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CEYLON

AND ITS CAPABILITIES

AN ACCOUNT OF ITS

NATURAL RESOURCES, INDIGENOUS PRODUCTIONS, AND COMMERCIAL FACILITIES

Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019 with funding from Public.Resource.Org

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CEYLON

AND ITS CAPABILITIES

AN ACCOUNT OF ITS

NATURAL RESOURCES, INDIGENOUS PRODUCTIONS, AND COMMERCIAL FACILITIES

TO WHICH ARE ADDED

DETAILS OF ITS STATISTICS, PILOTAGE AND SAILING DIRECTIONS

AND

AN APPENDIX,

CONTAINING THE ROYAL CHARTER OF JUSTICE, THE KANDYAN CONVENTION OF 1815, ORDINANCES OF THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENT ON VARIOUS Mm tERS CONNECTED WITH THE COMMERCE OF THAT ISLAND, ETC. El

WITH PLAIN AND COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS

J. W. BENNETT

ASIAN EDUCATIONAL SERVICES

NEW DELHI ★ MADRAS ★ 1998

ASIAN EDUCATIONAL SERVICES

* 31, HAUZ KHAS VILLAGE, NEW DELHI - 110016.

CABLE : ASIA BOOKS, PH. : 660187, 668594, FAX : 011-6852805

* 5. SRIPURAM FIRST STREET, MADRAS - 600014. PH. / FAX. : 8265040

First Published : London, 1843 AES Reprint : New Delhi, 1998 ISBN : 81-206-1168-3

Published by J. Jetley

for ASIAN EDUCATIONAL SERVICES

C-2/15, SDA New Delhi - 1 10016

Processed by Gautam Jetley

Printed at Subham Offset, Delhi - 1 10032

CEYLON

AND ITS CAPABILITIES;

AN ACCOUNT

OF ITS

NATURAL RESOURCES, INDIGENOUS PRODUCTIONS, AND COMMERCIAL FACILITIES;

TU WHICH ARE ADDED

DETAILS OF ITS STATISTICS, PILOTAGE AND SAILING DIRECTIONS,

AND

AN APPENDIX,

0 7

CONTAINING THE ROYAL CHARTER OF JUSTICE, THE KANDYAN CONVENTION OF 1815, ORDINANCES OF THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENT ON VARIOUS MATTERS CONNECTED WITH THE COMMERCE

OF THAT ISLAND, ETC. ETC.

WITH PLAIN AND COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS.

J. W. BENiVET T, E S Q., F. L. S.,

LATE CEYLON CIVIL ESTABLISHMENT.

LONDON:

\YM H. ALLEN AND CO., 7, LEADENHALL-STREET.

1843

TO

THE RIGHT HONORABLE

THE EARL OF RIPON,

D.C.L., F.R.S., H.S., R.G.S.,

PRESIDENT OF HER MAJESTY’S BOARD OF CONTROL FOR THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA.

PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATCRE,

&c. Nic. 6cc.

UNDER WHOSE BENIGN ADMINISTRATION OF THE COLONIES, BETWEEN THE Y EARS 1830 Sc 1833. INCLUSIVELY. THE MONOPOLIES WHICH THE PORTUGUESE AND DUTCH HAD ORIGINALLY ESTABLISHED,

AND THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT HAD CONTINUED,

IN THE ISLAND OF CEYLON,

FROM THE PERIOD OF ITS CESSION IN THE YEAR 1796, TO THE YEAR 1832,

WERE ABOLISHED ;

A MOST INTOLERABLE INCUBUS UPON NATIVE INDUSTRY REMOVED ;

THE LABOURING CLASSES RELIEVED FROM THE OPPRESSIVE SYSTEM OF FEUDAL SERVICE ; EXTENSIVE REDUCTIONS EFFECTED IN THE PUBLIC CIVIL DEPARTMENTS : AGRICULTURE EXTENDED ; COMMERCE PROTECTED ; THE REVENUE INCREASED ;

\ND THE MOST IMPORTANT INTERESTS OF THAT INVALUABLE COLONY, EITHER PROMOTED OR SECURED

THIS VOLUME,

UPON

“CEYLON AND ITS CAPABILITIES,”

IS HUMBLY DEDICATED,

BY

HIS LORDSHIP’S VERY FAITHFUL AND MOST OBEDI' NT SERVANT,

LONDON, JUNE 20th, 1813.

THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE.

Whatever original materials, whether derived from my own observations or the communications of others, during a long residence at Ceylon, may have been employed in the compilation of the following pages, it would have been difficult to have satisfied myself, or to answer the anticipated purpose of my undertaking, if I had not also drawn largely from the best ancient and modern historians, who have (partly) preceded me in the same route ; although without having the same object in view ; — that of drawing the attention of British capitalists to the most important and valuable of all the insular possessions of the Imperial crown.

