oppressive month. |
|April |89.5 |67.5|77.91|7 |7.759 |6 |Showery, sultry, and |
| | | | | | | | oppressive weather. |
|May |88.0 |66.0|77.7 |8 |8.022 |6 |Cloudy, windy, rainy; |
| monsoon generally changes.|
|June |86.0 |71.0|76.69|8 |7.155 |6 |A very wet and stormy month.|
|July |86.0 |67.0|75.64|8 |5.72 |6 |Ditto ditto |
|August |85.5 |67.0|75.81|8 |8.55 |6 |Showery, but sometimes more |
| | | | | | | |moderate, variable |
|September |85.5 |67.0|76.13|8 |6.318 |6 |Pretty dry weather, compared|
| | | | | | | |with the next two months. |
|October |85.73|68.2|75.1 |8 |15.46 |6 |Wind variable, much rain. |
|November |84.0 |62.0|74.79|8 |14.732|6 |Wind variable, storms from |
| | | | | | | |all points of compass, wet; |
| | | | | | | |monsoon generally changes. |
|December |82.75|57.0|74.05|7 |7.72 |5 |Sometimes wet, but generally|
| | | | | | | |more moderate; towards |
| | | | | | | |end of year like January |
| | | | | | | |weather. |
Mean yearly Temperature, Mean yearly Nov. 29, 1858
75.92� Rainfall, 91.75 J.A. CALEY.
in. nearly.]
In all the mountain valleys, the soil being warmer than the air, vapour
abounds in the early morning for the most part of the year. It greatly
adds to the chilliness of travelling before dawn; but, generally
speaking, it is not wetting, as it is charged with the same electricity
as the surface of the earth and the human body. When seen from the
heights, it is a singular object, as it lies compact and white as snow
in the hollows beneath, but it is soon put in motion by the morning
currents, and wafted in the direction of the coast, where it is
dissipated by the sunbeams.
_Snow_ is unknown in Ceylon; _Hail_ occasionally falls in the Kandyan
hills at the change of the monsoon,[1] but more frequently during that
from the north-east. As observed at Kornegalle, the clouds, after
collecting as usual for a few evenings, and gradually becoming more
dense, advanced in a wedge-like form, with a well-defined outline. The
first fall of rain was preceded by a downward blast of cold air,
accompanied by hailstones which outstripped the rain in their descent.
Rain and hail then poured down together, and, eventually, the latter
only spread its deluge far and wide, In 1852, the hail which thus fell
at Kornegalle was of such a size that half-a-dozen lumps filled a
tumbler, In shape, they were oval and compressed, but the mass appeared
to have formed an hexagonal pyramid, the base of which was two inches in
diameter, and about half-an-inch thick, gradually thinning towards the
edge. They were tolerably solid internally, each containing about the
size of a pea of clear ice at the centre, but the sides and angles were
spongy and flocculent, as if the particles had been driven together by
the force of the wind, and had coalesced at the instant of contact. A
phenomenon so striking as the fall of ice, at the moment of the most
intense atmospherical heat, naturally attracts the wonder of the
natives, who hasten to collect the pieces, and preserve them, when
dissolved, in bottles, from a belief in their medicinal properties. Mr.
Morris, who has repeatedly observed hailstones in the Seven Korles, is
under the impression that their occurrence always happens at the first
outburst of the monsoon, and that they fall at the moment, which is
marked by the first flash of lightning.
[Footnote 1: It is stated in the _Physical Atlas_ of KEITH JOHNSTON,
that hail in India has not been noticed south of Madras. But in Ceylon
it has fallen very recently at Korngalle, at Badulla, at Kaduganawa; and
I have heard of a hail storm at Jaffna. On 1 the 24th of Sept. 1857,
during a thunder-storm, hail fell near Matelle in such quantity that in
places it formed drifts upwards of a foot in depth.]
According to Professor Stevelly, of Belfast, the rationale of their
appearance on such occasions seems to be that, on the sudden formation
and descent of the first drops, the air expanding and rushing into the
void spaces, robs the succeeding drops of their caloric so effectually
as to send them to the earth frozen into ice-balls.
These descriptions, it will be observed, apply exclusively to the
southern regions on the east and west of Ceylon; and, in many
particulars, they are inapplicable to the northern portions of the
island. At Trincomalie, the climate bears a general resemblance to that
of the Indian peninsula south of Madras: showers are frequent, but
light, and the rain throughout the year does not exceed forty inches.
With moist winds and plentiful dew, this sustains a vigorous vegetation
near the coast; but in the interior it would be insufficient for the
culture of grain, were not the water husbanded in tanks; and, for this
reason, the bulk of the population are settled along the banks of the
great rivers.
