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The 

Robert  E.  Gross 
Collection 

A  Memorial  to  the  Founder 
of  the 


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Los  Angeles 


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CEYLON. 

VOL.  II. 


LOJTDOJf 

rmXTED     BY     BPOTTISWOODE      AND      CO. 

NEW-STEEET    SQUARE 


CEYLON 


AN    ACCOUNT    OF    THE    ISLAND 


PHYSICAL,    HISTORICAL,    AND    TOPOGRAPHICAL 


NOTICES  OF  ITS  NATURAL  HISTORY,  ANTIQUITIES  AND  PRODUCTIONS 


SIR   JAMES    EMERSON   TENNENT,   K.C.S.    LL.D.  &c. 


ILLUSTRATED  BY  MAPS,  PLANS  AND  DRAWINGS 


FOURTH    EDITION,    THOKOUGHLY    EEVISED 


YOLUME  XL 


LONDON 

LONGMAN,    GTIEEN,    LONGMAN,  AND  ROBERTS 

1860 


CONTENTS 


THE    SECOND    VOLUME. 


Gross  Collection 
Bus.  Adm.  Lib. 


PART  VI. 
MODERN   HISTORY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  PORTUGUESE   IN   CEYLOIf. 

Page 
Gloomy   character    of  the  policy   of 

Portugal  in  Ceylon          ...  3 
"  War,  trade,  and  religion "        .        .  3 
Tbeir  historj'  as  -written   by  them- 
selves     ......  4 

A.D.  1505. — Their  first  visit  to  Cejion  5 

They  did  not  go  for  cinnamon  Senate)  5 
Political  contlition  of  Ceylon  at  the 

time 5 

Active  commerce  of  the  iloors  .        .  G 

Chiefs  of  the  Wanny  ....  6 

List  of  the  petty  principalities  {note)  6 

Low  character  of  the  Singhalese  kings  7 

Dependent  on  India  for  rice  .  .  7 
A.  u.  ]  505.  —  Almeyda     accidentally 

visits  Galle 7 

His  reception  by  the  pretended  king  8 
A.D.  1517.  —  Portuguese  come  to  Co- 
lombo       8 

Importance  of  Ceylon  to  their  trade  ,  8 
They  commence  to  build  a  fort           .  9 
The  Moors  excite  the  king  to  resist- 
ance          9 

A.D.    1520.  —  Fort  of  Colombo  con- 
structed    10 

Portuguese  besieged  in  it  .        .        .10 
The  beginning  of  a  protracted  war    .  10 
Effects  of  this  war  on   the   Singha- 
lese           10 

Impotence  of  the  kings  of  Cotta         .  1 1 

The  Kandyans  organise  resistance     .  11 

The  Singhalese  become  soldiers          .  12 

And  learn  to  manufacture  arms  (note)  12 
Genealojv  of  the  kings  of  Cevlon  (note)  13 

The  king  killed  by  Maya  Diinnai      .  13 

A.D.  1534. — Bhuwaneka  Bahu  VIL   .  13 

Cotta  besieged  by  Maya  Dunnai  .  14 
A.D.  1538. — War  renewed  .  .  .14 
A.D.  1541. —  King's  son  christened  at 

Lisbon 14 

Franciscan     Order     established     in 

Cevlon 15 


Page 
A.  D.  1542.  —  The  king  accidentally 

shot 15 

The  young  king  avows  Christianity  16 
Renewed   war  and   cruelties  of   the 

Portuguese 16 

Coast  towards  Galle  laid  waste  .         .  16 

Raja  Singha,  son  to  Maya  Dunnai     .  17 

A.D.  1563. — He  besieges  Colombo  .  17 
Cotta  abandoned  .  .  .  .17 
Increase  of  proseh-tism  .  .  .17 
The   king   of  Kandv  (1547)  invites 

the  Roman  Catholic  priests    .         .  18 

But  attacks  and  expels  them    .         .  18 

A.n.  1581. — Raja  Singha  I.  crowned  IS 
Takes  possession  of  Kandj',  and  the 

king  flies 19 

Donna   Catharina,   daughter  of   the 

fugitive  king  .  .  .  .  .19 
A.D.  1586. — Raja  Singha  II.  besieges 

Colombo 19 

Cruelties  of  the  siege  .  (note)  19 
Destruction  of  the  temple  at  Dondera 

Head 20 

The  siege  raised,  and  death  of  Raja 

Singha  11 21 

The  Portuguese  take  Kandy      .        .21 

Their  general  Kunappoo  revolts  .  21 
Anil    becomes    king    as     "  Wimala 

Dharma" 22 

Lopez  de  Souza  and  his  army  de- 
stroyed      23 

A.D.  1594. — The  atrocities  of  Azavedo  23 
A.D.  1597.  — The  King  of  Cotta  dies, 

leaving  the  King  of  Portugal  heir 

to  his  cro\vii 24 

Dignified  conduct  of  the  Singhalese 

chiefs 25 

Nature  and  extent  of  the  Portuguese 

possessions 26 

Their  establishments  and  trade  .        .  26 

Error  corrected  in  llibeyro  .  (note)  27 
Colombo  as  it  then  existed. —  Galle 

and  the  other  forts  .         .         .         .28 

Sketch  of  the  historv  of  Jaffna  .         .  28 

Made  tributarv  in  l"544      .        .  29 


A  3 


1622073 


VI 


CONTENTS   OF 


Page 
A.D.  1560. —  Constantine  of  Braganza 

takes  it 29 

And  destroys  the  "  Sacred  Tooth  "  .  29 
Story  of  the  false  dalada  .  .  .30 
A.D.  1G04. — Jaflha  again  attacked  .  30 
A.D.  1617. — City  sacked   and  finally 

annexed  by  Portugal  .  .  .30 
The  Dutch  appear  in  Cejdon     .        .31 


CHAP.  II. 

THE   DUTCH   IX   CEYLON. 

A.D.  1580.  —Philip  II.  becomes  King 

of  Portugal     .         .        .        .         .  32 
And  Holland  declares  its  independ- 
ence          32 

Histories   of  Baldasus  and  Yalentyn 

(^note)  32 

Rise  of  the  Dutch  mercantile  marine  33 
A.D.  1594. — The  Dutch  excluded  from 

Lisbon     ......  34 

And  thus  driven  to  send  ships  to  India  34 
A.D.  1595. —  Houtman  sails  round  the 

Cape 34 

Dutch  East  India  Company  formed 

(jiote)  34 
A.D.  1602. — First  Dutch  ship  touches 

Ceylon 35 

Spilberg  lands  at  Batticaloa  .  .  35 
Traces  of  cinnamon  at  Batticaloa  (jiote)  35 
Titles  of  the  King  of  Kandj'  .  .  35 
Spilberg  received  at  Kandy  .  .  35 
A.D.  1603.— Sibalt  de  Weert  killed  .  37 
A.D.  1604.— Death  of  Wimala  Dharma  37 
Senerat  becomes  king  .  .  .37 
Truce  between  Spain  and  Holland  .  38 
Marcellus  de  Boschouwer  at  Kandy  .  38 
His  singular  advancement  .  ,  38 
War  renewed  wnth  Portuguese  .  .  39 
A.D.  1615. —  Boschouwer  sent  to  Hol- 
land          39 

A.  D.   1620.  —  Danish    ships  sent  to 

Ceylon 39 

A.D.  1630. — Destruction  of  Constan- 
tine de  Saa 40 

A.D.  1632.— Death  of  King  Senerat  .  41 
Raja  Singha  II.  king  .  .  .41 
Portuguese    take    Kandy,    but    are 

routed 42 

A.D.   1638.  —  Admiral    Westerwold's 

treaty 42 

A.D.  1639. —  Trincomalie  and    Batti- 
caloa taken 43 

A.D.  1640. —  Xegombo,  INIatura,  and 

Galle  taken 43 

Commodore  Koster  murdered  (note)  43 
Raja  Singha  II.  Ailse  to  the  Dutch  .  44 
A  truce  for  ten  years  with  Portugal  .  44 
Intriguing  policy  of  Raja  Singha  II.  44 
Patient  endurance  of  the  Dutch  .  44 
Their  descreditablc  policy  .  .  .44 
A.T).  1G55.  —  The  truce  ends,  and  Co- 
lombo taken 45 

A.D.  1656. — Dutch  quarrel  with  Raja 

Singha 45 

Alleged    breach  of  the  Westerwold 

treaty 45 


Page 
A.D.  1658. — Manaar  and  Jaffna  taken 

by  the  Dutch  .        .         .        ,46 

Dutch  now  masters  of  Ceylon    .        .  46 
Dutch  and   Portuguese    policy   con- 
trasted   .         .         .        .      "  .        .47 
Honour  sacrificed  to  trade  .        .        .47 
Similar  policy  of  the  English  East 

India  Company        .         .         (note)  47 

Despotic  acts  of  Raja  Singha  II.         .  48 
He  imprisons  the  Dutch  ambassadors 

(note)  48 

Dutch  presents  to  the  king        (note)  48 
Raja  Singha's  passion  for  hawking 

(^note)  48 
His  forcible  detention  of  foreigners 

(note)  48 

A.D.  1664.— Rebellion  at  Kandy  (note)  49 

The  Dutch  policj^  in  Ceylon — peace  .  50 

Their  trade 50 

Mode  of  procuring  cinnamon      .        .  51 

The  cinnamon  of  Negombo  the  finest  51 
Cinnamon  trade  not  profitable    .        .51 

Elephants  and  their  export         .         .  52 
Areca    nuts.  —  Persecution    of    the 

Moors 52 

Duties  assessed  according  to  religion  54 

Other  exports 55 

Coftee,  its  cultivation  discouraged      .  55 

Salt  monopoly 56 

Taxes,  on  land  and  other  articles       .  56 

Pearls  doubtful  if  profitable        .        .  56 
Power   of   native    chiefs    under  the 

Dutch 56,57 

Dutch  did  little  for  the  natives  .        .  57 
Religion  and  education  subservient  to 

policy 58 

Agriculture  neglected         .        .         .58 
Dutch  ofiicials  ill  paid  and  discon- 
tented        58 

Ceylon,  in  reality  a  military  tenure  .  59 
Ceylon  did  not  pay  its  own  expenses  59 
Treason  of  Governor  Vuyst,  1626  .  60 
Rebellion  under  Governor  Yersluvs  .  60 
A.D.  1672.— The  French  visit  Cejdon  60 
French  ambassador's  suite  flogged  .  60 
A.D.  1687.— Death  of  Raja  Singha  II,  61 
Character  of  his  successor  .  .61 
A.D.  1739.  —  The  Singhalese  line  ex- 
tinct          61 

A.D.  1766.— The  Dutch  take  Kandy  .  61 

Governors  ImholY  and  Fakk       .         .  61 

Arrival  of  the  English  in  Ceylon        .  62 

CHAP.  III. 

ENGLISH   PERIOD. 

First  Englishman  in  Ceylon  R.  Fitch  63 
Sir  John  Mandeville  never  in  Ceylon 

(note)  63 
England  slow   to   enter  the  Indian 

trade 64 

Portugal  claimed  its  monopoly  .         .  64 

Declaration  of  Queen  Elizabeth  1590  64 
Dutch  exclude  strangers  from  Cej'lon 

(note)  64 

The  first  English  ship  seen  in  Ceylon  64 

Travellers  during  the  Dutch  period   .  65 

Wolf,  ravernier,Tliunberg,  and  SirT. 

Herbert  ....         (note)  65 


THE   SECOND   VOLUME. 


Vll 


Page 
English  look  to  Ceylon  in  1G64 .  .  65 
Passion  of  Raja  Singha  II.  to  detain 

strangers 65 

Coincidence  of  the  captivity  of  the 
Theban  in  Palladius  and  Knox 

{note)  65,  66 
English  embassy  in  17G3  .  .  .66 
Hugh  Boyd's  embassy  in  1782  .  .  GG 
Trincomalie  taken  by  the  English  and 

French 67 

England  attacks  the  Dutch  in  Ceylon, 

1795 

Trincomalie  taken      .... 
Colombo  and  the  rest  of  the  island 

taken,  1796 

Disgraceful  conduct  of  the  Dutch  Go- 
vernor    ....         {note) 
Policy  of  Portugal  and  Holland  con- 
trasted     

Remains  of  Portuguese  language  and 

names      ....         (note) 

Fate   of   the   Dutch    inhabitants   of 

Ceylon 

Ceylon  governed  from  Madras  . 
The  result  a  rebellion 
Ceylon  governed  from  home 
Mr.  North  the  first  Governor     . 
His  private  letters      .        .         (note) 

His  policy 

Difficulty  of  reconstructing  the  Courts 

of  Law 

Events  at  the  Court  of  Kandv   . 
Storj'  of  the  Adigar  Pilame  Talawe 
His  treachery  and  intrigues 
Questionable  policy  of  Mr.  North 
Mr.  North's  defence  of  his  own  policy 
Travels   of  Lord   Valentia   and   Mr, 
Cordiner  .        .        .        {note) 

Designs  of  the  Adigar  disclosed 
The  embassy  of  18U0  planned    . 
Mr.  North's  self-delusive  defence 
Failure  of  the  embassy  and  its  object 
M.  Joinville's  account  of  it 


67 
67 

68 

68 

69 

70 

71 
72 
73 
73 

74 
74 
75 


79 


Pape 
Disastrous  results  of  this  policy         .    81 
Disturbances  excited  by  the  Adigar    81 
The  Duke  of  Wellington  at  Trinco- 
malie as  Colonel  Wellesley     {note)     81 
Violence  to  British  subjects       .        .81 
Kandy  taken  by  the  British      .         .     81 
Treaties  with  the  new  king  and  the 
Adigar    .         .        .         .        .        .82 

The  massacre  of  1803  .         .        .     83 

Disturbances  which  followed      .        .     84 
Insurrections  in  the  low  country        .     84 
VVonderful  march  of  Captain  John- 
ston, 1804         ....  {note)  85 

Pleasures  of  the  Governor  .  .  .86 
Mr.  North's   secret    communications 

with  Kandy 86 

Character  of  his  administration  .    86 

The  war  of  1815,  and  its  causes  .     87 

Savage  character  of  the  king  .  .  87 
Death  of  Pilame' Tah'i we'  ...  87 
Eheylapola  made  Adigar  .  .  .87 
Awful  murder  of  his  familj'  .  .  88 
The  king  of  Kandy  mutilates  British 

subjects 88 

Kandy  taken  by  the  British  in  1815  .  89 
The  king  deposed  and   banished  to 

Vellore 90 

Kandy  ceded  to  the  British  Crown  .  90 
Rebellion  of  1817,  and  its  causes  .  90 
Discontent  of  the  chiefs  and  priests  90 
Outbreak  of  rebellion  .         .         .91 

Sufferings  of  the  Kandyan  people  .  92 
Low  country  Singhalese  loyal  .  .  92 
Fresh  convention,  1818  .  .  .92 
Reform  of  the  Civil  Government  of 

Kandy 92 

Frequent  attempts  at  rebellion  since .  93 
Kandyan  country  opened  by  roads  .  94 
The  Kaduganawa  Pass  surmounted  .  95 
Civil  administration  since  1820  .  .  95 
Coffee  cultivation  in  Kandy,  and  its 
effect 96 


PAKT  VII. 


SOUTHEEN   AND    CENTRAL   PROVINCES. 


CHAPTER  I. 


POINT  DE   OALLE. 


Beauty  of  its  scenery  .        .        .99 

Probably  the  ancient  Tarshish  .        .  lUO 

Double  canoes 103 

Mentioned  by  Pliny  .        .        .        .104 

The  Fort    .        .        .        .        .        .105 

Error  of  the  Portuguese  and  Dutch 

in  confounding  Galle  and  gallus 

{note)  105 
The  Queen's  House    ....  105 

Its  gardens 105 

The  people  of  many  nations  at  Galle  .  105 
Antiquity  of  the  mode  of  dressing 

the  ha'ir 106 

General  effeminacy    ....  107 


The  country 107 

Dress  of  Singhalese  females  .  .  107 
Moorish  dealers  in  gems  .  .  .  108 
Tortoise-shell      .         .         .         (no<e)  108 

Carved  ebony 108 

The  trade  of  the  port — chiefly  limited 

to  the  products  of  the  coco-nut  palm  109 
Local  prosperity  depends  on  shipping  109 
The    Suria    trees    and   their    cater- 
pillars      110 

The  Native  town  .  .  .  .111 
The  gardens  .  .  .  .  .111 
The  jak  tree  described  by  Pliny  («ofe)  111 
Helix  hemastoma         .         .         .         .112 

Belligam 112 

S>iniMa  oi  ihz  Kustia  Riiju .  .  .113 
Matura       ....         {note)  113 


A  4 


Vlll 


CONTENTS   OF 


Page 
Z)o«<fera  and  its  temples  .  .  .113 
Tangalle  and  Hambangtofte         .         .Ill 

Fire  flies 115 

A  dinner  at  Galle       .         .         (note)  115 
Mosquitoes  the  "plague  of  Egypt" 

(note)  115 
The  harbour  of  Galle  .        .         .  IIC 

Theory   of  the  tides  around  Cevlon 

117—119 


CHAP.  II. 

GALLE  TO   COLOSinO. 

Galle  and  Colombo  mail  .  .  .120 
The  roads  of  Cejion  .  .  .  .121 
Beauty  of  the  Galle  road  .  .  .122 
View  of  Adam's  Peak  .  .  .  122 
Houses  of  the  villagers  .  .  .  123 
The  Chalias  and  their  origin  .  .  123 
The  coco- nut  palm  ....  124 
Its  prodigious  numbers  at  Galle  .  124 
Its  "  hundred  uses  "  .  .  .  .  125 
Won't  grow  out  of  sound  of  the  hu- 
man voice 125 

Extent  of  coco-nut  cultivation    (note)  125 

Coco  de  nier 126 

Curry  spoken  of  by  Ibn  Batuta  (note)  126 
Hiccode       .         .         .         .         .         .127 

"  Coir,"  origin  of  the  word  (note)  127 

Amblangodde,  coral     ....  127 

Cosgodde,  anecdote      .         .         .        .128 

Bentntte,  oysters  ....  129 

The  Fisher  caste        ....  129 

The  fish-tax 130 

Adam's  Peak  .....  132 
Worship  of  the  sun  ....  132 
A'arious  traditions      ....  133 

the  Footstep  of  St.  Thomas  (note)  133 

of  Buddha.         .        .         (note)  133 

of  Adam  (Mahometan)      .        .  134 

The  Gnostics  authors  o  '  last  .  ,135 
The  first  Mahometan  pilgrims  .  .  136 
The  route  to  the  summit  .  .  .  137 
The  Iron  Chains  .  .  .  .138 
Elephants  visit  the  summit        (note)  139 

The  Footstep 140 

The  View 141 

The  descent  to  Caltura  by  water        .  142 

Caltura 142 

Pantura      ......   143 

Canals        ......  143 

Morottii 143 

Mount  Lavinia 144 

Gal/tisse — the  temple  .         .         .   145 

Approach  to  Colombo         .         .         .  146 

The  Galle  Face 146 

Queen's  House '147 

Note  on  the  fish-tax  .        .        .    148,  149 


CHAP.  III. 

COLOMRO. 

Town,  modern    .... 
The  "  Jovis  Extremum  "  of  Ptolemy 
Origin  of  the  name  "  Colombo  " 
The  Colombo  Lake  or  "  Gobb  " . 
Country  houses  in  the  suburbs  . 


151 
151 
152 
1.53 
153 


Page 
Annoyances  from  reptiles  .  .  .153 
Destruction  of  books  by  insects  -.  154 

The  fish  insect 154 

The  plague  of  flies  ....  155 
Various  races  inhabiting  Colombo  .  156 
The  Dutch  descendants  .  .  .156 
Caste,  and  its  malignant  influence  .  157 
European  society  at  Colombo  .  .  158 
Expense  of  living  ....  159 
Curious  efiects  of  the  Pinguicula  vul- 
garis ....  (note)  159 
Fruit  at  Colombo  .  .  .  .160 
Shops  in  the  Native  Town  .  .160 
Interior  of  a  Native  house.  .  .  160 
The  soap-nut  and  the  marking- 
nut  ....  (note)  160 
Houses  of  the  chiefs  .  .  •  .  161 
Dinner  with  Maha-Moodliar  .  .  161 
The  Cinnamon  Gardens  .  .  .161 
Decline  of  the  trade  in  cinnamon  .  161 
Its  present  state  ....  163 
Dangerous  harbour  and  roadstead  .  165 
Elie  house  and  gardens      .        .        .  166 


CHAP.  IV. 

THE   CEYLON  GOVERNMENT,  REVENUE, 
AND   ESTABLISHJIENTS. 

THE    COI.'NTRY    FROM   COLOMBO    TO 
K.VNDY. 


The  governor  and  his  councils  . 

Sources  of  public  revenue  .        (note) 

The  pearl  fishery 

The  monopoly  of  salt  and  arrack 

Unwise  tax  upon  rice 

Its  demoralizing  effects      .         (note) 

Tolls  on  bridges  and  ferries 

Expenditure  on  establishments  (note) 

The  Civil  Service  and  its  efficiency 

Causes  of  its  former  decline        (note) 

Reforms  of  the  Earl  of  Derby   . 

The  Maldive  ambassador     . 

The  weather  at  Colombo,  in  March 

The  superstition  of  ''  the  evil  eye  " 

Cruelty  to  animals 

Turtle  sold  alive  piece-meal 

Ancient  temple  of  Kalamj 

Sita-wacca  and  Ruanwelle         (note) 

The  road  from  Colombo  to  Kandy 

The  bullocks  of  Cej'lon 

"  Tavalams "      .         .         .         . 

Camels  tried  to  be  domesticated  (note) 

Veangodde  ..... 

Don  Solomon  Dias 

Ambepusse  ..... 

White  monke3^s  .        .         (note) 

The  Kandyan  peasantry    . 

A  juggler'.        .         .  '      . 

Diodorus  Siculus'  account  of  the  Sin- 
ghalese jugglers    .        .        (note) 

The  Kaduganawa  Pass 

The  Kodiyas  —  their  inhuman  degra- 
dation      

The  Cagots  of  the  Pyrenees 

Entrance  to  Kandv    .... 


167 
168 
169 
169 
169 
170 
171 
172 
172 
173 
174 
175 
176 
176 
177 
177 
178 
179 
179 
180 
181 
181 
182 
182 
183 
184 
184 
185 

185 
186 

187 
191 
192 


THE   SECOND   VOLUME. 


IX 


CHAP.  V. 


KjVNDY  —  PAREDEXIA. 


Page 
194 

194 
194 


195 
196 
196 
197 

197 


General  aspect  of  Kandy   . 

Its  antiquities 

Its  ancient  history      .... 
The  public  buildings  and  Temple  of 

the  Tooth 

The  streets  and  native  houses    . 

The  palace 

The  temples  ..... 
Status  of  the  Buddhist  priesthood  . 
The  Pera-hara  .  .  .  (note)  198 
The  Sacred  Tooth  and  its  story .  .198 
Fraud  practised  on  the  king  of  Pegu  200 
The  Tooth,  and  its  shrine  .  .  .202 
The  lake  and  scenery  of  Kandy  .  203 
Visit  of  a  leopard       ....  203 

Snakes 203 

Scorpions 204 

Wine  grown  at  Kandv.     a.d.  1602 

(no<e)  206 
Costume  of  the  chiefs         .        .        .  206 
Peradenia  ......  207 

Cultivation  of  sugar  ....  207 

The  Botanic  Garden  ....  209 

Unreasoning  complaints  against  209,  210 
Duties  of  a  botanic  officer  .  .  .211 
Story  of  the  Tooth     .        .         (no^e)  213 


CHAP.  VI. 

OAMPOLA   AND   THE   COFFEE    DISTRICTS. 

The  bridge  of  Peradenia  .  .  .  222 
Torrents  of  the  Mahawelli-ganga  .  222 
Country  from  Kandy  to  Garapola  .  222 
Character  of  the  Kandyans  .  .  223 
Their  affection  for  kindred  .         .  224 

Gampula  and  its  antiquities  .  .  224 
Huge  spiders — the  Mygale  .  .  225 
Origin  of  coffee-planting  in  Ceylon  .  226 
Introduced  by  the  Arabs  .  .  .  226 
Discouraged  bv  the  Dutch  .  .  227 
Coffee  found  at  Kandy  in  1815  .  .  227 
Cultivated  by  the  natives  .  .  .  227 
Systematic  culture  introduced  by  Sir 

Edward  Barnes  ....  228 
Encouraging  circumstances  in  1826  .  228 
Increased   consumption   of  coffee   in 

Europe  ....  {nnte)  228 
Failure  of  the  supply  from  the  West 

Indies 228 

Rapid  success  of  the  experiment  .  229 
Kapid  sale  of  crown  lands  .  (iwte)  230 
Imprudence  of  the  early  planters  .  231 
Attractions  of  a  forest  life  .  .  .  231 
The  mania  at  its  height  in  1845  .  231 
The  crisis  of  1846       .        .        .        .232 


Tape 
Sacrifice  of  estates     ....  232 

Gradual  recovery  of  the  enterprise    .  232 
Subsequent  improvements  in  culture    233 
Difficulties  of  the  speculation     .        .  233 
Difficulty  of  obtaining  labour     .        .  233 
Dangers  from   winds,   vermin,    and 
insects    ......  234 

Ravages  of  the  "  coffee  bug  "    .        .  234 

Rats 234 

Future  prospect  of  the  planter  .  .  235 
Present  extent  under  cultivation  .  235 
Valuable  tables  of  Mr.  Ferguson  .  235 
The  future  and  probable  extension  .  236 
The  anxieties  of  absent  planters  .  236 
Old  Gampola  ferry  ....  237 
Table  of  coffee  estates  .  .  .  238 
Note  on  the  coffee  bug        .        .        .  244 


CHAP.  VII. 

rUSILAWA  AND  NEUERA-ELLIA. 

Road  from  Gampola  to  Pusilawa        .  249 

Gamboge  trees,  &c 249 

Patenas 249 

Sounds  heard  clear!}'  on  the  hills       .  250 
Mode  of  felling  forests        .        .        .  250 
Pusilawa     ......  250 

The  estate  of  Mr.  Worms  .  .  250 
Beauty  of  a  coffee  plantation  .  .251 
Tea  grown  at  Pusilawa  .  .  .  251 
Objects  of  natural  history  .  .  252 
Habits  of  animals  at  various  hours 

of  the  day 252 

The  early  buttei-flies  and  birds  .  253 
Songsters  and  bees  ....  253 
Noon  and  the  effects  of  heat  on  the 

animals 254 

Evening  and  its  characteristics       .  255 

Night 257 

Rangbodde  ......  257 

General  Eraser's  estate    .        .        .  258 
Gregarious  spiders  ....  258 

Effects  of  cold  on  the  Singhalese    .  259 
The  Caffre  corps      ....  259 

One  of  them  killed  by   an  ele- 
phant        259 

Neiiera-elUa  and  its  discovery  .  .  200 
Its  climate  and  vegetation  .  .  261 
Effects  on  health  .  ,  .  .262 
The  benefits  to  invalids  .  .  .  563 
Farming  at  Neuera-cllia  .        .  264 

Gem-finding 264 

OotWi,— its  fertility    ....  265 

its  jtroductions. — coffee  estates    266-268 

Badulla, — town  described  .        .        .  266 

The  hot  well 268 

Outcasts  and  degraded  races  .        .  268 
Magnificent   view   at   the    pass   of 
Ella 268 


CONTENTS   OF 


PART  VIII. 


THE   ELEPHANT. 


CHAPTER  I. 

STRUCTUKE. 

Page 
Vast  numbers  in  Ceylon  .  .  .  271 
Derivation  of  the  word  "  elephant " 

(^note)  271 
Mischief  done  by  them  to  crops  .  272 

Ivor}'  scarce  iu  Ceylon        .         .         .  --3 
Confectures  as  to  the  absence  of  tusks  274 

277 
279 

280 


Elephant  a  harmless  animal 

Alleged  antipathies  to  other  animals 

Fights  one  with  another    , 

His  foot  his  chief  weapon  . 

Use  of  the  tusks  in  a  wild  state  doubt- 
ful   

Anecdote  of  sagacity  at  Kandy  . 

DilTerence  between  African  and  In- 
dian species     .        .        .         .        . 

iS'ative  ideas  of  perfection  in  an  ele- 
phant        

Blotches  on  the  skin   .        .        .         . 

White  elephants  not  unkno^vn  in  Cey- 
lon   

CHAP.  11. 


281 

282 


283 


284 

285 


286 


Water,  but  not  heat,  essential  to  ele^ 
phants     .... 

Sight  limited 

Smell  acute 

Caution       .... 

Hearing,  good     . 

Cries  of  the  elephant  . 

Trumpeting 

Booming  noise    . 

Height,  exaggerated  . 

Facility  of  stealthy  motion 

Ancient  delusion  as  to  the  joints  of 
the  leg 

Its  exposure  by  Sir  Thomas  Browne  . 

Its  perpetuation  by  poets  and  others 

Position  of  the  elephant  in  sleep 

An  elephant  killed  on  its  feet 

Mode  of  lying  down   .         .         .         . 

Its  gait  a  shuffle  .... 

Power  of  climbing  mountains     . 

Facilitated  by  the  joint  of  the  knee    . 

Mode  of  descending  declivities  . 

A  "  herd  "  is  a  family. 

Attachment  to  their  young 

Suckled  indiflerently"by  the  females  . 

A  "  rogue  "  elephant .... 

Their  cunning  and  vice 

Injuries  done  by  them 

Tlie  leader  of  a  herd  a  tusker 

Bathing  and  nocturnal  gambols,  de- 
scription of  a  scene  by  Major  Skinner 

Method  of  swimming 

Internal  anatomy  imperfectly  known 


287 
287 
288 
288 
289 
289 
289 
290 
290 
291 

292 
293 
294 
297 
298 
299 
299 
300 
oOO 
301 
301 
302 
303 
304 
305 
305 
306 

306 
310 
311 


Page 
Faculty  of  storing  water  .  .  .311 
Peculiarity  of  the  stomach  ,   312-316 

The  food  of  the  elephant  .  .  .  317 
Sagacity  in  search  of  it  .  .  317,318 
Unexplained  dread  of  fences  .  318,  319 
His  spirit  of  curiositv  and  inquisitive- 

ness  .        .     "  .        .        .         .320 

Estimate  of  sagacity  ....  320 
Singular   conduct   of  a  herd  during 

thunder 321 


CHAP.  III. 

ELEPHANT   SHOOTING. 

Vast  numbers  shot  in  Ceylon  .  .  323 
Fatal  spots  at  which  to  aim  .  .  324 
Revolting  details  of  elephant  killing 

in  Africa  .         .        .        (_note)  324 

Attitudes  when  surprised  .  .  .  328 
Peculiar  movements  when  reposing  .  328 
Habits  when  attacked  .  .  .  329 
Sagacity  of  native  trackers  .  .  330 
Courage  and  agility  in  escape  .  .  331 
Worthlessness  of  the  carcass  .  .  332 
Singular  recovery  from  a  wound(Mo<e)  333 

CHAP.  IV. 

^VN    ELEPHANT    COP.RAL. 

Method  of  capture  by  noosing   .        .  335 
Panickeas — their  courage  and  address  336 
Their  sagacity  iu  following  the  ele- 
phant     ......  337 

Mode  of  capture  by  the  noose    .         .  338 

Mode  of  taming 339 

Method  of  leading  the  elephants  to 

the  coast 340 

Process  of  embarking  thera  at  Ma- 

naar 341 

Method  of  capturing  a  whole  herd  .  341 
The  "  keddah  "  in  Bengal  described  .  342 
Process  of  enclosing  a  herd  .  .  348 
Process  of  capture  in  Ccj'lon  .  .  343 
An  elephant  corral  and  its  construc- 
tion          344 

An  elephant  hunt  in  Ceylon.  1847     .  344 
The  town  and  district  of  Kornegalle  345 
The  rock  of  Aetagalla       .        .         .345 
Forced  labour  of  the  corral  in  former 
times       ......  347 

Now  given  voluntarily  .  .  .  348 
Form  of  the  enclosure  .  .  .  349 
Method  of  securing  a  wild  herd  .  350 
Scene  when    driving  them  into  the 

corral 351 

A  failure 352 

An  elephant  drove  by  night  .  .  353 
Singular  scene  in  the  corral  .  .  354 
Excitement  of  the  tame  elephants     .  354 


THE   SECOND   VOLUME. 


XI 


CHAP.  V. 

THE    CAPTIVES. 

Page 

A  night  scene 355 

^Morning  in  the  corral        .        .         .  356 
Preparations   for   securing  the  cap- 
tives        357 

The  "  cooroowe,"  or  noosers       .        .  357 
The  tame  decoys        ....  357 
First  captive  tied  up  .        .         .        .  358 
Singular   conduct   of  the   wikl   ele- 
phants     359 

Furious    attempts    of    the    herd    to 

escape 360 

Courageous  conduct  of  the  natives     .  360 
Variety  of  disposition  exhibited  by 
the  herd ......  363 

Extraordinary  contortions  of  the  cap- 
tives       ......  363 

Water  withdraTvn  from  the  stomach  .  365 
Instinct  of  the  decoj's  .  .  .  365 
Conduct  of  the  noosers  .  .  .  367 
The  young  ones  and  their  actions  .  368 
Noosing  a  "  rogue,"  and  his  death  .  369 
Instinct  of  flies  in  search  cf  carrion 

(note)  370 

Strange  scene 3/1 

A  second  herd  captured      .         .        .  372 
Their   treatment    of   a  solitarj'  ele- 
phant      373 

A  magnificent  female  elephant .        .  373 
Her  extraordinary  attitudes       .         .  373 
Taking  the  captives  out  of  the  corral  376 
Their  subsequent  treatment  and  train- 
ing   376 

Grandeur  of  the  scene  .  .  .  376 
Story  of  young  pet  elephant      .        .  377 


CHAP.  VI. 

CONDUCT  IN   CAPTIVITY. 

Page 
Alleged  superiority  of  the  Indian  to 

the  African  elephant — not  true  .  378 
Ditto  of  Ceylon  elephant  to  Indian  .  379 
Process  of  training  in  Ceylon  .  .  382 
Allowed  to  bathe  .  .  .  .383 
Difference  of  disposition  .  .  .  384 
Sudden  death  of  "  broken  heart  "  .  385 
First  employment  treading  clay  .  386 
Drawing  a  waggon  ....  386 
Dragging  timber  ....  387 
Sagacity  in  labour  ....  387 
Mode  of  raising  stones  .  .  .  387 
Strength   in    throwing    down    trees 

exaggerated 388 

Piling  timber 389 

Not  uniform  in  habits  of  work  .  .  389 
Lazy  if  not  watched  ....  390 
Obedience   to   keeper  from   affection 

not  fear 390 

Change  of  keeper — storj-  of  child  390-391 
Ear  for  sounds  and  music  .  .  .  391 
Hurra!       ....         (jiote)  391 

Docility 392 

Working  elephants,  delicate  .  .  393 
Deaths  in  government  stud        .        .  39-t 

Diseases 395 

Question  of  the  value  of  labour  of  an 

elephant  .....  395 

Food  in  captivity,  and  cost  .  .  395 
Breed  in  captivity      ....  397 

Age 398 

No  dead  elephants  found   .         .        .  399 

Sindbad's  story 400 

Passage  from  xElian  .        .         .         .401 


PART  IX. 


THE   NORTHERN   FORESTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

FOREST  TRAVELLING  IX  CETLON. 

The  ancient  province  of  Pihiti  .         .  407 
Little  known  to  Europeans         .         .  407 
Coco-nut  plantations  on  the  coast      .  409 
Difliculty  of  travellers  regarding  pro- 
visions     410 

Their  dependence  on  game         .        .411 

Water 411 

Method  of  purifying  it  by  a  nut  .  411 

Roads  and  forest-paths  .  .  .412 
Solitude  of  the  forest .  .  .  .  413 
Scarcity  of  animals  in  its  depths  .  413 
Mode  of  crossing  rivers  .  .  .  413 
Arrangement  of  a  day's  march  .        .  414 

CHAP.  n. 

BINTENNE  —  THE    JIAIIAWELLI-GANOA  — 
THE   ANCIENT   TANKS. 

Scenery  of  the  Mahawclli-ganga  .  415 
Chalybeate  streams    ....  410 


Gonnegamme  and  the  5Iaha-oya  .  416 
Singhalese  torches  ....  417 
The  Cinnamon  River  .        .        .  417 

The  Ooma-oj'a 417 

Elephants  swimming  .         .         .418 

Elfccts  of  rain  on  the  rivers  .  .418 
Paiigrayamme      .         .  .         .         .418 

liintenne  and  its  antiquities  .  419-420 
Tlie  "Maagrammum"  of  Ptolemy  .  420 
Its  ancient  dagoba     ....  421 

The  town 421 

The  Mahawelli-ganga       .        .         .  422 
Exploration  of  its  capabilities  for  na- 
vigation ......  423 

Effects  of  its  diversion  into  the  Vergel  424 
Mr.  Brookes's  ascent  of  the  river  .  424 
Possibility  of  rendering  it  navigable  426 
The  residence  of  a  chief     .        .        .  427 

His  family 428 

Polyamlry  and  its  origin  .  .  .  428 
Its  "prevalence  in  India  .  .  .  429 
And  among  the  ancient  Britons  (^note)  429 
The  ruined  tank  of  llorra-bora  .        .  430 


xu 


CONTENTS   OF 


Possibility   of   restoring   the   ruined 

tanks 432 

Its  national  importance      .         .         .  432 
Unrivalled  magnitude  of  the  ancient 

■works  for  irrigation  in  Ceylon        .  433 
Why  necessaiy  in  the  north  and  not 

iri  the  south  of  the  island        .         .  433 
Causes  of  the  destruction  of  the  an- 
cient tanks 434 

Difficulties  of  restoring  them      .        .  434 
Sentiments  of  the  native  population  435 
Facilities   afforded  by   the   tank    at 
Horra-bora 436 


CHAP.  III. 

THE   VEDDAHS. 

The  Yeddah  country.         .         .        .437 
Origin  of  the  tribe      ....  438 
A  remnant  of  the  aborigines  of  Cey- 
lon   438 

Historical  evidences  ....  438 
Smilar  races  in  India  .         («o/e)  438 

Yeddahs  described  bv  Palladius  a.d. 

400  ..'...  438 
Yeddahs  are  "  archers  "...  439 
Their  food 439 

I.  The  Rock  Veddahs  .         .         .440 

Their  organisation  and  habits  .  440 
Their  language  ....  440 
Their  marriage  rites  .  .  .441 
Ko  religion  ....  441 

Their  devil-worship  .  .  .  441 
Ko  burial  of  the  dead  .  .  .  442 
Legend  as  to  their  high  caste     •  442 

II.  The  Village  Veddahs     .         .         .443 

Their  customs      ....  443 

III.  The  Coast  Veddahs      .         .         .444 
Numbers  of  the  Veddahs  in  Cey- 
lon   444 

Their  general  character       .        .  444 
Attempts  of  Government  to  re- 
claim them       ....  445 
Success  as  regards  the  Rock  Yed- 
dahs          446 

Settlement  of  Yillage  Yeddahs  .  447 
Settlement  of  Coast  Veddahs  .  448 
General  results  ....  448 
A  Yeddah  dance  .        .        .  449 

Mode  of  kindling  fire  .  .  .  451 
Country  between  Bintenne  and 

Batticaloa         ....  452 
The  road  from  Badulla       .         .  452 


CHAP.  IV. 

r.ATTICALOA.  —  "THE   MUSICAL   FISH."  — 
THE   SALT   COUNTllY. 

Singular  features  of  the  east  coast  .  454 

Scenery  of  the  rivers  ....  455 

The  island  of  Poe'.iantivo  .        .  .  456 

The  great  sand  formation  .         .  .  456 

Coco-nut  plantations  of  Batf'caloa  .  456 

Extraordinary  size  of  the  nuts  .  .  457 

The  Moors  of  Batticaloa     .         .  .  458 

Damask  manufacture  of  Arrapatoo  .  458 


Pape 
Singular  law  of  succession  .  .  .  458 
Its  Indian  origin  ....  459 
Feudal  sj'stem  in  Ceylon  .  .  .  459 
The  "  village  system  "...  460 
The  "  honour  of  the  White  Cloth  "  .461 
Cliena  cultivation  ....  463 
The  Fort  of  Batticaloa  .  .  .  465 
Its  history  and  present  state      .        .  465 

Kingfishers 466 

Capture  of  a  crocodile  .  .  .  467 
The  "  Musical  Fish  "...  468 
Similar  sounds  in  other  seas  .  .  469 
Organs  of  hearing  in  fishes  .  .  469 
Sounds  uttered  by  the  Tritonia  arbo- 

rescens     ......  470 

The  salt-marshes       .        .        .  472, 473 
Eraoor  and  the  "Elephant-catchers"  472 
The  Natoor  IJiver      ....  473 

Scenerv  of  Yenloos  Bay     .        .        .  473 

Shells" 474 

The  palace  of  the  Yanichee  .  .  474 
The  salt  lake  of  Panetjen-Keray  .  474 
The  Yergel  River  ....  475 
Its  dangerous  inundations  .  .  .  475 
Arnetivoe,  "  the  Island  of  Elephants"  47G 
Night-scene  at  Topoor       .        .        .  477 

Cottiar 478 

Former  historv  of  the  place  and  its 

trade       .     " 478 

Knox's  tamarind  tree  .  .  .  478 
Extraordinary  oysters  .  .  .  479 
Bay  of  Trincomalie  ....  479 
Note. — Tritonia  arborescens       .        .  480 


CHAP.  V. 

TRIXCOJLALIE  —  THE  EBOXY  FORESTS  — 
THE  SALT-FORMATIONS  —  THE  GREAT 
TAXK   OF   PAUIVIL. 


The  bay  and  harbour  of  Trincomalie 
The  fortifications        .... 

Legend  of  "  the  Saamy  Rock  "  . 
The  "  temple  of  a  thousand  columns" 
Destroj-ed  by  the  Portuguese    . 
Curious  ceremony       .... 

Francina  Van  Reede  .         .        .        . 

French  attempts  on  Trincomalie 
The  importance  of  the  position  . 
Its  present  neglect     .         .         .         . 

Surrounding  country  depopulated 
The  town  and  bazaars 
Trincomalie  as  the  capital  of  Ceylon  . 
Reasons  for  its  adoption     . 
Tamblegam  Lake       .... 

Its  pearls     ...... 

Elephants  and  monkeys    . 
A  tiger       .... 

The  ebonv  forests 
Life  of  the  foresters    . 
Nillavelli  and  the  salt  works 
Hot  springs  of  Kanncd 
Iron-sand  .... 

Climbing  fish 

The  lake  of  Kokelai    . 

The  mirage 

Night  travelling  in  the  forest 

The  iri'eat  taidi  of  Fudivil 


Qiote') 


482 
483 
483 
484 
484 
485 
485 
485 
486 
486 
487 
487 
488 
488 
491 
491 
492 
492 
493 
493 
495 
4'.)6 
497 
498 
499 
500 
501 
502 


THE   SECOND   VOLUME. 


Xlll 


Page 

Singular  scene 503 

Tlie  embankment  and  sluices  .  504,  505 
Extraordinary  view  ....  506 
Wild  animals  .....  506 
Obscure  origin  of  the  tank  .  .  507 
The  IVanny  and  its  history  .  .  508 
An  attack  by  ants  ....  512 
Singular  tameness  of  game  .  .  512 
Houses  of  the  Tamil  peasantry.  .  513 
Adventure  with  a  crocodile  .  .  514 
The  fort  of  il[/(;e/efii;oe  .  .  .515 
Crocodiles 516 


CHAP.  VI. 

THE  PENINSULA  OF  JAFFNA. — THE 
PALMYRA  PALM. — THE  TAMILS. 

The  "Eleph.nnt  Pass"  .  .  .517 
Pass  Beschuter  .  .  .  {note)  517 
Geologic  formation  of  Jaffna  .  .  518 
The  palmyra  palm       .  .         .         .519 

INIarriage  of    the   palnnra   and   the 

banyan 520 

Tamil  poem  on  the  palmyra  .  .521 
Fallacy  of  Kumpliius  .         (note)  521 

Economic  uses  of  the  palmyra  .  .  522 
Animals  frequenting  the  tree  .  .  523 
Method  of  collecting  the  juice  .  .  52-1 
IManufocture  of  palmyra  sugar  .        .  52-1 

The  ripe  fruit 525 

"  Poonatoo  " 525 

The  "  kelingoo "  .  .  .  .  525 
Timber  of  the  palmyra  .  .  .  526 
The  leaves  and  their  uses  .        .         .  527 

"Olas" 527 

Coco-nut  plantations  of  Jaffna  .        .  528 

Mode  of  culture 528 

Destruction  by  beetles  .  ,  .  530 
Other  fruit  trees  of  Jaffna  .  .  .531 
Ingenious  system  of  cultivation  .  531 

Cattle  and  their  peculiarities  .  .  531 
Wells  and  irrigation  ....  533 

Tobacco 634 

Point  Pedro  .....  535 
The  tamarind  tree  of  Ealdanis    .        .  535 


Page 

Costume  of  the  Tamil  females  .  .  536 
The  extraordinary  well  of  Potoor  .  536 
Jaffna — the  suburbs  .  .  .  636,  537 
Cultivation  of  the  vine  .  .  .  538 
The  Tamils — their  origin  in  Cej'lon  .  539 
Their  rise  and  former  power  (note)  539 
Their  subjugation  by  Portugal .  .  540 
The  town  and  fort  of  Jaffna  .  .  541 
Arts  and  employments  of  the  people.  542 

Oil  crushing 542 

The  vices  of  the  Tamils  .  .  .  544 
Their  superstitions  ....  645 
An  extraordinary  murder  .  .  .  545 
Comparative  state  of  crime  in  Ceylon  547 

CHAP.  YJI. 
Adam's  bp.idge  and  the  islands. — 
the  pearl  fishery. 
Kayts,  Hammaniel,  and  Donna  Clara 
(note) 
Delft,  "the  Island  of  the  Sun  "  . 
The  breed  of  horses  in  Delft 
The  use  of  the  "  lasso  " 
Pamisei-am — the  great  temple 
The  Pan m bam  Passage 
Adam's  liridge  . 
The  legend  of  its  formation 
The  coral  groves 
Manaar      .... 
Its  ancient  importance 
Choya  root 
Chank  shells 

The  "  tripang,"  or  bkho  de  mar 
The  Dugong       .... 
Origin  of  the  fable  of  the  Mermaid 
The  baobab  trees  at  Manaar 
The  pearl  fishery 
The  beach  at  Aripo    . 
Enormous  accumulations  of  shells 
Disappearances  of  the  pearl  oyster 
Investigations  of  Dr.  Kelaart    . 
The  pearl  divers  and  their  customs 
Exaggerated  stories  of  their  powers 
Shark  charmers .... 
Return  to  Colombo     . 


(jiote) 
.  550, 


(note) 


(note) 


549 
550 
550 
550 
551 
552 
553 
554 
555 
556 
55G 
556 
656 
556 
557 
557 
559 
560 
560 
660 
561 
562 
563 
564 
564 
565 


PART  X. 


THE    RUINED    CITIES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

SIGini   AND   POLLANARRUA. 

S3'mptoms  of  rebellion  and  the  causes  5C9 
Author's  visits  to  the  north  in  con- 
sequence          670 

The  village  of  the  Gahalayas  .  .571 
Scenery  around  Matelle  .  .  .  572 
Matelle  and  its  antiquity  .  .  .  272 
Ornamental  arts  of  its  inhabitants  .  572 
The  Alu  Wihara  .  .  .  .573 
Country  to  Nalande   ....  574 


Mistakes  relative  to  bridges  in  Ceylon  574 
The  Sea  of  Prakrama  .  .  '  .  675 
Dambool — the  rock  ....  575 
The  temple  ....  576,  577 
'Jhe  parricide  king  ....  579 
Sicjiri — the  rock  fortress  .  .  .  579 
The  ruins  ...  .        .  580 

Devil-dancers 581 

Extraordinary  view   ....  581 
Curious  custom  of  antiquity  .     (note)  582 
Distances  measured  by  sounds  .        .  682 
Singhalese   names   for   davs    of  the 
■week       ..."        (note)  582 


XIV 


CONTENTS   OP  THE   SECOND   VOLUME. 


Page 

Cottawelle 583 

Topari  or  PoUanarrua  .  .  .  583 
Extreme  beaut}' of  the  site  .  .  583 
Importance  of  the  city,  anciently      .  584 

Its  vicissitudes 584 

Its  extent  and  buildings  .  .  .  584 
The  ruins  unknown  to  the  Portuguese 

and  Dutch 586 

Their  discovery  in  1817      .         .         .  586 

The  palace 587 

The  "  seven  storied  -house  "  .  .  588 
The  great  stone  tablet  .  .  .588 
The  "round-house  ■'  ....  589 
The  Dalada  Malagawa  ,  .  .590 
The  Eankot  Dagoba .  .  .  .591 
The  Jayta-wana-rama  .  .  592,  593 
Singular  mode  of  lighting  the  statue  694 
The^Kiri  Dagoba  .  .  .  .594 
The  Gal-wahira  .        .        .   595,  596 

Its  colossal  statues  ....  597 
Great  extent  of  the  ruins  .  .  .  597 
A  colony  of  parroquets       .        .        .  599 


CHAP.  II. 

THE  TANK  OF  MINERY. — ANARAJAPOORA, 
A-ND   THE   WEST   COAST. 

The  artificial  lake  of  Minery      .        .  600 

Its  beauty 600 

A  temple  to  its  founder      .        .        .  601 

Abundance  of  wild  animals        .         .  601 

The  Rittagalla  Jlountain  .        .        .  602 

The  great  tank  of  Kalaweva      .        .  602 

Its  prodigious  dimensions  .        .        .  602 

The  ruins  of  Vigita-poora .        .        .  603 

An  abominable  tree   ....  603 

Colossal  statue 604 

The  sacred  mountain  of  Mihintala    .  605 

Its  liistorical  associations  .        .         .  605 

Its  ancient  names      .        .         (jiote)  006 

Enormous  flights  of  stone  steps         .  607 


Page 
The  Et-wihara  Dagoba  ,  .  .607 
The  Ambustella  Dagoba  .  .  .  608 
INIagnificent  view  ....  609 
The  road  from  Mihintala  to  Anaraja- 

poora 609 

The  ancient  tanks  ....  609 
Plan  of  the  city  .         .        .         .610 

Ancient  history  of  Anarajapoora  .  611 
The  ruins  of  the  Brazen  Palace  .  612 

Other  antiquities  ....  612 
The  Sacred  Bo-tree  ....  613 
The  oldest  historical  tree  in  the  world  614 

Proofs  of  this 615 

The  singular  veneration  shown  to  it .  616 
Its  present  condition  ....  618 
Finely  carved  stone  slab  .  .  .  619 
The  tomb  of  Elala  .  .  .  .619 
The  Mirisiwettje  Dagoba  .        .  620 

The  Ruanwelle'  Dagoba  .  .  .620 
Dimensions  of  the  dagobas  {note)  621 

Other  monuments  ....  621 
The  Abhaj'agiri  Dagoba  .  .  .  621 
Its  extraordinary  size  .  .  .  621 
The  Thuparama  Dagoba  .  .  .  622 
The  Dalada  Jlaligawa  .  .  .622 
The  Jayta-wana-rama  Dagoba  .  .  623 
Its  imment>e  cubical  contents  .  .  623 
Wild  animals  near  the  ruins  .  .  624 
Fable  of  the  jackal  .  .  (jwte)  %ib 
The  Giants'  Tank  ....  626 
Its  present  condition  and  histoiy  .  626 
The  country  on  the  west  coast  .  .  626 
Koodramalie  .....  627 
Putlam  and  its  baobab-tree  .  .  627 
Calpentyn  and  its  "  Gobb  "  .        .  628 

Sea-snakes  there  and  at  the  Basses 

{note)  628 

Chilaw 629 

Euins  of  Dambedenia  and  Yapahoo 

{note)  629 

Xegombo 630 

Evidences  of  the  identity  of  the  Bo- 
tree        ....  {note)  631 


ILLUSTRATIONS  IN  THE  SECOND  VOLUME. 


MAPS. 

A  Map  of  Ceylon By  ARitowsMiTH 

A  Portuguese  Map  of  Cej-lon  in  a.d.  1G58        .  From  Ribeyro 
Tlie  Coffee  Districts  of  Ceylon  .        .        .        .By  Arrowsmith 


Page 

to  face  1 

.       5 

to  face  231 


PLANS  AND  CHARTS. 


Plan  of  the  Temple,  &e.  on  Adam's  Peak 

"  Gobbs  "  on  the  West  Coast    . 

Section  of  a  Well  made  by  an  Elephant 

Ground  Plan  and  Fence  of  a  Corral  . 

"  Gobbs  "  on  the  East  Coast 

Plan  of  the  City  of  Pollanarrua 

Plan  of  the  Dalada  Malagawa  at  Topare 

Temple  in  Ava 

Plan  of  the  Ruins  at  Anarajapoora   . 
Diagram  of  the  Dagobas  at  Anarajapoora 


By 


Mr.  W.  Ferguson 
Arrowsjiitii   . 


Arrowsmith   . 
Mr.  W.  G.  Hall 
Mr.  W.  G.  Hall 
le's  Ava,  Sec.     , 
Major  Skinner 
Major  Skinner 


140 
143 
311 
349 
456 
585 
590 
594 
610 
621 


WOOD  ENGRAVINGS. 


Elephants  captured  in  a  Corral 

Portuguese  Discovery  Ship 

Portrait  of  Raja  Singha  II. 

General  Macdowall  and  Piliime  Talaw^ 

Double  Canoe  of  Galle 

A  Singhalese,  with  his  Hair  Combs  . 

Coco  de  Mer 

Summit  of  Adam's  Peak    . 

Portico  of  the  old  Queen's  House,  Colombo 

View  of  Colombo       .... 

Elie  House 

Portrait  of  Don  Solomon  Dias  . 
The  Rest-house  at  Ambepusse  . 
The  Kaduganawa  Pass 

Rodiya  Girls 

Temple  of  the  Sacred  Tooth,  at  Kandy 

The  Sacred  Tooth       . 

Shrine  of  the  Sacred  Tooth 

View  of  Kandy  .... 

Group  of  Kandyan  Chiefs 

The  old  Gampola  Ferry 

General  Eraser's  Coffee  Estate  . 

View  of  BaduUa        .... 

Brain  of  the  Elephant 


By  Mr.  J.  Wolf    . 

La  Place 
From  Knox   . 

JoiNVILLE   MSS.     . 

By  Mrs.  Brunker 
Mrs.  Brunker 


Mr.  Fairholme 
Mr.  a.  Nicholl 
Mr.  Fairholme 
Mr.  a.  Nicholl 
From  a  Photograph 
By  Mr.  A.  Nicholl 
Mr.  a.  Nicholl 
Prince  Soltykoff 
IMr.  a.  Nicholl 
From  Colonel  Forbes 
By  Mr.  A.  Nicholl 
Mr.  Fairhuljie 
From  a  Photograph 
By  Mr.  Fairholme 
Mr.  Fairholme 
Mr.  Fairholme 
Professor  Harrison 


Frontispiece 
.  3 
.  49 
.  80 
.  103 
.  106 
.  126 
.  140 
.  147 
.  150 
.  166 
.  182 
.  183 
.  186 
.  190 
.  195 
.  201 
.  202 
.  204 
.  206 
.  237 
.  258 
.  266 
.  288 


XVI       ILLUSTRATIONS   IN   THE    SECOND   VOLUME. 


Clavicle  of  the  Horse  and  tlie  Elephant 

lOlephant  descending  a  Declivity 

Elephant's  Stomach  . 

Tracheaj  of  an  Elephant    . 

A  Captive  Elephant   . 

Contortions  of  a  Captive    . 

Rage  of  a  Captive  Elephant 

Conduct  of  tame  Elephants 

Elephant  on  Greek  and  Komau  Coins 

Medal  of  Numidia 

Modern  Hendoo 

Cerlthhim  palustre ;  said  to  be  the  Musical  Shell 

of  Batticaloa  ... 
Trincomalie        .... 
A  Coco-nut  Oil  Mill  . 
Paumbam  Passage    . 
Female  Dugong 
Baobab  Trees  at  JIanaar   . 
The  Alu  Wihara        ... 
liock  of  Dambool 

Entrance  to  the  Temple  of  Dambool 
Rock  of  Sigiri    .... 
Devil-dancers    .... 
The  Palace  at  Pollanarrua 
The  Sat-mohal-prasada     . 
The  Round  House  at  Pollanarrua 
The  Rankot  Dagoba  ... 
The  Jayta-wana-rama  Temple 
Temple  in  Ava  .... 
The  Gal-wihara  at  Pollanarrua 
Colossal  Statue  .... 
Ascent  to  Mihintala  . 
The  Ambustella  Dagoba,  Mihintala 
Ruins  of  the  Brazen  Palace 
The  sacred  Bo-tree     . 
Carved  Stone  at  Anarajapoora  . 
Jayta-wana-rama  Dagoba  at  Anarajapoora 


Page 

.  By  SiK  CiiARLEs  Bell  . 

.  299 

. 

.  301 

Sir  Everard  Home 

.  313 

Professor  Harrison 

.  315 

Mr.  J.  Wolf   . 

.  359 

Mr.  J.  Wolf   . 

.  360 

Mr.  J.  Wolf   . 

.  363 

Mr.  J.  Wolf   . 

.  375 

Armandi 

.  378 

Armandi 

.  382 

.  382 

.  468 

Mr.  Fairiiolme 

.  482 

Mr.  a.  Nicholl 

.  542 

M.  H.  Sylvat  . 

.  552 

Mr.  J.  Wolf    . 

.  557 

Mr.  Fairholme 

.  559 

Mr.  a.  Nicholl 

.  573 

Mr.  Ivnighton 

.  575 

Mr.  a.  Nicholl 

.  577 

Mr.  a.  Nicholl 

.  579 

Mr.  a.  Nicholl 

.  581 

Mr.  a.  Nicholl 

.  587 

Mr.  a.  Nicholl 

.  588 

Mr.  a.  Nicholl 

.  589 

Mr.  a.  Nicholl 

.  591 

Mr.  a.  Nicholl 

.  593 

.  YuLEs's  Ava,  &c.  . 

.  594 

.  By  Mr.  A.  Nicholl 

.  596 

Mr.  a.  Nicholl 

.  604 

Mr.  a.  Nicholl 

.  607 

Mr.  a.  Nicholl 

.  608 

Mr.  a.  Nicholl 

.  612 

Mr.  a.  Nicholl 

.  614 

Mr.  a.  Nicholl 

.  bl9 

Mr.  a.  Nicholl 

,  C2.1 

"r 


r-T-n- 


I  -nivn  i'uh^  Jan'  15'^  1857  bv  John  Arrows mtih.io  Scho  Squ 


PAllT   VI. 


MODERN   HISTORY. 


VOL.  II. 


CHAPTEE  I. 


THE    PORTUGUESE    IN   CEYLON. 


There  is  no  page  in  the  story  of  European  coloni- 
sation more  gloomy  and  repulsive  than  tliat  which  re- 
counts the  proceedings  of  the  Portuguese  in  Ceylon. 
Astonished  at  the  magnitude  of  their  enterprises,  and 
the  glory  of  their  discoveries  and  conquests  in  India,  the 
rapidity  and  success^  of  which  secured  for  Portugal  an 
unprecedented  renown,  we  are  ill-prepared  to  hear  of  the 
rapacity,  bigotry,  and  cruelty  which  characterised  every 
stage  of  tlieir  progress  in  the  East.  They  appeared  in 
the  Indian  Seas  in  the  threefold  character  of  merchants, 
missionaries,  and  pirates.  Their  ostensible  motto  was, 
"amity,  commerce,  and  rehgion."^  Theii^  expeditions 
consisted  of  soldiers  as  weU  as  adventurers,  and  included 
friars  and  a  chaplain-major.  Their  instructions  were,  "  to 
begin  by  preaching,  but,  that  faihng,  to  proceed  to  the 
decision  of  the  sword." ^  At  once  aggressive  and  timid, 
they  combined  the  profession  of  arms  with  that  of  trade ; 
and  thus  their  factories  became  fortresses,  from  under 


A. p. 

150.5. 


'  The  annexed  sketch  of  a  Portu- 
guese Discovery  Ship  of  the  fifteenth 
ceutury  is  copied  from  a  dra^^^ng  in 
La  Place's  Circumnavi<jation  cle  VAr- 
icmise,  torn.  i.  p.  54. 

^  Faiiia  t  Souza,  Asia  PoHiigucsa, 
Jisbon,  1G66 — 75  :  translated  by  Ste- 
vens, London,  1G95,  vol.  i.  pt.  i.  ch. 
V.  p.  54.  De  Cgtjto  says :  "  Os  Reys 
Portugal  sempre  per  tenderani  nesta 
conquista  do  Oiiente  unir  tanto  os 
dous  poderes  espiritual  e  temporal, 
que  em  nenlium  tempo  se  exercitasse 
hum  sem  o  outro." — Dec.  vi.  lib.  iv. 
ch.  vii.  p.  323. 

^  Ibid., -p.  53. 


POKTUGni'.SK    DISCOVERY     SHIP 


B   2 


MODERN    HISTORY. 


[Part  V 


A.D. 

1505. 


wliose  guns  their  formidable  galleons  carried  war  and  de- 
solation against  all  weaker  commercial  rivals.  The  re- 
markable fact  is,  that  the  picture  of  then-  pohcy  has  been 
di-awn  by  friendly  hands,  and  the  most  faithfid  records  of 
then-  mis-government  are  contained  in  the  decades  of  their 
own  liistorians.  The  atrocities  attributed  to  the  Portu- 
guese in  the  Tohfut-ul-mujahideen'^,  might  be  ascribed  to 
the  resentment  of  its  Mahometan  author,  on  witnessing 
the  havoc  inflicted  on  his  co-rehgionists  in  wars  under- 
taken by  Em'opeans,  in  order  to  annihilate  the  commerce 
of  the  Moors  in  Hindustan  ;  but  no  similar  suspicion  can 
attach  to  the  narratives  of  ]\L\ffeus"-,  De  Barros  and  De 
CouTO^,  Castanheda*,  Faria  t  Souza^  and  Eibeyro*^, 
each  descriptive  of  actions  that  consign  thek  authors  to 
mfamy. 


^  Tlie  Tohfid-id-mujahideen,  ■\vi-it- 
ten  by  Sheikh  Zeen-ud-deen,  gives 
an  account  of  the  proceedings  of 
the  Portuguese  against  tlie  Ma- 
hometans from  the  year  1498  to 
1583  A.D. 

^  Maffei,  Historia  Lidicarum,  A.D. 
1570,  va-itten  imder  royal  authority. 

^  Da  Asia  dos  Feitos  que  os  Por- 
tuf/uczcs  Jizeram  no  descuhrimento  e 
conqaida  das  terras  e  mares  do  Ori- 
ente.  Por  Joio  de  Bakkos  e  DioGO 
DE  CotrTO.  Lisboa,  1778 — 88.  De 
Barros,  who  is  preeminently  the  his- 
torian of  Portuguese  India,  never 
A-isited  the  East,  but  held  at  Lisbon 
the  office  of  Custodian  of  the  Records 
of  India,  "Feitor  da  Caisa  da  India," 
in  ■^•liich  capacity  he  had  access  to  all 
official  documents  and  despatches, 
from  the  contents  of  which  he  com- 
piled liis  great  work,  of  ^yhich  he  lived 
to  publish  only  the  first  three  De- 
cades, the  foui'lh  being  posthumous. 
He  died  in  1570 ;  so  tluxt  he  was  co- 
temporary  with  Albuquerque,  whose 
achievements  he  celebrates,  and  to 
whom,  as  CEAWFrRD  observes  in  his 
Dictionary  of  the  Indian  Islands,  he 
stood  "  in  the  same  relation  that  Orme 
the  historian  of  India  does  to  the 
English  conqueror  Clive."  His  un- 
finished labours  were  taken  up  by 
numerous  Portuguese   authors;   but 


his  ablest  continuator  was  Diego  de 
Corxo,  (or  more  properly  DiOGO  DO 
Corio,)  who  died  at  Goa,  in  1616, 
He  brings  down  the  naiTative  of  Do 
Barros  to  the  viceroyalty  of  the 
Coimt  Admiral  Don  Francisco  de 
Gama,  a.d.  1596. 

*  Fernando  Lopes  de  Castan- 
HEDA,  Historia  do  Desciibrimento  e 
Conquista  da  India  pelos  PoHugueses. 
Coimbra,  1551 — 61.  It  has  been 
translated  into  English  by  Litchfield, 
London,  1582. 

s  Manuel  de  Farta  t  SorzA, 
Asia  Portuc/uesa,  cS-c.  Lisbon,  1666. 
This  was  a  posthumous  publication, 
■wi'itteu  in  Spanish,  but  inferior,  both 
in  authenticity  and  ability,  to  the 
works  of  De  Barros  and  I)e  Couto. 
It  has  been  ti-anslated  into  English  by 
Captain  John  Stevens ;  3  vols.,  Lon- 
don, 1695. 

^  RiisEYRO,  Ilist.  de  Vlsle  de  Ceilan. 
It  is  doubtfid  if  this  work  was  ever 
publislied  in  the  Original  Portuguese, 
in  which  it  was  wi-itten  and  "  pre- 
sented to  the  King  of  Portugal  in 
1685."  But  from  it  the  French  ver- 
sion was  prepared  by  the  Abbe  Le 
Grand,  and  pnnted  at  Trevoux  in 
1701.  There  is  an  English  transla- 
tion by  Lee,  Colombo,  1847.  To  the 
above  list  may  be  added  the  Historia 
de    la    India     Oriental,    wTitten    in 


Chap.  T.] 


INTERNAL   COXDITIOX. 


The   Portuguese   were   nearly  twenty  years  in   India    a.d 


before   they   took    steps   to    obtain   a  footing    in    Cey- 


1505. 


Spanish  by  San  Romano  t  Riva- 
DENEYRA,  aBenedictine  of  Valladolid, 
A.D.  1G03,  which  describes  the  pro- 
ceedinp's  of  the  Portuguese  iu  ludia 


dowTi  to  the  death  of  John  III.,  A.D. 
1557. 

Note  to    2nd  Edition. — Since   the 
publication  of  the  first  edition,  I  have 


PORIUGUKSli;     ilAP    OF    CEYLON,    i.D,     1635. 


1.  Columbo. 

2.  Cotta. 

3.  Calilure. 

4.  Alicam. 

5.  Callc. 

fi.  Beligam. 

7.  Mature. 

8.  Tanavare. 

9.  Grevavas. 

10.  Balave. 

1 1 .  Batecalou. 

12.  Capello  de  Frade. 

13.  Mannhas  do  Sal. 

14.  Trinqiiimali?. 

1.*).  Terra  dos  Bedas. 

16.  Ovany. 

17.  Poiita  das  Petras. 

18.  Jafaii.ipatao. 

10.  Ilhade  Cardiva. 
2(1.  Ilha  das  Cabras. 


21.  Ilha  dos  Forcados. 

22.  llliad;is  Vacas. 

23.  Uio  .Salg.-ido. 

24.  Ilha  df  Manaar. 

25.  Mantota. 

2K.  Praya  de  Aripo. 

27.  Scrra  de  Grudumale. 

28.  Patalam. 

29.  Ilha  de  Cardiga. 

30.  Chilao. 

31.  Ni'giimbo. 

32.  Verg.inpenin. 

33.  RIalvana. 

34.  Grubebe. 
3.^  Ruiinella. 

36.  Manicavare. 

37.  Ceitavacca. 

38.  Safregam. 

39.  Dinavaca. 


40.  Uva. 

41.  Candia. 

42.  Matalc^. 

43.  Serra  de  Balanc. 

44.  Praya  de  Moroto. 

45.  Belelote. 

46.  Curaca. 

47.  Mapolcgama. 

48.  Ence.idados  Arcos. 

49.  Panatvire. 

50.  Acumona. 

51.  Pieco  de  Adam. 
62.  Vilacem. 

53.  Pasdun  Corla. 

54.  Reygam  Corla. 

55.  Salpiti  Corla. 

56.  Qiiatro  Corlas. 

57.  Sete  Corlas. 

58.  Cotiar. 


ascertained  that  the  work  of  Ribeyro 
(or,  as  he  writes  his  name,  Rireiro) 
has  been  printed  in  tlie  original  Por- 
tuguese, by  the  Acadeniia  Real  daa 


Sciencias.  It  forms  the  fifth  vol.  of 
a  series  entitled,  CoUcc(;do  do  Noticias 
para  a  Ilistoria  e  Geocjrajia  das  Na^ocs 
U!tra)narina,s,  que  vivem  nos  Dominios 


B  3 


MODERN   HISTORY. 


[Part  VI. 


A.D. 

1505. 


lon.^  Vasco  de  Gama,  after  rounding  the  Cape,  anchored 
at  Calicut  a.d.  1498,  and  Lorenzo  de  Ahiieyda  visited 
Galle  A.D.  1505  ;  but  it  was  not  till  a.d.  1517,  that  Lopez 
Soarez,  the  third  viceroy  of  the  Indies,  bethought  himself 
of  sending  an  expedition  to  form  a  permanent  trading 
settlement  at  Colombo^ ;  and  so  httle  importance  did  the 
Portuguese  attach  to  the  acquisition,  that  within  a  very 
few  years,  an  order  (which  was  not  acted  upon)  was 
issued  from  Goa  to  abandon  the  fort,  as  not  worth  tlic 
cost  of  retention.^ 


Portugiiezas  ou  Ihes  suo  visinhas  ;  and 
was  published  at  Lisbon  in  18^3(3,  from 
the  identical  MS.  presented  by  the 
author  to  King  Pedro  II.  lu  this, 
ElBEYRO  entitles  his  work,  Fatalidade 
Historica  da  llha  de  CeiJdo  ;  and  the 
editor,  after  alluding  in  strong  terms  ■ 
to  the  discreditable  neglect  in  which 
it  had  so  long  been  permitted  to  re- 
main in  Portugal,  points  out  that  its 
French  translator,  Le  Grand,  had 
not  only  committed  gross  errors,  but 
had  omitted  whole  chapters  from  the 
2nd  and  3rd  Books,  and  altered  the. 
sense  of  numerous  passages,  o^sving  to 
his  imperfect  acquaintance  -n-ith  the 
Portuguese  language.  Ilibep-o  illus- 
ti-ated  his  narrative  by  a  map  of 
Ceylon,  which  is  a  remarkable  evi- 
dence of  the  veiy  slight  knowledge  of 
geogi'aphy  possessed  by  his  countiy- 
men  in  the  seventeenth  century.  A 
fac  simile  of  it  is  given  above. 

'  De  Bakros,  dec.  iii.  lib.  ii.  ch.  2. 
vol.  iii.  pt.  i.  p.  119. 

^  This  fact  is  not  without  signi- 
ficance in  relation  to  the  claim  of 
Ceylon  to  a  "  natural  monopoly  "  of 
the  finest  qualities  of  cinnamon.  Its 
existence  as  a  production  of  the 
island  had  been  made  known  to 
Europe  by  Di  Conti,  seventy  years 
before  ;  and  lux  I^atuta  asserts  that 
Malabar  had  been  supplied  -w-ith  cin- 
namon from  Ceylon  at  a  still  earlier 
period.  It  may  therefore  be  in- 
ferred, that  there  can  have  been  no- 
thing very  remarkable  in  the  quality 
or  repute  of  the  spice  at  the  beginning 
of  the  sixteenth  centuiy;   else   the 


Portuguese,  who  had  been  mainly 
attracted  to  the  East  by  the  fame  ot 
its  spices,  would  have  made  their 
earliest  visit  to  the  coimtiy  which 
afterwards  acquired  its  renown  by 
producing  the  rarest  of  them. 

"  canella 
Com  que  Ceilao  he  rica,  illustre,  e  bella." 
Camoens,  canto  ix.  st.  14. 

On  the  contrary,  their  first  in- 
quiries were  for  jwpper,  and  their 
chief  resort  was  to  the  Dekkan, 
north  of  Cape  Comorin,  which  was 
celebrated  for  producing  it.  (Toh- 
fut-id-3Ii(jahideen,  ch.  iv.  s.  i.  p.  77.) 
It  was  not  till  1516  that  Barbosa 
proclaimed  the  superiority  of  Ceylon 
cinnamon  over  all  others,  and  there 
is  reason  to  believe,  whatever  doubt 
there  may  be  as  to  its  early  introduc- 
tion into  the  island,  that  its  high  re- 
putation is  comparatively  modern, 
and  attiibutable  to  the  attention 
bestowed  upon  its  preparation  for 
market  by  the  Portuguese,  and 
afterwards  in  its  cultivation  by  the 
Dutch.  De  Barros,  however,  goes 
so  far  as  to  describe  Ceylon  as  the 
Mother  of  Cinnamon,  "  canella  de 
que  ella  he  madre  como  dissemos." 
— Dec.  iii.  lib.  ii.  ch.  i, 

'  Faria  y  Souza,  vol.  i.  ch.  ix.  p. 
281.  Valexty^t  says  the  order  was 
actually  earned  into  force,  and  the 
fort  of  Colombo  demolished  by  the 
Portuguese  in  1.524,  but  shortly  after- 
wards reconstructed.  {0ml  en  niemo 
Oost-Indien,  8fc.,  vol.  v.  pt.  i.  ch.  vii. 
p.  91.) 


CuAi'.  I.]  AKRIVAL   OF   THE   PORTUGUESE.  7 

The  political  condition  of  Ceylon  at  the  time  was  tie-  a.d. 
plorable.  The  seaports  on  all  parts  of  the  coast  were 
virtually  in  the  hands  of  the  Moors ;  the  north  was  in 
the  possession  of  the  Malabars,  whose  seat  of  government 
was  at  Jaffha-patam  ;  and  the  great  central  region  (since 
known  as  the  Wanny),  and  Neuerakalawa,  were  formed 
into  petty  fiefs,  each  governed  by  a  Wanniya,  calhng 
himself  a  vassal,  but  wtually  uncontrolled  by  any  para- 
mount authority.  In  the  south,  the  nominal  sovereign, 
Dharma  Prakrama  Bahu  IX.,  had  his  capital  at  Cotta, 
near  Colombo,  whilst  minor  kings  held  mimic  coiurts 
at  Badulla,  Gampola,  Peradenia,  Kandy,  and  Mahagam, 
and  caused  repeated  commotions  by  their  intrigues  and 
insurrections.  They  ceased  to  busy  themselves  with  the 
endowment  of  temples,  and  the  construction  of  works  for 
irrigation,  so  that  already  in  the  foiu-teenth  century, 
Ceylon  had  become  dependent  upon  India  for  supphes  of 
food,  and  annually  imported  rice  from  the  Dekkan.^ 

The  first  appearance  of  the  Portuguese  flag  in  the 
waters  of  Ceylon,  in  the  year  1505,  was  the  result  of  an 
accident.  The  profitable  trade  previously  conducted  by 
the  Moors,  in  carrying  the  spices  of  Malacca  and  Sumatra 
to  Cambay  and  Bassora,  having  been  efiectually  cut  off  by 
tlie  Portuguese  cruisers,  the  Moorish  ships  were  compelled 
to  take  a  wide  course  through  the  Maldives,  and  pass 
south  of  Ceylon,  to  escape  capture.  Don  Francisco  de 
Almeyda,  the  Viceroy  of  India,  despatched  his  son,  Lo- 
renzo, with  a  fleet  from  Goa  to  intercept  the  Moors  on 
their  route,  and  wandering  over  unknown  seas,  he  was 
unexpectedly  carried  by  the  current  to  the  harbour  of 
GaUe'^;  where  he  found  Moorish  ships  loading  with  cin- 


^  Barthema,  Itinerario,  kc,  p. 
xxvii. 

2  De  Barros,  dec.  i.  lib.  i.  cli.  v. ; 
Faria  y  Soxjza,  vol.  i.  pt.  i.  ch.  x. ; 
RiBEYRO,  b.  i.  cb.  Y. ;  De  Copto, 
dec.  V.  lib.  i.  ch.  iii.  De  Barros  and 
San  Romano  describe  this  as  "the 


discovery  of  Ceylon,"  —  an  expression 
which  must  have  been  merely  con- 
ventional, as  in  addition  to  all  earlier 
ti'avellers,  Ceylon  had  been  described 
by  a  Portiio;uese,  Thome  Lopez,  in 
a.d.  1502.  See  Ramusio,  vol.  i.  p.  333. 


B  4 


MODEEN   HISTORY. 


[Part  VI. 


A.D. 

1505. 


A.D. 

1517. 


namon  and  elephants.  Their  owners,  alarmed  for  their 
own  safety,  attempted  to  deceive  liim  by  the  assertion 
that  Galle  was  the  residence  of  Dharma  Praki\ama  IX., 
the  king  of  Ceylon,  under  whose  protection  they  pro- 
fessed to  be  trading ;  and  by  whom,  they  further  assured 
liim,  they  were  authorised  to  propose  a  treaty  of  peace 
and  commerce  with  the  Portuguese,  and  to  comphment 
their  Commander,  by  a  royal  gift  of  foiu"  hundi^ed  bahars 
of  cinnamon.  They  even  conducted  Payo  de  Souza,  the 
Heutenant  of  Almeyda,  to  an  inter\'iew  with  a  native  who 
personated  the  Singhalese  monarch,  and  who  promised 
him  permission  to  erect  a  factory  at  Colombo.  Don  Lo- 
renzo, though  aware  of  the  deception,  found  it  prudent  to 
dissemble ;  and  again  put  to  sea  after  erecting  a  stone- 
cross  at  Point  de  Galle,  to  record  the  event  of  his  ar- 
rival.^ 

Twelve  years  elapsed  before  the  Portuguese  again 
visited  Ceylon.  In  the  interim,  their  ascendancy  in  India 
had  been  secured  by  the  captm^e  of  Ormuz,  the  fortifica- 
tion of  Goa,  the  erection  of  forts  at  various  places  in 
Malabar,  and  the  conquest  of  the  spice  country  of  Ma- 
lacca. Midway  between  thek  extreme  settlements,  the 
harbours  of  Ceylon  rendered  the  island  a  place  of  im- 
portance^ ;  and  at  length,  in  1517,  Lopo  Soarez  de 
Albergaria  appeared  in  person  before  Colombo,  with  a 
flotilla  of  seventeen  sail,  and  with  materials  and  work- 
men for  the  erection  of  a  factory  in  conformity  with 
the  promise  alleged  to  have  been  made  by  the  king 
to  Don  Lorenzo  de  Almeyda,  in  1505,  and  afterwards 


^  Dk  Baeeos,  dec.  i.  lib.  x.  ch.  v. 
Aol.  i.  pt.  ii.  p.  425  ;  De  Corio,  dec. 
V.  lib.  i.  cb.  T.  vol.  ii.  pt.  i.  p.  58  ;  San 
Romano,  lib.  i.  cb.  xviii.  p.  lOG. 
Camoens,  in  a  passage  in  tbe  Lu- 
siacl,  implies  tbat  tbe  Portuguese 
came  provided  witb  tbese  columns, 
"padraos,"  to  be  erected  in  com- 
memoration of  tbeir  expected  dis- 
coveries. 


"  Hum  padrao  nesta  tprra  alevant  &mos 
Que  para  assipna  ar  lusa  rs  taes 
Trazia  alguns,"  &c.     Canto  v,  st.  78. 

"^  Tbe  importance  of  Ceylon,  both 
for  tbe  facility  and  security  of  Por- 
tuguese commerce  in  India,  bas  been 
ably  discussed  by  Ratnal  in  bis 
Histoirc  des  Estahlissementset  du  Com- 
merce des  Euroi)cens  dans  Ics  Indcs, 
V.  i.  cb.  XV.  vol.  i.  p.  160. 


Chap.  I.] 


FIKST   STRUGGLES. 


repeated  by  letter  to  the  Viceroy  Alfonzo  de  Albii-  a.p. 
querque.^  But  the  apprehensions  of  the  Singhalese  court  ^ 
were  aroused  by  the  discovery  that  seven  hundred 
soldiers  were  carried  in  the  merchant  ships  of  the  Vice- 
roy, and  that  the  proposed  factory  was  to  be  mounted 
with  cannon.  In  justification  of  this  proceeding,  Soarez 
pleaded  the  open  hostihty  of  the  Moors,  and  the  inse- 
curity of  the  new  traders  when  exposed  to  their  vio- 
lence ; — but  the  arguments  by  which  he  succeeded  in 
removing  the  king's  scruples  were  proffers  of  the  mihtary 
services  upon  which  the  latter  might  rely,  in  case  of 
assault  from  his  aspiring  relatives,  and  assurances  of  the 
riches  to  be  derived  from  the  trade  which  the  Portumiese 

o 

proposed  to  estabhsh.  Dazzled  by  such  promises  and 
prospects,  the  king  gave  a  reluctant  assent,  and  the  first 
European  stronghold  in  Ceylon  began  to  rise  on  the  rocky 
beach  at  Colombo.^ 

The  Moors,  instinctively  ahve  to  the  dangers  which 
threatened  their  trade,  soon  succeeded  in  re-kindhng  the 
alarms  of  the  king  at  the  consequences  of  his  precipitancy. 
He  made  another  attempt  to  draw  back  from  his  recent 
engagements ;  he  encouraged  the  Moors  to  resistance,  and 
the  Portuguese  were  closely  besieged  for  several  months. 
But  the  effort  was  ineffectual ;  the  garrison  was  reheved 
by  the  arrival  of  succoiu:  from  India,  and  the  only  re- 
sult of  the  demonstration  was  to  render  the  Singhalese 
king  more  helplessly  dependent  upon  the  power  of  the 
Viceroy.  He  submitted  to  acknowledge  himself  a  vas- 
sal of  Portugal,  and  to  pay  an  annual  tribute  of  cinnamon, 
rubies,  sapphires,  and  elephants,  and  with  this  important 
convention  inscribed  on  plates  of  gold,  Lopo  Soarez  took 
his  departure  from  Ceylon,  leaving  Juan  de  Silveu'a  in 
command  of  the  new  settlement.^ 


'  Faria  t  Soxtza^  vol,  i.  pt.  iii.  2  ; 
De  Barros,  dec.  lii.  lib.  ii.  ch.  ii. 
vol.  iii.  pt.  i.  p.  118. 

^  Be  Barros,  dec.  iii.  lib.  ii.  ch. 


ii.  vol.  iii.  pt.  ii.  p.  121  ;   Bald^tjs, 
ch.  xl. 

'  De  Barros,  dec.  iii.  vol.  iii.  p. 
132  J   De  Couto,  dec.  v.  vol.  iii.  p. 


10  SIODERN   HISTORY.  [Part  VI. 

A.D.  Owing  to  the  difficulty  of  finding  lime  or  even  suitable 
1^17.  stone  on  the  spot,  the  first  entrenchment  of  the  Portu- 
guese consisted  of  earth-work  and  stockades  ;  and  it  was 
1520.  not  till  A.D.  1520,  that  Lopo  de  Brito  was  despatched 
with  400  soldiers,  besides  masons  and  carpenters,  with 
orders  to  transport  the  shells  of  the  pearl-oyster,  which 
still  form  vast  mounds  along  the  sea-shore  of  Aripo,  and 
to  bm^n  them  for  cement  to  complete  the  fortifications  of 
Colombo.^  The  Moors  availed  themselves  of  this  undis- 
guised attempt  to  convert  a  factory  into  a  fortress,  as  an 
aro-ument  to  rouse  the  indication  of  the  Sino-halese  ;  and 
an  army  of  20,000  men  was  collected,  which  for  upwards 
of  five  months  held  the  Portuguese  in  utmost  peril  within 
the  area  of  theh'  entrenchments^,  till  the  besiegers, 
alarmed  by  the  arrival  of  reinforcements  from  India, 
suddenly  dispersed,  and  left  the  garrison  at  hberty  to 
complete  their  fortifications. 

But  hostihties  w^ere  merely  suspended,  not  abandoned, 
and  a  war  now  commenced  which  endured  almost  with- 
out intermission  diuring  the  entu'e  period  the  Portuguese 
held  possession  of  the  maritime  provinces  ;  a  war  wliich, 
as  De  Couto  observes,  rendered  Ceylon  to  Portugal 
what  Carthage  had  proved  to  Eome — a  som^e  of  un- 
ceasing and  anxious  expenditm^e,  "  gradually  consuming 
her  Indian  revenues,  wasting  her  forces  and  her  artillery, 
and  causing  a  greater  outlay  for  tlie  government  of 
that  single  island  than  for  all  her  other  conquests  in  the 
East."  3 


445.     Camoexs,  iu  tlie  Lusiad,  cele-  i      2  Sax  Roitaxo,  lib.   ii.   cli.  xxvi. 
brates  this  incident  of  the  trihtrtc  of  |  p.  ,349 


Cinnamon  as  the  crowning  triumph 
which  .signalised  the  planting  of  the 
"  Lusitanian  standard  on  the  towera 
of  Colombo." 

"  Dell.T  dara  tributo  a  Lusit.ina 
Bandeira,  qiiando  excolsa  e  gloriosa 
Veiicendo  se  ergiuni  na  torre  erguid<i 
Em  Colurabo,dos  proprios  tao  temida." 
Canto  X.  ft.  51. 

^  De  Bareos,  dec.  iii.  lib.  iv.  ch.  ^-i. 
vol.  iii.  pt.  i.  p.  445  ;  Faria  y  Souza, 


3  De  Corxo,  dec.  v.  pt.  i.  ch.  v. 
RoDRiGTJES  DE  Saa,  in  his  narrative 
of  the  rebellion  in  Ceylon,  in  which 
his  father  perished  in  16.30^  records  a 
similar  opinion  : — ^'  ^'arios  y  estraiios 
casossuccedidos  en  vma  couqiiista,  que 
siendo  a  los  Estados  de  la  India  como 
otro  Cartago  a  Roma  en  la  hoiTibel 
y  prolixo   de   la  guen-a,   iguald   sin 


vol.  i.  pt.  iii.  ch.  iv.  p.  238  ;  PaBETRO,  duda  a  los  mas  fonnidables  de  Eu 
book  i.  ch.  V.  ;  Sax  Romaxo,  lib.  ii.  ;  I'opa;  porque  ha  cieuto  y  vemte  siete 
ch.  xxvi.  p.  348.  '  ^"•'s  que  dura  con  igual  obstinaciou 


ClIAP.   I.] 


THE    KAXDYANS    TAKE    ARMS. 


11 


1527. 


The  king,  Dharma  Prakrama  IX.,  the  first  with  a.d. 
whom  the  Portuguese  came  in  contact,  is  correctly  de- 
scribed by  EiBEYEO,  as  a  weak  and  irresolute  prince, 
who  lacked  the  courage  to  refuse  any  request.^  The 
same  may  be  said  of  his  brother,  Wijayo  Bahu  VII., 
and  of  Bhuwaneka  VII.,  son  and  successor  of  the  latter.  ^  a.d. 
Though  nominally  the  paramount  sovereign  of  Ceylon, 
such  was  the  minute  subdivision  of  the  island  into  petty 
fiefs,  that  the  territory  under  the  direct  government  of 
the  king  was  not  only  insignificant  in  extent,  but  from 
its  position,  insusceptible  of  defence.  On  one  side 
Cotta,  his  capital,  lay  almost  within  range  of  the  Portu- 
guese guns ;  and  on  all  others  he  was  overawed  by  his 
own  vassals,  who,  from  their  strongholds  in  the  hills, 
threatened  him  with  revolt  and  invasion.  The  kings 
of  Cotta  thus  exposed  to  demands  from  arrogant 
strangers  which  they  were  powerless  to  resist,  and 
alarmed  by  the  resentment  of  their  own  people,  called 
forth  by  their  concessions,  were  compelled,  for  security, 
to  draw  closer  the  ill-omened  alliance  with  Portugal,  in 
order  to  protect  themselves  from  the  indignation  of  their 
nominal  subjects. 

The  first  to  organise  an  armed  resistance  to  the  en- 
croachments of  the  new  settlers,  were  the  mountaineers 
of  Kandy  and  the  surrounding  regions.  From  the 
earliest  ages  the  inhabitants  of  these  lofty  ranges  have 
been  distingiushed  by  their  patriotism  and  ardent  re- 
sistance to  every  foreign  invader.  The  same  impatient 
spirit,  which  had  stimulated  their  forefathers  fifteen 
hundred  years  before,  to  avenge  the  first  aggressions 
of  the  Malabars,  now  animated  their  descendants  to 
repel  the  intrusion  of  European  adventurers,  wliose 
mingled    arrogance  and    duphcity    served  to  inflame    a 


(le  Zingalas  y  Portuguesas,  pug- 
nando,  estos  por  el  Imperio  y  la  ex- 
ftltacion  de  nuestra  santa  Fe  Cato- 
lica;  y  afiuellos  por  la  libertad  de 


los  cueTpos." — EoDRiGUES  BE   Saa, 
liitbclion  de  Ceyhin,  lS'y'.,  p.  2. 
'  RiuEYRO,  book  i.  chap.  v. 


12 


MODERN   HISTORY. 


[Part  VI. 


A.D.    resistance  which  no  blandishments  could  divert  and  no 
1527.  reverses  allay,  and  which  served  to  keep  ahve  an  interne- 
cine war,  never  relaxed  nor  suspended  till  the  Portuguese 
were  expelled  from  Ceylon,  one  hundred  and  fifty  years 
after  their  first  landing. 

The  efiects  of  this  long-sustained  struggle  left  strongly 
marked  impressions  upon  the  national  character  of  the 
Kandyans.  It  not  only  called  forth  their  patriotism  and 
daring,  but  taught  them  the  profession  of  arms,  and,  as 
an  illustration  of  the  maxim  of  Scipio,  that  a  continual 
war  against  a  single  people  teaches  the  aggressors  in 
time  to  strengthen  themselves  by  adopting  the  tactics 
of  their  enemies,  De  Couto  instances  the  remarkable 
fact,  that  whereas  on  the  arrival  of  Almeyda,  in  1505, 
the  Singhalese  were  ignorant  of  the  use  of  gunpowder, 
and  there  was  not  a  single  firelock  in  the  island,  they 
soon  excelled  the  Portuguese  in  the  manufiicture  of 
muskets,  and  before  the  war  was  concluded,  they 
coidd  bring  twenty  thousand  stand  of  arms  into  the 
field.i 


'  The  astonisliment  of  the  natives 
at  the  first  discharge  of  a  cannon  by 
the  Portuguese  at  Colombo,  is  forci- 
bly described  in  the  Rajamli :  "  ma- 
king a  noise  like  thimder  when  it 
breaks  upon  Jimgara  Parwata — and 
a  ball  from  one  of  them,  after  flying 
some  leagues,  will  break  a  castle  of 
marble."  (p.  278.)  The  passage  in  De 
Couto  is  as  follows : — "  neste  tempo 
nem  huma  so  espingarda  havia  em 
toda  a  Ilha ;  e  depois  que  nos  entra- 
mos  nella,  com  o  continuo  uso  da 
guen-a  que  Ihe  fizemos,  se  fizeram 
tao  destros  como  hoje  estam ;  e  a 
fundirem  a  melhor,  e  mais  formosa 
artilheria  do  mimdo,  e  a  fazeram  as 
mais  fonnosas  espingardas,  e  me- 
Ihores  que  as  nossas,  do  que  hoje  ha 
na  Ilha  de  vantagem  de  vinte  mil." 
— Dec.  \.  lib.  i.  ch.  v. 

Faria  y  SouzA  mentions  that  the 
Singhalese  at  the  close  of  the  Poi'- 
tuguese  dominion  "  made  the  best 
firelocks  of  all  the  East."     (Vol.  ii. 


pt.  iv.  ch.  xix.  p.  510.)  See  also 
KoDRlGTJES  DE  Saa,  Rehelion,  SiC,  ch. 
i.  p.  29.  LiNscnoTEN,  the  Dutch  tra- 
veller, who  visited  Ceylon  in  1805, 
says,  "  the  natural  bom  people  or 
Chimjahts,  make  the  fairest  barrels 
for  pieces  that  may  be  foimd  in  any 
place,  which  shine  as  bright  as  if 
they  were  silvei-."  Lond.  1598.  And 
Ptraed,  the  French  traveller,  who 
landed  at  Galle  after  having  been 
wi'ecked  on  the  Maldives,  in  1605, 
expresses  unqualified  admiration  of 
the  Singhalese  workmanship  on  me- 
tals ;  and  especially  in  the  fabrication 
and  ornamenting  of  arms,  which  he 
says  were  esteemed  the  finest  in  In- 
dia, and  even  superior  to  those  of 
France.  "  le  n'eusse  iamais  pens6 
q'ils  eussent  esttS  si  excellens  a  bien 
faire  des  arquebuses  et  autres  amies 
ouurag^es  et  fa^ onntSes,  qui  sont  plus 
belles  que  celles  que  I'on  fait  icy." — 
Pyrakd  de  Laval,  Voyages,  Sfc, 
Paris,  1679,  ch.  x.  tom.  ii.  p.  88. 


Chap.  L] 


THE    ROYAL    FAMILY. 


13 


A.P. 

1527. 


The  original  leader  of  the  insurgent  Singhalese  was 
Maaya  Dunna.i\  youngest  son  of  Wijayo  Baliu  ^HLI., 
and  grandson  of  the  king  by  whom  the  Portuguese  had 
been  originally  suffered  to  estabhsh  themselves  at  Co- 
lombo. This  prince,  exasperated  by  the  degrading 
policy  of  his  family  towards  the  Eiu^opeans,  and  alarmed 
by  an  attempt  of  his  father  to  set  aside  his  brothers  and 
himself  from  the  succession  in  favour  of  children  by 
a  second  marriage,  levied  war  against  the  king,  procured 
his  assassination,  and  succeeded  in  placing  the  heir  ap- 
parent, Bhuwaneka  Bahu  VIL^,  on  the  throne  ;  reser\dng  ^  ^ 
the  fief  of  Sitawacca  for  himself,  and  that  of  Eayagam  1534 
for  his  second  brother. 

