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 espèce de paradis, et se sont imaginé
que des êtres d'une nature angélique les habitaient."--ALBYROUNI, Traité
des Ères, &c.; REINAUD, Géographie d'Aboulféda, 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 Sabæan
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
Sabæan 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
neuvième siècle_. 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 Aboulféda_, sec. iii. p. ccxvii., and his
_Mémoire 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 _résumé_ 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
Géographie 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. GÜNTHER, 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
palæotropical 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 mæstro e sirocco; et per
il mezo d'essa passa la linea equinottiale et è 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 à l'écrevisse; 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 betùn liquido y bolcanes de perpetuas
llamas que arrojan entre las asperezas de la montaña losas de
açufre."--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 "assuedamé" 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 volonté 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: Ruanwellé, 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, composé de détriments 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 Matté.
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.