Ceylon, though comparatively but little known, is pre-eminent in natural resources, and abounds in all the necessaries and most of the luxuries that minister to the gratification of human nature. Its vast importance in every sense, political, fiscal, agricultural, and com¬ mercial, has hitherto been too much overlooked by capitalists ; a neglect, which, I would fain hope, has arisen from the want of detailed information, or the pressure of other objects, apparently more interesting, only because better understood.

The object of my humble description is, to submit to public view the great capabili¬ ties of this magnificent island ; — its fertile soil, indigenous vegetable productions, including dyes, medicinal plants, gums, and naturalized exotics ; its minerals ; wild and domestic animals ; varieties of timber for construction and ornament ; fisheries ; immense uncultivated tracts of arable and other lands ; employed and unemployed population ; and its exports, already large, and easily to be increased.

To these, I have added my humble suggestions for establishing farms for the improve¬ ment of the native breed of cattle and other domestic animals, and for supplying the Royal Navy and Commercial Marine with stock of every description ; factories for curing the varieties of useful fishes which abound on the coasts, and for the manufacture of important articles of commerce, easily obtainable, but now altogether neglected, — all offering ample employment and prompt returns for British capital and enterprise : and I have not omitted to point out how a gratuitous supply of Teak timber may be provided for the future exigencies of the Royal Navy.

PREFACE.

And further, in the hope of affording all useful and practical information, for merchant*, visitors, naval and military officers, emigrants, manufacturers, and colonists, 1 have detailed the statistics, &c., of the island, including climate, provinces, judicial circuits, revenue, eccle¬ siastical, judicial, civil, and military establishments, missions, schools, public societies, and charities, native festivals, and the features of the country and roads; together with pilotage and sailing directions along the coast and into the harbours and roads of the island, which I have extracted, at large, from the last edition of ‘"'Captain James Horsburgh’s Directory, improved from the correct surveys of Captain David Ross, marine surveyor to the Honorable the East India Company,” and published in the year I83G ; and 1 am not aware, that any thing strictly connected with the object in view, has been omitted.

I have also added the latitude and longitude of various given points in the island, derived from the surveys of James Twynam, Esq., master attendant at Galle, and of the late Richard Brook, Esq., master attendant at Trincomale.

I have preferred citing the best authorities now extant upon the mineralogy of the island, to giving my own plainer and humbler remarks, because the latter must altogether have excluded scieutiiic information upon this important branch of natural history.

In conclusion, I thankfully acknowledge that I have derived much of my information from the priest and the chief, the merchant and the agriculturist, the astrologer and the cullef of simples, or doctor, the mechanic and -the husbandman, the sea fisherman and the humbler angler for the finny tribes of the fresh-water streams and taluks ; and, in acknowledging my obligations to my several authorities, both ancient and modern, dead and living, I hope I have done them all the justice in my power, by this candid avowal.

The Author.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAP. I.

< biography oi Ceylon and its Dependencies — Ceylon partially known to the Romans — Its various names — Position upon 'the Geographical Lotos of the Hindoos — Tradition of its separation from Hindustan — Adam's bridge — Satyrs — Garden of Eden — M. Toumefort — Variety of climate. — Pedrotalagalla — Ap¬ pearance of the island from the sea — Monsoons and their causes — General salubrity of the interior i. printout upon agriculture — Area of the island — Census of 1835 .

CHAP. II.

Slavery — The Honorable the Chief Justice originates the preparatory measure towards its abolition, and is zealously supported by the Governor — Proprietors of slaves tender the manumission of all slave children horn on and after the Prince Regent's birth-dav, 1816 — No part of the Parliamentary grant of £20,000,000 appropriated to Ceylon — Paternal care of slaves — James Sutherland, Esq. — James Nicholas Moovaart, Esq. — Foreign employes — Peculations and perjuries — Result of individual comments upon the re¬ employing or pensioning convicted peculators — Female children of slaves enfranchised by the Govern¬ ment — Ordinance for the more efficient protection of slaves . . .

CHAP. III.

Facilities of irrigation — Culture of rice inadequate to the consumption — Principal rivers — Analysis of their waters — Second-rate rivers — Inferior streams — Mountains — Artificial lakes — Suggestions for the introdue. non of Hindoo agriculturists — Ralph Backhouse, Esq. — Kandelle lake — King Malta Sen, A. D. 27-'5 — Dedication of lands to temples — Oppressive system of Rajah-Karia, or royal service, abolished in 1832, bv the Right Honorable Lord Viscount Goderich, His Majesty's principal Secretary of State for the Colonies — Restoration of the ancient tanks suggested — Amount paid for rice to French colonies in 1^40 — Suggestions for a general survey of lands adapted to the culture of rice, and for the non-removal uf Government Provincial Agents . . .

CHAP. IV.

Fiscal division of the island — Variety of soil — Sugar speculation at Kaltura fails — Successful introduction of the sugar-cane into culture at Koondesale — Revenue — Exports — Imports — Suggestions for relieving :he mercantile community from great delays and vexations — Colombo imports in 1840 and 1841, and increase of exports — Weights and measures — Dutch measures — Singhalese specification of the nature and tenure of lands . . . . .