The  new  king,  however,  outvied  his  predecessor  in 


^  Called  by  the  Portuguese  his- 
torians Madune  ;  —  his  sou  and  suc- 
cessor, Raja  Singha  I.,  is  the  Raju  of 
De  Ban-OS  and  De  Couto.  I  have 
prepared  the  genealogical  table  which 


is  subjoined  with  a  \'iew  to  facilitate 
reference  to  the  complicated  alliances 
of  the  sovereigns  of  Ceylon  at  this 
period. 


I.  Dh.irma  Prakrama  Bahu  IX. 
1505.     Died  1527. 


Raja  Siiigha. 
Dead. 


II.  WiJAVo  Bahu  VII.  1527.      R.ijgam  Banda. 
Murdered  by  his  sons,  1531.  Dead. 


In.  BmnvANiKA  Bahu  Vll.    1.534. 
Killed  aciidentally,  1542. 

A  daughter,  m.Tribiila  H.iiida. 


Don  Juan  Dhar.mapala,  1542. 
A  Christian.  His  aiithcirity 
was  confined  to  Colombo, 
his  grand-uncles  having 
possession  of  the  re.<!t  of  his 
dominions.  He  died,  a.d. 
I.WI  ;  and  by  will  lift  the 
King  of  Portugal  heir  to  his 
kingdom. 


Ray.-igam  Banda.  Maaya  Dinnai,  DewaU  .jaKumara. 
murdered  by  his  Son  by  a2nd  mar- 
son,  Raja  Singha.        riagc. 


2  so.  s,  d.  A  daughter,  V.  Raja  Singha  I.  1.581,  d.  159  '. 
Died.  , > I 

SURIYA  COMARA,   1592. 
deposed  by 


\'l.  WiMALA  Dharma.  1592.  King 
of  Randy,  m.  Donna  Catharina. 

VI!.  Senerat.  1GU4.  Brotlier  of 
Lite  king,  m.  Donna  Catha- 
rina, his  widow. 


VIII.  Raja  Singha  II.    1C3.".. 


IX.    Wl.MALA    DhAKMA  SlRlYA   II. 

IGS9. 


X.  Sni  W'IRA  Prakiiama.  17117. 
Son.  At  his  death,  in  \1M\, 
the  Singhalese  line  extinct. 


XI.  Sri    Wijava     R\ja    Singha. 
1739.     A  Malabar. 


XII.  KiRii   Sri.     1747.      Brother- 
in-law. 


XIII.   Hajaohi  Kaja  Singha.   17">1. 

.\1V.  Sri  WiKRtMA  Raja  Singha. 
I79S,  nephew.  Deposed  by 
the  Knglish,  1H15. 


2  A.D.    15:34,   "  This  king    is 
Bnuonya  liao  of  l)e  Couto,  and 


the   I  Kef/aha  Pa))(lar  o{T\\howo. 

Boe  \       ' 


14 


MODERN   HISTORY. 


[Part  YI. 


A.D. 

1536. 


A.D. 

1538. 


A.D. 

1540. 


faithlessness  to  his  country  and  his  rehgion,  and  in 
subserviency  to  the  rising  power  of  the  Portuguese ;  and 
before  two  years,  Maaya  Dunnai,  assisted  by  the  Moors, 
"  the  greatest  enemies  of  the  Portuguese  in  India,"  ^  and 
supported  by  two  tliousand  troops  sent  by  tlie  Zamorin 
of  CaUcut,  invested  Cotta,  which,  after  a  siege  of  three 
months,  was  reheved  by  the  timely  arrival  of  Portu- 
guese reinforcements  from  India.^  In  1538  he  renewed 
the  war  with  the  co-operation  of  Paichi  Marcar,  a  power- 
ful Moor  of  Cochin^;  but  the  forces  sent  by  the  latter 
having  been  intercepted  and  destroyed  by  the  Portu- 
guese fleet,  Maaya  Dunnai  again  found  it  prudent  to 
temporise.  The  death  of  his  brother,  the  chief  oi 
Eayagam,  and  the  acquisition  of  his  territory,  having 
greatly  enhanced  his  strength,  he  renewed  his  sohcita- 
tions  to  the  Zamorin  and  Paichi  Marcar,  and  again  laid 
siege  to  Cotta  in  1540.^  Again  the  viceroy  of  India 
was  forced  to  interpose,  and  a  thu\l  time  Maaya  Dunnai 
was  obliged  to  sue  for  peace,  which  he  purchased  by  a 
treacherous  surrender  of  Paichi  Marcar,  and  the  chiefs 
of  his  Moorish  allies,  whose  heads  raised  on  spears  he 
presented  to  the  Portuguese  general.^ 

The  king  of  Cotta,  Bhuwaneka  VIL,  was  now  so 
utterly  estranged  from  the  sympathies  of  his  own  coun- 
trymen, and  so  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  his  foreign  allies, 
that  he  appealed  to  the  Portuguese  to  ensure  the  suc- 
cession to  his  grandchild,  the  only  male  representative 
of  his  family.  To  give  solemnity  to  their  acquiescence, 
he  adopted  the  strange  expedient  of  despatching  to  Eu- 
rope a  statue  of  the  boy  cast  in  gold,  together  with  a 


^  Farta  y  Sou/a,  vol.  i.  pt.  iv.  ch. 
8.  San  IIomano,  lib.  iv.  cli.  xx.  p.  734. 

2  ])r  Couto,  dec.  V.  lib.  i.  cli.  \'i. ; 
ib.  lib.  ii.  ch.  iv. ;  Faeia  y  Souza, 
vol.  i.  pt.  iv.  ch.  xvii. 

3  A.D,  1538,  Fakia  y  Sottza,  vol. 
i.  pt.  iv.  ch.  viii. ;  De  Couto,  dec.  v, 
lib.  ii.  ch.  iv.-v. 

*  De  Couto,  dec.  v.  lib.  i.  ch.  x. ; 
lib.  V.  ch.  vi. 


5  De  Couto,  dec.  v.  lib.  ii.  ch. 
viii. ;  Faeia  y  SorzA,  vol.  ii.  pt.  i. 
ch.  ii.  Ttjrnottr  says  he  was  christ- 
ened in  effigy  at  Lisbon  {Ejntomc, 
8fc.,  p.  49),  but  De  Cono,  with  more 
probability,  says  the  ceremony  was  a 
coronation.  (Dec.  v.  lib.  vii.  ch.  iv. ; 
dec.  \\.  lib.  iv.  ch.  \'ii.) 


Chap.  I.] 


DEATH    OF   THE    KIXG, 


15 


crown  ornamented  with  jewels  ; — his  ambassadors  were     a.d. 
received  with  signal  honours  by  John  III.,  and  the  form     '^    ' 
of  a  coronation  in  effigy  was  performed  at  Lisbon  in  a.d. 

1541  \  the  name  of  Do7i  Juan  being  conferred  on  the 
young  prince  in  addition  to  his  previous  patronymic  of 
Dharmapala^  Bahu. 

In  return  for  this  condescension,  the  king  of  Portugal, 
true  to  the  pohcy  of  extending  religion  conterminously 
with  his  dominions  ^,  exacted  a  further  concession  from 
the  Singhalese  sovereign.  A  party  of  Franciscans  were 
directed  to  accompany  the  ambassadors  on  their  return 
from  Lisbon  to  Ceylon ;  hcence  was  claimed  to  preach 
the  gospel  of  Christ  in  aU  parts  of  the  island,  and  the 
first  Christian  communities  were  organised  at  various 
parts  of  the  coast  between  Colombo  and  GaUe.^ 

Fresh  outbursts  of  hostihty  and  rebellion  ensued  on 
this  attempt  to  overturn  the  national  faith.  Maaya 
Dunnai  and  his  followers  again  took  up  arms,  and  in 

1542  the  pusillanimous  king,  whilst  preparing  to  en-  15^2. 
counter  him,  was  accidentaUy  shot  by  a  Portuguese 
gentleman  on  the  banks  of  the  Kalany-ganga.^  His 
memory  in  the  annals  of  the  Singhalese  occupies  a  place 
similar  to  that  of  Count  Juhan  in  the  chronicles  of 
Spain,  as  a  traitor  alike  to  his  country  and  his  God  ; 

and  the  circumstances  of  his  death  are  pointed  to  as  a 
judgment  to  mark  the  indignation  of  heaven  at  the 
calamities  which  he  entailed  on  his  country.^ 

On  his  death,  the  young  prince,  his  grandson,  nomi- 
nally succeeded  to  the  throne ;  but  throughout  the 
eiitke  period  of  his  rule,  his  dominions  can  scarcely  be 


^  Valentyn,  Oud  en  Nietm  Oost- 
Imlien,  8)-c.,  ch.  vii.  p.  92. 

'  Called  Drama  liolla  JDao  by  De 

COUTO. 

^  Be  Cotjto,  dec.  vi.  lib.  ii.  ch.  vii.; 
Faria  y  Souza.  vol.  ii.  pt.  ii.  ch.  vi. 
p.  121. 

*  For  an  account  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Portuofuese  missions,  see 
Sir  J.  Emerson  Tennent's  Christi- 
anity  in  Cmjlmi,   ch  i.     Ue   Cotjto 


says,  the  first  Roman  Catholic  con- 
verts were  made  a.d.  1542,  at  Pan- 
tiu-a,  Macu  (Malwane  ?)  Berbenn, 
Galle,  and  Belligam. — Bee.  vi.  lib. 
iv.  ch.  vii. 

^  Be  Couto,  dec.  vi.  lib.  ix.  ch. 
xvi.  torn.  iii.  pt.  iii.  p.  339 — .341. 

^  Rajamli,  p.  290—293  ;  Faria  y 
Souza,  vol.  ii.  pt.  iii.  p.  364 ;  Bal- 
PiEUS,  ch.  xl. 


IG 


MODERX   HISTORY. 


[rART  VI. 


A.D. 

1542. 


said  to  have  extended  beyond  the  fortifications  of  Co- 
lombo. To  conciliate  his  protectors,  he  eventiiaUy  ab- 
jured the  Buddhist  rehgion  and  professed  himself  a 
convert  to  Clmstianity  ;  many  nobles  of  his  court  being 
baptized  on  the  occasion,  and,  according  to  the  Eajavali, 
the  loAver  castes,  as  well  as  the  higher,  hastened  to 
profess  Christianity,  "  for  the  sake  of  the  Portuguese 
gold."  1 

His  accession  served  to  re\T.ve  the  animosity  and 
energies  of  Maaya  Dunnai  and  the  national  party,  whilst 
his  helplessness  placed  the  Portuguese  in  the  position  of 
prmcipals  rather  than  aiixiharies  in  the  long  war  which 
ensued.  In  this  new  relation,  reheved  from  even  the 
former  semblance  of  restraint,  their  rapacitj^  betrayed 
itself  by  wanton  excesses.  They  put  to  the  tortm^e  the 
subjects  of  the  king  they  professed  to  succour,  in  order 
to  extort  the  disclosure  of  the  bmied  treasures  of  his 
family ;  and  after  the  first  conflict  ^A^th  Maaya  Dunnai,  in 
which  the  Portuguese  were  victorious,  they  not  only 
exacted  the  full  charges  of  the  expedition  from  their 
young  ally,  but  in  Adolation  of  their  compact,  appropri- 
ated to  themselves  the  entire  of  the  plunder  of  Sita- 
wacca,  "  the  wants  of  India,"  as  Farli  t  Souza  observes, 
"  not  permitting  the  performance  of  promises."  ^ 

For  many  years  the  maritime  proA^nces  were  devas- 
tated by  civil  war  in  its  most  revolting  form.  Cotta 
was  so  frequently  threatened  as  to  be  kept  in  a  state  of 
almost  incessant  siege.  Every  town  on  the  coast  where 
the  Portuguese  had  formed  trading  estabhshments,  Pan- 


^  Rajavali,  p.  291.  Hence  the  fre- 
quent occuiTence  at  the  present  day 
of  Poi-tuguese  names,  in  addition 
to  the  Singhalese  patron^nnics  in 
families  of  the  highest  rank  in  the 
maritime  provinces.  They  were  as- 
sumed at  baptism  three  centuries 
back,  and  are  still  retained  even 
where  the  bearers  have  abandoned 
Christianity. 

2  Fakia  y  Souza,  vol.  ii.  pt.  ii.  ch. 
ix.  p.  159 ;  De  Couxo,  dec.  vi.  lib.  ix. 


ch.  xviii.  torn.  iii.  pt.  ii.  p.  350 ; 
RajavaU,  p.  292.  liestitution  was 
made  at  a  later  period,  Jolin  III. 
having  ordered  the  restoration  of  all 
the  plunder  ;  and  this  order  came  to 
Ceylon,  says  Faria  y  SorzA,  in  the 
same  ship  which  can-ied  the  poet 
Camoens,  A.D.  1553,  "  to  try  if  he 
could  advance  by  his  sword  that  for- 
time  which  he  had  failed  to  A\-in  by 
his  pen."     (Vol.  iii.  p.  1G9.) 


Chap.  I.]  COTTA   DISMANTLED.  17 

tiira,  Caltura,  Barberin,  Galle,  and  Belligam  were  ravaged    a.d. 
by  the  partisans  of  Maaya  Dunnai,  their   chnrches   and 
buildings  destroyed,  and  their  Christian  inliabitants  butch- 
ered by  the  Singhalese.^ 

In  these  sanguinary  forays,  the  renown  of  Maaya 
Dunnai  himself  was  echpsed  by  that  of  his  youngest 
son ;  who,  beginning  his  military  career  whilst  yet  a 
child,  had  accompanied  the  army  of  liis  father  in  an 
expechtion  against  one  of  the  refractory  chieftains  of  the 
south,  on  which  occasion  the  boy  won  the  title  of  Eaja 
Singha,  "  the  Lion  King."  - 

This  fiery  leader  had  the  audacity  to  besiege  Colombo 
in  1563  ;  and  afterwards  attacked  Cotta  mth  such  1503". 
vigour  and  perseverance,  that  the  Portuguese  officer, 
Ataide,  alarmed  at  the  failure  of  provisions  during  a 
protracted  defence,  caused  the  flesh  of  those  killed  in 
tlie  assault  to  be  salted  as  a  resource  aojainst  famine.^ 
Warned  by  this  critical  emergency  of  the  impossibility 
of  mamtaining  Cotta  as  a  fortress,  it  was  judged  expe- 
dient, in  1564,  to  dismantle  it*,  and  the  humiliated  15(34. 
king  thenceforth  resided  witliin  the  walls  of  Colombo ; 
where,  says  Faria  y  Souza,  "  he  was  no  less  tor- 
mented by  the  covetousness  of  the  Portuguese  Com- 
mander than  he  had  been  before  by  the  t}T.'anny  of 
Eaja  Singha."^ 

During  this  wretched  struggle,  it  was  the  pohcy  of 
Portugal  to  induce  the  minor  chiefs  of  Ceylon  to  detach 
themselves  from  the  national  party,  by  inflaming  their 
apprehensions,  and  exciting  theu'  jealousy  of  the  ascend- 
ancy and  pretensions  of  Maaya  Dunnai  and  his  son ;  and 
tlie  more  firmly  to  consohdate  an  aUiance,  the  strongest 
inducements  Avere  held  out  to  them  to  profess  Christia- 


^  A.D.  1555.     Faria  t  Souza,  vol.  |      ^  Faria  t  Souza,  vol.  ii.  pt.  iii.  ch. 
ii.  pt.  ii.  ch.  xii.  p.  181 ;  De  Couto,     ii.  p.  249. 

dec.  vi.  lib.  x.  ch.  xii.  torn.  iii.  p.         *  De  Couto,  dec.  viii.  lib.  vii.  ch. 

479.  I  vii.  torn.  i.  pt.  i.  p.  57. 

*  Rajavali,  p.  29 ;  Ribetro,  b.  i.  I       '-  I'ortm/ucse  Asia,  vol.  ii.  pt.  iii. 

ch.  V.  I  ch.  ii.  p.  248. 

VOL.  IL  C 


18 


MODERN   HISTORY. 


[Part  VI. 


A.D. 

1546. 


A.D. 

1547. 


iiity  ;  but  too  feeble  to  contribute  any  effectual  aid  to  their 
new  allies,  their  treason  and  apostacy  di'ew  down  on 
them  the  indignation  of  then-  rightful  sovereign,  and 
served  only  to  furnish  pretexts  for  their  overthrow  and 
liis  further  aggrandisement. 

It  was  thus  that  the  territory  of  Kandy  was  seized  by 
Eaja  Singha,  in  1582.  Jaya-weii^a,  its  king,  in  1547, 
invited  the  Eoman  Cathohc  fathers  to  liis  dominions, 
permitted  a  church  to  be  erected  at  his  capital,  and 
intimated  a  wish,  Avliich  was  promptly  comphed  ^\'ith, 
that  a  niihtary  party  should  be  stationed  at  Kandy, 
with  the  double  object  of  extending  the  faith  and 
protecting  the  sovereign  from  the  resentment  of  his 
own  people,  should  he  openly  embrace  Cliristianity.^ 
An  officer,  with  one  hundi'ed  and  twenty  men,  was 
despatched  on  this  service,  in  1548,  and  landed  at 
Batticaloa,  whence  his  party  crossed  the  island  westward 
to  Kandy ;  but  a  sudden  change  in  the  king's  mtentions 
led  hhn  to  place  an  ambush  to  cut  off  the  mihtant  mis- 
sion, which,  mth  difficulty,  effected  its  escape  to  Colombo.- 

So  intent  were  the  Portuguese  upon  the  extension  of 
the  faith  that,  mitaught  by  this  act  of  treachery,  they 
subjected  themselves  to  a  still  more  disastrous  repetition 
of  it  in  A.D.  1550,  when  Kumara  Banda,  the  son  of  Jaya- 
weira^,  renewed  the  apphcation  of  his  father  for  spmtual 
and  mihtary  assistance.  A  force  despatched  at  liis  re- 
quest was  permitted  to  march  to  "withui  three  miles  of 
Kandy,  when  they  were  smTOunded  by  the  followers  of 
the  prince,  and  lost  upwards  of  seven  hundred  men  (of 
whom  one-half  were  Em^opeans)  in  a  headlong  retreat  to 
the  coast. '^ 


'  The  soldiers  were  despatched, 
according  to  De  Cono,  at  once  to 
'confirm  liim  in  "the  faith  and  in  his 
possessions,"  " 'pera  invenar  e  assistar 
com  aquclle  Rey  ate  (S  scf/urarem  na 
Fe  c  no  rcynoy  De  CorTO,  dec.  vi. 
liv.  iv.  cli.  vii.  p.  •'^24. 

2  De  Couto,  dec.  vi.  lib.  iii.  cli. 
vii.  viii.  vol  iii.  pt.  i.  p.  320. 


^  He  resided,  according  to  the 
Majavali,  at  Coral  Taddea,  and  is 
called  by  the  Portuguese  wiiters, 
Caralea  Pandur.  De  Coxjto,  dec. 
vi.  lib.  viii.  ch.  iv.  torn.  iii.  pt.  ii. 
p.  loo.  c.  xi.  p.  105. 

'^  De  Couto,  dec.  vi.  lib.  viii.  ch, 
■vii.  vol.  iii.  pt.  ii.  p.  178 ;  Fakia  y 
SotrzA,  vol.  li.  pt.  ii.  ch.  viii.  p.  148. 


Chap.  I.] 


RAJA   SIXGHA. 


19 


Meanwhile  Eaja  Singha  who,  though  tlie  youngest  of 
his  family,  succeeded  to  tlie  territories  of  his  father  on  the 
death  of  Maaya  Dunnai  in  1571,  proceeded  to  develope 
his  designs  for  concentrating  in  his  person  supreme 
authority  over  the  other  petty  kingdoms  of  Ceylon.  He 
put  to  death  every  troublesome  asphant  of  the  royal 
line\  and  directed  his  arms  against  every  chief  who  had 
been  hostile  or  neutral  during  liis  struggles  witli  the 
king  of  Cotta.  In  the  course  of  a  very  few  years  he 
made  himself  virtually  master  of  the  interior,  and  drove 
into  exile  the  king  of  Kandy,  wlio,  with  his  queen  and 
children,  fled  for  safety  to  the  Portuguese  fort  at  Manaar, 
where  he  and  his  daughter  became  Cliristians,  and 
were  baptized,  she  as  Donna  Catharina,  and  lie  inider 
the  name  of  Don  Phihp,  in  honour  of  Philip  XL,  wlio 
had  just  acquired  the  crown  of  Portugal  with  that  of 
Spain.  On  her  father's  decease.  Donna  Catharina  was 
left  a  ward  of  the  Portuguese,  and  through  their  instru- 
mentality was  afterwards  made  queen  of  her  ancestral 
dominions. 

Unable,  from  tlie  extent  of  the  mihtary  operations  in 
which  he  was  engaged,  to  retain  possession  of  the  Kandyan 
countiy,  Eaja  Singha  adopted  the  precaution  of  disarm- 
ing the  Kandyans,  and  was  thus  enabled  to  concentrate 
his  attention  on  preparations  for  the  siege  of  Colombo, 
which  he  at  leno;th  invested  with  a  formidable  force.  To 
this  memorable  assault  he  brought,  according  to  the 
account  of  the  Portuguese,  fifty  thousand  fighting  men, 
and  an  equal  number  of  pioneers  and  camp  foUowers, 
Avith  upwards  of  two  thousand  elephants  and  mnumerable 
baggage  oxen.'*^  He  even  collected  a  naval  force  with 
which  to  threaten  the  fleet  of  the  Viceroy.  He  took 
up  his  position  before  the  fort  in  August,  a.d.  1586,  and 


A.D. 

1586. 


^  A.D.  1581.  The  Portuguese 
assert,  that  Kaja  Siuo-]ia  I.,  to  clear 
his  owai  way  to  tlie  tlirone,  murdered 
not  ouly  his  brothers,  but  his  aged 
liither,  Maaya  Dunnai.      De  Couto 


dec.  X.  ch.  xiii.  vol.  vi.  pt.  ii.  p.  215; 
Farta  y  Souza,  vol.  iii.  pt.  i.  ch.  iv. 
^  Faeja  y  Souza,  vol.  iii.  pt.  i.  ch. 
vi. ;  De  Couto,  dec.  x.  ch.  ix.  vol.  vi. 
pt.  ii.  p.  419. 


•20 


MODERN   HISTOKT. 


[Part  VI. 


A.D. 

1586. 


continued  to  harass  it  by  repeated  assaidts  till  the  end 
of  May  in  the  following  year.  The  barbarities  practised 
by  the  garrison  are  related  A^dthout  emotion  by  the  Por- 
tuQ-uese  historians  of  the  sieo-e— the  tortures  inflicted  on 
the  h\ing,  and  the  orgies  perpetrated  over  the  remains 
of  the  dead^ — and  as  the  entire  country  beyond  the 
walls  of  Colombo  was  in  possession  of  the  enemy, 
Portuguese  galleons  were  despatched  to  destroy  the 
\-illages  along  the  southern  coast.  The  expedition,  ac- 
cording to  the  complacent  narrative  of  De  Couto, 
achieved  its  mission  with  circmnstances  of  signal  atrocity, 
especially  towards  the  women  and  theu^  httle  ones, 
whose  hands  and  arms  tlie  soldiers  hacked  off  m  then* 
eagerness  to  secure  then-  pendants  and  bangles  ;  and 
returned  to  Colombo  m  triumph,  with  their  spoils  and 
captives.^ 

In  a  second  expedition  these  outrages  were  repeated 
on  a  still  greater  scale.  Thome  de  Sousa  d'AiTonches, 
in  February,  1587,  sacked  and  burned  the  villages  of 
Cosgodde,  Madampe,  and  Gindm^a,  surprised  and  ra- 
vaged Galle,  Belhgam,  and  Matura,  and  utterly  de- 
stroyed the  great  temple  of  Tanaveram  or  Dondera, 
then  the  most  sumptuous  in  Ceylon,  built  on  vaulted 
arches  on  a  promontory  overlooking  the  sea,  with 
towers  elaborately  carved  and  covered  with  plates  of 
gilded  brass.  De  Sousa  gave  it  up  to  the  plunder  of 
his  soldiers  ;  overthrew  more  than  a  thousand  statues 
and  idols  of  stone  and  bronze,  and  slaughtered  cows 
Avithin  its  precincts  in  order  indehbly  to  defile  the 
sacred  places.  Carrying  away  quantities  of  ivory,  pre- 
cious ornaments,  jeAvehy,  and  gems,  he  committed  the 


1  De  CorTO  relates,  that  an  ai-achy 
of  singular  bravery,  who  on  a  former 
occasion  had  killed  Avith  liis  OAvn 
hand  twenty-nine  Singhalese  las- 
carins,  having  been  brought  prisoner 
into  Colombo,  a  Portuguese  soldier 
cut  open  his  heart  and  drank  the 
blood  out  of  his  hands,  "hum  delles 
chamado  Maroto,  a  quern  devia  deter 


bem  escandalizado,  Ihe  deo  huma 
cutUada  sobre  o  cora^ao,  que  abrio 
todo,  e  por  tres  vezes  Ihe  tomou  o 
sangue  com  os  maos,  e  bebeo  por  for- 
tai'  a  sede  do  odio  que  Ihe  tinlia." 
— Dec.  X.  ch.  v.  vol.  vi.  pt.  ii.  p.  562. 
2  Rajavali,  p.  SOSj  Faria  t  bouzA, 
vol.  iii.  pt.  i.  ch.  vi. 


CiiAP.  I.]  DEATH    OF   KAJA   SIXGHA.  21 

ruins  of   the   pagoda  and  the  surrounding  buildings  to    a.d. 
the  flames.1  ^^^^• 

Kaja  Singha,  stunned  by  the  intelligence  of  these 
disasters,  disheartened  by  tiie  utter  faihu'e  of  his  re- 
peated assaidts  on  Colombo,  and  alarmed  by  the  inteUi- 
gence  of  the  arrival  of  large  reinforcements  to  the 
garrison  from  Goa,  suddenly  abandoned  the  siege,  and 
drew  off  his  forces  to  the  interior. 

He  survived  his  discomfiture  at  Colombo  but  a  very 
few  years,  and  died  at  Sita-wacca,  in  1592,  at  an  ex- 
tremely advanced  age.^  Authority  and  success  seem 
equally  to  have  deserted  him  towards  the  close  of  liis 
career ;  the  Portuguese  taking  advantage  of  his  involve- 
ments and  anxieties  during  the  siege,  contrived  to 
excite  a  formidable  diversion  by  rousing  the  Kandyans 
to  revolt ;  and  Kunappoo  Bandar  of  Peradenia,  a 
Singhalese  of  royal  blood  who  had  embraced  Christi- 
anit}^,  taldng  at  his  baptism  the  name  of  Don  Juan^, 
was  despatched  with  an  armed  force  to  prepare  the 
way  for  enthroning  Donna  Catharina,  the  daughter 
of  the  late  fugitive  Idng  Jaya-weira,  who  had  been 
educated  at  Manaar.  The  expedition  was  signally  suc- 
cessfid  ;  the  Kandyans  not  only  asserted  their  own  in- 
dependence, but  descending  to  the  territories  of  Eaja 
Singha,  laid  waste  his  country  to  the  walls  of  his  palace 
at  Sita-wacca.*  Don  Juan,  intoxicated  by  his  victories, 
and  indignant  that  the  Portuguese,  whilst  continuing  him 
in  his  mihtary  command,  shoidd  have  conferred  the 
sovereignty  of  the  interior  on  Don  Pliihp,  a  rival  on 
whom  they  intended  also  to  bestow  the  hand  of  Queen 
Catharina,  turned  his  arms  against  his  allies,  and  drove 
the  Portuguese  from  Kandy,  removed  Don  Phdip  by 
poison,   and  conducted   on   his    own  account   hostihties 


'  De  Couto,  dec.  x.  ch.  xv.  vol.  vi. 
pt.  ii.  p.  6()o. 

^  The  Portuguese  say  Raja  Singha 
was  upwards  of  120  years  old  when 
he  died ;  but  this  is  an  obvious  exag- 
geration. 


^  Rajavali,  p.  310 :  Eibetro,  b.  i. 
ch.  V.  Valentyn  says  he  was  chris- 
tened Don  Juan,  to  compliment  Don 
John  of  Austria,  the  hero  of  Lepanto. 

*  ElBEYEO,  ch.  \ . 


c  3 


22 


MODERN   HISTORY. 


[Part  VI. 


A.D. 

1592. 


against  Eaja  Singlia.^  A  few  j^ears  were  wasted  in  desul- 
tory warfare  in  the  Kandyan  highlands,  and  then  fol- 
lowed a  decisive  action  at  Kukul-bittra-welle,  near  the 
pass  of  Kadaganauwa^,  in  which  Eaja  Singha  was  unsuc- 
cessful, and  died  in  1592,  refusmg  sm^gical  assistance  for 
a  wound,  and  murmiuing  at  the  departiu^e  in  his  old  age 
of  that  good  fortune  which  liad  signalised  his  career  in  his 
boyhood.^ 

Thus  left  undisputed  master  of  the  interior  of  Kandy, 
Don  Juan  seized  on  the  supreme  power,  and  assumed  the 
Kandyan  crown  under  the  title  of  Wimala  Dharma.  To 
secure  the  support  of  the  priesthood,  he  abjured  Christi- 
anity, and,  availing  himself  of  the  faith  of  the  nation  in 
the  dalada,  "  the  sacred  tooth  of  Buddha,"  as  a  palla- 
chum,  the  possession  of  which  Avas  inseparable  from 
royalty,  he  produced  the  tooth  whicli  is  still  preserved  in 
the  temple  at  Kandy  as  the  original  one ;  and,  notA\"itli- 
standing  the  destruction  of  the  latter  at  Goa  in  1560*,  he 
had  no  difficulty  in  persuading  the  Kandyans  that  the 
counterfeit  was  the  genuine  rehc,  which  he  assured  them 
had  been  removed  from  Cotta  on  the  arrival  of  the  Portu- 
guese, and  preserved  at  Delgammoa  in  Saffragam. 

The  Portuguese  attempted  to  depose  Don  Juan,  and 
despatched  a  force  to  the  mountains  under  the  command 
of  Pedro  Lopez  de  Souza,  to  escort  the  young  Queen 
Catharina  to  the  capital,  and  to  restore  the  croA\m  to  its 
legitimate  possessor.  Don  Pedi^o  succeeded  in  expelhng 
tlie  usurper ;  but,  after  a  very  short  interval,  Wimala 
Dharma  retm^ned,  effectually  detached  the  Kandyan  forces 
from  their  aUiance,  utterly  routed  the  Portuguese  gar- 


1  The  events  of  this  period  are 
given  with  particidarily  in  the  De- 
seripiion  of  C'ej/Ion,  by  PuiLiP  Ral- 
D^rs,  "Minister  of  the  word  of  God 
in  Ceylon  ; "  printed  at  Amsterdam, 
10)72,  and  of  which  an  Enjzlish  trans- 
lation Avill  be  found  in  CiimcniLL's 
Collection,  vol.  iii.  p.  501. 

^  Rajavali,  p.  312. 


^  "  Since  my  eleventh  year,  no  king 
has  made  way  against  me  till  now ; 
but  my  might  is  diminished ;  this 
king  is  more  powerful  than  me." — 
Ilajavali,  p.  SPj. 

■*  For  an  account  of  the  Sacred 
Tooth  and  its  destruction,  see  Vol.  11. 
p.  29.  199. 


Chap.  I.] 


ATROCITIES. 


23 


rison,  slew  tlieir  leader,  possessed  himself  of  the  person  of 
the  queen,  and  seized  the  Kandyan  throne,  of  which  he 
held  undisturbed  possession  till  his  decease,  twelve  years 
afterwards.  •*■ 

Wimala  Dharma  thus  succeeded  to  the  rank  and  posi- 
tion of  Eaja  Singha  as  the  paramount  sovereign  of  the 
whole  island,  and  chief  of  the  national  party  opposed  to 
the  Portuguese.  The  latter,  resenting  at  once  his  treason 
and  then-  own  defeat,  resorted  to  \dolent  measures  of 
retaliation,  and  a  war  of  extermination  ensued,  unsm'- 
passed  in  atrocity  and  bloodshed.^  Jerome  Azavedo,  a 
soldier  less  distinguished  by  his  prowess  than  infamous 
for  his  cruelties,  was  despatched  to  Ceylon  in  1594,  to 
avenge  the  indignities  endm^ed  by  his  fcUow-countrjmien 
at  the  hands  of  the  Kandyan  usurper,  Faiia  y  Souza,  in 
a  review  of  the  career  of  this  commander,  wliicli  ended  in 
a  dmigeon  at  Lisbon,  says  his  reverses  were  a  judgment 
from  the  Almighty  for  his  barbarities  in  Ceylon.  In 
the  height  of  liis  success  there,  he  beheaded  mothers,  after 
forcing  them  to  cast  their  babes  betwixt  mill-stones. 
Punning  on  the  name  of  the  tribe  of  Gallas  or  Cliahas, 
and  its  resemblance  to  the  Portuguese  word  for  cocks, 
gallos,  "  he  caused  his  soldiers  to  take  up  children  on  the 
points  of  tlieir  spears,  and  bade  them  hark  how  the  young 
cocks  crow  l""  "He  caused  many  men  to  be  cast  off  the 
bridge  at  Malwane  for  the  troops  to  see  the  crocodiles 
devour  them,  and  these  creatures  grew  so  used  to  the 
food,  that  at  a  whistle  they  would  lift  then'  heads  above 
the  water."  ^ 


A.D. 

1592. 


A.D. 

1594. 


^  Baldjstjs,  cli.vi.  p.  608.  Ribetko 
tells  a  story  of  a  Singhalese  mood- 
liar  (■wlioiu  Baldjeus  calls  Janiore) 
■who  joiued  Lopo  de  Souza  in  this 
expedition,  brinping'  a  large  force  to 
his  aid ;  but  wliom  Don  Juan  con- 
trived to  get  rid  of,  by  addressing  to 
him  lictitious  letters  \vitli  allusions  to 
a  pretended  plot  to  betray  tlie  I'ortu- 
guese.  De  Souza,  without  giving  the 
moodliar  an  opportunity  for  explana- 


tion, passed  his  sword  through  his 
heart. — IIibeyro,  ch.  vii.  p.  47. 

'^  Yalentyn,  who  describes  the 
savage  conduct  of  the  Portuguese 
during  tliis  war  {Oud  en  Kieuw  Oost- 
Indien,  ch.  vi.  p.  ^'2^,  says  his  infor- 
mation was  chietly  obtained  from  the 
reports  of  the  Singhalese,  wlio  had  a 
"vivid  recollection  of  these  hon-ors. 

^  Faiua  t  Souza,  IStevens'  Traiu- 
latimi,  vol.  iii.  pt.  iii.  ch.  xv.  p.  279. 


c  4 


24 


MODEEN   HISTORY. 


[Part  VI. 


A.D. 


An  internecine  war  now  raged  for  years  in  Ceylon,  the 

1594.  pQ^.^^^g^iege  in  successive  forays  penetrating  to  Kandy,  and 

even  to  Oovah  and  Saffragam,  burning  towns,  uprooting 

fruit  trees,  diiving  away  cattle,  and  making  captives  to  be 

enslaved  in  the  lowlands. 

These  conflicts  were,  however,  of  uncertain  success. 
On  some  occasions  the  invaders,  overpowered  by  the 
energy  of  the  Kandyans,  were  defeated  and  put  to  flight, 
foUowed  by  the  exasperated  mountaineers  to  the  gates  of 
Colombo.^  The  frontier  which  separates  the  maritime 
districts  from  the  liiU  country,  was  the  scene  of  sanguinary 
conflicts,  and  at  length  the  low-country  Singhalese,  roused 
to  desperation  by  the  miseries  di^awn  down  on  them  in 
never-ending  hostihties,  and  by  the  atrocities  peipetrated 
by  the  Portuguese  soldiery  2,  manifested  a  determined 
resistance  to  the  common  oppressors,  who,  alarmed  in 
turn  for  their  own  safety,  mutinously  resisted  the  orders 
of  their  officers,  and  the  Viceroy  at  Goa  was  appealed  to 
to  arrest  the  disorganisation  and  utter  ruin  of  the  new 
settlement.^ 

In  the   midst  of  these  scenes  of  blood  and  disaster, 


1  Faeia  t  Socza,  vol.  iii.  pt.  iii. 
cli.  Aaii.  ix.  xii.  &c. 

'^  "We  had  not  gi-own  odious  to 
the  Ching-alas  (Singhalese),  had  we 
not  provoked  them  by  our  infamous 
proceeding's.  Not  only  the  poor  sol- 
diers went  out  to  rob,  but  those  Por- 
tuguese who  Avere  lords  of  villaoes 
added  rapes  and  adulteries,  which 
obliged  the  people  to  seek  the  com- 
pany of  beasts  in  the  mountains  rather 
than  be  subject  to  the  more  beastly 
villanies  of  men." — Faria  t  Soijza, 
vol.  iii.  pt.  iii.  eh.  iii.  p.  203.  A  thrill 
of  horror  has  l)een  imparted  to  all  who 
liave  read  the  story  of  tlu;  atrocities 
peqietratcd  on  the  wife  of  Eheylapola, 
the  minister  of  the  king  of  Kandy, 
who,  on  the  occasion  of  her  husband's 
revolt  in  1815,  compelled  her  to  kill 
her  own  cliildren  by  pounding  them 
in  a  rice-mortar.  Put  it  ought  to  be 
known  that  this  inhuman  practice 
was  taught  to  the  Kandyans   by  the 


Portuguese;  according  to  the  truth- 
fid  Robert  Knox,  Simon  CoiTea, 
"  when  he  got  any  victory  over  the 
Chingulays,  he  did  exercise  gi'eat 
cruelty.  Pie  would  make  the  women 
beat  their  o\^'n  children  in  their  mor- 
tars wherein  they  iised  to  beat  their 
corn." — I\Js'ox,  Hist.  Relat.,  pt.  iv. 
ch.  xiii.  p.  177. 

It  is  a  cmious  illusti-ation  of  the 
conviction  left  on  the  minds  of  the 
Kandyans  of  the  cruelty  of  Em-opeans, 
that  in  1664,  when  Eaja  Singha 
wished  to  inflict  the  utmost  possible 
punishment  on  one  of  his  ministers,  he 
sent  him  to  Colombo  to  be  executed, 
thinking  that  the  Dutch,  like  the 
Portuguese,  were  ingenious  in  the  in- 
vention of  tortures.  They,  however, 
restored  him  to  liberty. — ^'aleniyx, 
ch.  xiv.  p.  199 ;  ch.  xV.  p.  249. 

^  I)e  Couto,  dec.  xi.  ch.  xxxiii. 
torn.  vii.  p.  178 ;  Faeia  y  Souza, 
vol.  iii.  pt.  i.  ch.  ix.  p.  73. 


CiiAP.  I.]  NEW   ALLEGIANCE.  25 

died  the  last  legitimate  emperor  of  Ceylon,  Don  Juan  a.d. 
Dharmapala.  He  expired  at  Colombo  in  May,  1597,  ^  * 
bequeathing  his  domuiions  by  will  to  Phihp  II.  By  this 
deed  the  Portuguese  acquired  their  title  to  the  sove- 
reignty of  the  island  \  Avitli  the  exception  of  Jaffna,  the 
nominal  king  of  which  they  still  recognised,  and  Kandy, 
to  the  throne  of  which  they  had  themselves  asserted  the 
right  of  Donna  Catharina  the  Queen. 

Eibeyro  gives  a  remarkable  account  of  the  mutual 
arrangement  mider  which  the  Singhalese  chiefs  now  took 
the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  new  dpiasty.  It  was  at 
first  proposed  that  the  laws  of  Portugal  shoidd  be 
introduced  for  all  races  ahke,  reserving  to  the  native 
chiefs  their  ranks  and  privileges  ;  but  after  an  interval 
asked  for  dehberation  by  the  deputies,  they  retin-ned  a 
i-eply  to  the  effect  that,  being  by  birth  and  education 
Singhalese,  and  earnestly  attached  to  tliek  own  rehgion 
and  customs,  it  would  be  difficult,  if  not  perilous,  to 
require  them  to  abandon  them  on  the  instant  for  others 
which  Avere  utterly  unkno^wn  to  them.  Such  changes, 
they  said,  were  often  the  precm^sors  of  revolutions, 
that  swept  away  both  institutions,  the  new  as  weU  as 
the  old,  to  the  injury  ahke  of  the  j^eople  and  the  king. 
On  all  other  points  they  were  ready  to  recognise 
Philip  n.  as  theu^  legitimate  sovereign  ;  and  so  long  as 
his  majesty  and  liis  ministers  respected  the  rights  and 
usages  of  the  nation,  they  woidd  meet  with  the  same 
loyalty  and  fidehty  which  the  Singhalese  had  been  ac- 
customed to  show  to  their  own  princes.  On  tliese  con- 
ditions they  were  ready  to  take  the  oath,  the  officers  of 
the  Idng  being  at  the  same  time  prepared  to  swear  in 
the  name  of  their  master  to  respect  and  maintain  the 
ancient  privileges  and  laws  of  Ceylon. 

The  covenant  was  concluded  and  proclaimed,  together 
vnth  a  solemn  declaration  that  the  priests  and  rehiiious  . 
orders  were  to  have  full  hberty  to  preach  Christianity, 


^  De  Couto,  dec.  xii.  ch.  v.  torn.  viii.  p.  39 ;  RibeyrO;  bk.  i.  ch.  ix. 


26  MODERN   HISTORY.  [Part  VI. 

A-D-  neither  parents  restraining  tlieir  cliildren,  nor  children 
opposing  the  conformity  of  their  parents,  and  that  all 
offences  against  rehgion  were  to  be  punishable  by  the 
legal  authorities. 

The  territory  now  under  the  direct  government  of 
the  Portuguese  embraced  the  maritime  circuit  of  the 
island,  with  the  exception  of  the  peninsula  of  Jaffna, 
and  a  portion  of  the  country  to  the  south  of  it  (which 
was  not  annexed  till  1G17),  and  extended  inland  to 
the  base  of  the  lofty  zone  which  encircles  the  kingdom 
of  Kandy. 

It  was  from  their  strongholds  in  these  mountains, 
protected  on  all  sides  by  naturally  fortified  passes,  that 
the  Kandyans,  who  had  become  the  scourge  and  terror 
of  the  Portuguese,  were  enabled  to  direct  their  forays 
into  the  lowlands.  To  watch  them,  and  to  protect  their 
own  territory  in  the  plains,  the  Portuguese  were  obhged 
to  keep  up  two  camps,  one  at  Manicavare  in  the  Four 
Corles,  and  a  second  at  Saffragam,  on  the  confines  of 
Oovah.  To  garrison  these  and  their  forts  at  various 
points  on  the  coast  they  were  compelled  to  maintain 
an  army  of  upwards  of  20,000  men,  of  whom  less  than 
one  thousand  were  Europeans. 

Tlie  value  of  the  trade  carried  on  under  such  ck- 
cumstances  was  incommensurate  with  the  expenditm'e 
essential  for  its  protection^;  the  products  of  the  island 
were  collected,  it  may  almost  be  said,  sword  in  hand, 
and  shipped  under  the  guns  of  the  fortresses.  Still 
tranquilhty  was  so  far  preserved  throughout  tlie  dis- 
tricts bordering  on  the  coast  from  Matura  to  Chilaw, 
that  the  low  country  husbandmen  pursued  their  ordi- 
nary avocations,  and  the  patriarchal  village  system  still 
regulated  the  organisation  of  agriculture.  Tlie  mihtary 
forces  were  recruited  by  the  feudal  service  of  the  pea- 
santry ;  and  the  revenues  in  the  same  form  in  which  they 
had  been  raised  by  the  kings  of  Cotta,  were  collected 


^  Valentyn,  Oud  en  JVicmo  Oost-Indien,  Sfc,  cli.  xv.  p.  282. 


ClIAP.    I.] 


rORTUGUESE   TRADE. 


27 


by  the  captain-general  of  Colombo,  who  governed  Avith 
the  local  title  of  "King  of  Malwane."^  Trade  was  pro- 
hibited to  all  other  nations,  and  even  to  the  native 
Singhalese.  Besides  the  royal  monopolies  of  cinnamon, 
pepper,  and  musk,  the  chief  articles  of  export  were 
cardamoms,  sapan-wood,  areca-nuts^,  ebony,  elephants, 
ivory,  gems,  and  pearls,  and  along  with  these  there  were 
annually  shipped  small  quantities  of  tobacco,  silk,  and 
tree-cotton. 

In  quest  of  these  commodities,  vessels  came  to  Co- 
lombo and  GaUe  from  Persia,  Arabia,  the  Eed  Sea, 
China,  Bengal,  and  Europe ;  and  according  to  Eibeyro, 
the  sin^plus  of  cinnamon  beyond  that  required  by  these 
traders  was  annually  burned,  lest  any  accumulation 
might  occasion  tlie  price  to  be  reduced,  or  the  ChaUas 
to  relax  their  toil  in  searching  the  forests  for  the  spice.^ 
The  taxes  were  paid  in  Idnd.  Trade  was  altogether 
conducted  by  barter,  and  money  was  almost  unused 
in  the  island,  except  in  the  seaports  and  their  immediate 
vicinity. 

Colombo,  as  the  seat  of  government  and  commerce, 
became  a  place  of  importance  ;  and  its  paUsades  and 
earthworks^  were  replaced  by  fortifications  of  stone 
mounting  upwards  of  two  hundred  guns.  Convents, 
churches,  monasteries,  and  hospitals  were  erected  within 
the  walls,  and  at  tlie  period  of  its  capture  by  the  Dutch, 
in  1656,  upwards  of  900  noble  famihes  were  residing 
within   the   town,  besides   1500    famihes  of  those  con- 


A.D. 

1597. 


^  A  Toi-y  minute  detail  of  the  mi- 
litaiy  and  revenue  systeni  of  tlie  Por- 
tuguese will  be  found  in  the  First 
Book  of  RiBETKO,  ch.  X.  xi. 

^  A  passage  in  Ribeyho's  account 
of  the  productions  of  Ceylon  litis 
puzzled  both  his  translators  and 
readers,  as  it  describes  the  island  as 
detspatching  ''  tons  les  ans,  plus  de 
iiiille  bateaux,  chacun  de  soixante 
tonneaux,  (Fioi  certain  aab/c,  dont  on 
fait  un  tres-grand  debit  dans  toutes 
lea  Tndes." — ch.  iii.    Lee  naively  says 


that  "he  cannot  discover  what  this 
sand  is."  But  as  Le  Grand  made  his 
French  translation  from  the  Portu- 
guese ]MS.  of  the  author,  it  is  probable 
that  by  a  clerical  error  the  word  arena 
may  have  been  substituted  for  areca, 
the  restoration  of  which  solves  the 
mystery. 

3  RiisEYiio,  b.  i.  ch.  X. 

^  "  Les  murailles  n'ont  6i6  long- 
tenis  que  de  taipa  siiit/clfa,"  &c. — III- 
isEYEO,  pt.  i.  ch.  xii.  p.  80. 


28  MODERN   HISTORY.  [Part  VI. 

A.D.    nected   with    the    Coiu-ts    of    Justice,    merchants,    and 

1597.   .      1 

traders. 

The  vahie  of  Galle  consisted  chiefly  in  the  facihties 
which  its  harbour  afforded  for  commercial  operations, 
and  the  Portuguese  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  increase 
its  natm^al  strength  by  any  considerable  mihtary  defences. 
Caltura  and  Negombo  were  maintained  chiefly  as  stations 
for  the  collection  of  cinnamon,  and  the  ports  on  the  op- 
posite side  of  the  island,  Batticaloa  and  TrincomaHe,  were 
neither  occupied  nor  fortified  till  shortly  before  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  Portuguese  from  Ceylon. 
A.D.  It  was  not  till  the  year  1617,  that  they  took  forcible 
1G17.  possession  of  Jaffna,  and  having  deposed  the  last  sovereign 
of  the  Malabar  dynasty,  assumed  the  dii'ect  government 
of  the  country.  Jaffna  had  long  been  coveted  by  them, 
less  from  any  capabihties  wdiich  it  presented  for  extend- 
ing their  commerce  than  for  the  security  it  gave  to  their 
settlements  in  the  richer  districts  of  the  south  ;  and  ap- 
parently for  the  opportunity  which  it  presented  of  dis- 
playing their  missionary  zeal  in  a  region  insusceptible  of 
political  resistance.  Their  first  attempts  to  reduce  this 
part  of  the  island  had  been  made  in  1544,  when  an  ex- 
pedition, fitted  out  to  plunder  the  Hindu  temples  on  the 
south  coast  of  the  Dekkan,  summoned  the  chief  of  the 
Peninsula  either  to  submit  and  become  tributary  to 
Portugal,  or  to  prepare  to  encounter  the  marauding 
fleet.  He  chose  the  former  alternative,  and  agreed  to 
pay  4000  ducats  yearl}^^  In  the  same  year  such  num- 
bers of  the  inhabitants  of  Manaar  embraced  Christianity 
at  the  hands  of  the  Eoman  Cathohc  missionaries  under 
the  direction  of  St.  Prancis  Xavier,  that  the  Eaja  of 
JafFnapatam  sought  to  exterminate  apostacy  by  the 
slaughter  of  six  hundred  of  the  new  converts.  The 
heresy,  however,  reached  his  own  palace ;  his  eldest 
son  embraced  the  new  faith,  and  was  put  to  death  in 


•  Faria  t  Souza,  vol.  ii.  pt.  i.  ch.  xiii.  p.  83. 


Chap.  I.]  JAFFNA   TAKEX.  "29 

consequence ;  and  tlie  second  fled  to  Goa  to  escape  liis    ^•^• 
father's  resentment. 

John  III.  directed  the  Viceroy  of  India  "to  take  a 
slow  and  secure  but  severe  revenge  "  for  these  excesses.^ 
In  1560,  the  Viceroy  of  India,  Don  Constantine  de  Bra- 
ganza,  fitted  out  another  armament  against  Jaffna  on  the 
double  plea  that  the  persecution  of  the  Christians  had 
been  rencAved  at  Manaar  and  that  the  rei";niii<]!;  sovereig^n 
had  usm^ped  the  rights  of  his  elder  brother  the  fugitive 
at  Goa.  De  Couto  has  devoted  the  Seventh  Decade  of 
his  History  of  India,  to  a  pompous  description  of  this 
sacred  war,  in  which  the  bishop  of  Cochin  accompanied 
the  fleet  along  with  the  Viceroy,  erected  an  altar  on 
the  shore,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  invading  army  in- 
augurated the  assaidt  on  the  city  by  the  celebration  of  a 
mass,  the  announcement  of  a  plenary  indulgence  for  all 
who  shoidd  fight,  and  of  a  general  absolution  for  all 
who  might  fall  in  the  cause  of  the  Cross.^  The  assault 
was  successful  but  disastrous ;  many  fidalgos  were  slain 
by  the  cannon  of  the  enemy,  the  city  was  taken,  the 
palace  consumed,  and  the  king  in  his  extremity,  being 
forced  to  make  terms  with  the  conquerors,  was  per- 
mitted to  retain  his  sovereignty  on  condition  of  his 
disclosing  the  place  of  concealment  of  the  treasm'es  taken 
from  Kandy  and  Cotta  by  Tribula  Banda,  son-in-laAV  of 
Bhuwaneka  VII.  and  father  of  Don  Juan  Dharma 
Pala.^  He  was  to  pay  in  addition  a  sum  of  80,000 
cruzadoes  *  and  surrender  the  island  of  Manaar  to  the 
Portuguese,  who  fortlnvith  occupied  and  fortified  it. 

Amongst  the  incidents  of  the  victory  De  Couto 
dwells  on  the  seizure,  by  the  Viceroy,  of  the  dalada,  the 
"celebrated  tooth  of  Buddha,"  which  had  been  carried 


■■  Bald^us,  in  CnTTucniLL's  Vo?/- 
ages,  vol.  iii.  p.  647. 

*  De  Couto,  dec.  vii.  lib.  iy.  cli.  ii. 
vol.  iv.  pt.  ii.  p.  309. 

^  De  Couto,  dec.  vii.  lib.  iii.  cli.  v. 
vol.  iv.  pt.  i.  p.  210. 


■*  A  "cnizado,"  so  called  because 
bearing  a  cross  on  the  reverse,  was 
worth  two  shillings  and  uiuepeuce. 


30  MODEKX   HISTORY.  [rART  VI. 

A.D.  to  Jaffna  clurinGf  the  commotions  in  the  Buddhist  states. 
The  Portuguese  insist  that  it  was  the  tooth  of  an  ape  \ 
and  worshipped  in  honour  of  Hanuman.  It  was  mounted 
in  gold,  and  liad  been  deposited  for  security  in  one  of  the 
pagodas.  On  the  inteUigence  of  its  capture  by  Don  Con- 
stantine,  the  King  of  Pegu  sent  an  embassy  to  Goa  to 
tender  as  a  ransom  three  or  even  four  hundred  thousand 
cruzadoes,  mth  offers  of  liis  alhance  and  services  in  many 
capacities,  and  an  engagement  to  pro\ision  the  Portu- 
guese fort  at  Malacca  as  often  as  it  should  be  reqidi'ed 
of  him.-  The  fidalgos  and  commanders  were  unanimous 
in  theu'  wish,  to  accept  the  offer  as  a  means  of  reple- 
iiisliing  the  exhausted  treasury  of  Lidia.  But  the  arch- 
bishop, Don  Gaspar,  was  of  a  different  mind.  He  firmly 
resisted  the  offer,  as  an  encouragement  to  idolatry,  and 
was  supported  in  his  opposition  by  the  mquisitors  and 
clergy.  The  Viceroy,  in  consequence,  rejected  the  pro- 
posal of  the  infidel  king,  the  tooth  was  placed  in  a 
mortar  by  the  archbishop,  in  presence  of  the  coiu-t,  and 
reduced  to  powder  and  bm'ned,  its  ashes  bemg  scattered 
over  the  sea."  ^  "  All  men,"  says  Faria  y  Souza,  "  then 
applauded  the  act ;  but  not  long  after,  two  teeth  being  set 
up  instead  of  that  one,  they  as  loudly  condemned  and 
railed  at  it^^ 

In  1591  and  IGOl,  fresh  expeditions  were  sent  out 
from  Goa,  to  punish  the  King  of  Jaffna  for  assisting 
the  Singhalese  chiefs  in  their  opposition  to  the  Portu- 
guese, but  on  each  occasion  a  ready  submission  on  the 
part  of  the  weaker  power  sufficed  to  avert  the  threatened 
danger.^     The  determination,  however,  had  been  akeady 


^  De  Couto,  dec.  v.  lib.  ix.  cli.  ii.  cli.  ii.  p.  251.     A  detailed  account  of 

vol.  iv.  pt.  ii.  p.  316.  ]  the  destruction  of  the  Sacred  Tooth, 

^  De  CorTO,  dec.  vii.  lib.  ix.  ch.  as  narrated  by  De  Corio,  ■will   be 

xvii.  vol.  iv.  pt.  ii.  p.  428  ;  Faria  x  j  found  appended  to   the  account  of 

SorzA,   vol.   ii.   pt.   ii.    ch.    xt  i.   p.  Kandv  in  the  present  work,  "N'ol.  II. 

209.  Pt.  vfi.  ch.  V. 

2  De  Couto,  dec.  vii.  lib.  ix.  ch.  ^  Fauta  y  SorzA,  vol.  iii.  pt.  i.  ch, 

xvii.  viii.  p.  65  ;  pt.  ii.  ch.  v.  p.  125. 

^  Faria  t  Souza,  vol.  ii.  pt.  iii. 


Chap.  I.] 


THE   DUTCH   APPEAR. 


31 


taken  to  assert  the  claim  of  Portugal  to  the  Jaffna  ter- 
ritories, and  the  consummation  was  only  postponed  as  a 
matter  of  convenience.^  In  1617,  under  the  vice-royalty 
of  Constantine  de  Saa  y  Noroiia,  an  expedition  was 
directed  against  Jaffna ;  the  city  was  captured  with 
circumstances  of  singular  barbarity.  The  king  was 
carried  captive  to  Goa,  and  there  executed  ;  his  nephew, 
the  last  of  the  Malabar  princes,  having  resigned  his  claim 
to  tlie  crown,  and  entered  a  convent  of  Franciscans,  his 
inheritance  was  formally  incorporated  with  the  dominions 
of  Portugal.^  True  to  tlieir  hereditary  instincts,  the 
Malabars,  in  1622,  fitted  out  an  expedition  to  recover 
their  ancient  possession  of  Jaffna  and  the  Peninsula  ;  but 
the  vigour  of  the  Portuguese  governor,  Ohveira,  defeated 
the  attempt.^ 

But  a  new  and  formidable  rival  now  appeared  to 
contend  with  Portugal  for  the  possession  of  Ceylon.  The 
Dutch  had  obtained  a  footing  at  the  Kandyan  court,  and 
formed  an  alliance  with  the  king,  ahke  disastrous  to  the 
missionary  zeal  and  the  commercial  enterprise  of  the  Por- 
tuguese, who,  after  a  struggle  of  nearly  fifty  years' 
duration,  were  finally  expelled  from  the  island,  which 
their  kings  had  magniloquently  declared  that  "  they 
icould  rather  lose  all  India  than  imperil.'"  * 


A.D. 

1617. 


'  Faria  t  Souza,  Tol.  iii.  pt.  iii. 
cli.  xii.  p.  259, 

2  Ibid,  ch.  xvi.  p.  289,  &c. 

^  Baldjjtjs,  cb.  xvii.  p.  0.30. 

*  Van  Goeiis,  the  Dutch  governor 
of  Ceylon  in  1(5G3,  says  that  he  had 
seen  amongst  the  Portuguese  records 


at  Colombo,  the  royal  ordei'S  to  the 
viceroys  of  India,  containing  this 
expression  :  "  Dot  men  liever,  gehccl 
India  zoitcle  ktten  verloren  (/(tan,  dan 
Ceylon  in  pryhel  van  verlies  brenyen.^' 
— Valentyn,  Olid  en  Niemo  Oost-In~ 
dien,  ^-c,  ch.  xiii.  p.  174. 


32 


MODERN"   HISTORY. 


[Part  VI. 


CHAP.  11. 


DUTCH  TERIOD. 


A.D. 
1G17. 


About  the  same  time  —  a.d.  1580, —  that  Phihp  II. 
acqiin-ed  the  kingdom  of  Portugal  in  addition  to  his  here- 
ditary possessions,  the  United  Provinces  of  the  Nether- 
hmds,  exasperated  to  revolt  by  his  unendurable  tyranny, 
consummated  their  revolt  by  abjuring  tlieu'  allegiance  to 
the  Spanish  Crown.  ^ 

During  their  struggles  for  independence,  the  Dutch 
organised  with  surprising  rapidity  not  only  a  mercantile 
marine,  but  also  a  navy  of  surpassing  gallantry  for  its 
protection ;   and  engaging  with  energy  in  a  branch  of 


^  The  principal  autliorities  for  tlie 
liistory  of  the  Dutch  administration 
in  Ceylon  are  the  Heschri/vim/  der 
Oostindischen  Landsaapcii,  Mcdahar, 
Coromandel,  Ceylon,  t^'-c.,byBALDJEtrs, 
an  English  version  of  which  will  be 
found  in  CHTTRCniLL's  Collection, 
vol.  iii.  p.  500 ;  under  the  title  of  A 
tnie  and  exact  Description  of  3Iala- 
har,  Coromandel,  and  also  of  the  is- 
land of  Ceylon,  Sfc,  by  Philip  Bal- 
BJEirs,  Minister  of  the  Word  of  God 
in  Ceylon,  Amsterdam,  1672 ;  and 
Valentyn's  Beschryviny  van  Oifd  en 
Niemo  Oost-Indien,  o  vols.  fol.  Dor- 
drecht and  Amsterdam,  1726.  The 
gT(uit  work  of  Valentyn  lias  never,  I 
believe,  been  published  in  any  other 
languafre  than  Dutch,  in  which  it 
was  written  ;  so  that  it  is  compara- 
tively unknown  in  Europe,  and  is 
aptly  described  by  Pinkerton  as  "  a 
treasure  locked  up  in  a  chest,  of 
which  few  have  the  key."  Sir 
Alexandee  Johxston,  when  Chief 


Justice  of  Ceylon,  caused  a  very 
incorrect  and  imperfect  translation 
to  be  made  of  the  jiarf  which  refers 
to  that  island ;  but  it  still  remains 
in  MS.  amongst  the  collections  of 
the  Royal  Asiatic  Society.  Of  the 
volumes  which  relate  to  continental 
India  and  the  Eastern  Archipelago, 
I  am  not  competent  to  judge ;  but 
the  portion  which  treats  of  Ceylon 
seems  to  be  scarcely  worthy  of  the 
high  reputation  of  the  work.  The 
official  documents  of  which  it  ia 
mainly  composed  are  of  imquestion- 
able  value,  although  it  ia  more  than 
doubtful  that  their  statistics  are  fal- 
sified to  conceal  the  frauds  of  the 
Dutch  officials  (see  Lord  Valentia's 
Travels,  vol.  i.  ch.  vi.  p.  310).  As 
to  the  general  information  supplied 
by  YalentvTi  himself,  it  is  both  meagre 
and  incorrect.  Some  of  tlie  mate- 
rials of  ]iis  later  chapters  are  taken 
from  Knox's  narrative  of  his  own 
captivity. 


Chap.  II.]  REVOLT    OF   THE    LOW   COUNTRIES.  33 

commerce  peculiarly  suited  to  their  position,  tlieii'  mer-  a.d. 
chant  ships  successfully  competed,  as  the  carriers  of 
Eiu^ope,  with  those  of  the  Hanse  Towns  and  Italy.  In 
this  department  the  Dutch  maintained  an  intimate  inter- 
course with  Portugal,  and  their  vessels  resorted  to  Lisbon 
in  search  of  the  rich  productions  of  India,  wliich  they 
transported  to  aU  the  countries  of  tlie  North.  ^  For  some 
years  a  lucrative  and  prosperous  trade,  mutually  advanta- 
geous to  both  countries,  was  permitted  to  flourish,  unin- 
terrupted even  by  the  rupture  between  the  Low  Countries 
and  Spain ;  the  Portuguese  as  an  independent  people 
having  no  other  interest  in  the  quarrel  between  Philip  II. 
and  his  Dutch  subjects,  than  that  which  arose  from  the 
accident  of  the  two  penhisular  kingdoms  being  rided  by 
the  same  sovereign. 

At  length  in  1694,  Phihp,  impatient  to  strike  a  blow 
at  the  commerce  of  the  Dutch,  and  regardless  of  the  con- 
sequent injury  to  the  trade  of  the  Portuguese  which  the 
contemplated  prohibition  involved,  forbade  liis  new  sub- 
jects to  hold  intercourse  with  his  enemies,  laid  an 
embargo  on  the  Dutch  ships  in  the  Tagus,  imprisoned 
their  supercargoes  and  masters,  and,  professing  to  treat 
them  as  heretics,  subjected  them  to  the  disciphne  of  the 
Inquisition.^ 

It  admits  of  no  question  that  this  despotic  effort  to 
annihilate  the  commerce  of  HoUand,  acted  as  an  imme- 
diate stimulus  to  its  expansion ;  and  suggested  to  the 
Dutch  those  enterprising  expeditions  to  India,  whicli  led 
to  the  acquirement  of  large  territory,  the  establishment  of 
their  own  trade  and  the  subversion  of  the  Portuguese 
monopoly  in  the  East.^ 

Within  a  year  from  the  issue  of  the  tyrannous  veto  to 


^  Raynal,  Commerce  des  Indes, 
8jC.,  liv.  ii.  ch.  i.  voL  i.  p.  805. 

"^  Jleoteil  des  Voiac/es  de  la  Cum- 
pagnie  des  Indes  Orientales,  i^-c,  vol.  i. 
p.  "105. 

^  "  II   sembloit  que   ces   tirannios 

VOL.    II.  D 


devoient  miner  le  pais  et  fairo  perir 
la  nation  :  mais  au-coutraire  ellfs  ont 
cause  le  saint  et  la  prosperite  de  I'un 
et  de  I'autrc!" — Recueil,  ^'c,  vol.  i. 
p.  9 ;  Valentyn,  ch.  XV.  p.  282. 


34  MODEEX    HISTORY.  [Part  VI. 

A.D.  trade  Avitli  Portugal,  the  Dutch  had  despatched  theu^  first 
^^  convoy  to  India.^  A  "  Company  for  distant  Lands  "  was 
speedily  organised,  and,  in  1595,  Cornehus  Houtman, 
who  shortly  before  had  been  released  from  a  prison,  con- 
ducted the  first  fleet  of  free  merchantmen  round  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope.^ 

As  the  Dutch  acquired  a  practical  knowledge  of  the 
route,  other  expeditions  followed  in  rapid  succession. 
Java,  the  Moluccas,  and  China  were  first  explored  as 
being  the  most  chstant,  and  least  hkely  to  bring  them  into 
premature  conflict  with  tlie  Portuguese  ;  and  at  length  on 
the  30th  May,  1602,  the  first  Dutch  ship  seen  in  Cej^on, 
"  La  Brebis,"  commanded  by  Admiral  Spilberg,  cast 
anchor  in  tlie  Port  of  Batticaloa.^  So  imperfectly  were 
the  Dutch  informed  regarding  the  island,  tliat  they  ex- 
pected to  find  cinnamon  as  abundant  on  the  east  coast 
as  at  Colombo,  and  announced  that  its  pmxhase  was  the 
object  of  their  \dsit.^ 

Wimala  Dharma,  the  successful  usurper  and  the  hus- 
band of  Donna  Catharina,  was,  at  that  time,  tlie  sovereign 
of  Kandy,  where  he  had  assumed  the  style  of  Emperor  of 
Ceylon,  in  order  to  mark  liis  supremacy  over  tlie  subor- 
dinate princes,  who  took  the  title  of  kings  in  their  several 
localities.^     One  of  these,  the  petty  prince  of  Batticaloa, 


^  It  is   a  curious  evidence  of  tlie  '  JRectteil,  ^-c,  vol.  ii.  p.  417. 

prudence  of  the  Dutch  in  taking  this  ]       *  Yalexttx,  ch.  xv.  p.  223,  224, 

bold  step  in  defiance  of  the  inhihi-  says  that  in  1075  cinnamon  was  still 

tions  of  Charles  V.  and  Philip  II.,  by  found  near  Batticaloa,  and  must  have 

which  the  rest   of  Europe  was  for-  \  been   exported   thence   prior  to   the 

mally  excluded  from  any  share  in  the  |  an-ival   of    the   Dutch.     The    latter 

trade  with    India,    that    in    formiug'  ;  point    admits    of    doubt,    but    Mr. 

then-  first  navigation  company  for  the  '  Thwaites,   of    the    I\oy.al   Botanical 

Ea.st,  they  suppressed    tlie  name  of  |  (larden   at  Peradenia,  writes  to  me 


India,  and  called  it  "  Zr;  Compaj/nie 
des  Pais  Loi?dams.'"  —  "Het  Maat- 
schappy  van  verre  Ian  des."  It  is 
also  observable  that,  to  avoid  if  pos- 
sible any  conflict  with  the  Spanish 
cruisers,  their  earliest  attempts  to 
reach  India  were  directed  to  the 
Arctic  Ocean,  in  the  hope  to  find  a 
north-eastern  passage  to  China. 

^  Raynal,    Commerce    des    I/ides, 
J^-c,  liv.  ii.  ch.  i.  vol.  i.  p.  308. 


that  in  1857  he  foimd  cinnamon 
gT0-«-iug  in  that  locality,  and  under 
circumstances  which  led  him  to  doubt 
whether  it  had  not  at  some  fonner 
period  been  systematically  cidtivated 
there. 

*  The  sty^le  adopted  was  "  Emperor 
of  Ceylon,  —  King  of  Cotta,  Kandy, 
Sitavacca  and  Jaflhapatam  —  Prince 
of  Oovah,  Bintenue,  and  Trincomalie 
—  Grand  Duke  of  Matelle  and  31a- 


Chap.  II.] 


FIRST   EMBASSY   OF   THE   DUTCH. 


35 


though  nominally  tributary  to  Portugal,  was  attached  by    a.d. 
loyal  sympathies  to  the  cause  of  his  native  sovereign, 
between  whom  and  the  Portuguese  hostilities  were  still 
actively  carried  on. 

Suspecting  the  Dutch  to  be  Portuguese  in  disguise,  the 
chief  of  Batticaloa  accorded  to  the  strangers  a  jealous  and 
reluctant  reception  ^ ;  but,  after  detaining  Spilberg  a  month, 
on  pretence  of  dehvering  cinnamon,  he  eventually  facihta- 
ted  his  journey  to  Kandy,  to  enable  him  to  present  to  the 
king  in  person  his  credentials  from  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
which  contained  the  offer  of  an  aUiance  offensive  and 
defensive.^ 

The  king  received  him  with  a  guard  of  honour  of  a 
thousand  men,  who  bore  arms  and  standards  that  had 
been  captured  from  the  Portuguese,  and  his  cortege  on 
the  occasion  was  swelled  by  numbers  of  Portuguese 
prisoners,  many  of  them  deprived  of  their  ears,  "to 
denote  that  they  had  been  permitted  to  enter  the  royal 
service."^  Spilberg,  besides  the  banner  of  the  United 
Provinces,  caused  a  standard-bearer  to  lay  at  the  feet  of 
the  kins;  tlie  flao;  of  Portuo;al  with  the  blazon  reversed. 

Wimala  Dharma,  accustomed  to  be  importuned  for  cin- 
namon, and  eager  to  discourage  the  trade  in  that  article, 
anticipated  the  expected  demand  by  an  offer  of  a  small 
quantity  at  an  extravagant  cost ;  but  on  being  assured  in 
reply  that  the  object  of  the  mission  was  to  seek  not  com- 
merce but  an  aUiance,  and  to  offer  his  majesty  the  assist- 
ance of  Holland  against  his  enemies,  the  king  folded  the 
admiral  in  his  arms,  raised  him  from  the  ground  in  the 
ardour  of  his  embrace,  and  accepted  the  proposal  with 


naar,  ^Marquis  of  Toonipane  and  Yat- 
teneura — Earl  of  Cottiar  and  Batti- 
caloa— Count  of  Matura  and  Gall(!, 
Lord  of  the  ports  of  Colombo,  Chi- 
law  and  Madanipe,  and  Master  of 
the  Fisheries  of  Pearl."  The  places 
enunierfitedwere  occasionally  varied. 
Valentyn,  ch.  xiv.  p.  200. 

'  Recueil,  ^-c,  torn.  ii.  ''  Relation 
du  Voyage  de  George   Spilberg  en 


qualittS  d'Aniiral  aux  Tndes  Orien- 
tales,"  p.  417  ;  Valentyij^,  Outl  en 
Nieuw  Oost-Indien,  vol.  v.  pt.  i.  ch. 
viii.  p.  101. 

"^  "  D'etre  ami  de  ses  amis  et 
ennemi  de  ses  ennemis." — SriLBERG, 
Relation,  S;c.,  p.  42"». 

*  Spilberg,  Rekifim,  ^-c,  vol.  ii. 
p.  428 ;  Valentvn,  vol.  v.  p.  i.  ch. 
viii.  p.  104. 


D  2 


36 


MODEEX   HISTOET. 


[Pabt  YI. 


A.D. 

1617. 


alacrity.  As  to  cinnamon,  lie  said  all  in  his  dominions 
was  at  the  service  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  without  pur- 
chase, liis  only  regret  being  that  the  quantity  was  small, 
as  he  had  ordered  the  destruction  of  the  trees,  to  put  an 
end  to  the  Portus-uese  trade. 

o 

The  king  detained  Spilberg  at  Kandy  till  the  approach 
of  the  monsoon  warned  him  to  retmii  to  liis  ship :  and 
ha^'ing  presented  him  to  Donna  Catharina  and  her  chil- 
dren, and  given  unsohcited  permission  to  the  Dutch  to 
erect  a  fort  in  any  part  of  liis  domains,  he  added  that,  if 
necessary,  the  queen  and  her  cliildren  would  assist  to 
coUect  the  materials  for  its  construction.^ 

The  admiral,  at  the  request  of  the  king,  left  beliind 
him  his  secretary,  with  two  musicians  of  his  band,  and 
retmiied  to  Batticaloa  loaded  wdth  honom's  and  gifts."^ 
Here  he  captm^ed,  and  presented  to  Wimala  Dharnia,  a 
Portuguese  galhot,  laden  with  spices  and  manned  by  a 
crew  of  forty  men  ;  thus  testifs'ing  at  once  his  obhgations 
to  the  Kaudyans,  and  the  hostihty  with  which  he  regarded 
their  enemies. 

Pursuant  to  the  agreement  with  the  Dutch  envoy,  one 
of  Spilberg's  officers,  Sibalt  de  Weert,  left  Batticaloa  in 
160.3,  mtli  three  ships,  to  cruise  against  the  Portuguese, 
and  undertake  the  siege  of  Galle  ;  but  the  prizes  which  he 
took  he  set  at  hberty,  contrary  to  the  expectations  of 
the  emperor,  who  reqimed  one  moiety  to  be  given  up 
to  himself.  An  altercation  ensued,  in  which  the  Dutch 
commander,  excited  by  wine,  repudiated  his  engage- 
ment to  bombard  Galle,  and  forgot  himself  so  far  as  to 
make  an  insulting  allusion  to  the  empress.  Wimala 
Dharma  resented  it  by  directing  his  mstant  arrest ;  but 


^  "Ziet,  ilc,  ni\Ti  keizerin,  Piins, 
Prinszes,  zullen  de  steenen,  kalk,  en 
andre  bouwstoffen,  zoo  de  Heeren 
alg-emeeue  Staaten  en  den  Prins  een 
vesting  in  niTO  lande  begeeren  te 
boiiwen,  op  onze  scliouderen  dragen." 
— Valextyx,  cb.  viii.  p.  105 ;  see  also 
Spilberg,  lieJation,  Sfc,  vol.  ii.  p.  4'')8. 


*  One  luxuiy  bigbly  praised  by 
tbe  admiral  in  his  nan-ative  was  tlie 
icine,  made  from  grapes  grown  at 
Kandy,  which  he  pronounces  ex- 
cellent. —  Spilbekg,  Relation,  i^-c, 
vol.  ii.  p.  451. 


Chap.  II.] 


DEATH    OF   THE    KING. 


37 


the  attendants  of  the  king,  exceeding  their  orders,  clove 
his  head  in  the  ante-room,  and  massacred  his  boat's  crew 
on  the  beach.  ^  The  emperor  returned  to  Kandy,  and 
anticipating  a  breach  with  the  Dutch,  sent  a  pithy  mes- 
sage to  the  ships  of  De  Weert.  "  lie  who  drinks  wine^ 
comes  to  mischief.  God  is  just  If  you  seek  peace^  let 
it  he  peace;  if  war,  war  be  it."^  The  Government  of 
the  Netherlands  was  too  prudent  to  make  even  the  mur- 
der of  their  officer  the  ground  of  a  ruptm^e  with  Kandy ; 
no  formal  notice  was  taken  of  the  event,  and  the  decease 
of  the  emperor,  in  the  following  year,  did  away  with  the 
pretext  for  war. 

On  the  death  of  Wimala  Dharma,  in  1604,  Donna 
Catharina,  as  Queen  in  her  own  right,  assumed  the 
sovereignty  of  Ceylon,  her  sons  being  childi-en.  But 
a  contest  ensued  between  the  Prince  of  Oovah  and  a 
brother  of  the  late  king^,  then  a  priest  in  a  temple  at 
Adam's  Peak,  relative  to  the  guardianship  of  the  minors, 
which  ended  in  the  murder  of  the  prince  and  the  mar- 
riage of  the  widowed  empress  with  the  assassin,  who,  on 
his  coronation  in  1G04,  assumed  the  title  of  Senaratena, 
or  Senerat. 

For  a  brief  interval  Ceylon  enjoyed  comparative  tran- 
quillity ;  and  although  Donna  Catharina  dechned  to  enter 
into  any  formal  treaty  of  peace  with  the  Portuguese,  she 
formed  an  aUiance  offensive  and  defensive  wdth  the  Dutch 
in  1609.     The  opportunity  for  this  convention  arose  out 


A.D. 

1617. 


^  Valenttx  and  ]?.\ld.t:us  exte- 
nuate the  conduct  of  Wimala  Dhar- 
ma, by  saying  that  the  order  which 
he  gave,  was  to  "  bind  that  dog," 
ino'a  isto  can!  But  "  ?«ro-rt"  is  not 
Portuguese  ; — and  it  is  possible  that 
the  king's  order  was  atar,  "  to  bind," 
which  may  have  been  mistaken  by 
tlie  bystanders  for  mcdar,  "  to  kill." 
Valentyn,  ch.  ix.  p.  108,  ch.  xii. 
p.  141.  Bald^us,  ch.  vii.  p.  Gil. 
Pteard,  the  French  traveller,  who 
visited  Ceylon  shortly  after,  says  the 
Portuguese  avowed  to  him  that  De 


"Weert  was  killed  at  their  instigation ; 
but  this  seems  imtnie. —  Voi/a</c,  iSr., 
I'aris,  1(379,  pt.  ii.  ch.  ii.  p.  90. 

^  The  emperor,  from  his  early 
education  at  Goa,  spoke  a  little  Por- 
tuguese. His  words  on  the  occasion 
were  "  Que  bcbem  Vinho  tino  he  bon. 
Deos  ha  faze  justicia.  Se  quesieres 
pas,  pas;  se  yuerra,  ffuerra.'^ — Bal- 
M<:rs,  ch.  vii.  p.  G12  ;  Valextyx,  ch, 
ix.  109. 

*  Called  by  the  Dutch  historians, 
''  Cenewierat." 


D  3 


38  MODERN   HISTORY.  [rART  VI. 

A.D.  of  the  concliL^ioii  of  a  truce  for  twelve  years  between  tlie 
Low  Countries  and  Spain  \  one  of  the  articles  of  which 
recognised  the  right  of  Holland  to  share  in  the  commerce 
with  Lidia.  But  as  this  armistice  did  not  extend  to  the 
hostilities  still  active  in  the  East  between  the  Dutch  and 
the  Portuguese,  the  States-General,  prompt  to  avail  them- 
selves of  the  interval  to  re-estabhsh  then*  influence  in 
Ceylon,  despatched  Marcellus  de  Boschouwer  with  over- 
tures to  Kandy.  He  was  also  the  bearer  of  a  letter  from 
Prince  Maurice  of  Nassau  addressed  to  the  emperor, 
tendering  the  friendship  of  the  United  Provinces,  and 
offering,  in  the  event  of  a  renewal  of  Portuguese  ag- 
gression by  land  or  sea,  to  assist  his  majesty  with  ships, 
forces,  and  munitions  of  war.^  The  result  was  a  treaty, 
by  which  the  Singhalese  sovereign,  in  return  for  the 
promised  mihtary  aid,  gave  permission  to  tlie  Dutch 
to  erect  a  fort  at  Cottiar,  on  the  southern  side  of  the 
bay  of  Trincomahe,  and  secm^ed  to  them  a  monopoly  of 
the  trade  in  cinnamon,  gems,  and  pearls.  So  eager  was 
he  to  matm^e  the  aUiance,  that  he  prevailed  upon  Bos- 
chouwer to  remain  behind  at  Kandy,  in  the  double 
capacity  of  representative  of  Holland  and  ad\'iser  of  the 
emperor,  who  created  him  Prince  of  ]\Iigone^  and  Ana- 
raj  apoora,  Knight  of  the  Sun,  and  President  of  his  ]\Iih- 
tary  Council,  and  High  Admii'al  of  the  Fleet.* 

Immediately  on  the  erection  of  the  new  fort  at 
Cottiar  by  the  Dutch  in  1612,  it  was  sm^prised  and 
destroyed  by  a  Portuguese  force,  which  was  secretly 
marched  across  the  island ;  and  Senerat,  in  turn,  made 
preparations  for  a  simultaneous  attack  on  the  forts  of 
Galle  and  Colombo  ;  with  the  resolution  to  give  no 
quarter  to  any  subject    of    Portugal,  save  women   and 


^  Davtes,  History  of  noUand,  vol. 
iii.  p.  436. 

^  Bald^us,  cli.  ix.  p.  G14. 


*  Mig-one  was  llie  Mangel  Corle, 
iiortli  ol'  the  Deddroo  ova. 

*  Yalentyn,  ch.  ix.'p.  112;  Bal- 
DJEUs,  ch.  xi.  p.  017. 


CiiAF.  II.]  DEATH    OF   BOSCIIOUWER.  39 

children.^     The  i:>lan  was,  however,  disconcerted  by  the    -\-t>- 
•  '  .  1  r  1 7 

Portuguese   taldng  the  field,  and  compeUing  an  engage-     ^ 

nient  in  the  Seven  Corles,  in  which  the  Kandyans  were 

worsted,  and  his  new  principahty  of  Migone  wi'ested  from 

Boschouwer. 

At  the  same  time,  tlie  eldest  son  of  Donna  Catharina 
A\^as  taken  off  by  poison,  administered  by  his  stepfather 
the  Emperor,  and  the  broken-hearted  mother  died 
within  a  few  months  of  this  calamity.  Disasters  quickly 
followed :  the  Portuguese  troops  on  two  occasions 
marched  to  within  a  few  miles  of  Kandy,  and  were  A\dth 
difficulty  repulsed,  and  in  1615  Boschouwer  was  de- 
spatched to  Holland  by  Senerat  to  solicit  reinforcements, 
pursuant  to  the  recent  convention.  But,  at  the  moment 
of  his  arrival,  he  found  the  people  of  Holland  impressed 
with  dishke  to  the  character  of  the  Kandyans^,  and  dis- 
inchned  to  active  proceedings  in  Ceylon ;  whilst  the 
States  General,  dissatisfied  with  the  conduct  and  demea- 
nour of  the  envoy,  who  approached  them  not  as  a  subject 
of  Holland  but  as  a  prince  and  ambassador  from  the 
sovereign  of  Kandy,  dechned  to  send  the  required  forces. 
Boschouwer,  thus  repulsed,  addressed  himself  to  the 
Danes,  who  were  eager  to  obtain  a  footing  in  India,  and 
persuaded  Christian  IV.  to  fit  out  a  squadron  of  five  a.d. 
ships,  with  which  he  sailed  from  Copenhagen,  in  1618.  l^^^- 
Boschouwer  died  upon  the  voyage,  and,  on  the  arrival  of 
the  Danish  commander  at  Cottiar  in  1620,  Senerat  repu-  a.d. 
diatcd  the  acts  of  his  deceased  agent,  dechned  to  receive  l^-*^- 
the  proffered  assistance,  and  the  vessels  were  sent  back  to 
Denmark.^ 

The  Portuguese  availed  themselves  of  the  perplexity 
of  the   Emperor,    occasioned  by   these    occurrences,  to 


'  Balb^us,  cli.  xi.  p.  618 ;  Ya- 
LKNTYX,  ch.  X.  p.  112. 

^  Valenttn,  eh.  xii.  p.  142. 

*  Valentyn,  ch.  X.  p.  11(5,  ch.  xii. 
p.  142;  Bald-EITS,  cli.  xvii.  p.  029. 
"  Being  in    want    of    refreshments, 


thej  put  into  Tranqnebar,  on  the 
Coroniaiidel  coat^t ;  and  this  circum- 
stance gave  rise  to  the  first  settlement 
of  the  Danish  cohiny,  which  has 
continued  there  ever  since." — Per- 
cival's  Ccyhn,  Sfc,  p.  28. 

D  4 


40 


MODERN   HISTORY. 


[Part  VI. 


A.D. 

1624. 


A.D. 

1627. 


A.D. 

1630. 


renew  tlieir  solicitations  for  a  truce,  which  they  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining,  in  1624  ;  but,  in  \dolation  of  its 
conditions,  they  commenced,  in  1627,  to  fortify  Batti- 
caloa,  having  previously,  in  1622,  erected  a  fort  at  Trin- 
comahe.^ 

The  Emperor,  alarmed  by  these  proceedings,  appa- 
rently deserted  by  his  Dutch  alhes,  and  seemg  his  king- 
dom encircled  on  all  sides  by  Portuguese  garrisons^, 
made  a  vigorous  and  successful  effort  to  rouse  the  native 
Singhalese,  and  organise  a  national  movement  for  the 
expulsion  of  the  perfidious  Europeans.  The  flame  of 
war  was  simultaneously  kindled  at  opposite  points  of 
the  island ;  the  most  influential  moodhars  of  the  low 
country  entered  earnestly  into  the  conspkacy  with  the 
Kandyans,  and  the  people  of  Colombo,  exasperated  by 
the  treatment  which  they  had  experienced  at  the  hands 
of  the  common  enemy,  expressed  their  readiness  to 
revolt.  The  Governor,  Don  Constantine  de  Saa  y 
Norofia,  akeady  stung  by  sarcastic  despatches  from 
the  Viceroy  of  Goa,  which  insinuated  inactivity  and 
indifference  to  the  interests  of  Portugal,  was  induced, 
by  delusive  representations  from  the  chiefs  of  the  high 
country,  to  concentrate  all  liis  forces  for  an  expedition 
against  Oovah,  where  he  was  falsely  assured  that  the 
popidation  were  prepared  to  join  his  standard  agamst 
their  native  dynasty. 

In  August,  1630,  he  advanced  with  fifteen  hundred 
Europeans,  about  the  same  number  of  half-castes,  and 
eight  or  ten  thousand  low-country  Singhalese,  and  was 
allowed  ^\dthout  resistance  to  enter  by  the  mountain 
passes  and  penetrate  to  the  city  of  Badulla,  which  he 
plundered  and  burned.  But  on  his  retmii  his  Singha- 
lese troops,  at  a  point  previously  arranged  with  the 
Kandyans,  deserted  in  a  body  to  the  enemy,  and  the 
Portuguese,  thus   caught  in   the   toils,  were  mercilessly 


^  EiBETHO,  lib.  ii.  ch.  i.  p.  189. 
^  The   Portuguese   had  now  eight 
fortified    places    around    the    coast : 


JafTiia,  Manaar,  Npfrombo,  Colombo, 
Cultura,  Galle,  Bolligam,  liatticaloa, 
aud  Trincomalie. 


Chap.  II.] 


CONST.\NTINE   DE   S.VA. 


41 


slaujxhtered,  and  the  head  of  their  commander  carried  on 
a  drmn,  and  presented  to  Raja  Singha,  the  son  of  the 
emperor,  who  was  bathing  in  a  neiglibouring  brook. ^  The 
Kandyans,  flushed  by  their  signal  victory,  followed  it  up 
by  an  immediate  march  on  Colombo,  which  was  only  saved 
from  their  hands  by  the  timely  arrival  of  assistance  from 
Goa.2 

"  There  was  no  native  of  Portugal  in  the  island," 
says  EiBEYRO,  "  who  Avas  unmoved  to  tears  on  hearing 
of  the  fate  of  the  general ;  and  the  memory  af  Don 
Constantine  de  Saa  will  be  venerated  by  posterity  so 
long  as  men  shall  honour  valour  and  worth,  and  the  day 
of  his  death  was  the  beginning  of  sorrows  to  my  fellow- 
countrymen  in  Ceylon."  ^  Both  nations  were,  however, 
temporarily  exhausted  by  the  effort  of  the  war,  and 
a  truce  was  agreed  to,  at  the  sohcitation  of  the  em- 
peror^, who  even  agreed  to  pay  a  tribute  of  two 
elephants  yearly,  conformably  to  the  former  treaty  with 
the  Kings  of  Cotta. 

Senerat  died  shortly  after^,  leaving  his  son,  Eaja  Singha 
IL,  heir  to  his  Kandyan  dominions ;  the  young  king's 
brothers  being  at  the  same  time  invested  with  the  princi- 
pahties  of  Matelle  and  Govah. 


A.D. 

1G30. 


A.D. 

1G32. 


'  Valentyn,  ell.  xi.  p.  116,  ch.  xii. 
p.  142.  The  ItaJavaU  says  this  mas- 
sacre took  place  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountain  of  Welle-wawey,  in  the  field 
called  Kat-daneyia-wello,  p.  32.3. 
Knox  says  that  Constantine  de  Saa, 
rather  than  fall  by  the  enemy,  "called 
his  black  boy  to  give  him  water  to 
drink,  and  snatching  the  knife  from 
his  side,  stabbed  himself." — Relation, 
hfc,  pt.  iv.  ch.  xiii.  p.  177. 

*  Fakia  t  Soijza, pt.  ii.  ch.  Aiii.  p. 
377.  The  Portuguese  were  so  unpre- 
pared for  this  assault,  that  during  the 
siege  Faria  y  Sotjza  says  that  they 
ate  the  dead,  and  mothers  their  own 
children. — Ch.  ii.  p.  .390.  Bald.tsu.s, 
ch.  vii.  p.  631,  mentions  that  amongst 
the  forces  sent  at  this  time  to  the 
relief  of  Colombo  were  a  company  of 


Caflres.  This  is  probably  their  first 
appearance  in  Ceylon. 

^  RiBEYEo,  lib.  ii.  ch.  ii.  p.  207. 
The  filial  affection  of  Don  Kodrigues 
de  Saa,  son  to  the  ill-fated  Don  Con- 
stantine, hiis  left  a  touching  vindica- 
tion of  his  memory  in  a  narrative  of 
the  expedition  entitled  "  Rebelion  de 
Ceijhm  y  los  Pro(/)-essos  dc  su  con- 
quista  en  el  gohierno  de  Condanfino 
de  Saa  y  Koroha.  Escrihela  sii  Ili/o 
JiHin  Itodrif/ues  de  Saa  y  Menezes 
y  dedicala  a  la  Viryen  Xuestra  Scnora 
Madre  de  3Iisercco)-dias."  Lisbon, 
1681. 

*  Faria  r  Souza,  pt.  xiv.  ch.  ii. 
p.  401. 

^  TuRXOUR,  Upitotne,  ^-c,  p.  52, 
says  that  Senerat  died  in  10.35  ;  but 
Bakheus  and  Valentyn  fix  the  date 
in  1032. 


42 


MODERN   HISTORY. 


[Part  VI. 


A. P. 

1G32. 


A.D. 

1G38. 


A.D. 

1G38. 


It  was  ill  the  reign  of  this  gloomy  tyrant,  that  the  Portu- 
guese were  eventually  driven  from  Ceylon,  and  his  Dutch 
aUies  installed  in  all  tliek  conquests.  With  thek  wonted 
bad  faith,  the  Portuguese  seized  the  opportunity  of  the 
emperor's  death  to  renew  their  forays  into  the  pos- 
sessions of  his  successor,  and  Eaja  Singlia,  forced  to  the 
conclusion  that  their  presence  in  the  island  was  in- 
compatible with  the  hope  of  any  permanent  peace,  ad- 
dressed himself  to  the  Dutch  at  Batavia,  and  sohcited 
tlieir  active  co-operation  for  the  utter  expulsion  of  the 
Portuguese.^ 

The  invitation  was  promptly  accepted,  and  Commodore 
Koster  w^as  despatched  to  Ceylon  in  1638,  to  concert 
the  plan  of  a  campaign  preparatory  to  the  arrival  of  the 
Admiral  with  the  squadron  designed  for  service  against 
the  Portusfuese  forts.  In  the  meantime,  the  Portuguese 
Governor  of  Colombo,  alarmed  by  the  intelhgence  of  this 
new  alhance,  and  eager  to  defeat  it,  dkected  a  sudden 
attack  upon  Kandy,  which  his  troops  entered  and  burned ; 
but  on  retiring  they  were  surrounded  in  the  mountains, 
at  Gonnarua,  and  with  the  exception  of  a  few  prisoners, 
the  entke  army  was  exterminated,  and  the  skuUs  built  in 
a  pyramid  by  the  Kandyans.^ 

At  length,  in  May  1638,  Admiral  Westerwold  appeared 
with  his  promised  fleet  in  the  waters  of  Ceylon,  and 
the  conflict  was  commenced  between  the  Dutch  and 
the  Portuguese,  which  terminated  twenty  years  after  in 
the  rethement  of  the  latter  from  the  island.  The 
story  of  this  conflict  has  been  told  by  two  historians 
who  from  opposite  sides  were  eye-mtnesses,  of  the  strife  ; 
—  by  Eibeyro,  who  served  as  a  soldier  in  the  armies 


'  The  letters  of  Raja  Singlia  II., 
enumerjitiug  the  repeated  acts  of 
aggi'ession  and  breaches  of  treaties 
by  the  Portuguese,  A\'ill  be  seen  in 
I3ali).eus,  ch.  xix.  p.  G32,  630. 

-  RajavctU,  p.  324 ;  Bald^etis,  ch. 
XX.  p.  041 ;  Valentyn,  ch.  xi,  p. 
118 ;  ch.  xii.  p.  142 ;  llibeyro  ascribes 


the  iinincdiate  cause  of  this  ill-starred 
expedition  to  an  act  of  pei-fidy  and 
meanness  on  the  part  of  the  Portu- 
guese Governor  of  Colombo,  which 
led  to  a  personal  altercation  with 
Eaja  Singha  11.  It  is  amusingly 
told  in  the  4th  chap,  of  his  2nd  book, 
p.  220. 


Chap.  II.] 


DUTCH   CONQUESTS. 


43 


of  Portugal,  and  by  Balda3iis,  who  at  a  later  period 
served  as  a  chaplain  to  the  forces  of  Holland  ^ ;  but  httle 
interest  comparatively  attaches  to  the  narrative  of  the 
strategy  of  the  two  European  rivals,  except  so  far  as  it 
involves  the  fortunes,  or  developes  the  character,  of  the 
Singhalese. 

In  1638  the  fort  of  Batticaloa  was  taken  by  Westerwold 
from  the  Portuguese  after  a  very  brief  resistance,  and  a 
fresh  treaty  with  the  Emperor  of  Kandy  was  forthwith 
concluded  under  its  walls,  by  which  the  contracting  parties 
bound  themselves  to  carry  on  the  war,  the  Dutch  finding 
ammunition  and  forces,  the  emperor  defraying  all  other 
charges,  and  both  sharing  the  spoil.^ 

In  1639  Trincomahe  was  occupied  and  garrisoned  by 
the  Dutch,  but  they  afterwards  retired  from  the  city.  In 
1640  they  were  equally  successful  at  Negombo,  Matura, 
and  Galle  ^ ;  and  Colombo,  which  was  invested  by  the 
army  of  Eaja  Singha,  might  have  been  captured  with 
facility,  but  the  Kandyan  sovereign,  apparently  alarmed 
by  the  rising  power  of  the  Dutch,  not  only  permitted  the 
fortress  to  be  retained  by  the  Portuguese,  but  afforded 
them  the  opportunity  of  recapturing  Negombo^  in  1640. 