The temperature of this part of Ceylon follows the course of the sun,
and ranges from a minimum of 70� in December and January, to a maximum
of 94� in May and June; but the heat is rendered tolerable at all
seasons by the steadiness of the land and sea breezes.[1]
[Footnote 1: The following facts regarding the climate of Trincomalie
have been, arranged from elaborate returns furnished by Mr. Higgs, the
master-attendant of the port, and published under the authority of the
meteorological department of the Board of Trade:--
_Trincomalie_.
|Extreme
|Mean |Mean |Range |Highest |Days
1854 |Maximum |Minimum |for the |Temperature|of
|Temperature |Temperature |Month |Noted |Rain
Jan. | 81.3� | 74.7� | 14� | 83 | 10
Feb. | 83.8 | 75.8 | 14 | 86 | 7
Mar. | 85.9 | 76.1 | 16 | 88 | 3
April| 89.6 | 78.9 | 16 | 92 | 3
May | 89.1 | 79.3 | 19 | 93 | 3
June | 90.0 | 79.5 | 19 | 94 | 3
July | 87.7 | 77.7 | 16 | 90 | 5
Aug. | 87.9 | 77.4 | 16 | 91 | 4
Sept.| 89.3 | 77.8 | 18 | 93 | 2
Oct. | 85.2 | 75.8 | 15 | 89 | 14
Nov. | 81.O | 74.9 | 11 | 83 | 15
Dec. | 80.1 | 74.3 | 11 | 82 | 15
Mean temperature for the year 81.4.]
In the extreme north of the island, the peninsula of Jaffna, and the
vast plains of Neura-kalawa and the Wanny, form a third climatic
division, which, from the geological structure and peculiar
configuration of the district, differs essentially from the rest of
Ceylon. This region, which is destitute of mountains, is undulating in a
very slight degree; the dry and parching north-east wind desiccates the
soil in its passage, and the sandy plains are covered with a low and
scanty vegetation, chiefly fed by the night dews and whatever moisture
is brought by the on-shore wind. The total rain of the year does not
exceed thirty inches; and the inhabitants live in frequent apprehension
of droughts and famines. These conditions attain their utmost
manifestation at the extreme north and in the Jaffna peninsula: there
the temperature is the highest[1] in the island, and, owing to the
humidity of the situation and the total absence of hills, it is but
little affected by the changes of the monsoons; and the thermometer
keeps a regulated pace with the progress of the sun to and from the
solstices. The soil, except in particular spots, is porous and sandy,
formed from the detritus of the coral rocks which it overlays. It is
subject to droughts sometimes of a whole year's continuance; and rain,
when it falls, is so speedily absorbed, that it renders but slight
service to cultivation, which is entirely carried on by means of tanks
and artificial irrigation, in the practice of which the Tamil population
of this district exhibits singular perseverance and ingenuity.[2] In the
dry season, when scarcely any verdure is discernible above ground, the
sheep and goats feed on their knees--scraping away the sand, in order to
reach the wiry and succulent roots of the grasses. From the constancy of
this practice horny callosities are produced, by which these hardy
creatures may be distinguished.
[Footnote 1: The mean lowest temperature at Jaffna is 70�, the mean
highest 90�; but in 1845-6 the thermometer rose to 90� and 100�.]
[Footnote 2: For an account of the Jaffna wells, and the theory of their
supply with fresh water, see ch. i. p. 21.]
Water-spouts are frequent on the coast of Ceylon, owing to the different
temperature of the currents of air passing across the heated earth and
the cooler sea, but instances are very rare of their bursting over land,
or of accidents in consequence.[1]
[Footnote 1: CAMOENS, who had opportunities of observing the phenomena
of these seas during his service on board the fleet of Cabral, off the
coast of Malabar and Ceylon, has introduced into the _Lusiad_ the
episode of a water-spout in the Indian Ocean; but, under the belief that
the water which descends had been previously drawn up by suction from
the ocean, he exclaims:--
"But say, ye sages, who can weigh the cause,
And trace the secret springs of Nature's laws;
Say why the wave, of bitter brine erewhile,
Should be the bosom of the deep recoil,
Robbed of its salt, and from the cloud distil,
Sweet as the waters of the limpid rill?"
(Book v.)
But the truth appears to be that the torrent which descends from a
water-spout, is but the condensed accumulation of its own vapour, and,
though in the hollow of the lower cone which rests upon the surface of
the sea, salt water may possibly ascend in the partial vacuum caused by
revolution; or spray may be caught up and collected by the wind, still
these cannot be raised by it beyond a very limited height, and what
Camoens saw descend was, as he truly says, the sweet water distilled
from the cloud.]