*

11.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAP. V.

Local revenue first improved during Sir George Murray’s administration of the Colonies — Lord Viscount Goderich renders it permanent — Governor Sir Robert Wllmot Horton — Civil expenditure reduced — Chiel Secretary’s office reformed — Governor hanged in effigy — China carriers — Restoration of the Civil and Widows’ Pension Funds suggested — Lord Goderich’s liberality insufficiently appreciated — Civil and mili¬ tary pay and pensions contrasted — Revenue and expenditure — Imposts — Excess of revenue — Apathy to the culture of cotton — Suggestions for the formation of government cotton plantations, and for training females and children to habits of industry and profitable employment — Trade of Ceylon quadrupled since the acquisition of Kandy — Prices of British manufactures and colonial produce contrasted — Native partiality for British productions — Exceptions — Example, and reductions in taxation and customs’ duties, requisite to stimulate the Singhalese to industry and agricultural improvement — Anticipated results to the local revenue and home manufacturer . . .

CHAP. VI.

Judicial division of tlie island — District courts — Charter of justice — Suggestions for the appointment of barristers as superior district judges — Supreme court of judicature — Rank of judges — Proctors for paupers and prisoners — Queen’s advocate — Laws of bankruptcy and cessio bonorum — No jury in civil actions — Jury decides by the majority in criminal cases— Judges — Native attachment to trial by jury — Irregular mode of administering oaths to Buddhists — Hallan — Dutch method of swearing Buddhist witnesses — Buddhist priests, how sworn in courts of justice — Extraordinary coincidence respecting the Aspen ( Populus tremula) and Bogaha, or sacred fig trees ( Ficus religiosa ) . . . .

CHAP. VII.

Ecclesiastical establishment — Suggestions for a Ceylon Bishopric — Refonned church of Holland — Portu¬ guese mission — Papal mission, and suggestions for its removal — Baptist mission — Wesleyan mission — American mission — Church of England mission — Caste of Sorcerers — Conversion to Mahommedanism — Military establishment — Civil branch of the Ordnance — Pay and island allowances — Batta to Naval officers — Staff allowances . . .

CHAP. VIII.

Introduction of Cinnamon into Europe — Tribute to the king of Portugal — Cinnamon first cultivated by the Dutch — Plantations — Monopolies — The Right Honorable Lord Yiscount Goderich abolishes the cinnamon monopoly, and its numerous penalties and oppressions — Jackdaw — Cinnamon pigeon — Varieties of the cinnamon laurel — Nepenthes distillatoria, Gloriosa superba, Ixora eoccinea, Vinca rosa — Soil of the Colombo cinnamon plantations — Chalias, or cinnamon peelers — Mode of ascertaining the maturity, and barking, assorting, and tasting cinnamon— Prices of cinnamon lands in 1840— Prices of the spice — Reve¬ nue from cinnamon — Cinnamon oil, water, and candles — Clove oil made from the cinnamon leaf — Black pepper indispensable to the preservation of cinnamon — Cinnamon breezes bubbles of the imagination — Pandanus odoratissimus — Arum foetidum — Hoax upon Griffins .

CHAP. IX.

ulture of Indigo entirely neglected — Apathy of the Government and individuals respecting it — Indigenous indigo — None exported since 1794 — Tangalle, in the Southern Province, abounds with it, and offers great facilities for establishing a factory — Mr. Fawkener, a Bengal indigo planter, proposes to establish an indigo farm and manufactory, and is refused — Extraordinary hypothesis — Indigo exported by the Dutch — Pro-

• Ill Ik

*« i i i • • i • M lit . oiii|jan V I' •iiiiniH .m .j ^|» •mu .. . V| removal — Abandonment ol the scheme- Foecula of the mdigo leal a valuable manure — Madung Appo- Speciraens of indigo made from other indigenous plants — Best mode of selecting indigo seeds — Methoci> of manufacturing indigo — Estimated cost of an indigo factory — Indigo sown every second year — Culture of coffee — Land not in the same insecure state in Ceylon as in India — Hints to intending emigrants — Suggestions to Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for the Colonies for encouraging the cultivation ol indigo — Emigration to Ceylon and Australia contrasted . . 73

CHAP. X.

Palms of Ceylon — Description of the Coco-nut tree ( Cocos nudfera ) — Toddy drawing, from personal obser¬ vation — Sinnet for sailors’ hats — Sura, or palm wine — Varieties and domestic uses of the Cocus nucifera — Native method of planting it, and superstitious use of salt — Fronds — Timber — Hiromane — Produce of a coco-nut tree — Medicinal properties of the coco-nut palm — Extraordinary notions about its superabun¬ dance — Facility of planting it — Coco-nut oil used in the manufacture of soap and candles — Suggestions for extending the culture of the coco-nut palm in the West Indian and West African colonies . 81

CHAP. XI.