This  pohcy  paralysed  the  proceedings  of  the  Dutch  ; 
further  operations  were  suspended  ;  and  at  length,  on  the 


A.n. 
1638. 


^  Ribeyi'o  Landed  in  Ceylon  in  1G40 
in  the  suite  of  the  Count  d'Aveiras, 
and  remained  till  the  capture  of  (Co- 
lombo in  1058.  Jialdajus  arrived  in 
1656,  and  remained  till  1665.  Ya- 
LENTYN,  ch.  xvii.  p.  413.  Another 
writer  who  was  present  at  tlie  final 
struggle  between  the  Dutch  and  Por- 
tuguese, JoiiAN  Jacob  Saars,  has 
given,  in  his  Ost-ImUanische  Fimf- 
zelin  Jahruje  Kric(fs-dk'nst,  or  Fifteen 
Years'  3Iilitanj  Service,  hetween'\(j^ 
and  1659,  Nui-emburg,  1662,  an  ac- 
count of  the  campaign  in  wliich  Co- 
lombo was  captured,  p.  122 — 128. 

^  See  a  copy  of  the  treaty  in  Bal- 
D^rs,  ch.  xxii.  p.  641. 

'  Galle  was  reduced  by  Commo- 
dore Koster,  wlio  acted  as  envoy  to 
the  Coiu-t  of  Kandv.     But  the  Dutch 


were  singularly  unfortimate  in  the 
selection  of  agents  on  tliese  occa- 
sions. Koster,  a  rude  sailor,  insulted 
Raja  Singha  II.,  as  De  "NVeert  had 
previously  outraged  Wimala  Dhanna ; 
he  was  dismissed  without  the  usual 
diplomatic  courtesies,  and  murdered 
on  his  return  to  Batticaloa. — liAL- 
D.EUS,  ch.  xlii.  p,  710}  Valexiyx, 
ch.  xii.  p.  143. 

+  KiBEYKO,  pt.  ii.  ch.  viii.  p.  102. 
The  expressions  of  Yalentyn  are 
ver^'  cm'ious  on  the  point  of  the  du- 
plicity of  Baja  Singha: — " toen  al 
cousidcrerende  dat  't  beter  was  van 
twee  natien  gecaresseerd,  als  van  een 
stoute  wydberoemde  overheerd  te 
werden,  liet  by  de  Poilugeesen  weer 
adem  scheppen." — Ch.  xii.  p.  143. 


A.n. 
IGu'J. 


u 


MODERN   HISTORY. 


[Part  VI. 


A.D, 

1G40. 


A.D. 

1G46. 


arrival  of  intelligence  in  India,  that  Portugal  had  finally 
emancipated  herself  from  the  dominion  of  the  Kings  of 
Spain,  and  had  expelled  Philip  IV.  to  enthrone  John  of 
Braganza  in  his  stead  ;  peaceful  overtures  were  made  to 
the  States  General,  and  in  1646,  an  armistice  was  arranged 
between  Portugal  and  Holland  for  ten  years  from  1640, 
the  two  countries  retaining  their  respective  conquests  in 
Ceylon.^ 

During  the  pause,  the  emperor,  whose  confidence  in  the 
Dutch  had  by  no  means  been  confirmed  by  personal  inter- 
course with  their  authorities,  hopeless  of  ever  liberating  his 
country  from  both  combatants,  and  seeing  his  best  chance 
of  safety  in  their  mutual  rivalry,  not  only  persevered  in 
infesting  the  territories  of  each  by  desultory  attacks,  but 
contrived  with  success  to  embroil  them  in  hostihties  by 
passing  through  the  possessions  of  the  one  to  attack  the 
subjects  of  the  other.  Conformably  to  these  tactics,  he 
marched  through  the  Portuguese  territory  to  reach  the  fort 
of  Negombo,  made  prisoners  of  the  garrison,  and  sent  the 
heads  of  their  officers  rolled  in  siU^  to  the  Dutch  com- 
mandant at  Galle.^ 

The  patient  endurance  of  these  and  similar  outrages 
is  one  of  the  remarkable  features  of  the  pohcy  of  the 
Dutch.  They  contented  themselves  with  supphcations 
to  be  permitted  to  trade  in  cinnamon,  and  with  offers  to 
smTender  some  of  the  strong  places  in  their  keeping  on 
being  reimbursed  the  costs  of  the  war ;  acquitting  tlie 
emperor  of  dehberate  bad  faith  and  imputing  his  ahenated 
feelings  to  the  machinations  of  their  rivals,  who  were 
irritated  at  the  Westerwold  treaty.  Thus  by  blandish- 
ments and   presents  ^,    the    Dutch   governor   succeeded 


'  Holland  had  previously  regained 
Negombo  from  the  Portuguese  in 
16-y:.  EiBETiio,pt.ii.  ch.  xiv.  p.  123; 
Valenxyn,  ch.  xii.  p.  143. 

^  Valentyn,  ch.  xii.  p.  121,  142. 

^  In  tlie  jnidst  of  this  sullen  cor- 
respondence, the  Dutch  Governor 
alludes  to  the  arrival  at  Galle  of  "  a 
Persian  horse  ivorthi/  to  he  bestrode  Inj 
a  king"  and  asks  pemxissiou  to  for- 


ward it  to  Kandy  together  with  a 
saddle  from  Holland.  (Valentyn, 
ch.  xi.  p.  125.)  lied  cloth,  gold  and 
silver  lace,  Spanish  wine,  and  Dutch 
liqueiu's,  were  also  employed  to  heal 
the  breaches  between  Kandy  and 
Holland.  (Valextyn,  ch.  xi.  p.  125, 
ch.  xii.  p.  136.)  One  injunction  of 
Raja  Singha,  however,  the  Dutch 
firmly  resisted ;  they  declined  either 


Chap.  II.] 


DISSENSIONS. 


46 


in  allaying  irritation,  recovered  the  prisoners  of  war,  and    a.d. 
retained    possession   of  the   two    important    stations   of 
Negombo   and  Galle,  on   the  confines  of  the  cinnamon 
coimtiy,  till  the  expiration  of  the  truce  with  Portugal  in    ^.d. 
1650,  and  the  declaration  of  war  by  the  Netherlands  two  1650, 
years  afterwards. 

At  that  moment  the  Portuguese  in  Colombo  were  in  a 
state  of  mutiny  against  the  Governor  Mascarenhas  Ho- 
mem ;  and  Eaja  Singha,  no  doubt  influenced  by  this 
circumstance,  signified  his  readiness  to  take  the  field 
along  with  the  Dutch.  Some  time  was  spent  in  skirmishes 
whilst  the  latter  were  waiting  for  reinforcements  from 
Batavia;  but  at  length  in  October  1655,  on  the  arrival  of 
the  Director-General  Gerard  Hulst,  an  advance  was  made 
from  Galle  which  led  to  the  surrender  of  Caltura  \  and 
Colombo,  which  was  forthwith  invested,  capitulated  on 
the  12th  May,  1656.2 

No  sooner  was  the  victory  achieved,  than  hostihties 
broke  out  between  the  Kandyans  and  their  new  allies  ; 
the  Dutch  persisting  in  retaining  their  conquests,  which 
Eaja  Singha  contended  they  were  bound  to  dehver  over 
to  him,  by  the  terms  of  the  Westerwold  treaty.^  In 
an  attempt  to   wrest  Colombo  from  them,  the  emperor 


A.D. 

1656. 


to  recognise  or  address  him  by  the 
title  of  "  God."— 75«/.,  p.  1.3G,  ch. 
xiii.  p.  178.  The  Kandyans  lite- 
rally attach  the  idea  of  divinity  to 
royalty  ;  tliey  style  the  King,  Knniara 
Devyo,  which  means  "  the  Prince 
Go(V  The  palace  had  the  same  de- 
corations as  a  temple,  including  the 
emblem  of  the  sacred  goose  (see  ante, 
Vol.  I.  I't.  IV.  ch.  vii.  p.  148),  and  the 
homage  to  the  sovereign  was  called 
pinkama,  ''worship."  See  Knox,  pt. 
ii.  ch.  ii.  p.  38.  Nor  were  the  Dutch 
themselves  consistent  in  their  resist- 
ance to  this  profanity ;  for  in  1665 
they  received  in  Colombo  a  fanatic 
who,  under  the  name  of  "  the  Un- 
knoion  God,''''  was  engaged  in  foment- 
ing revolt  against  llaja  Singha. — 
Valentyn,  Oud  en  Nieuw  Oost- 
Indien,  ch.  xv.  p.  261. 


^  BALD^5:rs,  ch.  xxiii.  p.  047 ;  Va- 
LEXTYN,  ch.  xii.  p.  14.%  146. 

*  Copious  details  of  the  long  siege 
of  Colombo  are  given  by  Baldjei'S, 
ch.  xxiv.  to  xxix. 

*  RALD.iitrs,  ch.  XXV.  p.  633,  650. 
This  alleged  breach  of  the  treaty  i3 
constantly  refeiTed  to  by  all  the 
recent  historians  of  Cejdon,  but 
certainly,  on  looking  to  the  letter  of 
the  Westenvold  convention  as  it  is 
given  in  BALBasirs,  ch.  xxii.  p.  641, 
there  is  nothing  in  the  text  which 
binds  the  Dutch  to  give  up  the 
captured  fortresses  to  the  King  of 
Kandy.  That  such  was  tlie  expecta- 
tion of  Raja  Singha  scarcely  admits 
of  a  doubt,  but  in  all  probability  the 
treaty  was  so  worded  by  the  J  hitch, 
as  to  bear  the  construction  which 
they  afterwards  gave  it. 


1658 


46  MODERN   HISTORY.  [Part  VI. 

Ar>;  was  defeated  \  but  being  enabled  to  occupy  the  sur- 
^'^^'  rounding  districts  with  his  army,  he  cut  off  supphes 
from  the  fortress,  and  renewed  friendly  relations  A\dtli 
the  Portuguese.^  These  occurrences  necessarily  retarded 
A.p.  the  further  progress  of  the  Dutch,  but  in  1658  they 
were  enabled,  by  means  of  their  fleet,  to  possess  them- 
selves of  the  island  of  Manaar,  and  marching  through 
the  country  of  the  Wanny  ^,  they  invested  the  fort  of 
Jaffnapatam,  which  capitulated  on  terms  ;  the  garrison 
being  transported  to  Europe,  and  the  ecclesiastics  to 
Coromandel. 

Thus  \'irtual  masters  of  the  whole  seaborde  and  low- 
lands of  Ceylon,  their  European  rivals  extruded,  and 
their  dangerous  ally  at  Kandy  enclosed  witliin  the  zone 
of  his  own  impenetrable  mountains,  the  Dutch  applied 
themselves  dehberately  to  extract  the  utmost  possible 
amount  of  profit  from  their  \'ictoiy.  Their  career 
throughout  the  period  of  their  dominion  in  the  island, 
exhibits  a  marked  contrast  to  that  of  the  Portuguese ;  it 
was  characterised  by  no  lust  for  conquest,  and  unstained 
by  acts  of  remorseless  cruelty  to  the  Singhalese.^ 

The  fimatical  zeal  of  the  Eoman  Catholic  sovereims 
for  the  propagation  of  the  faith,  was  replaced  by  the 
earnest  toil  of  the  Dutch  traders  to  entrench  their  tradinsr 
monopohes ;    and    the    almost   cliivakous    energy   with 


1  Valextyn,  cli.  xii.  p.  146. 

^  EiBEYHO  says  that  Raja  Singlia, 
to  mark  his  quan-el  with  the  Dutch, 
invited  the  Portuguese  who  remained 
in  the  island  to  establish  themselves 
within  his  dominions,  and  they 
availed  themselves  of  tliis  encom-age- 
ment  to  such  an  extent,  that  up- 
wards of  seven  hundred  families 
settled  at  Ruanwelle  with  their 
priests  and  secular  clergy, — Liv.  iii. 
eh.  ii.  p.  •j-'A. 

^  Bald.eus,  who  accompanied  the 
Dutch  aiTuy  to  the  assault  on  Jaffna, 
gives  a  personal  nan-ative  of  this  in- 
teresting march.  (Ch.  xliv.  p.  716.) 


*  "V\Tien  the  English  took  Colombo 
in  1706,  they  foimd  a  rack  and  wheel, 
and  other  implements  of  torture ; 
but  these,  it  was  explained,  had  been 
used  only  for  criminals  and  slaves. 
(Percival's  Ceylon,  p.  124.)  Wolf, 
in  his  account  of  liis  residence  in 
Ceylon,  says,  that  "  criminals  were 
not  broken  on  the  wheel  by  the 
Dutch  as  in  Germany  ;  but  instead 
of  that,  the  practice  was  to  break 
their  thighs  with  an  iron  club.  The 
generality  of  criminals  were  hanged 
on  gallows,  but  sometimes  they  were 
put  into  a  sack  and  thi'o-\vn  into  the 
sea." — Life,  ^-c,  p.  272. 


Chap.  H.]         FIXAL   EXPULSION    OF   THE    PORTUGUESE. 


47 


wliich  the  soldiers  of  Portugal  resented  and  resisted 
the  attacks  of  the  native  princes,  was  exchanged  for 
tlie  subdued  humbleness  with  which  the  merchants  of 
Holland  endured  the  insults  and  outrages  perpetrated 
by  the  tyrants  of  Kandy  upon  their  envoys  and  officers. 
The  maintenance  of  peace  was  so  essential  to  the  ex- 
tension of  commerce,  that  no  provocation,  however 
gross,  was  sufficient  to  rouse  them  to  retahation,  pro- 
vided the  offence  was  individual  or  local,  and  did  not 
interrupt  the  routine  of  business  at  their  factories  on  the 
coast.  ^ 

The  unworthiness  of  such  a  policy  was  perceptible 
even  to  the  instincts  of  the  barl^arians  with  whom  they 
had  to  deal ;  and  Eaja  Singha  11. ,  by  the  arrogance  and 
contempt  of  his  demeanour  and  intercourse,  attested  the 
scorn  with  which  he  endured  the  presence  of  the  faithless 
intruders,  whom  he  was  powerless  to  expel. 

He  disregarded  all  engagements,  violated  all  treaties, 
laid  waste   the  Dutch  territory,  and  put  their  subjects 


A.D. 

1G58. 


^  Valentyn,  ch.  xvii.  p.  177.  In 
the  instructions  wliich  Hen-  Von 
Cioens  left  for  his  successor  on  retir- 
ing from  the  Government  of  Ceylon 
in  IGGl,  the  leading  injunction  was 
to  humour  Raja  Singha  to  the  ut- 
most, to  do  him  all  honour,  and  rather 
to  endm'e  offences  committed  by  him 
than  to  resort  to  retaliation ;  at  the 
same  time  to  watch  and  distrust  him. 
"  Men  moet  ook  in  alle  manieren 
betragten  om  Raga  Singha  geen 
redenen  van  misnoegen  te  geven ; 
maar  veel  liever  hem  caresseeren 
hem  veel  eerbied  bewyzon,  en  liever 
wat  ongelyk  van  hem  lyden  dan  hem 
diit  aandoen  ;  dog  ondertusschen  hem 
ook  nergeus  in  betrouwen  en  op  hem 
wel  naeuwletten."  (Ch.  ix.  p.  148.) 
See  also  Roggenwein's  Voyage, 
Harris's  Coll.,  vol.  i.  p.  290. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  post- 
ponement of  national  honour  to  com- 
mercial advantiiges  was  not  confined 
to   the  subjects  of  Holland  in   the 


East,  and  the  observance  of  the  same 
humiliating  policy  is  to  be  foimd,  on 
a  still  gi'eater  scale,  in  the  early  inter- 
com-se  of  the  British  East  India 
Company  with  the  Emperor  of  Delhi. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  records  of 
the  Dutch  more  disgTacefid  tlian 
these  official  documents  of  the  En- 
glish in  India,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  last  century,  wlio,  in  the  name  of 
"  (jod,"  laid  at  the  feet  of  the  Great 
Mogul  "  the  supplication  of  the  Go- 
vernor of  lienijat,  tchose  forehead  is 
hisfoofiifool;"  setting  out  that  "the 
Enylifhmen  tradiny  to  Benyal  are 
his  Majesty's  slaves,  always  intent  on 
doiny  his  commands,  and  having' 
readily  obeyed  his  most  sacred  orders, 
have  thereby  found  favour'''' — and  they 
"  craA"e  as  his  servants  a  finnan  for 
trade  and  protection  to  follow  their 
business  without  molestation." — Let~ 
ter  of  Governor  Rit^sdl,  loth  Septem- 
ber/1712. 


48 


MODERX   HISTORY. 


[Part  VI. 


A.D. 

1658. 


to  the  sword;  yet,  in  spite  of  these  atrocities,  they 
addressed  him  with  adulation  \  whilst  he  rephed  with 
studied  contumely;  and  they  persisted  in  sending  liim 
embassies  and  presents,  although  he  repelled  their  ad- 
vances, and  imprisoned,  and  even  executed,  their  am- 
bassadors.^ 


^  "  The  Dutch  knowing  his  proud 
spirit,  make  their  advantage  of  it  by 
flattering  him  with  their  ambassadors, 
telling  him  that  they  are  his  majes- 
ties humble  subjects  and  servants, 
and  that  it  is  out  of  their  loyalty  to 
him  that  they  build  forts  and  keep 
watches  roimd  about  his  coimtiy  to 
prevent  foreign  nations  and  enemies 
from  coming ;  and  that  as  they  are 
thus  employed  in  his  majesties  ser- 
vice, so  it  is  for  sustenance  which 
they  want  that  occasioned  their 
coming  up  into  his  majesties  country. 
And  thus  by  flattering  him  and  as- 
cribing to  him  high  and  honorable 
titles,  which  are  things  he  greatly 
delights  in,  sometimes  they  prevail 
to  have  the  countiy  and  he  to  have 
the  honor." — Ivxox,  pt.  ii.  ch.  ii.  p.  39. 
See  also  pt.  iv.  ch.  xiii.  p.  179. 

2  Yalexttx,  ch.  xiii.  p.  178,  ch. 
xiv.  p.  200,  ch.  XV.  p.  283.  The 
presents  usually  selected  included 
some  rather  curious  articles.  Besides 
horses  and  their  caparison  of  velvet 
and  gold,  the  Dutch  sent,  in  1679, 
ten  hawks,  each  attended  by  a 
Malabai'  slave,  six  civets  can-ied 
in  cages,  six  game-cocks  from 
Tuttocoiyn,  two  Persian  sheep,  a 
stem  of  sandal  wood,  and  a  case  of 
wine.  The  escort  which  delivered 
these  with  great  pomp  at  Ruanwelle, 
were  so  beaten  by  the  king's  messen- 
gers who  received  them,  that  they 
barely  escaped  with  their  lives. 
(\^ALENTYX,  ch.  XV.  p.  302.)  Two 
yeare  before,  the  Dutch  Governor  j 
h.id  sent  a  present  of  a  lion  to  Raja 
Singha,  with  some  canting  compli- 
ment on  80  suitable  an  ofiering  ;  but  j 
the  king  refused  the  gift,  and  put 
the  messenger  under  restraint.  The  j 
officer,  maddened  by  his  long  de-  I 
tention,  attempted  to  approach  the  | 
king  to   entreat  his   dismissal;   but  I 


the  guards  were  ordered  to  detain 
him  where  he  stood,  and  he  waa 
compelled  to  remain  for  three  days 
upon  the  spot,  "  and  what  became  of 
him  aftei'tt'ards,"  says  Valexttx, 
"we  never  leai-ned."  (Ch.  xv.  p.  2-K3.) 
He  was  still  alive  at  Kandy  when 
Knox  fled  in  1697.  Raja  Singha 
had  a  passion  for  hawking,  and 
turned  the  subser\ieucy  of  the 
Hollanders  to  account  in  gratifying 
his  taste.  I  have  a  curious  MS. 
letter  written  by  him  in  Portuguese 
from  Badidla,  6th  August,  1652, 
and  addressed  To  the  Governor 
Jacob  Von  Kittenstein,  residing  in 
my  Fortress  of  Galle  as  my  loyal 
vassal.  It  alludes  to  the  amval  of 
presents  which  he  had  not  yet  deigned 
to  look  at,  and  continues  thus  :  "  I 
brought  up  a  hawk  with  gi-eat  love 
and  tenderness,  and  taking  him  vrith. 
me  one  day  to  the  chase  I  gave  him 
vnng,  and  he  disappeai-ed  for  ever. 
I  think  it  reasonable  that  I  shoidd 
wi'ite  to  you  about  these  things  that 
are  to  my  taste,  and  when  you  are 
informed  of  them  you  are  bomid  to 
give  effect  to  my  wishes.  If  it 
should  be,  therefore,  in  your  power 
to  procm-e  for  me  some  good  hawks, 
as  well  as  other  birds  of  prey  that 
hunt  well,  and  other  mattera  per- 
taining to  the  chase,  please  to  send 
them  as  presents  to  me."  Another 
of  the  king's  wealmesses,  was  an 
extraordinaiy  style  of  dress  quite 
peculiar  to  himself,  including  mos- 
quito drawers,  and  a  cap  with  a 
quantity  of  feathers.  These  caps 
were  amongst  the  presents  sent  by 
the  Dutch,  and  so  decorated,  ^'a- 
LENTTX  says,  that  he  looked  rather 
like  a  buffoon  than  a  king :  "  en  zoo 
wonderlyk  van  kleederen  en  toetake- 
ling  in  z^Ti  leveu,  dat  hy  veel  beter 
een    ouden     Portuguees    met    zyn 


Chap.  H.] 


REVOLT   AT   IL\NDY. 


49 


When,  after  twenty  years  of  captivity,  Knox  made  a.d. 
his  escape  from  Kancly  in  1679,  Eaja  Singha  held  in  de-  l^^*^- 
tention  or  imprisonment  upwards  of  fifty  subjects  of  the 
Netherlands ;  including  five  with  the  rank  of  ambas- 
sador, besides  a  number  of  French  and  English,  whose 
hberation  Sir  Edward  Winter  had  in  vain  soUcited  by  a 
mission  from  Madras  fifteen  years  before.^ 

Unable,  from  his  defective  mihtary  resources,  to  direct 
any  decisive  measures  against  his  enemies  in  the  low 
country,  the  fury  of  the  tyi'ant  expended  itself  in  savage 
excesses  against  his  own  subjects  in  the  hills, — putting 
to  death  with  remorseless  cruelty  the  famihes  and  con- 
nections of  all  whom  he  suspected  of  disaffection  or  of 
intercoiurse  with  the  Dutch.^  At  length,  the  hniit  of 
endurance  being  passed,  the  Kandyans  attempted  a  a.d. 
revolt  in  1GG4.  Having  forced  the  emperor  to  fly  to  ■^'^^"*' 
the  mountains,  they  proclaimed  his  son,  a  boy  of  twelve 
years  old,  his  successor.     But  the  child  fled  in  terror  to 


miskiten-of  inuggen-broek,   en   een 
liof-nar,  met  zyn  muts  vol  plujTiien 


RAJA  Sli>;GHA.  — FBOM  KNOX. 

clan  wel  een  keizer  geleek." —  Cb. 
XV.  p.  200,  ch.  iii.  p.  45.  It  is  an- 
other coincidence  (if  anything  were 
wanting)  to  attest  tlie  'truthfulness 
of  Knox's  Relation  of  Ceylon,  that 
the  portrait  which  he  gives  of  the 
VOL.  n. 


king  includes  the  feathered  cap 
spoken  of  by  the  Dutch  Governor. 

1  Knox's  Relation,  ^-c,  pt.  iv.  ch. 
xiii.  p.  180.  In  1680,  two  English 
sailors  reached  Colombo,  who  twenty-- 
two  years  befoi-e  had  been  seized  at 
Calpentyn,  where  they  had  landed 
for  fresh  water. — Valenttn,  ch.  xv. 
p.  302. 

*  "  Ilis  cruelty  appears  both  in 
the  tortiu'es  and  painful  deaths  he 
inflicts,  and  in  tlie  extent  of  his 
punishments,  viz.,  upon  whole 
families  for  the  miscarriage  of  one 
of  them.  And  this  is  done  by  cut- 
ting and  pulling  away  their  tlesh  by 
pincers,  burning  tliem  with  hot  irons  ; 
sometimes  be  commands  to  hang 
their  two  bands  about  their  necks, 
and  to  make  them  eat  their  oa^ti 
flesh,  and  mothers  to  eat  of  their 
own  chikh-en  ;  and  so  to  lead  them 
througli  the  city  in  public  view, 
to  terrify  all,  unto  the  place  of  execu- 
tion, the  dogs  following  to  eat  them. 
For  the  dogs  are  so  accustomed  to 
it  that  they,  seeing  a  prisoner  led 
away,  ft)llow  after." — Knox,  pt.  ii. 
ch.  ii.  p.  39. 


50 


MODERN   HISTORY. 


[Part  VI. 


A.D. 

1G64. 


his  fatlier  ;  and  the  rebels,  unprepared  for  such  a  result, 
dispersed  in  confusion.  Eaja  Singha,  to  prevent  a  re- 
currence of  the  treason,  caused  his  son  to  be  poisoned  \ 
and  for  some  years  after  this  abortive  rebellion,  the 
Dutch  in  the  low  country  were  comparatively  free 
from  his  assaults  and  excesses. 

Diuring  the  period  which  followed  then-  capture  of 
Colombo,  —  a  period  neither  of  war  nor  of  absolute 
peace,  but  involving  the  expenditure  of  the  one  without 
purchasing  the  security  of  the  other, — the  mihtary  pohcy 
of  the  Dutch  had  been  purely  precautionary  and  de- 
fensive. Ceylon  was  guarded  as  the  gem  of  the  country, 
"  een  kostelyk  juweel  van  compagnies,'"  ^  every  maritime 
position  was  strengthened,  and  fortifications  were  either 
constructed  or  enlarged  at  Matura,  Galle,  Colombo,  Ne- 
gombo,  Chilaw,  and  Jafiiia.  Batticaloa  and  Trincomahe 
were  abandoned,  not  only  from  the  want  of  troops  to 
protect  the  east  coast  of  the  island,  but  from  the  equally 
prudential  consideration  that  cinnamon  was  only  to  be 
had  on  the  Avest.  There  every  preparation  was  made  for 
defence  ;  ammunition  was  largely  stored,  each  garrison 
was  provisioned  for  a  year,  and,  in  addition  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  sea,  the  inland  waters  were  rendered 
navigable  at  various  points  on  the  west  coast  between 
Bentotte  and  JSTegombo,  and  boats  were  placed  on  the 
Kalany  Ganga  to  maintain  a  communication  by  the  river 
from  the  confines  of  the  Kandj^an  kingdom. 

Thus  prepared  for  any  sudden  attack,  trade  at  Galle 
and  Colombo  was  carried  on  with  confidence  ;  and,  in 
addition  to  shipments  to  Europe,  vessels  from  all  parts 
of  the  East,  from  Mocha,  Persia,  India,  and  the  Moluccas, 
were  laden  with  the  produce  of  Ceylon ;  but  only  at 
the  government  stores ;  trade  in  private  hands,  either  in 
exports  or  imports,  being  rigidly  prohibited.^ 


1  Knox,  pt.  ii.  ch.  vi.  p.  08  ;  A"a- 

LENTYN,  cil.  xiv.  p.  108. 

2  Valentyn,  ch.  xii.  p.  148. 


^  Towards  the  close  of  the  Dutch 
Government  in  Ceylon,  tliis  mono- 
poly of  ti-ade  was  partially  opened, 


Chap.  II.] 


DUTCH   TRADE. 


51 


The  kings  of  Cotta,  in  order  to  procure  supplies  of  a.d. 
cinnamon  for  the  Portuguese,  had  organised  the  great  ^^^^^• 
estabhshment  of  the  Mahahadde^  under  which  the  tribe 
of  Chahas  were  bound,  in  consideration  of  their  location 
in  villages,  and  the  protection  of  their  lands,  to  go  into 
the  forest  to  cut  and  deliver  at  certain  prices  a  given 
quantity  of  cinnamon,  properly  peeled  and  ready  for 
exportation.'  This  system  remained  unaltered  so  long 
as  Portugal  was  master  of  the  country ;  and  the  Dutch, 
on  obtaining  possession  of  the  ports,  not  only  continued 
the  collection  in  the  hills  by  special  permission  of  the 
Emperor  of  Kandy,  but  sought  earnestly  to  encourage 
tlie  growth  of  the  spice  in  the  lowlands  surrounding 
their  fortresses  from  Matura  to  Chilaw.  In  the  latter 
chstrict  especially,  the  quality  proved  to  be  so  fine,  tliat 
in  1663,  the  cinnamon  of  Negombo  was  esteemed  "  the 
very  best  in  the  universe^  as  well  as  the  most  abundant."'^ 
But  the  woods  in  which  it  was  found  were  exposed  to 
perpetual  incursions  from  the  Kandyans,  and  the  obstruc- 
tion of  the  Chalias  and  peelers  was  a  favomite  device  of 
the  emperors  to  annoy  and  harass  the  Dutch.  Hence 
the  cost  of  maintaining  an  army  to  guard  the  cinnamon 
country  was  so  great  as  to  render  it  doubtfid  whether 
the  trade  so  conducted  was  worth  the  expense  of  its 
protection.  Towards  the  close  'of  their  career,  the 
company  were  compelled  to  form  enclosed  plantations 
of  their  own,  within  range  of  their  fortresses  ;  and  here, 
so  jealous  and  despotic  was  their  pohcy,  that  the  peeling 


and  foreign  ships  were  allowed  to 
import  rice  and  a  few  other  imini- 
piirtiint  articles. 

*  The  term  Ilahihaddc,  ''the 
fiTcat  trade  or  industry,"  which  was 
first  applied  in  the  time  of  the  Portii- 
fj-iiese,  IS  expressive  of  the  high  value 
which  they  attached  to  the  ohject. 
The  "  Captain  of  the  Mahahaihle,'"' 
a  title  invented  hy  them,  was  origi- 
nally a  high  caste  Headman  placed 
over    the    whole     department,    the 


officers  and  component  body  of 
which  were  low  caste.  The  code  of 
instructions  mider  which  the  whole 
was  managed  in  the  time  of  the 
Dutch,  will  be  foimd  in  "\'.\lkntyx, 
ch.  XV.  p.  31G. 

^  "  iVlwaar  de  allerbcste  cancel 
pToeid  van  den  geheelen  bekenden 
aardbodem  ;  oolc  en  zeer  gToote  quiin- 
titeit."  —  Memoir  of  Van  Crocus. 
Valentyn,  ch.  xiii.  p.  100. 


E   2 


52  MODERN   HISTORY.  [Part  VF. 

A.D.  of  cinnamon,  tlie  selling  or  exporting  of  a  single  stick, 
except  by  the  servants  of  the  government,  or  even  the 
wilful  injury  of  a  cinnamon  plant,  were  crimes  punishable 
■with  death. ^ 

Elephants. — ^Next  to  cinnamon,  elephants  were,  in  the 
estimation  of  the  Dutch,  the  most  important  of  their 
exports.  The  chief  hunting  grounds  were  the  Wanny  in 
the  north,  and  the  forests  around  Matiura,  in  the  south 
of  the  island.  Those  captured  in  the  latter  were  shipped 
at  Galle  for  the  east  coast  of  India,  and  those  taken  in 
the  Wanny  were  embarked  at  Manaar  for  the  west. 
But  the  trade  in  these  animals  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  ever  productive  of  any  considerable  gain,  and  latterly 
it  involved  an  annual  loss." 

Areca  Nuts. — A  thkd  article  of  export  which  the 
Dutcli  guarded  witli  marked  attention  was  the  fruit  of 
the  Areca  pahu,  tlie  nuts  of  which  were  shipped  in  large 
quantities  to  India,  to  be  used  by  the  natives  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  leaf  of  the  betel  vine  ;  and  the  story  of  the 
trade  in  this  commodity  is  singularly  illustrative  of  the 
pohcy  adopted  by  the  Dutch  to  crush  their  commercial 
rivals.  On  the  capture  of  Ceylon  a  large  portion  of 
the  active  trade  of  the  island  was  in  the  hands  of 
the  energetic  Moors,  who  not  only  maintamed  a  brisk 
intercourse  by  sea  with  the  ports  on  the  opposite  coast, 
but  also,  by  \irtue  of  tlieir  neutrahty,  were  enabled  to 


1    By  tlie  Dutcli  laws   every  tree  were   under  obligation    to    produce 

of  ciunamon  which  gi-ew  by  chance  !  annually   thirty-four     elephants,    of 

in  the  gi-ound  of  an  individual  be-  which   foiu'   were    to  have   tusks  — 

came  "  immediately  the  property  of  Ibid.,  ch.  xii.  p.  133  :  find  at  a  later 

the  state,  and   was   put   imder    the  i  period,  A. D.  1707,  one  of  the  insti'uc- 

law  of  the  Chalias,  who  may  enter  ;  tions  of  the  Dissaves  was  to  bribe  the 

the  garden  to  peel  it.      If  the  pro-  j  people   of  the    emperor   secretly   to 

prietor  destroys  the  tree  or  otherwise  ,  drive  down  tusked  elephants  across 

disposes  of  it,  the  punishment  is,  I  |  the  Kandyan    fi-ontiers  towards  the 

believe,   capital." — Private   letter  of  i  company's  hunting  gxoimds.     (Ibid., 

Mr.  North  to  the  Earl  of  3Iorninq-  j  ch.  xv.  p.  310.)     The  total  number 

ton,  22nd  Oct.  1798  ;  WeUesley  MSS.  '  exported  in  1740  was  about  100  ele- 

Brit.  jNIus.  No.  13,8(35,  p.  57.  t  phants.     (See  the   Iteport   of  Baron 

'^  Valenttn,  ch.  XV.  p.  272.     This  '  Imhoff  in  the   Appendix   to    Lee's 

was  owing  chiefly  to  the  scarcity  of  Riher/ro,  p.  170 ;  Buknand's  Memoir, 

ivory.      The    headmen    of    Matura  '  Asiat.  Journ.,  vol.  xii.  p.  5.) 


Chap.  II.] 


DUTCH   TKADE. 


53 


penetrate  to  tlie  dominions  of  tlie  emperor,  carrying  a.d. 
up  commodities  from  the  low  coimtiy  for  the  supply  1^64. 
of  the  Kandyans.  The  Portuguese  offered  no  opposition 
to  this  proceeding,  and  when  freed  from  apprehension 
of  the  Moors  as  military  aUies  of  the  enemy,  they  were 
utterly  indifferent  to  their  operations  as  dealers.  Not 
so  the  Dutch,  with  whom  commerce  was  more  an  object 
tlian  conquest ;  and  not  content  with  having  secured 
to  themselves  a  rigid  monopoly  of  all  the  great  branches 
of  trade,  they  evinced  a  narrow-minded  impatience  of 
the  humble  industry  carried  on  by  the  enterprising 
Moors. 

Among  the  principal  articles  protected,  were  the 
nuts  of  the  areca,  which,  at  the  time  when  the  Dutch 
took  possession  of  Galle,  the  Moors  were  in  the  habit 
of  collecting  in  the  interior  of  the  island,  to  be  ex- 
changed on  the  coast  for  cotton  cloths,  to  be  sold 
at  a  profit  to  the  Kandyans  and  Singhalese.  This 
traffic  the  Dutch  resolved  to  stop,  not  from  any  design 
to  profit  by  it  themselves,  but  with  the  determination, 
even  with  the  anticipation  of  a  loss,  to  extinguish  the 
commerce  of  the  Moors,  whose  name  is  seldom  in- 
troduced into  thefr  official  documents  without  epithets 
of  abhorrence.^ 


^  Ryklof  Van  Goens,  tlie  Gover- 
nor of  Ceylon,  in  the  Memoir  whicli 
he  left  in  1G75  for  the  guidance  of 
his  successor,  describes  the  ]\Ioors  a,s 
a  detested  race,  the  offspring  of 
Malabar  outcasts  converted  to  Islam 
by  the  Mahometans  of  ]3assora  and 
Mocha,  and  vrhose  appearance  in  the 
Ceylon  seas  was  first  as  pirates,  and 
then  as  pedlars.  (Valknttn,  ch. 
XV.  p.  140.)  Every  expedient  was 
adopted  to  crush  them;  their  trade 
was  discouraged  —  tliey  were  forbid- 
den to  hold  land  in  the  coimtiy  (Ibid., 
ch.  xii.  p.  148),  and  prohibited  from 
establishing  thenisehes  in  the  forti- 
fied towns  (Ibid.,  ch.  xiii.  p.  IGG), 
a  small  number  only  been  per- 
mitted   to    reside    at    Colombo    as 


tailors.  (Ibid.,  ch.  xiii.  p.  174.)  The 
celebration  of  their  worship  was  in- 
terdicted (Ibid.,  p.  128)  ;  they  were 
subjected  to  a  poll  tax  ;  they  were 
obliged  once  a  year  to  sue  out  a 
licence  for  pennission  to  live  in  the 
villages  (Ibid.,  p.  174) ;  and,  at  death, 
one  third  of  their  property  was  for- 
feited to  the  Go^•ernme^t.  (Ibid.,  p. 
174.)  But  all  these  devices  of 
tyi-anny  were  misuccessful  ;  the  en- 
durance and  enterprise  of  the  Moois 
were  not  to  be  exhausted,  .and  at 
length  the  Dutch  were  compelled  to 
admit  that  every  effort  to  "  extirpate 
these  weeds,"  "  onkruiil  te  zuiveren,'' 
had  only  tended  to  increase  their 
numbers  and  energy.  —  Valeistyx, 
ch.  xvi.  p.  409. 


E  3 


54 


MODERN   HISTORY. 


[Part  VI. 


A.D. 

1G64. 


To  effect  their  object  the  Dutch  conceived  the  plan  of 
purchasing  arrack,  on  Government  account,  sending  it  to 
Sui^at  and  Coromandel,  and  there  exchanging  it  for  cloth 
with  which  to  under-scU  the  Moors. ^  But  the  scheme 
was  not  successful,  and  they  adopted  the  bolder  com'se 
of  taking;  the  arecas  into  their  own  hands  as  a  Govern- 
ment  monopoly,  and  prohibiting  the  import  of  cloths 
by  the  Moors  except  on  condition  that  they  disposed  of 
them  wholesale  to  the  bm'ghers,  by  whom  alone  they 
were  to  be  afterwards  retailed  to  the  natives.^  Further 
to  ensure  their  discom^agement,  the  Government  resorted 
to  the  singular  expedient  of  imposing  differential 
custom  duties  upon  goods  according  to  the  religion  of 
the  importer.  The  tax  on  cloth  entered  by  Mahometans 
was  raised  to  double  that  imposed  upon  cloth  imported 
by  Christians,  and  other  articles  which  Christians 
imported  free,  were  taxed  five  per  cent,  if  brought  in 
by  Moors.^  But,  notwithstanding  every  device,  this 
patient  and  intelhgent  class  persevered  in  their  pursuit, 
and  continue  to  the  present  day,  as  they  did  tlirough- 
out  the  entu'e  period  of  the  Dutch  ascendency,  to  en- 
gross a  large  share  of  the  internal  trade  of  the  island ; 
bringing  down  to  the  coast  the  produce  of  the  hills  in 
exchange  for  manufactm^ed  articles,  introduced  from 
the  Indian  continent.  At  first,  the  areca  monopoly, 
under  the  management  of  the  Government,  u^as  com- 
paratively unprofitable,  but  by  degrees  it  became  lucra- 
tive, and,  in  1CG4,  it  was  described  as  "extremely 
productive."  ^ 

The  other  productions  which  constituted  the  exports 
of  the  island  were  sapan-wood  ^,  to  Persia ;  and  clioya- 
roots  ^,  a  substitute  for  madder,  collected  at  Manaar  and 


^  Valextyn,  ell.  xii.  p.  134. 
^  lJ)id.,  eh.  xiii.  p.  173. 
3  11)1(1,  ch.  xiii.  p.  174. 
*  Ihid.,  ch.  xiv.  p.  105. 
^  Casidpinia  Sappan.      This   dye- 
wood   was   chiefly  obtained    in    the 


woods  around  Colombo  and  Galle ; 
but  in  1G(j4,  so  recklessly  had  the 
trees  been  cut,  tliat  there  was  none 
to  be  procured  at  the  latter  place. — 
Yalenttn,  ch.  xiv.  p.  194. 
^  Oldenlandia  umbellata,  Lin. 


CliAP.   II.] 


DUTCH   TEADE. 


55 


other  places  on  the  north-west  coast  of  the  island,  for    a.d. 
transmission  to  Siu'at.^  IQG4:. 

Cinnamon-oil,  pepper  and  cardamoms  were  sent  to 
Amsterdam  ;  timber  and  arrack  to  Batavia ;  and  jaggery 
(the  black  sugar  extracted  from  the  Palmyra  and 
Kitool  palm  trees)  to  Malabar  and  Coromandel.'-^  The 
cultivation  of  mdigo  was  imsuccessfLilly  attempted 
in  the  Seven  Corles,  in  1646  ^  ;  and  some  years  later 
silk  was  tried,  but  with  no  satisfactory  result,  at  Jaff- 
napatam.^ 

Very  few  of  the  articles  which  form  at  the  present 
day  the  staple  exports  of  Ceylon  appear  in  the  com- 
mercial reports  of  the  Dutch  Governors.  As  to  coffee, 
although  the  plant  had  existed  from  time  immemorial 
on  the  island  (having  probably  been  introduced  from 
Mocha  by  the  Arabs),  the  natives  were  ignorant  of  the 
value  of  its  berries,  and  only  used  its  leaves  to  flavour 
their  ciu-ries,  and  its  flowers  to  decorate  their  temples. 
It  Avas  not  till  nearly  a  century  after  the  arrival  of 
the  Dutch  that  one  of  their  Governors  attempted  to 
cultivate  it  as  a  commercial  speculation ;  but,  at  the 
point  when  success  was  demonstrable,  the  project 
was  discountenanced  by  the  Government  of  Holland, 
with  a  view  to  sustain  the  monopoly  of  Java  ;  —  as  the 
growth  of  pepper  had  been  discouraged  some  years 
before,  to  avoid  interference  with  its  collection  in  Ma- 
labar.^    Cotton   grew   well   in   the   Wanny,  but  as   the 


^  Choya  has  long  since  ceased  to 
he  collected  in  Ceylon.  It  is  too 
bulky  an  article  to  be  carried  pro- 
fitably to  Europe,  and  there  is  no 
pui-pose  to  wliicli  it  is  applicable  that 
cannot  be  more  cheaply  accomplished 
bv  madder.  (Bancroft  on  Permanent 
Colours,  vol.  ii.  p.  282.)  The  Dutch 
required  the  delivery  of  a  given 
quantity  of  choya  as  a  ti-ibute  from 
the  Singhale.se  of  the  coast. 

*  Valentyn,  ch.  xiii.  p.  174. 

^  Ihid.,  ch.  xii.  p.  134. 


*  In  1664,  VALEifTYif,  ch.  xiii.  p. 
173,  ch.  xiv.  p.  194. 

^  See  the  liepoii  of  Governor 
Schreuder,  Appendix  to  Lee's  Ri- 
beyro,  p.  192-3.  M.  Btirxaxd,  iu 
his  3Ie>noir,  says,  "  Coffee  succeeded 
very  well  in  the  western  parts  of  the 
island.  It  was  superior  in  quality  to 
the  coffee  of  Java,  and  approached 
near  to  that  of  Arabia,  whence  the 
first  coffee  plants  came."  —  Asiat, 
Journ,  vol.  xii.  p.  444. 


E  4 


56 


MODERN   HISTORY. 


[Part  YI. 


A.D. 

1GG4. 


people  did  not  know  how  to  spin  it,  the  crop  w^as 
neglected.^ 

In  adchtion  to  their  ordinary  trading  operations,  the 
Dutch  had  certain  monopohes  which  served  to  reahse 
a  revenue.  They  farmed  the  collection  of  salt  at  the 
leways  and  lagoons  on  both  sides  of  the  island;  the 
fishery  of  chank  shells  ^  Avas  conducted  for  them  at  a 
profit  in  the  Gulf  of  Manaar ;  but  the  pearl-fishery  at 
Aripo,  though  perseveringly  tended,  was  seldom  produc- 
tive of  remunerative  results.^  Gems  being  prociurable 
only  within  the  territories  of  the  Kandyan  emperor, 
contributed  nothing  to  the  trade  or  resom^ces  of  Hol- 
land. Besides  these  sources  of  income,  there  were 
taxes  suited  to  the  habits  of  the  native  population :  a 
poll  tax  payable  in  articles  of  various  kinds,  such  as 
iron  ore  and  jaggery  ;  a  land  tax  assessed  on  produce  ;  a 
tithe  on  coco-nut  gardens ;  a  hcence  for  fishermen's 
boats,  besides  a  fish  tax  on  the  capture ;  the  proceeds 
of  ferries ;  and  an  infinity  of  minor  items  collected  by 
the  native  headmen  and  theii  subordinates. 

The  intervention  of  the  latter  officers  was  indispens- 
able in  a  state  of  things  under  which  no  European  could 
five  secm^ely  beyond  the  hmits  of  the  garrisoned  towns. 
The  pohcy  of  concihating  the  native  chiefs  was  there- 
fore transmitted  by  each  Governor  to  his  successor,  with 
injmictions  to  encoiurage  and  caress  the  headmen ;  they 
were  to  be  "  nom^ished  with  hopes,"  and  their  attach- 
ment   secured   by  gratifying   their   ambition    for    titles 


1  Valextyn,  cli.  xiii.  p.  173;  Bxje- 
nand's  Mem.,  Asiat.  Journ.,  vol.  xii. 
p.  445. 

There  is  a  very  succinct  but  veiy 
unfavourable  account  of  the  Dutch 
system  of  trade  and  finance  as  it 
e'xisted  in  Ceylon,  given  by  Lord 
Valentia  in  his  Travels,  vol.  i.  ch. 
vi.  p.  309.  It  may  be  regarded 
as  prettv'  coii-ect,  as  the  infonnation 
conveyed  in  it  was  furnished  by  Mr. 
Noi-tli,  the  British  Governor,  in  1804 ; 
■who  had  previously  examined  the 
Dutch  records  witli  close  attention. 


2   Turhinella  rapa. 

^  "  It  is  a  matter  for  reflection," 
says  Baron  Imhoff  in  1740,  ''whe- 
ther the  Company  derives  any  ad- 
vantage whatever  from  the  fisheiy  of 
pearls,  and  whether  tlie  whole  affair 
is  not  rather  (/lifter  than  ;/olcl." — Ap- 
pemlix  to  Lee's  Hibci/ro,  p.  247. 
Valextyn  tries  to  account  for  this 
by  saying,  that  the  pearls  of  the 
Gulf  of  Manaar  were  inferior  both  in 
lustre  and  whiteness  to  those  of 
Ormus  and  Bahrein. — Oticl  en  Nieuio 
Ood-Lulien,  ch.  ii.  p.  34. 


ClIAP.   II.] 


DUTCH   POLICY. 


67 


and  rank.^  Tlie  "Instructions"  extant  in  1661,  cle-  a.d. 
fining  the  functions  and  the  powers  of  the  Dissave  of 
the  western  province,  inchide  every  fiuiction  of  Go- 
vernment, and  show  the  absolute  dependency  of  the 
Dutch  on  the  personal  influence  of  these  exalted  chiefs. 
To  them  was  entrusted  the  charge  of  the  thombo,  or 
registry  of  crown  lands,  their  sale  and  management ; 
the  assessment  and  le\y  of  taxes  ;  the  superintendence 
of  education ;  the  decision  of  civil  cases,  the  arrest  and 
punishment  of  criminals ;  and,  in  short,  the  detailed 
executive  of  the  Civil  government  in  peace,  and  the 
commissariat  and  clothing  of  the  army  in  time  of  war.^ 

Throughout  all  the  records  wliich  the  Dutch  have  left 
us  of  their  policy  in  Ceylon,  it  is  painfully  observable 
that  no  disinterested  concern  is  manifested,  and  no 
measures  directed  for  the  elevation  and  happiness  of  the 
native  population  ^  ;  and  even  where  care  is  sho^vn  to 
have  been  bestowed  upon  the  spread  of  education  and 
rehgion,  motives  are  apparent,  either  latent  or  avowed, 
which  detract  from  the  grace  and  generosity  of  the  act. 
Thus  schools  were  freely  estabhshed,  but  the  avowed 
object  was  to  wean  the  young  Singhalese  from  their 
allegiance  to  the  emperor,  and  the  better  to  impress 
them  with  the  power  and  ascendency  of  Holland.^ 
Churches  were  built  because  the  extension  of  the  Pro- 
testant faith  was  likely  to  counteract  the  influence  of 
the   Portuguese   Eoman  CathoHcs  ^    and   the  spread  of 


'  Vaientyn,  ch.  XV.  p.  151. 

^  See  the  Code  of  Instructions  for 
the  Dissaves,  a.d.  1661.  Valentyn, 
ch.  xi.  p.  151.  A  succinct  accoimt 
of  the  native  headmen  and  their 
functions,  civil  and  military,  will  be 
foimd  in  Cordinek's  Ceylon,  ch.  i. 
p.  18. 

*  Aji  able  memoir,  on  the  policy 
of  the  Dutch  in  Ceylon,  will  be 
found  in  the  Asiatic  Journal  iov  1821, 
p.  444,  written  by  M.  BiiRNAJfD,  a 
Swiss  who  had  been  member  of  the 
last  Land-raad  or  Provincial  Coun- 
cil, and  who  remained  in  the  island 


after  the  Dutch  had  been  expelled 
by  the  English.  The  gTeat  featiu-e 
of  their  rule,  he  says,  was  the  "  utter 
neglect  of  the  country  and  its  inter- 
ests, owing  to  the  selfishness,  ego- 
tism, folly,  and  want  of  energy,  of 
the  general  government." —  Vol.  xi. 
p.  442. 

*  Valentyn,  ch.  xii.  p.  130. 
Dutch  soldiers  Avere  allowed  to 
many  Singhalese  women,  but  only 
on  the  condition  of  their  wives  be- 
coming Christians.  —  Ibid.,  ch.  xiv. 
p.  195. 

^  Ilid,  p.  175. 


58 


MODERN   HISTORY. 


[rART  yi. 


A.D. 

1GG4. 


Christianity  to  discourage  the  Moors  and  Mahometan 
traders.^ 

In  the  promotion  of  agricultm-e  tlie  interests  of  the 
Government  were  identified  Avith  tliose  of  the  peasants, 
and  the  time  was  eagerly  expected,  but  never  arrived, 
when  the  necessity  would  cease  for  the  importation  of 
rice  for  the  troops  from  Batavia  and  the  coast  of 
Canara.^  But  notwithstanding  these  partial  efforts  for 
the  advancement  of  the  people,  successive  governors 
were  obhged  to  admit  the  fact  of  habitual  oppression, 
by  the  headmen  and  officials  ^ ;  and  to  record  their  con- 
viction that  as  the  condition  of  the  Singhalese  was 
no  better  under  the  Dutch  than  it  had  been  under 
the  Portuguese,  so  would  they  one  day  tiu-n  on  them, 
as  they  had  before  shaken  themselves  fi^ee  of  their  pre- 
decessors.* 

ISTor  was  the  discontent  confined  to  the  Singhalese 
alone ;  disappointment  was  felt  in  Holland  at  the  failure 
of  those  brilliant  estimates  wliich  had  been  formed  of 
the  wealth  to  be  drawn  from  Ceylon ;  the  hopes  of  the 
emigrants  who  had  rushed  to  the  island  were  crushed 
by  the  reahty  ;  and  the  Company's  officers  and  servants 
were  loud  in  their  complaints  of  the  impossibihty  of 
subsisting  on  their  salaries  and  perquisites.  The  former 
were  absurdly  small,  the  permission  to  trade  formed  the 
great  supplementary  inducement,  and  as  trade  was  un- 
productive, discontent  was  ine\dtable.^  To  this  the 
condition  of  the  Governors  formed  an  exception  ;  for 
although  then-  nominal  income  was  but  30/.  per  month  ^ 
besides  rations  and  allowances,  j'-et,  according  to  Va- 
lentyn,  such  were  the  secret  opportunities  for  personal 


^  Yaleuttn,  ch.  xii.  p.  134.     For 

a  narrative  of  the  exertions  made  by 
the  Dutch  for  the  extension  of  educa- 
tion and  relig-ion,  see  Sir  J.  Emersox 
Tenni:>'t's  Ilistonj  of  Christiauiti/  in 
Ceylon,  ch.  xi.  p.  37.  A  detailed 
account  of  the  churches  and  schools 
vnW.  be  found  in  the  seventeenth 
chapter  of  Valextyx,  p.  40!). 


2  VALENTYIf,  ch.  xii.  p.  148. 

'  Il)i(l.,  ch.  xiii.  p.  176. 

*  This  account  will  be  found  in 
the  Report  o/"  IlivXDiuc  Adrian  Van 
Uheede,  1077j  Valenitn,  ch.  xv. 
p.  27.'}. 

^  Yalextyx,  c.  XV.  p.  252. 

®  Bertolacci,  p.  56. 


Chap.  IL] 


NEGLECT   OF   THE   NATIVES. 


59 


gain,  that  in  tAvo  or  three  years  they  became  rich  ;  a 
circumstance  observable  also  in  tlie  case  of  the  com- 
mandants of  Jaffna  and  Galle,  provided  they  maintained 
a  good  private  understanding  with  the  governors  of  Co- 
lombo, and  knew  how  to  take  and  give.^ 

In  fact,  from  the  commencement  to  the  conclusion  of 
the  Dutch  dominion  in  Ceylon,  theii'  possession  of  the 
island  was  a  militaiy  tenure,  not  a  ciAdl  colonisation  in 
the  ordinary  sense  of  the  term.  Strategetically  its  oc- 
cupation was  of  infinite  moment  for  the  defence  of  their 
factories  on  the  continent  of  India  ;  and  for  the  interests 
of  their  commerce,  its  position  (intermediate  between 
Java  and  Malabar)  rendered  it  of  value  as  an  entrepot. 
But  all  attempts  to  make  it  productive  as  a  settlement 
Avere  neutrahsed  by  the  cost  of  its  defence  and  es- 
tabhshments.  For  a  series  of  years,  previous  to  its  final 
abandonment,  the  excess  of  expenditure  over  income  from 
aU  sources,  involved  an  annual  deficiency  in  the  revenue  ^ ; 
and  Baron  Imhoff,  in  1740,  contrasting  the  renown  of 
the  conquest,  and  the  magnitude  of  the  anticipations  with 
which  it  had  been  heralded,  Avith  the  httleness  of  the 


A.D. 

1G64. 


'  The  passage  in  Yalentyn  is  so 
curious  that  I  give  it  in  the  original. 

"De  oubekende  en  geheime  voor- 
(leelen  zyn  niet  wel  na  te  rekenen, 
hoewel't  zeker  is,  dat  zy  in  twee  of 
drie  jaaren  schat-ryk  zja,  hoedanig 
het  mede  (hoewel  met  eenig  onder- 
scheid,  en  na  dat  zy  zich  in  de  gimst 
van  den  Landvoogd  weten  te  hoiiden 
en  met  een  ryp  oordeel  to  geven  en 
to  nemen)  met  de  Commandeurs  van 
Galle  en  Jalihapatam  gelegen  is." — 
Oud  en  Kieuiv  Oost-Indien,  4't.,  ch. 
i.  p.  2(5. 

^  An  exposure  of  this  result  is 
given  in  the  official  JRepoH  of  Van 
Rheede,  A.D.  1(507,  which  is  printed 
in  extenso  by  Valentyn,  Oud  en 
Nienw  Oost-Indien,  ch.  xv.  p.  247. 

Mr.  Lee  has  appended  to  his 
Translation  of  Ribeyro  a  Table  pre- 
pared from  the  records  in  the  cham- 
ber of  Archives  at  Amsterdam  which 
shows  that  between  the  years  1739 
and  1701  the  annual  deficit  for  the 


administi'ation,  after  deducting  the 
necessaiy  expenses  from  the  profits 
of  trade  .and  the  income  from  taxes, 
was  172,942  florins,  equal  to  14,410/. 
sterling.  (Appendix,  p.  201.)  See 
also  the  Memoir  of  M.  BrRNAND, 
Asiat.  Journ.,  vol.  xi.  p.  442.  But  it 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  ciWl 
servants  of  the  Dutch  had  no  interest 
in  the  collection  and  disposal  of  the 
revenues,  and  that  their  pecidation 
and  corniption  were  matters  of  noto- 
riety. To  such  an  excess  was  this 
carried  that  it  became  necessary  to 
vitiate  the  public  docmnents  for  the 
concealment  of  frauds.  Hence  Lord 
Yalentia,  in  accoimting  for  the 
little  value  attaching  to  the  Dutch 
Records,  says,  "they  cannot  be  relied 
on ;  they  appear  to  have  falsified  all 
the  accounts  of  Cejion  to  deceive 
their  masters  at  home,  a  measure 
necessaiy  to  cover  their  o^vn  pecu- 
lations." —  Travels,  vol.  i.  ch.  vi.  p. 
310. 


60 


MODERN   HISTORY. 


[Part  VI. 


1 


A.D.    ascertained  result,  compared  Ceylon  to  one  of  the  costly 
l^^4-  tulips  of  Holland,  which  bore  a  fabulous  nominal  price, 
■without  any  intrinsic  value. ^ 

To  such  lengths  did  misgovermnent  prevail,  that  Hol- 
land was  at  last  threatened  with  the  loss  of  the  "jewel" 
altogether,  by  the  treason  of  her  own  officers,  and  the 
rebeUion  of  the  Singhalese.  Vuyst,  the  governor  of 
Ceylon,  in  1626  aspked  to  become  sovereign  of  the  island, 
and  visited  with  forfeitiu"e,  torture,  and  death  every  chief 
who  opposed  him.  For  this  he  was  broken  on  the  wheel 
at  Bata\da,  and  his  body  bmiied  and  scattered  on  the 
sea.^  Versluys,  who  was  sent  to  supersede  him,  was 
removed  for  extortion  and  cruelty  ;  and  m  the  midst  of 
the  discontent  and  anarchy  wliich  ensued,  a  change  in 
the  reigning  dynasty  at  Kandy  gave  encom^agement  to 
the  lowlanders  to  attempt  theii*  own  dehverance  by 
revolt. 

The  forced  tranquilhty  of  Eaja  Singha  H.,  after  the 
A.p.  ominous  insurrection  of  his  own  subjects  in  1664, 
1G72.  remained  unbroken  till  1672,  when  on  the  outbreak  of 
war  between  Louis  XIV.  and  the  United  Provinces,  a 
French  squadron  made  its  appearance  at  Trincomahe, 
commanded  by  Admiral  De  la  Haye.  They  were  eagerly 
Avelcomed  by  the  emperor  as  unexpected  alhes,  hkely  to 
aid  him  in  the  expulsion  of  the  pestilent  Hollanders. 
The  French  took  instant  possession  of  Trincomahe, 
and  the  Dutch  in  then*  panic  abandoned  the  forts  of 
Cottiar  and  Batticaloa,  but  the  inabihty  of  the  former 
to  mamtain  their  position  in  Ceylon,  and  then-  sudden 
disappearance,  sufficed  to  allay  the  apprehensions  of  the 
Dutch.3 


^  Appendix  to  Lee's  Ribeyro,  p. 
182. 

^  NaiTative  of  RoGGE\VErN's  Voy- 
age, Harris's  Coll.,  vol.  i.  p.  288. 

3  Valenttn,  cli.  XV.  p.  25(5.  On  this 
occasion  the  French  Admiral  De  la 
Haye  sent  M.  Nauclars  de  LaneroUe 
as  ambassador  to  Kandv.     But  this 


gentleman  ha^sing  violated  the  im- 
perial etiquette  b}^  approaching  the 
palace  on  horseback,  and  manifested 
disrespectful  impatience  on  being 
kept  too  long  waiting  for  an  audience, 
Kaja  Singha  ordered  hi)n  and  his 
sui'tc  to  bejloyyed ;  a  sentence  which 
was  executed  on  all  but  the  envoy, 


Chap.  II.] 


ERESII   WARS. 


61 


A.D. 

1707. 


A.D. 

1739. 


Eaja  Singlia  II.  died  in  1687  ^  ;  his  son,  Wimala  a.d. 
Dliarma  II.,  and  liis  grandson  Koondasala,  followed  ^^^'^ 
as  successors  to  the  throne ;  but  being  indifferent  to 
everything  except  the  revival  of  Buddliism,  which  had 
fallen  into  decay  during  the  prevalence  of  war,  they 
gladly  accorded  peace  to  the  Dutch,  who  in  return  placed 
sliips  at  their  disposal  to  bring  from  Arracan  priests  of 
sufficiently  high  rank  to  restore  the  upasampada  order 
in  Ceylon.^ 

On  the  decease  of  Koondasala  in  1739,  the  royal 
Singhalese  Hne  became  extinct,  and  a  Malabar  prince^, 
brother  of  the  late  queen,  was  accepted  as  emperor 
under  the  title  of  Sri  Wijayo  Eaja  or  Hangm^anketta. 
Two  other  sovereigns  of  the  same  foreign  Hneage  fol- 
lowed, and  during  then"  reigns  the  utmost  encouragement 
was  given  to  the  lowlanders  to  combine  with  the 
Kandyans  for  the  dehverance  of  their  country  from  the 
despotism  of  Holland.* 

The  alliance  was,  however,  powerless  from  the  decay 
of  the  native  forces,  and  the  want  of  munitions  of  war ; 
the  Dutch,  by  an  exertion  of  unwonted  vigour,  conducted 
an  army  to  Kandy  ^,  wdiich  they  held  for  some  months  ; 
and  a  protracted  struggle  terminated  in  1766,  under  the  a.d. 
judicious  management  of  M.  Falck,  by  a  treaty  which  ^"'^^ 
secured  to  the  Dutch  a  considerable  accession  of  terri- 
tory, and  the  adjustment  of  more  favourable  conditions 
for  the  conduct  of  the  Company's  trade. 

The  story  of  the  dominion  of  Holland  in  Ceylon  is 


■nliom  lie  detained  in  captivity  for  a 
number  of  j-ears. — Valextyn,  ch.  xv. 
p.  202. 

^  Tttrnottr,  in  his  Epitome,  fixes 
the  date  of  his  death  1685,  but  the 
Dutch,  who  were  not  likely  to  be 
mistaken,  record,  with  minute  par- 
ticularity, that  it  occurred  on  the  Otli 
December,  1687. — Valentyn,  ch,  xv. 
p.  .343. 

^  Valenttn,  ch.  XV.  p.  344. 

^  Although  the  new  dynasty  are 


spoken  of  imder  the  generic  name 
of  Malabars,  it  is  necessary  to  ob- 
serve that  tliey  were  not  of  the  Tamil 
race,  who  had  been  the  ancient  in- 
vaders and  enemies  of  Ceylon,  but 
TeliK/us,  of  the  royal  family  of  Ma- 
diu-a,  with  whom  the  Singhalese 
kings  hfid  iuterman-ied. 

*  Bertolacci,  p.  2S;  Memoir  of 
M.  Bitrnand,  Asiat,  Journ.  vol.  xi. 
p.  442. 

^  a.d.  1763. 


(52  MODERN    HISTORY.  [Part  VI. 

A.D.  not  altogether  unrelieved  by  passages  indicative  of  more 
1/6G.  generous  impulses,  but  these  were  so  transient  and  so 
uniformly  succeeded  by  reversions  to  the  former  pusil- 
lanimous sj^stem,  that  the  general  character  of  their 
administration  is  unredeemed  from  the  charge  of  mean- 
ness and  tyranny.  The  presence  of  such  Governors  as 
ImliofF  and  Falck  were  but  episodes  in  the  wearisome 
tale  of  extortion  and  selfishness;  and  when  at  length 
towards  the  close  of  the  last  century  the  British  troops 
made  their  appearance  before  Colombo,  after  occupying 
the  other  strongholds  in  the  island,  the  siQTender  of  the 
fortress  without  a  struggle  for  its  defence  may  be 
regarded  as  an  e\ddence  that  the  Dutch  had  become  as 
indifferent  to  its  retention  as  the  Singhalese  were  rejoiced 
at  its  capture. 


63 


CHAP.  III. 


BRITISH    TERIOD. 


The  first  Englishman  who  ever  visited  Ceylon  landed 
at  Colombo  on  the  5th  March,  1589.  This  was  Ealph 
Fitch  \  one  of  those  pioneers  of  commerce,  who,  excited 
by  the  successes  of  the  Portuguese  in  Asia,  longed  to 
secure  for  Great  Britain  a  participation  in  the  gorgeous 
trade  of  the  East.  Twenty  years  prior  to  the  granting 
of  the  royal  charter,  that  gave  its  first  organisation  to 
the  germ  which  afterwards  expanded  to  the  imperial 
dimensions  of  the  East  India  Company,  foiu^  adventurous 
merchants,  —  Leedes,  Newberry,  Storey,  and  Fitch,  — 
were  commissioned  by  the  Turkey  Company  to  visit 
India  and  ascertain  what  openings  for  British  enterprise 
existed  there.  They  traversed  Syiia,  descended  the 
Tigris  to  Bassora,  and  thence  took  shipping  to  Ormus 
and  Hindustan.  One  entered  the  service  of  the  Empe- 
ror Akbar,  another  died  in  the  Punjab,  a  third  be- 
came a  monk  at  Goa,  and  the  fourth,  after  wandering 
to  Siam  and  Malacca,  halted  at  Ceylon  on  his  return  and 
was  probably  the  first  of  his  nation  who  ever  beheld  the 
island.'"^ 


AD. 

1766. 


^  PmcnAR,  in  his  Pih/n'ms,  calls 
bim  Ralph  Fitz  (vol.  ii.  p.  110). 

*  Fitch's  account  of  his  voyage 
■will  be  found  in  Hakluyt,  vol.  ii.  p. 
263.  Raja  Singba  I.  was  then  in  the 
midst  of  hostilities  against  the  Ptu'- 
tuguese,  and  Fitch  describes  the 
energy  of  his  character  and  tlie 
strength  of  his  army  "  witli  their 
pieces  which  be  muskets."  —  Mill's 
Ilisf.  of  British  India,  b.  i.  ch.  i.  p. 
ID.  I  take  no  account  of  Sir  John 
Mandeville,  "  the  author/'  as  Cooley 


says,  "of  the  most  unblushing  volume 
of  lies  ever  olJ'ered  to  the  world," 
who  professed  to  have  visited  Cey- 
lon between  V-''-j2,  wlien  he  set  out 
for  St.  Albans,  and  1806,  when  he 
retiu'ned  to  Liege,  where  he  died. 
He  professes  to  have  visited  India 
and  China,  but  his  book  bears  inter- 
nal CA  iilence  that  he  had  never  wan- 
dered further  east  than  Jerusalem. 
Ilis  pretended  description  of  Ceylon 
is  bonowed  from  Marco  Polo  and 
Odoric  of  Portenau. 


64 


MODERN    HISTORY, 


[Pakt  VI. 


A.D.  Altliougli  the  passage  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
1766.  \^^^  been  in  use  for  more  than  two  hundred  years,  no 
vessel  bearing  the  flag  of  England  had  yet  been  seen 
on  the  Indian  Ocean.  Portugal,  in  virtue  of  her  prio- 
rity of  discovery  and  under  pretext  of  a  Bull  granted  by 
Martin  V.^,  claimed  the  exclusive  na\dgation  of  those 
seas, — a  right  which  she  asserted  by  force  of  arms^,  and 
in  which  the  other  powers  of  Europe  at  that  time  were 
not  sufficiently  interested  to  contest  it  with  her  ;  and  it 
w^as  not  till  after  the  return  of  Drake  from  his  circum- 
navigation of  the  globe  in  1579,  that  Queen  Elizabeth 
proclaimed  the  right  of  her  own  subjects  to  na\'igate 
the  Indian  seas  on  an  equahty  with  those  of  Spain.  ^  In 
pm'suance  of  this  bold  declaration,  the  first  vessels  that 
ever  sailed  direct  from  England  to  India  w^ere  de- 
spatched in  1591,  not,  however,  to  trade  with  the  natives, 
facilities  for  which  had  not  yet  been  ascertained,  but 
to  "  cruize  upon  the  Portuguese."  ^  The  expedition 
Avas  unfortunate,  the  adnural  perished,  and  Lancaster, 
the  sm'vi\dng  officer,  on  his  way  home  from  Malacca 
touched  at  Ceylon,  and  "  ankered  at  a  place  called 
Punta  del  Galle^  about  the  3rd  of  December,  1592."^ 
Thus  the  "  EdAvard  Bonaventure  "  was  the  first  British 
ship,  as  Ealph  Fitch  had  been  the  first  British  subject, 
that  had  visited  Ceylon. 

Nearly   two   centuries    elapsed   after   the   appearance 
of  the  English  on  the  continent   of  India  before   their 


^  Tlie  Bull  of  Martin  Y.  was  re- 
newed by  tlie  succeedinf^  Popes 
Nicholas  and  Sextus. — Puilcilas,  vol. 
i.  p.  6. 

^  Mill's  Hist.  Brit.  India,  b.  i. 
ch.  i.  p.  6. 

3  INIacpherson's  Annah  of  Com- 
merce, vol.  ii.  p.  IGO.  Long  after 
the  power  of  the  Portngiiese  bad  de- 
clined, the  Dutch,  as  their  succes- 
sors, maintained  the  same  indefen- 
sible doctrine  of  the  monopoly  of 
Indian  trade  ;  and  in  Ceylon,  next 
to  the  duty  enjoined   on   successive 


governors  to  seciu-e  peace  with  the 
King  of  Kandy,  was  the  iuj  miction 
to  exclude  all  other  European  na- 
tions from  the  trade  of  the  island, 
"  xceeren  van  allc  andere  J^iirojnanen 
van  Cei/hn."  —  VALENTrN",  eh.  xv. 
p.  .343.  It  was  only  at  the  conclusion 
of  the  war  %A'ith  Holland  in  1 784  that 
Great  Britain  insisted  on  a  formal 
declaration  of  the  free  navigation  of 
the  Indian  seas. 

4  Haeris,  vol.  i.  p.  875.  PrijvojsT, 
IIi,s-t.  Gen.  (Ics  Voy..  t.  i.  p.  '5.57. 

*  IIakltjyt,  vol.  ii.  p.  107. 


Chvp.  III.] 


EARLY    IXTERCOURSE. 


63 


attention  was  turned  to  tlie  acquisition  of  Ceylon.^ 
Tlie  vast  seaborde  of  Hindustan  afforded  so  wide  a 
field  for  enterprise  that  it  was  unnecessary  to  contend 
witli  two  European  states  for  the  trade  of  an  island  off 
its  coast.  Fully  occupied  in  the  estabhshment  of  their 
successive  settlements  at  Surat,  Madras,  Bombay,  and 
Bengal,  and  with  the  quarrels  regarding  them,  which 
arose  with  the  Portuguese,  the  Dutch,  and  French,  as 
well  as  in  tlieir  conflicts  with  the  native  princes,  the 
attention  of  the  Enghsli  was  not  directed  to  Ceylon  till 
late  in  the  eighteenth  century,  when  the  seizure  of  the 
Dutch  possessions  became  essential  to  the  protection  of 
their  own,  as  well  as  for  the  humiUation  of  the  only 
formidable  rival  who  then  competed  with  Great  Britain 
for  the  commerce  of  the  Indian  seas. 

The  only  intercourse  which  the  Enghsh  had  pre- 
viously attempted  with  the  Singhalese  Emperor,  arose 
out  of  the  unaccountable  passion  of  Eaja  Singha  II.  for 
the  detention  of  "  white  men "  as  prisoners  in  his  do- 
minions.''^    Hence  Sir  Edward  AYinter  was  led,  in  1664, 


A.D. 

17GG. 


'  From  the  necessities  of  tlieir 
positio7i,  the  Dutch  saw  nothing  of 
the  interior  of  Ceylon  themselves, 
and  discouraged  the  travellers  of 
other  nations  from  visiting  or  de- 
scribing it.  Hence  accounts  of  the 
island  during  their  presence  there 
are  rave.  The  most  curious  is  con- 
tained in  the  Life  of  Jo.  Christian 
Wolf,  who  was  one  of  their  ofhcials 
at  Jaffiia.  Taveruicr,  tlie  French 
traveller,  touched  at  (lalle  inlG48; 
and  Thunberg,  the  Swedish  natura- 
list, landed  on  the  island  in  1777,  but 
his  journeys  extended  no  further 
than  from  Matiu-a  to  Colombo,  and 
his  information  is  confined  to  the 
collection  of  gems  at  the  one  place 
and  the  preparation  of  cinnamon  at 
the  other.  (TnuNitEiiG,  Voyaj/es,  vol. 
iv.)  Amongst  the  iVnv  ICnglish  tra- 
vellers who  visited  Ceylon  during  the 
Dutch  period,  was  Sir  Thoiuas  Her- 
bert, a  cadet  of  the  Pembroke  family, 
who  has  given  an  erudite  accomit  of 

VOL.  H. 


the  island  in  his  Travels  into  Africa, 
the  Great  Asia,  and  some  parts  of 
the  Oriental  Indies  and  Isles  adjacent, 
Loud.  MDCXXXiv.  He,  however,  re- 
cords it  as  "  the  tradition  of  this  place 
that  JNIelec  Perimal,  king  of  that  island 
(Ceylon),  was  one  of  the  Magi  tliat 
offered  gold,  frankincense,  and  myrrh 
unto  oui-  Blessed  Saviour;  and  also 
that  at  his  return  he  made  kno^\^l 
the  history  of  God's  incarnation,  and 
made  many  proselytes,  of  which  some 
to  this  very  day  retain  the  faith." 
'' Candace's  Emmch,"  he  says,  "bap- 
tized by  Philip,  preached  Clirist  in 
Taprobane,  if  Dorotheus,  Bishop  of 
Tyre,  who  lived  in  the  days  of  the 
gi-eat  Constantino,  had  good  authority 
for  reporting  it."  Sir  Thomas  men- 
tions that  "  infamous  ape's  tooth 
which  Constantino,  a  late  Coan 
\iceroy,  foreil)ly  took  away,  and  upon 
their  proffering  a  ransom  burned  it 
to  ashes,"  p.  .'MS. 

^  Knox  himself,  one  of  these  de- 


F 


G6 


JtODERN   HISTORY. 


[Part  VI. 


A.n. 
17r.( 


to  make  an  attempt,  though  an  inefTectual  one,  by  means 
of  a  special  mission  to  the  king,  to  effect  the  dehverauce 
of  tlie  Enghsh  seamen  hekl  in  captivit}^  in  Kandy.^ 

The  first  e\'idence  of  any  deske  to  obtain  a  footing 
in  Ceylon  is  to  be  traced  to  the  act  of  the  governor 
of  Madi-as,  who,  in  1763,  sent  an  envoy  to  Kandy 
to  propose  to  the  king  Kirti  Sri  an  amicable  treaty. 
The  overture  was  favourably  received ;  but,  owing  to 
the  subsequent  indifference  of  the  Enghsh  Government, 
no  steps  were  taken  to  mature  an  alhance.'' 
A. p.  Twenty  years  later  when  war  was  levied  against  Hol- 
^''^•2.  land  by  Great  Britain  in  1782,  and  Trincomalie  occu- 
pied by  a  British  force  under  Sir  Hector  Munro  ^  ;  Hugh 
Boyd  was  commissioned  b}^  Lord  Macartney  to  proceed 
to  the  court  of  Kandy,  and  sohcit  the  active  co-opera- 
tion of  Eajadhi  Eaja  Singlia  against  the  Dutch.  But 
the   recollection   was   still   fresh    in    the    minds    of    the 


temis  from  1659  to  1679,  states  his 
inability  to  assign  any  adequate  mo- 
tive in  explanation  of  this  strange 
propensity  of  Eaja  Singha.  His 
English  captives  all  appear  to  have 
been  kidnapped  sailors,  whom  sliip- 
■wi-eclis  or  other  disasters  had  forced 
to  land  on  his  shores  (Hist.  Relation, 
pt.  iv.  ch.  xiv.).  Besides  Kxox's  o-wn 
companions,  there  were  at  the  same 
time  sixteen  other  Englishmen  con- 
fined at  Kandy,  the  crew  of  a  mer- 
chantman, which  had  been  wrecked 
on  the  Maldives  in  1656  (lb.  ch.  iv.)  ; 
Valentin!  states  that  in  1672,  two 
Englishmen  made  their  escape  to 
Colombo  after  twenty-two  years' 
detention  at  Kandy,  having  been 
seized  at  Calpent^Ti  when  landing 
fi'om  a  ship  in  search  of  fresh  water. 
(^^VLEXTTX,  ch.  XV.  p.  802.)  We  have 
no  evidence  of  this  seiziu-e  and  de- 
tention of  strangers  being  a  national 
ciLStom  of  the  Singhalese  kings,  but 
it  is  curious  tliat  in  the  tract  of  Pal- 
ladius  De  Moritius  Brachmfmoruvi, 
erroneously  ascribed  to  St.  Ambrose 
(see  ante,  Vol.  I.  Pt.  v.  ch.  i.  p.  589), 
theTheban  scholar  who  describes  Cey- 
lon, says  that  he  was  seized  and  de- 
tained there  by  the  king,  for  no  other 


reason  than  that  he  had  dai-ed  to  set 
foot   upon    the    island:  lot;   roXfuJTag 

Ivnox  says  that  it  was  the  practice  of 
Raja  Singha  II.  to  feed  his  European 
prisoners  with  rice  and  provisions 
sent  daily  for  their  use  (pt.  iv.  ch. 
ii.)  ;  and  in  the  same  way  the  Tlieban 
throughout  the  six  years  of  his  forced 
residence  in  Taprobane  received 
regularly  a  supply  of  gi-aia  at  the 
expense  of  the  Iring,  KaTaaxt^'^k  oi'v 
Trn^  avTolg  i^ai-iav  v—rjoirtjaa  Ttp 
noTOKOTTiit  irapacoOf'iQ  (I'g  (pynalnr. 
(PsErDO-CALLISTHEXES,  iii.  ch.  ix.) 
De  Foe  has  availed  himself  of  this 
habit  of  the  Singhalese  to  seize  the 
persons  of  foreigners,  to  introduce  an 
incident  in  his  story  of  the  Adccntures 
and  Piracies  of  Captain  Sinc/leton,  ch. 
xvii.  The  same  propensity  ha.s  been 
exhibited  at  times  by  the  people  of 
Japan  and  other  portions  of  the  East. 

'  Valextyx,  ch.  xiv.  p.  200.  The 
Dutch  liistoriiui  calls  him  Lord 
Winter. 

^  Lord  Valentia's  Travels,  vol.  i. 
ch.  vi.  p.  278. 

^  Mill,  Hid.  Brit.  India,  book  v. 
ch.  V.  vol.  iv.  p.  225.  Peecival's 
Ceylon,  ^-c,  p.  50. 


ClIAP.  III.] 


ATTEMPTED    TREATY. 


67 


A.n. 
1795. 


Kandyans  of  the  slight  endured  in  17Go,  and  the  Em-  a.d. 
peror  dechned  to  negotiate  witli  the  East  India  Company,  ^782 
or  to  enter  into  any  treaty,  except  with  the  King  of 
Great  Britain  du^ect.^  Mr,  Boyd,  on  his  return  to 
Trincomahe,  had  the  mortification  to  discover  that, 
during  his  absence,  the  fort  had  been  surprised  by  a 
French  fleet  under  Admiral  Suflrein,  and  the  British 
garrison  transported  to  Madras.  Trincomahe  on  the 
occurrence  of  peace  in  the  year  following,  was  restored 
to  the  Dutch. 

At  length,  in  1795,  Holland,  after  being  overrun  and 
revolutionised  by  the  armies  of  tlie  French  Eepublic, 
found  herself  helplessly  involved  in  the  great  war 
which  then  agitated  Europe  —  and  the  time  at  last 
arrived  when  Ceylon  was  to  be  absorbed  into  the  Eastern 
dominions  of  the  British  Crown. 

This  consummation  was  facihtated  by  the  renewal 
of  hostihties  between  the  Dutch  and  the  court  of 
Kandy,  the  sovereign  being  now  as  willing  to  avail 
himself  of  the  aid  of  the  English  to  expel  the  forces  of 
Holland,  as  his  predecessor,  one  hundred  and  fifty  years 
before,  had  been  eager  to  accept  the  assistance  of  the 
Dutch  to  rid  his  coimtry  of  the  Portuguese. 

On  the  1st  August,  1795,  an  expedition  fitted  out  by 
Lord  Hobart,  the  governor  of  Madras,  and  commanded 
by  Colonel  James  Stuart,  landed  at  Trincomahe,  which 
capitulated,  after  a  siege  of  three  weeks ;  Jaffna  sur- 
rendered within  the  following  month,  and  Calpentyn 
was  occupied  on  the  5th  November.  A  Singhalese 
envoy  ^,  with  the  high  rank  of  Adigar,  was  now  de- 
spatched to  Madras  by  king  Eajadhi  Eaja  Smglia,  to 
negotiate  a  treaty  between  Grcjit  Britain  and  Kandy ; 
but  before  his  return,  Colonel   Stuart,   early   in    1790, 


'  An  interosting-  account  of  Mr. 
Boyd's  Enil)a.'t.-*y  to  Kaudy  will  be 
found  in  his  MiscvUcinconn  Works, 
vol.  ii.  p.  107,  and  in  the  voliunc  of 


the     Asiatic     Anmnil    Rcqider     for 
1799. 

"^  iNIigasthene,  Dissave  of  tlie  Seven 
C'oi-les,  who  died  in  1800. 


r  2 


68 


MODEKN   HISTORY. 


[Pakt  YI. 


A.D 

179G. 


took  possession  of  Negombo,  and  summoned  the 
garrison  of  Colombo,  which,  on  the  16tli  February, 
marched  out  without  strikino'  a  blow.  Van  Ano'elbeck, 
the  governor,  had  previously  signed  a  convention  by 
which  Caltura,  Point  de  Galle,  Matura,  and  all  the  other 
fortified  places,  were  simultaneously  ceded  to  Great 
Britain.^ 

By  this  capitulation  Ceylon,  with  all  its  fortresses, 
ammunition  and  artillery,  its  archives,  and  tire  contents 
of  its  treasury  and  stores,  was  ceded  to  the  victorious 
Enghsh.  Private  property  was  declared  in\4olable,  the 
fluids  of  charitable  foundations  were  held  sacred,  the 
garrison  marched  out  with  the  honours  of  war,  piled 
arms  on  the  esplanade,  and  returned  again  to  their 
barracks.  Night  closed  on  the  descending  standard  of 
Holland,  and  at  sunrise,  the  British  flag  waved  on  tlie 
walls  of  Colombo.^ 


1  Anmial  Register,  1796,  p.  194. 
Ibid.  Appendix,  p.  75. 

^  Pekctval,  -who  served  hi  this  cam- 
paign, gives  a  remarkable  picture  in 
his  Account  of  the  Island  of  Ceylon, 
of  the  degi-aded  state  to  which  the 
Dutch  military  establishments  were 
reduced  at  this  crisis.  The  march  of 
the  British  from  Negombo  to  Colombo 
was  entirely  unimpeded,  although  it 
lay  through  thick  woods  and  jungle, 
from  behind  which  an  enemy  might 
have  been  destroyed  whilst  tlie  as- 
sailants were  unseen.  The  English 
were  allowed  to  cross  tlie  Kalany 
river  at  ^lutwal  without  molestation, 
upon  rafts  of  bamboo ;  a  batteiy 
erected  at  (xrand  Pass  was  abandoned 
by  the  Dutch,  who  fled  on  the  appear- 
ance of  the  British.  A  few  shots  were 
aimed  at  them  as  tliey  approached  Co- 
lombo, but  the  firing  party  were  re- 
pulsed, and  fled  witliin  the  fortifica- 
tions, whence,  without  waiting  to  be 
attacked,  they  instantly  sent  to  pro- 
pose tenns  of  suiTender.  Van  An- 
gelbeck,  the  go-\-enior,  afterwards 
confessed,  such  was  the  demoralisa- 
tion and  mutiny  of  the  garrison,  that 
he  lived  in  peqietual  dread  of  assas- 


sination, and  although  eager  to  defend 
the  fortress  to  the  last,  he  was  unable 
to  prevail  on  his  officers  to  encoimter 
the  enemy.  This  state  of  things 
Percival  ascribes  to  the  thirst  for 
gain  and  private  emolument,  which 
had  OA'ercome  eveiy  other  feeling, 
and  produced  a  total  extinction  of 
every  sentiment  of  public  spirit  and 
national  honour.  "\Yhen  the  English 
entered  the  gates  the  Dutch  "  were 
found  by  us  in  a  state  of  the  most  in- 
famous disorder  and  drunkenness,  in 
no  disciplhie,  no  obedience,  no  ^irit. 
The  soldiers  then  awoke  to  a  sense 
of  their  degi'adation,  but  it  was  too 
late ;  they  accused  Van  Angelbeck 
of  beti-aying  them,  vented  loud 
reproaches  against  their  comman- 
ders, and  recklessly  insulted  the 
British  as  they  filed  into  tlie  for- 
tress, even  spitting  on  them  as  they 
passed." —  Percival,  p.  118,  loO, 
180. 

The  Dutch  tell  a  difiercnt  stoiy. 
They  openly  assert  the  treason  of 
Van  iVngelbeck,  and  imply  that  as 
the  Stadtholder  in  1705  had  tlirown 
himself  on  the  protection  of  the  En- 
glish, the  Governor  of  Ceylon   had 


J 


Chap.  III.] 


EFFECTS    OF   DUTCH    POLICY. 


G9 


The  dominion  of  the  Netherlands  in  Ceylon  was  a.d. 
nearly  equal  in  duration  with  that  of  Portugal,  about  l*^^^- 
one  hundred  and  forty  years  ;  but  the  poHcies  of  the 
two  countries  have  left  a  very  different  impress  on 
the  character  and  institutions  of  the  people  amongst 
whom  they  lived.  The  most  important  bequest  left  by 
the  utihtarian  genius  of  Holland  is  the  code  of  Eoman 
Dutch  law,  which  still  prevails  in  the  supreme  courts 
of  justice,  whilst  the  fanatical  propagandism  of  the 
Portuixuese  has  reared  for  itself  a  monument  in  tlie 
abiding  and  expanding  influence  of  the  Poman  Catholic 
faitli.  This  flourishes  in  every  hamlet  and  province 
where  it  Avas  implanted  by  the  Franciscans,  whilst  the 
doctrines  of  the  reformed  chm-ch  of  Holland,  never 
preached  beyond  the  walls  of  the  fortresses,  are  already 


coutrived  the  surrender  of  the  island 
to  gratify  his  new  allies.  M.  ThoMbe, 
an  oflicer  who  had  seiTed  in  Batavia, 
published  in  1811  his  Voyaye  aux 
Indcs  OricidaJes,  m  the  second  vo- 
lume of  which  he  has  inserted  an 
apolog}'  for  the  capture  of  Colombo, 
from  data  supplied  to  him  by  indi\'i- 
duals  at  .lava,  wlio  had  served  during 
tlie  brief  assault.  He  specifies  vigo- 
rous and  earnest  preparations  for  the 
siege  for  months  before  it  actually 
took  plac-e,  which  were  ostensildy 
continued  up  to  the  approach  of  the 
English.  But  he  rec-alls  many  sus- 
picious acts  of  the  GoAernor  prior  to 
and  during  the  advance  of  the  British 
(vol.  ii.  p.  180;  &c.).  At  length  on 
tlieir  approach  to  Colombo,  and  the 
appearance  of  the  English  squadron  in 
the  roads,  tlie  Governor's  conduct  be- 
came unequivocal.  lie  held  frequent 
conferences  with  Major  Apnew,  an 
English  envoy,  who  landed  from  a 
frigatf!  in  theofhng;  and  immediately 
after  his  departure,  the  Swiss  regi- 
}nent  of  De  Meurou  announced  their 
intention  to  transfer  their  services  to 
the  British.  Van  Angelbeck  then 
commenced  to  conceal  his  plate  and 
valuables;  and  awaited  the  enemy 
with  a  composure  that,  coupled  with 


a  multitude  of  minor  circiunstances, 
awoke  the  gamson  to  conscious- 
ness that  they  had  been  betrayed: 
"  Le  16  Fevrier  toutes  les  troupes, 
pensant  avec  raison  qu'elles  etaieut 
trahies,  voulurent  se  rdvolter  et  plu- 
sieurs  coups  de  fusils  etaient  diriges 
siu"  la  nuiison  du  Gouverneur  Van 
Angelbeck." — Vt)l.  ii.  p.  214.  Under 
these  circumstances  the  doomed  for- 
tress suiTcndered  ;  and  such  was  the 
indifiniatiou  of  the  soldiers,  that 
nothing  but  the  presence  of  the 
English  saved  the  Grovernor  from 
their  vengeance. 

It  is  certainly  a  remarkable  cir- 
cumstance that  Van  Angelljeck 
should  have  remained  in  Ceylon 
after  tlie  capture  of  Colombo.  He 
lived  there  some  years,  and  ac- 
cording to  M.  TuoMBE,  he  even- 
tually committed  suicide  under  the 
influence  of  remorse  for  his  treason. 
The  English  have  made  no  mention 
of  the  latter  fact,  but  CoRnrxiui 
describes  his  funeral  by  torchliglit 
in  September  17'.)',),  v,\\on  "  the  body 
was  deposited  in  the  family  vault  by 
the  side  of  that  of  his  wife,  wliose 
skeleton  was  seen  tlirougli  a  glass  in 
tlie  cover  of  the  cothn." — Cordinek, 
p.  30. 


F  3 


70 


MODERX  HISTORY. 


[Part  VI, 


A.I),    almost  forgotten  tlirougliout  the  island,  with  the  excep- 
1796.  i[qi^  of  an  exphing  community  at   Colombo.     Ah'eady 
the  language  of  the  Dutch,  which  they  sought  to  extend 
by  penal  enactments  \  has  ceased  to  be  spoken  even  by 
their  dii^ect  descendants,  whilst  a  corrupted  Portuguese  is 
to  the  present  day  the  vernacular  of  the  middle  classes  in 
eveiy  town  of  importance.^     As  the  practical  and  sordid 
government  of  the  Netherlands  only  recognised  the  in- 
terests of  the  native  popidation  in  so  far  as  they  were 
essential  to  uphold  theii^  trading  monopolies,  their  me- 
mory was  recalled  by  no  agreeable  associations ;  whilst 
the   Portuguese,  who,  in  spite  of  their   cruelties,   were 
identified  mth  the   people  by  the  bond  of  a  common 
faith ^,  excited  a  feeling  of  admiration  by  the  boldness 
of  thek  conllicts  with  the  Kandyans,  and  the  cliivalrous 
though    ineflectual    defence    of    thek    beleaguered   for- 
tresses.    The  Dutch  and  then-  proceedings  have  almost 
ceased  to  be   remembered  by  the  lowland   Singlialese  ; 
but  the  chiefs  of  the  south  and  west  perpetuate  with 


'  In  order  tliat  the  children  of  the 
Singhalese  mig-ht  be  taught  Dutch 
by  their  attendants,  the  heads  of  all 
slaves  who  could  not  speak  it  were 
ordered  to  be  shaved,  and  a  fine  for 
neglect  was  imposed  upon  their  mas- 
ters. Thus,  as  avowed  in  the  procla- 
mation, it  was  hoped  "to  destroy  the 
language  of  the  Portuguese,  in  order 
that  the  najue  of  our  enemies  may 
perish,  and  o.ur  own  flourish  in  its 
stead." — Yalexttx,  ch.  xvii.  p.  414. 

^  Even  amongst  the  English,  the 
number  of  Portuguese  tenns  in  daily 
use  is  remarkable.  The  gi-ounds 
attached  to  a  house  are  its  "  com- 
pound," cunipiiilw ;  a  wardrobe  is 
called  an  "  almirah,"  almarinho ;  a 
tradesman  is  shown  a  "  muster," 
mostra,  or  pattern  ;  the  official  regis- 
ter of  lands  is  the  tomho ;  and  ele- 
])hants  are  captured  in  a  "  coiTal," 
or  curral,  "an  enclosed  field." 

3  The  difterent  effects  of  the  Dutch 
and  Portuguese  policA'  in  nuitters  of 
religion   is  veiy  forcibly  put  in  an 


able  miimte  by  Colonel  de  Meuron, 
a  Swiss  who  commanded  a  regiment 
of  mercenaries  in  the  pay  of  Holland, 
and  who,  on  the  expidsion  of  the 
Dutch,  entered  the  senice  of  the  Bii- 
tish  East  India  Company :  "  When  the 
Portuguese  established  themselves  in 
Ceylon,"  he  says,  "commerce  was  not 
theii'  only  object ;*they  wished  to  con- 
vert the  natives  to  Christianity.  Per- 
sons of  the  highest  rank  became  spon- 
sors when  Singhalese  families  were  to 
be  baptized,  and  gave  their  names  to 
the  convei*ts.  This  is  the  origin  of  the 
numerous  Portuguese  names  amongst 
the  Singhalese.  The  Dutch  occupied 
themselves  less  with  conversion,  but 
employed  the  more  speedy  means  of 
making  nominal  Christians  by  giving 
certain  offices  to  men  of  that  religion 
only.  But  the  insti'uction  given  to 
these  official  converts  was  too  super- 
ficial to  root  out  their  prejudices  in 
favour  of  the  idolatrv  of  their  ances- 
tors."—7fW/f*%  JZ-S'.S'.,  Brit.  Mus., 
No.  13,864,  p.  96. 