A curious phenomenon, to which the name of "anthelia" has been given,
and which may probably have suggested to the early painters the idea of
the glory surrounding the heads of beatified saints, is to be seen in
singular beauty, at early morning, in Ceylon. When the light is intense,
and the shadows proportionally dark--when the sun is near the horizon,
and the shadow of a person walking is thrown on the dewy grass--each
particle of dew furnishes a double reflection from its concave and
convex surfaces; and to the spectator his own figure, but more
particularly the head, appears surrounded by a halo as vivid as if
radiated from diamonds.[1] The Buddhists may possibly have taken from
this beautiful object their idea of the _agni_ or emblem of the sun,
with which the head of Buddha is surmounted. But unable to express a
_halo_ in sculpture, they concentrated it into a _flame_.
[Footnote 1: SCORESBY describes the occurrence of a similar phenomenon
in the Arctic Seas in July, 1813, the luminous circle being produced on
the particles of fog which rested on the calm water. "The lower part of
the circle descended beneath my feet to the side of the ship, and
although it could not be a hundred feet from the eye, it was perfect,
and the colours distinct. The centre of the coloured circle was
distinguished by my own shadow, the head of which, enveloped by a halo,
was most conspicuously pourtrayed. The halo or glory evidently impressed
on the fog, but the figure appeared to be a shadow on the water; the
different parts became obscure in proportion to their remoteness from
the head, so that the lower extremities were not perceptible."--_Account
of the Arctic Regions_, vol. i. ch. v. sec. vi. p. 394. A similar
phenomenon occurs in the Khasia Hills, in the north-east of
Bengal.--_Asiat. Soc. Journ. Beng._ vol. xiii. p. 616.]
[Illustration: THE ANTHELIA AS IT APPEARS TO THE PERSON HIMSELF]
Another luminous phenomenon which sometimes appears in the hill country,
consists of beams of light, which intersect the sky, whilst the sun is
yet in the ascendant; sometimes horizontally, accompanied by
intermitting movements, and sometimes vertically, a broad belt of the
blue sky interposing between them.[1]
[Footnote 1: VIGNE mentions an appearance of this kind in the valley of
Kashmir: "Whilst the rest of the horizon was glowing golden over the
mountain tops, a broad well-defined ray-shaped streak of indigo was
shooting upwards in the zenith: it remained nearly stationary about an
hour, and was then blended into the sky around it, and disappeared with
the day. It was, no doubt, owing to the presence of some particular
mountains which intercepted the red rays, and threw a blue shadow, by
causing so much of the sky above Kashmir to remain unaffected by
them."--_Travels in Kashmir_, vol. ii. ch. x. p. 115.]
In Ceylon this is doubtless owing to the air holding in suspension a
large quantity of vapour, which receives shadows and reflects rays of
light. The natives, who designate them "Buddha's rays," attach a
superstitious dread to their appearance, and believe them to be
portentous of misfortune--in every month, with the exception of _May_,
which, for some unexplained reason, is exempted.
HEALTH.--In connection with the subject of "Climate," one of the most
important inquiries is the probable effect on the health and
constitution of a European produced by a prolonged exposure to an
unvarying temperature, upwards of 30 degrees higher than the average of
Great Britain. But to this the most tranquillising reply is the
assurance that _mere heat, even to a degree beyond that of Ceylon, is
not unhealthy in itself_. Aden, enclosed in a crater of an extinct
volcano, is not considered insalubrious; and the hot season in India,
when the thermometer stands at 100� at midnight, is comparatively a
healthy period of the year. In fact, in numerous cases heat may be the
means of removing the immediate sources of disease. Its first
perceptible effect is a slight increase, of the normal bodily
temperature beyond 98�, and, simultaneously, an increased activity of
all the vital functions. To this everything contributes an exciting
sympathy--the glad surprise of the natural scenery, the luxury of
verdure, the tempting novelty of fruits and food, and all the
unaccustomed attractions of a tropical home. Under these combined
influences the nervous sensibility is considerably excited, and the
circulation acquires greater velocity, with somewhat diminished force.
This is soon followed, however, by the disagreeable evidences of the
effort made by the system to accommodate itself to the new atmospheric
condition. The skin often becomes fretted by "prickly heat," or
tormented by a profusion of boils, but relief being speedily obtained
through these resources, the new comer is seldom afterwards annoyed by a
recurrence of the process, unless under circumstances of impaired tone,
the result of weakened digestion or climatic derangement.
_Malaria_.--Compared with Bengal and the Dekkan, the climate of Ceylon
presents a striking superiority in mildness and exemption from all the
extremes of atmospheric disturbance; and, except in particular
localities, all of which are well known and avoided[1], from being
liable after the rains to malaria, or infested at particular seasons
with agues and fever, a lengthened residence in the island may be
contemplated, without the slightest apprehension of prejudicial results.