Areka Palm ( Areca Catechu) — Nut anti-scorbutic — Spathe — Its uses — Properties of the nut — Suggestions for condensing the dye — Heat generated by the nuts — Terra Japonica — Areka wood excellent for bows — Palmyra ( Borasms Jiabelliformis) — Buddhist priests and their fans — Native books — Palm oil — Kellingo —

Palmyra toddy and jaggery — Timber - Sugar Palm ( Caryota ureas) — Fishing rods — Sago — Elephant

bows and nooses — Toddy and jaggery — Hookahs — Calabashes - Talipat Palm ( Corypha umbraculi-

fera, L,, and Licuala spinosa of Thunberg)— -Talipat leaf, and its uses — Conflicting accounts of the report caused by the bursting of the spathe — Talipat sago — Talipat palm at Colombo — M. de la Loubere’s notice of the uses of the talipat fan by the priests of Siam — Talipat plants sent to England by the author- — Tavelam tents — Palms from Mauritius introduced into Ceylon — Phoenix sylvestris — Dwarf palm . 89

CHAP. XII.

Digression — Extraordinary effeminacy of the Singhalese men — Women — Betel — Kissing — Female dress — Inferiority of Singhalese to Malabar women — Costume of Headmen — Mr. John Brexius de Zielfa — Re¬ sult of his assumption of shoes and stockings — Predictions fulfilled — King William IV. — Lord Viscount Goderich — Sir Robert Wilmot Horton — Petty tyranny — Theatricals — Amphitheatre — Tragedy — Coco¬ nut lamps — Native music — Actors’ dresses — Native musical instruments . * . . . . 97

CHAP. XIII.

Singhalese proverbs — Dutch language — C. A. Prins, Esq. — Prevalence of the Hindo-Portuguese language — Native botanist and doctor — His extraordinary cure of blindness — Obligations to him — Major General Thomas Hardwicke, Bengal artillery — Pariar dog nuisance — Precautions against hydrophobia — John Tranchell, Esq. — Sudden entry of a rabid dog during dinner — The host’s coolness, and assurance of curing

his guests if bitten - Cattle — Swine — Improvements suggested — Rabbits— Poultry — Seir fish — Shell

fish — Turtle — Establishment of farms and agricultural prizes suggested — The Singhalese a litigious na¬ tion — Pointed knives illegal — A low-caste girl nearly murdered for covering her bosom with a kerchief ... 108

IV.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAP. XIV.

Exaggerated stories and Singhalese catalogue of Snakes — Reported transformation of the Coluber Naja, L., corroborated — Buddhists do not kill the sacred snake but send it to sea without a chance of escape — Charles P. Layard, Esq. — Cobra di Capello deprived of its eyes by mice — Caution to purchasers of snakes — Samp Wallahs and their exhibitions — Providential escape — Successful application of Eau de Luce, and of nitric and muriatic acid, in the cure of snake bites — John Tranchell, Esq. — Coroner’s reason for not holding an inquest — Hypothesis respecting the paucity of snakes in the Mabagampattoo — Viverra Ichneumon, its mode of attacking the Cobra di Capello — Plants named as antidotes for the bite of venomous snakes — More caution requisite against land leeches than against snakes — Cobra di Capello in bouses — Charming

CHAP. XV.

Indigenous vegetables, valuable in themselves,, but their culture altogether neglected — The French manage these things better — Singhalese list of forest timber trees — Bombyx pentandrum — Asclepias gigantea — Annatto — Plants producing substitutes for flax — Cord from the Musa sylvestris — His Grace the Dnke of Portland — Crotalaria juncea — Hemp — Laccadive and Ceylon Koir — Suggestions for improving the latter — Mulberry trees — Silk worms — Cassada — Canna glauca— Arrow root — Turmeric — Ginger — Sun-flower — Elastic gum trees— Gum Arabic tree — Gum of the Enphorbium antiquorum unnoticed in the exports ...

CHAP. XVI.

Vegetable productions of Ceylon continued— Cachew' gum — Sir Joseph Banks endeavours to find a substi¬ tute for foreign gums, during the war with the French Empire, at which time Ceylon might have supplied the British market — Gum lac tree, not the Lacsha of Bengal — Singhalese lackerers — Lac insect not indi¬ genous— Suggestions for making the vegetable lac of Ceylon equally profitable with the Coccus lacca— Gum Tacahama — Sap of the bread-fruit tree a substitute for pitch and caoutchouc — Gumboge — Introduction of the coffee tree from Java — Governor Zwaardenkroom — Louis XIV. — Coffee exported from Colombo in 1840 — High duties on cinnamon injurious to that trade, by encouraging the importation of Java cin¬ namon, under the name of Cassia lignea, at a less duty — Java cinnamon the produce of plants clandestinely obtained from Ceylon — Suggestions for assorting the cinnamon imported as Cassia lignea, and protecting the revenue — Cotton neglected in Ceylon, whilst the East India Company extends its culture in India — Culture of opium introduced .

CHAP. XVII.

Extreme opinions as regards the Fruits of the island— Ingrafting fruit trees unknown to the natives — Native Materia Medica and medical books — Naturalized Exotic Fruits — Indigenous Fruits . . .