Chap.  III.]  THE   NEW    GOVERNMENT.  71 

pride  the  honoriiic  title  of  Don^  accorded  to  them  by    a.d. 
their  first  European  conquerors,  and  still  prefix  to  then'   I'^G. 
ancient  patronymics  the  sonorous  Christian  names  of  the 
Portuguese.^ 

On  tlie  surrender  of  Colombo,  such  of  the  civil  in- 
habitants of  the  place  as  had  means  to  estabhsh  them- 
selves elsewhere  took  their  departure  from  Ceylon ; 
persons  with  capital  transferred  themselves  to  Batavia  ; 
the  clergy,  and  the  judicial  officers,  continued  in  their 
position  (the  latter  for  a  given  time  to  decide  pending 
suits),  whilst  the  bulk  of  those  employed  in  the  public 
departments  retained  their  occupations  and  emolu- 
ments. Their  uidustry  and  abihties  secured  to  them  a 
continuance  in  the  career  to  which  they  had  attached 
themselves.  Under  the  British  dominion  they  became 
writers  and  practitioners  in  the  Courts  of  Law  ;  and  in 
every  pubhc  office  in  the  colony,  at  the  present  time, 
the  establishment  of  clei'ks  is  composed  almost  exclusively 
of  biu'ghers  and  gentlemen  Avho  trace  then'  ancestry  to 
Holland. 

Ceylon  having  thus  become  an  English  possession  by 
right  of  conquest,  its  future  administration  was  a  ques- 
tion of  embarrassment.  Mr.  Pitt  and  Lord  Melville 
were  anxious  to  retain  it  under  the  direct  control  of 
the  crown  ;  but  it  had  been  formally  ceded  to  the  East 
India  Company  after  being  captured  by  thek  forces, 
and  the  Court  of  Directors  were  naturally  eager  to 
retain  the  government  and  patronage  of  so  valuable  an 
acquisition.  Besides  it  was  still  doubtful  whether,  in  the 
event  of  a  general  peace,  the  island  miglit  not  be  wholly 


^  Wolf,  ill  his  autobiogTaphy,  says  |  liim  to  "rise  Don  So  and  so!"  By  this 

the  title  of  "  Don  "  was  soUl  Ly  tlic  contrivance    the    Portupiiesc   got  an 

Portuguese  for  a  "  few  hundred  dol-  enormous    sum,    as    every   one    that 

lars,"  on  the  receipt  of  wliich,  "  the  |  coukl    scrape    tog-ether   the    amount 

Governor  took  a  tliin  silver  i)late,  on  '  required,  got  himself  ennobled.     The 

which  the  name  of  the  individual  was  .Dutch  fifterwards  made  still  somer 

written  with  the  title  of  Z>o>/ prefixed,  work  of  it,  and  sold  the  title  of  Don 

and  bound  it  with  his  own  hand  on  for  iifty,  twentv-five,and  even  so  low 

the    forc^head    of  the   individual,  he  |  as  ten  dollars." — Life  and  Adventures, 

kneeling  at  the  same  time ;  and  ordered  «Jjc. ,  p.  255. 

r  4 


72  MODERN   HISTORY.  [Part  VI. 

A.D.    or  ill  part  restored  to  the  Batavian  Eepublic';  and  in  the 
1797.   meantime  its  management  was  confided  to  the  Governor 
and  Council  of  Madras. 

ISTo  arrangement  could  have  proved  more  imfortunate. 
Mr.  Andrews,  a  Madras  civilian,  who,  in  response  to  the 
overtures  of  the  king  of  Kandy,  in  1796,  Avas  sent  to" 
negotiate  a  treaty  of  aUiance,  was  entrusted,  in  addition 
to  his  mission  as  ambassador,  w^ith  extraordinaiy  powers 
as  superintendent  of  the  Ceylon  revenues,  a  capacity 
in  which  he  was  empowered  to  re\ase  and  re-adjust 
the  financial  system  of  the  new  colony.  He  was  a  rash 
and  indolent  man,  utterly  uninformed  as  to  tlie  character 
and  customs  of  the  Singhalese,  and  seemingly  uncon- 
scious that  great  changes  amongst  a  rude  and  semi- 
civihsed  people  can  only  be  effected,  if  suddenly,  by 
force  —  if  gradually,  by  persuasion  and  kindness.  Igno- 
rant of  any  fiscal  arrangements,  except  those  wliich  pre- 
vailed in  the  Madras  Presidency,  Mr.  Andrews,  by  a  rude 
exertion  of  power,  swept  away  the  prcAdously  existing 
imposts  and  agencies  for  their  collection  in  Ceylon ;  and 
substituted,  in  all  its  severity,  the  revenue  system  of  the 
Carnatic,  introducing  simultaneously  a  host  of  Malabar 
subordinates  to  enforce  it.  The  service  tenm^es  by 
whicli  the  people  held  their  otherAvise  untaxed  lands 
were  abolished,  and  a  proportion  of  the  estimated  pro- 
duce demanded  in  substitution,  together  with  a  tax  upon 
their  coco-nut  gardens.  The  customs  duties,  and 
other  sources  of  income,  were  farmed  out  to  Moors, 
Parsees,,  and  Chetties  from  the  coast;  and  the  Mood- 
liars  and  native  officers  who  had  formerly  managed 
matters  involving  taxation,  were  superseded  by  Malabar 
dubashes,  men  aptly  described  "  as  enemies  to  the 
rehgion  of  the  Singlialese,  strangers  to  their  habits, 
and  animated  by  no  impidse  but  extortion."  ^     Unhap- 


'  Ceylon  was  not  finally  incorpo- 
rated witli  the  British  possessions  till 
the  Peace  of  Amiens.  27th  March, 
1802. 


-  Letter  of  the  lion.  F.  North  to 
the  Earl  of  Movningtou,  27tli  Octo- 
ber, 1798.  (  irel/e.^li'>/  M6'S.,  Brit. 
Mus.,  No.  13/385,  p.  52.) 


CuAP.  m.] 


REBELLION. 


73 


pily,  under  tlie  iDclief  that  tlieir  functions  were  but  A.r>. 
temporary,  and  tliat  Ceylon  would  shortly  be  given  l'^-^^- 
back  to  the  Dutch  \  Mr.  Andrews  and  his  European 
colleagues  exerted  no  adequate  influence  to  control  the 
excesses  of  these  men,  and  the  atrocities  and  cruel- 
ties perpetrated  by  them  were  such  as  almost  defy 
belief.-^  The  result  may  be  anticipated ;  the  Singha- 
lese population  were  exasperated  beyond  endurance, 
their  chiefs  and  headmen,  insulted  by  the  superces- 
sion  of  their  authoiity,  and  outraged  by  the  rapacity 
of  low  caste  dubashes,  encouraged  the  resistance  of 
the  people ;  the  Dutch  civilians  inspu'ed  them  with 
the  assurance  of  assistance  from  the  French  ^ ;  and 
under  these  combined  influences  the  population,  in 
1797,  rose  hi  violent  revolt,  and  occupied  intrenched 
positions  on  the  line  leading  from  the  low  country 
towards  the  Kandyan  hills.  The  moment  was  in  every 
respect  critical ;  three  mihtary  governors  of  Colombo 
had  died  within  the  five  months  that  the  English  had 
been  in  possession  of  the  island  ^ ;  a  force  of  Sepoys 
was  sent  against  the  rebels,  se\ere  conflicts  ensued,  but 
it  was  not  till  after  considerable  loss  on  both  sides  that 
the  insurgents  were  subdued.  In  the  meantime.  Colonel 
de  Meuron  ^  was  despatched  by  Lord  Hobart  from  Ma- 
dras, and  placed  at  the  head  of  a  commission  directed 
to  inquire  into  the  causes  of  discontent,  and  the  means 
of  allaying  it. 

This  calamity  in  Ceylon  had  the  instant  effect  of 
deciding  the  pohcy  of  Mr.  Pitt,  and  of  the  Government 
at  home,  as  to  the  future  disposal  of  the  island.     It  was 


'  During-  the  ahortive  negotiations 
of  the  Earl  of  Mahnesbury  "witli  the 
French  Directory  for  peace  in  1707, 
the  restoration  of  Ceylon  to  the 
Batavian  Republic  was  one  of  tlie 
conditions  required  and  refused. — 
MALMEsnriiT's  Diary,  S,t.,  vol.  iii. 

^  Facts  regarding-  the  ]iroceedln<>:s 
of  the  INIadras  ofhcials  will  be  found 
in  a  passage  in  the   Tnivvh  of  Lord 


Valentia,  vol.  i.  ch.  vi.  p.  (Jlo.  The 
stat(>nient  bears  intenifil  evidence  of 
having  been  supplied  by  Mr.  North. 

^  Minute  of  Lord  Hobart,  15th 
March,  1708. 

"  Percival's  Cci/Ion,  ^-c,  p.  1.^2; 
Burnand's  Meinoire,  A.siaf.  Journ., 
vol.  xi.  p.  444. 

»  See  Note  2,  p.  G8. 


74  MODERX   HISTORY.  [Part  YI. 

A.D.  resolved  to  administer  the  colony  direct  from  the  crown, 
1798.  r^inl  in  October,  1798,  the  Honourable  Frederick  Xorth, 
afterwards  Earl  of  Guildford,  landed  as  the  first  British 
governor.  His  appointment,  and  that  of  all  the  civil 
officers,  were  made  by  the  king ;  but  in  the  conduct  of 
affairs,  he  was  placed  under  the  orders  of  the  Governor- 
General  of  India  ^,  an  arrangement  which  endured  tdl 
Ceylon  was  incorporated  with  the  British  dominions  by 
the  treaty  of  Amiens,  in  1802. 

]\ir.  North  arrived  in  time  to  carry  into  effect 
the  recommendations  of  De  Meuron,  that  the  Car- 
natic  revenue  system  should  be  forthA\dtli  suspended, 
and  the  Malabar  dubashes  sent  back  to  the  continent ; 
that  the  native  Moodliars  should  be  reinstated  in  their 
offices  and  dignities  ;  the  obnoxious  taxes  abohshed,  and 
till  a  preferable  arrangement  could  be  introduced  by 
degrees,  that  the  Dutch  system  should  be  resorted  to 
for  the  moment.  "  I  have  no  scruple,"  said  Mr.  Xortli, 
in  liis  first  executive  minute,  "  in  declaring  that  as  it  was 
established  and  administered  imder  the  Dutch  and  their 
predecessors,  no  system  could  be  imagined  more  dii'ectly 
hostile  to  property,  to  the  industrial  improvement,  and 
fehcity  of  the  people.  But  the  mveteracy  of  habit  pro- 
hibits aU  but  gradual  change,  and  the  experience  of  what 
has  passed  since  our  conquest  of  the  island  must  have 
convinced  every  one,  that  abrupt  and  total  revolutions 
in  laws  and  ci\al  pohty  are  not  the  means  by  which  an 
enlightened  government  can  improve  the  understanding, 
stinmlate  the  industry,  and  encourage  the  prosperity  of 


^  In  describing  the  administi-ation  |  throw  a  light  altogether  new  over  the 

of  Mr.  North,  I  have  had  the  advan-  }  leading  events  of  the  period,  espe- 

tage  of  access  to   a  collection  of  his  ciiilly  upon  the  excesses  and  coiTup- 

private  letters  addressed,  during  the  I  tious  of  the  Madras  officials,  and  the 

period    of    his    government,    to    the  I  more  than  questionable  negotiations 


Marquis  of  AVellesley,  and  deposited, 
after  the  death  of  the  latter,  by  his 
representatives  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum, where  they  form  Nos.  13,864, 
5,  G,  7  in  the  Catalogue  of  Additional 
MSS.      These  important  docimients 


between  ^Ir.  North  and  the  prime 
nunisterof  the  King  of  Kandy,  which 
were  the  prelude  to  the  lamentable 
massacre  of  the  British  troops  in 
1803. 


Chap.  III.] 


NEW   SYSTEM. 


75 


a  people  long  accustomed  to  poverty,  and  slothful  sub- 
mission to  vexatious  and  undefined  authority."  ^ 

The  Augean  task  of  reforming  such  a  state  of  fiscal 
affairs  was  rendered  infinitely  more  difficult  by  the 
intrigues,  inefficiency,  and  corruption  of  the  Madi'as 
civil  servants,  the  majority  of  whom  he  was  compelled 
to  get  rid  of  by  suspension,  dismissal,  and  forced  resigna- 
tions.^ 

Another  source  of  annoyance  was  the  lapse  of  the 
period  allowed  by  the  capitulation  of  Colombo  for  the 
dm-ation  of  the  Dutch  tribunals,  whilst  there  still  re- 
mained suits  to  be  decided  ;  and  although  the  island  was 
thus  left  without  any  legal  courts,  the  Dutch  officials, 
who  were  still  subjects  of  Holland,  and  looked  forward 
to  an  early  restoration  of  her  authority,  firmly  refused  to 
take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  and  accept  judicial  appoint- 
ments under  the  British  crown.  This  embarrassment 
Mr.  North  met  by  obtaining  legal  assistance  from  Bengal, 
and  organising  circuits  round  the  island  for  the  admini- 
stration of  justice.^ 

The  attention  of  the  governor  was  now  attracted  to 
the  strange  occurrences  wliich  were  passing  at  Kandy. 
The  king,  Rajadhi  Eaja  Singha,  was  deposed,  and  died  in 
1798,  two  years  after  the  arrival  of  the  British  \  and, 
leaving  no  issue,  the  Adigar  or  prime  minister,  Pihimc 


A.D. 

17U8. 


*  Mr.  North  to  the  Earl  of  Morx- 
INGTON  (afterwards  Marquis  of  Wel- 
LESLEY),  NoA'.  1798.  (  Welleslei/ MSS., 
Brit.  Miia.,  No.  13.865,  p.  212.) 

'^  Mr.  North  writes  to  the  Earl  of 
Momington,  of  "  the  infamous  faction 
of  Madras  civilians,"  and  his  letters 
contain  the  details  of  tlie  plunder  of 
the  Government  to  the  extent  of 
60,000  pagodas  by  one  gentleman 
who  had  charge  of  the  Pearl  Fishery ; 
and  of  another,  under  Avhose  corrupt 
judicial  uumagement  in  the  Eastern 
Province,  ''  more  than  4000  inhabi- 
tants fi'om  the  single  district  of  the 
Wanny  had  been  driven  away  since 
our  occupation  of  the  island." — Wel- 
lesley  3£tiS.,  No.  13,866,  p.  173  ;  No. 


13,867,  p,  28.  See  also  Mr.  North's 
Letter  to  the  Secret  Committee,  5th 
October,  1799  {Ihid,  p.  35). 

*  Mr.  North  to  tlie  Earl  of  Morn- 
INGTOX,  27th  October,  1798  (Wel- 
leshji  MSS:,  No.  13,866,  p.  52 ;  3rd 
November).  Ibid.,  p.  161  ;  30th  Oc- 
tober, 1799,  No.  13,867,  p.  60.  The 
first  head  of  the  judicial  establish- 
ment was  Sir  Ednuuid  Carrington, 
a  friend  and  fellow-student  t)f  Sir 
William  Jones. 

^  TuRKOFR,  in  his  Upifomc,  gives 
no  particulars  of  his  fate ;  but  Mr. 
North,  writing  to  Lord  Morning-ton 
the  same  year  in  which  ho  died, 
1798,  says  "  the  deposition  of  tlie  late 
king,  and  the  elevation  of  the   boy 


76 


MODERN    HISTOEY. 


[Part  VI. 


A.D.     Talawe,  in  virtue  of  a  Kandyan  usage,  proceeded  to  nomi- 

1798.   nate,  as  his  successor,   a  nephew  of  tlie  queen,  a  boy 

eighteen  years  old,  who  ascended  the  throne  as  Wikrema 

Eaja  Singha  ;  the  last  in  the  long  hst  of  kings  who  reigned 

over  Ceylon. 

Although  the  late  king  had  died  without  ratifying 
the  treaty  negotiated  in  1796,  the  most  amicable  rela- 
tions subsisted  between  his  successor  and  the  English, 
and  Mr.  North  was  preparing  to  do  honour  to  the  new 
sovereign  by  an  embassy  of  unusual  magnificence,  when 
communications  of  a  most  confidential  nature  were 
opened  with  him  by  the  Adigar.  In  the  course  of  nu- 
merous interviews  with  the  governor,  and  his  secretary, 
Piltime  Talawe  avowed  unreservedly  his  hatred  of  the 
reigning  Malabar  family,  his  desire  to  procure  the 
death  or  dethronement  of  the  king,  and  his  ambition  to 
restore  in  his  own  person  a  national  dynasty  to  the 
Idngclom!^  Mi'.  North,  while  he  disclaimed  participa- 
tion in  projects  so  treasonable,  discerned  in  the  designs 
of  the  Adigar  an  opportunity  for  establishing  a  mih- 
tary  protectorate  at  Kancly  with  a  subsidised  British 
force,  on  the  model  of  the  mediatised  provinces  of  India ; 
and  it  must  be  regretted  that  in  the  too  eager  pursint 
of  this  object,  Mi\  North  not  only  forbore  to  denoimce 
the  treason  of  the  minister,  but  lent  himself  to  intrigues 
inconsistent  with  the  dignity  and  honour  of  his  high 
office. 

^•"-  In  the  development  of  the  Governor's  plans  the  Adigar 
was  encouraged  to  disclose  his  designs  for  the  nun  of  the 
young  king,  whom  it  was  liis  intention  to  stimulate  to 
acts  of  atrocity  such  as  would  make  him  at  once  odious 
to  his  own  nation  and  hostile  to  the  Enghsh,  thus  pro- 
voking a  war  in  which  the  Adigar  was  to  profit  by  his 
overthrow.^     Mr.  North    did  not  consider  it  unbecom- 


wlio  now  reipiis,  was  the  work  of 
Pilanio,  first  minister, — a  g^reat  friend 
of  ours."  — Letter,  27tli  Oct.,  1798, 
Wellesley  3ISS.,  No.  13,8G6,  p.  55. 


^  Pilame  Talawe  boast ihI  his  de- 
scent from  the  royal  line  of  Ceylon. 

"^  There  are  two  works  which  may 
be  regarded  as  containing  Mr.  North's 


Chap.  IIT.] 


MR.  NORTH. 


77 


ing  his  liigh  position  to  discuss  with  him  the  terms  of  a.d. 
a  compromise  m  a  matter  so  revolting  ;  and  stii)ulating  1799 
only  for  the  personal  safely  and  nominal  rank  of  the 
king,  he  came  to  an  agreement  by  wliich  the  Kandyan 
sovereign  was  to  be  reduced  to  a  nonentity,  and  the 
Adigar  to  be  virtually  invested  with  regal  authority. 
It  was  even  contemplated  that  the  king  should  be  in- 
duced to  retire  altogether  from  tlie  capital,  to  take  up 
his  residence  at  Jaffna  within  the  Britisli  dominions,  and 
that  Pilame  Talawe  was  to  become  regent  of  the  king- 
dom, within  wliich  a  British  force  was  to  be  maintained 
at  the  cost  of  the  Kandyan  people.^ 

The  project  was  to  be  carried  into  execution  by 
means  of  an  embassy,  wliich  was  forthwith  to  be  de- 
spatched, ostensibly  to  negotiate  a  treaty  with  the  king, 
but  it  was  privately  arranged  that  the  ambassador  was 
to  be  the  General  commanding  in  the  island ;  and  the 
intended  subsidiary  force  was  to  be  introduced  under  the 
name  and  guise  of  his  "  escort." 

It  is  impossible  to  read  without  pain  the  letters  in 
which  Mr.  j^orth  communicates  confidentially,  for  the 
information  and  approval  of  the  Governor-General  of 
India,  the  progress  of  this  discreditable  intrigue.  He 
labours  to  persuade  himself  that  in  taking  a  disingenuous 
course  he  was  adopting  the  only  line  open  to  him  at 


.apology  for  his  sliave  in  these  trans- 
fictions,  and  liis  defence  of  his  gene- 
ral adniinisti-ation.  Mscoiint  Va- 
LKNTIA,  in  1804,  spent  three  weeks  in 
Ceylon  as  tlie  guest  of  tlie  Governor, 
and  in  the  Travels  which  he  after- 
wards published,  he  has  embodied  an 
elaborate  re\-iewof  Mr.  North's  policy. 
But  beijig,  as  he  says,  confined  by  in- 
disposition, the  particulars  which  he 
supplies  concerning  the  island  were 
"  derived  from  the  most  authentic 
sources'^ — and,  in  ftict,  on  comparing 
his  statement  with  the  private  letters 
of  Mr.  North  to  the  Marquis  of 
WoUesley,  we  find  that  they  exliibit 
internal  evidence  of  being,  in  part  at 
least,  tlie  work  of  one  hand  (  Travels, 


vol.  i.  p.  277-270).  About  the  same 
time,  the  Kev.  J.  Cordinek,  wlio  had 
been  chapl.iin  in  the  island  from  1799 
to  1804,  wrote  his  Description  of 
Cei/Ion,  and  in  pt.  ii.  ch.  i.  vol.  ii. 
p.  155,  he  gives  a  narrative  of  the 
Kandyan  campaigii  in  1803,  and  the 
causes  which  led  to  it ;  and  this,  too, 
evidently  eniiiuatod  from  tlie  same 
source  as  the  account  given  by  Lord 
Viilentia.  IJeading  these  two'  mani- 
festoes by  the  light  of  Mr.  North's 
confidential  correspondence  with  the 
Governor-General,  the  events  they 
record  assume  an  aspect  gi-eatly  to  be 
regi-etted. 

^  Lord  Valenxia,  ch.  vi.  p.  282. 


78 


MODERN    HISTORY. 


[Part  VI. 


A.D. 

1799. 


once  to  save  the  life  of  the  king  of  Kandy\  and  to  pro- 
mote tlie  pohtical  interest  of  Great  Britain. 

The  reception  of  an  "  armed  British  force  in  tlie 
central  capital "  he  regards  as  so  "  highly  essential  to 
British  interests,  that  he  will  not  endanger  the  success 
of  the  negotiation  by  any  over-strictness  in  the  terms 
on  whicli  it  is  to  be  obtained."^  His  principal  object 
now  is,  he  says,  to  collect  siicli  a  military  force  in  the 
island,  as  would  enable  him  to  despatch  to  Kandy  "  a 
body  of  troops  capable  of  effectuating  all  the  objects  of 
the  intended  treaty,  and  of  subduing  by  its  own  strength 
any  opposition  which  it  may  experience."  ^  "  As  to 
the  king's  dignity,"  he  adds,  "  I  shall  never  conspire  to 
take  it  away,  but  if  he  loses  it  I  shall  give  myself  as 
httle  concern  as  when  he  usurped  it  —  and  shoidd  the 
Adigar  succeed  witliout  any  concurrence  of  mine  in 
dethroning  liim,  I  suppose  you  would  make  no  objection 
to  having  the  said  Adigar  as  a  vassal."  It  is  obvious 
that  the  sentiments  thus  privately  expressed  to  the 
Marquis  of  Wellesley  are  at  variance  with  the  simul- 
taneous declarations  of  Mr.  North  to  the  Adigar,  as  stated 
on  his  authority  by  Lord  Valentia.* 

In  1800  the  programme  already  sketched  out  was 
agreed  on,  and  the  Adigar  took  his  departure  for  Kandy, 
to  obtain  the  formal  assent  of  the  king  to  the  entrance 
of  so  unprecedented  a  body  of  troops  in  tlie  suite  of  an 
ambassador.^     He  was  to  be  asked  to  allow  1000  men 


^  "  I  am  certain  tliat  if  the  troops 
are  not  sent,  and  if  tliey  are  not  put 
into  possession  of  the  capital,  the  poor 
king  would  be  deposed,  if  not  mur- 
dered, or  that  he  would  be  di-iven 
into  ago-ression  against  us,  which  I 
hope  will  excuse  me  in  your  eyes  and 
in  those  of  the  world  for  not  being  so 
delicate  as  I  othei'^\-ise  should  about 
forcing  his  inclination  or  abridging 
his  power." — ^Ir.  Notith  to  the  Earl 
of  MoRXiXGTON,  4th  Feb.  1800.  — 
Wellesley  MSS.,  No.  13,807,  p.  75. 

2  Mr.' North  to  the  Earl  of  Mobn- 


rxGTON,  2oth  Dec.  1799. —  Wellesley 
3ISS.,  No,  18,867,  p.  65. 

3  Ibid. 

*  See  Lord  Valextia's  Travels, 
ch.  vi.  p.  294. 

^  Writing  to  Lord  Mornington, 
3rd  February,  1800,  Mr.  North  avows 
that  one  object  he  had  in  view  for 
despatching  the  Adigar  on  this  errand 
was  fu  test  his  inflitence  over  the  king. 
"  If  he  has  it,"  he  continues,  '^lown 
I  shall  have  little  scruple  in  taking 
this  the  only  measure  which  can  pre- 
serve the   king's  life  and  prevent  a 


Chap.  III.] 


TEEASON    OF   THE    ADIGAR. 


79 


to  "  escort "  General  MacDowall,  but  Mr.  North  intimates     a.d. 
tliat  tliere  would  in  reality  be  1,800,  and  that  tliey  might   1800. 
eventually  be  raised  to  2,500.^ 

Still  anxious  for  self-justification  on  the  plea  that  the 
presence  of  the  Englisli  army  would  save  the  life  of  the 
king,  Mr.  North  persuaded  himself  that  the  step  he  had 
resolved  on  was  the  only  one  to  avert  an  invasion  of  tlie 
British  territory  by  the  Kandyans.  So  frank  had  tlie 
Adigar  been  in  discussing  this  step,  as  an  expedient  to 
precipitate  hostilities,  that  he  had  asked,  "  What  would 
be  considered  as  a  sufficient  aggression  ?  and  with  how 
many  men  he  Avas  to  invade  the  low  country,  to  compel 
the  British  governor  to  take  up  arms  ?  I  therefore  can- 
not but  think,"  says  Mr.  Nortli,  "  that  a  very  minute 
attention  to  diplomatic  forms  would  be  sacrificing  the 
reahty  of  justice  for  the  sake  of  its  appearance  ;  and  as  the 
troops  will  only  interfere  for  securing  the  government 
establislied  by  the  existing  power,  I  do  not  imagine  that 
the  most  rigid  pubhcist  could  find  fault  with  wliat  I  am 
about  to  do.  It  is,  however,  impossible  that  I  should 
not  feel  anxious  and  uneasy  in  conducting  so  singular  a 
busines 


a  "  2 


The  influence  of  the  Adigar  was  sufficiently  powerful 
to  overcome  the  scruples  of  the  king,  and  permission 
was  granted  for  the  advance  of  the  ambassador  with  his 
formidable  escort.^     But  the  scheme  so  elaborately  con- 


civil  war,  as  well  as  an  aggi-ession 
against  us,  into  which  it  is  the  in- 
tention of  this  Lord  Smuhrland  to 
hurry  his  poor  master,  that  ho  may 
overturn  him." — WcUesIey  MSS.,  No. 
13,8G7,  p.  72. 

'  Ijord  Valentia,  cli.  vi.  p.  28G. 

^  Mr.  North  to  the  Earl  of  Morn- 
INGTON,  7th  Feb.  1800(7/;/V/.,p.  70). 

^  This  was  announced  to  the  Mar- 
quis of  Wellesley  in  the  following- 
terms  by  Mr.  North,  16th  INIarch, 
1800 :  —  "  The  decision  is  made,  and 
General  MacDowall  set  out  with  his 
escort  on  Wednesday  last.  The 
Adigar,  liofjorum  hwf/e  turpinxiinm! 


is  to  meet  him  at  Sitavaca.  Only 
fancy  if  one  of  our  ministers  were  to 
behave  so  about  King  George,  and 
oblige  the  Abbd  Sieves  to  stipulate 
for  his  life  !  I  hope  that  I  have  not 
done  wrong,  but  I  am  not  yet  cer- 
tain whether  I  have  acted  like  a  good 
politician  or  like  a  great  nincom- 
poop."— Welh-slc;/  MSS.,  No.  1;},8G7.  , 
The  march  of  this  embassy  has  been 
described  with  gi'eat  minuteness  by 
Percival,  p.  37(3,  and  by  Cordiner, 
vol.  ii.  ch.  vi.  p.  287.  There  is  also 
an  interesting  account  of  it  in  tlie 
MSS.  of  M.  JoTXViLT.E,  who  accom- 
panied the  expedition  in  tlie  capacity 


80 


JIODERN    IIISTOKY, 


[Part  VI. 


A.D.  coctetl,  and  launched  witli  so  mucli  enterprise,  was 
1800.  doomed  to  an  early  failure.  The  alarm  of  the  king  was 
at  length  excited  by  the  nobles ;  a  large  portion  of  the 
Enghsh  troops  was  ordered  to  remain  at  the  frontier, 
the  march  of  the  others  was  impeded  by  leading  them 
through  impracticable  passes,  where  the  heavy  guns  were 
left  behind,  and  on  his  arrival  at  Kandy,  the  Greneral  was 
received  with  only  a  small  part  of  his  intended  '•  army." 
Here  the  patience  of  the  embassy  was  exhausted  by 
long  delays,  the  reception  of  a  subsidised  Britisli  force 
was  firmly  declined,  even  the  negotiation  of  a  treaty 
was  indefinitely  postponed,  and  the  General  returned  to 
Colombo  with  his  diminished  escort,  unsuccessful  and 
disappointed. 

But  the  abortive  attempt  was  speedily  productive  of 
disastrous  results.     Mr.   JSTorth   had  sown    the   teeth  (jf 


of  Naturalist  and  Draughtsman ;  and  I  cliaracteristic  sketch  of  the  Amhassa- 
in  it  he  has  introduced  the  followino-     dor  and  the  Adi<?ar. 


INTERVIEW  BETWEEN  GENERAL  MACDOWALL  AND  THE  ADIGAR. 
General  MacDowaU.  2.  ril&me  TaKuve.  3.  The  Mooilliar  Intoi  prefer. 


CuAP.  III.]  IL'VXDY   TAXEX.  81 

the  dragon,  and  they  germinated  mto  an  early  and  fear-    a.d. 
ful  harvest  of  blood.  ^^^^' 

The  Adigar,  foiled  in  his  endeavours  to  reduce  liis 
sovereign  to  a  pageant,  turned  to  his  remaining  device 
of  provoking  a  war  by  aggression  on  British  territory 
and  subjects.  Nearly  two  years  were  spent  in  efforts  to 
this  end ;  first  his  agents  excited  insurrections,  which 
were  speedily  quelled,  at  ISTegombo  and  Manaar  ^,  and 
next  he  himself  sought  alternately  to  embroil  the  governor 
by  secret  charges  against  the  king,  and  to  infuriate  the 
king  by  insinuations  against  the  governor.^  Overtures 
for  a  treaty  were  made  from  Kandy,  but  on  conditions  so 
inadmissible  as  to  ensure  their  rejection.  At  length, 
in  April  1802,  armed  parties  began  to  disturb  the  a.d. 
frontier ;  and  a  rich  tavalam  or  caravan  of  Moors,  British  1802. 
s^ibjects,  returning  from  Kandy  to  Putlam,  were  forcibly 
deprived  of  their  property  by  officers  of  the  king. 

This  was  the  "  sufficient  aggression  "  which  the  Adigar 
had   so    long    meditated.      Compensation   was   evaded, 
war  ensued,  and  in  February,  1803,  a  British  force  of    a.d. 
3000  men  under  General  MacDowall  took  possession  of  ^^^ 
Kandy,  which  they  found  evacuated  by  the  inliabitants. 

The  Idng  fled  to  Hanguran-ketty,  after  firing  the  palace 
and  temples  ;  and  the  Enghsh  general,  in  concert  with 
the  perfidious  Adigar,  placed  Mootoo  Saamy,  a  compliant 
member  of  the  royal  family,  on  the  throne.  The  first 
act  of  the  new  sovereign  was  to  reahse  the  desired  pohcy 


^  Mr.  North  to  tlie  Earl  of  Moii- 
NINGTON,  15th  Jimo,  1800  (  Wellesley 
3ISS.,  p.  125).  The  pretext  was  the 
imposition  of  a  tax  ou  the  wear- 
ing of  jewels.  Mr.  Nokth  says,  he 
*'  had  evidence  on  oath  that  the 
Adigar  had  at  the  same  time  attempt- 
ed to  organise  a  revolt  at  Colombo, 
with  assiu-ances  of  co-opcratiou  from 
Kandy." 

*  Amongst  other  im-piitations  by 
which  he  alarmed  the  king,  was  the 

VOL.  II.  G 


insinuation  tliat  the  5000  British 
troops  assembled  at  Trincomalie 
in  1801,  under  the  command  of 
Colonel  Wellesley,  afteiTvards  Dulce 
of  Wellington,  and  intended  for  the 
reduction  of  Ratavia,  were  in  reality 
designed  for  the  invasion  of  Kandy. 
— Mr.  North  to  tlu;  M.  of  AVellks- 
LEY,  l.'ldi  .Tune,  1801.  This  force 
was  subsoqnentlv  conducted  to  Egypt 
by  Sir  David  Baird. 


82  3I0DEIIX    HISTORY.  [Part  VI. 

A.D.  of  ]\Ii\  Xortli,  by  accepting  a  subsidiary  force,  and  con- 
ceding  extensive  territory  to  the  British  Crown.  The 
Adigar,  who,  in  the  midst  of  the  tm^moil,  contrived  to 
retam  his  influence  with  all  parties,  entered  into  a  separate 
convention  with  the  general,  by  which  the  grand  object 
of  his  ambition  was  at  last  to  be  realised  :  —  The  fugitive 
king  was  to  be  dehvered  up  to  the  English,  the  king  de 
facto  was  to  be  relegcited  with  a  suitable  appanage  to 
Jaffna,  and  "  the  illustrious  Lord  Pilame  Talawe,"  with 
the  title  of  Grand  Prmce  (Ootoon  Kumarayen\  was  to 
wield  the  supreme  authority  at  Kandy.  On  the  faith  of 
tliis  convention  with  an  undisgiused  traitor,  the  British 
general  retired  to  Colombo  on  an  ominous  anniversary, 
the  1st  April,  1803;  leaving  behind  him  300  Enghsh 
and  700  Malays  as  the  subsidised  British  contingent. 

But  it  was  soon  ascertained  that  the  new  king  wq,^ 
despised  by  his  own  countrymen  ;  he  had  undergone 
public  punishment  at  a  former  period  for  convicted  fi'aud, 
"  he  met  with  no  adlierents,  and  remained  in  the  palace 
surrounded  only  by  domestics,  and  supported  by  no  other 
power  than  the  British  army,"  ^  who  were  speedily  deci- 
mated by  disease. 

The  Adigar,  apparently  hm-ried  beyond  his  usual  (hs- 
cretion  by  the  rapid  success  of  his  treason,  saw  but 
another  step  between  him  and  the  throne.  Of  the  two 
kings,  one  was  an  outlaw,  the  other  an  imbedWe  faineant ; 
the  British  troops  were  prostrated  by  sickness,  and  the 
moment  appeared  propitious  to  grasp  the  crown  he  had 
so  long  coveted.  He  formed  the  bold  design  to  seize  the 
person  of  the  Enghsh  governor ;  to  exterminate  the 
attenuated  Enghsh  garrison  ;  to  desti^oy  the  rival  sove- 
reigns, and  found  a  new  dj^nasty  in  Kandy.  The  first 
plot  was  defeated  by  an  accident  '^,  but  the  massacre  of 
the  f  jrces  was  fearfully  reahsed. 

The  hospitals  at  the  moment  were  surcharged  with 


^  Lord  Yalentia,  ch.  vi.  vol.  i.  I      ^  jhe  person   of   Mr.  Xorth  was 
p.  298 ;  CoKDiXKR,  vol.  ii.  p.  188.        |  to  have  been  seized  during  an  inter- 


CUAP.  III.] 


MASSACEE. 


83 


sick,  and  the  available  strength  of  the  British  was  reduced 
to  a  handful  of  European  convalescents  and  about  four 
hundred  Malays  and  gun-lascars,  under  an  incompetent 
and  inexperienced  commandant,  Major  Davie. 

On  the  morning  of  the  24th  June,  Kandy  was  sur- 
rounded by  thousands  of  armed  natives ;  who  assailed 
the  British  garrison  from  the  hills  which  overhang  the 
ancient  palace ;  numbers  were  killed,  and  the  residue, 
exhausted  and  helpless,  were  compelled  to  capitulate. 
The  Adigar  guaranteed  their  safety  and  that  of  the 
royal  pi^otege,  Mootoo  Saamy,  with  wliom  they  were 
permitted  to  march  about  three  miles,  to  the  banks  of 
the  Mahawelli-ganga,  on  their  way  to  Trincomahe. 
But  they  were  detained  for  two  days,  unable  to  pass  the 
river,  which  was  swollen  by  the  recent  rains  ;  and  here 
they  were  forced  to  surrender  the  person  of  the  prince, 
who  was  instantly  slain.  Major  Davie  was  led  back  to 
Kandy,  his  soldiers  were  persuaded  to  give  up  then' 
arms,  the  Malays  were  made  prisoners,  and  the  British 
officers  and  men,  led  two  by  two  into  a  hollow  out  of 
sight  of  their  comrades,  were  felled  by  blows  from  behind, 
inflicted  by  the  Caffres,  and  despatched  by  the  knives  of 
the  Kandyans. 

One  soldier  alone  escaped  from  the  carnage  and  sur- 
vived to  tell  the  fate  of  his  companions.^  An  officer  '^ 
who  commanded  at  Fort  MacDowall,  about  eighteen 
miles  eastward  of  Kandy,  spiked  his  gun,  abandoned  his 


A.D. 

1803. 


idew  wbicli  the  Adigar  solicited  at 
Dambedenia,  in  the  Seven  Corles, 
but  the  attempt  was  rendered  abor- 
tive by  the  unforeseen  ariival  of  an 
officer  with  a  detachment  of  ^300 
Malays,  who  came  to  pay  their  re- 
spects to  the  Grovemor.  —  Coedinee, 
vol.  ii.  p.  201. 

^  Tliis  was  Coi-poral  Barnsley, 
whose  singular  stoiy  will  be  found  in 
the  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Canquest 
o/"  Ce>/lon  hy  the  British,  written  by 
Henky  Makshall,  Deputy  Inspec- 
tor-General of  Hospitals,  a  book 
which  contains  by  far  the  best  ac- 


count of  the  militaiy  operations  of 
tlie  British  from  1803  to  1804.  Dr. 
Davy,  in  his  work  on  the  Interior  of 
Ceylon  (ch.  x.  p.  313),  has  given  a 
number  of  cmious  particulars  of 
these  occuiTences,  gleaned  by  per- 
sonal inquiry  from  the  Kandyans  — 
from  which  it  would  appear  that  the 
actual  massacre  was  tlie  worlc  of  the 
king,  and  not  of  the  Adigar.  Cordi- 
nek's  Narrative  of  tlie  same  events 
will  be  found  in  his  2nd  vol.  cli.  iii. 
p.  203. 

^  Captain  Madge. 


84 


:\IODERX   HISTORY, 


[Part  VI. 


A.D. 

1803. 


sick,  and  with  difficulty  succeeded  iii  bringing  off  liis 
men  to  Trincomalie  —  another  held  his  position  at 
Dambedeuia  till  brought  ofT  by  a  rehef  from  Colombo ; 
but  ^vithin  the  briefest  possible  space,  not  one  British 
soldier  was  left  -within  the  dominions  of  Kandy.^ 

Years  were  allowed  to  elapse  before  any  adequate  re- 
tribution was  inflicted  on  the  authors  of  this  massacre. 
CoRDiXEE,  who  was  at  Colombo  when  the  intelhgence 
arrived,  describes  the  effect  as  "  imiversal  consterna- 
tion ;  it  was  like  a  burst  of  thunder  portended  by  a 
dark  and  gloomy  sky  and  foUowed  by  an  awful  and 
overpowering  calm."  ^  The  first  impidse  of  the  Enghsh 
was  for  general  and  indiscriminate  vengeance  on  the 
Kandyan  people  ;  but  death  and  disease  had  so  reduced 
the  British  force,  that  even  this  was  impracticable  for 
want  of  troops,  and  the  few  that  remained  serviceable 
had  soon  ample  occupation  in  defenduig  thek  own 
territory  from  the  dangers  with  which  it  was  tlu^eatened 
from  Kandy. 

The  bloody  triumph  he  had  achieved  seemed  to 
have  suddenly  hiflamed  the  savage  king  with  a  sense 
of  his  own  strength  and  a  consciousness  of  the  im- 
pregnabihty  of  his  natural  defences.  By  a  strenuous 
exertion  of  his  authority  and  influence  over  the  low- 
couutiy  Singhalese,  he  succeeded  in  exciting  a  spirit  of 
revolt,  and  in  a  very  few  weeks  there  was  not  a  point 
throughout  the  entire  circuit  of  the  island,  fi'om  Ham- 
bangtotte  and  Tangalle  to  Jaffna  and  Trincomahe,  at 
wliich  the  native  population  were  not  preparing  to  take 
up  arms  for  the  expulsion  of  the  British  ;  whilst  the 
Kandyans  themselves,  descending  in  hordes  from  the 
hills,  made  simultaneous  attacks  upon  Matura  on  the 
south,  Chilaw  and  Putlam  on  the  west,  Moeletivoe  and 


*  Major  Davie  was  detained  in 
captivity  at  Kandy  till  1810,  when 
he  died  without  ha'viug  any  opportu- 
nity to  communicate  with  his  countiy, 


or  to  leave  a  defence  of  his  memory 
from  the  serious  imputations  that 
rest  upon  it. 

*  CoEDETEE,  ch.  iii.  vol.  ii.  p.  210. 


Chap.  IIT.]  WAR   WITH   KAXDY.  85 

Jaffna  on  the  north,  and  Batticaloa  and  Cottiar  on  the  a.d. 
eastern  coa&t.  The  king  in  person  led  an  army  to  hay  ■^^^''^• 
siecje  to  Colombo,  and  advanced  to  Hanf^welle  within 
eighteen  miles  of  the  Fort ;  but  he  was  driven  back  by  the 
garrison,  who  recovered  from  his  discomfited  followers 
a  number  of  the  ajuns  and  muskets  which  liad  belomjed  to 
the  ill-fated  force  of  Major  Davie.  Equally  foiled  at  all 
other  points,  the  king  went  up  into  his  mountain  fast- 
nesses, leaving  the  Enghsh  in  the  low  country  so  ex- 
hausted by  the  campaign  that  the  last  available  soldiers 
^vere  withdrawn  fi-om  Colombo  and  the  duty  of  the 
garrison  entrusted  to  pensioners  and  invalids.^ 

Mr.  North  applied  to  the  Governor-General  of  India 
for  at  least  3000  troops  ^,  to  enable  him  to  take  ven- 
geance on  the  Kandyans  ;  but  the  renewal  of  hostihties 
between  England  and  France  in  1803  rendered  it  impos- 
sible to  send  such  reinforcements  to  Ceylon  as  woidd 
have  enabled  the  Governor  to  take  effectual  measm^es 
for  the  recapture  of  Kandy^;  —  and  for  the  two  following 
years  he  was  forced  to  confine  his  operations  to  the 
chastisement    of    the    Singhalese    districts    which    had 


^  CoKDiNEE,  vol.  ii.  ch.  iii.  p.  236.  his  perilous  coiu-se,  brought  off  his 

2  Mr.  North  to  the  Marquis  of  '  men  to  Trincomalie  on  the  20th 
Welltcslet,  29th  July,  1804  (  Wei-  ,  October,  1804,  with  only  the  loss  of 
Icslfy  3ISS.f  p.  204).                               I  10  British  soldiers,  and  6  woimded. 

3  One  efibrt  was  contemplated  in  This  heroic  adventure  came  oppor- 
1804  for  an  assault  upon  Kandy  by  tmiely  to  retrieve  the  character  of 
a  simiiltaneous  advance  of  British  the  British  army  from  the  disgrace 
troops  from  six  difiereut  points  of  into  which  it  had  sunk  in  the  mmds 
the  coast,  all  concentrating  at  the  of  the  Kandyans.  Forbes  was  in- 
capital.  Orders  were  issued  to  some  fonued  by  one  of  the  chiefs  who  had 
of  the  intended  commanders,  but  on  harassed  Captain  Johnston's  retreat, 
fiu'ther  inquiry  the  attempt  was  that  an  impression  left  on  the  natives 
found  impracticable,  and  abandoned,  was  that  he  "  must  have  been  in 
Amongst  others.  Captain  Johnston  alliance  with  supernatural  powers,  as 
had  been  directed  to  march  from  his  judgment  and  energy,  superior 
Batticaloa,  and  make  his  appearance  as  they  were,  were  insufficient  to  ac- 
at  Kandy  on  a  given  day  —  and  this  count  for  his  escape  through  one  con- 
order,  by  some  strange  accident,  it  loas  tinued  ambush."  —  Forbes's  Eleven 
omitted  to  counter mancl.  Captain  Years  in  Ceylon,  yol.  i.  p.  41.  Cap- 
Johnston,  in  consequence,  advanced  tain  .Johnston  has  left  an  account  of 
with  about  300  men,  of  whom  82  were  his  Expedition  to  Kandij,  London, 
Europeans,  on  the  20th  September —  j  1810,  which  is  one  of  the  most 
fought  his  way  to  Kandy,  which  he  ,  thrilling  military  naiTatives  on  re- 
occupied  for  three  days,  and  retracing  1  cord. 

G  3 


86  MODERN   HISTORY.  [Part  YI. 

A-D-  displayed  disaffection,  and  to  laying  waste  the  out- 
1803.  ipj-,g  territories  of  Kandy,  burning  the  villages  and 
temples,  and  destroying  the  harvests  and  fruit  trees. 
The  private  correspondence  of  IMr.  Xorth  at  this  period 
with  the  Governor-General  of  India  e\dnces  the  inten- 
sity of  his  anxiety  for  peace.  Messages  were  sent 
secretly  to  the  king,  through  the  high  priest  of  Kandy, 
to  entreat  him  to  ask  for  pardon,  as  all  the  Governor 
required  was  not  treasm'e  or  territories,  "  but  satis- 
faction for  the  horrid  crime  he  had  pei'petrated  ; "  but 
the  only  reply  was  a  refusal  on  the  ground  that  the 
butchery  had  been  committed  ■without  his  orders  by 
the  Adigar,  from  whom  he  had  since  withdrawn  his  con- 
fidence.^ A  sullen  peace  ensued  from  the  exliaustion 
of  the  enemy  ;  and  the  long-deferred  retribution  for  the 
atrocities  of  1803  was  not  exacted  till  1815,  when  a 
renewal  of  similar  aggressions  and  cruelties  by  tlie 
Kandyan  sovereign  led  to  the  final  and  effectual  over- 
tlirow  of  his  authority. 

The  administration  of  Mr.  North,  although  dimmed 
by  these  diplomatic  errors  and  the  sanguinary  results 
by  which  they  were  followed,  was  characterised  by  signal 
success  in  the  organisation  of  the  ci\il  government ;  the 
promotion  of  rehgion,  education,  and  commerce ;  the 
establishment  of  comts  of  justice  ;  the  reform  of  the 
revenue ;  and  the  advancement  of  native  agricultiu^e  and 
industry.  The  three  mihtary  governors  who  succeeded 
him  between  1805  and  1820"^,  devoted  to  the  civil  im- 
provement of  tlie  colony  all  the  attention  compatible 
with  the  madequate  income  of  the  settlement,  and  the 
vigilance  and  precautions  indispensable  for  its  protection 
from  foreign,  as  well  as  internal  enemies. 

Dming  this  interval,  the  career  of  the  Kandyan  king 


'  Mr.  North  to  the  Marquis  of 
"Welleslet,  ITtli  .Tanuarv,  1804 
(  Wellesley  MSS.,  p.  287).  CoRDiyER 
states  (ch.  iii.  vol.  ii.  p.  259),  that 
these  advances  for  peace  were  "made 
by  the  Kandyans,"  but  the  letter 
quoted  above  shows  that  they  ema- 
nated from  the  Governor. 


"^  1805,  Lieutenant-General  the 
liight  Honom-able  Sir  Thomas  Mait- 
land,  G.C.B.  1811,  Major-General 
Wilson,  Lieutenant-Governor,  1812, 
General  Sir  Robert  Brownrigg, 
Bart.,  G.C.B. 


CiiAP.  ITT.]  THE    TYRA^'T.  87 

presents   a   picture   of    tyrannous   atrocity   unsurpassed,    a.d. 
if  it  be  even  paralleled,  in  its  savage  excesses,  by  any  1^^^- 
recorded  example  of  human  depra\dty.      Distracted  be- 
tween the  sense  of  possessing  regal  power  and  the  con- 
sciousness of  inabihty  to  wield  it,  he  was  at  once  tyran- 
nous  and   timid,  suspicious  and  revengeful.      Insmi^ec- 
tions  were  excited  by  liis  cruelties,  and  the  chiefs  who 
remained    loyal    became    odious    from    possessing    the 
influence  to  suppress  them.     The  forced  labour  of  the 
people  was  expended  on  works  of  caprice  and  inutihty  ^ ; 
and  the  courtiers  who  ventured  to  remonstrate  were  dis- 
missed and  exiled  to  their  estates.     At  length,  the  often- 
baffled  traitor,  Pilame  Talawe,   was  detected  in  an   at- 
tempt  to  assassinate  the  king,  and   beheaded  in   1812,    a.d. 
and    his    nephew,   Eheylapola,   raised   to   the   office   of  ■'^^•^^• 
Adigar. 

But  Eheylapola  inlierited  with  the  power  all  the 
ambitious  duplicity  of  his  predecessor ;  and  avaihng  a.d. 
himself  of  the  universal  horror  with  which  the  king 
was  regarded,  he  secretly  sohcited  the  connivance  of  the 
Governor,  Sir  Eobert  Browm^igg,  to  the  organisation  of 
a  general  revolt.  The  conspiracy  was  discovered  and 
extinguished  with  indiscriminate  bloodshed  ;  whilst  the 
discomfited  Adigar  was  forced  to  fly  to  Colombo,  and 
supphcate  the  protection  of  the  British.^  And  now  fol- 
lowed an  awful  tragedy,  which  cannot  be  more  vividly  de- 
scribed than  in  the  language  of  Davy,  who  collected  the 
particulars  from  eye-witnesses  of  the  scene.  "Hurried 
along  by  the  flood  of  his  revenge,  the  tyrant,  lost  to  every 
tender  feehng,  resolved  to  punish  Eheylapola  who  had 
escaped,  through  liis  family,  who  still  remained  in  his 
power :  he  sentenced  his  wife  and  children,  and  his 
brother  and  his  w^ife,  to  death  ;  the  brother  and  chiklren 
to  be  beheaded,  and  the  females  to  be  drowned.  In  front 
of  the  queen's  palace,  and  between  the  Nata  and  Maha 


^  The  ornamental  lake  at  Kandy  was  formed  about  the  year  1809,  by 
order  of  the  king.  2  i„  ]\jj,y^  jgi^ 

G    4 


88  MODEKX   HISTORY.  [Part  VJ. 

^•^-    Vishnu  Dewales,  as  if  to  shock  and  insult  the   o-ods  as 

-1  q-I    4  ,  ,  C3 

■  well  as  the  sex,  the  wife  of  Eheylapola  and  his  children 
were  brought  from  prison,  where  they  had  been  in  charge 
of  female  gaolers,  and  dehvered  over  to  their  execu- 
tioners. The  lady,  ^\ith  great  resolution,  maintamed  hers 
and  her  children's  innocence  and  her  lord's  ;  at  the  same 
time,  submitting  to  the  king's  pleasure,  and  offering  up 
her  own  and  her  offsprings'  hves,  with  the  fervent  hope 
that  her  husband  would  be  benefited  by  the  sacrifice. 
Havino;  uttered  these  sentiments  aloud,  she  desii^ed  her 
eldest  child  to  submit  to  his  fate;  the  poor  boy,  who 
was  eleven  years  old,  clung  to  his  mother  terrified  and 
crying  ;  her  second  son,  of  nine  years,  heroically  stepped 
forward :  and  bade  his  brother  not  to  be  afi^aid — he 
would  show  him  the  way  to  die  !  By  the  blow  of  a  sword 
the  head  of  this  noble  child  was  severed  from  his  body ; 
streaming  with  blood,  and  hardly  inanimate,  it  was 
thrown  into  a  rice  mortar,  the  pestle  was  put  into  the 
mother's  hands,  and  she  was  ordered  to  pound  it,  or 
be  disgracefully  tortured.  To  avoid  the  infamy,  the 
■wi^etched  woman  did  hft  up  the  pestle  and  let  it  fall. 
One  by  one  the  heaxls  of  her  chikken  were  cut  off;  and 
one  by  one  the  poor  mother  .  .  .  but  the  circumstance 
is  too  dreadful  to  be  dwelt  on.  One  of  the  children 
was  an  infont,  and  it  was  plucked  from  its  mother's 
breast  to  be  beheaded  :  when  the  head  was  severed  from 
the  body,  the  milk  it  had  just  drawn  ran  out  mmgled 
with  its  blood.  During  this  tragical  scene,  the  crowd 
who  had  assembled  to  mtness  it  wept  and  sobbed  aloud, 
unable  to  suppress  their  feehngs  of  grief  and  horror. 
Pahhapane  Dissave  was  so  affected  that  he  fainted,  and 
was  expelled  his  office  for  showing  such  sensibility. 
During  two  days,  the  Avhole  of  Kandy,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  tyrant's  court,  was  as  one  house  of  moimi- 
ing  and  lamentation,  and  so  deep  was  the  grief  that  not 
a  fire,  it  is  said,  was  kindled,  no  food  was  dressed,  and 
a  general  fast  was  held.  After  the  execution  of  her 
children,  the  sufferings  of  the  mother  were  speedily  re- 


CuAP.  III.]  CONQUEST   OP   ]L\XDY.  80 

lieved.     Slie  and  her  sister-in-law  were  led  to  the  little    a-»- 

■y  1814 

tank  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  Kandy,  called 
Bogambara,  and  di"owned."  ^ 

This  awful  occurrence  in  all  its  hideous  particulars, 
I  have  had  verified  by  individuals  still  h\ing,  who  were 
spectators  of  a  scene  that,  after  the  lapse  of  forty  years, 
is  still  spoken  of  with  a  shudder. 

But  the  limit  of  human  endurance  had  been  passed  : 
revolt  became  rife  throughout  the  kingdom  :  promiscuous 
executions  followed,  and  the  terrified  nation  anxiously 
watched  for  the  approach  of  a  British  force  to  rescue 
them  from  the  monster  on  the  throne.  At  length,  the 
insensate  savage  ventured  to  challenge  tlie  descent  of 
the  vengeance  that  awaited  him.  A  party  of  native 
merchants,  British  subjects,  who  had  gone  up  to  Kandy 
to  trade,  were  seized  and  mutilated  by  the  tyrant ;  they 
were  deprived  of  their  ears,  their  noses,  and  hands,  and 
those  who  survived  were  driven  towards  Colombo,  ^\i^h 
the  severed  members  tied  to  their  necks. ^ 

An  avenging  army  was  instantly  on  its  march.     War 
was  declared  in  January  1815^,  and  within  a  few  weeks    a.t>. 
the   Kandyan   capital  was   once   more   in  possession  of  ^^^^• 
the   Enghsh^,   and   the   despot   a   captive  at   Colombo, 
whence   he   was   eventually   transferred    to   the   Indian 


'  Davy,  cli.  x.  p.  321.  1  had  already  been  violated  by  the  ir- 

^  It  cannot  extenuate  so  wanton  |  ruptious  and  depredations  of  Kan- 
an  atrocity  to  mention  that  in  the  [  dyan  forces  across  the  border.  ''War," 
Mahmmnso,  the  exploit  is  rel.ated  [  it  announced,  "  was  not  directed 
mth  complacency  of  Mogallana,  wlio,  |  ag'ainst  the  people  but  their  tyrant, 
on  the  deposition  of  his  pamcidal  who  had  become  an  object  of  abhor- 
brother,  Kaasyapa,  A.D.  495,  ''cut  off  rence  to  mankind,"  and  protection 
the  ears  and  noses  of  the  late  king's  '  was  offered  to  every  Kandyan  sub- 
ministers  before  driving  them  into  ject  who  was  prepared  to  welcome 
exile." — Mahawanso,  ch.  xxxix.  j  their  deliverers. 

3  The  declaration  of  war  sets  out  i  ^  14th  February,  1815.  '^  From 
that  it  was  undertaken  in  compliance  this  day  we  date  the  extinction  of 
with  "  the  prayers  of  more  than  one  Singhalese  independence  —  an  inde- 
half  the  Kandyan  kingdom,"  and  with  i  pendence  wliich  had  continued  with- 
the  sympathies  of  the  rest,  for  tlie  |  out   material  interruption  for   2,357 


vindication  of  Britisli  subjects  out- 
raged by  the  king,  and  the  secmity 
of  his  majesty's  possessions,  which 


vears."  —  ICnighton,    ch.    x^di.    p. 
325. 


90 


MODERN   HISTORY. 


[Part  VI. 


A.D.  fortress  of  Vellore.^  The  proclamation  of  tlie  Viceroy 
l8lo.  j-gcalled  tlie  massacre  of  1803  as  one  of  the  many 
causes  of  the  war,  and  on  the  2nd  Marcli,  1815,  a  solemn 
convention  of  the  cliiefs  assembled  in  the  audience 
hall  of  the  palace  of  Kandy,  at  which  a  treaty  was  con- 
cluded formally  deposing  the  Idng  and  vesting  his 
dominions  in  the  Britisli  Crown ;  on  condition  that 
the  national  rehgion  should  be  maintained  and  pro- 
tected, justice  impartially  adnmiistered  to  the  people,  and 
the  chiefs  guaranteed  in  their  ancient  pri\ileges  and 
powers.  Elieylapola,  who  had  cherished  the  expectation 
that  the  crown  would  have  descended  to  his  own  head, 
bore  the  disappointment  with  dignity,  declined  the  offers 
of  high  office,  and  retired  with  the  declaration  that  his 
ambition  was  satisfied  by  being  recognised  as  "  the  Friend 
of  the  British  Government." 

Happy  as  this  consummation  appeared,  the  tranquillity 
which  ensued  was  but  transient ;  before  two  years  the  same 
people  who  had  invited  the  Enghsli  as  deliverers  rose  in  re- 
behion  to  expel  them  as  intruders.  Xor  is  this  anomaly, 
strange  as  it  may  seem,  without  explanation.  With 
the  mass  of  the  population  the  king  was  less  odious  than 
the  chiefs  who  were  "  the  real  tyrants  of  the  country ; "  ^ 
and  as  these  were  stiU  to  be  maintained  in  aU  their 
dangerous  powers,  the  people,  even  whilst  the  cannon 
were  thundering  salutes  in  honom-  of  the  \'ictoiy,  exlii- 


A.D. 

1816 


^  A  curious  account  of  the  capture 
of  tlie  king,  and  his  demeanour  after 
his  deposition^  is  contained  in  a  pam- 
phlet published  in  1815,  under  the 
title  of  "^  Narrative  of  Events 
which  have  recenthj  occurred  in  Cey- 
lon, -nritten  by  a  Gentleman  on  the 
spot;  London,  Egerton,  1815."  From 
the  identity  of  tlie  materials  with 
those  in  the  xxvth  ch.  of  the  History 
of  Ceylon,  by  Piulalethes,  the  two 
statements  appear  to  have  been 
wi-itten  by  the  same  person,  and  evi- 
dently by  one  who  was  present  in 
Colombo  whilst  the  occuiTeuces  he 


describes  were  in  progi'ess.  One  re- 
mark which  the  king  made  is  worth 
recording:  "  Your  English  governors," 
he  said,  "  have  one  advantage  over 
us  kings  of  Kandy —  the}'  have  coim- 
cillors  near  them  who  never  allow 
them  to  do  anj-thing  in  a  passion ; 
but,  unfortunately  for  us,  the  of- 
fender is  dead  before  our  resent- 
ment has  subsided."— P.  180.  The 
king  died  at  ^'eUore,  30th  Januar\-, 
1832. 

2  Sawyer's  3IS.  Notes  mi  the  Con- 
quest of  Kandy ;  Marshall,  p.  70. 


ClIAP.  III.] 


FRESn   REVOLT. 


91 


bitecl  a  sullen  indifference  to  the  change.^  The  remote- 
ness of  Britain  rendered  its  abstract  authority  unhi- 
telligible,  and  the  Kandyans  were  unable  to  reahse  the 
myth  for  which  they  had  exchanged  a  visible  king. 
The  chiefs  themselves  soon  discovered  that  thek  rank 
failed  to  command  its  accustomed  homage  and  obedience  ; 
the  nice  distinctions  of  caste  were  unappreciable  by 
the  Enghsh  soldiers,  and  its  prejudices  and  pecuharities 
were  unconsciously  subjected  to  incessant  violations.^ 
Two  years  of  the  experiment  were  sufficient  to  ripen 
the  universal  disappointment  into  an  appetite  for  change.^ 
So  impatient  had  all  classes  become,  that  uniformity 
of  feehng  supphed  the  place  of  organisation  ^ ;  and 
without  combination  or  concert,  nearly  the  whole  king- 
dom rose  simultaneously  in  arms  in  the  autumn  of 
1817.  An  aspirant  to  the  cro^vn  was  duly  adopted  and 
obeyed ;  the  dissave  of  Oovah,  who  had  been  sent  to 
tranquillise  the  disturbed  districts,  placed  hunself  at  the 
head  of  the  insurgents,  and  Eheylapola,  the  ardent 
"  friend  of  the  British  Government,"  was  seized  and 
expatriated  for  fomenting  the  rebellion.^  A  guerilla 
war  ensued,  in  wliich  regidar  troops,  traversing  damp 
forests  by  jungle  tracks  and  mountain  passes,  were  less 
distressed  by  the  enemy  than  by  exposiure,  privations, 
and  disease.  For  more  than  ten  months  discomfiture 
seemed  imminent,  and  so  universal  was  the  conspiracy 
of  the  inliabitants,  that  not  a  Kandyan  leader  of  any 


A.D. 

181G. 


A.D. 

1817. 


^  MAESHALL,who  was  present  during 
the  conference  in  Kandy,  says,  "  they 
did  not  leave  their  ordinary  occupa- 
tions even  to  look  at  the  troops  which 
were  assembled  in  review  order  in 
the  gi'eat  square  before  the  Audience 
Hall.  Apparently,  they  regarded 
the  transfer  of  the  Government  from 
an  Oriental  to  a  European  d^Tiasty 
with  perfect  unconcern." — P.  "lG.3. 

*  Davy,  ch.  x.  p.  320  ;  Marshall, 
p.  174. 

3  The  Kandyans  used  to  inquire 
when  the  English  meant  to  leave  the 


maritime  provdnces.  ''You  have 
deposed  the  king,"  said  one,  "and 
nothing  more  is  required,  you  may 
leave  us  now."  "  They  showed  no 
dislike  to  us  individually,  but  as  a 
nation,  they  abliorrcd  us  ;  they  made 
no  complaint  of  oppression  or  misride, 
simply  wishing  that  we  shoidd  leave 
the  country." — Marshall^  p.  175. 

4  Marshall,  p.  179. 

^  Eheylapola  was  transpoi-ted  to 
the  IMam-itius,  where  he  died  in  exile 
in  1829. 


92  MODEEX   IIISTOEY.  [Part  VT. 

A.D.  consequence  Avas  taken,  and  not  a  district  was  either 
1817.  pacified  or  subdued.^  So  great  Avas  the  apprehension 
of  the  Government,  and  such  the  horrors  of  the  species 
of  warfare  in  whicli  they  were  involved,  tliat  the 
expediency  had  abeady  been  discussed  of  abandoning 
the  contest  and  A\dthdrawing  the  British  forces  to  the 
coast  ^,  when  towards  the  close  of  1818,  the  Kandyans, 
harassed  by  the  destruction  of  their  villages  and  cattle, 
rendered  destitute  by  the  devastation  of  theu^  country, 
and  disheartened  by  the  loss  of  upwards  of  ten  thousand 
persons,  either  fallen  in  the  field  or  destroyed  by  famine 
and  fever  ^,  beo-an  to  throw  out  sio-nals  of  submission. 
The  rebelhous  chiefs  were  captured  ;  the  pretender  fled  ; 
the  great  palladium,  "  the  sacred  tooth "  of  Buddlia, 
which  had  been  stolen  and  paraded  to  arouse  the  fana- 
tical enthusiasm  of  the  people,  was  recovered  and 
restored  to  its  depository  in  Kandy  ;  and  before  the  close 
of  the  year,  the  whole  country  returned  to  tranquillity 
and  order. 

The  rebellion  of  1817  was  the  last  great  occasion  on 
which  the  Enghsh  forces  were  arrayed  in  hostihty  against 
the  natives  of  any  portion  of  Ceylon.  Amongst  the 
Singhalese  of  the  maritime  districts,  there  has  never 
prevailed  any  long-sustained  feeling  of  discontent  with 
the  British  rule,  and  the  insurrectionary  disturbances 
around  the  coast,  which  followed  the  massacre  of  1803, 
were  excited  by  the  influence,  and  carried  on  by  the 
direct  instrumentality,  of  the  Adigar  and  the  King  of 
Kandy.  But  a  very  few  years'  experience  of  the  bene- 
ficence of  Enghsh  government  sufficed  to  eradicate  any 
tendency  to  disafiection,  and  in  oiu'  subsequent  struggles 
with  the  people  of  the  liill  country,  the  inhabitants  of 
the  lowlands  exhibited  neither  sympathy  nor  co-operation 
witli  the  enemy. 

Tlie  case  was,  however,   diflerent  witli   the  Kandyan 


»  Davy,  ch.  x.  p.  327.  |       3  Davy,  cli.  x.  p.  .331. 

2  Mausuall,  p.  191.  I 


Chap.  III.] 


THE   CHIEF. 


93 


cliiefs,  and  the  measures  essential  to  conciliate  the  mass 
of  the  population  were  calculated  to  increase  the  irrita- 
tion of  their  feudal  masters. 

The  relation  of  clans-men  to  a  Kandj^an  chief  liad 
always  been  one  of  stohd  bondage ;  their  lands,  their 
labour,  and  ahnost  their  lives,  they  held  dependent  on 
liis  vnW ;  and  their  priests,  although  the  doctrines  of  the 
Buddhist  faith  repudiate  distinctions  of  caste,  taught 
them  to  yield  a  superstitious  homage  to  the  exaltation 
of  rank.^  Sir  Eobert  Brownrigg,  on  the  suppression 
of  the  revolt,  availed  himself  of  the  rupture  of  the 
previous  treaty  by  the  chiefs  to  commence  the  emanci- 
pation of  the  people  from  their  thraldom,  by  hmiting 
the  appHcation  of  compulsory  labour  to  the  construction 
of  works  of  public  utihty  ;  imposing  a  tithe  on  cultivated 
lands,  in  hen  of  personal  services ;  transferring  the  ad- 
ministration of  justice  from  the  native  headmen  to 
European  civihans,  reserving  to  the  governor  the  ap- 
pointment of  the  headmen  employed  in  collecting  re- 
venue ;  and  substituting  official  salaries,  instead  of  local 
assessment,  for  the  remuneration  of  the  chiefs.  This 
was  the  commencement  of  a  policy,  afterwards  consist- 
ently developed  by  furtlier  changes,  all  tending  to 
narrow  the  range  of  feudal  power,  and  expand  the 
influence  and  protection  of  law.  The  resentment  pro- 
voked by  these  salutary  measures,  led  to  frequent  dis- 
plays of    impotent   disloyalty :    treasonable   plots   were 


A.D. 

•1817. 


^  See  the  Repoi-t  of  the  Committee 
of  the  House  of  Commons  on  the 
Affairs  of  Ceylou  in  1850.  Eyidence 
of  Sir  J.  Emeesox  Tennent,  No. 
2,786,  2,787,  &c.  As  the  priests  of 
Buddha  had  been  from  the  first  op- 
posed to  the  substitution  of  British 
rule  for  a  native  sovereignty,  and  as 
they  were  the  main  instigators  and 
abettors  of  the  Last  rebellion,  Sir 
Robert  Brownrigg  took  this  oppor- 
tunity to  alter  very  materially  the 
terms  of  the  obligations  contracted 
in  1815,   as  regards  the    Buddhist 


worship.  ''Bv  the  Convention  of 
1815,  the  religaon  of  Buddha  is  de- 
clai'ed  inviolable,  and  its  rites  and 
places  of  worship  were  to  be  main- 
tained and  profected."  But  by  the 
proclamation  issued  in  1818,  the  only 
engagement  undertaken  by  the  En- 
glish Government  was,  that  "  the 
priests  as  well  as  tlie  ceremonies  of 
the  Buddhist  religion,  shall  receive 
the  respect  whicli  in  former  times  was 
shown  to  them;"  but  by  the  same 
document  equal  protection  was  "  to 
be  given  to  all  other  religions." 


94 


MODERN   HISTORY, 


[Part  VI. 


A.D. 

1817. 


1820. 


concocted  by  the  cliiefs,  and  rebellion  again  threatened 
to  disturb  the  ancient  Kandyan  kingdom.  But  civil 
authority  had  become  consolidated  and  supreme  ;  the 
pretenders  and  consph'ators  were  in  every  mstance  ar- 
rested and  punished,  and  the  island  was  saved  the 
calamity  of  renewed  civil  war.' 

One  event,  in  the  meantime,  had  for  ever  altered  the 
aspect  of  Kandyan  warfare.  The  indomitable  mountains 
which  encircled  their  dominions,  had  long  inspired  the 
kings  of  Kandy  mth  an  audacious  confidence  in  their 
own  security.^  From  the  summits  of  these  towering 
bulwarks  they  had  been  accustomed  to  look  down  with 
scorn  and  defiance  on  theu^  enemies  in  the  lowlands. 
The  power  that  crouched  behind  them  was  regarded 
by  the  Europeans  on  the  coast  with  a  feehng  of  mystery 
and  alarm  ;  and  mindftd  of  the  many  calamities  that  had 
overtaken  those  who  had  made  the  attempt,  the  under- 
taking to  scale  them,  should  it  ever  become  unavoidable, 
was  regarded  Avith  gloomy  apprehension.  The  captor  of 
Kandy  in  1815  conceived  the  bold  idea  of  giving  perma- 
nence to  his  conquest,  by  breaching  this  gigantic  rampart, 
and  forming  a  highway  from  the  lofty  fastness  in  the  hills 
to  the  level  plains  below.  The  reahsation  of  the  project 
was  impeded  by  the  outburst  of  rebelhon  in  1817  ;  but 
no  sooner  was  it  quelled  than  Sir  Edward  Barnes,  who 
succeeded  Sir  Eobert  Brownrigg  as  Governor  in  1820, 
apphed   with  energy  all  the   resources  of  the  Govern- 


^  Such  was  the  impatience  of  the 
Kandyan  chiefs  and  the  Buddhist 
priests  to  restore  the  Kandyan  mon- 
archy, that,  in  addition  to  the  fomii- 
dable  rebellion  of  1817,  a  pretender 
agitated  Welasse  in  1820 ;  a  Budd- 
hist priest  made  a  similar  attempt  at 
Matelle  in  1823 ;  a  plot  was  dis- 
covered at  Bintenne  in  1821 ;  aiTests 
for  treason  took  place  in  1830  ;  and  in 
1835  six  chiefs  of  the  highest  rank 
were  tried  for  a  conspiracy  to  levj 
war  against  the  king,  and  seduce  the 
army  from  its  allegiance  in  support 
of  a   native  aspirant  to  the  crown. 


In  1843,  Chandrayotte,  a  priest,  was 
convicted  of  high  treason  at  BaduUa, 
and  in  1818,  the  most  fomiidable 
rising  of  the  Kandyans  since  1817 
was  crushed  and  defeated  by  the 
promptness  and  ■vigour  of  Viscount 
TorrinGlon. 

2  "lie  (Raja  Singha)  hath  no 
foi-ts  or  castles,  but  nature  hath  sup- 
plied the  want  of  them.  For  his 
whole  coimtiy  standing  upon  such 
high  hills,  and  these  so  difficult  to 
pass,  is  all  an  impregnable  fort."'  — 
Knox,  Hchitiun,  c$c.,  pt.  ii.  ch.  vi.  p. 
44. 


CuAP.  III.]  THE   ENGLISH   POLICY.  95 

ment,  and  succeeded  in  carrying  a  military  road,  iinsur-  a.d. 
passed  in  excellence,  into  the  heart  of  the  Kandyan  coun-  l^^^- 
try,  reaching  an  altitude  of  more  than  six  thousand  feet 
above  the  sea.  Eocks  were  pierced,  precipices  scarped, 
and  torrents  bridged,  to  effect  the  passage ;  and  the 
Kandyans,  when  the  task  was  accomplished,  recalled 
the  warning  of  ancient  prophecy,  and  felt  that  now  the 
conquest  of  their  country  was  complete.^ 

When  the  English  landed  in  Ceylon  in  1796,  there 
was  not  in  the  whole  island  a  single  practicable  road, 
and  troops,  on  their  toilsome  marches  between  the 
fortresses  on  the  coast,  dragged  their  cannon  through 
deep  sands  along  the  shore.^  Before  Sir  Edward 
Barnes  resigned  his  government,  every  town  of  import- 
ance was  approached  by  a  carriage  road  ;  and  the  long 
desired  highway  from  sea  to  sea,  to  connect  Colombo 
and  Trincomalie,  was  commenced.  Civil  organisation 
has  since  been  matm^ed  with  equal  success,  domestic 
slavery  has  been  abohshed,  rehgious  disquahfications 
removed,  compulsory  labour  abandoned,  a  charter  of 
justice  promulgated,  a  legislative  council  estabhshed, 
trading  monopolies  extinguished,  commerce  encouraged 
in  its  utmost  freedom,  and  the  mountain  forests  felled 
to  make  way  for  plantations  of  coffee,  whose  exuberant 
produce  is  already  more  than  sufficient  for  the  consump- 
tion of  the  British  empii'c. 

By  the  Singhalese  of  the  maritime  pro\dnces,  long  a.d. 
familiar  with  the  energy  and  enterprise  of  Europeans,  1^^^- 
these  results  are  regarded  with  satisfaction.  But  the 
Kandyans,  brought  into  more  recent  contact  with  civi- 
hsation,  look  on  with  uneasy  surprise  at  the  effect  it  is 
producing.  The  silence  of  their  mountain  solitudes 
has  been  broken  by  the  din  of  industry,  and  the  seclu- 
sion of  their  villages  invaded  by  bands  of  hired 
labourers  from  the  IncUan  coast.  Their  ancient  habits 
have   been   interrupted   and   their   prejudices    startled ; 

^  See  tlie  description  of  this  road  I       "  Cohdinee,  ch.  i.  p.  15. 
and  its  passes^  Vol,  II.  Pt.  vn.  ch.  iv.  | 


96  MODERX   HISTORY.  [Part  VI. 

A.D.  and  a  generation  may  pass  away  before  the  people 
1850.  jjecome  familiar  or  theii'  headmen  reconciled  to  the 
change.  But  the  blessings  of  peaceful  order,  the  mild 
influence  of  education,  and  the  gradual  influx  of  wealth, 
will  not  fail  to  produce  their  accustomed  results ;  and 
the  mountaineers  of  Ceylon  will,  at  no  distant  day, 
share  with  the  lowlanders  in  the  consciousness  of 
repose  and  prosperity  under  the  protection  of  the 
British  Crown. 


PAKT  VII. 


SOUTHERN   AND   CENTRAL   PROVINCES. 


VOL.  11.  H 


99 

CHAPTEE  I. 

POIXT    DE    GALLE. 

We  landed  at  Galle  on  Saturday  the  29tli  of  No- 
vember 1845.  No  traveller  ft-esh  from  Europe  will 
ever  part  with  the  impression  left  by  his  first  gaze  upon 
tropical  scenery,  as  it  is  displayed  in  the  bay  and  the 
wooded  hills  that  encircle  it ;  for,  although  Galle  is 
sui-passed  both  in  grandeur  and  beauty  by  places  after- 
wards seen  in  the  island,  still  the  feehng  of  admiration 
and  wonder  called  forth  by  its  loveUness  remains  vivid 
and  unimpaired.  K,  as  is  frequently  the  case,  the 
sliip  approaches  the  land  at  daybreak,  the  \"iew  recalls, 
but  in  an  intensified  degree,  the  emotions  excited  in 
childhood  by  the  slow  rising  of  the  curtain  in  a  dark- 
ened theatre  to  disclose  some  magical  triumph  of  the 
painter's  fancy,  in  aU  tlie  luxury  of  colouring  and  all 
the  glory  of  light.  The  sea,  blue  as  sapphke,  breaks 
upoii  the  fortified  rocks  which  form  the  entrance  to  the 
harbour  ;  the  headlands  are  briglit  Avith  verdure  ;  and 
the  yellow  strand  is  shaded  by  pahn-trees  that  inchne 
towards  the  sea,  and  bend  their  crowns  above  the  water. 
The  shore  is  gemmed  with  flowers,  the  hills  behind  are 
draped  with  forests  of  perennial  green  ;  and  far  in  the 
distance  rises  the  zone  of  purple  hills,  above  wliich  towers 
the  sacred  mountain  of  Adam's  Peak,  with  its  summit  en- 
veloped in  clouds. 

But  the  interest  of  the  place  is  not  confined  to  tlio 
mere  lovehness  of  its  scenery.  Galle  is  by  far  the  most 
venerable  emporium  of  foreign  trade,  now  existing  in 
the  universe  ;  it  was  the  resort  of  merchant  sliips  at  the 
earhest  dawn  of  commerce  ^  and  it  is  destined  to  be  the 


^  For  more  copious  details  of  the  1  Vol.  I.  Pt.  v.  ch.  ii.  p.  5Go.     A  con- 
early  commerce  of  Galle,  see   ante,  \  densed  Aiew  of  the  trade  of  Ceylon 


u  2 


100 


SOUTHERN   AJfD    CENTRAL   PKOVI^X'ES.       [I^vrt  VII. 


centre  to  which  will  hereafter  converge  all  the  rays  of 
navigation,  intersecting  the  Indian  Ocean,  and  connecting 
the  races  of  Europe  and  Asia. 

In  modern  times,  Galle  was  the  mart  of  Portugal, 
and  afterwards  of  Holland ;  and  long  before  the  flags  of 
either  nation  had  appeared  in  its  waters,  it  Avas  one  of  the 
entrepots  whence  the  Moorish  traders  of  Malabar  drew 
the  productions  of  the  remoter  East,  with  which  they 
supplied  the  Genoese  and  Venetians,  who  distributed 
them  over  the  countries  of  the  West.^  Galle  was  the 
"  Kalali "  at  which  the  Arabians  in  the  reiofn  of  Haroun 

o 

Abaschid  met  the  junks  of  the  Chinese^,  and  brought 
back  gems,  silks,  and  spices  from  Serendib  to  Bassora.^ 
The  Sabasans,  centuries  before,  included  Ceylon  in  the 
rich  trade  wliich  they  prosecuted  with  India,  and  Galle 
was  probably  the  furthest  point  eastward  ever  reached  by 
the  Persians  *,  by  the  Greeks  of  the  Lower  Empire,  by  the 
Eomans'',  and  by  the  Egyptian  mariners  of  Berenice,  luider 
the  Ptolemies.''  But  an  interest,  deeper  still,  attaches  to 
this  portion  of  Ceylon,  inasmuch  as  it  seems  more  than 
probable  that  tlte  long-sought  localitg  of  Tarshish  ntag  be 
found  to  be  identical  ivith  that  of  Point  de  Galle. 


in  tlie  early  ages,  and  its  importance 
as  the  gTeat  empoi-iuni  between  the 
Eastern  and  Western  AA^orld,  will  be 
foimd  in  the  Essay  of  IIeerex,  De 
Ceylone  Insula  per  vic/inti  fere  scc- 
cula  comnumi  Terrarum  3Iarumque 
Audndiitni  Einporio :  Gottui(/en,  IS'Sl . 

1  T)k  Barhos,  Asia,  ^x:,  toni.  i. 
pt.  ii.  p.  4:^8 ;  Baebosa  in  Ramiisio, 
vol.  i.  p.  313;  VAUTnEMA,  Itinerario, 
^•c.,  p.  xxA-ii. 

'-*  Fa  IIiax,  Foe-Koue  Ki,  ch.  xl. 
p.  357 ;  Ediusi,  Trad.  Jaubert.  toiu. 
1.  p.  73. 

^  Reinaud,  T'oi/af/es  Arahes.  et 
Persans,  SiC.,  torn.  i.  p.  xxxix.  Ixii. 

^  Hobertson  in  his  Disquisition 
on  India,  thinks  the  Persians  took 
no  part  in  this  trade,  but  Cosnias 
Indi'-o-pleustcs  found  them  esta- 
blished in  Ceylon  early  in  the  sixth 
centmy.  Christ.  Topoyr.  !Mont- 
faucon,  CoU.  vol.  ii.  p.  178 ;  and  Ilamza 
of  Ispahan  says,  Cosroes-Xushirvan, 


who  reig-ned  at  that  period,  conquered 
the  cities  of  Ceylon.     Annul,  p.  43. 

^  Pliny  expressly  says  that  he 
learned  from  the  embassy  sent  to 
the  Emperor  Claudius  from  Ceylon, 
that  the  gi-eat  port  of  the  island 
fronted  the  soidh,  "  ex  iis  cogiiitum 
portum  contra  meridiem ; "  lib.  vi.  ch. 
xxiv. ;  a  description  Avhich  applies 
only  to  the  harbour  of  CJalle. 

•^  Periplus  Mar.  Erijthr.,  Ilrnsox, 
vol.  i.  p.  3o  ;  "S'lXCEXT,  C'onnnerce  of 
India,  c^V.,  vol.  ii.  p.  22:  "Ceylan  fiit 
dopuis  mi  temps  immemorial  I'entre- 
pot  oil  les  I'heniciens,  les  peuples  de 
i'Arabie  meridionale,  les  Grecs,  les 
Komains,  et  les  Arabes  devenus 
Musulmans  venaient  s'approvisionner 
des  denrees  de  I'lnde,  de  rArchipol 
d'Asie,  de  la  Chine  et  de  colles  non 
moins  riches  que  le  sol  y  fait  naitre." 
—  DrLATJRlER,  Asiat.  Jour.,  tom. 
xlix.  p.  174. 


Chap.  I.] 


rOIXT    DE    GALLE. 


101 


A  careful  perusal  of  the  Scripture  narrative  suggests 
the  conclusion,  that  there  were  two  places  at  least  to 
which  the  Phoenicians  traded,  each  of  which  bore  the 
name  of  Tarshish :  one  to  the  north-west,  whence  they 
brought  tin,  iron,  and  lead ;  and  another  to  the  east, 
which  supplied  them  with  ivory  and  gold.  Bochart  was 
not  the  first  who  rejected  the  idea  of  the  latter  being 
situated  at  the  mouth  of  tlie  Guadalquiver  ;  and  intimated 
that  it  must  be  sought  for  in  the  direction  of  India  ;  but 
he  was  the  first  who  conjectured  tliat  Opliir  was  Koudra- 
malie,  on  the  north-west  of  Ceylon,  and  that  the  Eastern 
Tarshish  must  have  been  somewhere  in  the  vicinity  of 
Cape  Comorin.^  His  general  inference  was  correct  and 
irresistible  from  the  tenor  of  tlie  sacred  writings ;  but 
from  want  of  topographical  knowledge,  Bochart  was  in 
error  as  to  tlie  actual  locahties.  Gold  is  not  to  be  found 
at  Koucbamalie  ^ ;  and  Comorin  being  neither  an  island 
nor  a  place  of  trade,  does  not  correspond  to  the  require- 
ments of  Tarshish.  Subsequent  investigation  has  served 
to  estabhsh  the  claim  of  Malacca  to  be  the  golden  land  of 
Solomon^,  and  Tarshish,  which  lay  in  the  track  between 
the  Arabian  Gulf  and  Ophir,  is  recognisable  in  the  great 
emporium  of  Ceylon. 

The  ships  intended  for  the  voyage  were  built  by 
Solomon  at  "  Ezion-geber  on  the  shores  of  the  Eed  Sea,"^ 
the  rowers  ^  coasted  along  the  shores  of  Arabia  and  the 
Persian  Gulf",  headed  by  an  east  wind.''     Tarshish,  the 


'  BociTAiiT,  Geogr.  Sao:  Phaleg. 
lib.  ii.  cL.  27,  "forte  ad  promonto- 
riuni  Cor)'."  Ibid.,  Canaan,  lib.  i.  ch. 
xlvi. 

2  No  inference  bearing  on  this  in- 
qniry  is  to  be  drawn  from  the  cir- 
cumstance that  tlie  Tamil  names  for 
Cejdon  are  "  Ham "  which  signifies 
fiohl,  and  ''  Ila-nadu  "  the  island  of 
Ham,  which  the  Portuguese  cor- 
rupted into  "  Ilanare."  (De  Couto, 
dec.  V.  ch.  V.  tom.  i.  pt.  li.  p.  40.) 
It  was  called  Ham  in  conformitv 
■with  a  legend,  which  says  that  the 
island  was  formed  by  tliree  peaks, 
from  the  mythical  mountain  of  the 
golden  Meru,  whirli  were  flung  into 


the  sea  in  a  conflict  between  Sesha, 
the  great  sei-pent  which  encompasses 
the  earth,  and  ^'asu  Deva,  the  god 
of  the  A\ands.  See  Casie  Chiity's 
Gazetteer,  vol.  i.  p.  59. 

^  Malacca  is  the  Aurea  Chersone- 
sus  of  the  later  Greek  Geogi'aphers, 
and  "ophir^'  in  the  language  of  the 
Malays,  is  the  generic  term  for  any 
"gold  mine."  —  1  Kings  x.  11,  and 
2  Chron.  ix.  21. 

*  1  Kings  ix.  20. 

^  Ezekiel  xxvii.  20, 

°  By  Sheba  in  Arabia  Felix  and 
Dedan  at  tlie  entrance  of  the  Persian 
Gulf. — Ezekiel  xxxviii.  l.'>. 

■^  Ezekiel  xxvii.  20  :  Psl.  xlviii.  7. 


11  3 


102  SOUTHERN   AND   CENTRAL   PROVINCES.       [rARx  VII. 

port  for  which  they  were  bound,  would  appear  to  have  been 
situated  in  an  isknd^  governed  by  kings  2,  and  carrying 
on  an  extensive  foreign  trade.^  The  voyage  occupied 
three  years  in  going  and  returning  from  the  Eed  Sea  *, 
and  the  cargoes  brought  home  to  Ezion-geber  consisted 
of  gold  and  silver,  ivory,  apes,  and  peacocks.^  Gold 
could  have  been  shipped  at  Galle  from  the  vessels  which 
brought  it  from  Ophir*^,  "  silver  si)read  into  plates," 
which  is  particularised  by  Jeremiah  '^  as  an  export  of 
Tarshish,  is  one  of  the  substances  on  which  the  sacred 
books  of  the  Singhalese  are  even  now  inscribed  ;  iimry 
is  found  in  Ceylon,  and  must  have  been  both  abundant 
and  full  grown  there  before  the  discovery  of  gunpowder 
led  to  the  wanton  destruction  of  elephants ;  apes  are  in- 
digenous to  the  island,  and  peafowl  are  found  there  in 
numbers.  It  is  very  remarkable  too,  that  the  terms  by 
which  these  articles  are  designated  in  the  Hebrew  Scrip- 
tures, are  identical  with  the  Tamil  names,  by  wdiich  some 
of  them  are  caUed  in  Ceylon  to  the  present  day :  thus 
tukeyim^  which  is  rendered  "  peacocks  "  in  one  version, 
may  be  recognised  in  toJcei^  the  modern  name  for  these 
birds  ;  "  kapi "  apes  is  the  same  in  both  languages,  and 
the  Sanskrit  "  ihha "  ivory,  is  identical  with  the  Tamil 
"  ibam"  ^ 

Thus  by  geographical  position,  by  indigenous  pro- 
ductions, and  by  the  fact  of  its  having  been  from  time 
immemorial   the  resort   of  merchant  ships   from  Egypt, 


'  Isaiali  xxiii.  1,  3,  G.  It  must  be 
observed,  however,  that  the  early 
geogi'aphers  did  not  autficionth^  dis- 
criminate between  ii  prtii/isiila  and  an 
island:  T\Te  itself  was  termed  an  t's- 
lci/i(I  by  them. 

^  Psl.  Ixxii.  10;  Isaiah  associates 
Tarsliisli  with  "  Tul  and  I.ud  that 
draw  the.  hoiv,'^  Ixvi.  10;  a  character- 
istic which  is  maintained  by  the 
Veddahs  (tlio  remnant  of  the  abori- 
ginal inhabitants)  to  the  present  day. 

^  Isaiah  xxiii.  2 ;  Ezeliiel  xxvii. 
10,25.  ^ 

*  1   Kings   x.  22.      It  is   curious 


that  in  the  Garsluisp  Naiiieh,  a  Per-     tmi,  vol.  i.  p.  xix.,  etc. 


sian  poem  of  the  tenth  century,  which 
professes  to  describe  an  expedition 
from  Jerusalem  for  tlie  conquest  of 
Ceylon,  the  time  occupied  in  the  out- 
ward voyage  was  cujlitvai  Diontha, 
being  one  half  the  "  three  y<^ars  " 
occupied  by  the  ships  of  Solomon  in 
going  to  and  returning  from  Tarshish. 

5  Ihld. 

^  1  Kings  X.  11. 

"^  .lerem.  x.  9. 

^  Note  on  the  Tamil  Lanepiar/e,  by 
the  llev.  Mr.  IIoi.singtox.  Further 
information  on  this  ^joint  will  be 
found  in  the  Notice  to  the  third  edi- 


Chap.  I.] 


SINGHALESE   CANOES. 


103 


Arabia,  and  Persia  on  the  one  side,  and  India,  Java,  and 
China  on  the  other,  Galle  seems  to  present  a  combination 
of  every  particular  essential  to  determine  the  problem  so 
long  undecided  in  bibhcal  dialectics,  and  thus  to  present 
data  for  inferring  its  identity  with  the  Tarsliish  of  the 
sacred  liistorians,  the  great  eastern  mart  so  long  fre- 
quented by  the  ships  of  Tyre  and  Judea.^ 

Every  object  that  meets  the  eye  on  entering  the  bay  is 
new  and  strano;e.  Amonfifst  the  vessels  at  anchor  lie  the 
dows  of  the  Ai^abs,  the  petamars  of  Malabar,  the  dlioneys 
of  Coromandel,  and  the  grotesque  seaboats  of  the  Maldive 
and  Laccadive  islanders.  But  the  most  remarkable  of  all 
are  the  double  canoes  of  the  Singhalese,  wliich  dart  with 
surprising  velocity  amongst  the  shipping,  managed  by 
half-clad  natives,  who  offer  for  sale  beautiful  but  un- 
famihar  fruits,  and  fishes  of  extraordinary  colours  and 
fantastic  forms. 

These  canoes  are  dissimilar  in  build,  some  consisting  of 
two  trees  lashed  together,  but  the  most  common  and  by 


DODELB  CANOE  OF  CETLOK 


far  the  most  graceful  are  hollowed  out  of  a  single  stem 
from  eighteen  to  thirty  feet  long,  and  about  two  feet  in 
depth,  exclusive  of  the  wash-board,  which  adds  about  a 


'  Tlie  articles  brought  by  tlie 
navies  of  Hiram  and  Holomon  to 
Ezion-geber,  wt;ro  carried  across  the 
isthmus  of  Suez  to  Rliiuocohira,  the 

II  4 


modem  El-Ari.sli,  and  tlience  trans- 
ferred into  Mediterranean  vessels  to 
be  can-ied  to  Joppa  ,  (Jaffa)  and 
Tyre. — Robeetson's  Lidia,  sec.  1. 


104 


SOUTHERX  AND   CENTRAL   PROVINCES.       [Paet  YII. 


foot  to  the  heiglit.  This  is  sewed  to  the  gunwale  by  coir 
yarn,  so  that  no  ii^on  or  anj^  other  metal  enters  into  the 
construction  of  a  canoe.  But  then-  characteristic  pe- 
cuharity  is  the  balance-log,  of  very  buoyant  wood,  up- 
wards of  twenty  feet  in  length,  carried  at  the  extremity 
of  two  elastic  outriggers  each  eighteen  feet  long.  By  tliis 
arrangement  not  oidy  is  the  boat  steadied,  but  mast,  yard 
and  sail  are  bound  securely  together.-^ 

The  outrigger  must  of  necessity  be  always  kept  to 
Avdndward,  and  as  it  woidd  not  be  possible  to  remove 
it  fi'om  side  to  side,  the  canoe  is  so  constructed  as  to 
proceed  with  either  end  foremost,  thus  elucidating  an 
observation  made  by  Phny  eighteen  hmidred  years  ago, 
that  the  ships  which  navigated  the  seas  to  the  west  of 
Taprobane  had  'proics  at  either  end,  to  avoid  the  necessity 
of  tacking;.^ 

These  peculiar  craft  venture  twenty  miles  to  sea  in 
a  strong  wind ;  they  sail  upwards  of  ten  miles  an  hom% 
and  notliing  can  be  more  pictiu*esque  than  the  sight  at 
daybreak,  of  the  numerous  fleets  of  fishing  boats,  which 
cruise  along  the  coast  wlulst  the  morning  is  still  misty 
and  cool,  and  hasten  to  shore  after  sum-ise  with  their  cap- 
tiu-es,  consisting  not  only  of  ordinary  fish,  whose  scales 
are  flaked  with  silver  or  "  bedi'opped  with  gold,"  but  also 
including  those  of  unusual  shapes,  displajing  the  brightest 
colours  of  the  rainbow. 

Passinfj    the    oiim    old    Portuijuese    batteries  ^    and 


^  It  is  reDiarkable  tliat  this  form 
of  canoe  is  found  only  where  the 
INlalavs  have  extended  themselves 
throughont  Poh-nesia  and  the  coral 
islands  of  the  Pacific ;  and  it  seems 
so  pecidiar  to  that  race  that  it  is  to 
be  traced  in  Madagascar  and  the 
Comoros,  where  a  ^lalayan  colony 
was  settled  at  some  remote  period  of 
antiquity.  The  outrigger  is  unknown 
amongst  the  Arabs,  and  is  little  seen 
on  the  coast  of  India. 

^  "Ob  id  navihus  ictrinque  j)rorcs 
ne  per  angiistias  alvei  circumagi  sit 


necesse." — PLijrr,  Kat.  Hist.,  lib.  xi. 
ch.  xxiv.  Strabo  mentions  the  same 
fact ;  lib.  xv.  ch.  xv. 