These pestilential localities are chiefly at the foot of mountains, and,
strange to say, in the vicinity of some active rivers, whilst the vast
level plains, whose stagnant waters are made available for the
cultivation of rice, are seldom or never productive of disease. It is
even believed that the deadly air is deprived of its poison in passing
over an expanse of still water; and one of the most remarkable
circumstances is, that the points fronting the aerial currents are those
exposed to danger, whilst projecting cliffs, belts of forest, and even
moderately high walls, serve to protect all behind them from attack.[2]
In traversing districts suspected of malaria, experience has dictated
certain precautions, which, with ordinary prudence and firmness, serve
to neutralise the risk--retiring punctually at sunset, generous diet,
moderate stimulants, and the daily use of quinine both before and after
exposure. These, and the precaution, at whatever sacrifice of comfort,
to sleep under mosquito curtains, have been proved in long journeys to
be valuable prophylactics against fever and the pestilence of the
jungle.
[Footnote 1: Notwithstanding this general condition, fevers of a very
serious kind have been occasionally known to attack persons on the
coast, who had never exposed themselves to the miasma of the jungle.
Such instances have occurred at Galle, and more rarely at Colombo. The
characteristics of places in this regard have, in some instances,
changed unaccountably; thus at Persadenia, close to Kandy, it was at one
time regarded as dangerous to sleep.]
[Footnote 2: Generally speaking, a flat open country is healthy, either
when flooded deeply by rains, or when dried to hardness by the sun; but
in the process of dessication, its exhalations are perilous. The wooded
slopes at the base of mountains are notorious for fevers; such as the
_terrai_ of the Nepal hills, the Wynaad jungle, at the foot of the
Ghauts, and the eastern side of the mountains of Ceylon.]
_Food_.--Always bearing in mind that of the quantity of food habitually
taken in a temperate climate, a certain proportion is consumed to
sustain the animal heat, it is obvious that in the glow of the tropics,
where the heat is already in excess, this portion of the ingesta not
only becomes superfluous so far as this office is concerned, but
occasions disturbance of the other functions both of digestion and
elimination. Over-indulgence in food, equally with intemperance in wine,
is one fruitful source of disease amongst Europeans in Ceylon; and
maladies and mortality are often the result of the former, in patients
who would repel as an insult the imputation of the latter.
So well have national habits conformed to instinctive promptings in this
regard, that the natives of hot countries have unconsciously sought to
heighten the enjoyment of food by taking their principal repast _after
sunset_[1]; and the European in the East will speedily discover for
himself the prudence, not only of reducing the quantity, but in regard
to the quality of his meals, of adopting those articles which nature has
bountifully supplied as best suited to the climate. With a moderate use
of flesh meat, vegetables, and especially farinaceous food, are chiefly
to be commended.
[Footnote 1: The prohibition of swine, which has formed an item in the
dietetic ritual of the Egyptians, the Hebrews, and Mahometans, has been
defended in all ages, from Manetho and Herodotus downwards, on the
ground that the flesh of an animal so foully fed has a tendency to
promote cutaneous disorders, a belief which, though held as a fallacy in
northern climates, may have a truthful basis in the East.--�LIAN, _Hist.
Anim._ 1. X. 16. In a recent general order Lord Clyde has prohibited its
use in the Indian army. Camel's flesh, which is also declared unclean in
Leviticus, is said to produce in the Arabs serious derangement of the
stomach.]
The latter is rendered attractive by the unrivalled excellence of the
Singhalese in the preparation of innumerable curries[1], each tempered
by the delicate creamy juice expressed from the flesh of the coco-nut
after it has been reduced to a pulp. Nothing of the same class in India
can bear a comparison with the piquant delicacy of a curry in Ceylon,
composed of fresh condiments and compounded by the skilful hand of a
native.
[Footnote 1: The popular error of thinking curry to be an invention of
the Portuguese in India is disproved by the mention in the _Rajavali_ of
its use in Ceylon in the second century before the Christian era, and in
the _Mahawanso_ in the fifth century of it. This subject is mentioned
elsewhere: see chapter on the Arts and Sciences of the Singhalese.]
_The use of fruit_--Fruits are abundant and wholesome; but with the
exception of oranges, pineapples, the luscious mango and the
indescribable "rambutan," for want of horticultural attention they are
inferior in flavour, and soon cease to be alluring.
_Wine_.--Wine has of late years become accessible to all, and has thus,
in some degree, been substituted for brandy; the abuse of which at
former periods is commemorated in the records of those fearful disorders
of the liver, derangements of the brain, exhausting fevers, and visceral
diseases, which characterise the medical annals of earlier times. With a
firm adherence to temperance in the enjoyment of stimulants, and
moderation in the pleasures of the table, with attention to exercise and
frequent resort to the bath, it may be confidently asserted that health
in Ceylon is as capable of preservation and life as susceptible of
enjoyment, as in any country within the tropics.