CHAP. XVIII.

Indigenous Fruits continued — Esculent vegetables— Suggestions to the English market gardener — Difference between the arrow root of Ceylon and Bombay — Guinea or pigeon pea supplied to the Royal navy, in the Indian seas, under the name of Dhol, as a substitute for pease . . .

CHAP. XIX.

M estem Province — Colombo — Master Attendant’s sailing directions to the anchorage — Sand bank — Drunken sailor rock — Adam’s Peak — Pilotage — Fort — Queen’s house — Library — Officers of the garrison without quarters — P arsees — Pettah — Schools — Hindo-Portuguese and Dutch families — Black-eyed belles — ►

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

v.

PAGE

Government Clerks — Garrison — Face of the country — Soil — Slave Island — Colombo Lake — Tamarind tree — Panorama — Bazaars — Newspapers — Etiquette upon arrival — A British merchant — Horticultural society — Mail coach establishment — Widows’ and Orphans’ Fund — Savings’ bank — -Charitable institutions 153

CHAP. XX.

Fishing boats — Their shape and swiftness — The fisheries among the most important of the capabilities of the island — Regulation for encouraging the salting of fish an inadequate protection — Fish rents— Restrictions upon fishermen— Suggestions to His Majesty’s Secretary for the Colonies, for increasing the sale of salt, decreasing the expense of gathering it, reducing the price to the consumer, and encouraging settlers in the Mahagampattoo for curing fish — Abolition of the Salt Monopoly suggested — Leways — Salt stealing — Guards and sentinels — Salt stealers killed — Bullocks confiscated — Impressed salt gatherers — Adulteration of salt — Expense of gathering and transmitting salt to Colombo— Price of salt — Importation of salt fish —

Coup de gra£e to salt-water invoices — Native process of salting fish objectionable — Suggestions for im¬ proving it — Proposed plan for curing fish by smoke — Salt fish from Europe and America — Fishes com¬ mon to the coasts of Ceylon . 161

CHAP. XXI.

Fresh-water fishes — First Portuguese factory — Colombo surrendered to the Dutch — Dutch capitulate to the British — Absurd claim of Portugal to Colombo — Route to Kandy — Roads — Governor Sir Edward Baines — Just tribute to his memory — Great mortality in forming the roads — Families consequently destitute — Suggestions for relieving them — Hints to travellers — Best mode of travelling — Canteens — Incumbrances — Chatty bath — Batta — Maxims for the tourist’s observance — Umbrella indispensable — Addition to its use¬ fulness — Mosquito — Northern route from Colombo to Negombo— Sailing directions . 169

CHAP. XXII.

Negombo an admirable site for grazing farms, for supplying Colombo, and Shipping, with butcher’s meat and stock — Suggestions for supplying the Royal Navy with salted provisions — Naval dependence upon Bengal for supplies — Ceylon capable of supplying provisions, boatswains’ and carpenters’ stores — Dutch families — Native women — Rest-house— Wesleyan mission-house and chapel — Civil authorities — Medicinal plants — Road to Kandy — Native pastimes — Route to Chilaw — Recreations for the naturalist and sports¬ man — Madampe — Pepper plantations — Game — Time of sowing and reaping — Chilaw — Sailing direc¬ tions — Manufacture of paper and cotton cloth — Escape from a leopard — Rajah Wanya, or Jungle King plant — Artificial Leways . — . 177

CHAP. XXIII.

Putlam — Artificial salt pans — Face of the country — Native devoured by a crocodile— Living crocodile pre¬ sented to the author — Ceylon & Ganges crocodile— Mosque — Burial ground — Remarkable tree — Moorish dance with double-edged swords — Tyre — Native vermicelli — Route to Kandy through Komegalle — Water conveyance to Calpentyn and Karetivoe — Sailing directions — Farm of the Chink fishery — Its extent — Uses of the chank shell, and reputed value of one with its valve opening to the right — Hint to the naturalist — Calpentyn custom-house — The late Earl of St. Vincent’s maxim for naval officers no encou¬ ragement to honesty in civilians — Anecdote of a Provincial Judge — Pomparripo — Face of the country — Wild animals — The great crane — Right Honorable Sir Alexander Johnston — Ancient tank of Bawale — Singhalese records — Capabilities of the soil — Area and population of the Western Province .

*■ *

185

Vi.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAP. XXIV.

Northern Province — Pomparripo river and village— Inhabitants — Capabilities of the province for supplying the island with rice — Anticipated result of Hindoo immigration — Elementary improvements — Increase of revenue from sea customs one certain result of Hindoo colonization— Depression of agriculture — Singha¬ lese landlords — Native proctors— A law in favor of primogeniture suggested — Padoua caste — Covia and Nallua slaves— Headmen support caste from interest and prejudice — Penalty for assuming the rank of Headmen — Kallaar pagoda — Ashes for money — Improvisatori — Scenery — Apician luxuries — Edible oyster abundant, but neglected — A Singhalese mile — Jaffna moss — Hiruudo esculenta — Dutch partial to its nest — Prepared Edible Swallow’s nest presented to His Majesty King George IV., who commands its im¬ mediate preparation — Sir Henry Halford’s communication to the Author, by command of His Majesty ...