^  The  most  conspicuous  outwork 
bears  the  name  of  the  "  Portuguese 
battery,"  but  the  Portuguese,  not 
anticipating  the  approach  of  an 
enemy  fi'om  sea,  never  effectually 
fortified  Galle,  except  on  the  land 
side ;  and  the  batteries  which  now 
command  the  harbour  were  con- 
sti-ucted  by  the  Dutch  in  1003.  —  \x- 
LEXTY]S',  ch.  xiv.  p.  177. 


ClIAP.    I.] 


QUEEN'S   HOUSE,    GALLE. 


105 


landing  at  the  pier  constructed  to  replace  the  one 
erected  by  the  Dutch  for  embarking  their  cinnamon^, 
we  passed  under  the  gateway  of  the  fortress,  and  as- 
cended by  a  steep  and  shady  street  to  the  Queen's  House, 
the  official  residence  of  the  Governor,  which  Sir  Colin 
Campbell  had  placed  at  our  disposal.-  The  mansion, 
like  all  those  built  by  the  Dutch  in  Ceylon,  is  adapted 
to  the  lieat,  and  other  pecuharities  of  the  clunate ;  witli 
spacious  rooms,  latticed  windoAvs,  tiled  floors,  and  lofty 
roofs,  imperfectly  concealed  by  ceihngs,  which  are  gene- 
rally left  unclosed  lest  the  white  ants  should  destroy 
the  timbers  undetected.  The  neglected  garden,  Avitli 
its  decaj^ng  terraces  and  ruined  "lustliof,"  contains 
Indian  fruit  trees  and  plants  almost  retm-ned  to  tlieir 
primitive  wildness.  Oranges,  custard  apples,  bread-fruits, 
bilimbis,  and  bananas  are  mingled  with  the  crimson 
hibiscus  and  innumerable  other  flowering  shrubs,  whose 
brandies  were  covered  with  exquisite  cHmbing  plants, 
chtoria3  and  convolvuh ;  and  beneath  their  moist  shade 
grew  innumerable  balsams  in  all  tlieii'  endless  varieties  of 
colom\ 

The  groups  collected  about  the  landing  place,  and 
lounging  in  the  streets  and  bazaars  of  Galle,  exhibit  the 
most  picturesque  combinations  of  costumes  and  races  ; 
Europeans  in  their  white  morning  undress,  shaded  by 
japanned  umbrellas  ;  Moors,  Malabars,  and  Malays,  Chi- 
nese, Caffi'es,  Parsees,  and  Chetties  from  the  Coromandel 
coast,  the  latter  with  their  singular  head-dresses  and  pro- 
digious earrings,  Buddhist  priests  in  yellow  robes,  and 


^  The  landing  wharf,  with  its 
covered  way,  is  described  by  \x- 
n.ENTYN  as  the  fayoiirite  pri)nienade 
in  16G3.  It  was  called  the  JFambai/H, 
th.  i.  p.  22. 

^  Above  the  entrance  of  this  build- 
ing', there  is  a  stone  let  into  the  wall 
bearing-  the  date  a.d.  1687,  under 
the  carved  figure  of  a  cock.  If  it 
was  a  mistake  of  the  Dutch  to  be- 
lieve that  the  name  of  Galle  was  de- 


rived, not  from  the  Singlialese  word 
f/alla,  "a rock,"  but  from  (/alius,  they 
inherited  the  misconception  from  the 
I*ortuguese,  one  of  whose  geu(n'als, 
Azevedo,  Faria  y  Souza  describes  as 
hoisting  the  children  of  the  Chulia 
or  Galla  caste  on  the  spears  of  his 
soldiers,  and  shouting,  "  How  these 
young  cocks  ((/alios)  crow!" — Porfu- 
(/ueseAsia,  iSc,  vol.  iii.  ch.  xiv.  p.  277. 
"(See  ante,  Vol.  II.  Ft.  vi.  ch.  i.  p.  2:3.) 


106 


SOUTHERX   AXD    CENTRAL   PROVINCES.       [Pakt  YII. 


Moodliars,  Molianclirams,  and  other  native  chiefs,  in  their 
rich  official  uniforms,  ^vitli  jeweUed  buttons,  embroidered 
belts,  and  swords  of  ceremony. 

One  peculiar  custom  of  the  Singhalese  in  this  district 
not  only  attracts  the  eye  of  every  stranger  by  its  smgu- 
larity,  but  presents  the  most  remarkable  instance,  with 
which  I  am  acquamted,  of  the  unchanging  habits  of  an 
eastern  race.  Seventeen  hundred  years  ago,  Ptolemy, 
speakhig  of  the  people  of  Taprobane,  alluded  to  the 
length  of  then-  hak  ;  and  Agathemerus,  who,  if  not  a 
contemporary,  lived  immediately  after  Ptolemy,  describes 
with  minuteness  their  mode  of  dressing  it.  "  The  men," 
he  says,  "  who  inhabit  Ceylon,  aUow  then'  hair  an  un- 
hmited  growth,  and  hind  it  on  the  crown  of  their  heads^ 
after  the  manner  of  women.'"  ^  Agathemerus  had  doubtless 
been  told  of  the  custom  by  some  Grecian 
seamen  returning  from  Galle,  for  this 
fashion  of  di"essin2;  the  hau'  is  confined 
to  the  south-west  coast  of  the  island, 
and  prevails  neither  in  the  interior  nor 
amongst  the  people  of  the  north  and 
east.  So  closely  do  the  low-country 
Singhalese  follow  the  manners  of  women 
in  their  toilet  that  their  back-hair  is  first 
rolled  into  a  coil,  called  a  konde ;  this  is 
fixed  at  the  top  of  the  head  by  a  large  tor- 
toise-shell comb,  whilst  the  hair  is  dra"v\Ti 
back  from  the  forehead,  a  I'imperatrice, 
and  secm^ed  by  another  chcular  comb. 


A  SINGHALESE 
WITH  HIS  COMBS. 


^  "  Toi'C  KaToiKovvraq  avTi]v  tivcpaQ 
fiaWoig  yvi'dininc  nt'a^tladai  rdf  K-f- 
<pa\ac" — AfiATnEirERUS,  Geor/r.,  lib. 
i.  cli.  vi ;  IIuDSOX,  vol.  ii.  p.  45.  It 
is  strange  that  among  the  multitude 
of  ancient  writei-s  who  have  treated 
of  Ceylon,  Agathemeiiis  and  Ptolemy 
should  be  tlie  only  two  who  have  told 
of  this  peculiarity  of  the  low-countiy 
Singhalese.     I  have  found  it  noticed 


nowhere  else  except  in  the  Ejntomc 
of  Geor/raphj/,  compiled  in  the  fifth 
centuiy  by  Closes  of  Chorene,  who 
evidently  copied  it  from  Agathe- 
menis,  "  viri  regionis  istius  capillis 
muliebribus  sua  capita  redimiunt."  — 
Mosis  Chokenexsis,  Hist.  Annenife 
et  Epit.  Geoyr.y  edit.  "WTiiston,  1720; 
p.  307.  .^riin,4t^m.'*tA^Aye'4,*^.^  'yi-fK-Zftf  4'C . 


Chap.  I.]  INHABITANTS.  107 

Albyrouni  is  doubtless  correct,  when  he  says  that  the 
practice  of  the  Indian  natives,  before  the  birth  of  Ma- 
homet, to  wear  their  hair  unshorn,  was  an  intuitive 
precaution  against  the  excessive  heat  of  the  sun  \  but 
that  the  fashion  in  Ceylon  should  have  assumed  an  essen- 
tially feminine  form,  and  have  preserved  it  tlirough 
so  many  centuries,  presents  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
evidences  with  which  I  am  acquainted,  of  the  enduring 
tenacity  of  oriental  habit. 

With  their  delicate  features  and  slender  hmbs,  their 
frequent  want  of  beards  ''^,  tlieu'  use  of  earrings  and  their 
practice  of  wearing  a  cloth  round  the  waist  called  a  com- 
boy  ^^  which  has  all  the  appearance  of  a  petticoat,  the  men 
have  an  air  of  effeminacy  very  striking  to  the  eye  of  a 
stranger.^ 

The  Singhalese  women  dress  with  less  grace  than 
simplicity,  their  principal  garment  being  a  white  mushn 
jacket,  which  loosely  covers  the  figure,  and  a  comboy  or 
waist  cloth,  similar  to  that  worn  by  the  men.  But 
their  aim  is  the  display  of  then-  jewelry,  necklaces, 
bangles  and  rings,  the  gems  of  which  are  often  of  in- 
trinsic value,  though  defective  both  in  cutting  and 
mounting.      The     children    are    beautiful,     their     liak" 


^  "  Ce  qui  convient  an  corps  c'est  !  ^  For  the  origin  of  this  word,  see 

une   temperature   a   pen   pres    con-  :  the  chapter  on  the  intercourse  of  the 

stante  ;    et  rien  n'est  phis  propre  a  Chinese  with  Ceylon,  Voh  I.  p.  588. 

procluire    cet    effet,    qu'une     espece  So   tenaciously   do    the    Siniiliiilese 

d'envelope  naturelle  qu'on  est  libre  cliny  to  ancienthahits,tliat  even  when 

de  rendre  plus  on  moins  puissante."  a  man  has  pai-tiallj  adopted  European 

■ — Reinatjd,  3Iem,  sitr  Flnde,  p.  288.  i  costumes,  he  willstill  wear  a  comboy 

'^  Their    slender    limbs    and    the  over  his  ti'ousers. 

absence  of  beards  among  the  Singha-  I  "*  It  is  said  that  the  Spaniards  gave 

lese  is  noticed  in  the  stoiy  of  .Jam-  the  name  of  "Amazon"  to  the  river  of 

bulus  as  recorded  by  Diodoeijs,  lib.  South  America,  from  finding  on  it  a 

ii.   ch.  xxxvi.     The   Chinese  in  the  tribe  of  Indians  of  delicate  confiuii- 

seventh  centuiy,  accustomed  to  the  ration,  the  men  of  which  parted  their 

flat  features  of  the  JNIogul  races,  were  hair  in  front,  and  winding  it  round 

surprised  at  the  pronunent  noses  of  their  head,  secured  it  with  a  comb 

the  Singhalese;  and  IIiotjen  Thsang  made  from  the  horny  fibres  of  a  palm 

describes  the  natives  of  Ceylon,  as  tree,  and  surmounted  by  feathers. — 

having  the  "  beak  of  a  bird  with  the  ^  Wallace's  Travels  on  'the  Amazon, 

body  of  a  man," —  un  corps  (Vhomme  p.  277,  498;  Kidder  smd  Fletcheii's 

et  un  bee  cToiseau ;  tom.  ii.  p.  140.        I  Brazil,  Thilad.  1857,  p.  468,  507. 


108 


SOUTIIERX   AXD    CEXTRAL    TEOVIXCES.       [Pakt  Til. 


wa\T  and  sliining,  and  as  they  wear  no  covering  of 
any  kind  till  four  or  five  years  old,  a  group  of  these 
httle  creatures  at  play  suggests  the  idea  of  living 
bronzes. 

Galle  has  a  large  population  of  Moors,  who  are  mostly 
lapidaries,  or  dealers  in  gems  ^,  and  one  of  the  earliest 
visits  received  by  a  stranger  on  his  arrival,  is  from 
these  persevering  jewellers, -sdth  whom  it  requires  both 
experience  and  judgment  to  negotiate  ^^'ith  safety.  It 
ought  to  be  borne  in  mind,  that  it  is  the  custom  among 
Oriental  races  for  the  buyer,  and  not  the  seller,  to  place 
the  value  on  any  article  he  requires.  An  Eastern  in  the 
bazaar,  makes  an  offer  for  what  he  wants,  and  waits  for 
the  owner  to  take  or  refuse  it.  Long  contact  with  Em^o- 
peans  has  so  far  modified  tliis  practice  in  Ceylon,  that  a 
buyer  expects  the  seller  to  name  a  price  for  his  com- 
modities ;  and  when  a  traveller  adduces,  as  an  evidence 
of  fi\aud  or  rapacity,  that  a  dealer  may  have  asked  double 
what  he  has  eventually  accepted,  it  would  be  well  to 
remember,  that  it  is  contrary  to  custom  for  the  OAvner  to 
be  the  appraiser,  and  that  '•'caveat  emptor''''  is  the  rule 
amono'st  Orientals,  from  whom  the  Eomans  borrowed  the 
maxim.^ 

Tortoise-shell  is  another  article  in  Avhicli  the  workmen 
of  Galle  have  emploj^ed  themselves  since  the  tune  of 
the  Eomans^,  and  of  which  they  still  make  bracelets, 
hair  pins,  and  ornaments  of  great  taste  and  beauty. 
But  the  principal  handicrafts-men  are  cabinet-makers, 
carpenters,  and  carvers  in  Calamander-wood,  ebony,  and 
ivory.  Their  skill  in  this  work  is  quite  remarkable, 
considering  the  simplicity  of  their  implements  and  tools  ; 
but  owing  to   their  deficiency  in  design,  and  the  want  of 


^  Au  account  of  the  pursuits  of 
those  people  -will  be  found  ante,  Vol. 
I.  Pt.  V.  eh.  iv.  p.  005. 

2  "Ubi  enim  judicium  emptorisest 
ibi  fraus  venditoris  qufc  potest  esse  ?  " 
— Cicero  De  Of.,  iii.  14. 


2  SxRABO,  ii.  i.  14.  Ceylon  for- 
merly exported  tortoise-shell,  but  the 
demand  has  become  so  gi-eat  for 
home  mauuiiicture,  that  it  is  now 
imported  from  Penang  and  the  Mal- 
dive  Islands. 


CilAF.  I.] 


TRADE. 


109 


proper  models,  their   unaided    productions   are   by   no 
means  in  accordance  with  European  tastes.^ 

The  share  of  the  commerce  of  Ceylon  which  at  present 
belongs  to  the  port  of  Galle  is  small  compared  Avith  that 
of  Colombo.  The  latter,  from  its  nearer  vicinity  to  the 
coffee  estates  and  the  cinnamon  districts,  exports  the 
largest  proportion  of  these,  as  well  as  of  other  articles, 
from  the  interior  and  the  north,  whilst  the  chief  trade 
of  GaUe  consists  in  the  productions  of  the  coco-nut  tree 
with  which  the  southern  province  is  so  densely  covered 
that  the  country  in  every  direction  for  some  distance 
from  the  sea,  appears  a  continuous  forest  of  palms.-^ 
The  oil  expressed  from  the  nut ;  coir  and  cordage 
manufactured  from  its  fibre  ;  and  arrack  distilled  from 
the  sap  of  the  tree,  are  shipped  in  large  quantities  for 
Europe  and  India. 

But  the  local  prosperity  of  Galle  is  mainly  dependent 
on  the  merchant  vessels  and  steam  packets  which  make 
it  their  rendezvous ;  and  on  the  travellers  from  all  parts 
of  the  East  who  are  carried  there  in  consequence.  These 
are  sufficient  to  support  its  numerous  hotels,  lodging 
houses,  and  bazaars  ;  but  private  residents  complain,  and 
with  justice,  of  the  increase  of  prices,  and  the  excessive 
cost  of  living,  which  has  been  entailed  upon  them  in  con- 
sequence. 

The  Dutch  carried  to  their  Eastern  settlements  two 
of  then*  home  propensities,  which  distinguish  and  em- 
bellish the  towns  of  the  Low  Countries ;  tlicy  indulged 
in  the  excavation  of  canals,  and  they  jilanted  long  lines 
of  trees  to  diffuse  shade  over  the  sultry  passages  in 
their   Indian   fortresses.      For    the   latter   piurpose   they 


^  At  Galle  and  elsewhere,  I  found 
the  cabinet-maliers  and  carvers  using- 
as  a  substitute  for  sand-pajier  to 
polish  their  work,  the  rough  leaves 
of  a  species  of  fig-tree,  called  by  them 
sewana  meiliya,  and  of  a  creeper 
known  as  the  korossa-mael.  I  am 
unable  to  identify  thcui  scientifieallv. 


*  It  is  a  curious  illustration  of  the 
innumerable  uses  of  the  coco-nut 
palm,  tliat  some  years  ago  a  shi]i  from 
the  Maldive  Islands  touched  at  ( Jalle, 
which  was  entirely  built,  rigged,  pro- 
visioned, and  laden  with  tlie  produce 
of  that  tree. — Pekciy-vl,  p.  :52G. 


110  SOUTHERX    AXD    CENTRAL    PROVI^X'ES.       [rARX  VjI. 

employed  the  Siiriya  {Hibiscus  j^opidneus),  ^vliose  broad 
umbrageous  leaves  and  delicate  yellow  flowers  impart 
a  delicious  coolness,  and  give  to  the  streets  of  Galle 
and  Colombo  the  fresh  and  enhvening  aspect  of  walks 
in  a  garden. 

Li  the  towns,  however,  the  suriya  is  productive  of  one 
serious  inconvenience.  It  is  the  resort  of  a  hairy  greenish 
caterpillar  ^,  longitudinally  striped,  which  frequents  it  in 
great  numbers,  and  at  a  certain  stage  of  its  growth 
descends  by  a  silken  thread  to  the  ground  and  hurries 
away,  probably  in  search  of  a  suitable  spot  in  which  to 
]Dass  through  its  metamorphosis.  Should  it  happen  to 
alight,  as  it  often  does,  upon  some  lounger  below,  and 
find  its  way  to  his  unprotected  skin,  it  inflicts,  if  molested, 
a  sting  as  pungent,  but  far  more  lasting,  than  that  of  a 
nettle  or  a  star-fish. 

Attention  being  thus  directed  to  the  quarter  whence 
the  assailant  has  lowered  himself  doAvn,  the  catei-pillars 
above  will  be  found  in  clusters,  sometimes  amounting 
to  hundreds  chnging  to  the  branches  and  the  bark,  with 
a  few  stragghng  over  the  leaves  or  suspended  from 
them  by  fines.  These  pests  are  so  annojdng  to  children 
as  weU  as  destructive  to  the  fofiage,  that  it  is  often 
necessary  to  singe  them  ofi"  the  trees  by  a  flambeau 
raised  on  the  extremity  of  a  pole ;  and  as  they  faU  to 
the  ground  they  are  eagerly  devom^ed  by  the  crows  and 
domestic  fowls.'*^ 

With  the  exception  of  the  old  chm'ch  built  by  tlie 
Netherlands   East   India  Company,    the    town  of  Galle 


'  The  species  of  motli  viiih.  which 
it  is  identified  has  not  yet  been  de- 
tennined,  but  it  most  probably  be- 
longs to  a  section  of  Boisduval's 
genus  Bomb^'x  near  Cuethocanipa 
Stephens. 

^  Another  catei-piUar  wliich  feeds 
on  the  jasniine-fldwering  Carissa, 
stingrs  with  such   fiirv  that   I   have 


■with  fleshy  spines  on  the  upper  sm-- 
face,  each  of  which  seems  to  be 
charged  with  the  venom  that  occa- 
sions this  acute  suffering.  Tlie  moth 
which  this  cat ei-pilhir  produces,  Kecpi-a 
lepida,  Cramer;  Limacodes  f/raciosa, 
"VVestw.,  lias  darlc  brown  ■s\-ings,  the 
primaiT  traversed  by  a  broad  green 
band.     It  is  common  in  the  Western 


known  a  gentleman  to  shod  tears  side  of  Oylon.  The  larvoe  of  tlie 
while  the  pain  was  at  its  height.  It  genus  AdoUa  are  also  hairy,  and  sting 
is  short  and  broad,  of  a  pale  gi-een,  |  with  virulence. 


CUAP.    I.] 


NATIVE   TOWN. 


Ill 


contains  no  remarkable  buildings,  and  the  streets  at 
the  present  day  differ  little  in  their  aspect  from  that 
which  they  presented  during  the  presence  of  the  Dutch. 
The  houses  are  spacious,  but  seldom  liigher  than  a 
single  story,  and  each  has,  along  the  entire  hue  of  the 
front,  a  deep  verandah  supported  on  pillars  to  create 
shade  for  the  rooms  within. 

At  the  close  of  the  day  we  drove  with  the  principal 
government  officer,  Mr.  Cripps,  through  the  native 
town,  which  extends  beyond  the  walls  of  the  fort,  and 
thence  through  some  native  villages  along  the  margin 
of  the  bay,  in  the  direction  of  Matura,  the  road  being 
one  continuous  avenue  of  coco-nut  trees.  The  enjoy- 
ment of  the  scene  was  indescribable  ;  the  cool  shade  of 
the  palm  groves,  the  fresh  verdure  of  the  grass,  the 
bright  tint  of  the  flowers  that  tmned  over  every  tree, 
the  rich  copper  hue  of  the  soil,  and  the  occasional 
ghmpse  of  the  sea  through  the  openings  in  the  dense 
wood ;  all  combined  to  form  a  landscape  unsurpassed  in 
novelty  and  beauty. 

The  subm^bs  consist  chiefly  of  native  huts,  interspersed 
here  and  there  with  the  decaying  villas  of  the  old  Dutch 
burghers,  distinguished  by  quaint  doorways  and  fantastic 
entrances  to  the  compounds  and  gardens.  Tlie  latter 
contained  abundance  of  fruit-trees,  oranges,  limes,  pap- 
paws,  bread-fruits,  and  plantains,  and  a  plentiful  under- 
growth of  pine-apples,  yams,  and  sweet  potatoes.  Of 
these  by  far  the  most  remarkable  tree  is  the  jak,  with 
broad  glossy  leaves  and  enormous  yellow  fruit,  not  grow- 
ing on  the  branches,  but  supported  by  powerful  stalks 
from  the  trunk  of  the  tree.^ 

I  was   struck  with  the  extraordinary  numbers  of  the 


^  Tlie  jak,  AHocarjms  intcf/rifolia, 
would  seem  to  be  the  tree  which 
Pliny  says  the  Indians  called  Pala 
and  arima,  putting-  forlli  fruit  from 
its  bark,  one  of  which  was  sufficient 
to  funiish  a  meal  for  four   persons. 


''  fructum  cortice  mittit  ut  imo  qua- 
ternos  satiet."  —  xii.  12.  Sprengvl 
and  IJauliin  supposed  Pliny  to  mean 
the  plantain ;  but  the  description 
quoted  applies  to  the  j  ak. 


112  SOUTHERX   AXD    CENTRAL    PROVINCES.       [rARX  VII. 

beautiful  striped  shells  of  the  Helix  hcemastoma,  on  the 
stems  of  the  coco-nut  palms  on  the  road  as  we  drove 
towards  Matura,  and  stopping  frequently  to  collect  them, 
I  was  led  to  observe  that  each  separate  garden  seemed 
to  possess  a  variety  almost  peculiar  to  itself ;  in  one  the 
mouth  of  every  individual  shell  was  red,  in  another 
separated  from  the  first  only  by  a  wall,  black,  and  in 
others  (but  less  frequently)  pure  white ;  whilst  the 
varieties  of  external  colouring  were  equaUy  local ;  in 
one  enclosure  they  were  nearly  all  red,  and  in  an  adjoiii- 
ino;  one  all  brown. ^ 

The  southern  coast,  from  Galle  to  Ilambangtotte 
(which  I  visited  at  a  later  period),  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  and  remarkable  portions  of  Ceylon.  Its 
inhabitants  are  the  most  purely  Singhalese  section  of 
the  population.  It  formed  an  important  part  of  the 
ancient  division  of  Eohuna,  whicli  was  colonised  at  an 
early  period  by  the  foUowers  of  Wijayo^,  and  then' 
descendants  were  so  far  removed  from  Anarajapoora 
and  the  north,  that  they  liad  neither  intercourse  nor 
commixture  with  the  Malabars.  Their  temples  were 
asylums  for  the  studious  and  learned,  and  to  the  present 
day,  some  of  the  priests  of  Matura  and  Mulgu-igalle 
are  accomphshed  scholars  in  Sanskrit  and  Pali,  and 
possess  rich  collections  of  Buddhist  manuscripts  and 
books. 

The  sceneiy  of  the  coast  as  far  as  Dondera,  is  singu- 
larly lovely,  the  cmTcnts  having  scooped  the  hue  of  the 
shore  into  coves  and  bays  of  exqmsite  beauty,  separated 
by  precipitous  headlands  covered  with  forests  and  crowned 
by  groves  of  coco-nut  palms. 

Close   by  Belhgam   the   road  passes  a  rock,  a   niche 


^  Dakwin,     in     liis     Naturalist^ s  [  coloiu'ed,  a  tint    not    common   any- 


past  ur,'i;>-o   of  East  Falkland  Island  ;     black  heads  and  feet  were  common." 
"roimd    Mount  Osborne  about   lialf     — Ch.  ix.  p.  192. 


of  some   of  the  herds   were  mouse-  '       ^  Seertw^e^Vol.I.  Pt.  i.  ch.  iii.  p.  337 


Chap.  I.]  DONDEEA.  113 

in  wliicli  contains  the  statue  of  the  "  Kustia  Baja"  an 
Indian  prmce,  in  whose  honoiu:  it  was  erected,  because, 
accordino;  to  the  legend,  he  was  the  first  to  teach  the 
Singhalese  tlie  culture  of  the  coco-nut/ 

Every  building  throughout  tliis  favourite  district  is 
a  memorial  of  the  Dutch.  The  rest-houses  on  the  road- 
side, the  villas  in  the  suburbs,  and  the  fortifications  of  the 
towns  were  erected  by  them  ;  and  Matura,  with  its  Httle 
star-fort  of  coral,  remains  as  perfect  at  the  present  day, 
as  when  it  was  a  seat  of  the  spice  trade,  and  a  sanitary 
retreat  for  the  garrison  of  Galle.'-^ 

Dondera  Head,  the  Sunium  of  Ceylon,  and  the 
southern  extremity  of  the  island,  is  covered  with  the 
ruins  of  a  temple,  which  was  once  one  of  the  most  cele- 
brated in  Ceylon.  The  headland  itself  has  been  the 
resort  of  devotees  and  pilgrims,  from  the  most  remote 
ages  ;  —  Ptolemy  describes  it  as  Dagana^  "  sacred  to  the 
Moon,"  and  the  Buddliists  constructed  there  one  of 
their  earhest  dagobas,  the  restoration  of  wliich  was  the 
care  of  successive  sovereigns.^  But  the  most  important 
temple  was  a  shrine  which  m  veiy  early  times  had  been 
erected  by  the  Hindus  in  honour  of  Yishnu.  It  was  in 
the  height  of  its  splendour,  when,  in  1587,  the  place 
was  devastated  in  the  course  of  the  maraudino-  ex- 
pedition  by  which  De  Souza  d'Arronches  sought  to 
create  a  diversion,  dming  the  siege  of  Colombo  by  Eaja 
Singha  H.^  The  historians  of  the  period  state  that  at 
tliat  time  Dondera  was  the  most  renowned  place  of 
pilgrimage  in   Ceylon  ;  Adam's  Peak  scarcely  excepted. 


^  See  ante,  Vol.  I.  Pt.  w.  cli.  xi. 
p.  437.  The  legend  will  be  foimd  iu 
Power's  Ceylon  MisccUamj,  vol.  i.  p. 
250,  Cotta,  1842.  An  engraving  of 
the  statue  is  given  in  the  Asiatic  Me- 
searches,  vol.  vi.  p.  432. 

2  Matiu-a  was  fortified  in  a.d. 
15.50,  by  King  Dhanua-pala,  with 
the  aid  of  the  Portuguese  (Y\- 
lENTTN,  Ond  en  Nieuw  Oost-Indien, 
ch.  vi.  p.  8)  ;  but  the  fort  still  exist- 

VOL.  II. 


ing  was  erected  by  the  Dutch  in  A.u. 
1645.— JJjV/.,  ch.  xi.  p.  130. 

^  Query. — Does  Ptolemy's  name 
Dayana  refer  to  the  da(/oba?  The 
latter  was  repaired,  a.d.  ()8(3,  by  Iving 
Dapoolu,  who  hold  his  court  at 
Mahagam,  to  the  east  of  Dondera 
(Hajavali,  p.  248)  ;  and  again,  A.D. 
1180,  by  Prakrania  Bahu  I. — Forbks' 
ElevenYears  in  Ceylon, \o\.  ii.  p.  178, 

*  See  ante,  Vol.  II.  Pt.  vi.  ch.  i. 


114  SOUTHEKX  A^'D   CENTEAL   PEOVmCES.       [Part  YII. 

The  temple,  they  say,  was  so  vast,  that  from  the  sea  it 
had  the  appearance  of  a  city.  The  pagoda  was  raised  on 
vaidted  arches,  richly  decorated,  and  roofed  with  plates 
of  gilded  copper.  It  was  encompassed  by  a  quadrangular 
cloister,  opening  under  verandahs,  upon  a  terrace  and 
gardens  with  odoriferous  shrubs  and  trees,  whose  flowers 
were  gathered  by  the  priests  for  processions.  De  Souza 
entered  the  gates  without  resistance ;  and  liis  soldiers 
tore  down  the  statues,  which  were  more  than  a  thousand 
in  number.  The  temple  and  its  buildings  were  over- 
thrown, its  arches  and  its  colonnades  were  demolished, 
and  its  gates  and  towers  levelled  T\dth  the  ground. 
The  plunder  was  immense,  in  ivory,  gems,  jewels,  sandal- 
wood, and  ornaments  of  gold.  As  the  last  mdignity 
that  could  be  offered  to  the  sacred  place,  cows  were 
slaughtered  in  the  comls,  and  the  cars  of  the  idol,  with 
other  combustible  materials,  being  fired,  the  shrine  was 
reduced  to  ashes. -^  A  stone  doorway  exquisitely  carved, 
and  a  small  building,  whose  extraorchnary  strength 
resisted  the  violence  of  the  destroyers,  are  all  that  now 
remain  standins; ;  but  the  inbound  for  a  considerable 
distance  is  strewn  ^vith  ruins,  conspicuous  among  which 
are  numbers  of  finely  cut  columns  of  granite.  The 
dagoba  which  stood  on  the  crown  of  the  hill,  is  a  mound 
of  shapeless  debris. 

Still  farther  to  the  east  are  the  towns  of  Tangalle 
and  Hambangtotte,  in  the  vicinity  of  which  he  the  vast 
marshes  or  leways,  whence  the  island  derives  its  principal 
supplies  of  salt. 

The  fire-flies  and  glow-worms  were  kindhng  their 
emerald  lamps  as  we  retm^ned  after  sunset,  from  our 
evenhig  drive,  to  the  fort  of  Galle.  We  had  our 
first  Singhalese  dinner  at  the  Queen's  House,  T\dth 
seir-fish  and  poultry  (for  which  latter  the  adjoining 
district   of    Matm'a   is   fiimous),   followed  by  a   dessert 


1  Fakia  y  SovzA,Po7f tiff uese  Asia,  I  De  Cono,  Asia,  Si-c,  dec.  x.  ch.  xv 
^■c,   \o\.   iii.  pt.    i.    cli.    vi.  p.   5.3 ;  |  vol.  \i.  pt.  ii.  p.  G4i<. 


Chap.  I.] 


MOSQUITOES. 


115 


ill  wliicli  rambiitans  \  custard  apples  2,  and  country 
almonds  ^,  were  the  most  agreeable  novelties.  The 
only  di^awbacks  to  enjoyment  were  the  heat  and 
the  mosquitoes ;  and  from  either  it  was  hopeless 
to  escape.  Next  to  the  torture  and  apprehension 
it  inflicts,  the  most  annoying  pecuharities  of  the 
mosquito  are  the  booming  hum  of  its  approach,  its 
cunning,  its  audacity,  and  the  perseverance  with  which 
it  renews  its  attacks  however  ft-equently  repulsed ;  and 
these  characteristics  are  so  remarkable  as  fully  to  justify 
the  conjectm^e  that  the  mosquito,  and  not  the  ordinary 
fly,  constituted  the  plague  inflicted  upon  Pharaoh  and 
the  Egyptians.^ 


^  This  delicious  fi-uit,  which  is  a 
species  of  Neplielium,  takes  its  name 
from  the  Malay  word  ramhut,  "  the 
hair  of  the  head,"  which  describes 
the  villose  coverinfif  that  envelopes  it. 
^  Anana  reticulata. 
^  From  the  Terminalia  Catappa ; 
called  Kath-hadam  in  Bengal.  The 
tree  is  exotic  ;  and  was  probably  in- 
troduced into  Ceylon  from  Java. — 
See  Buchanan's  6'urvei/  of  Behur, 
vol.  i.  p.  233. 

^  The  precise  species  of  insect  by 
means  of  which  the  Almighty  sig- 
nalised the  plague  of  flies,  remains 
uncertain,  as  the  Hebrew  term  aroh 
or  orov,  which  has  been  rendered  in 
one  place,  "  Divers  sorts  of  flies," 
Ps.  cv.  31  ;  and  in  another,  "swarms 
of  flies,"  Exod.  viii.  21,  &c.,  means 
merely  "  an  assemblage,"  a  "  mixtm-e," 
or  a  **  swann,"  and  the  expletive  ''  of 
files  "  is  an  interpolation  of  the  trans- 
lators. This,  however,  serves  to 
show  that  the  fly  implied  was  one 
easily  recognisal^le  by  its  habit  of 
sxoarming;  and  the  further  fact  that 
it  hites,  or  rather  stings,  is  elicited 
from  the  expression  of  the  Psalmist, 
Ps.  Ixxviii.  4-5,  that  the  insects  by 
which  the  Egy]3tians  were  tonnented 
"  devoured  thorn/'  so  that  here  are 
two  peculiarities  inapplicable  to  the 
domestic  fly,  but  strongly  character- 
istic of  gnats  and  mosquitoes. 


Bruce  thought  that  the  fly  of  the 
fourth  plague  was  the  ^'zimb"  of 
Abyssinia  which  he  so  gi-aphically 
describes;  and  Wkstwood,  in  an 
ingenious  passage  in  his  Entomolo- 
f/ist's  Te.ii-book,  p.  17,  combats  the 
strange  idea  of  one  of  the  bishops, 
that  it  was  a  cockroach  !  and  argues 
in  favour  of  the  mosquito.  Tliis  view 
he  sustains  by  a  reference  to  the 
liabits  of  the  creature,  the  swarms  iu 
which  it  in\-ades  a  locality,  and  the 
audacity  with  which  it  enters  the 
houses ;  and  he  accounts  for  the 
exemption  of  "  the  land  of  Goshen 
iu  which  the  Israelites  dwelt,"  by 
the  fact  of  its  being  sandy  pasture 
above  the  level  of  the  river ;  whilst 
the  mosquitoes  were  produced  freely 
in  the  rest  of  Eg;<t-pt,  the  soil  of  which 
was  submerged  bv  the  rising  of  the 
Nile. 

In  all  the  passages  in  the  Old 
Testament  in  which  flies  are  alluded 
to,  otherwise  than  in  connection  with 
the  Egyptian  infliction,  the  word 
used  in  the  Hebrew  is  zevov,  whicli 
the  Septuagint  renders  by  the  ordi- 
nary generic  term  for  flies  In  general, 
i)rh(,  "  musca  "  (Eccles.  x.  1,  Isaiah 
vii.  10);  but  in  every  instance  in 
wliich  mention  is  made  of  the  miracle 
of  Moses,  the  Septuagint  says  that 
the  fly  produced  was  the  Kvyo/trla, 
the    "  dog-flv."     What    insect   was 


116 


SOUTHEEX   AXD    CENTRAL    PEOVIXCES.       [Part  VIT. 


The  great  problem  Avliich  must  occupy  the  attention  of 
those  interested  in  the  futm'e  destiny  of  Point  de  Galle, 
involves  the  means  of  rendering  the  harbour  sufficiently 
commodious  and  secure  for  the  reception  of  the  great  and 
increasing  number  of  steam-vessels,  wliich  now  make  it 
their  resort.  The  masfnitude  of  the  interests  concerned 
expands  the  question  to  imperial  dimensions ;  and  if 
Galle  is  to  become  the  great  civil  arsenal  of  the  East ; 
the  rendezvous  for  the  packets  and  passenger  ships 
from  India,  Australia,  and  China ;  as  well  as  for  the 
merchantment  wliich  touch  there  for  telegraphic  orders 
by  wliich  their  further  com^se  is  to  be  guided ;  the 
enlargement  of  the  area  of  the  harboiu%  as  well  as 
its  protection  from  the  swell  of  the  monsoon,  must 
be  speedily  secured  by  the  construction  of  the  necessary 
works.  And,  in  the  consideration  of  this,  the  further 
question  arises  of  the  comparative  advantages  of  Trinco- 
mahe,  and  the  practicability  of  adapting  the  umivalled 
bay  of  the  latter  to  all  the  requirements  of  commerce  by 
a  system  of  railways  connecting  the  eastern  and  western 
coasts  of  Ceylon. 

Elsewhere  I  have  alluded  very  briefly  to  the  pheno- 
mena of  the  tides  aromid  the  island  ^,  and  I  have  given 
the  particulars  of  the  "  estabhshment  "  at  a  few  of  the 
ports  most  fi^equented  by  seamen.  In  noticing  this  sub- 
ject in  connection  with  Galle,  there  are  two  pecuharities 
which  cannot  fail  to  excite  attention ;  the  very  shght 
variation  in  altitude  between  liioh  and  low  water  at  all 


meant  by  tliis  name  it  is  not  now  easy 
to  determine,  but  .-Elian  intimates 
that  the  dog-fly  both  inflicts  a  woimd 
and  emits  a  booming  sound,  in  both 
of  which  particulars  it  accords  with 
the  mosquito  (lib.  iv.  51)  ;  and  Piiilo- 
JuD^us,  in  his  Vita  Jloais,  lib.  i.  ch. 
xxiii.^  descanting  on  the  plague  of 
flies,  and  using  the  tenii  of  the 
Septuagint,  Kvi'ofivlcr,  describes  it  as 
combining  the  characteristic  of  "the 
most  impudent  of  all  animals,  the  Hy 
and  the  dog,  exhibiting  the  courac'e 


and  the  cmmingof  both,  and  fastening 
on  its  victim  with  the  noise  and 
rapidit}'  of  an  arrow" — /ifr<i  poi'O'v 
KciHuTrtp  fffXoQ.  This  seems  to  identify 
the  dog-fly  of  the  Septuagint  -n-ith 
the  description  of  the  Psalmist,  Ps. 
lxx^•iii.  4o,  and  to  vindicate  the  con- 
jectm'o  that  the  tormenting  mosquito, 
and  not  the  harmless  house-fly,  was 
commissioned  by  the  Lord  to  himible 
the  obstinacy  of  the  Ein-ptian  tvi-ant. 
1  Vol.  I.  Pt.  I.  ch.i.^p.  52. 


Chap.  T.]  niENOMEXA   OF   THE    TIDES.  117 

points  round  the  coast,  and  the  discrepant  hours  at 
which  the  former  occurs  on  the  east  and  west  coasts 
respectively.  The  difFicuhies  which  arose  in  my  own 
mind  on  the  subject,  and  the  doubts  I  entertained  as  to 
the  accuracy  of  the  ordinary  authorities,  have  been  so 
satisfactorily  removed  by  a  communication  from  Ad- 
miral Fitzroy,  tliat  I  regret  my  inability  to  incorporate 
at  length  the  valuable  information  with  which  he  has 
supphed  me. 

His  opinion  is,  that  Ceylon  as  a  prolongation  of  the 
great  Indian  peninsula,  projects  so  far  into  the  Indian 
Ocean  as  to  oppose  an  effectual  barrier  to  the  fi'ee  and 
simultaneous  action  of  its  waters,  under  the  attraction  of 
the  moon.  Hence  they  may  be  considered  as  broken 
into  two  independent  sections  or  zones,  each  with  a  time 
pecuhar  to  itself,  and  a  tide-wave  moving  from  east  to 
west ;  —  and  each  more  or  less  influenced  by  superadded 
phenomena,  differing  essentially  according  to  the  local 
features  of  the  respective  shores.  Thus  the  most  easterly 
tide  impinges  on  the  coast  of  Ceylon,  reacliing  Batticaloa 
about  fom^  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  Trincomalie  about 
two  hours  later,  and  thence  passing  towards  Coromandel 
and  Madras.  Whilst  this  wave  is  pm^suing  its  course, 
the  moon  has  been  already  acting  on  the  opposite 
side  of  India,  and  forming  another  tide-wave  akeady 
in  motion  towards  the  coast  of  Arabia  and  Africa ;  con- 
sequently withdrawing  the  waters,  and  depressing  their 
level  in  the  Gulf  of  Manaar.  But  before  they  can  be 
much  reduced  on  the  west  they  are  overtaken  by  the 
wave  from  the  east,  which  arrests  theu'  further  fall,  and 
hmits  the  change  of  level  to  something  less  than  thirty 
inches. 

Again  on  the  moon  ceasing  to  influence  the  western 
section  of  the  sea,  the  tendency  of  the  tide-wave  when 
released  from  her  attraction  is  to  return  towards,  and 
(because  of  acquired  momentum)  even  heyofid^  its  former 
position  of  equilibrium,  while  receding  towards  the  coast 
of  Malabar  and  Ceylon.     Hence  a  continuance  of  oscilla- 

1  3 


118  SOUTHERN   AND    CENTRAL   PROVINCES.       [Part  VII. 

tion,  of  advance  aucl  retrogression,  must  be  presumed 
until  the  earth's  attraction  and  the  effects  of  friction  shall 
have  quite  checked  the  movement.^  Thus  the  periods 
within  which  the  principal  tide-waves  succeed  one  another, 
and  the  oscillations  to  which  they  give  rise,  originate  de- 
rivative tide-waves  of  form  and  character  so  pecuhar  as 
to  call  for  a  more  attentive  mvestiojation  than  has  hitherto 
been  devoted  to  them.^ 

It  must  not,  however,  be  forgotten,  that  the  tidal 
phenomena  which  affect  the  Hmited  zones  of  waters,  on 
either  side  of  the  Indian  peninsula  (waters,  which,  if 
left  to  themselves,  would  have  a  tendency,  when  un- 
affected by  the  attraction  of  the  moon,  to  be  restored 
to  a  condition  of  normal  equilibrium),  receive  still 
further  comphcation  from  the  marginal  efflux  of  the 
tide-wave  of  the  great  Indian  Ocean.  This  tide-wave 
itself  is  not  free,  but  modified  in  its  turn  by  impingement 
against  the  African  continent,  and  by  the  deportment 
of  that  continuous  swell,  "  immensely  broad  and  exces- 
sively flat,"^  which  sweeps  comparatively  unchecked 
round  the  world  between  the  parallels  of  40°  and  60° 
south.  In  our  present  limited  knowledge  of  facts,  we  are 
not  in  a  position  to  determine  what  changes  of  level  or  of 
"  stream  "  (not  necessarily  co-existent  phenomena)  may 
result  from  these  various  sources  of  distm-bance. 

In  the  harbour  of  Galle,  the  daily  period  of  high-Avater 
is  so  materially  modified  by  the  phase  of  the  monsoon, 
and  the  strength  and  direction  of  the  currents,  as  weU  as 
of  the  off  and  on  shore  ^vinds,  that  the  very  moderate 
ascent  and  depression  of  level  (somewhat  less  than  two 
feet)  produced  by  luni-solar  influences,  have  Iiitherto 
attracted  but  httle  attention  from  any  except  the  more 
scientific  seamen,  who  may  liave  made  sustained  observa- 
tions  in   order   to   eliminate   these  accidental  variations 


^  A'ide  Appendix  to  the  Voyoge  of  I       "^  Babbage,     Ninth     Bridgcwatei' 
the  Beayle,\o\,\\.  ])s '177.  7/-eof/'w,  Appendix,  p.  218. 

I      2  IIekschel,  Outlines,  ^-c,  p.  497. 


Chap.  I.l 


TIDES    IN   THE    INDIAN   OCEAN. 


119 


from  tlie  general  results,  and  establish  a  correct  theory  of 
the  movement  of  the  waters  in  the  Indian  Ocean.  It  is 
now  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century,  since  Dr.  Whewell 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  inquiry  and  endeavoured  to 
ehcit  the  co-operation  of  practical  men  in  its  solution ; 
and  though  much  has  been  done  to  accumulate  facts,  still 
observations  have  not  yet  been  made  in  sufficient  number 
to  lead  to  an  inference  as  to  the  probable  truth  of  any 
hypothesis  based  upon  those  akeady  recorded.^ 


^  That  the  question  is  not  unworthy 
of  the  attention  of  intelligent  officers 
in  Ceylon,  hampered  as  the  coast- 
canying  trade  of  the  island  is  by  tliose 
singular  sand-barriers,  to  which  I 
have  referred  in  a  former  passage 
(see  Vol.  I.  Pt.  I.  ch.  i.  p.  45),  is 
shown  by  a  recent  report,  an  extract 
from  which  has  fallen  into  my  hands 
while  this  volume  is  passing  through 
the  press.  Lieut.  Tx\.yloe,  of  the 
Indian  Navy,  in  remarking  on  similar 
accumulations  of  sand  which  obstruct 
tlie  navigation  at  Cochin,  observes, 
"  that  a  minute  knowledge  both  of 
the  set  of  the  tides  and  of  the  pre- 
vailing ocean  currents,  as  also  of  the 
heaviest  swell  of  the  south-west 
monsoon,  is  indispensable  to  a  right 


judgment "  in  regard  to  any  projected 
improvements  at  the  former  port, 
lie  enters  into  a  minute  examination 
of  the  question,  supporting  his  view 
by  reference  to  facts  respecting  the 
tides  on  the  west  side  of  India. 
That  the  materials  derived  from  other 
authority  than  his  owti  were  meagre 
and  inadequate,  woidd  be  seen  by  a 
perusal  of  his  Report  ;  nor  can  much 
be  done  to  assist  in  arri^-ing  at  more 
mature  conclusions,  mitil  the  autho- 
rities recognise  the  importance  of  the 
inquiry,  or  enterprising  officers,  with 
adequate  means  at  their  disposal,  go 
to  the  very  moderate  expense  of 
fitting  up  self-registering  tide-gauges 
at  points  along  the  coast. 


I  4 


120  SOUTHERN"   AXD    CENTRAL    PROVINCES.       [Part  VII. 


CHAP.  n. 

GALLE    TO    COLOMBO. AD.\il'S   PE.\K. 

At  sunrise  on  tlie  30tli  November,  as  the  morning  gun 
was  firing,  we  passed  under  the  fort-gate,  and  crossed 
the  drawbridge  of  Galle,  en  route  for  Colombo ;  ha\ing 
secm^ed  for  our  party  the  two  primitive  vehicles  which 
carry  the  govermnent  mails,  and  which  then  performed 
the  jom^ney  in  less  than  twelve  hom^s^ ;  crossing  the 
broad  estuaries  of  three  rivers  in  ferry  boats,  the  Gindiu-a, 
the  Bentotte,  and  the  Kalu-ganga ;  besides  an  arm  of  the 
Pantura-lake. 

When  the  British  took  possession  of  Ceylon,  and  for 
many  years  afterwards,  no  road  deserving  the  name 
was  in  existence,  to  unite  these  important  positions.^ 
Travellers  were  borne  along  the  shore  in  palankins,  by 
paths  under  the  trees  ;  troops  on  the  march  dragged 
their  guns  with  infinite  toil  over  the  sand ;  and  stores, 
supphes  and  ammunition  were  carried  on  men's  shoulders 
through  the  jungle.  Since  then,  not  only  has  a  highway 
unsurpassed  in  construction  been  completed  to  Colombo, 
but  continued  through  the  mountains  to  the  central 
capital  at  Kandy,  and  thence  higher  still  to  Neuera-eUia, 
at  an  elevation  of  six  thousand  feet  above  the  sea. 
Nor  is  tliis  aU :  every  town  of  importance  in  the  island 


1  Since  then  all  these  rivers  have  starting  on  a  tour  round  the  island ; 
been  bridged.  one    himch-ed    and     sLxty    palankin 

2  Percival,  p.  145.  An  idea  of  !  bearers,  four  hundred  coolies  to  cany 
the  toil  of  travelling  this  road  in  the  j  the  baggage,  two  elephants,  six 
year  1<S00  may  be  collected  from  the  horses,  and  fifty  lascars  to  take  care 
iauniber  of  attendants  which  the  Go-  of  the  tents. — Cokdixer,  ch.  vi.  p. 
veruor  was  forced  to  take  on  his  1G8. 
journey  from  Colombo  to  Galle  when 


Chap.  II.]  KOADS.  121 

is  now  connected  with  the  two  principle  cities,  by  roads 
either  wholly  or  partially  macadamised.  One  continiioiLS 
hue,  seven  hundred  and  sixty-nine  miles  in  length, 
has  been  formed  round  the  entire  circuit  of  the  coast, 
adapted  for  carriages  where  it  approaches  the  principal 
places,  and  nearly  everywhere  available  for  horsemen 
and  wayfarers.  Of  upwards  of  three  hundred  miles 
of  roads  in  all  directions,  nearly  two-thirds  may  be 
considered  as  open  and  traversable  at  all  seasons,  but 
the  others,  during  the  rains  whicli  accompany  the 
monsoons,  are  impassable  from  want  of  drainage  and 
bridges. 

No  portion  of  British  India  can  bear  comparison  ^\dtli 
Ceylon,  either  in  the  extent  or  the  excellence  of  its 
means  of  communication ;  and  for  this  enviable  pre- 
eminence the  colony  is  mainly  indebted  to  the  genius 
of  one  eminent  man,  and  the  energy  and  perseverance 
of  another.  Sir  Edward  Barnes,  on  assuming  the  govern- 
ment in  1820,  had  tlie  penetration  to  perceive  that 
the  sums  annually  wasted  on  hill-forts  and  garrisons 
in  the  midst  of  wild  forests,  might,  with  judicious  expen- 
diture, be  made  to  open  the  whole  country  by  mihtary 
roads,  at  once  securing  and  em^iching  it.  Before  the 
close  of  his  administration,  he  had  the  happiness  of 
witnessing  the  reahsation  of  his  pohcy  ;  and  of  leaving 
every  radius  of  the  diverging  hues,  which  he  had  planned, 
either  wholly  or  partially  completed.  One  officer  who 
had  been  associated  "vvith  the  enterprise  from  its  origin, 
and  with  every  stage  of  its  progress,  remained  beliind 
him  to  consummate  his  plans.  That  officer  was  Major 
Skinner,  the  present  Commissioner  of  Eoads  in  Ceylon. 
To  him  more  than  to  any  hving  man,  the  colony 
is  indebted  for  its  present  prosperity ;  and  m  after 
years,  when  the  interior  shall  have  attained  the  full 
development  of  its  productive  resources,  and  derived 
all  the  advantages  of  facile  communications  with  tlie 
coast,  the  name  of  this  meritorious  public  servant  will  be 


122 


SOUTIIEEX   AXD   CENTRAL   PEOVINCES.      [Part  VII. 


gratefully  honoured,  in  close  association  with  that  of  his 
illustrioiis  chief.  ^ 

In  its  pecuhar  style  of  beauty,  notliing  in  the  world 
can  exceed  in  lovehness  the  road  from  Point  de  Galle 
to  Colombo  ;  it  is  hterally  an  avenue  of  palms,  nearly 
seventy  miles  long,  with  a  rich  under-gi'owth  of  tropical 
trees,  many  of  them  crimson  with  flowers,  and  over- 
run with  orchids  and  climbing  plants'-^,  wliose  tendrils 
descend  in  luxuriant  festoons.  Bkds  of  gaudy  plu- 
mage dart  amidst  the  branches,  gay  butterflies  hover 
over  the  shady  fohage,  and  insects  of  metallic  lustre 
ghtter  on  the  leaves.  Bright-green  hzards  dash  over 
the  banks  and  ascend  the  trees,  and  the  hideous  but 
harmless  iguano^,  half  familiar  with  man,  moves  slowly 
across  the  high-road  out  of  the  way  of  the  traveller's 
carriage,  and  hisses  as  it  retreats  to  allow  him  to  pass. 
Where  a  view  of  the  landscape  can  be  caught  through 
an  opening  in  the  thick  woods,  it  is  equally  grand  and 
impressive  on  every  side.  On  one  hand  is  seen  the  range 
of  purple  hills,  which  form  the  mountain-zone  of  Kandy, 
and  stretch  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  till  they  are 
crowned   by  the   mysterious   summit  of  Adam's   Peak. 

"  Olha  em  Ceilao,  que  o  monte  se  alevanta 
Tauto  que  as  nuvens  passa,  ou  a  \'ista  engana  : 
Os  naturaes  o  tern  por  cousa  santa, 
Por  a  petba  em  que  esta  a  p^gada  humana."  * 

To  the  left  ghtters  the  blue  sea,  studded  ^vith  rocky 
islets,  over  which,  even  dming  sunny  calms,  the 
swell   from  the  Lidian  Ocean  rolls   volumes  of  snowy 


*  Since  the  above  was  wi-itten,  lier 
Majesty's  Secretary  of  State  for  the 
Colonies,  on  the  recommendation  of 
the  governor,  Sir  Ileniy  G.  Ward, 
has  confeiTed  on  Major  Skinner  an 
appropriate  recog-nition  of  his  gi'eat 
ser\'ices  by  raising  him  to  the  rank  of 
a  Member  of  Coimcil,  with  the  im- 
portant appointment  of  Auditor- 
General  of  the  colony ;  an  office  for 
which  his  previous  experience  in- 
vested him  with  paramoimt  qualifica- 
tions. 


^  One  of  the  most  wonderful  of 
these,  the  (7/0/7'o.srt  superba,  is  abundant 
near  Galle,  and  such  is  the  splendour 
of  its  red  and  amber  flowers,  that 
even  the  most  listless  stranger  cannot 
resist  the  temptation  to  stop  and 
wonder. 

2  3£(mitor  dracccna,  Gray.  For  an 
account  of  this  large  lizard,  see  Vol. 
I.  Pt.  II.  ch.  iii.  p.  182. 

^  Camoens,  Ltmud,  canto  x.  st. 
13G. 


Chap.  II.] 


INHABITANTS. 


1-23 


foam.  The  beach  is  carpeted  with  verdure  down  the 
line  of  the  yellow  sand  ;  and  occasionally  the  level  sweeps 
of  the  coast  are  diversified  by  bold  headlands  which  ad- 
vance abruptly  till  they  overhang  the  Avaves,  and  form 
sheltering  bays  for  the  boats  of  the  fishermen,  which, 
all  day  long,  are  in  motion  within  sight  of  the  shore. 

Arboured  in  the  shades  of  these  luxuriant  groves, 
nestle  the  white  cottages  of  the  natives,  each  with  its 
garden  of  coco- nuts  and  plantains,  and  in  the  subiurbs 
of  the  numerous  villages,  some  of  the  more  ambitious 
dweUings,  built  on  the  model  of  the  old  Dutch  villas, 
are  situated  in  tiny  compounds  \  enclosed  by  dwarf 
walls  and  hues  of  arecas. 

In  this  particular,  the  taste  of  the  low-country  Sin- 
ghalese, who  like  to  place  their  houses  in  open  and  airy 
situations,  contrasts  with  that  of  the  Kandyans,  who  are 
fond  of  seclusion,  and  build  their  villages  in  glens  and 
recesses  where  their  existence  would  be  unsuspected, 
were  it  not  indicated  by  the  coco-nut  palms  wliich  are 
planted  beside  them. 

Towards  GaUe,  the  majority  of  this  rural  population  are 
of  the  Chaha  caste  ^,  whose  members,  though  low  in  con- 
ventional rank,  are  amongst  the  most  useful  of  the  Singha- 
lese population.  They  appear  to  have  arrived  originally 
from  the  coast  of  India,  as  embroiderers  and  weavers, 
and  to  have  settled  at  Barberyn  in  the  thirteenth  century. 


*  From  campinho,  a  little  field 
(rortuguese). 

*  Ptolemy  gives  to  the  inhabitants 
of  Taprobane  the  name  of  Saloe, 
^aXai,  and  to  the  island  itself  Salice, 
2«At(c?/  (lib.  vii.  iv.),  which  Wilford 
says  is  a  derivative  from  the  Sanskrit 
Sala.  (^Essay  on  the  Sacred  Isles  of 
the  West,  As.  Hes.,  vol.  x.  p.  124.) 
An  ancient  name  of  Adam's  Peak  is 
Salmala,  or  the  "  Mountain  of  Sala." 
Fra  Bartolemeo  traces  the  origin 
of  all  these  names  to  the  Salej/ns,  an 
Indian  tribe,  called  in  the  I'liranas 
"  Salavas,"  and  it  is  a  curious  coin- 
cidence, that  the  Chalia  caste,  who 


still  inhabit  the  district  suiTOunding 
Ciallo,  and  extending-  thence  to  Ne- 
gombo,  claim  to  call  themselves  Salias, 
and  say  that  their  ancestors  camo 
originally  fi'om  Hindustan.  The 
legend  is  set  out  at  lengtJi  in  an  his- 
torical sketch  of  the  Chalias,  MTitten 
by  AcRiAiSr  Rajapvksa,  a  chief  of  the 
caste,  and  embodied  in  a  memoir 
"  On  the  Rellf/inn  and  Habits  of  the 
People  of  Ceylon,'"  by  iSL  JoiNVlLLi:. 
As.  Res.,  vol.  vii.  p.  399. 

The  most  satisfactory  account  of 
this  singular  race  that  I  have  seen,  is 
in  the  Asiatic  Joi'rnal  for  1830,  vol. 
xl.  p.  200. 


124 


SOUTHERX   AST)    CEXTRAL   PROVIXCES.       [Part  VII. 


At  a  miicli  later  period  they  betook  themselves  to  the 
trade  of  peehng  emuamou  ;  an  art  of  which  they  soon 
secured  the  virtual  monopoly.  The  Portuguese,  ahve 
to  the  importance  of  the  duties  in  which  this  hardy  class 
w^as  engaged,  of  penetrating  the  hills  in  search  of  the 
coveted  spice,  induced  the  kings  of  Cotta  to  institute  a 
regular  organisation  of  the  caste,  and  to  assign  certain 
villages  for  their  residence,  at  various  points  along  the 
coast  from  ISTegombo  to  Matura.  The  Dutch,  though 
treating  the  Chahas  with  the  most  heartless  severity, 
preserved  the  system  as  they  inherited  it  from  their 
predecessors  ^ ;  and  to  the  present  day,  they  thrive  on  the 
southern  coast,  engaging  in  every  branch  of  uidustry  that 
gives  acti\ity  and  prosperity  to  the  district. 

There  is  no  quarter  of  the  world  in  which  the  coco- 
nut flourishes  in  such  rich  luxmiance  as  in  this  corner 
of  Ceylon.  Here  it  enjoys  a  rare  combination  of  eveiy 
advantasfe  essential  to  its  growth, — a  loose  and  friable 
soil,  a  free  and  genial  au%  unobstructed  solar  heat,  and 
an  atmosphere  damp  with  the  spray  and  moisture  from 
the  sea,  towards  which  the  crown  of  the  tree  is  always 
more  or  less  inchned."^ 

Of  late  years,  its  cultivation  has  been  vastly  increased. 
Some  idea  may  be  formed  of  its  importance,  ft'om  the  fact 
that,  at  the  time  when  the  English  took  possession  of 
Colombo,  it  was  estimated  that  the  single  district  lying 
between  Dondera  Head  and  Calpentyn  contained  ten 
minions  of  coco-nut  trees  ^;  and  such  has  been  the  in- 


'  Valexttn,  Oud  en  Nimto  Oost- 
Indien,  ^-c,  ch.  xii.  p.  135  j  ch.  xv.  p. 
316. 

"^  A  writer  in  the  Journal  of  the 
Indian  Archipehir/o for  1850  obsenes, 
that  this  tendency  to  bend  above  the 
sea,  causing  its  fruit  to  drop  into  the 
water,  appe-''rs  to  account  for  its  ex- 
tension to  the  numerous  islands  and 
atolls  "  to  which  the  nut  is  iioated 
by  the  winds  and  tide." — Vol.  iv.  p. 
103.  A  curious  illusti-ation  of  the 
passion  of  the  coco-nut  for  the  sea  is 
mentioned  by   Dampiek,  in  connec- 


tion with  the  little  island  of  Pulo- 
Mega,  off  the  coast  of  Smuatra,  which 
he  says,  "  is  not  a  mile  roimd,  and  so 
low  that  the  tide  flows  over  it.  It 
is  of  a  sandy  soil,  and  full  of 
coco-nut  trees,  not-^-ithstanding  that 
at  everj'  spiiug-tide  the  salt-water 
goes  clear  over  the  island.'' — Voi/ar/e, 
i^-c,  vol.  i.  p.  474,  quoted  by  Craav- 
FUBD,  in  his  Dictionary  of  the  Indian 
Islands. 

^  Bektolacci,  pt.  iv.  p.  .324.  The 
Ceylon  Observer  of  the  25th  Decem- 
ber   1858,    contains    the    follo^ang 


Chap.  II.] 


COCO-XUT   TALMS. 


125 


crease  since,  that  the  total  number  in  the  island  cannot 
be  less  than  twenty  millions. 

All  that  has  ever  been  told  of  the  bread  fruit  or  any 
other  plant  contributing  to  the  welfare  of  man,  is  as 
nothing  compared  with  the  blessings  conferred  on 
Ceylon  by  this  inestimable  palm.  The  Singhalese,  in 
the  warmth  of  their  affection  for  then'  favourite  tree,  avow 
their  behef  that  it  pines  when  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
human  voice  ^ ;  and  recount  with  animation  the  "  hun- 
dred uses  "  for  which  its  products  are  made  available.^ 


summary  of  the  extent  of  coco-nut 
cultivation  in  the  island  :— "  In  the 
quinquennial  period  ending  1841,  the 
average  export  of  coco-nut  oil  did  not 
gi-eatly  exceed  400,000  gallons,  the 
value  being  under  20,000/.  In  1857, 
the  export  rose  to  the  enormous  figm-e 
of  1,767,413  gallons,  valued  at 
212,184/.  At  40  nuts  to  a  gallon  of 
oil,  the  above  export  represents  no 
fewer  than  70,69G,.520  coco-nuts. 
We  should  think  that  at  least  as  much 
oil  is  consumed  in  the  colony  as  is 
sent  out  of  it.  If  so,  we  (jet  141,393,040 
nuts,  convea-ted  into  3,534,826  gallons 
of  oil,  besides  poonack  or  oil-cake, 
which  is  valuable  as  food  for  animals 
and  as  manure.  Smj  that  there  are 
20,000,000  of  coco-nut  trees  in  Ceylon, 
oil  woidd  seem  to  be  made  from  the 
product  of  one-sixth  of  them,  say 
3,500,000.  We  should  think  that 
not  less  than  5,000,000  more  of  the 
trees  are  devoted  to  '  Toddy  '  draw- 
ing, the  liquor  being  drunk  fermented, 
distilled  into  arrack  or  converted  into 
sugar.  We  should  then  have 
11, .500,000  of  trees,  yielding 
460,000,000  of  nuts  to  meet  the  food 
requirements  of  the  people,  besides 
the  quantity  exported  in  their  uatiu'al 
state  or  as  copperah." 

'  That  the  coco-nut  prows  more 
luximantly  in  the  vicinity  of  human 
dwellings  is  certain  ;  but  then  it  liuds 
a  soil  artificially  enriched  tliere  :  and 
it  is  equally  certain  that  the  tree  is 
never  found  wild  in  the;  jungles  ;  but 
this  may  be  owing  to  the  destruction 
of  the   young  plants  by  elephants, 


which  are  fond  of  the  tender  leaves. 
The  same  reason  serves  to  account  for 
its  rarity  in  the  Kandyan  country, 
which  cannot  be  ascribed  solely  to 
remoteness  from  the  sea,  since  the 
coco-nut  palm  grows  a  hmadred 
leagues  from  the  coast  in  Venezuela, 
and  it  is  even  said  to  have  been  seen 
at  Timbuctoo. 

^  The  list  is,  of  course,  extended  to 
the  full  himdred ;  but  to  eke  out  this 
complement  requires  some  ingenious 
subdivision.  Thus,  the  trunk  fur- 
nishes fourteen  appliances  for  build- 
ing, fiu-nitm-e,  firewood,  ships,  fences, 
and  farming  implements ;  the  leaves, 
twenty-seven  for  thatch,  matting, 
fodder-baskets,  and  minor  utensils ; 
the  weh  sustaining  the  footstalks 
serves  for  strainers  and  flambeaux  ; 
the  hlossotn,  for  preserves  and  pickles ; 
the  fruit-sap,  for  spirits,  sugar,  and 
vinegar ;  the  nut  and  its  Juices,  for 
food  and  for  drinking,  for  oil,  curries, 
cakes,  and  cosmetics ;  the  shell,  for 
cups,  lamps,  spoons,  bottles,  and 
tooth-powder ;  and  the  ^bre  wJiich 
surromids  it,  for  beds,  cushions,  and 
carpets,  brushes,  nets,  ropes,  cordage, 
and  cables. — See  ante.  Vol.  I.  Pt.  i. 
ch.  iii.  p.  110.  One  pre-eminent  use 
of  the  coco-nut  palm  is  omitted  in  all 
these  popular  enumerations :  it  acts 
as  a  conductor  injjrutectinf/  their  houses 
from  li(/htninfj.  As  many  as  500  of 
th(>se  trees  were  struck  in  a  single 
j^nfoo  near  Putlam  during  a  succession 
of  thunder-storms  in  April  1859. — 
Colombo  Observer. 


126 


SOUTHEEX   AXD    CEXTKAL    TEOVIXCES.       [Paet  YII. 


There  is  hardly  one  of  these  multifarious  uses  that  may 
not  be  seen  in  active  illustration  dm^ing  the  diive 
between  Galle  and  Colombo.  Houses  ai^e  timbered 
Avith  its  wood,  and  roofed  with  its  plaited  fronds,  which, 
under  the  name  of  cajans^  are  hkewise  employed  for  con- 
structing partitions  and  fences.  The  fi'uit,  m  aU  its 
varieties  of  form  and  colour  \  is  ripened  aroimd  the 
native  dweUings,  and  the  women  may  be  seen  at  their 
doors  rasping  its  wliite  flesh  to  powder,  in  order  to  ex- 
tract fi'om  it  the  milky  emulsion  which  constitutes  the 
essential  excellence  of  a  Singhalese  cmiy.^     In  pits  by 


^  Thougli  xmfamiliar  to  the  eye  of 
a  sti-anger,  the  Siughalese  distinguish 
five  varieties  of  the  nut.  One,  bright 
orange  in  the  colour  of  the  outer 
husk,  known  as  the  "King  coco- 
nut," is  generally  planted  near  the 
temples  :  it  contains  a  fluid  so  deli- 
cate that  a  draught  of  it  is  offered  bv 
the  priests  to  "s-isitors  of  distinctioia 
as  an  honour.  The  other  four  vaiy 
from  light  yellow  to  dark  gi-een,  anci 
are  also  distinguished  by  shape  and 
size.  The  wonderful  double  coco- 
nut fi-om  the  Seychelles,  Lodoicea 
SeycheUarum,  has  been  introduced 
into  Ceylon,  but  I  am  not  aware  that 
it  has  yet  fi-uited  there.  In  size  it 
exceeds  the  ordinary  coco-nut  many 
fold,  with  the  added  peculiarity 
of  presenting  a  double  form.  One 
specimen  which  I  obtained  in  Ceylon 
exhibits  a  triple  fomiation.  In 
the  subjoined  sketch  an  orange  is 
introduced  to  exhibit  the  exti-aordi- 
naiy  size  of  these  singidar  coco-nuts, 
even  after  being  deprived  of  the  out- 
ward husk. 

Di-ifted  by  the  waves  from   some 
imknown  shore,  this  mysterious  fruit 


was  at  one  time  believed  to  gi'ow  be- 
neath the  sea,  and  was  thence  called 
the  Coco  de  Mer.  Medicinal  Airtues 
were  then  ascribed  to  it,  and  so  much 
as  4000  florins  were  offered  by  the 
Emperor  Eodolf  II.  for  a  single 
specimen  (Malthe  Betx,  vol.  iv.  p. 
420).  It  is  to  this  singidar  plant 
that  Camoens  alludes  in  the  Liisiad : — 

"  Nas  illias  de  Maldiva  nascp  a  planta 
No  profundo  das  aguas,  soberana, 
Ciijo  pomo  contra  o  veneno  urgente 
lie  tido  por  antidoto  excellente." 

Canto  X.  St.  136. 

^  In  a  note  to  Vol.  I.  Pt.  rv.  ch.  ii. 
p.  436,  I  have  shown  the  eiTor  of  the 
belief  prevalent  amongst  Em-opeans, 
that  the  use  of  ciuit  was  introduced 
by  the  Portuguese,  and  that  the  word 
itself  is  derived  fi-om  that  language. 
In  addition  to  the  evidence  there 
stated,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  Ibx 
Battjta,  two  hundred  years  before 
the  Portuguese  had  appeared  in  the 
Indian  Seas,  describes  the  natives  of 
Ceylon  eating  ciutv,  which  he  calls 
in  Arabic  couchmi,  oft'  the  leaves  of 
the  plantains,  precisely  as  they  do  at 
the  present  day :  "  lis  apportaient 
aussi  des  feuilles  de  baii- 
anier  sur  lesquelles  ils 
pla^aient  le  riz  quiforme 
leiu-  nourritiu'e.  lis  re- 
pandaient  sur  ce  riz  du 
coiichdn,  qui  sert  d'assai- 
sonuement  ♦  *  *  ♦  qxu 
est  compost?  de  poulets, 
de  viande,  de  poissou,  et 
de  legumes." 


coco    DE    KER 


CiiAP.  n.] 


COCO-XUT   TALMS. 


127 


the  roadside  the  liiisks  of  the  nut  are  steeped  to  con- 
vert the  fibre  into  coir  \  by  decomposing  the  interstitial 
pith; — its  flesh  is  dried  in  the  sun  preparatory  to  ex- 
pressing the  oil  '^ ;  vessels  are  attached  to  collect  the  juice 
of  the  unexpanded  flowers  to  be  converted  into  sugar, 
'and  from  early  morn  the  toddy  drawers  are  to  be  seen 
ascending  the  trees  in  quest  of  the  sap  draAvn  from  the 
spathes  of  the  unopened  flowers  to  be  distilled  into  arrack, 
the  only  pernicious  purpose  to  which  the  gifts  of  the 
bounteous  tree  are  perverted. 

The  most  precious  inheritance  of  a  Singhalese  is  his 
ancestral  garden  of  coco-nuts  ;  the  attempt  to  impose  a 
tax  on  them  in  1797,  roused  the  populace  to  rebeUion  ; 
and  it  is  curiously  illustrative  of  the  minute  subdivision  of 
property  in  Ceylon,  that  in  a  case  which  was  decided  in 
the  district  court  of  GaUe,  within  a  very  recent  period, 
the  subject  in  dispute  was  a  claim  to  the  2,520th  jjart 
of  ten  coco-nut  trees ! 

At  Hiccode^,  twelve  miles  from  Galle,  where  our 
horses  were  changed,  the  Moodhar  and  his  suite,  in  full 
costume,  were  waiting  to  offer  us  early  coffee  ;  and  at 
the  rest-house  '*  of  Amblangodde,  seven  miles  farther  on, 
we  were  gratified  with  a  present  of  freshly  gathered 
oranges  and  pines.  As  we  approached  the  latter  ^dllage, 
a  rock-snake,  python  reticidcitus,  the  first  we  had  seen,  a 
beautiful  specimen  at  least  ten  feet  long,  was  disturbed 
by  our  approach  as  he  basked  on  a  sunny  bank,  and 
gracefully  uncoiling  his  folds  he  passed  across  the  fence 
into  the  neighbouring  enclosure. 


*  Tlie  term  coir  is  a  con-uption  of 
the  Maldive  term  Icanbai;  by  ■which 
Aboufelda  gays  the  natives  of  those 
isLands  designated  the  cords  made 
from  the  coco-nut,  with  which 
they  sewed  together  the  pLaiiks  of 
their  shipping.  The  best  coir  is  made 
from  the  nnripe  nuts.  Cm/er  is  also 
ilio  Tamil  name  for  "  rope  "  of  any 
kind. 

*  The  coco-nut  when  thus  dried  is 
called  copera,  from  the  Tamil  term 
cohri. 


^  Spelled  Hiccadowe. 

^  The  choultries  erected  for  the 
accommodation  of  travellers  in  Cey- 
lon are  styled  red-honu^s,  and  ailbrd 
all  the  essential  requirements  for  re- 
freshment and  sleep  on  a  very  mode- 
rate scale,  and  for  a  proportionately 
moderate  cost.  They  are  always 
under  the  control  of  the  chief  civil 
oflicer  of  the  district,  who  sanctions 
the  tai'iff  of  charu:cs. 


128  SOUTHEKX   AXD    CEXTRAL    PROA^INCES.       [Part  YII. 

On  liftinc^  the  sand  from  the  sea-shore,  at  the  back 
of  the  rest-house,  I  was  surprised  to  find  amongst  it 
numerous  fragments  of  red  coral,  similar  to  that  brought 
by  the  fishermen  of  Xaples  from  the  straits  of  Messina. 
The  Mahawanso  alludes  to  the  finding  of  such  coral  in 
the  Gulf  of  Manaar  m  the  second  century  ^,  but  it  has 
never  in  modern  times  been  sought  for  systematically. 
The  ordinary  white  coral  is  found  in  such  quantities  on 
this  part  of  the  coast  that  an  active  trade  exists  in 
shipping  it  to  Colombo  and  Galle,  where,  when  calcined, 
it  serves  as  the  only  species  of  lime  used  for  builduigs  of 
all  kinds. 

Durmg  the  com^se  of  the  memorable  siege  of 
Colombo,  by  Eaja  Singha  L,  in  1587,  the  Portuguese, 
hoping  to  efiect  a  diversion,  directed  numerous  expedi- 
tions against  the  unprotected  villages  on  this  part  of 
the  coast,  destroyuig  the  gardens,  firing  the  dwelhngs, 
and  carrying  away  the  peasantry  to  be  sent  into  slavery 
in  India.  Faria  y  Souza  relates  a  touchmg  hicident 
which  occurred  on  this  occasion  at  Cosgodde,  a  hamlet 
a  few  miles  south  of  Bentotte  :  — "  Among  the  pri- 
soners taken  at  Cosgore^  was  a  bride  ;  and  as  the  ships 
were  ready  to  weigh  anchor,  there  ran  suddenly  mto 
that  in  which  she  was,  a  young  man,  and  embracing 
her,  and  she  him,  they  said  many  words  not  under- 
stood. By  the  help  of  an  interpreter,  it  was  known 
that  that  man  was  the  bridegroom,  who  being  abroad 
when  the  bride  was  taken,  he  came  to  be  a  slave  with 
her  rather  than  five  without  her.  And  she  said  that 
since  he,  by  that  demonstration  of  love,  had  made  her 
happier  than  all  the  Chingala  women  (for  they  were 
of  those  people),  she  esteemed  her  slavery  rather  a 
blessing    than     a    misfortune.       Souza     de    AiTonches, 


1  Mahawanso,  cli.    xxviii.  p.  108.  I  prodigieuse  de  corail,  et  en  plusieiirs 

The   Portup-iiese   were  aware  of  the  endi-oits,  ce   corail  noir   est  plus  es- 

existeiice  of  red  coral  on  the  coast :  time  que  le  rouge." — Ribeyho,  lib.  i. 

"  Quand  la  mer  est  gi-osse,  elle  en  I  eh.  xxii.  p.  172. 

pousse  siir   les  bords  uue  quantite  I 


CiiAi>.  II.]  THE   FISH-TAX.  129 

hearing  hereof,  resolved  not  to  part  them,  and  taking 
hold  of  both  their  hands,  said,  '  God  forbid  two  such 
lovers,  for  my  private  interest,  should  be  made  unhappy. 
I  freely  give  you  your  hberties.'  Then  he  ordered  them 
to  be  set  ashore ;  but  they  two,  seeing  his  unexpected 
bounty,  requited  it  by  despising  their  hberties,  and  re- 
})hed,  '  they  only  desired  to  be  his,  and  die  in  his  service.' 
They  hved  afterwards  in  Colombo,  where  the  man,  on 
sundry  occasions,  faithfully  served  the  Portuguese."  ^ 

The  rest-house  at  Bentotte  is  one  of  the  coolest  and 
most  agreeable  in  Ceylon.  It  is  situated  within  a  little 
park,  deeply  shaded  by  lofty  tamarind-trees  on  the 
point  of  the  beach  where  the  river  forms  its  junction 
with  the  sea.  Its  attractions  were  enhanced  by  a  break- 
fast for  whicli  we  were  indebted  to  the  hospitable  at- 
tention of  the  civil  officer,  Mr.  T.  L.  Gibson,  whose  table 
was  covered  with  all  the  luxuries  of  the  province ;  fruits 
in  great  variety,  ciniies,  fish  fresh  from  the  sea,  and 
the  dehcacy  for  which  Bentotte  has  a  local  renown, 
oysters  taken  off  the  rocks  in  the  adjoining  estuary^, 
Avhich,  though  small  and  somewhat  bitter,  were  welcome 
from  their  cool  associations. 

After  leaving  Bentotte,  as  the  coast  approaches  Co- 
lombo the  numbers  of  the  fishing-boats  perceptibly  in- 
crease, and  the  kannve^,  or  fisher  caste,  form  tlie  most 
numerous  section  of  the  village  population.  Like  other 
castes,  they  are  divided  into  classes*,  distinguished  by 
the  implements  they  employ,  and  the  department  of  the 


'  Asia  Porftfff.  Steven's  trans. 
vol.  iii.  pt.  i.  cli.  vi.  p.  53. 

2  CosMAS  Indico-pleustes,  de- 
scribing a  place  on  the  west  coast  of 
Ceylon,  which  he  calls  Marallo, 
says  it  produced  Kox>^iovc,  which 
TnEVENOT  translates  "  oysters  ;  "  in 
which  case  INIarallo  might  be 
conjecturod  to  bo  Bentotte.  But 
the  shell  in  question  was  most 
probably  the  chank  (tKi-hlnclId  rajxi), 
and  Mai-allo,  Mantotte,  oil'  which  it  is 

VOL.   II.  K 


found  in  great  numbers.  Thevenot, 
vol.  i.  p.  21. 

^  The  parawos,  a  section  of  the 
fisher  caste,  in  the  north  and  north- 
west of  the  island,  are  of  Tamil  de- 
scent, and  came  originally  fi-om  Tut- 
tacorin. 

•»  For  an  account  of  caste  as  it 
manifests  itself  in  Ceylon,  its  intro- 
duction, and  influence,  see  Yo\.  I. 
rt.  IT.  eh.  i.  p.  425. 


130  SOUTHERN    AND    CENTRAL    PROVINCES.       [Part  VII. 

craft  to  wliich  they  addict  themselves.  Thus  there  are 
the  Madell  Kardwe  and  the  Baroodell,  who  cast  nets ; 
the  Dajidu,  who  carry  the  rod ;  tlie  Kisbai,  who  catcli 
turtle ;  the  Oroo^  who  fish  in  boats ;  and  the  Gode 
kawoolo,  who  fish  from  the  rocks ;  with  others  of  infe- 
rior rank.  The  conventional  distinction  socially  respected 
between  these  different  classes  is  as  marked  and  impe- 
rative as  between  different  castes ;  so  much  so  tliat 
intermarriages  are  not  permitted  except  between  indi- 
viduals of  the  five  first  named  divisions.  Their  means 
of  h\ing,  however,  are  not  restricted  to  fishing  alone ; 
many  engage  in  agriculture  and  trade,  and  numbers 
are  employed  in  everything  connected  with  the  building 
and  management  of  boats,  catamarans,  and  coasting 
vessels.  To  the  fisher  caste  also  belong  the  carpenters 
and  cabinet-makers  inhabiting  the  villages  and  towns 
on  the  southern  coast,  from  Matura  to  Colombo,  who 
produce  tlie  carved  ebony  furniture,  so  highly  prized  by 
Europeans. 

So  abundant  was  the  capture  of  fish  along  the  shores 
of  Ceylon,  that  tlie  Portuguese,  when  in  possession  of 
the  island,  converted  it  into  a  source  of  revenue  by 
levying  a  tax  of  one-fourth  on  the  quantity  caught.  This 
was  collected  by  special  officers  who  in  return  for  the 
payment,  undertook  to  protect  the  fishermen,  to  assist 
them  in  cases  of  emergency  and  in  times  of  distress, 
to  regulate  all  the  affairs  of  the  caste,  and  to  fix  the 
periods  of  fishing.  The  Dutcli  perpetuated  the  fish- 
tax  in  the  form  in  whicli  it  had  been  levied  by  the 
Portuguese,  but  the  British  on  gaining  possession  of 
the  island  sought  to  commute  it  by  substituting  a  hcence 
for  the  boat.  The  change,  liowevcr,  proved  most  dis- 
tasteful to  the  men  for  Avliose  benefit  it  was  designed ; 
they  disliked  the  direct  payment  in  money,  and  preferred 
their  ancient  system  of  payment  in  kind.  They  grew 
indolent  and  indifferent,  and  tlie  market  ceased  to  be 
supphed,  owing  to  tlie  reluctance  of  the  fishermen  to 
take  out  a  licence  for  their  boats.      The  prejudices  of 


Chap.  II.] 


THE   FISII-TiiX. 


131 


the  native  in  favour  of  liis  ancestral  custom  having 
been  found  insurmountable,  the  experiment,  attempted  ^ 
in  three  instances,  was  in  each  unsuccessful ;  and  the 
fish-tax  with  all  its  inquisitorial  and  vexatious  incidents, 
was  restored  amidst  the  acclamations  of  the  fishermen. 

Notwithstanding  these  repeated  disappointments,  the 
tax  was  eventually  reduced  from  a  fourth  to  a  siMh 
in  1834,  from  a  sixth  to  a  tenth  in  1837,  and  finaUy 
abohshed  in  1840.  But  it  is  a  singular  fact,  illustrative 
of  the  unclianging  liabits  of  an  Eastern  people,  that 
every  diminution  of  the  duty,  instead  of  leading  to 
an  increase  of  the  trade,  or  adding  to  the  Colonial  Ex- 
chequer, had  in  each  successive  instance  the  dkectly 
contrary  effect ;  —  the  fishermen  having  no  longer  then' 
accustomed  stimulus  to  exertion,  the  number  of  fishing- 
boats  became  annually  reduced,  the  quantity  of  fish 
taken  diminished,  and  the  price  rose  to  more  than 
double  what  it  had  been  dming  the  existence  of  the 
fish-tax.^  But  though  abandoned  by  the  government, 
the  tax  was  not  allowed  to  be  altogether  abohshed ; 
those  of  the  fishers  who  were  Eoman  Cathohcs  ^  trans- 


'  In  1812,  1820,  and  1827. 

^  A  note  in  elucidation  of  a  result 
80  contraiy  to  the  principles  of  poli- 
tical economy,  will  be  found,  Note  A, 
in  the  appendix  to  this  chapter. 

^  I  have  elsewhere  alluded  to  the 
singular  fact,  that  the  fisher  caste 
have  been  in  every  country  in  India 
the  earliest  converts  to  the  Iioman 
Catholic  Church  ; — so  much  so  as  to 
render  it  worthy  of  inquiry  whether 
it  be  only  a  coincidence  or  the  result 
of  some  permanent  and  predisposing 
cause.  The  Para  was  of  Cape  Corao- 
rin  were  the  earliest  converts  of  St. 
Francis  Xavier.  It  was  by  the 
^'  fisher  caste "  of  Manaar  that  he 
was  invited  to  Ceylon  in  1544  a.d.  ; 
and  notwithstanding  the  martyrdom 
inflicted  on  his  converts  by  the  Haja 
of  Jalliia,  and  the  continued  persecu- 


tion of  the  Dutch,  that  district  is  to 
the  present  day  one  of  the  .strong- 
holds of  the  Eoman  Catholic  Cluirch 
in  Ceylon,  and  the  tishennen  alojig 
the  whole  of  the  south-western 
coast  as  far  south  as  liarberpi,  .are 
in  the  proportion  of  one  half  Roman 
Catholics.  Is  it  that  there  is  an 
habitual  tendency  to  veneration  of 
the  Supreme  Being  amongst  those 
"  who  go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships,  and 
see  his  power  in  the  great  deep  ?  "  Is 
it  that  being  a  low  caste  themselves, 
the  fishers  of  India  and  Ceylon 
acquire  a  higher  status  by  espousing 
Christianity  ?  or  hfive  they  some 
sympathy  -with  a  religion  whose  first 
apostles  and  teacliers  were  the  fisher- 
men of  (ialilee  ?" — Sir  J.  Emeksox 
Tknxknt's  Ilistonj  of  CJiristiaiiifi/  in 
Ceylon,  ch.  i.  p.  20. 


132  SOUTHERN   AXD    CENTRAL    rROVIXCJ!:S.       [Part  VII. 

ferred  the  payment,  not  only  unaltered  in  form,  but 
in  some  instances  increased  in  amount,  to  the  Eoman 
Cathohc  Church,  and  the  privilege  of  its  collection  is 
to  the  present  day  farmed  out  by  the  clergy,  and 
yearly  put  up  to  auction  at  the  several  churches  along 
the  coast. 

Approaching  Caltura  from  Barber}^!,  the  country 
becomes  less  level,  and  from  openings  in  the  woods 
magnificent  views  are  obtained  of  Adam's  Peak\  and 
the  hills  which  surround  it,  which  here  make  their 
closest  approach  to  the  sea.  The  veneration  with 
which  this  majestic  mountain  has  been  regarded  for 
ages,  took  its  rise  in  all  probabihty  amongst  the  abori- 
gines of  Ceylon,  whom  the  sublimities  of  nature,  awak- 
ing the  instinct  of  worship,  impelled  to  do  homage  to 
the  mountains  and  the  sun.  ^  Under  the  influence  of 
such  feelings  the  aspect  of  tliis  solitary  alp,  towering 
above  the  loftiest  ran2;es  of  the  hills,  and  often  shrouded 
in  storms  and  thunder-clouds,  was  calculated  to  convert 
awe  into  adoration. 

In  a  later  aoje  the  relimous  interest  became  concen- 
trated  on  a  single  spot  to  commemorate  some  indivi- 
dual identified  with  the  national  faith,  and  thus  the 
hollow  in  the  lofty  rock  that  crowns  the  summit,  was 
said  by  the  Brahmans  to  be  the  footstep  of  Siva  ^,  by  the 


'  This  uaine  was  given  by  the 
Portiio-uese,  who  called  the  mountain 
the  '■'■  Pico  (h  Adam.'''' 

^  Ptolemy  places  the  Solis  Portus 
on  the  east  of  Ceylon,  and  "  Dagana, 
Liuije  sacra,"  on  the  south ;  and 
Pliny,  lib.  vi.  ch.  xxiv.,  says,  the 
.imbassador   to     Claudius    described 


the  names  of  the  Peak,  he  says, 
"  this,  without  any  change,  is  Ilam- 
al-eel,  Ham  the  sun."  But  Ilani- 
al-eel  is  merely  an  European  corrup- 
tion of  the  Singhalese  name  Saman- 
hela.  Bryant  seems  to  have  found 
it  in  Valentyn,  Oud  en  Niemv  Ood- 
liulien,   eh.  xvi.  p.  378,   who  quotes 


the  island  of  the  sun,  "  solis  insula/'  |  from  De  Cottto,  but  the  latter  spells 


as  lying  to  the  Avest  of  it.  Jacob 
Bryant,  in  his  Kcw  System  of  3Iy- 
tlwloi/]/,  Cfinib.  17()7,  traces  the  vene- 
ration    for     Adam's    Peak    to    the 


it  Ilamanelle,  which  does  not  harmo- 
nise with  ]?riant's  conjecture. 

3  Hari)y"s  BmWmm,  cS'r.,  p.  212. 
]Marst)en,  in  his  notes  to  ]\Iarco  I'olo, 


worship  of  Amun  (the  sun),  in  i  p.  671,  quotes  a  passage  fi-om  a 
Egypt,  and  availing  himself  of  the  I  Malay  version  of  the  Ramayana,  in 
word   "llamalel,"  said  to  be  one  of     which  the  mountain  of  Serendib  is 


CnAr.  ir.] 


ADAM'S    PEAK. 


133 


Buddliists  of  Buddha',  by  the  Climese,  of  Foe^,  by  the 
Gnostics,  of  leu^,  by  the  Mahometans,  of  Adam*,  whilst 
the  Portuguese  authorities  were  divided  between  the  con- 
flicting claims  of  St.  Thomas^,  and  the  Eunuch  of  Candace, 
Queen  of  Ethiopia. 

The  pliases  of  this  local  superstition  can  be  traced 
wit]  I  curious  accuracy  through  its  successive  transmit- 
ters. In  the  Buddliist  annals,  the  sojourn  of  Buddlia 
in  Ceylon,  and  tlie  impression  of  the  "  sri-pada"  his 
sacred  foot-mark  left  on  departing,  are  recorded  in  that 
portion  of  the  Alahawanso  which  was  written  by  Malui- 
naama  prior  to  B.C.  301^,  and  tlie  story  is  repeated  in 
the  other  sacred  books  of  the  Singhalese.     Tlie  Rdja- 


spoken  of  as  containing  tlie  footstep 
of  iidani ;  but  this  is  au  interpola- 
tion of  the  Mahometan  translator, 
and  the  lianuiyana  makes  no  mention 
of  Adam.  The  Hindus  describe 
Adam's  Peak  by  the  term  Sivan- 
garrhanam,  "  the   ascent  to  heaven." 

^  AEaliaivanso,  ch.  i.  p.  7.  ch.  xv. 
p.  92,  ch.  xxxii.  p.  197.  Rajaratna- 
cari,  p.  9.  See  also  the  Sadharma- 
ratnakari. 

^  Fa  IIian,  Foe-Kove  Kl,  ch. 
xxxviii.  p.  .3.'i2. 

3  Pidis  iSophifi,  MS.  IJrit.  Mus. 
No.  5114,  fol.  148.  Trans.  Schwartze, 
p.  221. 

*  SOLEYMAN,  A.D.  851.  ReINAUD, 
Voycujcs  Arahes,  iS,-c.,  t.  i.  p.  5. 

^  "  Hand  absimile  videtur,  in  eo 
vestio'io  coli  Eunachum  Candaces 
yEthiopum  Iveginte  quem  Dorotheas 
Tj'ri  Episcopus  in  Taprobana  Christi 
Evangelium  promulgasse  testatur." 
Maffei,  Ilistor.  Lulic,  lib.  iii.  p.  01. 
But  De  Couto  pleads  more  earnestly 
in  favour  of  St  Thomas,  "  nos  parece 
que  podera  ser  do  bemaventurado 
Apostolo  S.  Thome,"  because  it 
appears  that  in  the  time  of  the 
Portuguese,  there  was  a  stone  in  a 
quany  at  Colombo  deeply  impressed 
■with  the  VKtrk  of  ihe  knees  of  this 
saint,  and  closely  resembling  a  simi- 
lar indentation  on  a  rock  at  Melia- 
pore,  and  believed  to  be  equally  the 
physical  result  of  his  devotions.    The 


I'ock  at  INIeliapore  is  described  by 
Andrea  Corsali  in  his  letter  to 
Julian  de  Medicis,  5th  January,  1515 : 
what  stone  at  Colombo  De  Couto 
means,  it  is  not  easy  to  conjecture,  as 
no  such  relic  is  to  be  found  tliere  at 
present ;  but  possibly  he  may  allude 
to  the  alleged  existence  of  a  foot- 
step at  Kalany,  which  however  is 
supposed  to  be  covered  by  the  waters 
of  the  river.  De  Couto  fortifies  hi.s 
own  theory  by  a2)peals  to  the  many 
similar  phenomena  in  Christendom, 
such  as  the  hollows  worn  in  the  steps 
of  the  Santa  Casa  of  Jerusalem  on 
the  spot  covered  by  the  church  of  the 
Ascension  at  the  ]Mount  of  Olives, 
and  on  the  rock  on  wliich  the  thrte 
disciples  reclined  in  the  garden  of 
Gethsemane.  De  Couto,  Asia,  ^'-c, 
dec.  V.  lib.  y'\.  ch.  ii. 

'^  In  the  work  edited  by  Wagex- 
FELDT  in  1887,  professing  to  be  the 
l'ha?niciau  Ilistoiy  of  Sanclioniathon 
in  the  Greek  version  of  I'hilo,  allu- 
sion is  made  to  the  footstep  of  Dauth 
(Buddha)  still  extant  in  Ceylon,  ''^c 

Kcil   lYrof   trrrii'  Iv   role  opou-." — SaN- 

CHONiATnox,  lib.  vii.  ch.  12,  p.  1(52. 

Moses  of  Chorene  disposes  of  the 
pretensions  of  all  other  claimants, 
by  pronouncing  it  to  be  the  footstep 
of  tlie  devil,  "  ibidem  Safance  lapsum 
narrant." — Hist.  Armenicc  et  Epitome 
Geoijr.,  p.  .807. 


K  3 


134 


SOUTHEKX   AND   CENTRAL   PEOVINCES.       [Part  YIP. 


Tarangini  states  tliat  in  tlie  first  centiiiy  of  the 
Christian  era,  a  king  of  Kashmir,  about  tlie  year  24, 
resorted  to  Ceylon  to  adore  the  rehc  on  Adam's  Peak.^ 
The  Chinese  traveller,  Fa  Hian,  who  visited  Ceylon 
A.  D.  413,  says  that  two  foot-marks  of  Foe  were  then 
venerated  in  the  island,  one  on  the  sacred  mountain, 
and  the  second  towards  the  north  of  the  island.^  On 
the  continent  of  India  both  Fa  Hian  and  Iliouen  Thsang 
examined  many  other  sri-padas  ^ ;  and  Wang  Ta-youen  * 
adheres  to  the  story  of  their  Buddhist  origin,  although 
later  Chinese  writers,  probably  from  intercourse  with 
Mahometans,  borrow  the  idea  that  it  was  the  foot- 
print of  Pwan-koo,  "  the  first  man,"  in  their  system  of 
mytliology.^  In  the  twelftli  century,  the  patriot  King 
Prakrama  Bahu  I.  "  made  a  journey  on  foot  to  worship 
the  shi'ine  on  Samanhela,  and  caused  a  temple  to  be 
erected  on  its  summit,"^  and  the  mountain  was  visited 
by  the  King  Kirti  Nissanga,  for  the  same  devout  pur- 
pose, in  A.  D.  1201^,  and  by  Prakrama  III.  a.d.  12G7.^ 
Nor  was  the  faith  of  the  Singhalese  in  its  sanctity  shaken 
even  by  the  temporary  apostasy  and  persecution  of  the 
tyrant  Eaja  Singha  I.,  who,  at  the  close  of  the  sixteenth 
centmy,  abjured  Buddhism,  adopted  the  worship  of 
Brahma,  and  installed  some  Aandee  fakirs  in  the  dese- 
crated shrine  upon  the  Pcak.^ 

Strange  to  say,  the  origin  of  the  Mahometan  tradition 
as  to  its  being  the  footstep  of  Adam,  is  to  be  traced  to 


^  llaja-Tarmujini,  book  iii.  si.  71 
—79. 