_Exposure_.--Prudence and foresight are, however, as indispensable there
as in any other climate to escape well-understood risks. Catarrhs and
rheumatism are as likely to follow needless exposure to the withering
"along-shore wind" of the winter months in Ceylon[1], as they are
traceable to unwisely confronting the east winds of March in Great
Britain; and during the alternation, from the sluggish heat which
precedes the monsoon, to the moist and chill vapours that follow the
descent of the rains, intestinal disorders, fevers, and liver complaints
are not more characteristic of an Indian monsoon than an English autumn,
and are equally amenable to those precautions by which liability may be
diminished in either place.
[Footnote 1: See _ante_, p. 57. It is an agreeable characteristic of the
climate of Ceylon, that sun-stroke, which is so common even in the
northern portions of India, is almost unknown in the island. Sportsmen
are out all day long in the hottest weather, a practice which would be
thought more than hazardous in Oude or the north-west provinces. Perhaps
an explanation of this may be found in the difference in moisture in the
two atmospheres, which may modify the degrees of evaporation; but the
inquiry is a curious one. It is becoming better understood in the army
that active service, and even a moderate exposure to the solar rays
(_always guarding them from the head_,) are conducive rather than
injurious to health in the tropics. The pale and sallow complexion of
ladies and children born in India, is ascribable in a certain degree to
the same process by which vegetables are blanched under shades which
exclude the light:--they are reared in apartments too carefully kept
dark.]
_Paleness_.--At the same time it must be observed, that the pallid
complexion peculiar to old residents, is not alone ascribable to an
organic change in the skin from its being the medium of perpetual
exudation, but in part to a deficiency of red globules in the blood, and
mainly to a reduced vigour in the whole muscular apparatus, including
the action of the heart, which imperfectly compensates by increased
rapidity for diminution of power. It is remarkable how suddenly this
sallowness disappears, and is succeeded by the warm tints of health,
after a visit of a very few days to the plains of Neuera-ellia, or the
picturesque coffee plantations in the hills that surround it.
_Ladies_.--Ladies, from their more regular and moderate habits, and
their avoidance of exposure, might be expected to withstand the climate
better than men; and to a certain extent the anticipation appears to be
correct, but it by no means justifies the assumption of general
immunity. Though less obnoxious to specific disease, debility and
delicacy are the frequent results of habitual seclusion and avoidance of
the solar light. These, added to more obvious causes of occasional
illness, suggest the necessity of vigorous exertion and regular exercise
as indispensable protectives.
If suitably clothed, and not injudiciously fed, children may remain in
the island till eight or ten years of age, when anxiety is excited by
the attenuation of the frame and the apparent absence of strength in
proportion to development. These symptoms, the result of relaxed tone
and defective nutrition, are to be remedied by change of climate either
to the more lofty ranges of the mountains, or, more providently, to
Europe.
_Effects on Europeans already Diseased_.--To persons already suffering
from disease, the experiment of a residence in Ceylon is one of
questionable propriety. Those of a scrofulous diathesis need not
consider it hazardous, as experience does not show that in such there is
any greater susceptibility to local or constitutional disorders, or that
when these are present, there is greater difficulty in their removal.
To those threatened with consumption, the island may be supposed to
offer some advantages in the equability of the temperature, and the
comparative quiescence of the lungs from reduced necessity for
respiratory effort. Besides, the choice of climates presented by Ceylon
enables a patient, by the easy change of residence to a different
altitude and temperature, avoiding the heats of one period and the dry
winds of another, to check to a great extent the predisposing causes
likely to lead to the development of tubercle. This, with attention to
clothing and systematic exercise as preventives of active disease, may
serve to restrain the further progress though it fail to eradicate the
tendency to phthibis. But when already the formation of tubercle has
taken place to any considerable extent, and is accompanied by softening,
the morbid condition is not unlikely to advance with alarming celerity;
and the only compensating circumstance is the diminution of apparent
suffering, ascribable to general languor, and the absence of the
bronchial irritation occasioned by cold humid air.
_Dyspepsia_.--Habitual dyspeptics, and those affected by hepatic
obstructions, had better avoid a lengthened sojourn in Ceylon; but the
tortures of rheumatism and gout, if they be not reduced, are certainly
postponed for longer intervals than those conceded to the same sufferers
in England. Gout, owing to the great cutaneous excretion, in most
instances totally disappears.
_Precautions for Health_.--Next to attention to diet, health in Ceylon
is mainly to be preserved by systematic exercise, and a costume adapted
to the climate and its requirements. Paradoxical as it may sound, the
great cause of disease in hot climates is _cold_. Nothing ought more
cautiously to be watched and avoided than the chills produced by
draughts and dry winds; and a change of dress or position should be
instantly resorted to when the warning sensation of chilliness is
perceived.