CHAP. XXV.

The Kallaar river — Route to Kandy — Thomas Ralph Backhouse, Esq. — Ruins of Anarajahpoora, or Anara- dahpoora — Pilgrimage from the Continent — Pearl Fishery, the rendezvous of adventurers, jugglers, and thieves — Inspection of the pearl banks — Island of Cardiva a protection to the banks from the south-west monsoon — Shark charmers — Roman Catholic superstition — Sharks — Boats — Divers — Objections to the diving bell — Average daily produce of each boat — Kola, or leaf oyster — Betel oyster — Position of the pearls— Pinna Marina — Insuperable difficulty of transferring the habitat of the pearl oyster — Methods of clearing pearls — Ceylon pearl oyster ( Mytilus margaritifera) — Pearl oyster spawn — Pearls most esteemed by the natives for their golden hue — Suggestions for disposing of the fishery by lottery — Impolicy of abandoning the monopoly — Suggestions respecting the rent — Panorama — Arippo— Kondatchie .

CHAP. XXVI.

Route to Bangalle — Manaar — Suggestions for a factory for curing fish — Sheep and cows — Agricultural encou¬ ragement suggested — Time of sowing and reaping — Headmen — Sailing directions — Coasting trade — Man- lotte — Missionaries’ journey — Giant’s tank — Gentoo city — Antiquity of the Hindoos — Singhalese records and traditions — Sir William Jones — Racshasas — Invention of Chess — Magnitude of architectural works no proof of extraordinary stature of the workmen — The tourist recommended to proceed by sea to Jaffna — Cottages — Native use of cow dung — Route from Mantotte to Jaffna — Scenery — Principal villages — Inhabi¬ tants — Cession of Jaffna by the Portuguese to the Dutch — Fruits — Coasting trade — Chitties — Tamul year — Hegira — Goldsmiths — Exports for the China markets — Limited culture of cotton — Its extension suggested — Jaffna tobacco — Monopoly of the Rajah of Travancore, who maintains a body of troops by the profits — Countervailing monopoly — Its injury to the tobacco grower — Its abolition, and substitution of a duty of 200 per cent. — Decline of the trade, which, upon a reduction of the duty, recovers and flourishes

CHAP. XXVII.

Climate favorable to the growth of silk — Hindoo culture of the mulberry plant — Introduction of the silk-worm suggested — Suggestions for reducing certain import duties, as an inducement to the Indian Presidencies to abolish their export duties upon cotton and silk to Ceylon — Culture of the chocolate-nut tree ( Theobromu Cacao) altogether neglected — Provisions — Game — Cattle — Pasturage — Sheep — Cape of Good Hope cows — Culture of grass neglected — Suggestions for providing hay for ships’ stock — Timber trade of Jaffna — Festival of Jagun-Nath — Pranava, or mystical tri-literal character — Author accompanies the Chief and Puisne Justices to view the car of the idol — Reception by the chief Brahmin — Sacred honors — Consecrated limes — Description of the car — Bride of Jagan-Nath — Temple mysteries — Brahminical humbug — Deva- dasi — Native musicians — Hindoos— Their diet— Domestic life — Amusements— Power of the Brahmins — American missionaries — Pringle’s account of missionary privations inapplicable to Ceylon missionaries — First Tamul translation of the Liturgy at Cevlon .

PAGt

193

201

209

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

vii.

CHAP. XXVIII. PAG*

Garrison of Jaffna — Extensive culture of the Betel pepper — Its astringent properties — Wild and cultivated Betel — Water conveyance to Point Pedro — Point Pedro shoal — Bitter Aloes — A veteran magistrate who served under Frederick the Great — The ruling passion — Route to Trincomale — Face of the country — Postholders supply provisions to travellers — Jungles — Game — Mullativoe House — Dangerous coral shoal — Sailing directions — Alembiel — Superficies and population of the Northern Province — Numbers employed in agriculture, manufactures, and commerce — Eastern Province — Fish — Shells for lime — Scenery — Inhabi¬ tants — Banyan fig tree — Wild hogs — Hint to sportsmen — Trincomale — Society — Garrison — Suggestions for establishing farms for supplying shipping with stock and salted provisions . 225

CHAP. XXIX.

Malacology of the island — Cabinets of shells for sale — How to procure perfect specimens — Caution to stran¬ gers in buying jewellery from natives — Their importunities — Transformation of broken glass into precious stones ! — Laws to restrain imposition — Jewellery for “ Chip Gentlemans ” — Ear-cutting — Suggestions for suppressing it — Rains — Lord Valentia — Crocodiles — Hot wells — Little white ants ( Termes ) great public peculators — Sailing directions into Trincomale harbour — Reasons for not building ships at Trincomale, inapplicable to the neglect of growing Teak for the future exigencies of the Royal navy — Suggestions for rendering grants, or sales of Crown lands, more beneficial to the public . .v 233

CHAP. XXX.