'^  No  second  original  ft)otstcp  of 
Biuldha  is  now  preserved  in  Ceylon, 
altliongli  models  of  the  gi-eat  one  are 
shown  at  the  Aln  AVihara,  at  Cotta, 
and  at  other  temples  on  tlie  island ;  hut 
a  sri-pada  is  said  in  the  sacred  book 
to  be  concealed  by  the  waters  of  the 
Ivalany-ganga.  Keinaud  conjectures, 
from  the  great  distance  at  whicli  Fa 
llian  places  it  to  the  north,  tliat  the 
second  one  alluded  to  by  liim  must 
have  been  situated  in  Madura. — 
Notes  to  Fa  Hian,  p.  342, 


'  Foe-Koue  Ki,  ch.  xxxviii.  p. 
382.  For  accoimts  of  other  sacred 
footsteps  in  Eehar,  see  Trans.  Roy. 
Asiat.  Soc,  vol.  i.  p.  523  j  and  in 
Siam,  Ibid.,  vol.  iii.  p.  57. 

^  Taou-e  Che  leo,  or  "Account  of 
Island  Foreigners,"  A.B.  1350. 

'•>  Po-woiihi/aou-lan,  or  the  "Philo- 
sophical Examiner,"  written  during 
th(>  Mvng   Dvnasty,  about  the  year 

1400,  A.D. 

"  llaJdvaJi,  p.  254. 

^  JIahtiicanso,  ch.  Ixxix. 

^  Ibid.,  ch.  Ixxxiii. 

'  TuKNOUli's  Ejntome,  Sj-c,  p.  51. 


Chap.  II.] 


ADAM'S   PEAK. 


135 


a  Christian  source.  In  framing  their  theological  system, 
the  Gnostics,  who,  even  during  the  hfetime  of  tlie 
Apostles,  corrupted  Christianity  by  an  admixture  of  the 
mysticism  of  Plato'  ;  assigned  a  position  of  singular  pre- 
eminence to  Adam,  who,  as  "/(?«,  the  primal  man^'  next 
to  the  "  Noos "  and  "  Logos,''  was  made  to  rank  as  the 
third  emanation  from  the  Deity.  Amongst  the  details  of 
their  worsliip  they  cultivated  the  veneration  for  monu- 
mental rehcs ;  and  in  the  precious  manuscript  of  tlie 
fourth  century,  which  contains  the  Coptic  version  of  the 
discourse  on  '■'■Faithful  Wisdom"^  attributed  by  Ter- 
tulhan  to  the  great  gnostic  heresiarch  Valentinus,  there 
occurs  the  earhest  recorded  mention  of  the  sacred 
footprint  of  Adam.  The  Saviour  is  there  represented 
as  informing  the  Vu^gin  Mary  that  he  has  appointed  the 
spirit  Kalapataraoth  as  guardian  over  the  footstep 
(bkemmut)  "  impressed  by  the  foot  of  leii,  and  placed 
him  in  charge  of  the  books  of  leu,  written  by  Enoch  in 
paradise."  ^ 

The  Gnostics  in  then'  subsequent  dispersion  under  the 
persecution  of  the  emperors,  appear  to  have  communi- 
cated to  the  Arabs  this  mystical  veneration  for  Adam  * 
as  the  great  protoplast  of  the  human  race ;  and  in  the 
rehgious  code  of  Mahomet,  Adam,  as  the  pure  creation 
of  the  Lord's  breath,  takes  precedence  as  the  Eicel'  id- 
enbiya,   "  the  greatest  of  all  patriarchs  and  prophets," 


^  Gibbon,  Decline  and  Fall,  cli. 
XV.  xxi.  xlvii. 

2  'H  Ui<TT,)  ^of!ia.  3ISS.  Brit. 
3Ius.  No.  5114.  A  Latin  translation 
by  Schwartze,  of  this  unique  manu- 
script (probably  one  of  the  most 
ancient  in  existence)  was  published 
at  Ijerlin,  1851,  under  the  title  of 
Pistis  Sophia.  The  passage  adverted 
to  above  is  as  follows  :  "  Et  posui 
KaXaTTarapavctiO  apyovrrt  saper  skon- 
viut  in  quo  est  pes  leu,  et  iste  circum- 
dat  nttoi'ag  omneset  I'niapixtvac.  Ilium 
posui  custodientem  libros  Jen/'  &c., 
p.  221.  In  previous  passages  leu  is 
described  as  "  primus  homo." 


3  Schwartze  has  left  the  Coptic 
word  "  skemmut "  untranslated,  out 
DuLVruiER,  in  the  Journal  Asiatiqiie 
for  September,  184G,  p.  170,  rentiers 
it  the  "  footstep,"  trace. 

*  Adam  was  not  the  only  scriptu- 
ral character  whose  footsteps  were 
venerated  by  the  Mahometans.  Ibn 
Batuta,  early  in  the  14th  century, 
saw  at  Damascus  "  the  Jlosque  of 
the  Foot,  on  which  there  is  a  stone, 
having  upon  it  the  print  of  the  foot  of 
Moses." — Ibn  Batuta,  ch.  v.  p.  30, 
Lee's  Trand. 


K    4 


136 


SOUTHERN   AND   CENTRAL   PROVINCES.      [Pakt  YIT. 


and  the  Kalife  y-Ekher,  "  tlie  first  of  God's  vicegerents 
upon  earth."  ^  The  Mahometans  beheve  that  on  his 
expulsion  from  Paradise,  Adam  passed  many  years  in 
expiatory  exile  upon  a  mountain  in  India  ^  before  his 
re-imion  witli  Eve  on  Mount  Arafath,  which  overhangs 
Mecca.  As  the  Koran  ^,  in  the  passages  in  which  is 
recorded  the  fall  of  Adam,  makes  no  mention  of  the  spot 
at  Avhich  he  took  up  his  abode  on  earth,  it  may  be  infer- 
red that  in  the  age  of  Mahomet,  his  followers  had  not 
adopted  Ceylon  as  the  locality  of  the  sacred  footstep  * ; 
but  when  the  Arab  seamen,  returning  from  India, 
brought  home  accounts  of  the  mysterious  rehc  on  the 
summit  of  Al-rahouiv'^  as  they  termed  Adam's  Peak,  it 
appears  to  have  fixed  in  the  minds  of  their  country- 
men the  precise  locality  of  Adam's  penitence.  The  most 
ancient  Arabian  records  of  travel  that  have  come  down 
to  us  mention  the  scene  with  solemnity^ ;  but  it  was  not 
tiU  the  tenth  century  that  Ceylon  became  the  estabhshed 
resort  of  Mahometan  pilgrims,  and  Ibn  Batuta,  about  the 
year  1340,  relates  that  at  Shiraz  he  visited  the  tomb  of 
the  Imam  Abu-Abd-AUah,  who  first  taught  the  way  to 
Serendib.^ 


'  D'Onssoisr,  vol.  i.  p.  G8. 

"^  Fabricitts,  Codex  Psendqnyra- 
phm,  vol.  ii.  p.  20. 

^  Sale's  Al-koran,  cli.  ii.  p.  5  j  cli. 
vii.  p.  117. 

*  1  et  Mr.  DtJNCAN,  in  a  paper  in 
the  Asiatic  Researches^  containing 
"  Historical  Re^narks  on  the  Coast  of 
Malabar,''''  mentions  a  native  chro- 
nicle in  which  it  is  stated,  that  a 
Pandyan  who  was  "  vontcmporary  with 
Mahonief"  was  converted  to  Ishnn  by 
a  party  of  dervishes  on  their  pilgrim- 
age to  Adam's  Peak,  vol.  v.  p.  !). 

*  Itohuna  or  IJohana  was  tlio  an- 
cient division  of  the  island  in  which 
Galle  is  situated,  and  from  wliich 
Adam's  Peak  is  seen.  Hence  the 
name  Al  liahoun,  given  by  them  to 
the  mountain. 

''  S()LEYM\x  and  AnoTJ-ZEYD.  See 
Keinaud,  Voyayes  Arahes  et  Pcrsaiis 
dans  le  ix.  Siecle,  vol.  i.  p.  5.     Ta- 


BAEi,  ''the  Li\'y  of  Arabia,"  who 
lived  in  the  ninth  century,  describes 
the  descent  of  Adam  on  Serendib.  See 
Sir  W.  Ouseley's  Travels,vo\.  i.  p.  35. 
■^  "  C'est  lui  qui  enseigna  le  chemin 
de  la  montagne  de  Serendib  dans  I'lle 
de  Ceylan." — Ibn  Batuta,  torn.  ii. 
p.  79.  GiLDEMEiSTER,  in  the  com- 
mentaiy  prefixed  to  his  Seripfores 
Arahi,  says  Abu  Abdallah  ben  kluilif, 
"  doctor  inter  Cutios  clarissinuis," 
died  anno  lie].  3,31,  14th  Sept., 
942  A.n.  (p.  o4).  Ibn  Batuta  tells 
a  marvellous  tale  of  tliis  Imam  and  a 
party  of  thirty  fahirs,  his  first  com- 
panions, wlio  being  in  want  of  provi- 
sions in  the  forest  at  the  foot  of 
Adam's  Peak,  killed  and  ate  a  young 
elepliant,  the  Imam  refusing  to  partake 
of  tlie  imclean  food.  In  the  niglit 
tlie  herd  surprised  and  destroyed 
the  fakirs,  but  the  leader,  raising 
the  Imam  on  his  back  bv  means  of  his 


Chap.  II.] 


ADAM'S   PEAK. 


137 


At  tlie  present  day,  the  Buddliists  are  the  guardians 
of  the  sri-pada,  but  around  the  object  of  common  ado- 
ration the  devotees  of  all  races  meet,  not  in  furious 
contention  like  the  Latins  and  Greeks  at  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  in  Jerusalem,  but  in  pious  appreciation  of  the 
one  solitary  object  on  which  they  can  unite  in  peaceful 
worship. 

The  route  taken  to  the  mountain  from  the  western 
side  of  the  island,  is  generally  from  Colombo  to  Eatna- 
poora  by  land,  and  thence  by  jungle  paths  to  the  Peak ; 
and  on  the  return,  visitors  usually  descend  the  Kaluganga 
in  boats  to  Caltura.  The  distance  from  the  sea  to  the 
summit  is  about  sixty-five  miles,  for  two-thirds  of  which 
the  road  hes  across  the  lowlands  of  the  coast,  traversinjx 
rice  lands  and  coco-nut  groves,  and  passing  by  numerous 
villages  with  their  gardens  of  jak-trees,  arec.^is,  and  plan- 
tains.^ After  leaving  Eatnapoora,  the  traveller  proceeds 
by  bridle-roads  to  climb  the  labp'inth  of  hills  which 
cluster  round  the  base  of  the  sacred  mountain.  These 
form  what  is  called  the  "  wilderness  of  the  Peak,"  and 
are  covered  with  forests  frequented  by  elephants,  wild 
boars,  and  leopards.  There  the  track  winds  under  over- 
arching trees,  whose  shade  excludes  the  sun ;  across 
brawling  rivers ;  through  ravines  so  deep,  that  nothing 
but  the  sky  is  seen  above,  and  thence  the  road  reascends 
to  heights  from  wdiich  views  of  surpassmg  grandeur  arc 
obtained  over  the  hills  and  plains  below.  In  these  moist 
regions  the  tormenting  land-leeches  swarm  on  the  damp 
grass,  and  almost  defy  every  precaution,  however  vigilant, 
against  insidious  attacks.^ 

Ambelams  and  rest-houses  for  travellers  have  been 
piously  erected  at  various  })oints  along  the  weary  journey, 
where  the  green  sward  presents  a  suitable  locality,  and 


trunk  can-ied  him  safely  to  a  village 
on  the  hanks  of  a  river  called  Khai- 
zoran,  or  the  river  of  "hamhoos." — 
Tom.  ii.  p.  81. 

'  Lassen  says  that  the  early  Chris- 
tian travellers  believed  that  Adam 


lived  on  the  plantain,  and  clothed 
himself  with  its  broad  leaves. — Jii- 
dische  Altcrthumskuude,  vol.  i.  p.  2(51 . 
*  For  a  detailed  account  of  tho 
land-leech  of  Ceylon,  see  anfe,  Vol.  T. 
Pt.  II.  ch.  vii.  p.  311. 


138 


SOUTHERN   AXD    CEXTRAL   PROVIXCES.       [Part  VIT. 


temples  in  solitary  spots  invite  the  devotion  of  pilgrims. 
In  one  of  these,  at  Palabaddiila,  a  model  is  preserved, 
exliibiting  in  brass  a  fac-simile  of  the  golden  cover 
which  once  protected  the  sacred  footstep,  and  which 
Valentyx  says  was  shown  to  some  subjects  of  Holland 
wlio  ascended  the  Peak  in  1654  \  but  it  has  long  since 
disappeared. 

The  country  rises  so  rapidly,  that  between  Gillemale 
and  the  Peak,  the  entire  ascent,  upwards  of  7000  feet,  is 
made  in  less  than  nine  miles.  As  the  path  ascends  it 
skirts  round  scarped  acclivities,  so  steep  that  a  stone 
allowed  to  drop  is  heard  bounding  from  rock  to  rock 
long  after  it  has  been  hidden  from  sight  by  the  trees  that 
clothe  the  face  of  the  precipice  below.'-^ 

During  the  greater  part  of  this  upward  journey,  the 
summit  of  the  mountain,  the  object  of  so  much  sohci- 
tude  and  toil,  is  seldom  visible,  being  hidden  by  the 
overhanging  chiTs ;  but,  at  last,  on  reaching  a  httle 
patch  of  table-land  at  Diebetne,  with  its  ruinous  rest- 
house,  the  majestic  cone  is  discerned  towering  in  un- 
surpassed sublimity,  but  "vvith  an  intervening  space  of 
three  miles  of  such  acchvity  that  the  Singhalese  have 
conferred  on  it  the  appropriate  name  of  aukanagaou^ 
hterally,  "  the  sky  league."  Here  descending  into  one 
of  the  many  ravines,  and  crossing  an  enormous  mass 
of  rounded  rock  overflowed  by  perpetual  streams,  the 
ascent  recommences  by  passages  so  steep  as  to  be  ac- 
cessible only  by  means  of  steps  hewn  in  the  smooth 
stone.  On  approaching  the  highest  altitude,  vegetation 
suddenly  ceases ;  and,  at  last,  on  reaching  the  base  of 
the  stupendous   cone  which  forms  the  pinnacle  of  the 


^  Oud  en  Kieino  Oost-Indien,  cli. 
xvi.  p.  370. 

-  1)e  Couto,  in  confirmation  of  the 
pious  conjecture  that  tlie  footstep  on 
the  summit  was  that  of  St.  Thomas, 
asserts  that  all  the  trees  on  the  Peak, 
and  for  half  a  leafjue   on   all  sides 


aroimd  it,  hotel  their  crou'ns  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  relic ;  a  homage  which 
could  only  be  offered  to  the  footstep 
of  an  Apostle :  "  todas  por  todas  as 
partes  fazem  com  suas  copas  hum 
inclinacao  pera  a  sen-a,"  &c. — Asia, 
^•c,  dec.  V.  lib.  vi.  ch.  ii. 


Chap.  II.] 


ADAil'S   PEAK. 


139 


peak,  furtlier  progress  is  effected  by  tlie  aid  of  chains 
securely  riveted  in  the  Hving  rock.'  As  the  pillar-hke 
crag  rounds  away  at  either  side,  the  eye,  if  turned  down- 
wards, peers  into  a  chasm  of  unseen  depth  ;  and  so  dizzy 
is  the  elevation,  that  the  guides  discourage  a  pause, 
lest  a  sudden  gust  of  wind  should  sweep  the  adventurous 
chmber  from  his  giddy  footing,  into  the  unfathomable 
gulfs  below.^  An  iron  ladder,  let  into  the  face  of  a 
perpenchcular  chff  upwards  of  forty  feet  in  height 
lands  the  pilgrim  on  the  tiny  terrace  which  forms  the 
apex  of  the  mountain ;  and  in  the  centre  of  this,  on 
the  crown  of  a  mass  of  gneiss  and  hornblende,  the  sacred 
footstep  is  discovered  under  a  pagoda-like  canopy,  sup- 
ported on  slender  columns,  and  open  on  all  sides  to  the 
winds. 


^  The  iron  chains  at  Adam's  Pealc 
are  relies  of  so  gTeat  antiquity,  that 
in  the  legends  of  the  Mahometans 
they  are  associated  with  the  name  of 
Alexander  the  Great.  Ibn  Batuta, 
in  his  account  of  his  ascent  of  the 
Peak  in  the  fom-teenth  centmy,  speaks 
of  coming  "  to  a  place  called  the 
*  Seven  Caves,'  and  after  this  to  the 
'  Ridge  of  Alexander/  at  which  place 
is  the  entrance  to  the  mountain.  The 
mountain  of  Serendil)  is  one  of  the 
highest  in  the  world  ;  we  saw  it  from 
sea,  at  the  distance  of  nine  days. 
"When  we  ascended  it,  we  saw  the 
clouds  passing  between  us  and  its 
foot.  On  it  is  a  gi-eat  number  of 
trees,  the  leaves  of  which  never  fall. 
There  are  also  flowers  of  various 
colours,  with  the  red  rose  (lihoduden- 
dron  ?).  There  are  two  roads  on  the 
mountain  leading  to  the  Footprint ; 
the  one  is  known  as  'the  way  of 
Baba,'  the  other  as  'the  way  of  Mama,' 
by  which  they  mean  Adam  and  E\e. 
At  the  foot  of  the  mountain  there  is 
a  minaret  named  after  Alexander, 
and  a  fomitain  of  water.  The  ancients 
have  cut  something  like  steps,  upon 
which  one  may  ascend,  and  ha\e 
fixed  in  iron  pins,  to  which  cliains  are 
appended,  and  upon  these  those  who 
ascend  take  hold.      Of  these  chains 


there  are  ten  in  number,  the  last  of 
whicli  is  tenned  '  the  chaiu  of  wit- 
ness,' because  when  one  has  arrived 
at  this  and  loolcs  down,  the  frightful 
notion  seizes  him  that  he  will  fall.'" — • 
Lee's  Translation,  eh.  xx.  p.  18'.). 

AsiiEEF,  a  Persian  writer  of  the 
fifteenth  centmy,  in  a  poem,  quoted 
by  Sir  William  Ouseley,  in  which  he 
celebrates  the  exploits  of  Alexander 
the  Great,  ^^Zaff'cr  Namah  Sckanderi,^' 
introduces  an  episode,  in  whicli  the 
conqueror  and  his  companion  Bolinus 
(by  whom  is  supposed  to  be  meant 
Apollonius  of  Tyan.a)  devise  means 
whereby  they  nuxy  ascend  the  momi- 
tain  of  Serendib,  "  lixmg  thereto 
chains  with  rings  and  rivets  made  of 
iron  and  brass,  the  remains  of  which 
exist  even  at  this  day,  so  that  travel- 
lers, by  their  assistance,  are  enabled 
to  climb  the  moimtain  and  obtain 
glory  by  finding  the  sepulchre  of 
Adam,  on  whom  be  the  blessing  of 
God." — Travels,  vol.  i.  p.  57. 

^  Incredible  as  it  may  seem,  ele- 
phants make  their  way  to  this  fright- 
ful elevation;  ajid  Major  Skiimer 
assures  me  that  on  one  occai^ion,  in 
1840,  the  unmistakeable  traces  of  one 
were  found  on  tlie  neck  of  the  fearful 
rock  which  sustains  the  sacred  Foot- 
step. 


140 


SOUTHEEX   AXD    CEXTRAL    PROVIXCES.       [Part  VIT. 


The  indentation  in  the  rock  is  a  natural  hollow  arti- 
ficially enlarged,  exliibitiug   the   rude  outline  of  a  foot 


about  five  feet  long,  and  of  proportionate  breadth ;  but 
it  is  a  test  of  credulity,  too  gross  even  for  fanaticism 
to  believe  that  the  footstep  is  either  human  or  divine. 
The  worship  addressed  to  it  consists  of  offerings,  cliietiy 
flowers  of  the  rhododendron,  presented  with  genuflex- 
ions, invocations,  and  shouts  of  Saadoo  !^  The  cere- 
mony concludes  by  the  striking  of  an  ancient  bell  ^,  and 


^  Amen ! 

"^  Bells  are  mentioned  in  Ceylon  in 
the  second  centmy  B.C.  (see  ante, 
Vol.  I.  Pt.  IV.  cb.  V.  p.  458),  so  that 
it  is  unnecessary  to  conjecture  that 
the  original  bell  on  Adam's  Peak 
may  haye  l)een  a  gift  from  the  deyout 
Buddhists  of  China.  The  custom  of 
sticking  it  has  prevailed  from  time 
immemorial,  and  was  described  by 
the  Portuguese,  "  los  passageros  dan 
golpes." — EoDEiorES  De  Saa,  Behel- 
lion  de  Ceylon,  Lisbon,  1681,  p.  17. 
For  the  subjoined  plan  of  the  sum- 
mit,madein  1841, 1  am  indebted  to  Mr. 
Ferguson,  of  the  Sunojor-General's 
Department,  Colombo.  He  makes 
the  area  of  the  ten-ace  G4  feet  by  45. 

a.  a.  a.    Level  spare. 

b.  The  Pagoda. 

c.  Belfry. 

d.d.ri.  WaW  h  feet  high. 

e.  Shed  fiT  offerings. 

/.  House  of  tlie  prie  t. 

g.  g.  The  rock. 

i'.  The  Foot-print. 

o.  Opening  towards  R;itn.npoora. 

n.  Opening  towards  K;inily. 

>n.  Opening  Co  the  well. 


0        5        10  fo  ^  40 


CiiAP.  II.]  ADAM'S   FEAX.  MI 

a  draught  from  the  sacred  spring,  whicli  runs  witliin  a  few 
feet  of  the  summit. 

The  panorama  from  the  summit  of  Adam's  Peak  is, 
pei'haps,  the  grandest  in  the  world,  as  no  other  mountain, 
ahhough  surpassing  it  in  aUitude,  presents  the  same  unob- 
structed view  over  land  and  sea.^  Around  it^to  the  north 
and  east,  the  traveller  looks  down  on  the  zone  of  lofty  hills 
that  encircle  the  Kandyan  kingdom,  whilst  to  the  westward 
the  eye  is  carried  far  over  undulating  plains,  threaded  by 
rivers  hke  cords  of  silver,  till  in  the  purple  distance  the 
glitter  of  the  sunbeams  on  the  sea  marks  the  hue  of  the 
Indian  Ocean.  ^ 

The  descent  of  the  Kalu-ganga  from  Eatnapoora  to 
Caltura  is  effected  with  great  ease  in  the  boats  which 
bring  down  rice  and  areca  nuts  to  the  coast,  and  the 
scenery  includes  everything  that  is  characteristic  of  the 
western  lowlands  ;  temples,  reached  by  ghauts,  rising  from 
the  edge  of  the  river  ;  and  villages  surrounded  by  groves 
of  tamarind  and  jak-trees,  talipats,  coco-nuts,  and  kitools. 
Along  the  banks,  the  yellow  stemmed  bamboo  waves  its 
feathery  leaves,  and  on  approaching  the  sea  the  screw  jiines 
and  mangroves  grow  in  dense  clusters,  and  over-arch  the 
margin  of  the  stream. 

Caltura  has  always  been  regarded  as  one  of  the  sani- 
taria of  Ceylon,  and  as  it  faces  the  sea  breeze  from  the 
south-west,  the  freshness  of  its  position,  combined  with 
the  beauty  and  grandeur  of  the  surrounding  scenery,  ren- 
dered it  the  favourite  resort  of  the  Dutch,  and  afterwards 
of  the  British.  A  fort,  built  on  a  green  eminence,  com- 
manded the  entrance  of  the  river,  but  this  is  now  dis- 
mantled, and  forms  a  residence  for  one  of  the  civil  officers. 
Game  is  abundant ;  and  within  a  very  fcAV  miles  tlie  in- 


'  "  Adam's  Peak  is  not  liifrlier  tlian 
the  mountains  wliirh  travollers  ascend 
in  Switzerland  ;  Ijut  nowlnu'e  in  that 


"  Tlie  first  Englishman  who  as- 
cended Adam's  Peak  was  Lient.  Mal- 
cohn,  of  the   1st  Cevlon   Hejjinicnt, 


land  cati  the  ei/o  mmmrc  ihc  hfif/ht  hi/     wlio  readied  tlie  suniniit  on  the  :27tli 


compai'isou   with  a  surroioidiiH/  plain 
nearly  on   the  level  of  the  sea."- 
IIoFFMKiSTEK,  Tmveh,  i)-c.,  p.  181. 


April,  1827. — Asiatic  Journ.,   \o\.    i. 
p.  442. 


142  SOUTHERN    AND    CENTRAL   PROVINCES.       [Part  Vll. 

land  lake  of  Bolgodde  is  the  resort  of  prodigious  numbers 
of  wild  fowl,  wliicli  breed  in  the  luxuriant  woods  that 
encircle  it.  Caltm^a  was  one  of  the  most  promising  lo- 
calities in  which  the  cultivation  of  the  sugar-cane  was 
attempted,  but  hitherto  the  success  of  the  experiment 
has  not  beeji  such  as  to  render  it  commercially  remu- 
nerative. 

From  the  great  extent  of  the  coco-nut  groves  which 
surround  it,  Caltura  is  one  of  the  principal  places  for  the 
distillation  of  arrack.  The  trees,  during  the  process  of 
drawing  the  toddy,  are  frequented  by  the  great  bats 
(ptero]ms\  called  by  the  Europeans,  "  fl}ing  foxes."  ^ 
They  are  attracted  in  numbers  by  the  fermenting  juice, 
and  drink  from  the  earthen  chahces  which  are  suspended 
to  collect  it.  A  friend  of  mine,  who  was  at  Caltura  in 
1852,  had  his  attention  fi^equently  drawn  to  the  unusual 
noises  occasioned  in  some  of  the  topes  by  the  revels  of 
these  creatures.  It  assumed  at  the  beginning  the  appear- 
ance of  an  ordinary  quarrel,  but  grew  by  degrees  so 
"  fast  and  fniious,"  as  to  become  manifestly  a  drunken 
riot.  The  natives  are  well  aware  of  this  propensity  of 
the  bats,  and  attributed  these  demonstrations  to  their 
inebriety. 

At  Pantura,  after  being  ferried  across  the  arm  of  the 
lake,  which  here  debouches  on  the  sea,  we  found  the 
carriages  of  the  governor,  which  his  excellency  had  been 
good  enough  to  send  to  convey  us  to  Colombo.  The  road 
lay  along  a  broad  embankment  of  sand,  which  runs  for 
several  miles  between  the  sea  and  the  lake  of  Pantura, 
one  of  those  estuaries  described  by  the  Ai'ab  navigators 
under  the  name  of  the  "  gohhs  of  Serendib,"  into  which, 
when  the  south-west  monsoon  was  roUing  a  surf  upon  the 
coast,  their  seamen  were  accust(~)med  to  withdraw  tlieir 
frail  vessels  and  spend  "  two  montlis  or  more  in  the  shade 
of  forests  and  gardens,  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  tem- 


'  See  Vol.  I.  rt.  II.  cli.  i.  p.  135. 


Chap.  II.] 


CINNAJklON   REGION. 


143 


perate  coolness."  ^     The  Dutch  took  advantage    of   this 

cahn   sheet   of  water   to  facihtate  the 

system  of  canals  by  which  they  opened 

a  continuous   hne    of  navigation    from 

CaltLu-a  to  Negombo.     The  works  still 

exist,  but  their  utility,  however  it  may 

have  been  appreciated  two  centuries  ago, 

when  the  country  was  as  yet  unopened 

by  roads,  is   less   demonstrable   at  the 

present  day,  when   metalled   highways 

have  been  constructed  in  their  immediate 

vicinity. 

At  Morottu,  a  few  miles  from  Pan- 
tura,  the  reijion  of  cultivated  cinnamon 
begins ;  and  thence  to  Colombo,  for  a 
distance  of  eight  or  ten  miles,  the  road 
passes  between  almost  continuous  gar- 
dens of  this  renowned  lam'el,  once 
guarded  among  the  treasures  of  the 
Indies,  but  now  comparatively  neglected 
for  the  homely,  but  more  profitable,  coco- 
nut palm.  The  village  of  Morottu,  wliich  contains  a  popu- 
lation of  12,000,  is  chiefly  inhabited  by  carpenters  of  the 
fisher  caste,  who  devote  themselves  to  the  making  of  furni- 
ture from  the  jak-tree,  the  wood  of  which,  thougli  yellow 
when  first  cut,  acquires  in  time  the  dark  tint  and^markings 
of  mahogany. 

Another  source  of  the  prosperity  of  this  thriving  com- 
munity is  the  recent  adoption  of  barrels  instead  of  gunny- 
bags  for  the  export  of  coffee.  The  making  of  these,  as  well 
as  of  casks  for  the  shipment  of  coco-nut  oil,  has  afforded  a 
new  source  of  industrial  employment  and  wealth.  One 
eminent  native  of  the  viUage,  Jeronis  de  Soyza,  has  built, 


PANTUKKa 


■  GOBBS."  ON  THE 
WEST  COAST. 


1  Ibn  Wahab,  in  the  Voijai/cs 
Arahcs  et  Persons,  torn.  i.  p.  129; 
Albyrofxt,  in  REiNArn's  Frni/mcns 
Arabes,  cji'c.,  p.  119.     For  ca  fiiil  ac- 


count of  these  "gobbs,"  as  thev  exist 
in  Ceylon,  see  the  present  work,  \o\. 
I.  Pt.  I.  ch.  i.  p.  44. 


144  SOUTHERX   AXD    CENTRAL   PROVIXCES.       [rART  VII. 

adjoining  to  it,  a  dwelling-liouse,  whicli  may  be  re- 
garded as  the  model  of  a  Singhalese  mansion,  with  its 
gardens  and  oriental  grounds.  The  entire  district  has 
benefited  by  the  generosity  of  this  pubhc-spirited  man,  and 
m  recognition  of  his  patriotism  in  opening  roads  and 
promoting  tlie  welfare  of  the  inhabitants,  he  has  recently 
liad  conferred  upon  him  the  rank  of  Moodliar  of  the  Go- 
vernor's Gate. 

On  a  rocky  headland,  which  projects  mto  the  sea  a  few 
miles  from  Morottu,  are  the  remains  of  what  was  once 
the  marine  palace  of  the  governors  of  Ceylon  ;  an  edifice 
in  every  way  worthy  of  the  great  man  by  whom  it  Avas 
erected — Sir  Edward  Barnes.  But  in  one  of  those  pa- 
roxysms of  economy  which  are  sometimes  not  less  success- 
ful than  the  ambition  of  the  Sultan  in  the  fable,  in  provichng 
haunts  for  those  bkds  that  philosophise  amidst  ruins, 
the  edifice  at  Mount  Lavinia  had  scarcely  been  com- 
pleted at  an  expense  whicli  has  been  estimated  at  30,000/., 
when  it  was  ordered  to  be  dismantled,  and  the  build- 
ings were  disposed  of  for  less  than  the  cost  of  the  window 
frames. 

At  Galkisse  the  traveller  has  the  opportunity  of  seeing 
a  temple  which  may  serve  as  an  example  of  modern. 
Buddhist  buildings  of  this  class  in  Ceylon.  It  is  situ- 
ated on  a  gentle  eminence  close  by  the  high  road,  sur- 
rounded by  groves  of  u'on  wood  ^,  murutas  '^,  champacs  ^, 
and  other  trees,  offerings  of  whose  flowers  form  so  re- 
markable a  featm'e  in  the  worship  of  the  Singhalese.  Tlie 
modest  pansela  in  which  the  priests  and  their  attendants 
reside"*  is  built  in  the  hoUow,  and  the  ascent  to  the 
Wihara  above  it  is  by  steps  excavated  in  the  hill.  Tlie 
latter  is  protected  by  a  low  Avail  decorated  Avith  mytho- 
logical spnbols,  and  the  ethfice  itself  is  of  the  Inimblest 
dimensions,  Avitli  AAdiitened  Avails  and  a  projecting  tiled 


*  Messua  nagaha.  I       *  For  an  account  of  a  Buddhist 

2  Lnfierstramia  rcgina.  \  temple  and   its   buildintrs,  see  ante, 

3  MkhtUa  chuntpaca.  i  Vol.  I.  Pt.  m.  cb.  i\.  p.  349. 


Chap.  H.]  A   BUDDHIST   TEMPLE.  145 

roof.  Ill  an  inner  apartment  dimly  lighted  by  lamps 
where  the  air  is  heavy  ^vith  the  perfume  of  the  yellow 
champac  flowers,  are  tlie  jnlamas  or  statues  of  the  god. 
One  huge  recumbent  figure,  twenty  feet  in  length,  repre- 
sents Buddlia,  in  that  state  of  bhssful  repose  which  consti- 
tutes the  elysium  of  his  devotees  ;  a  second  shows  him 
seated  under  the  sacred  bo-tree  in  Uruwela  ;  and  a  third 
erect,  and  with  the  right  hand  raised  and  the  two  fore- 
fingers extended  (as  is  the  custom  of  the  popes  in  confer- 
ring their  benediction),  exliibits  him  in  the  act  of  exhort- 
ing his  earhest  disciples.  One  quadrangular  apartment 
which  surrounds  the  enclosed  adytus  is  hghted  by  windows, 
so  as  to  exhibit  a  series  of  paintings  on  the  inner  wall, 
illustrative  of  the  narratives  contained  in  the  jatakas\  or 
legends  of  the  successive  births  of  Buddha ;  the  whole  exe- 
cuted in  the  barbarous  and  conventional  style  which  fi'om 
time  immemorial  has  marked  this  pecuhar  school  of  eccle- 
siastical art.^ 

As  usual,  within  the  outer  enclosure  there  is  a  small 
BQndu  dewale  (which  in  this  instance  is  dedicated  to  the 
worship  of  the  Kattragam  dexiyo),  and  near  to  it  grows 
one  of  the  sacred  bo-trees,  that,  hke  every  other  in  Ceylon, 
is  said  to  have  been  raised  from  a  seed  of  the  patriarchal 
tree  planted  by  Mahindo,  at  Anarajapoora,  more  than  two 
thousand  years  ago.^  The  whole  estabhshment  is  on  the 
most  unpretending  scale* ;  for  nine  months  of  the  year  the 
priests  visit  the  houses  of  the  villagers  in  search  of  alms, 
and  during  the  other  three,  when  the  violence  of  the  rains 
prevents  their  perambulations,  theu'  food  is  brought  to 
them  m  the  pansela;  or  else  they  reside  with  some  of 


^  For  an  accoimt  of  the  Pansiya- 
pauas-jataka-pota,  ^vitll  the  550  births 
of  Buddha,  see  ante,  Vol.  I.  Pt.  iv. 
ch.  X.  p.  514. 

^  On  the  subject  of  the  early  paint- 
ings of  the  Singhalese  temples,  see 
ante,  Vol.  I.  Pt.  iv.  ch.  vii.  p.  472. 

*  B.C.  289.     For  an  account  of  its 

VOL.    II. 


planting,  see  Vol.  I.  Pt.  rn.  ch.  iii, 
p.  .341  ;  and  for  a  description  of  the 
tree,  as  it  exists  at  the  present  day, 
Vol.  II.  Pt.  X.  ch.  ii. 

^  In  a  Buddhist  temple,  as  in  the 
original  temple  of  the  Jews,  ''all  the 
vessels  thereof  are  of  brass." — Exod. 
xxvii.  19. 


146 


SOUTHERN   AND   CENTRAL   PROVINCES.       [Part  VII. 


their  wealthier  parishioners,  who  pro\dde  them  once  a 
year  with  a  set  of  yellow  robes. -^ 

Towards  sunset  we  had  evidences  of  our  approach  to 
the  capital  by  the  increased  number  of  vehicles  on  the 
road :  bidlock  bandies  covered  with  cajans  met  us ; 
coohes,  heavily  laden  with  burdens  of  fish  fresh  from 
the  sea,  hurried  towards  the  great  town,  native  gentle- 
men, di'iving  fast-trotting  oxen  in  little  hackery  cars, 
hastened  home  from  it^ ;  and  as  we  passed  through 
the  long  hne  of  villas,  each  in  its  compound  of  ilowers, 
which  forms  the  beautifiil  subm-b  of  Colpetty,  the  Eu- 
ropean popidation  of  the  Fort  were  pouring  forth  to  enjoy 
theh'  evening  promenade,  on  horseback  and  in  carriages, 
each  horse  attended  by  a  Malabar  groom  in  picturesque 
costume.  Our  way  lay  across  the  Galle-face^,  an  open 
plain  to  the  south  of  the  fortifications,  which  at  this  hoiu' 
is  the  favoimte  lounge  of  the  inhabitants  ;  the  band  of  the 
regiments  of  the  garrison  adding  to  its  afternoon  attrac- 
tions. When  we  crossed  it  the  sward  was  already  green 
after  the  shower  of  the  north-west  monsoon,  and  the 
tendrils  of  the  goat's-foot  convolvulus,  with  which  the 
surface  is  closely  matted,  were  beginning  to  be  covered 
with  buds.  A  month  afterwards  we  were  amazed  to  see 
it  crimsoned  by  myriads  of  the  full-blown  flowers,  which 
had  expanded  in  the  interim  and  covered  it  as  closely  as 
if  it  had  been  powdered  with  carmine.  It  reahsed  the 
beauty  of  the  scene  which  Darwin  describes  on  the 
La  Plata,  where  the  tracts  around  Maldonado  are  so 
thickly  overrun  by  verbena  melindres  as  to  appear  a  gaudy 
scarlet.^ 

Crossing  the  drawbridge  and  entering  the  Fort  of  Co- 


^  Tlie  ceremonies  connected  witli 
the  robes  of  the  priesthood  are  de- 
scribed, Vol.  I.  Pt.  IV.  ch.  iv.  p.  452. 

^  The  hackery  is  a  lig-ht  convey- 
ance, with  or  without  sprinj^s.  in  which 
a  well -trained  bidlock  will  draw  two 


persons  at  tlie  rate  of  eight  miles  an 
hour. 

^  Cialle-faceor  Galle-faati  (Dnich), 
the  fuasy  or  front,  of  the  fortification 
facing  the  direction  of  Galle. 

*  Naturalist's    Toi/ar/e,  4'C-)  ch.  iii. 


Chap.  II.]       PORTICO  OF  THE  OLD  QUEEN'S   HOUSE. 


147 


lombo  by  the  old  Dutch  gate  beneath  the  Midclelburg 
bastion,  we  drove  along  the  mam  street,  shaded  by  rows 
of  luximant  liibiscus ;  and  were  received  by  Sir  Cohn  Camp- 
bell imder  the  hospitable  portico  of  the  old  Government 
House. 


. 

^;>-i'" 

.,"1^^ 

[ffl 

pMWLU„^r,,_.,    , 

■ 

^^^p 

^ 

^^^^=r 

PORTICO  OF  THE  OLD  QUEEN'S  HOOSE,  COLOMBO. 


h    2 


148  NOTE    TO    CHAPTER.  [Part  VII. 


NOTE  TO  CHAPTEE. 


THE    FISH-TAX   IN    CEYLON. 

In  a  report  -wliich  I  framed  in  1846,  on  the  finances  and  revenue 
of  Ceylon,  I  adverted  to  the  characteristic  incident  alluded  to 
at  p.  131,  in  connection  with  the  fish-tax,  to  illustrate  the 
caution  which  it  behoves  us  to  exercise  in  relying  on  European 
tlieories  when  dealing  with  the  habits  and  customs  of  an  Oi'iental 
people,  whose  energies  seldom  respond  to  encouragement,  and 
whose  apathy  prevents  the  realisation  of  our  most  familiar 
maxims  of  political  economy.  In  the  instance  above  alluded  to, 
the  abolition  of  the  fish-tax  had  failed  to  supply  a  motive  for 
increased  activity  on  the  part  of  the  fishermen  ;  it  secured  no 
advantage  to  the  public,  whose  supply  of  fish  diminished, v:hilst 
the  Bost  ivas  more  than  doubled;  and  it  failed  to  benefit  the 
revenue,  since  the  receipts  from  the  tax  fell  off  nearly  one-third. 
In  proof  of  this  I  showed,  that  on  an  average  of  four  years  from 

1830  to  1833,  whilst  the  tax  was  one-fourth  per  cent.,  the 
average  amount  of  duty  was  7389/.  From  1834  to  1837,  when 
it  was  reduced  to  one-sixth,  the  average  was  6694/.,  and  from 

1831  to  1840,  whilst  the  duty  was  but  a  tenth,  the  receipts  fell 
off  to  4821/. 

My  report,  when  laid  before  Parliament  in  1847,  was  accom- 
panied by  the  comment  of  a  Committee,  to  whom  it  had  been 
referred  by  Earl  Grey,  consisting  of  Sir  Benjamin  Hawes,  the 
Eight  Honourable  H.  Tufnell,  Mr.  J.  Shaw  Lefevre,  and  Mr. 
Bird.  On  this  passage  they  remarked  that  my  inference  was 
"  an  obvious  mistake,"  the  amounts  of  revenue  as  given  above, 
"  pro\dng  not  that  there  is  an3'thing  peculiar  in  the  Ceylon 
fishermen ;  but  that  their  trade  follows  the  usual  course  of  all 
other  trades,  since  with  a  duty  of  25  per  cent.,  the  value  of  the 
fish  taken  was  -  _  >  _  _    £29,556 

With  a  duty  of  16 1  per  cent.  do.  -  -  -      40,164 

do.  10  "do.  _  .  -  .      48,210 

The  "obvious  error"  is,  however,  in  the  criticism,  and  not  in 
my  statement,  which  is  strictly  correct.  Had  "  the  usual  course 
of  all  other  trades"  followed  the  several  reductions  of  the  fish -tax, 
the  result  would  have  been  an  increased  demand,  creating  an  in- 


Chap.  II.]  THE    FISH-TAX.  149 

creased  supply ;  the  price  would  have  fallen  to  the  consumer  at 
least  in  proportion  to  the  fall  of  the  duty ;  and  the  revenue 
would  have  benefited  by  the  greater  quantity  brought  to  sale.  But 
the  Committee  overlooked  the  several  passages  in  which  I  had 
stated  that  the  very  reverse  had  occurred  in  each  particular,  and 
that  the  price  of  the  article  had  doubled  after  the  i-eduction  of 
the  tax. 

In  1833,  under  the  old  system,  the  duty  of  25  per  cent, 
yielded  an  income  of  7389/.  on  a  gross  value  of  29,556/.,  which 
at  one  penny  -per  pound  showed  a  quantity  equal  to  7,093,440 
pounds  weight  of  fish  as  the  ordinary  supjjly  under  the  fish-tax. 
But  in  1837,  when  the  duty  was  reduced  to  I6f  per  cent.,  the 
price  rose  50  per  cent.,  so  that  the  duty  then  received  f6694/.) 
represented  a  gross  value  of  40,164/.,  which  at  three  halfpence 
per  pound,  theii  the  price  in  the  market,  shows  that  the  quantity 
caught  had  fallen  to  6,426,240  pounds.  Again,  in  the  last 
stage,  in  which  the  tax  was  reduced  to  10  per  cent,  in  1840,  the 
price  had  risen  to  two  pence  and  upwards,  and  the  duty  there- 
fore (4821/.)  represents,  on  a  gross  value  of  48,210/.,  only 
5,785,200  pounds  of  fish  taken.  In  other  words,  had  not  the 
price  risen  after  the  fii'st  reduction  of  the  tax  in  1833,  the  sum 
expended  by  the  public  in  1837  ought  to  have  given  9,639,360 
pounds  instead  of  6,426,240  pounds,  and  in  1840,  11,570,400 
pounds  instead  of  5,785,200  pounds.  {See  Parliamentary 
Papers  1848,  Report  on  the  Finance  and  Commerce  of  Cei/lon, 
p.  15,51.) 

In  the  early  part  of  the  last  century,  a  tax  on  the  fishermen  at 
Lisbon  produced  a  considerable  annual  sum  to  the  Portuguese 
ti'easury ;  and  it  is  a  cm-ious  coincidence  that  the  effect  of  its 
abolition  was  in  every  respect  similar  to  that  produced  by  the 
repeal  of  the  fish-tax  in  Ceylon.  The  Eegency  issued  a  decree 
in  November,  1830,  abolishing  all  dues  on  fishing.  It  came  into 
operation  in  1833,  and  continued  in  force  for  ten  years.  By  this 
measure  a  tax  equivalent  to  30  per  cent,  was  taken  off  fish,  but  so 
far  from  increasing,  the  supply  diminished,  and  the  price  rose  in 
consequence.  A  duty  of  6  per  cent,  was  restored  in  1843,  together 
with  the  former  regulations  established  for  protecting  and  aiding 
the  fishermen ;  and  I  ascertained  at  Lisbon,  that  since  the  last 
change  the  improvement  in  the  market  has  been  striking,  the 
supply  has  become  regular  and  abundant,  and  the  price  has  fallen 
in  consequence. 


L   3 


150 


COLOMBO. 


[Part   VII. 


151 


CHAR  III. 

COLOMBO. 

Colombo,  as  a  to^vii,  presents  little  to  attract  a  stranger. 
It  possesses  neitlier  the  romance  of  antiquity  nor  the  in- 
terest of  novelty.  The  rocky  headland  near  Avhich  it 
stands,  was  the  "  Cape  of  Jupiter,"  the  "  Jovis  Ex- 
tremum"  of  Ptolemy \  remarkable  only  as  one  of  the 
great  landmarks  by  whicli  the  early  navigators  in  their 
coasting  voyages  dii^ected  their  course  towards  the  "  Pro- 
montory of  Birds,  "^  which  marked  the  entrance  to  the 
harbour  of  Galle. 

The  modern  fortifications  are  Dutch ;  said  to  have 
been  constructed  after  a  plan  of  Cohorn,  and  so  designed 
as  to  turn  to  the  utmost  advantao;e  the  natural  strenccth 
of  the  position,  lying  as  it  does  between  the  lake  at  one 
side,  and  the  rocks,  which  form  the  harbour,  on  the 
other.  The  works  include  "  foiu-  bastions  on  the  land 
side,  with  counter-scarps  and  ravehns,  and  seven  bat- 
teries towards  the  sea,  adapted  to  the  rock  line  of  the 
coast."  ^  The  modern  buildings  within  the  Fort  are  a 
clumsy  apphcation  of  European  architecture  to  tropical 
requirements ;  outside  the  walls  are  the  modest  dwell- 
ings of  the  Dutch  and  Portuguese  Eur-Asians,  and  tlie 
houses  of  the  Singhalese,  Tamils,  Moors,  and  Malays,  con- 
structed of  white-washed  mud,  and  either  covered  witli 
red  tiles  or  tliatched  with  tlie  plaited  fronds  of  the  coco- 
nut palm. 

The  only  ancient  quarter  is  the  pettah  or  "Black 
town,"    inhabited  by   the   native  races,   and    extending 


*  Aioc  uKpov.  The  coincidence  of 
Colombo  with  the  Jovis  Extremum 
of  Ptolemy  has  been  already  com- 
mented on^see  Vol.  I.  Ft.  v.  ch.  i.  p.53o. 


^  "Opvuoi'  uKpov,  '^  Avium  Promon- 
torium,"  Ptol. 

^  From  the  App.  to  Pridham's 
Ceyhn,  p.  873. 


I-  4 


152  COLOMBO.  [Part  VII. 

to  the  banks  of  tlie  Kalany-ganga.  Hence  from  its 
contiguity  to  the  river,  the  city  obtained  the  early  name 
of  Kalan-totta,  the  "  Kalany  Ferry,"  by  which  it  is  men- 
tioned in  the  Rajavali.  To  the  Singhalese,  always 
uninterested  in  sliipping,  the  roadstead,  and  the  head- 
land which  protects  it,  were  matters  of  indifference  ; 
but  in  the  twelfth  and  tliii-teenth  centuries,  the  Moors 
appear  to  have  taken  possession  of  the  beach  and 
harbom\  and  converted  the  name  to  Kalambu,  under 
w^hich  it  is  described  by  Ibn  Battta  about  the  year 
A.D.  1340,  "as  the  finest  and  largest  city  in  Serendib."^ 
They  built  the  tomb  of  one  of  their  Santons  on  the 
rocks  at  the  Galle-baak^,  and  its  desecration  by  the 
Portuguese  when  they  erected  then-  fortified  factory 
near  the  spot  in  1517^,  served  to  exasperate  the 
akeady  jealous  Mahometans.  The  designation  of  the 
city  had  then  been  further  changed  to  Kolamba  or 
Cohwihu,  and  the  Portuguese,  probably  pleased  to  dis- 
cover that  the  name  of  their  new  settlement  so  nearly 
approached  that  of  Columbus^,  rendered  the  resem- 
blance still  more  close  by  writing  it  Colombo,  whence  is 
derived  the  name  borne  by  the  fortress  at  the  present 
day.^ 

The  houses  in  the  Pettah  were  formerly  clustered 
close  under  the  fortifications ;  but  on  the  outbreak  of 
hostihties   vv^th   the   Enoiisli   in   1795,    the   last   Dutch 


'  "  Urbs  quain  Ibn  Batuta  maximam 
insiil.ie  invenit  Kalambu  iiomen  liuc- 
iisque  sel•^•avit."  —  GiLDEitEiSTEE, 
Script.  Arab.  p.  54. 

^  Galle-baak  or  Galle-6rtrtA-p« 
(Dutch),  the  "beacon"'  on  the  "rocks" 
close  by  the  present  lig'ht-hoiise. 

Query.     Did  the   stone  with  the 


^  This  explanation  is  more  simple 
than  that  of  Valentj-n  and  the  Dutch 
waiters,  who  imagined  that  Colombo 
was  dem"ed  from  Col-amba,  the  leaf 
of  the  mango-tree,  "  (lennamd  Col 
Amhu  oft  Mangaas-blad  afnamen." 
— Oud  en  Xieuw  Oost-Iiidien,  ch.  xv. 
p.  275.     But  this  fanciful  derivation 


Cufic  inscri})±ion  of  the  tenth  centuiy,  ;  is  imsoimd,  as  the  place  bears  no  re- 
whicli  in  ls27  fonned  a  door-step  in  semblance  to  a  leaf,  and  tlie  mango 
the  Pettah  at  Colombo,  form  any  por-  I  tree  wa.s  then  unknown  in  the  locality, 
tion  of  the  Moorisli  buildings  at  the  Perhaps  a  better  derivation  tlian 
Galle-baak  ?  See  IVtoiii.  Roy.  A.nat.  i  either  is  that  in  the  tSichith  Saiu/ara, 
Sac.,  vol.  i.  p.  545.  (tILDEMETSTEK,  where  one  of  the  meanings  of  the 
Script.  Arab.,  p.  50.  word  Kolamba  is  said  to  be  a  "  liar- 

■*  Knox,  part  i.  p.  P>.  I  bonr." — De  Alwis,  p.  4. 


Chap.  III.]  DWELLINGS.  153 

governor  caused  a  space  to  be  cleared  between  the 
cemetery  and  the  walls,  and  this  wise  precaution  was 
afterwards  maintained  by  the  British  commanders.^ 

With  the  exception  of  the  mihtaiy  officers,  wdiose  duties 
require  their  presence  within  the  fort,  the  English  in  ge- 
neral have  fixed  their  residences  either  in  the  emdi-ons,  in 
villas  overlooking  the  bay ;  in  the  cinnamon  gardens  ;  or 
under  the  cool  shade  of  the  coco-nut  groves  by  the  shore 
in  the  hamlet  of  Colpetty.  Tlie  site  of  this  beautifid 
suburb  is  on  the  sandy  embankment  which  forms  the 
natural  bund  of  the  lake  of  Colombo,  one  of  the  "  gobbs 
of  Serendib,"  formed  by  an  ancient  arm  of  the  Kalany- 
ganga,  which  at  one  period  must  have  had  its  opening 
to  the  sea,  at  the  point  now  occupied  by  the  Galle- 
face.^  Outside  the  waUs,  every  building  of  import- 
ance is  modern,  as  the  Dutch,  o^ving  to  the  precarious 
nature  of  their  relations  mth  the  people  of  Kandy,  were 
carefid  not  to  erect  their  dwelhngs  beyond  the  guns  of 
the  fortress.  In  the  suburbs  the  better  houses  seldom 
rise  to  a  second  story,  but  the  area  wdiicli  each  of  them 
covers  is  large.  Their  broad  verandahs  are  supported 
on  columns ;  their  apartments  are  lofty,  and  cooled  by 
Indian  punkahs ;  then'  floors  are  tiled,  and  the  doors  and 
window^s  formed  of  Venetian  jalousies^,  opening  to  the 
ground  for  the  sake  of  freshness  and  au\  The  only 
inconvenience  arising  from  the  latter  arrangement  is 
the  rather  too  free  entrance  afforded  to  reptiles,  snakes*, 


^  ToMBE,  Voyage  aux  Indes,  t.  ii. 
p.  184. 

"  The  Galle-face  has  still  such  at- 
tractions for  the  marine  ciiistacea 
that  it  is  infested  by  myriads  of  the 
little  crabs  {ocijpodc),  which  employ 
themselves  in  hollowing  out  deep 
burrows  seriously  injurious  to  the 
safety  of  the  horsemen  who  make  it 
their  promenade.  From  these  holes  the 
crabs  emerge  each  with  an  armful  of 
sand,  scatter  it  in  a  circle  by  a  jerk, 
look  round  on  all  sides,  and  InuTy 
down  for  another  burthen. 

^  On  the  arrival  of  flie  English,  in 


1796,  they  foimd  the  Dutch  houses 
at  Colombo  suilocatingly  hot,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  windows  being  all 
closed  with  (/lass.  Cokdixer,  p.  32. 
The  substitution  of  lattice-work  was 
a  recent  improvement. 

*  Tlie  Ceylon  boa  (python  reticu- 
J(diis)  is  fomid  of  great  size  in  the 
cinnamon  gardens.  A  specimen  was 
brought  to  me  nineteen  feet  long, 
which  some  coolies  had  secured  by 
fastening  it  to  a  bamboo,  in  which 
condition  they  carried  it  into  the 
Fort.  It  had  swallowed  one  of  the 
small  meminna  deer. 


154  COLOMBO.  [Part  VII. 

lizards  and  scorpions,  which  occasionally  resort  to  the 
rooms,  and  take  up  their  abode  in  the  ceilings ;  — 
wliilst  the  monkeys,  in  their  mischievous  cmiosity,  lift 
the  tiles  to  discover  what  they  conceal.^  Spiders  of 
enormous  size  haunt  the  vdne  cellars  and  other  dark- 
ened store-rooms,  and  ants  in  myriads  beset  every  crevice 
and  corner  in  the  exercise  of  then*  useful  vocation  as 
domestic  scavengers. 

But  the  chief  inconvenience  of  a  mansion  in  Ceylon, 
both  on  the  coast  and  in  tlie  mountains,  is  the  preva- 
lence of  damp,  and  the  difficulty  of  protecting  articles 
hable  to  uijury  from  tliis  source.  Books,  papers,  and 
manuscripts  rapidly  decay ;  especially  dming  the  south- 
west monsoon,  when  the  atmosphere  is  laden  vidth  mois- 
ture. Unless  great  precautions  are  taken,  the  binding 
fades  and  yields,  the  leaves  grow  mouldy  and  stained, 
and  letter-paper,  in  an  incredibly  short  time,  becomes 
so  spotted  and  spongy  as  to  be  unfit  for  use.  After 
a  very  few  seasons  of  neglect,  a  book  falls  to  pieces,  and 
its  decomposition  attracts  hordes  of  minute  insects,  that 
swarm  to  assist  in  the  work  of  destruction.  The  con- 
cealment of  these  tiny  creatm-es  during  daylight  ren- 
ders it  difficult  to  watch  their  proceedings,  or  to 
discriminate  the  precise  species  most  actively  engaged; 
but  there  is  every  reason  to  beheve  that  the  larvae 
of  the  death-watch  and  numerous  acari  are  amongst 
those  most  active.  As  nature  seldom  peoples  a  region 
supphed  with  abundance  of  suitable  food,  mthout,  at 
the  same  time,  taking  measures  of  precaution  against 
the  disproportionate  increase  of  indi\'iduals ;  so  have 
these  vegetable  depredators  been  provided  with  foes 
who  pursue  and  feed  greedily  upon  them.  These  ai'e 
of  widely  difierent  genera ;  but  mstead  of  tlieir  ser- 
vices being  gratefully  recognised,  they  are  popularly 
branded  as  accomphces  in  the  work  of  destruction.     One 


^  A  malicious  device  of  the  natives,  i  searcli  for  which  the  monkeys  will 
in  order  to  annoy  a  neighbour,  is  to  so  displace  the  tiles  as  to  let  in  the 
scatter  rice   over  hia  roof,    in    the  j  rain. 


Chap.  III.] 


MOSQUITOES. 


155 


of  these  ill-used  creatures  is  a  tiny,  tail-less  scorpion 
(chelifer),  and  another  is  the  pretty  little  silvery  creature 
(lepisma),  called  by  Europeans  the  "  fish  insect."  ^ 

The  latter,  wliich  is  a  famihar  genus,  comprises  several 
species,  of  which  only  two  have  as  yet  been  described  ^ ; 
one,  of  large  size,  is  most  graceful  in  its  movements,  and 
singularly  beautiful  in  appearance,  o"\ving  to  the  white- 
ness of  the  pearly  scales  from  which  its  name  is  derived. 
These,  contrasted  with  the  dark  hue  of  the  other  parts, 
and  its  tri-partite  tail,  attract  the  eye  as  the  insect  darts 
rapidly  along.  Like  the  chehfer,  it  shuns  the  hght,  hiding 
in  chinks  till  sunset,  but  is  actively  engaged  throughout 
the  night  feasting  on  the  acari  and  soft-bodied  insects 
which  assail  books  and  papers. 

The  close  proximity  of  the  lake  to  Colombo  is  produc- 
tive of  other  inconveniences ;  the  nightly  serenade  of 
frogs  (some  of  which  are  of  gigantic  dimensions),  the 
tormenting  profusion  of  mosquitoes,  and  the  incredible 
swarms  of  more  ignoble  flies,  cause  a  nuisance  sometimes 
intolerable.  So  multitudinous  are  these  insects  at  certain 
seasons,  that  in  some  of  the  mansions  on  Slave  Island  and 
its  vicinity,  the  flies  invade  the  apartments  in  such  num- 
bers as  hterally  to  extinguisli  the  hghts.  On  the  occasion 
of  dinner  parties  in  these  situations  it  is  the  custom  to 
hght  fires  on  the  lawn  to  draw  away  the  flies  from  the 


^  Of  the  first  of  these,  three  species 
have  been  noticed  in  Ceylon,  all  with 
the  common  char.icteristics  of  Ijeing 
nocturnal,  very  active,  veiy  minute, 
of  a  pale  chesnut  colom*,  and  each 
armed  with  a  crab-like  claw.  They 
are 

Chelifer  Lihrortim,  Temp. 
„  OhloH(/ns,  Temp. 
„         AcaroUles,  Hermann. 

Dr.  Templeton  appears  to  have 
been  puzzled  to  account  for  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  latter  species  in  Cey- 
lon so  far  from  its  native  country, 
but  it  has  most  certainlj'  been  intro- 
duced from  Europe,  in  Dutch  or  Por- 
tuguese books. 

2  Lepisma   nivco-fusciata,  Temple- 


ton,  and  L.  niger,  Temp.  It  was 
called  "  Lepisma"  by  Fabricius,  from 
its  fish-like  scales.  It  has  six  legs, 
filiform  anteimoe,  and  tlic  abdomen 
terminated  by  three  elongated  sette, 
two  of  wliich  are  placed  nearly  at 
right  angles  to  the  central  one. 
LiNXiEUS  states  that  the  European 
species,  with  which  book  collectors 
are  familiar,  was  first  brought  in 
sugar  ships  from  America.  Hence, 
possibly,  these  are  more  common  in 
seaport  towns  in  the  South  of  En- 
gland and  elsewhere,  and  it  is  almost 
certain  that,  like  the  chelifer,  one  of 
the  species  foimd  on  book-shelves  in 
Ceylon  has  been  brought  thither  from 
Europe. 


156 


COLOMBO. 


[Part  VII. 


reception   rooms,   which  are   kept   darkened    and   mth 
closed  -windows  till  the  arrival  of  the  guests. 

Great  pams  have  been  taken  ^vith  the  gardens  of  these 
bungalows  :  the  rarest  and  most  beautiful  flowering  plants 
of  the  island  have  been  planted  around  them,  along  with 
fruit  trees  of  every  variety  ;  and  exotics  from  the  Eastern 
Archipelago,  Austraha,  and  India  have  been  introduced 
in  such  numbers  as  to  justify  the  exclamation  of  Prince 
Soltykoff  that  Colombo  was  "  un  jardin  botanique  siu*  mie 
echelle  gigantesque."  ^ 

Of  the  various  races  which  inhabit  Colombo,  the 
bidk  of  the  Singhalese  are  handicraftsmen^  and  ser- 
vants ;  the  Parsees  are  exclusively  merchants  ;  the  Moors 
retail  dealers ;  the  Malays  soldiers  and  valets ;  the  Ta- 
mils labourers  and  coohes  ;  and  the  Caffres  excavators 
and  pioneers.  The  majority  of  the  Portuguese  de- 
scendants consist  of  impoverished  artisans  and  domes- 
tics, and  some  few  of  them  are  successfully  engaged  in 
trades  and  professions.  But  the  Dutch  Burghers,  and 
the  offspring  of  the  Enghsh  by  intermarriages  with 
the  natives,  form  essentially  the  middle  class  in  all  the 
towns  in  Ceylon.  They  have  risen  to  eminence  at  the 
Bar,  and  occupied  the  highest  positions  on  the  Bench. 
They  are  largely  engaged  in  mercantile  pm^suits,  and 
as  -writers  and  clerks  they  fill  places  of  trust  in  every 
administrative  estabhshment  fi^om  the  department  of  the 
Colonial  Secretary  to  the  humblest  pohce  court.  It  is 
not  possible  to  speak  too  highly  of  the  services  of  this 
meritorious  bodj^  of  men,  by  whom  the  whole  machinery 
of  government  is  put  into  action  under  the  orders  of  the 
civil  officers.     They  may  faufy  be  described  in  the  lan- 


^  Prince  Solttkoff,  Voyage  dims 
rinde,  p.  30. 

*  It  is  a  curious  trait,  not  unfi-e- 
quent  amongst  the  Singhalese  of  a 
rank  above  artisans,  to  encourage  the 
growth  of  a  nail  on  one  of  their 
fingers  ;  which  denotes  by  its  extra- 


ordinaiy  length  that  the  individual  is 
not  addicted  to  labour.  A  similar 
practice  is  observable  amongst  certain 
classes  in  China  and  tlie  Pliilippines. 
In  Borneo  the  nail  selected  is  that  of 
the  right  thumb. 


Chap.  III.j 


CASTE. 


157 


guage  of  Sir  Eobert  Peel  as  the  "  brazen  wheels  of  the 
executive  which  keep  the  golden  hands  in  motion." 

Amongst  the  pm^e  Singhalese,  the  ascendency  of  caste 
still  exercises  a  baneful  influence  over  the  intellectual 
as  well  as  the  material  prosperity  of  the  nation.  Its 
origin  has  been  elsewhere  alluded  to  ^  as  directly  trace- 
able to  the  Brahmanical  conquerors  of  Ceylon  under 
Wijayo,  by  whom  the  system  was  introduced  from  the 
continent  of  India.  It  was  unknown  amongst  the  abori- 
gines of  the  island,  and  although  condemned  by  the 
precepts  of  Buddlia-,  and  the  example  of  his  ^niesthood, 
so  attractive  were  the  distinctions  of  civil  rank  which  it 
conferred,  that  in  later  times,  in  spite  of  rehgious  in- 
junction, and  in  defiance  of  the  efforts  of  every  Euro- 
pean government,  Portuguese,  Dutch,  and  British,  to 
discountenance  and  extinguish  it,  no  appreciable  pro- 
gress has  yet  been  made  towards  its  modification  or 
abandonment. 

A  reluctant  conformity  is  exhibited  on  the  part  of 
high-caste  persons  placed  ofiicially  under  the  orders  of 
low-caste  headmen ;  but  tlieu^  obedience  is  constrained, 
with  no  efibrt  to  conceal  impatience ;  and  in  the  relations 
of  private  life  the  impassable  barrier  is  still  maintained. 
There  is  no  familiar  intercourse  between  individuals 
of  incongruous  castes,  no  friendly  domestic  meetings, 
and  no  association  even  in  the  formal  festivities  of  wed- 


^  See  Part  iv.  cli.  i.  p.  425. 

^  A  paper  by  TuKNOTJH  in  the  Asiat. 
Soc.  Journ.  Bene/.,  vol.  ii.  p.  093,  con- 
tains a  ti'anslation  of  the  discourse 
in  which  Biitldha  exposes  and  de- 
nounces the  folly  and  evils  of  caste. 
It  is  taken  from  the  Ayc/dnna  Suttan 
in  the  liuihunikmja  section  of  the 
PittdJias ;  and  enforces  the  eligibility 
of  all  castes,  however  low,  to  the 
office  of  the  priesthood,  which  com- 
mands the  homage  of  the  highest. 
The  same  doctrine  is  repeated  in  the 
Madhura  Suttan ;  and  the  Waaala 
Suttan  contains  the  stanza,  beginning 


with  "  Majachcha  wasalo  hoti/'  &c., 
which  runs  thus, 

"  A  man  does  noc  become  low  caste  by  birth. 
Nor  by  birth  does  one  become  high  caste  ; 
High  caste  is  tlie  result  of  high  actions — 
And  by  actions  does  a  man  degrade  himself  to 
caste  that  is  low."' 

Still  Buddhism,  even  when  in  the 
zenith  of  its  power,  had  not  the  in- 
fluence, or  perhaps  the  inclination, 
to  extinguish  these  distinctions ;  and 
caste  continued  to  be  tolerated  under 
the  Singhalese  kings  as  a  social  insti- 
tution. In  other  Buddhist  countries 
Bunnah,  Siam,  and  Thibet,  caste 
does  not  exist  in  any  similar  form. 


158  COLOMBO.  [Part  VII. 

dings,  or  tlie  solemnities  that  do  honour  to  the  dead. 
The  social  segregation  is  carried  to  such  an  extreme, 
that  members  of  the  several  classes  into  wliich  each 
caste  is  subdivided,  ^vith  a  distinctive  rank  for  each, 
refuse  to  associate  together ;  and  a  Yellale  of  the  first 
class  would  shrink  from  the  communication  with  a  Vellale 
of  a  lower  order,  with  as  much  sensitiveness  as  he  would 
avoid  contact  Avith  a  washer  or  a  Clialia. 

Doubtless  in  time  education  and  civihsation  will 
manifest  then'  power  ;  but  in  opposition  to  their  pro- 
gress no  obstacle  has  yet  been  interposed  so  powerful 
as  caste.  It  interferes  with  the  disciphne  of  schools,  it 
mars  the  harmonising  efforts  of  Christianity,  it  dis- 
countenances social  improvement,  and  deprives  the 
civil  authority  of  its  most  efficient  agents,  who,  how- 
ever endowed  with  the  essentials  of  useftihiess,  would 
be  paralysed  in  their  functions  by  the  disqualification 
of  conventional  rank.  The  only  great  measure  Hkely  to 
be  productive  of  effect  in  equahsing  the  pretensions  of 
caste  is  the  estabhshment  of  trial  by  jury,  on  which  all 
are  entitled  to  serve  on  a  footing  of  perfect  equahty. 
But  the  inference  from  past  experiments  of  the  govern- 
ment, suggests  the  propriety  of  abstaining  from  direct 
interference,  and  leaving  the  abatement  of  the  evil  to  the 
operation  of  time  and  the  gTadual  growth  of  intelh- 
gence. 

Of  a  thing  so  fluctuating  as  Em*opean  society  in 
a  colony,  it  almost  partakes  of  injustice  to  place  on  re- 
cord any  expression  of  opinion,  the  result  of  hmited 
experience.  It  is  unhappily  the  tendency  of  smaU 
sections  of  society  to  decompose,  when  separated  from 
the  great  vital  mass,  as  pools  stagnate  and  putrify  when 
cut  off  from  the  in\dgorating  flow  of  the  sea.  But  the 
process  is  variable,  both  in  its  agents  and  its  manifesta- 
tions. What  seems  repulsive  in  colonial  society  to-day, 
may  become  attractive  to-morrow,  by  a  few  timely  depar- 
tures ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  experience  has  mihappily 
demonstrated  that  one  ungenial  arrival  may  be  sufficient 


Chap.  III.] 


COST   OF   LIVING. 


159 


to  convert  peace  into  pandemonium.^  Nothing  can  be 
more  charming  than  the  accounts  which  have  reached 
us  of  the  social  harmony  of  the  fn-st  British  community, 
after  the  capture  of  the  island  ^  ;  but  at  that  period,  the 
purity  of  Enghsh  feehng  was  still  untainted,  and  the 
unity  of  Christian  fellowship  had  not  yet  been  rent  in 
sunder  by  ecclesiastical  jarring.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
some  future  narrator  will  find  a  moment  more  propi- 
tious than  I  did  to  dehneate  the  aspect  of  society  at 
Colombo. 

The  high  cost  of  li\dng  has  been  a  subject  of  com- 
plaint ever  since  our  occupation  of  the  island,  and  the 
grievance  is  as  severely  felt  at  the  present  day  as  when 
Percival  lamented  it  in  1803.  The  scarcity  of  pasture, 
and  the  injiury  to  which  cattle  are  exposed  from  leeches, 
render  meat  scarce  and  dear ;  milk  is  difficult  to  pro- 
cure^, fresh  butter  is  almost  unknown,  and  poultry  ex- 


^  "Frequent  scarifications  render 
most  colonial  skins  so  impenetrably 
thick,  that  the  utmost  vituperation 
makes  hardly  any  impression.  Re- 
course therefore  is  had  to  something 
shai-per  than  Billingsg-ate.  It  is  a 
general  custom  in  colonies,  when 
your  antagonist  ^vithstands  abuse,  to 
hurt  him  seriously  if  you  can,  and 
even  to  do  him  a  mortal  injury  ;  either 
in  order  to  carry  your  point  or  to 
pimish  him  for  having  carried  his. 
In  every  walk  of  colonial  life,  eveiy 
body  strikes  at  his  opponent's  heart. 
If  a  governor  or  high  officer  refuses 
to  comply  with,  the  wish  of  some 
leading  parties,  they  instantly  try  to 
ruin  him  by  getting  him  recalled  with 
disgrace.  If  two  officials  disagree, 
one  of  them  is  veiy  likely  to  be  ti-ipped 
up  and  desti'oyed  by  the  other.  If  an 
official  or  a  colonist  otieuds  the  official 
body,  the  latter  hunt  him  into  jail  or 
out  of  the  colony.  If  two  settlers 
disagi'ee  about  a  road  or  a  water- 
course, they  will  attack  each  other's 
credit  at  the  bank,  rake  up  ugly  old 
stories,  get  two  newspapers  to  be  the 
instruments  of  their  bitter  animosity, 
and  perhaps  ruin  each  other  in  despe- 


rate litigation.  Disagreement  and 
rivaliy  are  more  tiger-like  in  a  colony 
than  disagTeement  and  rivaliy  at 
home." — Wakefield  on  Colonization. 
Letter  xxix.,  p.  188. 

^  Coedinek's  Ceylon,  Sec,  p.  76. 

^  Linnaeus  has  described  the  pecu- 
liar eflects  produced  on  the  milk  of 
the  reindeer  and  the  cow  by  the  leaves 
of  the  Piiifiuicida  vnh/aris,  a  small 
plant  common  in  marshes  in  Britain, 
In  many  parts  of  the  coast  of  Ceylon 
there  is  a  thorny  fruited  plant,  with 
dark  orange-coloured  roots  and  prim- 
rose-like flowers,  which  has  equally 
wonderful  effects  on  milk  and  on 
watei-,  though  of  a  different  nature. 
It  is  known  to  the  Singhalese  as  the 
bakatoo  (Pedalium  miire.r),  and  if 
bits  of  the  stem,  leaves,  and  roots  be 
mixed  for  a  few  seconds  in  milk  or 
water,  the  liquid  turns  thick  and 
mucilaginous,  so  much  so,  thfit  water 
in  this  state  can  be  raised  by  the 
hand  se^^eral  feet  out  of  a  basin 
and  ^^'ill  fall  back  witliout  noise  ;  and 
this  without  imparting  any  colour, 
taste,  or  snu'll  to  the  fluid,  which 
returns  to  its  natural  state  in  about  ten 
or  fifteen  minutes  afterwards.     The 


160 


COLOMBO. 


[Part  VII. 


pensive.^  The  wages  of  servants  are  increased,  owing 
to  the  necessity  of  importing  rice  fi'om  the  coast  of 
India,  and  the  cost  of  keeping  horses  at  Colombo  (as- 
cribable  to  the  same  cause)  is  nearly  double  the  outlay 
required  at  Madi^as.  Fruit  alone  is  abundant ;  a  pine- 
apple of  two  or  three  pounds'  weight  costs  but  a  penny ; 
and  freshly-gathered  oranges  sell  at  a  similarly  cheap 
rate.  Excellent  stores  within  the  Fort  supply  articles 
imported  from  Europe  ;  and  those  who  bring  outfits  from 
England,  generally  find  they  could  have  obtained  the 
same  articles  on  the  spot,  if  not  more  economically,  at 
least  more  judiciously  chosen,  as  regards  adaptation  to 
the  chmate.  Besides,  the  Moors  in  the  Pettah  have  shops 
wliich  are  certainly  amongst  the  "wonders  of  Serendib," 
from  the  habits  of  their  owners  and  the  multiform  variety 
of  their  contents.  Here  everything  is  procurable  that 
industry  can  collect  from  the  looms  of  Asia  and  the  ma- 
nufactories of  Em'ope  ;  but  the  stocks  have  accumulated 
so  long,  that  an  antiquary  estimating  the  date  by  the 
fashion,  might  fix  the  period  of  then'  importation  in  the 
early  times  of  the  Dutch.^ 

The  domestic  economy  of  the  great  body  of  the  Sin- 
halese, who  mhabit  Colombo  and  the  other  toA^^ls  of  the 
island,  is  of  the  simplest  and  most  inexpensive  character. 
In  a  chmate,  whose  chief  requirement  is  protection  fr'om 
heat,  their  dwellings  are  as  httle  encumbered  with  fur- 
niture as  their  persons  with  di'ess  ;  and  the  coolness  of 
the  earthen  floor  renders  it  preferable  to  a  bed.     Two 


Singhalese  take  adyantage  of  this 
peculiarity  of  the  hakatoo  to  thic-ken 
the  milk  sent  roirnd  for  sale  to  Euro- 
peans. 

^  The  Malabar  poultiy  is  common 
at  Colombo  ;  in  wliich  the  colour  of 
the  bones  and  skin  is  a  disagreeable 
black.  In  other  respects  they  are 
excellent. 

^  "  The  ^Moormen  shopkeepers 
have  such  unpronounceable  names, 


that  by  common  consent  their  En- 
glish customers  designate  them  by  the 
numbers  of  their  shojis.  In  this  way 
one,  a  small  portion  of  whose  name 
consists  of  Meera  Lebbe  Hema  I^ebbe 
Tamby  Ahamadoc  Lebbe  Mareair,  is 
cut  down  to  '  Number  Forty-eight,' 
while  his  rival  in  trade  is  similarly 
symbolized  as  'Number Forty-two.'  " 
— Household  Words,  \o\,  viii.  p.  19. 


Chaf.  in.] 


NATIVE   DINKEE. 


161 


articles  furnish  the  basis  of  their  cookery, — rice  and 
the  flesh  of  the  coco-nut ;  —  appas  ^  (cakes  made  of  the 
former)  supply  their  morning  repast,  with  a  scanty  al- 
lowance of  coffee  ;  and  curries,  in  all  their  endless  variety, 
furnish  their  afternoon  meal.  The  use  of  metal  of  any 
kind  scarcely  enters  into  their  arrangements ;  their 
houses  are  framed  without  iron,  tlieu'  implements 
fashioned  in  wood,  and  their  cooking  utensils  are  clay. 
The  broad  leaves  of  the  plantain  serve  as  a  substitute 
for  plates  ;  and  in  fiu'ther  illustration  of  their  vegetable 
economy,  the  nuts  of  the  penela  tree^  fui'iiish  them 
with  a  substitute  for  soap,  and  possess  all  its  detergent 
qualities.^ 

But  the  residences  of  the  headmen  are  of  a  very  dif- 
ferent class,  and  exliibit  European  taste  engrafted  on  Sin- 
ghalese customs.  A  dinner  at  Avhich  my  family  were 
received  by  the  Maha  Moodhar  de  Sarem,  the  Chief  of 
highest  rank  in  the  maritime  pro\dnces,  was  one  of  the 
most  refined  entertainments  at  which  it  was  our  good 
fortune  to  be  present  in  Ceylon ;  the  furniture  of  his 
reception-rooms  was  of  ebony  richly  carved,  and  his  plate, 
chiefly  made  by  native  artists,  was  a  model  of  superior 
chasing  on  silver.  The  repast,  besides  pastry  and  dessert, 
consisted  of  upwards  of  forty  dishes  ;  and,  amongst  other 
triumphs  of  the  native  cuisine,  were  some  singular,  but  by 
no  means  inelegant,  chefs-d'oeuvre^- — brinjals  boiled,  and 
stuffed  with  savoury  meats,  but  exhibiting  ripe  and  un- 
dressed fruit,  growing  on  the  same  branch,  and  bread-fruit, 
baked  and  seasoned  ivith  the  green  leaves  and  flowers,  fresh 
and  iminjured  by  the  fire. 

The  present  aspect  of  the  "  cinnamon  gardens,"  which 


1  Called  "hoppers"  by  the  En- 
glish. 

^  Scqmuhis  emaryinatus,  AVahl.  It 
is  generally  preferred  by  the  horse- 
keepers,  who  say  that  soap  renders 
dark  horses  grey. 

*  Anotlier  useful  seed  in  Ceylon  is 
the  marking-nut,  the  produce  of  the 

VOL.    II.  M 


Kiri-hadidla  tree  (Semccarpas  Ana- 
cardiion,  Linn.),  between  tlie  kernel 
and  the  peric-ai-p  of  whii-h  is  con- 
tained a  senii-iiuid  varnish,  as  black 
and  as  durable  as  the  nitrate  of  silver. 
It  is  plentiful  iu  the  bazaars  of  Co- 
lombo. 


1G2 


COLOMBO. 


[Part  VIT. 


surround  Colombo  on  the  land-side,  exhibits  the  effects 
of  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  neglect,  and  produces  a  feel- 
ing of  disappointment  and  melancholy.  The  beauti- 
ful shrubs  which  furnish  the  renowned  spice  have  been 
allowed  to  grow  wild,  and  in  some  places  are  scarcely 
visible,  owing  to  undergrowth  of  jungle,  and  the  thick 
envelopment  of  chmbing  plants,  bignonias,  ipomoeas, 
the  quadrangular  vine,  and  the  marvellous  pitcher-plant, 
{Nepenthes  distillatoria),  whose  eccentric  organisation  is 
still  a  scientific  enigma.  One  most  interesting  flower, 
which  encumbers  the  cinnamon  trees,  is  a  night-blowing 
convolvulus,  the  moon-flower  of  Europeans,  called  by  the 
natives  ala?iga^,  which  never  blooms  in  the  day,  but 
opens  its  exquisite  petals  when  darkness  comes  on,  and 
attracts  the  eye  through  the  gloom,  by  its  pure  and  snowy 
whiteness. 

Less  than  a  century  has  elapsed  since  these  famous 
gardens  were  formed  by  the  Dutch,  and  already  they  are 
relapsing  into  Avilderness.  Every  recent  writer  on  Ceylon 
has  dwelt  on  their  beauty  and  luxuriance,  but  hencefor- 
ward it  will  remain  to  speak  only  of  their  decay.  Tlie 
history  of  the  cinnamon  laurel  has  been  exhausted  by 
Nees  Von  Esenbach  and  his  brother ;  who,  in  the  erudite 
disquisition^  which  they  contributed  to  the  Amoenitates 
Botanical,  condensed  all  the  learning  of  ancients  and 
moderns  regarding  this  celebrated  tree.^ 


^  Colonyction  speciosum,  Choisy 
(Ipoman  honanox,  L.).  It  is  the 
Munda-valli  of  Van  Rlieede,  Ilortus 
Malahar.,  vol.  ii.  tab.  50. 

*  l)e  Cinnamonio  Di'spufntio,  by  C. 
G.  and  T.  ¥.  L.  Nees  von  Esenbach. 
Bonne,  182.3. 

^  llelative  to  the  prrowth  and  cul- 
tivation of  cinnamon  and  the  method 
pursued  by  the  chalias  for  "  peeling-  " 
and  preparinp-  it  for  market,  little 
could  be  added  to  tlie  copious  details 
of  Valentyx,  during  the  time  of  the 
Dutch,  and  of  Pekcival  (chap.  xvi. 
p.  340),  and  Ooedinek  (chap.  xiii.  p. 


405),  imder  the  early  government 
of  the  British.  A  very  able  and 
acciu'ate  essay  on  the  same  subject 
was  conti-ibuted  in  1817,  to  the 
Annals  of  I*hilosoj>/i;/,  vol.  Iviii.,  by 
Henry  Marshall,  P\R.S.E.,  who 
served  on  the  medical  staff  in  Cey- 
lon, and  communicated  the  results 
of  personal  observation  and  inquiry. 
Iliere  is  an  interesting  paper  in  the 
Journal  of  the  Roi/al  Asiatic  Society 
(London),  for  1840,  "  On  the  Cinna- 
mon Trade  of  Ceylon,  its  proyress 
and  present  state,  bv  JoHN  Cappek, 
Esq." 


Chap.  III.]  CINNAMOX.  163 

The  trade  in  its  products  was  at  its  height^  when 
Esenbach  wrote ;  but  opinion  was  ah'eady  arraying  itself 
against  the  rigidly  exclusive  system  under  whicli  it  was 
conducted.  This  was  looked  on  as  the  more  unjustifiable, 
owing  to  the  popular  behef  that  the  monopoly  was  one 
created  by  nature  ;  and  that  prohibitions  became  vexa- 
tious where  competition  was  impossible.  Accordingly, 
in  1832,  the  odious  monopoly  was  abandoned  ;  the  Go- 
vernment ceased  to  be  the  sole  exporters  of  cinnamon, 
and  thenceforward  the  merchants  of  Colombo  and  Galle 
were  permitted  to  take  a  share  in  the  trade,  on  payinn- 
to  the  crown  an  export  duty  of  tliree  shillings  a  pound, 
which  was  afterwards  reduced  to  one.  But  the  revolu- 
tion came  too  late  to  benefit  those  for  whose  advanta^-e 
it  was  designed.  The  delusion  of  a  "natural  monopoly" 
of  the  spice  was  demonstrated  by  the  fact,  that  not  alone 
India,  Java,  and  China,  but  also  Guiana,  Martinique, 
and  Mauritius  were  found  capable  of  producing  it ;  and 
such  was  the  stimulus  to  rivahy  engendered  by  exor- 
bitant prices,  that  supplies  from  these  quarters  were, 
akeady  supplanting  the  cinnamon  of  Ceylon  in  the  mar- 
kets of  the  world.  Cassia,  a  still  more  formidable  com- 
jTctitor,  was  arriving  in  Europe  in  large  quantities ;  and 
thus  the  great  experiment  of  free  trade  in  this  precious 
article  led  at  first  to  disappointment  and  loss  ;  the  prices 
undergoing  a  dechne  as  the  quantity  exported  was  sud- 
denly increased. 

The  adoption  of  the  first  step  inevitably  necessitated 
a  second.  The  merchants  felt,  and  with  justice,  that 
the  struggle  was  unequal  so  long  as  the  Government, 
with  its  great  estates  and  large  capital,  was  their  op- 
posing competitor ;  and  hence,  in  1840,  the  final  ex- 
pedient was  adopted  by  the  crown  of  divesting  itself 
altogether  of  its  property  in  the  plantations.  Tlie 
cinnamon   gardens   were   offered   for   sale  ;    and  Ekellc 


^  The  extent  of  the  trade  may  be 
inferred  from  the  fact,  that  the  five 
])rini'ipal   cinnaiuun   gardens   around 


Neg-onibo,  Colombo,  Barberm,  Galle, 
and  Matura,  were  each  from  fifteen 
to  twentv  miles  in  circinnferenee. 


M  2 


164  COLOMBO.  .  [r.vRT  VII. 

Kaderani  and  Morottu  passed  at  once  into  private 
hands.  But  so  depressing  was  the  prospect,  that  Ma- 
randlian,  from  its  vicinity  to  the  capital,  was  felt  to  be 
more  profitable  as  a  speculation  for  building  villas  than 
for  cultivating  cinnamon.  It  was  disposed  of  in  lots  ; 
but  not  before  neglect  and  decay  had  so  depreciated 
its  value  that  the  price  for  which  it  sold  was  almost 
nominal. 

One  only  source  of  income  from  cinnamon  still  re- 
mained in  the  hands  of  the  Government — the  one  shil- 
ling  duty  on  its  export.  But  even  this,  as  it  was  equi- 
valent to  100  per  cent,  on  the  value,  became  in  a  very 
few  years  intolerable  ;  and  such  was  the  peril  which 
menaced  the  trade  on  my  arrival  in  Ceylon,  in  1845, 
that  one  of  my  earhest  acts  was  to  recommend  to  Her 
Majesty's  Government  an  instant  reduction  of  the  tax, 
preparatory  to  its  early  and  total  abolition^ — a  measure 
which  was  afterwards  consummated  by  Viscount  Tor- 
rington. 

But,  like  every  previous  reform,  in  relation  to  this 
ill-fated  article,  the  rehef  came  too  late  to  be  effectual. 
Had  no  export  duty  upon  cinnamon  been  imposed  when 
the  monopoly  of  the  growth  was  surrendered,  in  1833, 
it  may  admit  of  a  doubt  whether  Java  would  have 
been  enabled  to  compete  with  the  produce  of  Ceylon  ; 
which,  in  fineness  and  quality,  was  unsui-passed ;  but 
the  time  for  the  trial  was  past ;  the  European  con- 
sumers had  become  satisfied  with  the  cheaper  substi- 
tute of  cassia,  and  Singhalese  cinnamon  could  no  longer 
be  cultivated  with  advantage  as  of  old.  Under  these 
circumstances,  less  care  has  been  given  of  late  years  to 
the  production  of  the  finest  quahties  for  the  European 
market,  and  the  coarser  and  less  valuable  shoots  have 
been  cut  and  peeled  in  larger  pro}:)ortion  than  formerly. 
Hence  the  gross  quantity  exported  has  been  increasing, 


'  8ir  J.  Emerson  Tennext's  Re-  [   Cci/lon.      Presented    to    Parliainont 
port  on  the  Finances  and  t'ommerce  of  \   1848,  pp.  70;  78. 


Chap.  III.] 


CINNAMON   CULTURE. 


165 


although  the  general  character  has  deteriorated,  and 
the  price  has  proportionally  dechned.  Excellence  has 
ceased  to  be  appreciated  as  of  old ;  the  cheaper  sub- 
stitute is  received  with  sufficient  favour,  and  the  an- 
cient staple  of  Ceylon  is  threatened  with  the  loss  of 
emolument,  as  it  has  akeady  parted  with  its  old  re- 
nown. ^ 

The  adoption  of  Colombo,  as  the  site  for  the  Capital 
and  the  seat  of  Government,  is  altogether  anomalous. 
The  locality  presents  no  single  advantage  to  recommend 
it.  Compared  with  other  parts  of  the  island,  the  country 
surrounding  it  is  unproductive,  the  coast  is  low  and  un- 
sheltered, and  the  port  is  less  a  harbour  than  a  roadstead. 
None  but  ho;ht  native  craft  venture  close  to  the  wharves 
and  the  fort,  and  ships  waiting  for  cargo  are  forced  to  an- 
chor in  the  offing  where  disasters  have  frequently  occui'red 
during  the  violence  of  the  monsoons. 

It  was  the  vicmity  of  the  cinnamon  country,  and  the 
accidental  residence  of  the  Singhalese  sovereign  at  Cotta, 
that  induced  the  Portuguese  in  the  sixteenth  century 
to  estabhsh  themselves  at  this  point,  and  the  decision 
becam.e  irreversible  when  the  Dutch  had  completed  their 


*  The  export  of  cinnamon  from 
Ceylon  in  1857  was  nearly  double 
that  of  1841,  but  tbe  gi-oss  value,  in- 
stead of  bearing  the  same  ratio,  ex- 
hibits a  relative  decrease  oincarli/  me 
third.  One  explanation  of  this  is 
referable  to  the  fact  of  the  shipment 
of  coarse  cinnamon  ia  greatly  in- 
creased  proportion   to   fine,  and  the 


consequent  reduction  of  the  average 
price  of  the  whole.  Hence  the  phe- 
nomenon, that  whilst  fine  cinnamon 
was  formerly  displaced  by  cassia, 
cassia  is  being  now  driven  out  of  the 
market  by  the- coarser  qualities  and 
reduced  prices  of  cinnamon  !  This 
curious  result  will  be  discerned  from 
the  followino'  return  : — 


Years. 

CINNAMON. 

CASSIA. 

Quantity  imported 

Average  price  in 

Quantity  exported  from 

Average  price  in 

from  Ceylon. 

London. 

the  United  Kingdom. 

London. 

«.    d. 

s.    d. 

18-11 

452,039  lbs. 

5     1  per  lb. 

1,262,164  lbs. 

0  lOr  per  lb. 

1846 

408,211    „ 

2     9       „ 

950,255     „ 

0     6t       „ 

0  lo}      „ 

1  U       » 

1850 

733,781    „ 

2   10       „ 

753.915    „ 

1855 

784,284    „ 

1     3^     „ 

454,925    „ 

1856 

877,547    „ 

1      6       „ 

615,703    „ 

0  lU       „ 
0   11 J 

1857 

887,959    „ 

I     6       „ 

766,691     „ 

M   3 


165 


COLOMBO. 


[Part  VII. 


fortifications  and  siUTounded  tliem  on  all  sides  with 
valuable  plantations  of  the  spice.  Xow  that  cmnamon 
has  become  secondary  in  importance  ;  and  the  great  cen- 
tral mountains  adapted  for  the  cultiu^e  of  coffee  may  be 
rendered  equally  accessible  from  the  harboiu^s  of  Galle 
or  Trincomalie  ;  the  question  ^dll  at  no  distant  day  de- 
mand solution,  whether  the  vastly  increased  commerce 
of  Ceylon  can  be  adequately  accommodated  at  Colombo  ; 
and  whether  the  interests  of  the  island  may  not  necessi-  - 
tate  the  transfer  of  the  capital  to  some  more  suitable  and 
commodious  seaport. 

The  most  picturesque  spots  in  the  environs  of  the  town 
he  to  the  north  of  the  fort  on  the  angle  between  it  and 
the  embouchm'e  of  the  river  Kalany  ;  and  here,  after  a 
visit  of  a  few  weeks  to  the  Governor,  we  took  up  om* 
residence  at  Ehe  House,  a  mansion  built  by  ^Ir.  Anstru- 
ther,  my  predecessor  in  office.  It  stands  on  the  ridge  of 
a  projecting  headland,  commandhig  a  Avide  prospect  over 
the  Gulf  of  Manaar  ;  and  in  the  midst  of  a  garden  con- 
taining the  rarest  and  most  beautifid  trees  of  the  tropics, 
tamarinds,  j  ambus,  nutmegs,  guavas,  mangoes,  and  oranges, 
the  graceful  casuarinas  of  Austraha,  and  the  beautiful 
traveller's  palm  ^  of  Madagascar. 


ELIE  HOUSE,  COLOMBO. 


'  Itavenahl  spcciosa. 


167 


CHAP.  IV. 


COLOMBO   TO    KiVXDY. 


The  day  after  my  arrival  in  Colombo,  I  took  tlie  oatlis 
as  a  member  of  tlie  executive  council,  the  body  which 
acts  as  the  cabinet  of  the  Governor ;  consisting  of  the 
Queen's  Advocate,  the  three  principal  officers  of  the  co- 
lony \  and  (when  the  head  of  the  administration  is  a 
civilian)  the  General  in  command  of  the  forces. 

In  a  Crown  colony  such  as  Ceylon  (the  official  term 
for  possessions  obtained  by  conquest  or  cession),  the 
powers  of  the  Governor  constitute  a  "  paternal  despo- 
tism," modified  only  by  the  distant  authority  of  the 
Queen.  The  functions  of  his  councils  are  consultative, 
but  the  adoption  or  rejection  of  their  recommendations 
rests  exclusively  with  himself.  The  Executive  Coimcil 
is  the  body,  by  whose  advice  his  measures  are  originally 
framed  preparatory  to  their  submission  to  the  Legis- 
lative Council,  by  whom  they  are  finally  discussed  with 
all  the  forms  of  parhamentary  debate.  But,  although 
the  latter  assembly,  in  addition  to  official  members, 
contains  representative  men,  selected  by  tlie  Crown 
with  becoming  regard  to  the  various  races  and  interests 
in   the   island'-^,    still    the   paramount   authority   of    the 


1  The  Colonial  Secretary,  the  Trea- 
surer, and  Auditor-General. 

^  The  Lefi;islative  Council  of  Cey- 
lon, in  addition  to  tlie  members  of 
the  executive,  includes  the  two  prin- 
cipal civil  officers  of  the  W^estorn  and 
Central  Provinces,  the  Sm-veyor- 
Geueral;  and  the  Collector  of  Cus- 


toms. Three  unofficial  members  are 
nominated  from  the  planting  and 
commercial  interests,  and  thi*ee  may 
bo  held  to  represent  the  pnncipal 
native  races  —  Mr.  Ijorenz,  the  Eur- 
Asians ;  Mr.  Diaz,  the  Singhalese ; 
and  Mr.  S,  Ederemeuesiugam;  the 
Tamils, 


-M      -i 


168 


COLOMBO. 