_Exercise_.--The early morning ride, after a single cup of coffee and a
biscuit on rising, and the luxury of the bath before dressing for
breakfast, constitute the enjoyments of the forenoon; and a similar
stroll on horseback, returning at sunset to repeat the bath[1]
preparatory to the evening toilette, completes the hygienic discipline
of the day. At night the introduction of the Indian punka into bed-rooms
would be valuable, a thin flannel coverlet being spread over the bed.
Nothing serves more effectually to break down an impaired constitution
in the tropics than the want of timely and refreshing sleep.
[Footnote 1: "Je me souviens que les deux premi�res ann�es que je fus en
ce pais-l�, j'eus deux maladies: _alors je pris la co�tume de me bien
laver soir et matin_, et pendant 16 ans que j'y ay demeur� depuis, je
n'ay pas senti le moindre mal."--RIBEYRO, _Hist. de l'Isle de Ceylan_,
vol. v. ch. xix. p. 149.]
_Dress_.--In the selection of dress experience has taught the
superiority of calico to linen, the latter, when damp from the
exhalation of the skin, causing a chill which is injurious, whilst the
former, from some peculiarity in its fibre, however moist it may become,
never imparts the same sensation of cold. The clothing best adapted to
the climate is that whose texture least excites the already profuse
perspiration, and whose fashion presents the least impediment to its
escape.[1] The discomfort of woollen has led to its avoidance as far as
possible; but those who, in England, may have accustomed themselves to
flannel, will find the advantage of persevering to wear it, provided it
is so light as not to excite perspiration. So equipped for active
exercise, exposure to the sun, however hot, may be regarded without
apprehension, provided the limbs are in motion and the body in ordinary
health; but the instinct of all oriental races has taught the necessity
of protecting the head, and European ingenuity has not failed to devise
expedients for this all-important object.
[Footnote 1: "Man not being created an aquatic animal, his skin cannot
with impunity be exposed to perpetual moisture, whether directly applied
or arising from perspiration retained by dress. The importance to health
of keeping the skin _dry_ does not appear to have hitherto received due
attention."--PICKERING, _Races of Man_, &c., ch. xliv.]
From what has been said, it will be apparent that, compared with
continental India, the securities for health in Ceylon are greatly in
favour of the island. As to the formidable diseases which are common to
both, their occurrence in either is characterised by the same appalling
manifestations: dysentery fastens, with all its fearful concomitants, on
the unwary and incautious; and cholera, with its dark horrors, sweeps
mysteriously across neglected districts, exacting its hecatombs. But the
visitation and ravages of both are somewhat under control, and the
experience bequeathed by each gloomy visitation has added to the
facilities for checking its recurrence.[1]
[Footnote 1: "It is worthy of remark, that although all the troops in
Ceylon have occasionally, but at rare intervals; suffered severely from
cholera, the disease has in very few instances attacked the officers; or
indeed Europeans in the same grade of life. This is one important
difference to be borne in mind when estimating the comparative risk of
life in India and Ceylon. It must be due to the difference in comforts
and quarters, or more particularly to the exemption from night duty, by
far the most trying of the soldiers' hardships. The small mortality
amongst the officers of European regiments in Ceylon is very
remarkable."--_Note_ by Dr. CAMERON, Army Med. Staff.]
In some of the disorders incidental to the climate, and the treatment of
ulcerations caused by the wounds of the mosquitoes and leeches, the
native Singhalese have a deservedly high reputation; but their practice,
when it depends on specifics, is too empirical to be safely relied on;
and their traditional skill, though boasting a well authenticated
antiquity, achieves few triumphs in competition with the soberer
discipline of European science.
CHAP. III.
VEGETATION.--TREES AND PLANTS.
Although the luxuriant vegetation of Ceylon has at all times been the
theme of enthusiastic admiration, its flora does not probably exceed
3000 ph�nogamic plants[1]; and notwithstanding that it has a number of
endemic species, and a few genera, which are not found on the great
Indian peninsula, still its botanical features may be described as those
characteristic of the southern regions of Hindustan and the Dekkan. The
result of some recent experiments has, however, afforded a curious
confirmation of the opinion ventured by Dr. Gardner, that, regarding its
botany geographically, Ceylon exhibits more of the Malayan flora and
that of the Eastern Archipelago, than of any portion of India to the
west of it. Two plants peculiar to Malacca, the nutmeg and the
mangustin, have been attempted, but unsuccessfully, to be cultivated in
Bengal; but in Ceylon the former has been reared near Colombo with such
singular success that its produce now begins to figure in the exports of
the island;--and mangustins, which, ten years ago, were exhibited as
curiosities from a single tree in the old Botanic Garden at Colombo, are
found to thrive readily, and they occasionally appear at table,
rivalling in their wonderful delicacy of flavour those which have
heretofore been regarded as peculiar to the Straits.