Suggested extension of the culture of the Cassada — Its properties and various names — Method of preparing the stalks for transit — Sweet variety edible without previous preparation — Primitive method of preparing the Bitter Cassada — Casleep — Tapioca — Substitute Cor mushroom spawn — Ant-hill clay — Goldsmiths —

Their simple implements — Route from Trincomale to Kandy — Route to Batticaloa — Hindoo temple — Patcherie rice — Native varieties — Mode of culture — Scarcity seldom attributable to natural causes — Java formerly supplied Ceylon with rice from Its surplus produce — Pumpkin Governors — General Sir Hudson Lowe, G. C. B. — Anticipated justice to that gallant officer, who, it was expected, would have succeeded Sir Edward Barnes as Governor — Air plant — Region of mosquitos, Batticaloa — Lacerta Iguana . 241

CHAP. XXXI.

Sailing directions — Batticaloa — Public departments — Island — Fort — Garrison — European society famed for its unanimity and hospitality — No Protestant church or clergyman — Roman Catholic chapels — Bazaar — Suggested establishment of a factory for curing fish, and anticipated increase of the coasting trade — Green beetle ( Buprestis chrysis) — Uses of its irridescent elytra — Batticaloa from the sea — Sandstone rocks — Veddah country — The Secretary of the Magistrate’s court at Hambantotte wanders into it — Kindness of the Veddahs — Their method of preserving flesh — Manner of shooting elephants — Veddahs visit Hamban¬ totte — Their gratitude — Caste — Forest lands occupied by the Veddahs — Disposal of their dead — Inhuman custom in the Mahagampattoo— Author’s endeavours to suppress it . . . 249

CHAP. XXXII.

Route southward continued — Asclepias gigantea — Tourist recommended to travel only by day — Wild beasts —

The jungle bear — Field for the sportsman and naturalist — Caution necessary in entering a jungle — Wil¬ liam Gisborne, Esq. — Major Haddock killed by an elephant in 1834 — Elephant catchers — Cuvier's dis¬ tinction between, the Indian and African elephant — Ceylon ivory — Elephants’ petit-toes —Lord Charles Henry Somerset’s enigma — The Sloth— Squirrels — Maucauco — Vampire Bat — Racoon — White Baboon —

Black Baboon — Brown Monkey— Anecdote of a Wanderoo— Summary of migratory and indigenous birds 257

Ylll.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAP. XXXIII.

Yellow Grosbeak— Fire fly — Tailor Warbler — Employment of a botanist skilled in practical chymistry sug¬ gested — Route southward continued — Hints to the traveller — Black Pepper — Time of sowing and reaping — Devil worshippers and their offerings — Kombookan-Aar — Kombook trees — Area and population of the Eastern Province — Southern Province — Yalle — Suggestions to the tourist — Human victims to chetahs —

The dreaded God of Kattregam — Approach to the Dewale — Head Brahmin — Basnaike Rale — Timely sug¬ gestions — Water of the Parapa-Oya — Chief Brahmin’s residence — State chair of sacred clay, the founder’s stepping block from earth to heaven — Present — Temple lands — Buddhist and Devil priests — Malay officer — Medley of superstitions — Contrasts between the worship of Buddha and that of Brahma . 26o

CHAP. XXXIV.

Hell upon earth — Route from Kattregam to Hambantotte — Route resumed from Yalle — Turtle Cove — Hawk’s-bill turtle’s eggs wholesome, notwithstanding the contrary quality of its flesh — Turtle catching and stripping — Dutch solution of an interesting hypothesis in natural history — Turtling season — Choice of Tortoise-shell — Hatching turtles’ eggs — Paltoopane — Wild tea — Assistant Staff Surgeon Crawford — Indigenous tea plant ( Thea Bohea, L.) — Kirinde-Oya — Mahagamme rest-house — Author presented with a couple of elephant’s tusks, and a specimen of the supposed Gaulama, or Demon Bird — Dread manifested by palankin bearers — Impediments to its preservation — Description of it — Major General Thomas Hard- wicke, F. R. S., F. L. S., supposes it a species of the Aluco owl — Superstitious M. D. — Buddhist priest’s anecdote of the Gaulama — Wallewe Aratchy — Fatal effects of eating hawks-bill turtle — Devil ceremonies 273

CHAP. XXXV.

Mahagamme — Fertility of the soil, and capabilities of irrigation — Ancient ruins — Gigantic Ipomoea — Route to Hambantotte — Face of the country — Pasturage, but no sheep — Fertility of the district — Exceptions — Temperature of the interior favorable to the growth of wool — Jaffna sheep thrive well in the Mahagam- pattoo — Species of indigenous Samphire — Euphorbia Tirucalli — Hambantotte — Quaker fortifications — Population — Leways — Seven hills of Kattregam — Depot of salt and red sand — Termes fatale, L. — Sand bills — Result of digging for water — Extraordinary accumulation of sand — Starvation — Formation of salt —

Rapid evaporation — Crystallisation — Deposit of salt where there is1 no basis of rock salt — Summary of reports to the Governor upon the Mahagampattoo district . . 281

CHAP. XXXVI.