[Part  VII. 


Governor  can  over-rule  their  deliberations,  and  their 
labours  may  be  nullified  by  the  interposition  of  his 
veto. 

The  most  important  duties  of  the  Legislative  Council 
are  necessarily  those  which  involve  the  expenditure  of 
an  annual  revenue,  wliich  of  late  years  has  exceeded 
half  a  million  sterhng.  So  far  as  that  income  is  drawn 
from  land  and  its  produce,  although  much  that  was 
unjust  and  vexatious  in  the  mode  of  its  collection  has 
been  modified  or  removed  since  the  estabhshment  of  the 
British  authority,  the  system  in  its  main  features  is  still 
identifiable  ivith  that  which  was  organised  by  the  Portu- 
guese and  perpetuated  by  the  Dutch. ^ 

By  the  policy  of  both  these  nations,  one  legitimate 
source  of  income  was  stifled ;  since  by  ignoring  foreign 
trade  they  deprived  themselves  of  customs'  duties  ^  and 
port  charges  which,  owing  to  the  judicious  reforms  of 
Viscount  Torrington  in  1847,  yield  at  the  present  day 
nearly  one-third  of  the  whole  receipts  of  the  colony. 

The  rents  and  proceeds  from  the  sales  of  land  cleared 
for  coffee  cultivation  and  other  purposes,  form  another 
resource  altogether  unknoAvn  to  the  Dutch,  and  even  to 


^  Tlie  results  of  an  examination 
into  tlie  various  sources  of  revenue  in 
Ceylon,  and  their  influence  upon  the 
industry  and  trade  of  the  island,  will 


be  found  in  the  Repoti  of  Sir  J. 
Emerson  Tenijent,  on  the  Finances 
and  Commerce  of  Ceylon,  presented  to 
Pai-liament  in  1848. 


*  The  following  table  exhibits  the  several  soiu'ces  of  Ceylon  Revenue  for 
the  year  ending  31st  December,  1857  : — 


Customs'  port  and  harbour  dues 
Land  sales  and  rents  _  _  . 

Pearl  fisheiy  -  _  _  . 

Chanks  -  _  _  _  _ 

Salt        _ 

Distillation  and  sale  of  arrack  and  spirits 
Tax  on  rice,  fine  grain,  and  gardens    - 
Tolls  at  bridges  and  ferries     -  -  - 

Stamps  _  _  _  >  . 

Postage  _  _  _  _  - 

Taxes  on  carnages  and  carriers 
Royalties  and  miscellaneous  receipts  - 
Police  tax      -  -  -  _  - 

Sale  of  stores,  stoppages,  and  reimbursements 


104,126 

15 

;}0,708 

2 

20,550 

15 

188 

9 

53,542 

16 

79,811 

9 

60,449 

10 

44,705 

19 

3(J,755 

15 

5,700 

19 

.3,454 

10 

16,420 

9 

5,075 

12 

47,556 

2 

d. 
0 

8i 

6 

0 

n 

5 

I' 

1 

f 

8 
1 


Chap.  IV.]  TAXATIOX.  1G9 

the  British  before  1812,  when  the  rule  was  relaxed  which 
forbade  the  tenure  of  land  by  Europeans. 

Monopohes  are  to  the  present  day  a  prominent  feature  of 
the  Ceylon  revenue.  The  fishery  of  pearls  and  chanks  has 
been  from  time  immemorial  in  the  hands  of  the  sovereign, 
as  well  as  the  right  to  collect  salt ;  and  to  these  in  later 
times  has  been  added  the  privilege  of  distiUing  arrack  from 
the  juice  of  the  coco-nut  palm. 

Odious  as  the  name  of  monopoly  sounds,  its  reahty 
could  scarcely  be  less  offensive  than  in  the  instances  in 
which  it  prevails  in  Ceylon.  The  supposed  injustice  of 
keeping  guard  over  the  pearl  hanks  has  been  the  tlieme 
of  a  pohtical  romance  ^  and  adduced  as  an  illustration 
of  the  wrouijf  assumed  to  be  inflicted  on  those  whom  it 
apparently  excludes  from  legitimate  labour.  But  tlie 
employment  it  affords  does  not  extend  beyond  a  few 
weeks  at  uncertain  periods,  and  generally  with  intervals 
of  many  years  interposed.  Besides,  when  a  pearl  fishery 
is  proclaimed,  although  every  indi\ddual  is  enabled  to 
participate  to  the  extent  of  his  capital,  so  indifferent 
are  the  Singhalese,  that  few  ever  engage  in  it,  and  the 
divers  and  boatmen  employed  come  chiefly  from  the  op- 
posite coast  of  India.  Tiie  monopoly  of  salt  as  it  prevails 
in  Ceylon  is  common  to  every  country  of  the  East,  and 
seems  the  only  expedient  by  which  oriental  sovereigns 
have  ever  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  minimum  of  taxation 
from  classes  incapable  of  bearing  in  any  other  shape  an 
equitable  share  of  the  public  biuthens ; — and  the  restric- 
tions on  distillation^  if  properly  administered,  are  suscep- 
tible of  being  used  as  an  effectual  check  on  the  ruinous 
abuse  of  arrack. 

But  a  tax  more  objectionable  than  these  ancient 
monopolies,  is  the  hea\"y  impost  laid  by  the  Ceylon 
government,  not  only  on  the  import  of  lice  and  grain, 
but   on    its    home   cultivation.       The   duty   on   foreign 


^  Cinnamon    and  Pearh,  by  INIiss  Majrtikeait  ;    Illustrations  of  rolitical 
Econo)ny,  vol.  vii.  p.  149. 


170 


COLOMBO. 


[Part  VII. 


riee^  Avas  originally  instituted  as  an  encouragement  to  na- 
tive agriculture,  but  with  strange  inconsistency  the   tax 


^  In  an  island  so  peculiarly  cir- 
cumstanced as  Ceylon,  owing  to  its 
dependence  on  Lidia  for  supplies  of 
inimigTant  labour,  the  policy  seems 
almost  suicidal  of  raising  revenue  by 
a  duty  of  Jifti/  per  cent,  on  the  im- 
portation of  food.  But  when  it  is 
borne  in  mind  that  for  upwards  of 
three  centimes  since  Bartliema  and 
Barbosa  visited  Ceylon  in  the  IGth 
century,  there  has  been  a  sustained 
complaint  of  the  deficiency  of  home 
cultivation,  and  the  dependency  of 
the  popidation  on  foreigTi  coimtries 
for  rice  ;  the  error  is  glaring  and  in- 
defensible of  so  loading  native  agri- 
cidtm'e  with  vexatious  taxes  as  to 
discourage  and  A'ii'tually  check  its 
extension.  In  a  case  so  peculiar  and 
anomalous,  it  might  be  questionable 
whether  in  any  general  scheme  of  a 
land-tax  for  the  whole  colony,  it 
might  not  be  judicious  to  encourage 
the  gTOwth  of  corn  by  exemjjfing  from 
its  operation  such  lands  as  had  been 
brought  under  culti^•ation  for  rice, 
or  at  least  by  subjecting  them  to  the 
pa^inent  of  only  a  modified  amount ; 
but  in  sti-ong  conti-ast  to  such  a 
policy,  the  lands  employed  in  the 
production  of  rice  are  not  only  the 
only  ones  which  have  been  made  sub- 
servient to  the  purpose  of  revenue, 
but  a  special  legal  provision  made 
public  in  1824,  for  exempting  from 
assessment  the  produce  of  all  other 
lands  thi-oughout  the  island  which 
might  be  brought  into  cidtivation  for 
cotiee,  cotton,  or  pepper,  pertinaciously 
re-enacts  the  assessment  upon  the  cul- 
tivation of  grain  ! 

The  mode  of  collecting  the  tax 
on  rice  is  even  more  mischievous 
than  the  impost  itself.  With  some 
slight  modifications  in  different  dis- 
tricts, it  is  this  :  "  "When  the  crop  is 
sufficiently  advanced  to  enable  an 
estimate  to  be  formed  of  its  possible 
produce,  the  Government  Assessors 
proceed  to  calculate  its  probable 
A  alue,  and  a  return  is  made  to  tlie 
Government  Agent  of  the  amount 
liable  upon  every  field.     The  farm  of 


the  tax  of  each  disti-ict  is  then  sold 
by  public  auction  ;  and  as  the  haiTest 
approaches  the  cidtivator  is  obliged 
to  give  five  days'  notice  to  the  pur- 
chaser of  his  intention  to  cut ;  two 
days'  notice  if  he  finds  it  necessary 
to  postpone ;  if  the  crop  be  not 
thi-eshed  immediately  the  renter  is 
entitled  to  a  fm-ther  notice  of  the 
day  fixed  for  that  pm-pose ;  and  for 
any  omission  or  in-egadarity  he  has 
a  remedy,  by  suing  for  a  penalty  in 
the  District  Coui-t. 

"  It  would  be  difficult  to  de"vise  a 
system  more  pregnant  with  op- 
pression, extortion,  and  demoralisa- 
tion than  the  one  here  detailed.  The 
cidtivator  is  handed  over  helplessly 
to  two  successive  sets  of  inquisitorial 
officers,  the  assessoi*s  and  the  renters  ; 
whose  acts  are  so  imcontroUed  that 
abuses  are  inevitable,  and  the  inter- 
coiu'sa  of  the  two  pai-ties  is  charac- 
terised by  rigour  and  extortion  on 
the  one  side,  and  cimning  and  sub- 
terfuges of  every  description  on  the 
other.  Eveiy  artifice  and  disin- 
genuous device  is  put  in  practice  to 
deceive  the  headmen  and  assessora 
as  to  the  extent  and  fertility''  of  the 
laud  and  the  actual  value  of  the 
crop ;  and  they,  in  return,  resort  to 
the  most  inquisitorial  and  vexatious 
interference,  either  to  protect  the  in- 
terest of  the  Govemmeut,  or  pri- 
vately to  fm-ther  theii*  own.  Betn'een 
these  demoralising  influences,  the 
cliaracter  and  industiy  of  the  rimal 
population  are  deteriorated  and 
destroyed.  The  extension  of  cid- 
tiA-ation  by  reclaiming  a  poilion 
of  waste  land  only  exposes  the  ha- 
rassed proprietor  to  fi-esli  Aisits  fi-om 
the  headmen,  and  a  new  valuation  by 
the  Govei-nment  ^Vssessor,  and  wliere 
annoyance  is  not  the  leading  object, 
recourse  is  had  to  corruption,  in 
order  to  keep  doAATi  the  valuation. 

"  ]3ut  no  sooner  has  the  cidtivator 
got  rid  of  the  assessor  than  he  falls 
into  the  hands  of  tlie  renter,  who, 
under  tlie  authority  with  which  the 
law  invests  him,tind8  himself  possessed 


CUAP.   IV.] 


T^OATIOX. 


171 


on  tlie  latter  has  been  enforced  with  such  rigour  as  effect- 
ually to  check  cultivation.  The  evils  of  this  anomalous 
system  are  so  obvious  that  it  is  difficult  to  justify  the 
pohcy  which  has  so  long  postponed  the  apphcation  of  a 
remedy. 

Another  questionable  means  of  raising  a  revenue  is  the 
toU  on  bridges  and  ferries  ;  a  tax  which,  however  justifia- 
ble so  far  as  the  proceeds  are  apphcable  to  the  improve- 
ment of  communication,  is  not  defensible  as  a  means  of 
profit  to  the  discourageni'ent  of  traffic.  From  tlie  love  of 
htigation  which  characterises  the  Singhalese,  the  duty  on 
stamps  has  been  singularly  productive,  and  these,  ^vith 
sundry  receipts  from  a  variety  of  minor  subjects,  postage, 
carriage  duties,  royalties,  hcenses  for  arms  and  other  items 
of  less  im|)ortance,  are  the  soiu*ces  of  colonial  income.^ 
In  addition  to  these,  certain  sums  are  enumerated  in 
the  pubhc  accounts  as  apparent  receipts  which  are  in 
reality  reimbursements  for  previous  expenditure  incurred 
in  advances  for  the  use  of  the  mihtary  and  pubhc  depart- 
ments.    But  exclusive  of  these,  the  reahsed  income  of 


of  unusual  powers  of  vexation  and 
annoyance.  He  may  be  designedly 
out  of  the  way  when  the  cultivator 
sends  notice  of  his  intention  to  cut ; 
and  if  the  latter,  to  save  his  hai"vest 
from  perishing  on  the  stalk,  ventures 
to  reap  it  in  his  absence,  the  penal- 
ties of  the  law  are  instantly  enforced 
against  him.  Under  the  pressiu'e  of 
this  fonnidable  control,  the  agi-icultu- 
ral  proprietor,  rather  than  lose  his 
time  or  his  crop  in  dancing  attend- 
ance on  the  renter,  or  submitting  to 
the  midtiform  amioyances  of  his 
subordinates,  is  driven  to  purchase 
forbearance  by  additional  payments  ; 
and  it  is  gener.ally  undei-stood  that 
the  share  of  the  tax  which  eventually 
reaches  the  Treasury  does  not  form 
one-half  of  the  amount  which  is  thus 
extorted  by  oppressive  dexices  from 
the  helpless  proprietor's." 

Tlie  same  process  which  is  here  de- 
scribed for  the  collection  of  the  tax 


upon  rice  lands  in  the  vallej's  is  re- 
sorted to  for  realising  that  upon 
diy  gi-ain  in  the  uplands  and  liills  ; 
and  it  is  a  striking  confirmation  of 
the  discouragement  to  the  extension 
of  agricidture,  which  is  inseparable 
from  a  system  so  vexatious  cond  so 
oppressive,  that  by  a  return  of  tlie 
produce  of  the  paddi  tax  and  that  on 
dry  "Tain  for  tlie  years  prior  to  1840, 
diu-ing  which  the  cultivation  of  every 
other  description  of  produce  had  been 
making  extensive  advances,  it  was 
shown  that  the  production  of  com 
had  been  for  some  time  stixtionaiy 
in  Ceylon  ;  and  the  increase  has  been 
very  inconsiderable  since.  See  Sir 
J.  Emerson  Tennent's  Repori,  <§f., 
1847,  p.  08. 

1  Tliere  is  a  tax  on  immovable 
property  in  to\\ais  amounting  to  up- 
wards of  5,000/.  per  annum,  but  it  is 
applicable  only  to  the  mainteuauce  of 
local  police. 


172  COLOMBO.  [Part  VIT. 

Ceylon  is  upwards  of  500,000/.  per  annum,  and  is  annually 
augmenting. 

As  to  e.rpenditure^  one  half  of  this  sum  is  absorbed  by 
the  salaries  and  contingent  expenses,  and  the  pensions  of 
the  ci\al  departments.^  This  amount  is  sufficient  to  cover 
the  costs  for  the  collection  of  revenue,  the  adndnistration  of 
justice,  the  preservation  of  peace  and  health,  the  mainte- 
nance of  pubhc  worsliip,  and  the  extension  of  education,  un- 
biassed by  sectarian  influences.  The  balance  of  the  colonial 
income  is  more  than  sufficient  for  the  construction  of  roads, 
the  erection  of  pubhc  buildings,  the  repair  of  fortifications, 
and  the  pay  and  allowances  of  the  mihtary  employed  in 
the  island. 

The  civil  service  of  the  colony,  properly  so  called,  was 
organised  on  the  model  of  the  great  institution  by  which 
India  had  so  long  been  governed,  and  all  the  superior 
offices  comprised  within  its  functions  are  reserved  ex- 
clusively for  the  members  of  the  privileged  body."-  But 
the  result  was  unsatisfactory,  chiefly  owing  to  the  ck- 


^  In  1857,  the  proportions  were  as  follows  : — 

£  s.  d. 
Civil  estaLlisliments ;   including  that  of  the 

Governor  and  principal  officer          -             -  119,740  17  OJ 
Judicial ;     Chief     Justice,     Puisne    Judges, 

Queen's  Advocate,  &c.        -             _             -  39,731  11  0 
Ecclesiastical;    Episcopal     and    Presb^-terian 

Chiu-ches   -             -             -             -'           -  9,921  10  0 

Educational   -----  8,0o4  10  0 

^ledical          -----  8,0:34  3  0 

Police             -----  9,504  4  0 

J'toTcr/s  Establishment             -             -             -  8,4.")3  0  9 

Pensions         -----  25,380  8  2 


£228,820       4     8i 


'  The  advocates  of  Administrative  tion  was  wi-itten  in  1847  :  "  Taken  as 

Eeforni,  when  their  laboiu\s  shall  have  a  whole,  the  machinery  of  the   exe- 

been  successfully  closed  at  home,  wiU  cutive  (lovennment  is  at  once  cum- 

fiud  an  inviting  field  for  exertion  in  brous  and  embaiTassed,  complicated  in 

reconstructing  the   system  on  which  its  processes,  and  slow  and  imsatis- 

rolonial    business    is    conducted    in  factoi-y  in  its  perfonnance.      It  is  in 

Ceylon.     So   far  as  I  am  aware,  no  reality  a  relic  of  the  old   Dutch  sys- 

change   of  any  importance  has  been  tern,  patched  and  altered  by  succes- 

etiected  since  the  following  descrip-  sive  governments  to   meet  emergen- 


ClIAP.   IV.] 


THE   EXECUTIVE. 


173 


cumscribecl  area  Avitbin  Avhich  the  experiment  was 
tried.  Like  the  miniature  oak  which  the  Chinese  can 
raise  in  a  flower-pot,  the  dwarfed  plant  liad  every  cha- 
racteristic of  the  great  tree,  except  its  strength  and 
sohdity. 


cies ;  but  requiring,  at  tlie  present 
day,  fundamental  changes  to  adapt  it 
to  the  transition  through  which  the 
colony  is  passing. 

"  The  gTand  eiTor  appears  to  be 
this, — that  as  the  business  of  each 
department  increased  beyond  its 
strength,  the  difficulty  was  met,  not 
by  simplifying  the  system,  but  by 
adding  clerk  after  clerk  to  the  estab- 
lishment, to  try  to  grapple  with  the 
details  ;  forgetful  that  tlie  same  ar- 
rangement which  may  have  been 
found  effectual  at  some  early  period 
in  conti'olling  a  small  annual  expen- 
diture, can  only  lead  to  confusion  and 
insecurity,  when  applied  to  the 
disbm-sement  of  half  a  million  per 
annum. 

''  Two  defects  in  the  present  sys- 
tem are  so  palpable  as  to  be  sufficient 
in  themselves  to  account  in  a  gi-eat 
degTee  both  for  its  imperfection  and 
expense.  In  the  first  place,  all  the 
payments  in  the  colony,  from  the 
salary  of  the  Governor  to  the  wages 
of  a  pioneer,  are  issued  monthly,  in- 
stead of  quarterly,  from  the  Treasmy, 
on  monthly  applications  for  the  same 
sums  from  the  various  heads  of  de- 
partments sustained  by  monthly 
vouchers  and  accounts,  and  autho- 
rised by  monthly  wan-ants  elaborately 
prepared,  and  signed  foniially  by  the 
Governor.  It  is  impossible  to  con- 
ceive the  multiplication  of  fonns, 
documents,  and  securities,  to  which 
this  monthly  excitement  gives  rise  ; 
and  as  eveiy  instrument  has  to  be 
prepared  in  triplicate  and  sometimes 
in  quadruplicate,  as  these  monthly 
applications  ascend  in  the  same  mo- 
notonous succession  to  the  Audit 
Office  and  the  Treasury  through  the 
local  department,  the  Government 
Agent,  tlie  Colonial  Secretary,  and 
the  Governor,  it  is  easy  to  imagine 


the  multitude  of  writers  and  clerks 
who  become  indispensable  in  eveiy 
department  for  the  mere  copj-ing, 
comparing,  and  recording  these  super- 
fluous documents.  On  the  occasion 
of  a  visit  which  I  made  to  the 
pro\ince  of  Oovah,  I  found  all  the 
clerks  in  the  Badulla  cutchery  en- 
gaged, without  pause,  in  making 
ei(/ht  thousand  copies  of  pay  lists  in 
qiuadruplicate,  in  order  to  close  the 
road  accoimts  of  an  officer  who  had 
just  died. 

"  As  to  the  contingent  expense  of 
the  various  departments,  the  system 
is  even  more  cumbrous  and  annoying. 
For  every  one  of  these,  even  the 
most  trivial  in  amount,  the  respon- 
sible officer  must  apply  fonnally  for 
the  previous  and  special  authority  of 
the  Governor,  conveyed  through  the 
Colonial  Secretary.  The  practice  has 
now  become  so  oppressive  in  the 
quantity  of  details  which  are  brought 
under  the  Secretaiy's  notice,  tliat  it 
is  absurd  to  require  that  officer  to 
devote  time  to  such  matters  to  the 
prejudice  of  grave  and  important 
business.  Within  the  last  twelve 
montlis  I  have  had  despatches  from 
the  remotest  parts  of  the  island, 
asking  pennission  to  expend  1-s.  for  a 
gallon  of  oil,  or  2.s.  ChL  for  the  repair 
of  a  table.  I  have  had  applications, 
requiring  formal  and  recorded  an- 
swers, for  a  flat  rider  for  the  assistant 
agent  at  an  out-station,  and  for  two 
skeins  of  tliread  to  sew  the  records  of 
a  district  court  ;  and  within  the  last 
few  montlis  I  had  a  correspondence, 
extending  to  1.3  despatches,  in  regard 
to  a  pewter  inkstand  for  a  police- 
office,  which  coidd  not  be  got  at  the 
Commissariat  Store,  and  had  to  be 
bought  by  private  contract  at  tlie 
bazaar." — Sir  J.  Emkrsox  Texxext's 
BepoH,  4'-c.,  p.  80. 


174  COLOMBO.  [Part  YII. 

Ceylon  lias  trained  but  few  civil  servants  of  distin- 
guished ability ;  and  the  failm^e  has  been  aggravated  by 
the  pernicious  system  of  promotion  by  mere  seniority. 
Exertion  was  felt  to  be  ineffectual  when  advancement 
was  guaranteed  to  mediocrity,  without  an  effort ;  and 
aspiring  abihty  was  chilled  by  the  consciousness  that  no 
services,  however  zealous,  were  sufficient  to  achieve  dis- 
tinction when  opposed  to  the  claims  of  ante-dated  incom- 
petence. On  more  than  on  occasion,  when  offices  had 
faUen  vacant  requiring  talents  of  a  higher  order  than 
those  developed  by  routine,  the  Governor  was  unable  to 
recommend  the  advancement  of  any  one  of  the  indivi- 
duals tlien  serving  in  the  island;  and  the  duty  devolved 
on  tlie  Secretary  of  State  of  nominating  persons  duly 
qualified  from  home. 

Impressed  with  the  necessity  for  a  remedy,  the  Earl 
of  Derby,  in  1845,  directed  merit  instead  of  seniority 
to  be  the  basis  of  promotion ;  and  in  order  to  extend 
the  area  of  selection,  he  increased  the  number  of  the 
civil  servants  to  upwards  of  seventy.  The  experiment 
is  still  in  progress ;  but  coupled  with  the  higher  test  of 
prehminary  quahfication  which  has  since  been  requu'ed 
from  candidates  for  office,  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt 
its  ultimate  success ;  especially  since  the  recent  revision 
of  salaries  has  to  some  extent  removed  a  just  cause 
of  complaint  on  the  part  of  the  civil  ser\dce,  as  to  the 
inadequacy  of  their  emoluments,  still  singidarly  dispro- 
portionate to  those  awarded  to  corresponding  function- 
aries in  India. 

Once  in  each  year,  shortly  after  the  setting  in  of  the 
south-west  monsoon,  a  fleet  of  small  vessels  arrives  at 
Galle  from  the  Maldive  Islands,  the  commander  of  which 
is  invested  for  the  occasion  with  the  dignity  of  ambas- 
sador. He  is  the  bearer  of  presents  and  a  letter  from  the 
Sultan  to  the  Governor  of  Ceylon,  soliciting  the  continued 
protection  of  England,  and  giving  assurances  in  return  of 
his  llighness's  anxiety  to  aflbrd  eveiy  succour  to  vessels 
in  the  event  of  shipwreck. 


Chap.  IV.] 


THE   MALDIVE   AMBASSADOE. 


175 


Tliis  custom  lias  continued  from  time  immemorial ;  at 
least  from  the  remote  period  when  the  Chinese,  in  right 
of  their  supremacy  over  Ceylon  \  claimed  the  sovereignty 
of  the  Maldives.^  The  Portuguese  asserted  a  similar  right, 
and  erected  a  fort  in  an  island  on  one  of  the  atolls.^  Un- 
faltering in  their  adherence  to  their  ancestral  pursuits,  the 
commodities  which  the  islanders  produce  at  the  present 
day  consist  of  precisely  the  same  articles  which  they  ex- 
ported a  thousand  years  ago,  when,  according  to  the 
Persian  author  of  the  Modjmel'alte-varyke  (a  History  of 
the  kings  of  India,  written  in  the  year  of  the  Hejira  417), 
one  group  of  the  Maldives  was  called  Diva-Kouzah, 
from  the  abundance  of  cowries ;  and  another  Diva-Kan- 
bar,  from  the  coco-nut  coir,  wdiich  the  islanders  spun 
into  cordage.* 

The  boats,  in  addition  to  these,  are  laden  wdth  dried 
fish  and  tortoise-shell.  The  white  cowries  {Cyprcea  mo- 
7ieta\  which  they  bring,  are  sent  to  Afiica,  where  they 
still  take  the  place  of  coin,  and  along  with  them  the 
Maldives  supply  quantities  of  the  great  shell,  the  Cassis 
riifa,  which  is  exported  to  Italy  for  the  manufacture  of 
cameos. 

The  Maldive  ambassador  is  received  by  the  Governor 
with  every  mark  of  respect ;  he  is  preceded  by  a  guard 


'  See  ante,  Vol.  I.  Pt.  v.  cli.  iii.  p. 
601. 

^  De  Baekos,  Asia,  S,-c.,  dec.  iii. 
torn.  iii.  pt.  ii.  ch.  i.  p.  3. 

^  Ih.,  torn.  i.  pt.  ii.  p.  42.3  ;  torn.  iii. 
pt.  i.  p.  306. — Pyrard  de  Laval, 
Voyage,  Sec,  p.  170.  —  Yalenttx, 
Otul  en  Nieuw  Oost-Indien,  ch.  xii. 
p.  161. 

*  The  3foclJmeI  is  a  Persian  version 
of  an  Arabic  ti-anshition  from  San- 
skrit, written  in  the  year  1026  a.d. 
by  Abul-IIassan,  of  Djordjan,  near 
the  Caspian.  The  only  portion  of  it 
which  has  been  rendered  into  a  Eu- 
ropean lanfruaoe  is  tlie  chapter  from 
wliicli  the  following  extract  is  taken, 
contained  in  the  Frai/mens  Arahca  et 
Persons   of  Keinaud  : — "  Ces  iles  se 


di-visent  en  denx  classes,  snivant  la 
nature  de  leur  principal  prodnit.  Les 
unes  sont  nommees  JJica-Kouzah, 
c'est-{\-dire  iles  des  cauris,  a  cause 
des  caiiris  qu'on  r.ama.'sse  siir  les 
branches  des  cocotiers  plantes  dans 
la  mer.  Les  autres  portent  le  nom  de 
JJi'ra-Kanbar,  du  mot  kanhar  (coir), 
qui  designe  le  fil  que  Ton  tresse  avec 
les  fibres  du  cocotier  et  avec  lequel 
on  coud  les  navires." — Frarpn.  Arab, 
et  Pers.  pp.  0.3 — 124.  See  also  Du- 
latjeier",  Journ.  Asiat.  vol.  xlix.  p. 
171.  De  B.uiROS  describes  the  mode 
of  fishing  for  cowries  at  tlie  Maldives 
in  the  time  of  the  Portuguese  as 
identical  with  that  narrated  in  the 
Modjniel. — Asia,  ii)'-c.,  torn.  iii.  pt.  i.  p. 
312." 


176 


COLOMBO    TO    JL\NDY. 


[Part  VII. 


of  lionoiu",  and  introduced  with  his  interpreters  ;  his  pre- 
sents are  accepted  and  reciprocated  by  suitable  equiva- 
lents (one  of  which  is  a  piece  of  scarlet  cloth  for  the 
Sultan) ;  and  on  the  conclusion  of  the  ceremonial  he  re- 
embarks  with  his  little  fleet,  and  proceeds  on  his  voyage 
to  the  Coromandel  coast. 

To  avoid  the  hot  season  in  the  low  country,  official  re- 
sidences have  been  provided  at  Kandy  for  the  Governor 
and  the  Colonial  Secretary ;  and  early  in  March,  1846, 
we  left  Colombo  for  the  hills. ^  Already  the  luxuriant 
verdm-e  of  the  plains,  which  the  south-west  monsoon  had 
so  recently  caUed  forth,  was  converted  to  yellow  stubble ; 
the  lake  was  evaporated  to  partial  diyness,  and  the 
motionless  leaves  of  the  trees  were  powdered  with  red 
dust  from  the  cleft  and  arid  earth. 

In  driving  through  the  native  town  to  Grand  Pass, 
on  the  way  to  the  bridge  of  boats,  which  there  connects 
the  opposite  banks  of  the  Kalany-ganga,  many  of  the 
houses  will  be  seen  to  have  an  earthen  vase,  painted 
white,  placed  in  a  conspicuous  position  on  the  roof 
These  are  evidences  of  the  prevalence  in  Ceylon  of 
that  most  ancient  of  all  superstitions,  the  belief  in  the 
evil  eye,  which  exists  in  every  country  in  the  universe, 
from  China  to  Peru.  The  Greeks  of  the  present  day 
entertain  the  same  horror  of  the  ;<a«o  yarx  as  their  an- 
cestors did  of  the  ^da-xavog  o^^SuXulos,  and  the  mal  occhio 
of  modern  Italy  is  the  traditional  fascinatlo  of  the  Eo- 
mans.  The  Malabars  and  Hindus,  hke  the  Arabians 
and  Turks,  apologise  for  the  profusion  of  jewels  with 
which  they    decorate   their  childi'en,   on  the   plea   that 


^  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  journey 
fi-om  Colombo  to  Kandy,  still  per- 
formed on  the  noble  road  made  by 
Sir  lOdward  Barnes,  will  shortly  l)e 
facilitated  by  the  railway  now  in  pro- 
cess of  formation,  under  the  direction 
of  Mr.  DoYXE.  and  wliich,  if  its  con- 
struction can  be  comi)leted  througli- 
out  the  entire  distance  for  a  moderate 
surti;  will  be  a  signal   advantage  to 


tlie  coffee  districts.  Butthe  line  that 
I  would  gladly  have  seen  adopted  is 
one  which,  skirting  the  Kandyan 
zone,  with  a  bi'anch  to  commimicate 
with  tlie  coffee  regions,  woidd  have 
opened  a  communication  from  sea  to 
sea,  from  Colombo  to  Trincomalie, 
thus  extending  tlie  advantages  of  so 
gi-aud  a  wurk  to  the  native  races  as 
well  as,  the  Eiu'opean  communities. 


Chap.  IV.]  CRUELTY   TO   ANIMALS.  177 

they  are  intended  to  draw  aside  the  evil  eye ;  the  Ma- 
hometans suspend  objects  from  the  ceiUngs  of  their 
apartments  for  the  same  purpose  ;  and  tlie  object  of 
the  Singhalese  in  placing  these  whitened  chatties  on 
their  gables,  is  to  divert  the  mysterious  influence  fi^om 
their  dwelhngs.^ 

It  is  chiefly  from  the  country  north  of  the  Kalany 
that  supplies  of  provisions  are  brought  to  the  bazaars 
of  Colombo  ;  and  however  scrupulously  the  disciples  of 
Buddha  may  observe  his  injunction  to  abstain  from 
taking  hfe,  a  stranger  in  travelhng  this  road  is  shocked 
at  the  callous  indifierence  to  the  infliction  of  pain 
which  characterises  their  treatment  of  animals  mtended 
for  market.  Pigs  are  suspended  from  a  pole,  passed 
between  the  fore  and  hind  legs,  and  e\ance  by  incessant 
cries  the  torture  which  they  endure  from  the  cords ; 
fowls  are  brought  from  long  distances  hanging  by  their 
feet ;  and  ducks  are  carried  by  the  head,  tlieu*  necks 
bent  over  the  bearers'  fingers  to  stifle  their  noise. 

But  the  most  repulsive  exliibition  of  all,  is  the  mode 
in  which  the  flesh  of  the  tiu-tle  is  sold  piece-meal 
whilst  it  is  still  aUve,  by  the  families  of  the  Tamil 
fishermen  at  Jafiiia.  The  creatures  are  to  be  seen 
m  the  market-place  undergoing  this  frightful  mutila- 
tion ;  the  plastron  and  its  integuments  having  been 
previously  removed,  and  the  animal  thrown  on  its  back, 
so  as  to  display  all  the  motions  of  the  heart,  viscera, 
and  lungs.  A  broad  knife,  from  twelve  to  eighteen 
inches  in  length,  is  first  inserted  at  the  left  side,  and 
the  women,  who  are  generally  the  operatoi's,  introduce 
one  hand  to  scoop  out  the  blood,  Avhich  oozes  slowly. 
The   blade  is   next   passed   round,  till   the   lower   shell 


^  Amongst  the  Tamils  at  Jaffna 
tlie  same  belief  preyails  as  among-st 
the  Irish  and  Scotch,  that  their  cattle 
are  liable  to  uijury  from  the  blight 
of  an  evil  eye,  thus  recalling  the 
exclamation  of  Virgil's  Shepherd, 
"Nescio  quia  teneros  oculus  mihi 
fascinat  agnos !  "     Queiy.     Is  there 

VOL.    II.  N 


any  mysterious  connection  between 
the  proliibition  to  corct  contained  in 
the  tentli  commandment,  and  the 
hovvor  o{  t\m  cvi/ <i/i<,  so  often  alluded 
to  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments, 
especially  I'roverbs  xxviii.  22,  and 
Mark  vii'.  22  ? 


178  COLOaiBO    TO    KAXDY.  [Part  VII. 

is  detaclied  and  placed  to  one  side,  and  the  internal 
organs  exposed  in  fidl  action.  Each  customer,  as  he 
apphes,  is  served  with  any  part  selected,  which  is  cut 
off  as  ordered,  and  sold  by  weight.  Each  of  the  fins 
is  thus  successively  removed,  with  portions  of  the  fat 
and  flesh,  the  turtle  sho^\'ing,  by  its  contortions,  that 
each  act  of  severance  is  productive  of  agony.  In  this 
state  it  Hes  for  hours,  writliing  in  the  sun,  the  heart  ^ 
and  head  being  usually  the  last  pieces  selected,  and  till 
the  latter  is  cut  off  the  snappmg  of  the  mouth,  and  the 
openuig  and  closing  of  the  eyes,  show  that  hfe  is  still 
inlierent,  even  when  the  shell  has  been  nearly  divested 
of  its  contents. 

The  woods  on  the  right  bank  of  tlie  river,  in  passing 
the  picturesque  Bridge  of  Boats,  conceal  the  remains  of 
Kalany  and  its  temple,  a  place  so  ancient  that  it  confers 
its  own  name  on  the  river  which  flows  by  its  ruins. 
The  Mahaicanso  refers  to  it  as  contemporary  with 
Buddlia^,  and  connects  its  history  ^vith  the  partial  sub- 
mersion of  the  western  shore  of  Ceylon,  in  the  reign  of 
Devenipiatissa,  a.d.  164.  The  original  dagoba  was 
built  five  hundi'ed  years  before  the  Cluistian  era,  and 
enlaro;ed  three  centuries  later.  But  the  one  wliicli  is 
now  stanchng  was  constructed  between  the  years  1240 
and  12G7,  and  rebuilt  about  a.d.  1301.^ 

Kalany  is  remarkable  as  the  only  Buddhist  tem- 
ple of  importance  in  the  \'icinity  of  Colombo.  So 
inveterate  was  the  religious  intolerance  of  the  Dutcli, 
that  they  abohslied  every  idolatrous  estabhshment  within 
the  range  of  their  guns,  and  not  content  Avith  this, 
they  proliibited,  in  1602,  the  celebration  of  the  Buddliist 
Avorship  at  Kalany,  and  ordered  the  priests  to  withdraw 
from  the  temple.'^  At  tlie  present  day,  so  sacred  is 
the  spot,  that  it  is   the  resort  of  pilgrims  from  distant 

I  Aristotle  -was  aware  of  the  fact  i  p.  96;  ch.  xxii.  p.  1-30  ;  eh.  Ixxx.  p. 
that  the  tiu-tle    will  live  after  the  I  20.     Upham. 
removal  of  the  heai-t. — Do   Vita  et  i       ^  Rajnvnli,  pp.  2o7 — 2-59. 
M'irfe,  ch.  ii.  1       *  Sir  J.  Emerson  Teitn'ent's  Hi^. 

'  Mahaivaiiso,  oh.   ii.  p.  !• :  oh.  xv.      of  Christ  iaiiif;/  in  Cti/hn,  ch.  ii.  p.  55. 


Chap.  IV.] 


BEAUTY    OF    TlIK    KUAD. 


179 


places,  who  uimually  pay  their  devotions  before  the 
great  statue  during  the  festival  in  July,  when  the  cere- 
monies are  solemnised  by  torchlight.^ 

For  some  miles  the  road  crosses  the  marshy  plains 
that  He  between  the  river  and  the  sea,  on  an  embank- 
ment, whose  sides  are  shaded  by  long  hnes  of  teak,  a  tree 
which  it  has  been  attempted  to  naturahse  in  the  island. 
So  long  as  it  runs  within  a  moderate  distance  of  the 
sea,  the  groves  of  coco-nut  trees  continue  to  surround 
every  hamlet ;  but  on  turning  more  inland,  these  gra- 
dually disappear,  and  are  succeeded  by  the  graceful 
arecas,  mixed  with  the  kitool  or  jaggery  palm."^  But 
what  most  excites  the  wonder  of  a  stranger,  are  the 
flowering  trees  whicli  adorn  tlie  landscape  :  the  niurutu  ^, 
with  its  profusion  of  lilac  blossoms,  and  the  gorgeous 
imbvd*,  whose  crimson  petals  thickly  strew  the  ground, 
when  making  way  for  the  oblong  pods  that  contain  the 
silky  cotton,  for  which  the  tree  is  prized. 

In  the  numerous  streams  whicli  are  passed  on  tliis 
route,  the  Singhalese  are  to  be  seen  at  all  hours  of  the 
day,  indulging  in  their  passion  for  the  bath,  in  which  they 
imitate  the  Hindus ;  and  such  is  the  disciphne  to  which 
their  skins  are  subjected,  that  it  is  not  unusual  to  have 


'  About  thirty  miles  further  east- 
ward, on  a  tributary  of  the  Kalany, 
are  situated  the  remains  of  the  old 
city  of  Sita-wacca,  one  of  the  most 
ancient  in  Ceylon,  if  we  are  to 
accept  the  tradition  that  it  owes  its 
appellation  to  Sita,  the  Helen  of  the 
Ramayana.  Whilst  the  Portuguese 
were  at  war  in  defence  of  their  ally 
the  King  of  Cotta,  Sita-wa<"ca  was 
the  stronghold  of  their  daring  oppo- 
nents, Maaya  Dunnai  and  Raja  Sin- 
gha ;  and  it  was  eventually  destroyed 
by  their  relentless  general  Azavedo, 
at  the  close  of  the  16th  century. 
The  vestiges  of  the  palace  and  temple 
are  still  traceable ;  they  are  con- 
structed of  he'WTi  gi'anite,  and  in  one 
place  a  deep  moat  is  crossed  by  a 
bridge  composed  of  five  slabs  four- 
teen feet  long  and   more   than  pro- 


portionate thickness.  A  sticking  ac- 
count of  the  ruins,  as  they  appeared 
in  the  year  1675,  will  be  found  in 
Valentvx's  Oiul  <'»  Xieiiic  Oost- 
Indien,  pp.  207—220.  The  little 
fort  of  Kuanwelle  (Ranff-Welli,  the 
"Golden  sand"),  which  was  once 
so  important  on  the  frontier  of  the 
kings  of  Kandy,  stands  on  an  emi- 
nence above  the  Kalany,  a  few  miles 
east  of  Sita-wacca.  It  is  now  the 
residence  of  the  civil  officer  in  charge 
of  the  district.  The  country  aroimd 
it  is  magnificent,  commanding  noble 
views  of  the  mountains  near  Adam's 
Peak  and  the  cataracts  which  descend 
from  them. 

^  C'an/ota  urens. 

^  Lfi(/erstra'iiiia  RcfiinfP. 

*  Roinho.r  Mahihariciis. 


180 


COLOMBO    TO    KANDY. 


[Part  VII. 


tliem  rubbed  witli  a  porous  stone,  in  the  same  way  that 
the  mahouts  scrub  the  hide  of  the  elephant,  previous 
to  anointing  them  with  oil, — not  the  precious  spikenard 
of  antiquity,  but  the  more  homely  produce  of  the  coco- 
nut palm. 

The  number  of  bullock-carts  encountered  between 
Colombo  and  Kandy,  laden  Avith  coffee  from  the  interior, 
or  carrying  up  rice  and  stores  for  the  supply  of  the 
plantations  in  the  hill-country,  is  quite  sm^prismg. 
The  oxen  thus  employed  on  this  smgle  road,  are  esti- 
mated at  upwards  of  twenty  thousand.  The  bandy  to 
which  they  are  yoked  is  a  barbarous  two-wheeled  wag- 
gon, with  a  covering  of  plaited  coco-nut  leaves,  in  which 
a  pair  of  strong  bullocks  will  draw  from  five  to  ten 
hmidred  weight,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  country ; 
and  with  this  they  mil  perform  a  joiu-ney  of  twenty 
miles  a  day  on  a  level. 

A  few  of  the  large  humped  cattle  of  India  are  an- 
nually imported  for  draught ;  but  the  vast  majority  of 
those  in  use  are  small  and  dark-coloured,  with  a  grace- 
ful "head  and  neck,  and  elevated  hump,  a  deep  silky  dew- 
lap, and  limbs  as  slender  as  a  deer.  They  have  neither 
the  strength  nor  weight  requisite  for  this  service ;  and 
yet  the  enth-e  coffee  crop  of  Ceylon,  amounting  annually 
to  upwards  of  half  a  milhon  hundred  weight,  is  year 
after  year  brought  down  from  the  mountains  to  the 
coast  by  these  indefatigable  little  creatures,  Avhich,  on 
returning,  carry  up  proportionally  hea\y  loads  of 
rice  and  implements  for  the  estates.^  There  are  two 
varieties  of  the  native  bullock ;  one  a  somewhat  coarser 
animal,  of  a  deep  red  colom%  the  other,  the  high-bred 
black  one  I  have  just  described.  So  rare  was  a 
white  one  of  this  species,  under  the  native  kings,  that 
the  Kandyans  were  compelled  to  set  them  apart  for 
the  royal  herd.^ 


J  A  pair  of  these  little  bullocks 
cany  up  about  twenty  bushels  of 
rice  to  the  hills,  and  bring-  clown  from 


fifty  to  sixty  bushels  of  coffee  to  Co- 
lombo. 

^  Wolf  says  that,  in  the  year  1763, 


Chap.  IV.]  CARAVANS    AND    BANDIES.  181 

Although  bullocks  may  be  said  to  be  the  only  animals 
of  cbaught  and  burden  in  Ceylon  (horses  being  rarely 
used  except  in  spring  carriages),  no  attempt  has  been 
made  to  improve  the  breed,  or  even  to  Ijetter  the  con- 
dition and  treatment  of  those  in  use.  Their  food  is  in- 
different, pasture  in  all  parts  of  the  island  being  rare, 
and  cattle  are  seldom  housed  under  any  \dcissitudes  of 
weather. 

The  labom*  to  which  they  are  best  adapted,  and  in 
which,  before  the  opening  of  roads,  these  cattle  were 
formerly  employed,  is  in  traversing  the  jungle  paths  of 
the  interior,  carrying  light  loads  as  pack-oxen  in  what 
is  called  a  "  tavalam"  —  a  term  which,  substituting  bul- 
locks for  camels,  is  equivalent  to  a  "  caravan."  ^  The 
class  of  persons  engaged  in  this  traffic  in  Ceylon  resem- 
ble in  their  occupations  the  "  Banjarees "  of  Hindustan, 
who  bring  down  to  the  coast  corn,  cotton,  and  oil,  and 
take  back  cloths  and  iron  and  copper  utensils  to  the 
interior.  In  the  unopened  parts  of  the  island,  and 
especially  in  the  eastern  pro\dnces,  this  primitive  prac- 
tice still  continues  ;  and  when  traveUing  in  these  districts 
we  have  often  encountered  long  files  of  pack-bullocks 
toihng  along  the  mountain  paths,  their  bells  tinkhng 
musically  as  they  moved ;  or  halting  during  the  noonday 
heat  beside  some  stream  in  the  forests,  their  burdens 
piled  in  heaps  near  the  chivers,  who  had  lighted  their 
cooking  fires,  whilst  the  bullocks  were  permitted  to  batlie 
and  browse. 

The  persons  engaged  in  this  wandering  trade  are 
chiefly  Moors,  and  the  busmess  carried  on  by  them 
consists  in  bringing  up  salt  from  the  government  depots 


lie  saw  in  Ceylon  two  white  oxen, 
each  of  which  measured  upwards  of 
ein^ht  feet  high.  They  were  sent  as 
a  present  from  the  King  of  Atchin. — 
Life  and  Advcnttircs,  p.  172. 

*  Attempts  have  been  made  to  do- 
mesticate the  camel  in  Ceylon  ;  but, 
I  am  told,  they  died  of  ulcers  in  tlio 
feet,  attril}ut('(l  to  tlie  too  <ircid  moh- 


ture  of  the  roads  at  certain  seasons. 
Tliis  explanation  seems  insufficient  if 
taken  in  connection  with  the  fact  of 
the  camel  living  in  perfect  healtli  in 
climates  equally,  if  not  more,  exposed 
to  rain.  I  apprehend  that  sufficient 
justice  was  not  done  to  the  experi- 
ment. 


N  3 


182 


COLOilBO    TO    KAXDY, 


[IVVRT  VII. 


on  the  coast  to  be  bartered  mtli  the  Kaiidyans  in  the 
hills  for  "  native  coffee,"  wliicli  is  grown  in  small  qnan- 
tities  round  everj^  house,  but  without  systematic  culti- 
vation. Tliis  they  cany  down  to  the  maritime  towns, 
and  the  proceeds  are  invested  in  cotton  cloths  and  brass 
utensils,  dried  fish,  and  other  commodities,  ^\ith  wdiicli  the 
tavalams  supply  the  secluded  villages  of  the  interior. 

The  mode  of  hfe  both  of  the  conductors  of  these 
caravans  and  of  the  Singhalese  drivers  of  bandies,  is  a 
succession  of  travel  and  adventure  resembhng  that  of 
the  mule-diivers  of  Spain.  Like  tlie  "  arrieros  "  of 
Andalusia,  they  move  by  night,  or  in  tlie  dusk,  and  rest 
diu^ing  the  day  in  the  cool  sliade  of  the  trees,  passing 
their  time  in  games  of  chance,  to  which  they  are  pas- 
sionately devoted,  and  resuming  thek  journey  at  nisht-ftill. 
At  Yeangodde,  twenty-five  miles  from  Colombo,  the 
residence  of  Don   Solomon  Dias  Bandarnayeke,   one  of 

the  Moodhars  of  the  Go- 
vernor's Gate,  affords  the 
most  agreeable  example 
of  the  dwelling  of  a  low- 
country  headman,  witli 
its  broad  verandahs,  spa- 
cious rooms,  and  exten- 
sive offices,  shuded  by 
palm-groves  and  fruit 
trees.  The  chief  himself, 
now  upM'ards  of  eiglity 
j'ears  ^  of  age,  is  a  noble 
specimen  of  the  native 
race,  and  in  his  official 
costume,  decorated  Avith 
tlie  gold  chains  and 
medals  by  which  his  services  have  been  recognised  by  tlie 
Britisli  Government,  his  tall  and  venerable  figure  makes 
a  striking  picture. 


DON  SOLOMON  DIAS  BANDARNA^  EKF. 


*  Don  Solomon  died  in  1850,  wliilst  the  first  edition  of  this  work  was 
in  press. 


Chap.  IV.] 


REST-HOUSE. 


183 


On  the  occasion  of  our  visit,  we  were  recei\ed  Ijy 
liim  with  tlie  honours  of  the  wliite  cloth,  the  approach 
to  his  house  being  covered  with  long  pieces  of  cotton  to 
the  porch.  Tom-tom  beaters  and  musicians  ^  w^ere 
stationed  along  tlie  avenue,  groups  of  boys  exliibited 
national  dances,  and  beat  time  by  clashing  together 
sticks  of  hard  w^ood,  and  after  them  a  band  of  devil 
dancers  from  an  adjacent  temple,  with  masks  and  gro- 
tesque dresses,  went  through  a  performance  wliich,  in 
contortion  and  enthusiasm,  resembled  the  fury  of  the 
Corybantes. 

Half  way  between  Colombo  and  Kandy  is  the  pictu- 
resque rest-house  of  Ambepusse,  one  of  those  treache- 
rously beautifid  spots  which  have  acquh^ed  a  bad  reno"vvn 
from  the  attractions  of  the  scenery  and  the  pestilent  fevers 
by  which  the  locality  is  infested. 


AT    AMBEPD33E. 


After  leaving  the  village,  the  road  crosses  the  spurs  of 
the  hills  which  descend  from  the  mountain  zone,  and 
the  aspect  of  the  country  gradually  changes  from  mari- 
time plains  to  the  ruder  and  less  cultivated  Kandyan 
highlands.  Instead  of  broad  inundated  paddi-fields, 
rice  is  grown  in  the  moist  crannies  of  the  hills,  and  diy 
graui  is  cultivated  on  their  slopes.     The  majestic  crowns 


1  Two  of  these  musicians,  who 
phiyed  on  a  rude  pipe  like  a  flageolet, 
had  the  faculty  of  keeping  up  a  sus- 
tained and  monotonous  note  for  many 


minutes  without  intermission,  hv  in- 
haling through  the  nostrils  whilst 
they  blew  with  the  lips. 


N   4 


184  COLOMBO    TO    KAXDY.  [Part  VIT. 

of  the  Talipat  palm  begin  to  appear  near  the  villages, 
and  graceful  bamboos  wave  their  feathery  plumes  in  every 
liollow. 

The  forests  become  so  dense  that  troops  of  monkeys 
venture  in  sight,  and  flocks  of  plumb-headed  paroquets 
romp  and  scream  amongst  the  branches.^  Buddhist 
temples  appear  in  secluded  spots,  and  picturesque 
maduas  for  preaching  hana^  built  with  pagoda-hke  roofs 
rising  tier  above  tier.  Shaven  priests  in  yellow  robes, 
and  carrying  ivory  fans,  plod  on  their  errand  of  poverty, 
to  collect  food  in  the  \aQages.  The  houses,  instead  of 
groves  of  coco-nuts,  are  surrounded  by  a  fence  of  coffee- 
bushes,  ^vith  their  pohshed  green  leaves  and  wreaths  of 
jasmine-hke  flowers,  and  everything  indicates  the  change 
from  the  low-country  and  its  habits  to  the  hills  and  their 
hardier  peasantry. 

As  this  was  one  of  the  idle  seasons  of  the  year, 
during  which  labour  is  suspended,  whilst  waiting  for 
the  rains  of  the  monsoon,  ere  recommencing^  the  sowing; 
of  rice,  the  Kandyans  were  lounging  about  theii'  \illages 
or  gathered  in  groups  by  the  roadside,  engaged  in 
listless  and  sedentary  amusements.  In  one  place  a 
crowd  was  collected  to  watch  the  feats  of  a  juggler, 
who,  to  our  siu*prise,  commenced  his  performances  by 
jumping  up  on  to  a  pole,  and  placing  his  feet  upon 
a  cross  bar  six  feet  from  the  ground.  On  tliis  he 
coursed  along  the  road  by  prodigious  leaps,  and  re- 
tmiiing     to     the     audience,    steadied    himself    on    his 


^  A  white  monkey,  taken  between 
Ainbepusse  and  Kornegalle,  where 
they  are  said  to  be  numerous,  was 
brouglit  to  me  to  Colombo.  Except 
in  colom',  it  liad  all  the  characteristics 
of  Preshytes  cepluthptents.  So  sti'iking 
was  its  whiteness  that  it  might  have 
been  conjectm-ed  to  be  an  albino,  but 
for  the  circumstance  that  its  eyes  and 
face  were  black.  I  never  saw  another 
specimen ;  but  the  natives  say  they 
are  not  uncommon,  and  Kxox,  who 
alludes  to  the  fact,  adds,  that  they 
Are  "  milk-white  both  in   l)odv  and 


face ;  but  of  this  sort  there  is  not  such 
plenty."— Pt.  i.  ch.  vi.  p.  25.  The 
Eev.  R.  Spexce  Hardy  mentions,  in 
his  learned  work  on  JEastern  Muna- 
chism,  that  on  the  occasion  of  his  visit 
to  the  gri'eat  temple  of  Dambool,  he 
encoimtered  a  troop  of  white  monkeys 
on  the  rock  in  which  it  is  situated 
— which  were  doubtless  a  variety  of 
the  Wanderoo.  {Eastern  MonacMsm, 
ch.  xix.  p.  204.)  Pliny  was  aware 
of  the  fact  that  white  monkeys  are 
occasionally  found  in  India.  {Nat. 
Hid.  lil).  viii.  cli.  xxxii.) 


Chap.  IV.]  NATIVE    JUGGLER.  18,5 

perch,  and  then  opened  his  exhibition.  Tliis  consisted  of 
endless  efforts  of  legerdemain :  catching  pebbles  tlirown 
up  to  him  by  his  confederate  below,  which,  upon  open- 
ing his  closed  hand,  flew  away  as  birds  ;  breaking  an 
egg-shell,  and  allowing  a  small  serpent  to  escape  from  it 
and  keeping  a  series  of  brass  balls  in  motion  by  strik- 
ing them  with  his  elbows,  as  well  as  his  hands. 
Balancing  on  his  nose  a  small  stick  with  an  inverted 
cup  at  top,  from  which  twelve  perforated  balls  were 
suspended  by  silken  cords,  he  placed  twelve  ivory  rods 
in  his  mouth,  and  so  guided  them  by  his  hps  and 
tongue,  as  to  insert  the  end  of  each  in  a  corresponding 
aperture  in  the  ball,  till  the  whole  twelve  were  sus- 
tained by  the  rods,  and  the  central  support  taken  away. 
This  and  endless  other  tricks  he  performed,  balancing 
himself  all  the  ichile  on  the  single  pole  on  which  he  stood. 
He  took  a  ball  of  granite,  six  or  seven  inches  in 
diameter,  and  probably  fourteen  pounds'  weiglit,  and 
standing  with  his  arms  extended  in  hne,  he  rolled  it 
from  the  wrist  of  one  hand  across  his  shoulders  to  the 
wrist  of  the  other  backwards  and  forwards  repeatedly, 
apparently  less  by  raising  his  arms  than  by  a  vigorous 
effort  of  the  muscles  of  his  back ;  then  seizing  it  in  both 
hands,  he  flung  it  repeatedly  twenty  feet  high,  and 
watching  it  in  its  descent  till  within  a  few  inches  of  his 
skull,  he  bent  forward  his  head,  and  caught  the  ball 
each  time  between  liis  shoulders ;  then  bounding  alons^ 
the  road,  still  mounted  on  his  pole,  he  closed  his  perfor- 
mance amidst  the  smiles  of  the  audience.^ 


^  The   artists   on    these    occasions  performers  in  the  island,  described  by 

are  always  Tamils;  and  it  may  be  .J ambidus,  says,  the  flexibility  of  tlu>ir 

regarded   as   a   fm-ther   evidence   of  limbs  was  such,  that  thoy  stH'med  to 

the  eiTor  already  adverted  to  {ante,  \  consist  of  muscle  rather' than  bone  : 

Vol.  I.  Pt.    V.  ch.  i.  p.    532)   in   sup-   j  '\'d  ^i  oared  tov  awi^arog  txtn'  tTrl  Troauf 

posing-   that   the   stoiy  of  Jambulus,   !  KciinrToniva  koI  Trakiv  aTzoKaQtarn^iva 

as  told  by  Diodorus,  relates  to  Ceylon  j  Trapa-n-Xj^aiwi:  toXq  vivpio^fm.    The  pas- 

—  that    the   Singhalese   have   never  i  sage  is  fm-ther  remarkable,  as  it  evi- 

been  noted  for  their  skill  in  jugglei-y  !  dently    describes    an    exhibition    of 

and  legerdemain,  although  these  arts  j  vcnfrilorjuism,    and    is    proljably   th(> 

are   brought   to   high   perfection   in  i  earliest   mention   of    that   art "  upon 

Hindustan  and  other  countries  around  record.     Sudi  appears  to  have  been 

them.     DiODORU.s,  in  speaking  of  the  |  their  skill,  that  Jambulus  was  im- 


186 


COLOMBO    TO    KAXDY. 


[Part  VII. 


•    The  last  thirty  miles  of  this  wonderM  road   passes 
through  scenery  \vhich  combines  the  grandeur  ^f  Alps 
with    the     splen- 
dour   of  tropical 
vegetation.     It  is 
an  Oriental  Sini- 
plon,        chmbing 
hills,  crossing  tor- 
rents ;  and  following  the  A\^nd-  ''^^ 
ings  of  ravines,  till  it  reaches  its      Jj^ 
extreme    altitude    at    the   pass 
of  Kaduganawa,   one  of  those 
romantic  glens  which  the  for- 
mer kings  of  Kandy  jealously 
guarded   as  an  entrance  from 
the  low  country. 

Some  prophet  had  fore- 
told   that    tlie   "  Kandyan 
kingdom      would     perish 
when    a    bullock    should 
be         driven 
through  a  cer- 
tain   hill,    and 
a     horseman- 
ride      through 
a   rock."       Sk 
Edw.      Barnes 
carried  a  tun- 


pressed  with  the  l)elief  that  they  had 
earli  two  tongues,  and  were  enabled 
to  conduct  two  distinct  discourses  si- 
multaneously :  'Ifiov  £e  ri  KOI  TTtpi  ri])' 
yXw-riiv  aiiToix  ^X'"'?  '"''  A*^''  *'"'''*''<'^L" 
avTolc  (Tvyytyunnjfih'ov,  to  S  t5  tTTi- 
voiag  (liCKoTi\vovfifv(n''  c'nTrv\ov  fxiv 
yap  avToi'Q  ^X*"'  '"')*'  y^'J"'"''"''  *''■'  To- 
(To)',  rd  d'  tvfor'ipM  -rrpoatiaipeiv,  {uari 
?i7r\f}i'  nvri'/v  yimnQai  fi^xP^  '''''?  p'?*/C 
*  *  *  *  rh  Se  iravTbJv  TrapacoKoTaroi; 
iifia  vpoQ  Svo  tHiv  h'TvyxavovTiov  \n\- 
\ilv  tvriXwr,  aTTOKpivofifvovQ  ri  Kai  raiq 
viroKfin'ivatQ     Trfpirrrc'irrKTiv    «iVfi'a>c     ti/u- 


Chap.  IV.] 


TTTR    RODIYA!^. 


187 


nel  under  the  liill,  and  the  Kandy  mail  drives  through  an 
arcliway  in  the  rock.^ 

A  Uttle  beyond  the  top  of  the  pass,  where  tlie  road 
begins  to  descend  towards  the  Mahawelh-ganga,  a  colony 
of  the  degraded  tribe,  the  Eodiyas,  have  estabhshed  one 
of  their  hamlets  or  kuppiyames^  meaning  literally  a  "  col- 
lection of  huts  ; "  for,  as  one  of  the  incidents  of  their 
mfamy,  they  were  not  permitted  to  call  their  places  of 
residence,  villages.  The  condition  of  the  Pariahs,  the 
Niadis,  Porleahs,  and  other  debased  races  in  India,  pre- 
sents nothing  more  dreadful  than  the  unresisting  degra- 
dation of  this  abhorred  community. 

Their  expulsion  from  the  pale  of  society  took  ]:)lace  in 
an  age  so  remote,  that  even  the  traditions  as  to  its  cause 
are  confused  or  forgotten.^  One  legend  describes  them 
as  a  branch  of  the  Veddahs,  condemned  to  never-endinsf 
degradation  for  having  supphed  a  king's  table  with  hu- 
man flesh  instead  of  venison^;  but  a  difference  in  their 
height  and  figure  suggests  the  more  probable  idea  that 
they  may  have  been  immigrants  from  the  coast  of  India, 
of  the  Chandala  blood  ^^5  a  people  so  degraded,  that  water 
over  which  their  shadows  had  passed  was  held  to  be 
defiled  till  purified  by  sunlight. 

The  language  of  the  Eodiyas,  mingled  w^ith  corrupted 
Singhalese,  contains  unintelligible  words  inchcative  of  a 
foreign  descent.  They  are  found  only  in  the  Kandyan 
districts ;  at  SafTragam,  Doombera,  and  Wallepane  and  a 
few  other  places  in  the  interior ;  their  numbers  do  not 
probably  exceed  a  thousand,  and  are  said  to  be  decreasing. 


XovvTOQ'  rfj  fxlv  yap  tTifXf  7rr^;^(  Tzpixj 
Tovtva,r)j  c  iiWy  TraXo'  ofioiiog  Kpixjrh' 
ETfpov  (^laXfyKTl'ni. — Pior*.  SiC.  lib.  ii 
^  jNIore  than  ten  years  were  occu- 
pied in  the  construction  of  the  Kandv 
road,  which  was  bejiun  in  1H20,  and 
not  thoroughly  completed  till  ]8.'}1. 
A  column,  erected  on  the  face  of  the 
cliff,  commemorates  tlie  services  of 
the  officer  under  wliose  immetliate 
care  tl>e  road  was  formed,  and  whose 
premature  death  was  accelerated  liy 
exposure  durino-  its  prop:ress.  The 
pedestal  hears  the  inscription  : 


CAPTAIN    DAWSON. 

During  the  government  of  Sir  Kiluard  Barnes. 

K.c.B.  Ac. 

Commaiuiing  Royal  Engineers.  Ceylon, 

whose  science  and  skill  planned  and  executed 

this  Koad, 

and  other  works  of  puhlic  utility. 

Died   at    Colombo,   2Kth    March,    If 29. 

l?y  subscription  this   Monument  was  erected 

to  liis  memory  by  his  friends  and  admirers. 

^  The  liajavnli  mentions  Ilodivas 
204  B.C.  (p.  188);  and  the  Maha- 
u-ciiiso,  A.D.  589  (ch.  xlii.) 

^  Knox,  pt.  iii.  ch.  ii.  p.  70. 

■*  The  31(1  ha ira /ISO  mentions  a  vil- 
lage of  outcasts  in  Ceylon,  A.D.  487, 
of  Hindu  origin  (cli.  x.  p.  GO). 


188  COLOMBO    TO    KAXDY.  [Part  VIT. 

Under  the  Kandyan  kings  their  humiUation  was  utter 
and  complete.  The  designation  Eodiya,  or  rodda^  means, 
hterally,  "fihh."  They  were  not  permitted  to  cross  a 
ferry,  to  draw  water  at  a  well,  to  enter  a  village,  to  till 
land,  or  learn  a  trade,  as  no  recognised  caste  could  deal 
or  hold  intercom^se  with  a  Eodiya.  Formerly  they  were 
not  allowed  to  build  houses  with  two  walls  or  a  double 
roof,  but  hovels  in  which  a  hurdle  leaned  against  a 
single  wall  and  rested  on  the  ground.^  They  were 
forced  to  subsist  on  alms  or  such  gifts  as  they  miglit 
receive  for  protecting  the  fields  from  ^\dld  beasts  or  biu"y- 
ing  the  carcases  of  dead  cattle ;  but  they  were  not 
allowed  to  come  within  a  fenced  field  even  to  beg. 
They  converted  the  hides  of  animals  into  ropes,  and 
prepared  monkey-skins  for  covering  tom-toms  and  drums, 
which  they  bartered  for  food  and  other  necessaries.  They 
were  prohibited  from  wearing  a  cloth  on  their  heads,  and 
neither  men  nor  women  were  aUowed  to  cover  their 
boches  above  the  waist  or  below  the  knee.  If  be- 
nighted they  dare  not  he  down  in  a  shed  appropriated 
to  other  travellers,  but  hid  themselves  in  caves  or  de- 
serted watch-huts.  They  could  not  enter  a  cornet  of 
justice,  and  if  Avronged  had  to  utter  their  complaints 
from  a  distance.  Though  nominally  Buddhists  (but 
conjointly  demon-worshippers),  they  were  not  allowed 
to  go  into  a  temple,  and  could  only  pray  "  standing  afar 
ofi:" 

Although  they  were  permitted  to  have  a  headman, 
who  was  styled  then'  hollo-icalhia,  lus  nomhiation  was  stig- 
matised by  requirmg  the  sanction  of  the  common  jailor, 
who  was  likewise  the  sole  medium  of  communication  be- 
tween the  Eodiyas  and  the  rest  of  the  human  race.  So 
vile  and  valueless  were  they  in  the  eyes  of  the  community, 
that,  under  the  Kandyan  ride,  when  it  was  represented 
to  the  king  that  the  Eodiyas  had  so  multii)hed  as  to  be 
a  nuisance  to  the  villagers,  an  order  was  given  to  reduce 
their  numbers  by  shooting  a  certain  proportion  in  each 


Valkxtyx,  Otitf  cii  Xici/ir  ()o.<t-Iii(l!en,  lutrotl.  p.  7. 


Chap.  IV.]        THE   KODIYAS   AND   OTHER  OUTCASTS.  189 

kuppiyame.^  The  most  dreaded  of  all  punisliments 
under  the  Kandyan  dynasty  was  to  hand  over  the  lady 
of  a  high  caste  offender  to  the  Eodiyas ;  and  the  mode 
of  her  adoption  Avas  by  the  Eodiya  taking  betel  from 
his  own  mouth  and  placing  it  in  hers,  after  which  till 
death  her  degradation  was  indehble.^ 

Under  the  rule  of  the  British,  which  recognises  no 
distinction  of  caste,  the  status  of  the  Eodiyas  has  been 
nominally,  and  even  materially,  improved.  Their  disqua- 
hfication  for  labour  no  longer  exists ;  but  after  centuries 
of  mendicancy  and  idleness  they  evince  no  inchnation 
for  work.  Thek  pursuits  and  habits  are  still  the  same, 
but  their  bearing  is  a  shade  less  servile,  and  they  pay  a 
profounder  homage  to  a  high  than  a  low  caste  Kandyan, 
and  manifest  some  desire  to  shake  oiT  the  o])probrious 
epithet  of  Eodiyas.  Their  houses  are  better  built,  and 
contain  a  few  articles  of  furniture,  and  in  some  places 
they  have  acquired  patches  of  land  and  possess  cattle. 
Even  the  cattle  share  the  odium  of  their  owners,  and  to 
distinguish  them  from  the  herds  of  the  Kandyans,  their 
masters  are  obhged  to  suspend  a  coco-nut  shell  from 
their  necks  by  a  leathern  cord.^ 

Socially  their  hereditary  stigma  remains  unaltered ; 
their  contact  is  still  shunned  by  the  Kandyans  as 
pollution,  and  instinctively  the  Eodiyas  crouch  to  their 
own  degradation.  In  carrying  a  burden  they  still  load 
the  pingo  (yoke)  at  one  end  only,  instead  of  both,  hke 
other  natives.  They  fall  on  their  knees  with  uphfted 
hands  to  address  a  man  of  the  lowest  recognised  caste ; 
and  they  sliout  on  the  approach  of  a  traveller,  to  warn 
him  to  stop  till  they  can  get  off  the  road  and  allow  him 
to  pass  without  the  risk  of  too  close  a  proximity  to 
their  persons. 


^  From  a  MS.  Memorandum  mi  the 
Hodit/as  by  Mr.  Mitford,  C.C.S., 
Davy  relates  that  shortly  after  the 
British  o;ot  possession  of  Kandy,  some 
police  Vidahns,  who  were  ordered  to 
ari'est   eertain    Rodiyas   for  murder, 


refused  to  pollute  themselves  by  lay-  |  1853,  p.  240. 


ing  hands  on  them,  but  offered  to 
shoot  then  doicn  from  a  distance. 
(Ch.  iv.  p.  131.) 

2  Rev.  R.  Spexce  Hardy,  77ie 
Friend,  vol.  ii.  p.  15. 

^  Casie    Cuitty,  Ceylon    MisvcU. 


190 


COLOMBO   TO    KANDY, 


[i'akt  vir. 


Their  habits  are  lilthy,  and  their  appetites  oiiiiiivo- 
rous.  Carrion  is  as  accej)table  to  them  as  the  flesli  of 
monkeys,  squirrels,  the  civet-cat,  mongoos,  and  tor- 
toises ^ ;  and  they  hover  near  ceremonies  and  feasts 
in  hope  of  obtaining  the  fragments.  The  men  are 
employed  occasionally  on  the  coffee  estates,  and  in 
making  roads,  but  they  are  generally  stigmatised  as 
imbecile,  and  shunned  as  reputed  thieves.  The  charac- 
ter of  the  women  is  still  more  disreputable ;  they  wander 
as  jugglers,  and  at  feasts  perform  dances,  during  which 
they  keep  two  polished  brass  plates  rotating,  one  on  the 
top  of  each  fore-fingei'. 


The  Rodiyas  who  have  established  tliemselves  in  the 
vihage  of  Kaduganawa,  are  remarkable  for  tlie  beauty  and 
fine  figures  of  the  females,  which  are  displayed  to  ad- 
vantage by  tlie  Hghtness  of  their  conventional  costume. 


'  Casik  C'hitty  in  Ceijhn  MisccIL,  p.  288. 


CiiAP.  IV.]         THE   RODIYAS  AND    OTHER  OUTCASTS.  191 

As  if  to  demonstrate  tliat  witliiii  the  lowest  depths  of 
degradation  tliere  may  exist  a  lower  still,  there  are  two 
races  of  outcasts  in  Ceylon,  who  are  abliorred  and 
avoided  even  by  the  Eodiyas.  These  are  the  Ambette- 
yos,  or  barbers,  and  the  Hanomoreyos,  or  betel-box 
makers,  of  Oovah,  who  are  looked  on  as  so  vile  that  no 
human  being  would  touch  rice  that  had  been  cooked  in 
their  liouses  ;  and  the  Eodiyas,  on  the  occasion  of  festi- 
vals, tie  up  tlieir  dogs  to  prevent  them  prowling  in 
search  of  food  to  the  dwellings  of  these  wretclies. 

In  contemplating  the  position  and  treatment  of  the 
Eodiyas  of  Ceylon,  one  is  struck  with  its  similarity  to 
that  of  the  Cagots  and  Caqueux,  "  the  Pariahs  of  the 
West,"  who,  from  time  immemorial,  have  been  held  in 
abhorrence  in  the  valleys  of  the  Pyrenees,  and  the 
plains  of  Bretagne,  Poitou,  and  Guienne.  The  origin 
of  either  race  is  alike  obscure,  and  it  remains  uncertain 
whether  the  Cagots  were  extruded  from  human  spn- 
pathy  and  association  as  the  descendants  of  Gothic  or 
Moorish  oppressors ;  or  whether  they  w^ere  shunned  from 
rehgious  hatred,  as  the  offspring  of  Arians,  Jews,  or 
Mahometans.  Por  more  than  a  thousand  years,  there 
are  records  of  their  social  proscription,  with  every  ac- 
companiment of  infamy  and  abhorrence.  Their  persons 
were  believed  to  be  contaminating,  and  their  smell  an 
abomination.  Like  the  Eodiyas,  they  were  compelled  to 
stand  aside  on  the  highway  to  allow  travellers  to  pass  ; 
they  were  pimished  for  coming  between  the  wind  and  a 
free  citizen  ;  they  durst  not  draw  water  from  a  public 
fountain,  or  touch  the  parapet  of  a  bridge  with  their  un- 
covered hand.  To  protect  the  earth  from  the  pollution  of 
their  feet,  they  were  forced  to  wear  shoes,  and  to  enable 
all  comers  to  avoid  them,  the  law  oixlered  them  to  cany 
a  red  mark  {pied  d'oye)  upon  then*  shoulders.  They 
were  forbidden  to  touch  an  article  of  food  in  the  market- 
place before  it  had  been  sold  and  deUvered  to  them. 
Their  dwellings  were  huts  and  hovels  in  spots  avoided  by 
the  rest  of  mankind  ;  and  though  permitted  to  embrace 


192 


COLOMBO   TO   KAXDY. 


[Part  VII. 


Christianity,  tliey  liad  to  enter  stooping  through  a  sepa- 
rate porch  into  the  chiu^ches,  to  touch  the  holy  Avater 
in  a  separate  henitiei\  to  pray  in  a  separate  recess,  and 
after  death  their  dishonoiued  remains  were  inteiTed  in  a 
separate  cemetery ;  in  one  of  which,  as  if  to  taunt  them 
with  the  perpetual  remembrance  that  death  was  their 
only  escape  from  an  existence  in  which  enjopuent  was 
unknown,  a  column  still  remains  with  the  inscription, 
"  absit  gloriari,  nisi  in  cruce  Domini." 

But  the  most  curious  coincidence  between  the  case  of 
the  Eodiyas  and  that  of  the  outcasts  of  France  was,  that 
both  tribes  were  doomed  to  the  revoltuig  emplopnent  of 
skinning  dead  cattle,  and  steeping  hemp  to  be  made  into 
ropes  and  cordage.  Hence  the  Caqueux  were  known 
as  the  rope-makers  (''  cordiers  ")  of  Basse-Bretagne,  and 
their  villages  were  called  "  corderies,"  whilst  the  Cagots 
were  almost  universally  carpenters ;  —  the  two  trades 
being  ahke  infamous  at  an  early  period,  because  those 
who  pm^sued  the  one  were  expected. to  furnish  gibbets 
and  instruments  of  torture,  whilst  the  other  provided  the 
halters  for  the  executioner.  ^ 

From  the  Eodiya  village  at  Kaduganawa,  there  is  a 
gentle  descent,  for  eight  or  nine  miles,  towards  the 
banks  of  the  Mahawelh-ganga ;  a  bend  of  which  flows 
around  Kandy,  surrounding  the  city,  as  the  Singhalese 
say,  "hke  a  necklace  of  pearls."^  The  road  still 
passes  through  rich  and  romantic  scenery ;  moimtains 
forest-clad  to  their  summits ;  valleys  brightened  by  fer- 
tihsmg   streams,    and   villages   and   hamlets  embosomed 


^  Michel,  in  his  Ilidon/  of  the 
Outcast  Haces  of  France  and  Spain, 
thus  accounts  for  this  popidar  pre- 
judice :  "  Les  Caqueux  de  la  I^retapie 
ne  pouvaient  exercer  d'autre  etat  que 
celui  de  conker  ;  mais  il  6tait  infanie 
conime  je  suppose  que  celui  de  char- 
peutier  I'etait  dans  le  sud-ouest  de 
la  France  ;  et  cela  appareranieut  par 
la  meme  raison — car  si  les  charpen- 
tiers  dressaicnt  les  gribets  et  les  auti-es 


instruments  de  supplice,  les  cordiei-s 
fournissaient  les  harts  destines  a  niet- 
ti"e  un  tenne  a  la  vie  des  criniinels 
condaninesa  etre  pendus."  —  Jllstoire 
(Jes  Races  Maiulitcs  de  la  France  et  de 
VEsjiaifne,  ch.  v.  torn.  i.  p.  310,  &c. 

^  "  ^Vnd,  moreover,  by  the  side  of 
the  !Mahawelli-j>anfra,  which  is  like 
a  neckhiee  of  pearls  round  the  neck  of 
a  queen  of  Ceylon,  the  King-,"  &c. — 
Rajaratnacari,  p.  130. 


Chap.  IV.]  ENTRANCE   TO    KANDY.  li)3 

amidst  trees.  A  bridge  of  satin-wood  crosses  the  river 
at  Peradenia,  and  a  drive  of  a  few  miles  tlirougli  a 
continuous  line  of  cottages  and  bazaars,  leads  to  the 
entrance  of  the  Demesne,  in  which  stands  the  Pavilion, 
the  stately  residence  of  the  Governor  at  the  central 
capital. 


VOL.  11. 


194 


KANDY   AND    PERADEXIA. 


[Part  VII. 


CHAP.  V. 


]L\XDY    AND    PERADEXIA. 


TTaxdy  presents  no  arcliitectural  monument  mtli  any 
pretension  to  antiquity.  Its  singularly  seciu"e  position, 
in  a  peninsula  formed  b}^  a  sweep  of  the  great  river 
and  surrounded  by  a  double  circumvallation  of  moun- 
tains, may,  at  a  very  early  period,  liave  rendered  it  a 
stronghold  of  tlie  princes  of  Maya  ;  but  the  first  mention 
of  it  as  a  city  is  at  tlie  beginning  of  the  fourteenth 
century  \  when  a  temple  was  built  there  to  contain  the 
dalada  and  other  rehcs.  From  possessing  these  it  be- 
came an  important  seat  of  the  Buddhist  hierarchy,  and 
eventually  the  residence  of  branches  of  tlie  royal  family. 
But  it  was  not  till  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century 
tliat  it  was  adopted  as  the  capital  of  the  island,  after 
the  destruction  of  Cotta  and  the  defeat  of  Eaja  Siugha 
n.,  by  Winiala  Dliarma,  a.d.  1592.  The  town  at  that 
time  probabh'  occupied  in  part  the  valley  afterwards 
submerged  by  the  construction  of  the  Kandy  Lake, 
whicli  was  formed  by  the  last  kino-,  in  1807.  Dmins; 
the  wars  with  the  Portuguese  and  tlie  Dutch,  Kandy 
was  so  repeatedly  burned  and  otherwise  destroyed  that 
scarcely  any  i)art  of  the  ancient  buildings,  except  the 
temples  and  the  royal  residence,  was  remaining  when 
the  English  obtained  possession  of  the  city  in  1815.- 


'  111  the  ]»'i>>ii  of  r<uulita  I'rak- 
rama  Balm  III.,  between  12G7  and 
1801  A.I). — Mdhairanso,  cli.  Ix.vxiii. ; 
Rajdratnocdri.  p.  104. 

-  Tlie  Portuguese  captured  Kandy 
in  A.r».  1592,  and  they  bunied  it  in 
A.D.  1627  (RiiiEVRO,  pt.    ii.    ch.    i. 


p.  192) ;  and  again  in  A.D.  1G."37 
(Faeia  y  SorzA,  pt.  iv.  ch.  ^-iii.  p. 
375).  The  Dutch  occupied  it  after 
its  destruction  by  its  own  inhabitants 
in  A.D.  1704  ;  —  and  it  Wiiij  partijxlly 
biinit  by  the  king  on  the  approach  of 
the  Eno-lish  in  a^d.  1803. 


Chap.  V.] 


THE    OLD    PALACE. 


195 


The  palace,  a  wing  of  Avliicli  is  still  uccupiud  by  the 
chief  civil  officer  of  the  province,  is  popularly  beheved 
to  be  much  older  than  it  really  is.  It  was  built  by 
Wimala  Dharma,  about  the  year  IGOO,  and  Spilberg, 
the  Dutch  admiral,  who  \4sited  Kandy  in  1602,  says 
that  the  king  employed  the  services  of  his  Portuguese 
prisoners  in  its  erection ;  —  a  circumstance  which  may 
serve  to  account  for  the  European  character  which 
pervades  the  architecture  of  some  portions  still  remain- 
ing ^ ;  such  as  the  towei'  adjoining  the  Malagawa  temple, 
in  which  the  sacred  tooth  is  deposited. 


TEMPLE    OF    THE    DALADA,    KANDY. 


As  to  the  streets  and  the  dwelhngs  of  the  natives,  they 
were  wretched  at  all  times ;  the  barbarous  etiquette 
of  the  Kandj^an  kings  reserving  the  luxury  of  "win- 
dows, whitened  walls,  and  tiles  for  the  members  of  the 
royal  family,  and  prohibiting  then*  use  to  subjects.^ 
One  quarter  of  the  to^vn,  leachng  from  the  Lake  to  the 
Maliawelli-'|>'anga,  contained  houses  of  this  privileged 
construction ;  and  Boyd,  on  the  occasion  of  his  embassy 


*  "  Don  Juan  a  ftiit  batir  uii 
niagnifiqiie  palais  a  Candy,  et  plu- 
sionrs  tours  et  pagodes  a  quoi  il  a 
eniploit!  k's  Portugais  qti'il  avait  fait 
prisonniers."  —  SriLBERO,  Voya()c, 
torn.  ii.  p.  443.  There  is  no  I'eason 
to  believe  that  any  vestige  now  re- 


mains of  tlie  original  lemph'  built  for 
the  reception  of  the  Tooth  by  Pan- 
dita  Prak^una  Bsihu  III.,  a.d.  17(37. 
— 3I(i/i(iir(nt.so,  ch.  Ixxxiv. 

2  ^'ALI•;^■TYN,  0ml  en  KicKW  Ovd- 
Itidicu,  ch.  iii,  p.  4G. 


o  2 


106  KAXin'    AND    I'KRADHNIA.  [Past  VII. 

ill  178!^,  found  the  principal  street  so  broad,  that  it 
afforded  space  for  elephant-fights,  which  were  held 
there  to  aimise  the  king.  To  avoid  mischief  from 
tlie  enraged  animals,  the  houses  were  approached  by 
flights  of  steps,  which  gave  them  the  appearance  of  two 
stories,  although  they  consisted  of  but  one.^  The 
British,  on  tlieu^  entrance  into  the  city  in  1815,  were 
astonished  at  the  misery  of  the  place  - ;  —  but  the 
wretched  buildings  have  since  been  replaced  by  others 
more  indicative  of  the  unproved  civihsation  and  increas- 
ing prosperity  of  the  inhabitants. 

The  Palace  originally  covered  a  considerable  area, 
but  its  builchngs  were  mean,  its  passages  intricate  and 
dark,  and  its  chambers  gloomy,  confined,  and  filthy  in 
the  extreme.  Of  the  rooms  which  still  remain,  the 
principal  have  been  altered  and  adapted  to  European 
tastes,  but  their  style  of  decoration,  and  the  frequent 
recurrence  of  the  sacred  goose  amongst  the  ornaments 
on  the  walls,  bespeak  their  Biiddhistical  origin.  Ex- 
ternally, the  fa9ade  is  rather  imposing ;  the  space 
wliich  it  occupies  is  screened  by  a  crenellated  wall, 
connecting  it  with  the  temple  and  its  octagonal  tower. 
In  front  is  a  moat,  which  has  been  recently  levelled, 
but  was  formerly  filled  with  water ;  -^  this  was  crossed 
by  a  bridge,  that  led  to  the  grand  gate ;  it  was  flanked 
by  elephants  sculptured  in  granite,  and  communicated 
with  the  palace  by  a  broad  flight  of  stone  steps. 

The  only  existing  structm^e  which  seems  worthy 
of  its  original  destination,  is  the  Audience  Hall,  at 
present  used  as  the  district  comt-house ;  a  spacious 
apartment  supported  on  richly  carved  columns  of  teak- 
wood,  the  bracketed  capitals  being  admirable  specimens  of 
florid  Hindu  architecture.  Pubhc  receptions  were  held 
by  night  ^,  when  the  hall  was  lighted  with  wax,  the  co- 
lonnades on  each  side  crowded  with  crouching  comtiers  ; 


'  Boyd's      Emhasn)/     to      Kanrly.  I       ^  Asiat.  Journ.,  vol.  i.  p.  44. 
Miscell.  Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  200.  )       '  Davy's  Cei/lon,  p.  176. 


Chap.  V.]  THE    DALADA.  197 

and  ill  a  dim,  and  studiously  darkened  alcove,  the  king, 
reclining  on  a  throne,  Avas  approaclied  by  his  ministers, 
"on  all  fours,  with  their  foces  close  to  the  floor,  and 
almost  hterally  licldng  the  dust."  ^ 

The  temples  of  Kandy,  both  Buddliist  and  Hindu, 
are  dilapidated  edifices,  apparently  perishing  from 
unarrested  decay.  They  are  situated  in  enclosed 
court-yards,  and,  under  the  shade  of  the  groves  that 
surround  them,  crumble  the  neglected  monuments  of  the 
later  sovereigns  of  Kandy.-  All  the  Buddhist  priests  in 
Ceylon  belong  ostensibly  to  one  or  other  of  the  two  great 
estabhshments  at  Kandy,  the  Asgiri  and  Malwatte.  In 
doctrines  and  disciphne  they  are  identical,  but  they 
differ  somewhat  in  territorial  authority,  the  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction  of  the  Asgiri  behig  understood  to  extend 
over  the  northern  parts  of  the  island,  and  that  of  the 
Malwatte  chiefly  over  the  temples  to  the  soutli.  With 
the  extinction  of  the  national  dynasty,  the  status  and 
influence  of  the  priesthood  have  undergone  a  rapid  de- 
chne;  —  not  that  their  ]:)ossessions  have  diminished, 
nor  that  the  protection  of  the  chiefs  has  been  less  gene- 
rous than  before ;  but  in  tlie  eyes  and  estimation  of  the 
people  they  have  endured  a  diminution  of  dignity  from 
the  loss  of  the  royal  ]:>resence,  in  wdiich  it  was  their 
privilege  to  bask.  Even  their  ritual  pomp  and  cere- 
monials no  longer  command  the  same  homage  from  the 
populace,  and  the  great  animal  jn-ocession  of  the  Pera- 
hara,  witli   its  torchlights,  its  solemn    music,  and   capari- 


1  Botd's  Embdssi/,  iSv.  Miscall. 
Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  214. 

-  After  burning'  tlio  bocli(>8  of  the 
deceased  king-s,  their  ji.slies  were 
carried  l)y  a  man  in  a  l)lack  mask, 
to  the  Miihawclli-gansia,    where    h(> 


opposite  bank,  whence  he  fled  to  tlie 
forest  and  was  presumed  to  be  never 
more  seen.  The  canoe  was  allowed  to 
drift  away  ;  the  horses  and  elephants 
that  accompanied  the  procession  were 
set  at  libertv  in  the  woods ;  and  the 


embarked  in  a  canoe.    At  the  deejiest  i  females   who   strewed  rice  over  the 
part  of  the  river  he  clove  the  vase      coffin,    were    transported  across   the 

with  a  sword,  scattered  the  avshes  on  river  and  forbidden  e\<n-  to  return. — 
the  stream,   and   plunging  headlong      TIavv's  Cciilnn,  p.  I(ii\ 

after  them,  dived  and  rose  near  the  ' 

o  3 


198 


KAXDY    AXD    PERADEXIA. 


[Part  VII. 


soiled  elephants,  is  spiritless  and  uniniprossive,  if  con- 
trasted witli  occasions  within  memory,  wlien  it  was 
hallowed  by  the  divine  presence  of  a  king,^ 

At  the  present  day  nothing  can  be  less  oljtrusive 
than  the  Buddliist  worship,  or  less  ostentations  than 
the  demeanonr  of  its  priesthood.  One  is  only  re- 
minded of  their  vicinity  when,  at  snnset  or  in  tlie 
early  morning,  the  silence  is  broken  by  the  noise  of 
tom-toms  and  the  plaintive  notes  of  tlie  Ante,  mingled 
Avith  the  discordant  blare  of  the  chank  shells,  which 
are  sounded  as  an  accompaniment  to  the  melancholy 
chaunting  of  their  choir. 

But  the  most  remarkable  object  at  Kandy  is  un- 
questionably the  dalada,  asserted  to  be  the  "  sacred 
tooth "  of  Briddha,  which  for  so  many  centuries  lias 
commanded  the  imreasonino;  homage  of  milhons  of  de- 
votees.  An  allusion  has  been  elsewhere  made  to  tlie 
traditional  history  of  this  relic  ^,  its  rescue  from  the 
flames  after  the  cremation  of  the  mortal  remains  of 
Gotania  Buddlia  at  Kusinara,  B.C.  543,  and  its  pre- 
servation for  eight  hundred  years  at  Dantapura  in 
Kalinga,  whence  it  was  brought  to  Ceylon  in  the  foiu'th 
century  after  Christ.^  It  was  afterwards  cajitm-ed  by 
the  Malabars  about  the  year  1315,  and  again  carried 
to  India,  but  recovered  by  the  prowess  of  Prakrama 
Bahu  III.  During  tlie  troublous  times  which  followed, 
the  original  tooth  was  hidden  in  difTerent  parts  of  the 
island,    at    Kandy,  at   Delgamoa   in    Saffragam,   and    at 


'  An  account  of  the  Pera-hara, 
and  the  historical  event  which  it 
commemorates,  will  be  fomid  in 
T7ie  Friend,  published  at  Colombo 
in  1830,  vol.  iii.  p.  41.  A  descrip- 
tion of  tlie  procession  as  it  was 
celebrated  two  centuries  ap-o,  is  con- 
tained in  the  trutliful  narrative  of 
Kxox,  pt.  iii.  ch.  iv.  p.  7S. 

2  See  Vol.  I.  rt.  Tii.  cli.  ix.  p.  888. 

^  A.D.  ^)\\,  3Iah(iW(niso,  ch.  xxxvii. 
p.  241 ;  Itajarali,  p.  240.  ^I.vn axajio, 
who  AVi'ote  his  portion  of  tlie  Maha- 
iranso,  between   a.d.  451)   and    477, 


quotes  as  liis  authority  for  tlie  his- 
tory of  tlie  tooth,  a  work  which  is 
extant  to  the  present  day,  called  the 
I)(i/(if!ii-irri)iso,  or  ('hroniclc  of  the 
DalmJa,  and  from  it  and  other 
sources  TuRXorR  drew  the  matei-ials 
for  a  memoir,  which  he  communi- 
cated in  18.'»7  to  the  Asiatic  Societv 
of  Benp-al,  ou  "  Tlie  Tooth-relic  of 
Ceiflon,''''  Asiat.  Sac.  Jonni.  lieuf/., 
vol.  \\.  p.  8o(i.  Forbes  puljlished  a 
paper  on  tlie  history  of  tlie  tooth, 
in  the  Cei/lon  Cdh-itdnr  for  18:5.5. 


Chap.  V.]  STOHY    OF   TTIR    TOOTIT.  199 

Kotmalie  ;  but  ut  lust  in  1560  it  was  discovered  by  tlie 
Portuguese  \  taken  to  Goa  by  Don  Constantine  de  Bra- 
ganza,  and  bimied  by  tlie  Archbishop  in  the  presence  of 
tlie  Viceroy  of  IncUa  and  his  couit. 

The  fate  of  this  renowned  rehc  is  so  remarkable,  and 
its  destruction  is  related  >vith  so  much  particularity 
by  the  Portuguese  annahsts  of  the  period,  and  their 
European  contemporaries,  that  no  historical  doubt  can 
be  entertained,  even  were  internal  evidence  wanting, 
that  the  tooth  now  exhibited  at  Kandy  is  a  spurious 
and  modern  substitute  for  the  original,  destroj^ed  in 
1560. 

The  story  as  told  by  De  Couto  ^  is  curiously  illustra- 
tive of  the  genius  and  ftuth  of  the  Buddhist  races.  No 
sooner  was  it  ascertained  that  the  relic  had  been  seized 
by  Don  Constantine,  than  the  sovereign  of  Pegu, 
who  had  previously  despatched  annual  embassies  to 
offer  homage  at  its  shrine,  sent  in  anxious  haste  to 
redeem  it  by  an  exchange  of  treasure  and  pohtical  services. 
The  fidalgos  of  Goa  were  eager  to  replenish  their  ex- 
hausted treasury  on  the  generous  terms  which  he  offered ; 
but  the  piety  of  the  Eoman  Catliolic  prelates  was  trium- 
phant, the  idolatrous  object  was  consumed,  and  its  ashes 
scattered  on  the  sea.^ 

But  a  very  few  years  elapsed  before  the  delusion  was 


^  For  the  particulars  of  the  siege 
and  captTire  of  Jaffna  in  L'jOO,  see 
Vol.  II.  Pt.  Ti.  ch.  i.  p.  28. 