[Footnote 1: The prolific vegetation of the island is likely to cause
exaggeration in the estimate of its variety. Dr. Gardner, shortly after
his appointment as superintendent of the Botanic Garden at Kandy, in
writing to Sir W. Hooker, conjectured that the Ceylon flora might extend
to 4000 or 5000 species. But from a recent _Report_ of the present
curator, Mr. Thwaites, it appears that the indigenous ph�nogamic plants
discovered up to August, 1856, was 2670; of which 2025 were
dicotyledonous, and 644 monocotyledonous flowering plants, besides 247
ferns and lycopods. When it is considered that this is nearly double the
indigenous flora of England, and little under _one thirtieth_ of the
entire number of plants hitherto described over the world, the botanical
richness of Ceylon, in proportion to its area, must be regarded as equal
to that of any portion of the globe.]
Up to the present time the botany of Ceylon has been imperfectly
submitted to scientific scrutiny. Linn�us, in 1747, prepared his _Flora
Zeylanica_, from specimens collected by Hermann, which had previously
constituted the materials of the _Thesaurus Zeylanicus_ of Burman and
now form part of the herbarium in the British Museum. A succession of
industrious explorers have been since engaged in following up the
investigation[1]; but, with the exception of an imperfect and
unsatisfactory catalogue by Moon, no enumeration of Ceylon plants has
yet been published. Dr. Gardner had made some progress with a Singhalese
Flora, when his death took place in 1849, an event which threw the task
on other hands, and has postponed its completion for years.[2]
[Footnote 1: Amongst the collections of Ceylon plants deposited in the
Hookerian Herbarium, are those made by General and Mrs. Walker, by Major
Champion (who left the island in 1848), and by Mr. Thwaites, who
succeeded Dr. Gardner in charge of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kandy.
Moon, who had previously held that appointment, left extensive
collections in the herbarium at Peradenia which have been lately
increased by his successors; and Macrae, who was employed by the
Horticultural Society of London, has enriched their museum with Ceylon
plants. Some admirable letters of Mrs. Walker are printed in HOOKER'S
_Companion to the Botanical Magazine_. They include an excellent account
of the vegetation of Ceylon.]
[Footnote 2: Dr. Gardner, in 1848, drew up a short paper containing
_Some Remarks on the Flora of Ceylon_, which was printed in the appendix
to LEE'S _Translation of Ribeyro_: to this essay, and to his personal
communications during frequent journeys, I am indebted for many facts
incorporated in the following pages.]
From the identity of position and climate, and the apparent similarity
of soil between Ceylon and the southern extremity of the Indian
peninsula, a corresponding agreement might be expected between their
vegetable productions: and accordingly in its aspects and subdivisions
Ceylon participates in those distinctive features which the monsoons
have imparted respectively to the opposite shores of Hindustan. The
western coast being exposed to the milder influence of the south-west
wind, shows luxuriant vegetation, the result of its humid and temperate
climate; whilst the eastern, like Coromandel, has a comparatively dry
and arid aspect, produced by the hot winds which blow for half the year.
The littoral vegetation of the seaborde exhibits little variation from
that common throughout the Eastern archipelago; but it wants the
_Phoenix paludosa_[1], a dwarf date-palm, which literally covers the
islands of the Sunderbunds at the delta of the Ganges. A dense growth of
mangroves[2] occupies the shore, beneath whose overarching roots the
ripple of the sea washes unseen over the muddy beach.
[Footnote 1: Drs. HOOKER and THOMSON, in their _Introductory Essay to
the Flora of India_, speaking of Ceylon, state that the _Nipa fruticans_
(another characteristic palm of the Gangetic delta) and _Cycads_ are
also wanting there, but both these exist (the former abundantly), though
perhaps not alluded to in any work on Ceylon botany to which those
authors had access. In connection with this subject it may be mentioned,
as a fact which is much to be regretted, that, although botanists have
been appointed to the superintendence of the Botanic Gardens at Kandy,
information regarding the vegetation of the island is scarcely
obtainable without extreme trouble and reference to papers scattered
through innumerable periodicals. That the majority of Ceylon plants are
already known to science is owing to the coincidence of their being also
natives of India, whence they have been described; but there has been no
recent attempt on the part of colonial or European botanists even to
throw into a useful form the already published descriptions of the
commoner plants of the island. Such a work would be the first step to a
Singhalese Flora. The preparation of such a compendium would seem, to
belong to the duties of the colonial botanist, and as such it was an
object of especial solicitude to the late superintendent, Dr. Gardner.