Character of the Wesleyan mission — The Rev. Benjamin Clough — Dr. Adam Clarke — No rest-house at Hambantotte— Hospitality of the public authorities — Deaths of Captain and Mrs. Driberg, and extra¬ ordinary determination of the Commander of the Forces — Superstition — Official difficulties — Incipient panic confirmed — Friendly importunities and suggestions — An Englishwoman’s determination — District neglected by the Government and individuals — Suggestions for a fish factory — Kandyan Tavelams — Barter — Hints to Manchester and Birmingham manufacturers — Wallasse famous for the Talipat palm — Impor¬ tant objects to be anticipated from a fish factory at Hambantotte — Cetacea — Amber — Sea dragon — Phos¬ phorescent appearance of the sea — Cancer fulgens — Soldier crab — Anatomical specimens . 28'J

CHAP. XXXVII.

Qualifications for the Superintendent of a fish factory — Schemes for the public welfare abortive — Skylark — Native labourers — The Right Honorable the Earl of Ripon — Colombo light-house — Consequences of an official omission— Unwelcome New-year-’s gift— Medical officer’s pusillanimity— Timidity of Headmen

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TABLE OF CONTENTS.

IX.

PAGE

infectious — “ Old Malay of Mahagam ” — Opportune relief — A fatalist agreeably disappointed — Captain Dawson, Royal Engineers — His lamented death — Native Medical Assistant, a better doctor than prophet — Convicts in chains humane nurses — Their strict honesty and gratitude — Native killed by an elephant in the street — Hint to the Ornithologist — Kandyan pellet tube — Hard water pearls — Parting word in favor of the natives of the Mahagampattoo . . . 297

CHAP. XXXVIII.

Suggested introduction of the Camel — Its habits — Route from Hambantotte to Wallewe — Karaganare lie¬ way — Arabocke — Euphorbia antiquorum — Apathy of the natives in regard to its gum — Presumed qualities of its timber — Sitricale Leway — Nepenthes distillatoria — Air plant — Arabian gum tree — Author’s escape from a tusked elephant — Cobra di Capello — Pybocke — Plains — Mushrooms — Extraordinary production of fish, and a' Malay officer’s opinion of the cause — Game — Tank — Large aquatic bird — Wanderope — Temple Title-deed — The Honorable Sir Hardinge Giffard, late Chief Justice of Ceylon— Temple lands — Integrity of the Buddhist religion guaranteed — Wallewe river — Sailing directions — Village of Wallewe — its bad name, and suggestions for giving it a better — Tranquil locality for the growth of silk — Suggestions for employing Chinese settlers . . . 30-3

CHAP. XXXIX.

River Wallewe — Horse boats — Double canoes — Seasons of sowing and reaping — Clay for bricks — Limestone rock — Pansala at Wanderope — Buddhist priest cultivates the grape wine successfully — Tank — District but little improved for the last sixteen years — Author’s desire to innoculate British capitalists with some of his own virus in favor of the Mahagampattoo — Mouth of the river Wallewe — Native objections to the sea- breeze — Girrawah-pattoo — Savage occupants of Wallewe rest-house in 1826 — Sand of rubies, sapphires, and cat’s-eyes — Roads — Cattle Kraal — Leways — Ranne bridge and rest-house — Crocodile Kraal — Porcu¬ pine — Ancient tank — Face of the country — Approach to Tangalle — Possibilities upon a sudden breaking out of war — Nature the best defender of the Ceylon coast — Singhalese but poor auxiliaries before an enemy — Kandyan characteristics — Sailing directions — Suggested Signal Station for communicating with ships from England to India making Doudra Head . . . 313

CHAP. XL.

Prospective advantages for an Indigo Factory Company over those of the abandoned scheme — Kirime Canal — William Gisborne, Esq. — Governor confers honorary rewards upon Headmen — Tobacco of Lower Ouva — Tobacco farm suggested — Suggestions to moderate capitalists as settlers at Ceylon — Facilities to immigrants contrasted with the difficulties in new colonies — Suggestions for planting the Hop — Beautiful country and delightful temperature of Lower Ouva- — Soil — Saffregam — Produce — Route from Tangalle to Matura- —

Face of the country — Dondra Head — Ancient temple — Colonnade — Vihare and Dewale — Festival — Division of offerings — Mature — Lines — Fort — Town- — Fish — Sailing directions — Government officers — Suggested farm and fish factory — Variety of grasses — Mature poultry — Manufactures — Petrified Tamarind wood — Zircon sold as Mature diamond — True diamond not indigenous . . 321

CHAP. XLI.

Minerals — Extraordinary combinations in petrifactions