But the heterogeneous duties imposed upon the person holding his office
(the evils arising from which are elsewhere alluded to), have hitherto
been insuperable obstacles to the attainment of this object, as they
have also been to the preparation of a systematic account of the general
features of Ceylon vegetation. Such a work is strongly felt to be a
desideratum by numbers of intelligent persons in Ceylon, who are not
accomplished botanists, but who are anxious to acquire accurate ideas as
to the aspects of the flora at different elevations, different seasons,
and different quarters of the island; of the kinds of plants that
chiefly contribute to the vegetation of the coasts, the plains, and
mountains; of the general relations that subsist between them and the
flora of the Carnatic, Malabar, and the Malay archipelago; and of the
more useful plants in science, arts, medicine, and commerce.
To render such a work (however elementary) at once accurate as well as
interesting, would require sound scientific knowledge; and, however
skilfully and popularly written, there would still be portions somewhat
difficult of comprehension to the ordinary reader; but curiosity would
be stimulated by the very occurrence of difficulty, and thus an impulse
might be given to the acquisition of rudimentary botany, which would
eventually enable the inquirer to contribute his quota to the natural
history of Ceylon.
P.S. Since the foregoing was written, Mr. Thwaites has announced the
early publication of a new work on Ceylon plants, to be entitled
_Enumeratio Plantarum Zeylani�: with Descriptions of the new and little
known genera and species_, and observations on their habits, uses, &c.
In the Identification of the species Mr. Thwaites is to be assisted by
Dr. Hooker, F.R.S.; and from their conjoint labours we may at last hope
for a production worthy of the subject.]
[Footnote 2: Rhizophera Candelaria, Kandelia Rheedei, Bruguiera
gymnorhiza.]
Retiring from the strand, there are groups of _Sonneratia[1], Avicennia,
Heritiera_, and _Pandanus_; the latter with a stem like a dwarf palm,
round which the serrated leaves ascend in spiral convolutions till they
terminate in a pendulous crown, from which drop the amber clusters of
beautiful but uneatable fruit, with a close resemblance in shape and
colour to that of the pineapple, from which, and from the peculiar
arrangement of the leaves, the plant has acquired its name of the
Screw-pine.
[Footnote 1: At a meeting of the Entomological Society in 1842, Dr.
Templeton sent, for the use of the members, many thin slices of
substance to replace cork-wood as a lining for insect cases and drawers.
Along with the soft wood he sent the following notice:--"In this country
(he writes from Colombo, Ceylon, May 19, 1842), along the marshy banks
of the large rivers, grows a very large handsome tree, named _Sonneratia
acida_, by the younger Linn�us: its roots spread far and wide through
the soft moist earth, and at various distances along send up most
extraordinary long spindle-shaped excrescences four or five feet above
the surface. Of these Sir James Edward Smith remarks 'what these
horn-shaped excrescences are which occupy the soil at some distance from
the base of the tree from a span to a foot in length and of a corky
substance, as described by Rumphins, we can offer no conjecture.' Most
curious things (remarks Dr. Templeton) they are; they all spring very
narrow from the root, expand as they rise, and then become gradually
attenuated, occasionally forking, but never throwing out shoots or
leaves, or in any respect resembling the parent root or wood. They are
firm and close in their texture, nearly devoid of fibrous structure, and
take a moderate polish when cut with a sharp instrument; but for lining
insect boxes and making setting-boards they have no equal in the world.
The finest pin passes in with delightful ease and smoothness, and is
held firmly and tightly so that there is no risk of the insects becoming
disengaged. With a fine saw I form them into little boards and then
smooth them with a sharp case knife, but the London veneering-mills
would turn them out fit for immediate use, without any necessity for
more than a touch of fine glass-paper. Some of my pigmy boards are two
feet long by three and a half inches wide, which is more than sufficient
for our purpose, and to me they have proved a vast acquisition. The
natives call them 'Kirilimow,' the latter syllable signifying
root"--TEMPLETON, _Trans. Ent. Soc._ vol. iii. p. 302.]
A little further inland, the sandy plains are covered by a thorny
jungle, the plants of which are the same as those of the Carnatic, the
climate being alike; and wherever man has encroached on the solitude,
groves of coco-nut palms mark the vicinity of his habitations.
Remote from the sea, the level country of the north has a flora almost
identical with that of Coromandel; but the arid nature of the Ceylon
soil, and its drier atmosphere, is attested by the greater proportion of
euphorbias and fleshy shrubs, as well as by the wiry and stunted nature
of the trees, their smaller leaves and thorny stems and branches.[1]
[Footnote 1: Dr. Gardner.]
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