^  The  account  of  the  capture  and 
subsequent  fate  of  the  Daluda  is  so 
important  an  incident  in  the  religious 
annals  of  Ceylon,  and  at  tlie  same 
time  has  so  significant  a  beanng-  on 
the  veneration  still  paid  to  the  sup- 
posed relic  at  Kandy,  that  I  have 
thought  it  necessary  to  translate  the 
passage  as  it  is  given  by  De  Cor  to, 


mode  of  its  destruction:  "  Assentado 
isto,  mandou  o  "N'iso-Rey  ao  Thesou- 
reiro  que  trouxesse  o  dente :  e  o 
entregou  ao  Arcebispo,  que  alii 
presentes  todos  o  lan^ou  em  hum 
almofariz,  e  com  sua  propria  mao  o 
pizou,  c  desfez  em  p6z,  e  os  deitou 
em  hum  brazeiro,  que  pera  isso 
mandou  trazer,  e  as  ciuzas,  e  carvoes 
mandou  lan9ar  no  meio  do  rio  a  vista 
de  todos,  que  assomaram  as  va- 
randiis,   e  janellas  que  cahiam  sobre 


in  his  Ilifitori/  of  the  CouqKcst  <if  Indid  i  o  mar." — ])k  Couto,  Dec.  A'ii.  lib.  ix 

/;//  the  Portuf/ucse.     It  will  be  foimd  i  ch.   xvii.  ;    see    also   RoDRlGUES    nK 

in  the  Appendix  to  this  chapter.  \  Saa,  ReheUon,  i^-c.   p.   18 — '09  ;    \ x- 

'^  The  narrative  of    De  Couto   is  '  lentyx,  ch.  xvi.  p.  .•J8.3. 
circumstantial  and  minnto  as  to  the  I 

o  4 


•200  KANDY     VXD    PRRADEXIA.  [I'akt  VIT. 

revived,  and  not  only  a  duplicate,  but  a  triplicate  of  tlie 
desecrated  relic  were  regarded  with  undiminished  ado 
ration  both  in  Pegu  and  Ceylon.  The  story  of  the 
resuscitated  imposture  is  related  by  De  Couto.  The 
Idng  of  Pegu,  in  1566,  ha\'ing  been  told  by  the  astro- 
logers that  he  was  to  wed,  a  Singhalese  princess,  sent 
to    demand   her   in   marriao;e :  ■  but   the   reio-uino;   sove- 

D       '  CO 

reign,  Don  Juan  Dharma  Pala,  ha\'ing  unfortunately 
no  child,  the  prophecy  was  on  the  point  of  discomfiture ; 
when  liis  chamberlain,  a  nobleman  of  the  blood  royal, 
suo-o-ested  the  substitution  of  liis  o"\vii  dauo-hter,  and 
added  impiety  to  fraud  by  feigning  to  the  Peguan 
envoys  that  he  still  held  in  secret  the  genuine  dalada, 
falsely  supposed  to  have  been  destroyed  by  the  Chris- 
tians at  Goa.  The  device  was  successfid,  the  supposi- 
titious princess  was  received  in  Pegu  with  all  the  nuptial 
honours  of  royalty  ;  and  ambassadors  were  despatched 
to  Ceylon,  to  obtain  possession  of  the  sacred  tooth, 
which  Avas  forthwith  transferred  to  Arracan. 

The  king  of  Kandy,  Wiki'ama  Bahu,  on  learning  the 
deception  which  had  been  perpetrated  by  his  cousin  of 
Cotta,  apprised  the  Peguan  sovereign  of  the  impostm-e 
Avliich  had  been  practised  upon  him  ;  and  to  redress  it  he 
offered  him  his  own  daughter  in  marriage,  and  proposed 
as  her  dowry  to  send  the  veritable  tooth,  afhrming  that 
both  the  one  recently  obtamed  from  Colombo,  and  the 
other  formerly  pulverised  at  Goa,  were  counterfeit,  his 
alone  being  the  genuine  rehc  of  Buddha.^  But  the 
prince  of  Pegu  was  too  devout  to  confess  himself  a 
dupe  ;  "  he  gave  ear  to  the  ambassadors,"  says  Faria  y 
Souza,  "  but  not  to  their  information,  and  thus  had  Don 
Constantine    de    Braganza    sold   the    tooth,    as   he    was 


*    The  Singhalese  never  seem   to  I  "and  obtained  from  the  kinjr  (of  Cey- 


have  been  sci-iipulous  about  multi 
ph-infj  Buddha's  teeth.  For  ^Marco 
Polo  says  tlie  Great  Khan  Khubla 
sent  to  demand  one  in  tlie  year  1281, 


Ion)  two  large  back  teeth,  together 
with  some  of  his  hair  and  a  handsome 
vessel  of  porphyry." — ^Iaijco  Polo. 
Trarch,  S^-c,  b.  iii.  eh.  xxiii.  p.  071. 


Chap.  V.] 


THE    SACRED    TOOTH. 


201 


advised,  there  had  not  been  two  set  up  to  be  adored  by 
so  many  people."  ^ 

The  incidents  of  tliis  narrative  are  too  minute,  and 
their  credibility  is  estabhshed  by  too  many  contemporary 
and  concurrent  authorities  ^,  to  admit  of  any  doubt  that 
the  authenticity  of  tlie  tooth  now  preserved  in  the  Mala- 
gawa  at  Kandy  is  no  higher  than  its  antiquity,  and  that 
the  supposed  relic  is  a  clumsy  substitute,  manufactured  by 
Wikrama  Bahu  in  1566,  to  replace  the  original  dalada 
destroyed  by  the  Portuguese  in  1560.^  The  dimensions 
and  form  of  the  present  dalada  are  fatal  to  any  belief  in 
its  identity  with  the  one  originally  worshipped,  whicli 
was  probably  human  *,  whereas 
the  object  now  shown  is  a  piece 
of  discoloured  ivoiy,  about  two 
inches  in  length,  and  less  than 
one  in  diameter,  resembling  the 
tooth  of  a  crocodile  rather  than 
that  of  a  man. 


THE    TOOTH. 


*  Faeia  t  Sotjza,  vol.  ii.  pt.  iii. 
ch.  ii.  p.  251  ;  De  Couto,  Dec.  viii. 
vol.  V.  pt.  i.  ch.  xii.,  xiii.  p.  74. 

^  The  fact  of  the  destruction  of 
the  tooth  iu  1561  by  Don  Constan- 
tine  de  Braganza  is  confirmed  by  the 
aiitliority  of  Rodrigtjes  de  Saa  t 
Menezes,  who  in  1678  wTote  his 
"  Rebelion  de  Cei/lan^^  to  commemorate 
the  exploits  and  death  of  his  father 
Constantine  de  Saa  y  Norona,  who 
perished  in  the  expedition  to  re- 
duce the  Kandyans  at  BaduUa,  a.d. 
1680. — Rehelion,  ilfc.,  ch.  i.  p.  18:  ch, 
vii.  p.  09.  The  stoiy,  wliich  must 
have  created  a  sensation  throughout 
India,  is  related  by  Sir  Thomas  Her- 
bert, whose  travels  were  published  in 
16.34,  and  by  Francois  Pyrard  de 
Laval,  who  visited  Ceylon  about 
1608  A.D.  Vojiaf/e,  Sf-c,  torn.  ii.  ch.  x. 
p.  89.  Valentyn  records  the  fate 
of  the  tooth,  and  says  it  had  been 
kept  near  Adam's  Peak  till  1554. 
Olid  en  Nieitw  Oost-lndien,  ch.  xvi. 
p.  382.  In  the  Narrative  of  the 
Mission  sent  hi/  the  Governor- General 


of  India  to  the  Court  of  Ava  in  1855, 
by  Captain  Yide,  tlie  envoy  and  his 
suite  pointed  out  to  him  near  the 
palace  at  Amarapoora  "  a  square  edi- 
fice, representing  the  depository  of 
the  tooth  of  Gotama,  wiiicli,  in  an- 
cient times,  was  preserved  within 
the  royal  precincts,"  p.  1.3G.  In 
descending  the  river  to  Rangoon  on 
the  retui'n  of  the  ^lission,  they  were 
shown  fit  Xyoimgoo,  the  Zeegoong 
pagoda,  which  "  enshrines  a  facsimile 
of  one  of  Gotama's  teeth." — Pp.  33, 
196. 

^  The  powers  of  tlie  tootli  as  a 
national  palladium,  and  tlie  exemp- 
tion of  Ceylon  from  foreign  domina- 
tion, so  long  as  it  possessed  the  relic 
and  tlie  sacred  tree  at  Anarajapoora, 
arc  propounded  in  the  Eajaratnaeari, 
Upiiam's  version,  ch.  i.  p.  2. 

•'  Faria  y  Souza  says  it  was  said 
to  be  the  tooth  of  an  ape,  but  this 
arises  from  confounding  IJuddha  and 
Ilanuman  the  Sacred  Monkey,  vol.  ii. 
pt.  ii.  ch.  xvi.  p.  207. 


202 


KAXDY    AND    PERADEXIA. 


[Part  VII. 


Its  popular  acceptance,  notwithstanding  this  anomalous 
shape,  may  probably  be  accounted  for  by  the  familiarity 
of  the  Kandyans,  under  their  later  kings,  with  the  forms 
of  some  of  the  Hindu  deities,  amongst  whom  Vishnu  and 
Kah  are  occasionally  depicted  with  similarly  projecting 
canines.^ 

The  apartment  in  which  it  is  deposited  is  in  the 
inmost  recess  of  the  Wihara,  a  small  chamber  without 
windows,  in  wliich  the  air  is  stiflingly  hot,  and  heavy 
with  the  perfume  of  flowers.  The  frames  of  the  doors 
are  inlaid  with  carved  ivory,  and  on  a  massive  silver 
table  stands  the  bell-shaped  carandua,  the  shrine,  which 
encloses  the  relic,  encrusted  with  gems,  and  festooned 
with  jewelled  chains.     The  outer  case  contains  a  munber 

"'"iiWIH.liMi    X""        '^-^'^    ^    I' I     '/I 


SHRINE  OF  THF,  SACKF.P  TOOTH. 


of  others,  similarly  wrought,  but  diminishing  in  size,  till 
on  removing  the  inner  one  a  golden  lotus  is  disclosed, 
ill    ihe  centre  of  which   reposes    the    mysterious   tooth. 


*  See  Moor's  Hhulu  Pantheon,  pi.  xxviii.  L. 


Chap.  V.]  IL\NDY.  203 

The  antiquity  of  these  caranduas  is  doubtful,  but 
their  fasliiou  and  form  appear  to  be  identical  with 
those  described  in  the  Rajaratnacari  as  having  been 
made  for  the  rehc  by  successive  sovereigns  between  12G7 
and  1464  A. D.^ 

Nothing  can  be  more  pictm-esque  than  the  situation 
and  aspect  of  Kaiidy,  on  the  l^aiiks  of  a  miniature  lake, 
overhung  on  all  sides  hy  lulls,  which  command  charm- 
ing views  of  the  city,  with  its  temples,  and  monuments 
below.  In  the  lake,  a  tiny  island  is  covered  by  a  pic- 
turesque building,  now  a  powder  magazine,  but  in  former 
tunes  a  harem  of  the  king.  A  road,  which  bears  the 
name  of  "  Lady  Horton's  Walk,''  winds  round  one 
of  those  hills ;  and  on  the  eastern  side,  which  is 
steep  and  almost  precipitous,  it  looks  dow^i  into  the 
valley  of  Doombera,  through  which  the  Mahawelli- 
ganga  rolls  over  a  channel  of  rocks,  presenting  a  scene 
which  nothing  in  the  tropics  can  exceed  in  majestic 
beauty. 

In  a  park  at  the  foot  of  this  acclivity  is  the  pavilion 
of  the  governor,  one  of  the  most  agreeable  edifices  in 
India,  not  less  for  the  beauty  of  its  architecture  than 
for  its  judicious  adaptation  to  the  climate.  The  walls 
and  columns  are  covered  with  chunam,  pre})ared  from 
calcined  shells,  wliich  in  whiteness  and  polish  ri\-als 
the  purity  of  marble.  The  high  ground  immediately 
behind  is  included  in  the  demesne,  and  so  successfully 
have  the  elegancies  of  landscape  gardening  been  com- 
bined with  the  wildness  of  nature,  that  dining  my  last 
residence  at  Kandy  a  leopard  from  the  forest  above 
came  down  nightly,  to  drink  at  the  fountain  in  the 
parterre. 

My  own  official  residence,  from  its  vicinity  to  the 
same  jungle,  was  occasionally  entered  by  equally  unex- 
pected visitors.  Serpents  are  numerous  on  the  hills,  and 
as  the  house  stood  on  a  terrace  formed  out  of  one  of  its 
steepest  sides,  the  cobi-a  de  ca])ello  and  the  green  cara- 

'  lidjonitiKK-dri,  pp.  103,  113. 


•204 


KAXDY    AND    PERADENIA. 


[Part  VTI. 


Chap.  V.J  SNAKES.  205 

Avellii  frequently  glided  through  the  rooms  on  their 
way  towards  the  grounds.  During  the  residence  of 
one  of  my  predecessors  in  office,  an  invaUd,  Avho  lay 
for  some  days  on  a  sofa  in  the  verandah,  imagined 
more  than  once  that  she  felt  sometliing  move  under  the 
])illow ;  and  on  rising  to  have  it  examhied,  a  snake  was 
discovered  with  a  brood  of  young,  wliich  from  theu- 
being  born  ahve  were  most  probably  venomous.  A  lady 
residing  in  the  old  palace  adjoining,  going  to  open  her 
piano  was  about  to  remove  what  she  thought  to  be  an 
ebony  walking-stick  that  lay  upon  it,  but  was  startled  on 
finding  that  she  had  laid  hold  of  a  snake. 

One  day  when  the  carriage  had  come  to  the  door,  and 
I  was  about  to  hand  a  lady  in,  a  rat-snake  uncoiled  itself 
on  the  cushion,  and  ghded  leisurely  down  the  steps. 
These  creatures,  however,  are  perfectly  harmless,  and  are 
encouraged  by  the  horse-keepers  to  take  up  their  abode 
about  the  offices  and  stable-yard,  wliicli  they  keep  fi"ee 
of  vermin.  In  colour  they  are  brown,  with  a  tmge  of 
iridescent  blue. 

Another  less  formidable  intruder  was  the  great  black 
scorpion  \  as  large  as  a  little  cray-fish,  which  sometimes 
when  disturbed  in  the  dayhght  made  its  way  across  the 
floor  with  its  venomed  tail  arched  forward,  prepared  to 
encounter  any  assailant.  Its  habits  are  crepuscular, 
lurking  by  day  under  stones  and  in  ruined  waUs  and 
cellars,  and  issuing  at  dusk  in  search  of  orthopterous 
larva3  and  succulent  insects.  Exaggerated  aj^prehen- 
sions  prevail  as  to  the  effi3Cts  of  its  wound,  which  is 
neither  dangerous  nor  very  painful,  l)ut  after  occasioning 
some  inflammation,  yields  to  the  free  use  of  hartshorn 
and  coohng  lotions.^ 

A  small  yellow  scorpion^  is  common  in  aU  parts  of 
the  island,  flat,  narrow,  and  about  two  inches  in  length. 


^  Buthns  Afer,  Linn. 

"^  Dr.  Davy  says,  that  in  Ceylon 
tlie  poison  of  the  scorpion  is  very 
little  if  at  all  more  active  than  that 
of  tho  1)P0  or  wasp.  He  adds,  that 
ill   tw(i  or  three  instances,  when  he 


tried  the  sting  of  the  lar<;e  black 
scorpion  on  fowls,  it  appeared  to 
have  no  effect.  (Daw's  Ceuhn,  p. 
101.)  ^ 

^  Scorpio  linearis,  Temp. 


206 


KAXDY    AXD    PEKADEXIA. 


[P-' 


VII. 


It  frequents  the  sleeping  apartments  and  wardrobes,  and 
conceals  itself  in  the  folds  of  loose  dresses.  It  is  regarded 
as  noxious,  but  I  beheve  unjustly,  as  I  never  heard  of 
any  inji^uy  arising  from  its  sting. 

The  temperatm-e  of  Kandy  is  beheved  to  have  in- 
creased in  warmth  since  the  surfaces  of  the  surrounduig 
mountains  have  been  diied  by  the  felhng  of  the  trees,  to 
convert  the  forests  into  plantations  of  coffee  ^ ;  —  and  it  is 
certamly  remarkable  tliat  althougli  grapes  TvdLl  not  ripen 
there  now,  as  the  vine  requires  a  winter  repose"^,  wine 
from  grapes  grown  on  the  spot  was  produced  in  the  time 
of  the  Dutch.  Spilberg,  Avho  drank  of  it  m  1602, 
describes  its  quahty  as  excellent ;  and  Valentyn  at  a  later 
})eriod  speaks  of  it  in  similar  terms.^ 


KANDYAN    CHIEFS. 


The  costumes  of  the  groups  of  Kandj'ans  who,  on  oc- 
casions of  ceremony,  present  themselves  to  the  governor 


'  For  an  analysis  of  the  climate 
of  Kaudv,  see  ante,  Vol.  I.  Pt.  i.  cb.  ii. 
p.  70. 

"^  See  Vol.  I.  rt.  I.  ch.  iii.  p.  89, 
and  Vol.  II.  p.  589. 

^  "  Tout  ce  que  Ton  recueille  dans 
les  autres  pais,  soit  buile,  fronient, 
vin,  y  pent  croitre  et  produire 
encore   mienx   qii'ailleurs.      Xom  y 


avo/is  bu  de  ires  bom  viim  (hi  cru  iht 
pais."  —  Si'iLBEiiG,  torn  ii.  p.  4.52. 
Valextyx  says,  the  wine  of  Kandy 
was  equal  to  any  in  Portuofal :  "  en 
die  in  zieh  zelve  zoo  proed  was,  als 
eenig-e  wyn  in  Portugal  gewasschen." 
—  Oud  en  Nteuw  Oost-Indien,  ch.  viii. 
p.  104. 


Chai'.  v.]  botanic   gardens.  '-^07 

at  the  Pavilion,  or  lounge  in  front  of  tlie  chief  civil 
officer's  cutcherry,  are  even  more  curious  tlian  those  of 
the  lo^v-conntry  Singlialese  at  Galle  and  Colombo.  The 
priests  of  Buddlia,  moody  and  abstracted,  draw  their 
yellow  robes  around  them,  and  walk  with  downcast 
eyes,  their  ears  appearing  unnaturally  large,  from  their 
heads  being  closely  shaven.  The  coralles  and  other 
petty  headmen  are  distinguished  only  by  a  flattened 
cap  of  white  calico,  but  the  great  chiefs,  the  Eate- 
inahatmeyas  \  and  the  nearly  extinct  rank  of  Dissave, 
wear  a  singularly  ungraceful  dress  of  stiffened  Avhite 
muslin,  with  gigot  sleeves,  a  goffred  Vandyck,  and  their 
waist  girt  by  an  embroidered  belt.  Each  is  accompanied 
by  an  attendant  bearing  an  umbrella  of  state,  or  an 
ornamented  fan  of  the  talipat-leaf  inlaid  with  talc,  as 
an  emblem  of  his  dignity. 

From  Kandy  to  the  Eoyal  Botanic  Garden  at  Pe- 
radenia,  the  road  for  nearly  four  miles  passes  through  a 
continuous  suburb,  in  wdiich  almost  every  house  is  sm- 
rounded  by  a  httle  garden  of  coco-nut  palms,  bread-fruit, 
and  coffee-trees.  The  Rajaratnacari  records  that  in  the 
year  1371  "the  king,  Wikrama  Bahu  III.,  ascended  the 
throne,  and  kept  his  court  at  Pira-deniya,  situated  near 
the  river  Maliawelh-<2;anfi'a,"  ^  but  no  traces  now  remain 
of  the  buildings  of  that  period. 

A  large  tract  by  the  banks  of  the  river  has  been  con- 
verted into  a  sugar  plantation,  originally  stocked  with 
canes  from  Mauritius  ;  but  the  experiment  has  not 
been  attended  with  the  anticipated  success,  the  produce 
barely  sufficing  for  the  supply  of  the  central  pro\TLnce. 
The  mediocrity  of  the  soil,  and  the  necessity  of  frequently 
changing  the  plants,  coii])led  with  a  superabundance  of 
merely  watery  fluid  in  the  canes,  and  disproportionate 
jdeld  of  saccharine,  have  liitherto  contributed  to  dis- 
courage the  extension  of  the  enterprise.  The  same  mi- 
satistactory  result  has  unfortunatel}^  characterised  all 
similar  attempts  in  other  parts  of  the  island. 


'  Literally,  " c-ountiy  gentlemen. "  *  Rajaratnacari,  \i.  111. 


208  KANDY   AND    PEKADENIA.  [Part  VII. 

The  cultivation  of  sugar  was  introduced  by  the  Dutch, 
and  has  been  attempted  by  the  EngHsh  ^  at  various 
places  in  the  vicinity  of  JSTegombo,  Caltura,  and  Galle. 
Of  these  almost  the  only  estates  on  which  the  effort 
has  been  energetically  persevered  in,  are  a  few  in 
the  southern  province,  one  especiaUy  on  the  Matura 
river  ;  but  the  series  of  previous  disappointments  deadens 
the  hope  of  any  very  decided  ultimate  success. 

The  entrance  to  the  Peradenia  Garden  is  through  a 
noble  avenue  of  India-rubber  trees  (Ficus  elastica)^ 
and  the  first  object  that  arrests  the  admkation  of  a 
stranger  on  entering  is  a  group  of  palms,  which  is,  I 
apprehend,  unsm^passed  both  in  variety  and  grandeur. 
It  includes  nearly  aU  those  indigenous  to  the  island, — 
the  towering  tahpat,  the  palmyra,  the  slender  areca, 
and  the  kitool,  with  its  formidable  thorny  congener, 
the  Caryota  horrida,  and  numerous  others  less  remark- 
able. Amongst  the  exotic  species  are  the  date-palm,  the 
Livistona  chinensis^  some  species  of  Calamus^  and  the 
wonderful  Coco-de-mer  of  the  Seychelles.^  Close  beside 
these  are  marvellous  specimens  of  the  symmetrical 
traveller's  tree  of  Madagascar  ^,  upwards  of  fifty  feet 
liigh,  surrounded  by  Yucca?  and  Scitaminice.  Nothing 
in  Ceylon  so  forcibly  impresses  a  traveller  with  the 
glory  of  tropical  vegetation,  as  this  luxuriant  and  un- 
rivalled display. 

The  garden,  covering  an  area  of  nearly  one  hundi'ed 
and  fifty  acres,  overlooks  the  noble  river  that  en- 
circles it  on  three  sides  ;  and,  surrounding  the  cultivated 
parterres,  the  tall  natural  woods  afford  a  favourable 
opportunity  for  exliibiting  some  of  the  wonders  of  the 
Ceylon  flora,  —  orchideaj,  festoons  of  floweiing  creepers 
[ipomceas  and  Mgnonias),   the  guilancl'uia  bondiic,  with 


^  Sir   Echviird   I'arnes,   witli    his  j       '  See  ante,  Vol.  II.  Vt.  vii.  c-li.  ii. 


fliaracteristic  vigilance,  fomied  one 
of  tlie  first  su<>'ar  plantations  at 
A'eang-odde,  Ijetween  Colombo  and 
Kandv. 


p.  170. 

^  Ravenala  sjyeciosa. 


Chap.  V.]  BOTANIC   GARDENS.  209 

its  silicioiis  seeds,  the  powerful  jungle-rope  {Bauhinia 
scandens),  and  the  extraorduiary  chmber^  whose  strong 
stays,  resembhng  in  form  and  dimensions  the  chain- 
cable  of  a  man  of  war,  lash  together  the  tall  trees  of  the 
forest. 

The  nm^series,  the  spice  ground,  the  orchards  and 
experimental  garden,  are  all  in  high  vigour ;  and  since 
the  formation  of  this  admu-able  institution,  about  thuty^ 
years  ago,  the  benefits  which  it  has  conferred  on  the 
colony  have  more  than  reahsed  the  anticipations  of  its 
founders.  European  and  other  exotic  plants  have  been 
largely  introduced ;  the  valuable  products  of  the  eastern 
Ai'chipelago,  cloves,  nutmegs,  vanilla,  and  otlier  spices, 
have  been  acclimatised ;  foreign  fruits  without  number, 
mangoes,  durians,  lichees,  loquats,  granadillas,  and  the 
avocado  pear,  have  been  propagated,  and  their  culti- 
vation extended  throughout  the  island ;  and  the  tea 
shrub,  the  chocolate,  arrow-root,  tapioca.  West  Indian 
ginger,  and  many  others  have  been  domesticated.  The 
present  able  and  accomplished  director  has  already  com- 
menced the  pubhcation  of  a  Singhalese  Flora,  the  com- 
pletion of  which  will  place  the  savans  of  Europe  m  pos- 
session of  accurate  information  as  to  the  botany  of  the 
island.  But  in  any  allusion  to  the  gardens  of  Peradenia, 
the  name  and  services  of  Dr.  Gardner,  to  whose  memory 
a  modest  monument  has  been  enected  in  tlie  grounds, 
will  always  be  associated  with  agreeable  recollections 
of  one  whose  genius  was  as  remarkable  in  acquiring 
as  his  gentle  manners  were  successful  in  popularising 
science  in  Ceylon. 

At  times  there  has  been  the  murmur  of  ill-informed 
utilitarianism   against   the    expenditure    bestowed   upon 


'  Baidnnia  racemosa  ? 

^  The  first  botanic  garden  in 
Ceylon  was  established  by  Mv.  North, 
in  1799,  at  Ortafula,  on  tlie  banks 
of  the  Kalany,  at  Colombo,  and 
M.  Joinville  was  named  its  curator. 
In  1810  it  was  transferred  to  a  por- 
tion of  Slave  Island,  which  thence 

VOL.  II. 


acquired  the  name  of  ''Kew,"  and  in 
1813  it  was  again  removed  to  Caltiira, 
where  Moon,  the  author  of  the  first 
Englisli  Catalogue  of  Ceylon  Plants, 
was  superintendent,  and  under  him 
tlie  present  gardens  were  eventujilly 
laid  out  at  Peradenia. 


210  E^VXDY   AND   PEEADEXIA  [Pakt  YII. 

the  botanic  garden  of  Peradenia.  But  the  object  of 
such  institutions,  and  the  functions  of  their  cmators, 
are  still  unperfectly  appreciated  even  in  the  locahties 
to  whose  welfare  they  are  most  conducive ;  OTvdng  chiefly 
to  an  ignorant  impatience  for  results  which  in  their 
veiy  nature  must  be  prospective.  The  fact  is  over- 
looked, that  such  fomidations  are  designed  not  for  in- 
dividual benefit,  but  for  the  collective  advantage  of 
communities  by  the  gradual  apphcation  of  science  to 
material  development. 

Objects  at  fii'st  despised  and  insignificant,  become 
sources  of  colonial  wealth  under  the  auspices  of  the  bo- 
tanist ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  productions  upon  which 
the  prosperity  of  a  region  may  be  dependent,  are  liable 
to  destruction  and  decay  in  the  absence  of  his  experience 
and  counsels.^  It  is  wise  pohcy  in  the  government  of 
a  country,  and  most  of  aU  of  a  new  and  unexplored 
one,  to  encoirrage  the  cidtivation  of  science  for  its 
own  sake,  confident  that  its  labours,  if  not  remunerative 
at  the  moment,  will  prove  infallibly  productive  in  the 
future. 

The  colonial  botanist,  in  addition  to  the  care  and 
nomenclatm'e  of  plants,  useful,  rare,  and  ornamental,  and 


^  Witness  the  wholesale  destruc-  practical  information,  however  accu- 

tion  of  the  forests  of  India  for  im-  rate  and  extensive,  is  useless  beyond 

mediate  profit ;  the  expenditiue  on  im-  their  own  sphere.     On  my  return  to 

remunerative  cultivation ;  the  waste  I  England,  I  was  no  less  stiaick  with 

of  money  and  labour  in  useless  drain-  the    fact   (which    as    a    juror    was 

ing  and  planting ;  the  neglect  of  in-  prominently     brought     before     me) 

valuable  products,  and  the  substitu-  that,  for  want  of  a  little  botanical 

tion  of  those  that  are  worthless ;  all  knowledge  on  the  pai-t   of  the   ex- 

ascribable  to  the  want  of  scientific  hibitors,  large   collections  of  veget- 

knowledge  and  guidance.  Dr.  Hooker  able    produce,    sent    to    the    Great 

remai-ks  (preface  to  the  Flora  of  Neio  ■  Exhibition,   were   rendered  all   but 

Zealand)  :    "  During   a   residence   of  valueless."     In  these  instances,  had 

some  years  in  om-  colonies  and  foreign  the  scientific  names  been  attached,  it 

possessions,  I  have  observed  that  the  woidd  have  been  easy  to  have  given 

inhabitants  are  invariably  anxious  to  such  a  popular  and  accurate  accoimt 

acquia-e   the    names    of   the    plants  of  the  articles  in  question,  that  they 

around  them  ;  they  regret  not  ha^'ing  might  have  been  recognised  by  any 

leanit   the   rudiments  of  botany  in  one  acquainted  with  the  rudiments  of 

their  youth,  and  are  most  desirous  botany,  and  thus  dii-ect  benefit  would 

that   their   children   slioidd   be    in-  have  accriied  to  the  colonies  produc- 

structed  in  them,  feeliug  that  their  ing  them. 


Chap.  V.j 


BOTANIC   GARDENS. 


211 


the  collection  of  fruits  and  products  of  aU  kinds,  for  an 
oeconomic  museum  of  botany,  should  take  upon  himself 
the  selection  of  a  Ubrary  and  the  formation  of  a  hortw^ 
siccus  for  consultation  and  reference.  These  duties,  to- 
gether with  his  foreign  correspondence  and  exchanges, 
the  reception  of  scientific  strangers,  the  journeys  of  him- 
self and  his  assistants  to  explore  the  country  and  collect 
botanical  specimens,  and  occasional  pubhcations  to  excite 
and  sustain  popular  interest  in  liis  pursuits,  ought  to  con- 
stitute the  functions  of  a  botanical  officer,  and  no  colony 
can  fail  to  reap  the  benefit  of  such  labom^s  if  judiciously 
discharged. 

But  the  dissatisfaction  which  has  occasionally  mani- 
fested itself  in  Ceylon,  arises  not  alone  from  a  want  of 
due  appreciation  of  tlie  legitimate  duties  of  a  superin- 
tendent, but  also  from  an  unreasonable  expectation  of 
services  not  legitimately  within  his  province.  A  know- 
ledge of  agriculture,  horticultm^e,  forestry,  pliarmacy, 
and  toxicology  have  each  been  demanded,  as  well  as  the 
philosophy  of  climates,  tlie  geologic  nature  of  rocks  and 
soils,  the  chemistry  of  manures,  and  the  oeconomic  iiabits 
of  animals,  birds,  and  insects ;  and  it  is  within  my  own 
knowledge  that  from  the  coffee  planters,  there  have  been 
remonstrances  to  the  local  government  as  to  the  propriety 
of  applpng  pubhc  funds  for  the  maintenance  of  an  insti- 
tution from  which,  in  regard  to  their  own  estates,  they 
had  failed  individually  to  obtain  assistance  in  connection 
with  these  and  similar  subjects.^  A  man  of  generous 
education  may,  no  doubt,  be  more  or  less  famihar  with 
such  studies,  but  even  if  a  scientific  botanist  felt  cUffident 
in  propounding  opinions  or  ofTermg  dii'ections  in  re- 
lation to  them,  his  peculiar  attaimnents  must  be  of  sio;nal 
advantage  in  mothfying  the  views  or  facihtating  tlie  ope- 
rations of  others.  So  charming  is  the  sphere  of  liis 
duties,  tliat  those  who  cannot  estimate  then-  importance 


*  In  some  colonies,  by  a  still  more 
imreasonable  requirement,  the  cu- 
rator of  the  botanic  garden  has  been 


expected  to  grow  vegetables  for  the 
table  of  the  governor,  his  officers,  and 
staff. 


p  2 


212  KAXDY   AND    PEEADENIA.  [Part  VIT. 

except  by  tlie  value  of  their  ostensible  results,  are  liable 
to  ignore  their  latent  utihty  in  the  contemplation  of  their 
ornamental  attractions.  But  observation  and  experience 
cannot  fail  to  dissipate  false  expectations ;  and  looking 
to  the  present  transitional  aspect  of  Ceylon,  and  the 
future  which  is  already  dawning  for  the  island,  my  con- 
\'iction  is  strong  that  no  estabhshment  in  the  colony  is  so 
essential  to  its  interest  as  the  Eoyal  Botanic  Gardens 
ofPeradenia. 


213 


NOTE  TO  CHAPTER  Y. 


STORY   OF   THE    DESTRUCTIOX    OF   THE    SACRED    TOOTH. 

Translated  from  the  Poi-tiigiiese  of  Diego  de  Couto,  Asia,  ^-c. 
Decade  vii.  lib.  ix.  ch.  2,  &c. 

After  describing  the  siege  and  reduction  of  Jaffna,  in  1560, 
by  the  viceroy  Don  Constantine  de  Braganza,  in  the  2nd 
chapter  of  the  vii.  decade,  book  ix.,  the  narrative  proceeds  as 

follows : — 

*«**♦#♦ 

"Amongst  the  spoils  of  the  principal  temple  they  brought 
to  the  viceroy  a  tooth  mounted  in  gold,  which  was  generally 
said  to  be  the  tooth  of  an  ape,  but  which  these  idolaters  regarded 
as  the  most  sacred  of  all  objects  of  adoration.  The  Viceroy 
was  immediately  made  aware  that  its  value  was  inestimable,  as 
the  natives  would  be  sure  to  offer  vast  sums  to  redeem  it. 
They  believed  it  to  be  the  tooth  of  their  great  saint  Buddha. 
This  Buddha,  so  runs  their  legend,  after  visiting  Ceylon,  tra- 
velled over  Pegu  and  the  adjacent  countries,  converting  the 
heathen  and  working  miracles;  and,  death  approaching,  he 
wrenched  this  tooth  from  its  socket,  and  sent  it  to  Cejdon  as  the 
greatest  of  relics.  So  highly  was  it  venerated,  by  the  Singhalese 
and  by  all  the  people  of  Pegu,  that  they  esteemed  it  above  all 
other  treasures."  *  *  ♦  #  * 


CHAP.   XVII. 

How  the  Kmg  of  Pegu  sent  to  offer  a  sum  of  gold  to  the  Viceroy 
Don  Constantine  for  the  ape^s  tooth,  which  was  taken  atJaf- 
na-jpatam,  and  of  the  decision  of  the  divines  thereupon,  and 
how  it  luas  resolved  to  destroy  it  by  fire. 

"  Martin  Alfonso  de  Mello  happened  to  be  in  Pegu  with  his 
ship  on  business,  when  the  Viceroy,  Don  Constantine,  returned 
(to  Goa)  from  Jaffna-patam,  and  the  king,  hearing  that  the 
*  tooth'  which  was  so  profoundly  revered  by  all  Buddhists  had 
been  carried  off,  summoned  Martin  Alfonso  to  his  presence,  and 
besought  him,  on  his  return  to  India,  to  entreat  the  Viceroy  to 
surrender  it,  offering  to  give  in  exchange  whatever  might  be 

V  3 


214  KANDY   AND    PEEADEXIA.  [r.vKT  VIT. 

demanded  for  it.  And  those  who  know  the  Peguaus,  and  the 
devotion  with  which  they  regard  this  relic  of  the  devil,  affirmed 
that  the  king  would  have  given  three  or  even  four  hundred 
thousand  cruzadoes  to  obtain  possession  of  it.  By  advice  of 
jNIartin  Alfonso,  the  king  despatched  ambassadors  to  accompany 
him  to  the  Viceroy  on  this  affair,  and  empowered  them  to  signify 
his  readiness  to  ratify  any  agreement  to  which  they  might  assent 
on  his  behalf. 

"Martin  Alfonso,  on  reaching  Goa,  in  April  1561,  apprised 
the  Viceroy  of  the  arrival  of  the  envoys,  who,  after  their  recep- 
tion, opened  the  business  for  which  they  were  accredited,  making 
a  request  for  the  tooth  on  behalf  of  their  sovereign ;  offering  in 
return  any  terms  that  might  be  required,  with  a  proposal  for  a 
perpetual  alliance  with  Portugal,  and  an  undertaking  to  provi- 
sion the  fortress  of  Malacca  at  all  times  when  called  upon ;  toge- 
ther with  many  other  conditions  and  promises.  The  Viceroy 
promised  an  early  reply,  and,  in  the  meantime,  communicated 
with  his  veteran  captains  and  fidalgos,  all  of  whom  were  in 
favour  of  accepting  an  offer  which  would  recruit  the  exhausted 
treasury ;  and  so  eager  were  they,  that  the  question  seemed  to  be 
decided. 

"  But  the  matter  having  reached  the  ear  of  the  Archbishop, 
Don  Gfaspar,  he  repaired  instantly  to  the  Viceroy,  and  warned 
him  that  he  was  not  to  permit  this  tooth  to  be  ransomed  for  all 
the  treasures  of  the  universe  ;  since  it  would  be  dishonouring  to 
the  Lord,  and  would  afford  an  opportunity  to  these  idolaters  to 
pay  to  that  bone  the  worship  which  belonged  to  God  alone.  The 
Archbishop  wrote  memorials  on  the  subject,  and  preached  against 
it  from  the  pulpit,  in  the  presence  of  the  Viceroy  and  his  court, 
so  that  Don  Constantino,  who  as  a  conscientious  Catholic 
feared  God  and  obeyed  the  Church,  hesitated  to  proceed  with 
the  affair,  or  to  take  any  step  that  was  not  unanimously 
approved.  He  thereupon  convened  an  assembly  of  the  Arch- 
bishop, the  prelates,  and  heads  of  the  religious  orders,  together 
with  the  captains  and  senior  fidalgos,  and  other  officers  of 
the  Government :  he  laid  the  matter  before  them,  the  large 
offers  of  money  that  had  been  made  for  the  tooth,  and  the 
pressing  wants  of  the  service,  all  of  which  could  be  provided 
for  out  of  so  great  a  ransom.  After  mature  deliberation,  a  reso- 
lution was  come  to  that  it  was  not  competent  to  part  with  the 
tooth,  since  its  surrender  would  be  an  incitement  to  idolatry, 
and  an  insult  to  the  Almighty;  crimes  which  could  not  be 
contemplated,  though  the  state,  or  even  the  world  itself,  might 


CuAP.  Y.}  STORY   OF   THE    TOOTH.  215 

be  imperilled.  Of  this  opinion  were  the  prelates,  the  inqui- 
sitors, the  vicar-general  of  the  Dominicans,  Fra  Manuel  de 
Serra  of  the  same  order,  the  prior  of  Goa,  the  Father  Custodian 
of  the  Franciscans,  Padre  Antonio  de  Quadros  of  the  Company 
of  Jesus,  the  Provincial  of  India,  and  others  of  the  Society  of  the 
Jesuits. 

"This  resolution  having  been  come  to  and  committed  to 
writing,  to  which  all  attached  their  signatures  (and  a  copy  of 
which  is  now  in  our  possession  in  the  Eecord  Office),  the  Viceroy 
called  on  the  treasurer  to  produce  the  tooth.  He  handed  it  to 
the  Archbishop,  who,  in  their  presence,  placed  it  in  a  mortar, 
and  with  his  own  hand  reducing  it  to  powder,  cast  the  pieces  into 
a  brazier,  which  stood  ready  for  the  purpose ;  after  which,  the 
ashes  and  the  charcoal  together  were  cast  into  the  river,  in  sight 
of  all,  they  crowding  to  the  verandahs  and  windows  which  looked 
upon  the  water. 

"  Many  protested  against  this  measure  of  the  Viceroy,  since 
there  was  nothing  to  prevent  the  Buddhists  from  making  other 
idols ;  and  out  of  a  piece  of  bone  they  could  shape  another  tooth 
in  resemblance  of  the  one  they  had  lost,  and  extend  to  it  the  same 
worship:  whilst  the  gold  that  had  been  rejected  would  have  re- 
paired the  pressing  necessities  of  the  state.  In  Portugal  itself 
much  astonishment  was  expressed  that  these  proceedings  should 
have  been  assented  to. 

"To  commemorate  the  event,  and  to  illustrate  the  spirit  which 
had  dictated  an  act  approved  by  the  Fathers  of  the  Company, 
and  signalised  by  zeal  for  Christianity  and  the  glory  of  Grod,  a 
device  was  designed  as  follows :  —  On  an  escutcheon  was  a 
representation  of  the  Viceroy  and  the  Archbishop  surrounded 
by  the  prelates,  monks,  and  divines  who  had  been  present 
on  the  occasion,  and  in  the  midst  was  the  burning  brazier, 
together  with  Buddhists  offering  purses  of  money.  Above  the 
letter  c,  being  the  initial  of  Don  Constantine,  was  repeated  five 
times  thus — 

c  c  c  c  c 

and  below  it  the  five  words — 

CoTistantinus  coeli  cupidine 
crumenas  cvemavit, 

the  interpretation  being  that  '  Constantine  devoted  to  heaven, 
rejected  the  treasures  of  earth.'" 

p  4 


216  KAXDY   AXD   TERADENIA.  [Part  VIT. 


DECADE  VIII. 


CHAPTER   XII. 


Hoiv  the  King  of  Pegu  sent  to  the  King  of  Ceylon  to  demand 
his  Daughter  in  mamage. 

*  *  *  "At  the  birth  of  Brama,  king  of  Pegu,  the  astro- 
logers who  cast  his  nativity,  predicted  that  he  should  marry  a 
daughter  of  the  king  of  Ceylon,  who  was  to  have  such  and 
such  marks  and  features,  and  certain  proportions  of  limbs  and 
figm-e.  Brama,  desirous  to  fulfil  the  prediction,  sent  am- 
bassadors to  Don  Juan  (the  king  of  Cotta),  whom  he  addressed 
as  the  sole  inheritor  of  the  royal  blood  and  the  only  legitimate 
sovereign  of  the  island  :  and  sought  his  daughter  in  marriage, 
accompanying  the  demand  by  a  ship-load  of  rich  presents,  con- 
sisting of  things  unknown  in  Ceylon,  besides  woven  cloth  and 
precious  stones.  The  envoys  arrived  about  the  time  that  the 
king  had  abandoned  Cotta  to  take  up  his  residence  within  the 
Fort  of  Colombo  (a.d.  1564).  He  received  the  ambassadors 
with  much  distinction,  and  learning  the  purpose  of  their  coming, 
he  concealed  from  them  the  fact  that  the  astrologers  were  in 
error,  as  he  was  childless.  He  had,  however,  brought  up  in  his 
palace  a  daughter  of  his  great  chamberlain,  a  prince  of  the 
blood  royal,  who  had  embraced  Christianity  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  the  governor  Francisco  Barreto,  whose  name  he 
assumed  ;  and  such  was  the  influence  of  this  man,  in  addition  to 
the  claim  of  relationship,  that  in  all  things  the  king  was  directed 
by  his  counsels.  This  girl  the  king  treated  with  every  honour 
as  his  own  child :  on  the  arrival  of  the  envoys  she  had  a  place 
assigned  to  her  at  the  royal  table,  and  was  addressed  as  his 
daughter,  and  under  that  designation  he  sought  to  render  her 
wife  to  the  king  of  Pegu.  The  opposition  which  he  appre- 
hended was  from  the  captain-general  of  Colombo  and  the 
Franciscans,  who,  although  the  girl  was  a  Buddhist,  might 
nevertheless  regard  her  as  a  lamb  within  their  fold,  whom  they 
could  any  day  induce  to  become  a  Christian,  and  they  were, 
therefore,  likely  to  interfere  to  prevent  her  leaving  the  island. 


Chap.  V.] 


STORY  OF  THE  TOOTH. 


217 


Discussing  these  considerations  with  the  great  chamberlain, 
who  was  a  man  of  resoiu'ces  and  tact,  the  latter  pointed  out 
to  the  king,  who  relied  on  his  judgment  in  all  things,  that 
although  forced  to  abandon  Cotta  and  reduced  to  poverty,  he 
might,  through  this  alliance,  open  up  a  rich  commerce  with  Pegu, 
and  he  accordingly  assented  that  the  girl  should  be  despatched 
to  the  king,  provided  she  was  conveyed  away  secretly  and  with- 
out the  knowledge  of  the  Portuguese  at  Colombo. 

"  But  the  chamberlain  did  more ;  in  concert  with  the  king, 
he  caused  to  be  made  out  of  a  stag's  horn  a  fac-siraile  of  the 
ape's  tooth  carried  off  by  Don  Constantine,  and  mounting  it 
in  gold,  he  enclosed  it  in  a  costly  shrine  richly  decorated  with 
gems.  Conversing  one  day  with  the  Peguan  ambassador  and 
the  Buddhist  priests  (talapoens)  in  his  suite,  who  were  about 
to  set  out  to  worship  and  make  offerings  at  the  sacred  footprint 
on  Adam's  Peak,  the  chamberlain,  who  was  a  Buddhist  at 
heart,  disclosed  to  them  in  confidence  that  Don  Juan,  the 
Singhalese  king,  was  still  in  possession  of  the  genuine  tooth  of 
Buddha^  that  which  was  seized  by  Don  Constantine  being  a 
counterfeit,  and  that  he,  the  great  chamberlain,  kept  it  con- 
cealed in  his  house,  the  king  of  Ceylon  having  become  a  Chris- 
tian. The  ambassador  and  the  talapoens  evinced  their  delight 
on  this  intelligence,  and  besought  him  to  permit  them  to  see  it ; 
he  consented  reluctantly,  and  first  obliging  them  to  disguise 
themselves,  he  conducted  them  by  night  to  his  residence,  and 
there  exhibited  the  tooth  in  its  shrine,  resting  on  an  altar, 
surrounded  by  perfumes  and  lights.  At  the  sight  they  pro- 
strated themselves  on  the  ground,  and  spent  the  greater  part  of 
the  night  in  ceremonies  and  superstitious  devotion ;  afterwards, 
addressing  the  great  chamberlain,  they  entreated  him  to  send 
the  relic  to  the  king  of  Pegu,  at  the  same  time  wath  the 
princess ;  undertaking  that  as  a  part  of  the  splendour  and  pomp 
of  the  marriage,  Brama  would  send  him  a  million  of  gold,  and 
year  by  year  despatch  to  Ceylon  a  present  of  a  ship  laden  with 
rice  and.  such  other  articles  as  might  be  required.  All  this 
was  negotiated  privately,  the  king  and  the  great  chamberlain 
alone  being  in  the  secret. 


'  De  Cottto,  who  originally  de- 
scribes it  as  the  tooth  of  Jkiddha, 
calls  it  in  this  passage,  "  Dente  do 
seu  idolo  Quijay ; "  and  in  another 
place  "do  Qin'ar,"  probably  a  corrupt 


spelling--  of  the  Bunnese  word  for  a 
Buddha  "  Phra,"  or  possibly  a  modi- 
fication of  tlie  Cliinese  name  for 
Gotama,  ^^  Kiu-fan.'^ 


218  KANDT  AND   PEKiDENIA.  [Part  VII. 

"  When  the  time  arrived  for  the  young  lady  to  take  her  de- 
partm-e,  it  was  so  cunningly  arranged,  that  neither  the  captain 
of  Colombo,  Diego  de  Mello,  nor  the  priesthood,  suspected  any- 
thing. Andrea  Bayam  Moodliar  accompanied  her  as  ambas- 
sador from  the  sovereign  of  Ceylon,  and  after  a  prosperous 
voyage,  they  landed  at  a  port  to  the  south  of  Cosmi',  and 
announced  their  success  and  the  arrival  of  the  queen  to  the 
delight  of  the  king  and  his  nobles.  *  *  *         rpj^g 

son  and  heir  of  the  king  received  her  as  she  disembarked 
*  *  *  the  king  met  her  at  the  gates  of  the  palace 
which  w^as  assigned  to  her  as  a  residence,  gorgeously  furnished 
in  chamber,  ante-chamber,  and  ward-=-room  with  all  that  became 
the  consort  of  so  rich  and  powerful  a  monarch,  who  conferred 
upon  her  immense  revenues  to  defray  the  charges  of  her  house- 
hold. For  days  he  devoted  himself  to  her  society,  conducted 
her  to  the  royal  residence,  and  with  great  solemnity  required 
the  people  to  swear  allegiance  to  her  as  their  queen.  The 
eunuchs  who  waited  on  her,  imparted  these  particulars  to 
Antonio  Toscano,  vdth  whom  they  were  intimate,  and  who 
communicated  them  to  me. 

"  But  as  in  these  countries  no  secret  is  long  preserved  which 
is  in  any  one's  keeping,  king  Brama  came  at  length  to  discover 
that  his  wife  was  the  daughter,  not  of  the  king,  but  of  his 
chamberlain ;  for  it  seems  that  Andrea  Bayam,  the  Singhalese 
ambassador,  who,  as  the  proverb  says,  could  not  keep  his  tongue 
within  his  teeth,  divulged  it  to  some  Chinese  at  Pegu,  who 
acquainted  the  king.  He,  however,  was  little  moved  by  the 
discovery,  especially  as  the  talapoens  and  ambassadors  gave 
him  an  account  of  the  ape's  tooth,  and  of  the  veneration  with 
which  it  was  preserved,  and  of  the  arrangement  which  they  had 
concerted  with  the  person  in  charge  of  it.  This  excited  the 
desire  of  Brama,  who  regarded  it  as  the  tooth  of  his  idol  '^,  and 
reverenced  it  above  everything  in  life ;  even  as  we  esteem  the 
tooth  of  St.  Apollonia  (though  I  shall  not  say  much  of  the 
tooth  of  that  sainted  lady) ;  more  highly  than  the  nail  which 
fastened  our  Saviour  to  the  cross ;  the  thorns  which  encircled 
his  most  sacred  head  ;  or  the  spear  which  pierced  his  blessed  side, 
which  remained  so  long  in  the  hands  of  the  Turks,  without  such 


^  Probably  Casmin,  on  a  branch  of  tlie  Irawaddi, 
2  ''Dente  do  sen  idolo  Qxiiai/," 


Chap.  V.]  STORY    OF   THE    TOOTH.  219 

an  effort  on  the  part  of  the  monarchs  of  Christendom  to  rescue 
them  as  king  Brama  made  to  gain  possession  of  this  tooth  of 
Satan,  or  rather  of  a  stag.  He  immediately  despatched  the 
same  ambassadors  and  talapoens  in  quest  of  it,  and  sent  extra- 
ordinary presents  by  them  to  the  king  of  Ceylon,  with  promises 
of  others  still  more  costly.  The  ambassadors  reached  Colombo, 
negotiated  secretly  with  Don  Juan,  who  placed  the  tooth  with 
its  shrine  in  their  hands  with  much  solemnity  and  secrecy,  and 
Avith  it  they  took  their  departure  in  the  same  vessel  in  which 
they  had  arrived." 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

Of  the  magnificence  and  splendour  witlt  tvhich  this  tooth  luas 
received  in  Pegu. 

"  In  a  few  days  they  drew  near  to  Cosmi,  a  port  of  Pegu,  whence 
the  news  spread  quickly,  the  priesthood  (talapoens)  assembled, 
and  the  people  crowded  devoutly  to  offer  adoration  to  the  tooth. 
For  its  landing  they  collected  vast  numbers  of  rafts  elaborately 
and  richly  ornamented,  and  when  they  came  to  carry  the 
accursed  tooth  on  shore  it  rested  on  gold  and  silver  and  other 
costly  rarities.  Intelligence  was  instantly  sent  to  Brama  to 
Pegu,  who  despatched  all  his  nobles  to  assist  at  its  reception, 
and  he  superintended  in  person  the  preparation  of  a  place  in 
which  the  relic  was  to  be  deposited.  In  the  arrangements  for 
this  he  displayed  to  the  utmost  all  the  resom-ces  and  wealth  at 
his  command.  In  this  state  the  tooth  made  the  ascent  of  the 
river,  which  was  covered  with  rich  boats  encircling  the  structure, 
imder  which  rested  the  shrine,  so  illuminated  that  it  vied  with  the 
brightness  of  day. 

"  The  king,  when  all  was  prepared,  seated  himself  in  a  boat 
decorated  with  gilding  and  brocaded  silks  ;  he  set  out  two  days 
in  advance  to  meet  the  procession,  and  on  coming  in  sight  of  it 
he  retired  into  the  cabin  of  his  galley,  bathed,  sprinkled  himself 
with  perfumes,  assumed  his  most  costly  dress,  and  on  touching 


0-20  KANDY   AND    PERADEXIA.  [r.vRT  YIT. 

the  raft  which  bore  the  tooth  he  prostrated  himself  before  it 
with  all  the  gestures  of  profound  adoration,  and  on  his  knees 
approaching  the  altar  on  which  rested  the  shrine,  he  received 
the  tooth  from  those  who  had  charge  of  it,  and  raising  it  aloft, 
placed  it  on  his  head  many  times  with  adjurations  of  solemnity 
and  awe  ;  then  restoring  it  to  its  place,  he  accompanied  it  on  its 
way  to  the  city.  As  it  passed  along,  the  river  was  perfumed 
with  the  odours  which  ascended  from  the  barges,  and  as  it 
reached  the  shore  the  talapoens  and  nobles  of  the  king  and 
all  the  chief  men  advancing  into  the  water  took  the  shrine  upon 
their  shoulders  and  bore  it  to  the  palace,  accompanied  by  an 
impenetrable  multitude  of  spectators.  The  grandees  taking  ofif- 
their  costly  robes,  spread  them  on  the  way  in  order  that  those 
who  carried  that  abominable  relic  might  walk  upon  them. 

"  The  Portuguese  who  happened  to  be  present  were  asto- 
nished on  witnessing  this  barbarous  pomp  ;  and  Antonio  Toscano, 
who  I  have  stated  elsewhere  w^as  of  the  party,  has  related  to  me 
such  extraordinary  particulars  of  the  majesty  and  grandeur  with 
wdiich  the  tooth  was  received,  that  I  confess  I  cannot  command 
suitable  language  to  describe  them.  In  fact,  everything  that  all 
the  emperors  and  kings  of  the  universe  combined  could  con- 
tribute to  such  a  solemnity,  each  eager  to  display  his  power  to 
the  utmost,  all  this  was  realised  by  the  acts  of  this  barbarian 
king. 

"  The  tooth  was  at  last  deposited  in  the  centre  of  the  court- 
yard of  the  palace,  under  a  costly  tabernacle,  upon  which  the 
monarch  and  all  his  grandees  presented  their  offerings,  declaring 
their  lineage,  all  which  was  recorded  by  scribes  nominated  for 
that  duty.  Here  it  remained  two  months,  till  the  wihare 
(yarela),  wiiich  they  set  about  erecting  could  be  constructed, 
and  on  which  such  expenditure  w\as  lavished  as  to  cause  an 
insurrection  in  the  kingdom. 

"  To  end  the  stor}',  I  shall  here  tell  of  what  occurred  in  the 
following  year,  between  the  king  of  Kaudy  and  Brama,  king 
of  Pegu,  respecting  these  proceedings  of  Don  Juan,  king  of 
Ceylon.  These  matters  which  Don  Juan  had  transacted  so 
secretly  touching  the  marriage  of  his  pretended  daughter  with 
the  king  of  Pegu,  as  well  as  the  affair  of  the  tooth,  soon 
reached  the  ear  of  the  king  of  Kandy,  who  learning  the 
immense  amount  of  treasure  which  Brama  had  given  for  it,  was 
influenced  with  envy,  (for  he  was  a  connection  of  Don  Juan, 
having  married  his  sister,  or  as  some  said  his  daughter,)  and 


Chap.  V.]  STORY    OF    THE    TOOTH.  221 

immediately  despatched  an  envoy  to  Pegu,  whom  the  king 
received  with  distinction.  He  opened  the  object  of  his  mission, 
and  disclosed,  on  the  part  of  his  master,  that  the  lady  whom 
Don  Juan  had  passed  off  as  his  own  child,  was  in  reality  the 
daughter  of  the  great  chamberlain,  and  that  the  tooth,  which 
had  been  received  with  so  much  pomp  and  adoration,  had  been 
fabricated  out  of  the  horn  of  a  deer ;  but  he  added  that  the  king 
of  Kandy,  anxious  to  ally  himself  with  the  sovereign  of  Pegu, 
had  commissioned  him  to  offer  in  marriage  a  princess  who  was 
in  reality  his  own  offspring,  and  not  supposititious :  besides 
which  he  gave  him  to  understand  that  the  Kandyan  monarch 
was  the  possessor  and  depositary  of  the  genuine  tooth  of  Buddha, 
neither  the  one  which  Don  Constantine  had  seized  at  Jaffna- 
patam,  nor  yet  that  which  was  held  by  the  king  of  Pegu,  being 
the  true  one, —  a  fact  which  he  was  prepared  to  substantiate  by 
documents  and  ancient  olas. 

"  Brama  listened  to  his  statement  and  pondered  it  in  his 
mind;  but  seeing  that  the  princess  had  already  received  the 
oaths  of  fidelity  as  queen,  and  that  the  tooth  had  been  wel- 
comed with  so  much  solemnity,  and  deposited  in  a  mhare, 
specially  built  for  it,  he  resolved  to  hush  up  the  affair ;  to  avoid 
confessing  himself  a  dupe,  (for  kings  must  no  more  admit 
themselves  to  be  in  error  in  their  dealings  with  us,  than  we  in 
our  dealings  with  them).  Accordingly,  he  gave  as  his  reply, 
that  he  was  sensible  of  the  honour  designed  for  him  by  the 
proffered  alliance  with  the  royal  family  of  Kandy,  and  likewise 
by  the  offer  of  the  tooth  ;  that  he  returned  his  thanks  to  the 
king,  and  as  a  mark  of  consideration  would  send  back  by  his 
ambassadors  a  ship  laden  with  presents.  He  caused  two  vessels 
to  be  prepared  for  sea,  with  cargoes  of  rice  and  rich  cloths,  one 
for  Don  Juan,  and  the  other  for  the  king  of  Kandy ;  and  in  that 
for  Don  Juan,  he  embarked  all  the  Portuguese  subjects  whom 
he  had  held  in  captivit}^,  and  amongst  them  Antonio  Toscano, 
who  has  told  me  these  things  many  times.  These  ships  having 
arrived  at  Ceylon,  the  one  which  was  for  the  Kandyan  port  had 
her  cables  cut  and  was  stranded  before  she  could  discharge  her 
cargo,  so  that  all  was  lost  and  the  ambassador  drowned ;  some 
said  that  this  was  done  by  order  of  the  Singhalese  king,  Don 
Juan,  and  if  so,  it  was  probably  a  stratagem  of  the  great  cham- 
berlain, for  the  king  himself  had  no  genius  for  plots.  Thus 
things  remained  as  they  were,  nothing  farther  having  been  at- 
tempted or  done." 


GAJilPOLA  AND   THE   COFFEE   EEGIOXS.     [Part  VIT. 


CHAP.  Yl 

GMIPOL.\   AND    THE    COFFEE    EEGIOXS. 

The  great  road  from  Kandy  to  the  Sanitarium  of 
Neuera-ellia,  a  distance  of  nearly  fifty  miles,  is  carried  to 
the  height  of  six  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  and  passes, 
for  the  greater  part  of  the  ascent,  tlirough  the  mountain 
districts,  wliich  have  recently  been  enriched  by  the  for- 
mation of  plantations  of  coffee.  For  the  first  twelve 
miles  it  runs  within  a  short  distance  of  the  MahaweUi- 
ganga,  crossing  it  by  the  bridge  of  Peradenia,  wdiicli 
here  spans  the  river  with  a  single  arch  of  more  than  two 
hundred  feet,  and  its  crown  nearly  seventy  feet  above 
the  stream.  Such  is  the  volume  and  ^dolence  of  the 
torrent  that  rushes  through  this  narrow  channel  durms; 
the  deluge  of  the  monsoons,  that  in  1834  the  waters 
rose  sixty  feet  above  the  ordinaiy  level,  hmiying  along 
the  trunks  of  forest  trees,  and  the  carcases  of  buffaloes, 
elephants,  and  deer. 

The  drive  from  Kand}"  to  Gampola  is  calculated  to 
convey  a  favom^able  impression  of  the  wealth  and  com- 
fort of  the  peasantry.  The  road  is  fined  with  bazaars  for 
the  sale  of  Em-opean  as  well  as  native  commodities  ;  and 
it  winds  between  farm-houses  and  granaries,  and  fields 
rich  in  cattle  for  the  labour  of  the  rice-lands. 

But  the  dwelhngs  visible  from  the  highway  are  prin- 
cipahy  occupied  by  low-country  Singlialese,  Avho  have 
resorted  to  the  hills  as  dealers ;  the  genius  of  the  Kan- 
dyans  being  morbidly  opposed  to  traflic  of  all  kinds, 
and  to  intercourse  with  strangers.  In  conformity  with 
this  feelinfT,  the  ^^llaQ:es  are  concealed  in  olens  and 
woods,  and,  wherever  it  is  practicable,  the  houses  are 
built  in  nooks  and  hoUows,  where  they  would   escape 


CuAr.  VI.] 


THE    KANDTANS. 


223 


observation,  were  it  not  tliat  tlieir  position  is  betrayed 
by  the  croAvns  of  the  few  coco-nut  pahns  A\dth  which 
they  are  ordinarily  surrounded,  or  the  deUcate  green  hue 
of  the  terraces  for  the  cuhivation  of  rice. 

Coupled  with  this  love  of  retirement  and  impatience 
of  intrusion,  one  of  the  main  features  m  the  general 
character  of  the  Kandyans  is  their  feudal  subserviency 
to  the  conventional  authority  of  their  chiefs,  and  the 
unreasonable  devotion  mth  which  they  worship  rank. 
Although  all  real  power  for  oppression  or  coercion 
has  been  abohshed  under  the  mild  rule  of  the  British, 
this  form  of  traditionary  subjection  remams  unaltered, 
and  apparently  indehble  in  the  national  instincts  of  the 
peasantry. 

In  intelhgence  and  acuteness  they  are  inferior  to  the 
people  of  the  low  country,  whose  faculties  have  been 
sharpened  as  well  by  longer  intercourse  with  Euro- 
peans, as  by  educational  training  ;  but  it  is  doubtful 
whether  in  moral  and  social  qualities,  the  Kandyans, 
with  all  then-  \ices,  are  not  superior  to  the  Singhalese.^ 
Tyranny  has  made  both  races  cowardly,  and  cowardice 
false,  till  such  is  the  prevalence  of  prevarication,  that 
shame  has  ceased  to  operate ;  judges  estimate  the  truth 
of  e\ddence  by  probabihty ;  and  during  my  o\vn  tenure 
of  office,  a  chief,  with  the  native  title  of  Bancia,  equiva- 
lent to  the  rank  of  a  "  prince,"  petitioned  for  the  re- 
mission of  his  punishment  for  perjuiy,  on  the  groimd 


^  A  sketcli  of  the  national  clia- 
racter  of  tlie  Singhalese  will  be  found 
in  Sir  J.  Emekson  Tennext's  His- 
tory  of  Cliristianity  in  Co/Ion,  ch.  vi. 
p.  249.  De  Qfincet,  iii  an  article 
on  Ceylon,  in  Blackwoocr s  Magazine 
for  November,  1848,  ^yllic•ll  has  since 
been  embodied  in  the  collected  edi- 
tion of  his  works,  has  described  the 
Kandyans  as  ''a  desperate  variety 
of  the  tiger-man,  agile  and  fierce, 
but  smooth,  insinuating,  and  full  of 
subtlety  as  a  snake."  As  compared 
with    the    low-coimtry    Singhalese, 


whom  he  paints  as  soft  and  passive, 
the  Kandyan  is  represented  as  "  a 
ferocious  little  bloody  coward,  full  of 
mischief  as  a  monkey,  grinning  with 
desperation,  and  laughinglike  a  hye- 
na."— I)e  Quikcet,  Works,  vol.  xii. 
p.  14.  The  extreme  exaggeration  and 
inaccuracy  of  these  passages  are  ac- 
counted for  by  the  personal  inexpe- 
rience of  the  author,  De  Quincey 
having  applied  to  the  nonual  con- 
dition of  a  race,  epitliets  merited  by 
rare  barbarities,  such  as  tlie  massacre 
of  Major  Davie's  companions. 


2-24 


G.OIPOM    AXD    THE    COFFEE    REGIONS.     [Part  VII. 


tliat  such  a  crime  was  notoriously  venial  amongst  his 
countrymen. 

Amidst  so  many  vices,  one  redeeming  virtue  which 
elevates  the  people  of  Ceylon,  especially  the  highlanders 
of  Kandy,  above  the  corresponding  classes  in  India,  is 
the  strons;  affection  which  binds  too-ether  those  of  the 
same  family,  and  the  reverence  and  tender  regard  Avith 
wdiich  old  age  is  honoured  and  watched  over  by  youth. 
Diu:ing  the  rebelhon  of  1817,  instances  occurred  of  sons 
and  brothers  who  voluntarily  dehvered  themselves  up 
to  the  British  in  broken-hearted  despair  on  learning 
the  fate  of  their  kindred  ;  and  one  of  the  ceremonies 
which  leads  pilgrims  to  the  siunmit  of  Adam's  Peak,  is 
the  desire  to  renew  the  vows  of  attachment  between 
relatives  and  friends,  and  to  solemnise,  by  a  reverential 
salutation  at  the  sacred  shrine,  the  love  of  the  young  for 
their  parents.^ 

Gampola,  the  ancient  Ganga-srl-jwora,  "  the  stately 
city  by  the  river,"  was  the  last  of  the  native  capitals 
of  Ceylon  before  the  exphing  dynasty  removed  to 
Cotta  about  the  year  1410.  It  was  built  in  the 
middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  it  was  liere  that 
Ibn  Batuta  shortly  afterwards  \dsited  the  king  by 
whom  it  Avas  founded^;  whose  palace  he  says  was  situ- 
ated near  a  bend  of  the  river  called  "  the  estuary  of 
rubies."  It  was  at  this  spot  that  his  successor,  in 
1405,  was  defeated  by  the  Chinese  general  Ching  Ho, 
and    carried    captive   to    Nankin.^     No    ruins    or    an- 


1  Dr.  Datt,  after  descnbing  the 
religious  ceremonial  at  the  Sacred 
Footstep,  says,  "  an  interesting  scene 
followed,  wives  affection ately  saluted 
their  husbands,  children  their  parents, 
and  friends  one  another.  A  {ztcv- 
headed  -woman  first  made  her  salaam 
to  a  venerable  old  man ;  —  she  was 
moved  to  tears,  and  almost  kissed  his 
feet.  He  raised  her  aftectionately, 
and  several  middh'-aired  men  then 
saluted  the  patriarchal  pair.  These 
were  salaamed  in  return  by  the 
vovmger  men,  who  had  first  paid  their 
respects  to  the  old  people,  and  lastly 


those  of  neai'ly  the  same  standing 
saluted  each  other  and  exchanged 
betel  leaves.  The  intention  of  these 
salutations  was  of  a  moral  ]dnd  ;  to 
confirm  the  ties  of  friendship,  to 
streng-then  family  kindness,  and  re- 
move animosities." — Davy,  pt.  ii. 
ch.  ii.  p.  345. 

^  BiirwAXEKA  Bahu  IV.,  about 
A.T).  1347,  Rajaratnacari,  p.  iii. ;  Ibx 
Batuta,  Lee's  Transl.  4to.,  ch.  xx. 
p.  186. 

3  For  an  account  of  this  event  sec 
Vol.  I.  Pt.  V.  ch.  iii.  p.  598. 


Chap.  VI.]  GMIPOLA.  225 

tiquities  remain  to  mark  the  site  of  ancient  edifices, 
and  the  city,  hke  the  generahty  of  those  in  the  East, 
where  domestic  buildings  were  formed  of  such  humble 
materials  as  wood  and  earth,  has  long  since  crumbled 
into  dust. 

But  Gampola  has  a  higher  modern  interest,  inasmuch 
as  it  was  one  of  the  first  places  in  Ceylon  at  wliich  the 
systematic  culture  of  coffee  was  attempted^;  and  it  is  at 
the  present  day  one  of  the  most  important  locahties  in 
the  district,  as  the  point  at  which  the  great  roads  converge 
which  connect  the  rich  districts  of  Pusilawa,  Dimboohi, 
Kotmahe,  and  Ambogammoa  vnth  Kandy  and  Colombo. 

The  rest-house  of  Gampola  is  one  of  the  most  fre- 
quented m  Ceylon ;  and  whilst  halting  here  a  servant 
showed  me  liis  hand  swollen  and  intiamed  with  the 
appearance  of  a  puncture  between  the  thumb  and  fore- 
finger, caused,  as  he  stated,  by  a  "tarantula,"  as  the  huge 
spider  Mygale  fasciata  is  vulgarly  and  erroneously  called 
in  Ceylon.  It  bit  him,  he  said,  in  the  wine  cellar,  when 
Hfting  a  bottle  in  the  dark ;  but  it  is  more  than  probable 
that  he  liad  mistaken  the  bite  of  a  centipede  or  the  nip 
from  the  chel^  of  a  scorpion  for  that  of  a  spider ;  for 
although  it  is  certain  that  the  mandibles  of  the  latter  are 
furnished  with  a  poisonous  venom,  I  have  never  heard  of 
any  well-authenticated  instance  of  mjmy  resulting  from 
its  attacks.  In  fact,  from  the  position  and  dkection  of 
the  jaws  the  creature  would  most  hkely  have  to  tmii 
over  in  some  awkward  way  in  order  to  inflict  a  wound, 
and  even  then  its  jaws  could  scarcely  embrace  an  object 
of  such  size  as  the  finger  or  hand  of  a  man. 

The  largest  specimens  I  have  seen  of  the  mygale  were 
at  Gampola  and  its  \dciiiity,  and  one  taken  in  the  go  down 
of  this  rest-house  nearly  covered  with  its  legs  an  ordinarj^- 
sized  breakfast  plate. 

This  hideous  creature  does  not  weave  a  broad  web  or 
net  hke  other  spiders,  but  nevertheless  it  forms  a  comfort- 


'  The  first  plantatiou  was  opened  at  G.ampola  by  !Mr.  George  Birch. 
VOL.    IT.  Q 


226  GA^IPOL.\   AXD   THE   COFFEE    KEGIOXS.       [Part  VII. 

able  mansion  in  the  wall  of  a  neglected  building,  the 
hollow  of  a  tree,  or  the  eaves  of  an  overhanging  stone. 
This  it  hnes  throughout  with  a  tapestry  of  silk  of  a 
tubular  form ;  and  a  textm^e  so  exquisitely  fine  and 
closely  woven,  that  no  moistm^e  can  penetrate  it. 
The  extremity  of  the  tube  is  carried  out  to  the  entrance, 
where  it  expands  into  a  httle  platform,  stayed  by  braces 
to  the  nearest  objects  that  afford  a  firm  hold.  In  par- 
ticidar  situations,  where  the  entrance  is  exposed  to  the 
w^ind,  the  mygale,  on  the  approach  of  the  monsoon,  ex- 
tends the  strong  tissue  above  it  so  as  to  serve  as  an 
awning  to  prevent  the  access  of  rain. 

The  construction  of  this  silken  dweUing  is  exclusively 
designed  for  the  domestic  luxury  of  the  spider ;  it  serves 
no  purpose  in  trapping  or  seciu-ing  prey,  and  no  ex- 
ternal distm'bance  of  the  web  tempts  the  creatm^e  to  sally 
out  to  surprise  an  intruder,  as  the  epemi  and  its  con- 
geners would. 

As  to  the  stories  told  of  the  mygale  catching  and 
kiUing  birds,  I  am  satisfied,  both  from  mquiry  and  ob- 
servation, that  at  least  in  Ceylon  they  are  destitute  of 
truth,  and  that  (unless  in  the  possible  case  of  acute 
sufiering  from  hunger)  this  creature  shuns  all  descriptions 
of  food  except  soft  insects  and  annehdes.  A  lady  at 
Marandan,  near  Colombo,  told  me  that  she  had,  on  one 
occasion,  seen  a  little  house-lizard  {gecko)  seized  and  de- 
voured by  one  of  these  ugly  spiders. 

The  soil  and  situation  of  Gampola  have  proved  un- 
favourable for  the  growth  of  coffee ;  but  there  is  hardly 
one  of  the  mafmificent  hills  seen  from  it  that  has  not 
been  taken  possession  of  by  European  settlers  within  a 
very  recent  period.  Although  the  coffee  plant,  the 
kdwdh  of  the  Arabs,  wliich  is  a  native  of  Africa,  was 
knowm  in  Yemen  at  an  early  period,  it  is  doulDtfiil 
Avhether  there,  or  in  any  other  country  in  the  world, 
its  use  as  a  stimulant  had  been  discovered  before  the 
beginning  of  the  fifteenth  centmy.  The  Arabs  intro- 
duced it  early  into  India,  and  before  the  arrival  of  the 
Portuguese   or    Dutch,  the    tree    had    been   grown  in 


Chap.  VI.] 


THE   COFFEE    TREE. 


227 


Ceylon ;  but  tlie  preparation  of  a  beverage  from  its 
berries  was  totally  unknown  to  the  Singhalese  ^,  who 
only  employed  its  tender  leaves  for  their  curries,  and 
its  dehcate  jasmine-hke  flowers  for  ornamenting,  their 
temples  and  shrines. 

The  Dutch  carried  the  coffee  tree  to  Batavia  in  1690  ^, 
and  about  the  same  time  they  began  its  cidtivation  in 
Ceylon.  But  as  their  operations  were  confined  to  the 
low  lands  around  Negombo  and  Galle,  the  locality 
proved  unsuitable,  both  in  temperature  and  soil.  The 
natives,  too,  were  unfavourably  disposed  to  the  innova- 
tion ;  and  although  the  quahty  of  the  coffee  is  said  to 
have  been  excellent  ^,  it  was  found  that  it  coidd  not  be 
raised  to  advantage  in  comparison  with  that  of  Java, 
where  the  experiment  proved  eminently  successful.  At 
length,  in  1739,  the  effort  was  suspended  ^ ;  but  the 
culture,  although  neglected  by  the  government,  was  not 
abandoned  by  the  Singhalese,  who,  having  learned  the 
commercial  value  of  the  article,  continued  to  grow  it  in 
small  quantities,  and  after  the  British  obtained  possession 
of  Ceylon,  the  Moors,  who  collected  it  in  the  villages, 
brought  it  into  Colombo  and  Galle,  to  be  bartered  for 
cutlery,  cotton,  and  trinkets.^ 

On  the  occupation  of  Kandy,  after  its  cession  in  1815, 
the  Enghsh  found  the  coffee  tree  growing  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  temples ;  and  gardens  had  been  formed  of  it  by 


*  Chbistian  "VVolf,  Life  and  Ad- 
ventures, p.  117. 

^  Crawfurd,  in  his  Dictionary  of 
the  Indian  Inland,  s.ays,  a  single 
plant  of  coffee  gi-o-mi  in  a  garden  at 
Batavia,  about  a.d.  1G90,  was  sent 
by  the  Governor-General  to  Holland, 
as  a  present  to  the  Governor  of  the 
Dutch  East  India  Company.  It  was 
planted  in  the  Botanic  Gardens  at 
Amsterdam,  where  it  flourished,  bore 
fruit,  and  the  fruit  produced  yomig- 
pliints.  Some  of  the  latter  were  sent 
to  the  Colony  of  Surinam,  where 
coffee  began  to  be  cultivated  as  aia 
article  of  trade,  a.d.  1718,  and  from 


thence  the  first  coffee  plants  were 
taken  to  the  Eng'lish  and  French 
West  India  Islands.  From  Java  the 
cidtivation  of  coff'ee  has  been  extend- 
ed to  Sumatra,  Celebes,  Bali,  and 
several  of  the  Philippine  Islands. 

3  See  3Iemoir,  by  M.  Bijrnand, 
Asiatic  Journal,  vol.  xii.  p.  444. 

*  ITemoir  of  Goveraor  Schreu- 
DER,  Appendix  to  Lee's  Riheijro,  p. 
193. 

*  Bertolacci  gives  the  export  of 
coffee  from  Cevlon,  in 

180G,  189  i  candies,  about  94,500  lbs. 
1810,  435'  „  217,500  lbs. 

1813, 432^^        ^,  216,500  lbs. 


Q  2 


228 


GAMPOLA   AXD   THE    COFFEE   REGIONS.       [Part  VII. 


the  king  on  the  banks  of  the  Mahawelli-ganga,  and  close 
to  his  pahice  at  Hangiiran-ketti. 

So  soon  as  Sir  Edward  Barnes  had  made  such  progress 
with  the  great  central  liigh  road  as  to  open  a  commu- 
nication with  the  liill  country,  it  was  obvious  to  his  clear 
and  energetic  mind  that  so  grand  a  work  would  be  a 
reproach  instead  of  a  trophy,  were  its  uses  to  be  hmited 
to  mere  mihtary  exigencies,  without  conducing  to  the 
material  prosperity  of  the  island.  Hence,  even  before 
its  final  completion,  liis  measures  were  taken  to  emulate 
in  Ceylon  the  industrial  enterprise  of  India.  The  pre- 
paration of  indigo  was  attempted,  but  unsuccessfuUy,  near 
Veangodde  ;  that  of  sugar  was  encom'aged  on  the  alluvial 
lands  of  the  interior ;  and,  taught  by  experience  the  inap- 
titude of  the  lowlands  for  the  profitable  cidtivation  of 
coffee  \  Sh-  Edward  formed  the  first  upland  plantation 
about  1825,  on  his  own  estate  at  Gangaroowa,  adjoining 
the  gardens  of  Peradenia. 

The  moment  was  rendered  propitious  by  a  concur- 
rence of  favourable  circumstances ;  the  use  of  coffee  had 
been  largely  increased  in  the  United  Kingdom  by  the 
remission  of  one  half  the  import  duty  in  1825, — a  mea- 
sure under  the  impetus  of  which  the  consumption  nearly 
doubled  itself  wdthin  three  years  ^,  and  w^ent  on  aug- 
menting till  it  outstripped  the  powers  of  production  in 
the  West  Lidies,  and  raised  the  value  of  coffee  to  such  a 
pitch  that  the  produce  of  India  and  Ceylon  came  into 
rapid  demand  at  highly  remunerative  prices.^ 

Coupled  with  these  fiscal  facihties,  another  important 
change   w^as    in    progress,    which    vastly    enlarged    tlie 


^  The  first  attempts  by  Britisli 
specidators  to  cultivate  coffee  in 
Ceylon,  were  made  on  the  banks  of 
the  Gindnra,  about  sixteen  miles 
from  Galle.  The  failure  was  so 
signal,  that  the  plants  were  taken  up 
to  put  down  sug-ar  cane,  and  these 
in  tuni  made  way  for  coco-nut  palms. 
— Lewis'  Coffee  rUmtiny  in  Ceylon. 
Colombo,  1855,  p.  5. 


^  Consumption    of   Coffee   in    the 
United  Eongdom, 

1824  7,903,040  lbs. 

1825  10,76(i,112  „ 

1826  12,724,139  „ 

1827  14,974,373  „ 

3  Porter's  Progress  of  the  Nation, 
p.  373,  549. 


ClIAP.  VI.] 


COFFEE   PLANTING. 


229 


demand  for  coffee,  not  only  in  Great  Britain,  but  over  a 
great  part  of  Western  Europe  ;  and  especially  in  Belgium 
and  France  ; — tliis  was  the  annually  diminisliing  con- 
sumption of  wine  concurrently  with  an  increasing  con- 
sumption of  coffee  ^  and  tea.  In  England  coffee  had  come 
to  be  a  necessary  of  hfe  for  the  poor,  as  well  as  a  luxmy 
to  tlie  opulent  classes. 

Almost  before  the  first  crops  of  Ceylon  could  be  ship- 
ped, the  industry  of  her  most  formidable  rivals  in  Jamaica, 
Dominica,  and  Guiana  was  paralysed  by  the  conduct  of 
the  slaves  subsequent  to  emancipation ;  and  the  pro- 
duction of  these  islands  beo-an  to  dechne  at  the  moment 
when  Ceylon  was  entering  on  her  new  career.^  It  was 
under  these  cu'cumstances  that  an  experiment  Avas 
inaugurated  in  the  Kandyan  highlands,  which,  within 
less  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  has  effected  an  indus- 
trial revolution  in  the  island,  converting  Ceylon  from 
a  sluggish  mihtary  cantonment  into  an  enterprising  Bri- 
tish colony,  and  transferring  the  supply  of  one  of  the  first 
requisites  of  society  from  the  western  to  the  eastern 
hemisphere. 

The  example  of  the  Governor  was  speedily  followed  ; 
plantations   were    opened   at   Gampola    and   elsewhere. 


*  Enqucte  Legislative,  snr  Vlmpot 
des  Boissons.  Paris,  1851,  RappoH, 
p.  35.  So  gi'eat  has  been  tlie  change 
of  manners  and  habits  in  tlie  United 
Kingdom,  even  ANathinthe  last  twenty 
years,  that  had  the  population  in 
1854,  taking  it  at  27,000,000,  dnmk 
coffee,  tea,  and  cocoa  in  the  same  pro- 
portion as  the  population  of  1835-G 


(the  latter  being  about  24,.S50,000), 
the  increase  in  the  consumption  of 
these  articles  wouhl  have  been  only 
8,125,000  lbs.,  whereas  it  has  actuaUi/ 
been  42,918,215  lbs.  In  1801  the 
individual  consumption  of  coffee  in 
Great  Britain  was  one  ounce  per 
annum  for  each  person,  in  1831  it  had 
risen  to  1  lb.  5i  oz. 


The  Imports  of  Coffee  into  the  United  Kingdom. 


Year. 

From  the  West  Indies. 

Exports  from  Ceylon. 

1827 
1837 
1847 
1857 

29,419,598  lbs. 

15,577,888  „ 
5,259,449  „ 
4,054,028     „ 

1,792,448  lbs. 

6,756,848  „ 
19,475,904  „ 
67,453,680     „ 

ci  3 


230  G.V3IP0LA   AND    THE    COFFEE   REGIONS.       [Part  VII. 

and  the  first  attempt,  tliougli  begun  in  a  comparatively 
low  altitude,  sufficed  to  demonstrate  the  superiority  of  the 
hill  country  over  the  low  land  for  cidtivation,  both  in  the 
quahty  and  the  abundance  of  the  produce. 

At  this  crisis  the  fate  of  the  experiment  was  decided, 
by  the  adoption,  in  1835,  of  a  measure  wliich  Sir  Edward 
Barnes  had  urged  on  the  home  government  in  1826  ; 
the  duty  was  equahsed  upon  East  and  West  India  coffee 
imported  into  the  United  Kingdom,  at  the  moment  when 
the  faihng  supply  of  the  latter  turned  attention  eagerly 
and  anxiously  towards  Ceylon.  In  the  very  next  year 
nearly  four  thousand  acres  of  mountain  forest  were 
felled  and  planted,  and  in  an  incredibly  short  time  the 
sale  of  crown  lands  exceeded  forty  thousand  acres  per 
annum.  ^ 

The  mountain  ranges  on  all  sides  of  Kandy  became 
rapidly  covered  with  plantations  ;  the  great  valleys  of 
Doombera,  Ambogammoa  ^ ,  Kotmalie,  and  Pusilawa 
were  occupied  by  emulous  speculators  ;  they  settled  in 
the  steep  passes  ascending  to  jSTeuera-eUia ;  they  pene- 
trated to  BaduUa  and  Oovah,  and  coffee  trees  quickly 
bloomed  on  solitary  hills  around  the  veiy  base  of  Adam's 
Peak. 

The  fii'st  ardent  adventurers  pioneered  the  way  through 


'  The  sales  of  crown  lands  between 
1837  and  1845  were  as  follows  : 

1837  .     .     .       3,061  acres. 

1838  .     .     .     10,401      „ 

1839  ,     .     .-     0,570      „ 

1840  .     .     .     42,841      „ 

1841  .     .     .     78,085      „ 

1842  .     .     .     48,533      „ 

1843  .     .     .     58,330     „ 

1844  .     .     .     20,415     „ 

1845  .     .     .     19,062      „ 
Much  of  this  land  was  boii<rlit  on 

speculation,  and  not  with  a  view  to 
immediate  cultivation. 

-  Of  tliese  districts,  one  of  the  first 
towards  which  the  rush  of  enteii^rise 


the  Kalany  river,  which  is  navigable 
for  a  oTeat  distance  above  Colombo, 
promised  the  utmost  amoimt  of  suc- 
cess to  the  experiment.  A  new  road 
was  constructed  to  connect  it  with 
the  capital,  and  thousands  of  acres 
of  crown  lands  wore  eag-erly  bought 
up  for  future  speculation.  But  in 
no  quarter  of  the  island  has  dis- 
appointment been  so  gi-eat  as  in  these 
favourite  valleys.  The  quality  of 
the  soil  proved  deceptive,  a  liU'ge 
proportion  of  the  estates  opened  were 
allowed  to  return  to  their  original 
wildness,  and  at  the  present  moment, 
although  the  number  of  plantations 


was  directed  was  the  beautiful  region      is  still  large,  the  average  produce  of 
of    Ambogammoa,    the    altitiule   of  j  the  district  is  the  lowest  in  Ceylon, 
whitli;  combined  with  its  vicinity  to  | 


CiiAP.  VI.]  COFFEE   PLANTING.  231 

pathless  woods,  and  lived  for  months  in  log-hnts,  whilst 
felhng  the  forest  and  making  their  prehminary  nm'series 
preparatory  to  planting  ;  but  within  a  few  years  the 
tracks  by  which  they  came  were  converted  into  high- 
ways, and  their  cabins  replaced  by  bungalows,  which, 
though  rough,  were  picturesque  and  replete  with  Euro- 
pean comforts.  The  new  hfe  in  tlie  jungle  was  fuU  of 
excitement  and  romance,  the  wild  elephants  and  leopards 
retreated  before  the  axe  of  the  forester  ;  the  elk  supphed 
their  table  ^\dth  venison,  and  jungle  fowl  and  game  were 
within  call  and  abundant. 

The  coffee  mania  was  at  its  chmax  in  1845,  The  Go- 
vernor and  the  Council,  the  IVIihtary,  the  Judges,  the 
Clergy,  and  one  half  the  Civil  Servants  penetrated  the 
hills,  and  became  purchasers  of  crown  lands.  The  East 
India  Company's  officers  crowded  to  Ceylon  to  invest 
their  savings,  and  capitahsts  from  England  arrived  by 
every  packet.  As  a  class,  the  body  of  emigrants  was  more 
than  ordinarily  aristocratic,  and  if  not  akeady  opulent, 
were  in  haste  to  be  rich.  So  dazzling  was  the  prospect 
that  expenditure  was  unlimited  ;  and  its  profusion  was 
only  equalled  by  the  ignorance  and  inexperience  of  those 
to  whom  it  was  entrusted.  Five  miUions  sterhng  are  said 
to  have  been  sunk  within  less  than  as  many  years ;  but 
this  estimate  is  probably  exaggerated.  The  rush  for  land 
was  only  paralleled  by  the  movement  towards  the  mines 
of  Cahfornia  and  Austraha,  but  with  this  painful  difference, 
that  the  enthusiasts  in  Ceylon,  instead  of  thronging  to 
disinter,  were  hurrying  to  bury  their  gold. 

In  the  midst  of  these  visions  of  riches,  a  crash  suddenly 
came  which  awoke  \ictims  to  the  reality  of  ruin.  The 
financial  explosion  of  1845  in  Great  Britain  speedily  ex- 
tended its  destructive  influence  to  Ceylon ;  remittances 
ceased,  prices  fell,  credit  failed,  and  the  first  announce- 
ment on  the  subsidence  of  turmoil,  was  the  doom  of  pro- 
tection, and  the  withdrawal  of  the  distinctive  duty,  whicli 
had  so  long  screened  British  plantations  from  competition 
with  the  coffee  of  Java  and  Brazil. 

u  4 


232 


GAMPOLA  A^^D   THE   COFFEE    KEGIONS.       [Part  VII. 


The  consternation  thus  produced  in  Ceylon  was  pro- 
portionate to  the  extravagance  of  the  hopes  that  were 
bhisted ;  estates  were  forced  into  the  market,  and  madly 
sold  off  for  a  twentieth  part  of  the  outlay  incurred  in 
forming  them.^  Others  that  could  not  even  be  sacrificed, 
were  deserted  and  allowed  to  return  to  jungle.  For 
nearly  three  years  the  enterj^rise  appeared  paralysed ; 
the  ruined  disappeared,  and  the  timid  retreated ;  but 
those  who  combining  judgment  with  capital  persevered, 
succeeded  eventually,  not  alone  in  restoring  energy  to  the 
enterprise,  but  in  imparting  to  it  the  prudence  and  ex- 
perience gleaned  from  former  disasters. 

The  crisis,  had  it  not  been  precipitated  by  the  cala- 
mities of  1845,  must  inevitably  have  ensued  from  the 
indiscretions  of  the  previous  period  ;  and  the  healthy 
condition  in  which  coffee-planting  appears  at  the  present 
day  in  Ceylon,  results  fi"om  the  correction  of  the  errors 
then  committed.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say,  that  there 
is  not  a  single  well-established  principle  which  now 
guides  the  management  of  estates,  and  the  conduct  of 
then-  proprietors,  that  was  not  preceded  by  a  directly 
opposite  pohcy  prior  to  1845.  Observation  has  since  dis- 
cerned the  true  tests  of  soil  and  aspect ;  former  delusions 
as  to  high  altitudes  have  been  exploded  ;  unprofitable 
districts  avoided,  unproductive  estates  abandoned  ;  and 
in  Heu  of  the  behef  that  a  coffee-bush,  once  rooted, 
would  continue  ever  after  to  bear  crops  without  manure, 
and  to  flourish  in  defiance  of  weeds  and  neglect,  every 


^  A  writer  in  the  Calcutta  Review, 
for  March,  1857,  cites  numerous 
instances  in  which  Aahiahle  estates 
\rere  sold  in  the  panic  for  nominal 
sums :  two  estates  in  Badulla  whicli 
had  cost  10,000/.  were  sold  for  350/. ; 
tlie  IIindu<ralla  plantation,  which 
cost  10,000/.,  produced  500/.  Mr. 
Atistix,  in  an  ahle  paper  attached 
to  Lees'  Translation  of  Hihei/ro^  says 
''an  estate  that  was  sold  in  1843 
for  15,000/.  was  knocked  doA\Ti  last 
month    (1847)   for    40/.    only."  —  p. 


220.  Mr.  EiGG,  in  the  Jotirnal  of  the 
Indian  Archipehir/o  for  1852,  p.  130, 
describes  the  loss  in  Ceylon  between 
1841  and  1847  as  nincfij  per  cent,  of 
the  gross  amount  preA'iously  invested 
in  coffee  plantinj,'-,  but  this  is  an  ex- 
cessive estimate.  Mr.  FEEorsoN's 
calcidation  is  probably  nearer  the 
truth,  that  in  addition  lo  the  money 
wasted  by  extravagant  management, 
the  extent  of  abandoned  estates  was 
equal  to  one  tenth  of  those  originally 
opened. — See  Colombo  Observer,  1857. 


CuAP.  VI.]  COFFEE   PLANTING.  233 

estate  is  now  tended  like  a  garden,  and  the  soil  enriched 
artificially  in  proportion  to  the  produce  it  bears.  Expen- 
diture has  been  reduced  within  the  bounds  of  discretion  ; 
an  acre  of  forest-land  can  be  brought  under  crop  in 
1857  for  one  tenth  what  it  cost  in  1844  ;  and  although 
the  extravagant  prices,  and  still  more  extravagant  expec- 
tations, of  that  period,  have  been  dissipated,  coffee-plant- 
ing at  the  present  day,  under  carefid  supervision,  promises 
to  be  as  sound  an  investment  as  moderate  enterprise  can 
hope  for. 

But  whatever  may  be  the  ascertained  advantages  of 
Ceylon  in  point  of  soil,  temperature,  and  moisture  ;  and 
however  bountiful  may  be  the  jield  of  the  plants,  the 
speculation  must  always  be  estimated  in  connection 
with  the  cost  and  vicissitudes  with  which  it  is  un- 
happily associated.  Anxiety  must  be  inseparable-  from 
an  undertaking  exclusively  dependent  on  immigrant 
labom* ;  and  hable  to  be  affected  at  the  most  critical 
moment  by  its  capricious  fluctuations.  JSTo  temptation 
of  wages,  and  no  prospect  of  advantage,  has  liitherto 
availed  to  overcome  the  repugnance  of  the  Singhalese 
and  Kandyans  to  engage  in  any  work  on  estates,  except 
the  first  process  of  felhng  the  forests.  Eveiy  subsequent 
operation  must  be  carried  on  by  coolies  from  Malabar  and 
the  Coromandel  coast,  whose  arrival  is  uncertain,  and 
whose  departiu-e  being  influenced  by  causes  arising  in 
India,  may  be  precipitated  by  the  most  unforeseen  oc- 
currences.' These  labourers  have  to  be  remunerated 
at  high  rates  in  the  silver  currency  of  India,  the  value 
of  which  fluctuates  with  the  exchanges ;  and  fed  on  rice 
imported  for  their  exclusive  consumption,  burtliened 
with  all  the  charges  of  freight,  duty,  and  carriage  to 
the  hills.  The  crop,  when  saved  on  the  estate,  has  either 
to  encounter  the  risks  incident  to  transport  by  hand, 
through  mountains  as  yet  un-opened  by  roads ;  or  the 


1  In   1858  the   nunibor  of  Tamil  I  9G,000.     The   nuiiiber  takiu<j    their 
labourers  arriving    in    Ceylon    was  |  depai-tiu-e  from  the  island  was  50,000. 


234 


GAMPOLA   AND    THE    COFFEE    EEGIOXS.       [Part  Vn. 


chances  of  deterioration  to  which  it  is  exposed  in  bullock- 
carts  during  long  journeys  to  the  coast. 

Evils  stni  more  formidable  from  natural  causes  beset 
the  trees  during  theh  growth  :  eddpng  winds  in  the 
mountain  valleys  loosen  the  plants,  and  injure  tlie  bark  ; 
Avild  cats,  monkeys,  and  squirrels  prey  upon  the  ripen- 
ing berries ;  caterpillars  devour  the  leaves,  and  at 
intervals,  a  plague  of  insects,  known  to  planters  as  the 
coffee-hug^  but  in  reahty  a  species  of  coccus^,  estabhsh 
themselves  on  the  young  shoots  and  buds,  and  cover 
them  ^\\i\\  a  noisome  incrustation  of  scales,  enclosing 
their  larva?,  fi'om  the  pernicious  influence  of  wliich  the 
fruit  shrivels  and  drops  off.'^ 

At  other  seasons,  the  golunda  rats^,  when  the  seeds 
of  the  nilloo  (strobilanthes),  on  which  they  feed,  are  ex- 
hausted^, invade  the  plantations  in  swarms,  gnaw  off 
the  young  branches,  and  divest  the  tree  of  buds  and 
bloom.  As  many  as  a  thousand  of  these  vermin  have 
been  killed  in  a  day  on  a  single  estate,  and  the  Malabar 
coohes  esteem  them  a  luxury,  and  eat  them  roasted  or 
fried  in  coco-nut  oil. 

Still,  in  defiance  of  all  risks  and  discouragement,  the 
rapid  extension  of  the  cultivation  of  coffee  in  Ceylon  is  the 
most  irrefragable  test  of  the  suitabihty  of  the  island  for 
its  growth  and  the  profit  at  which  it  may  be  conducted. 
By  far  the  most  valuable  statistical  record  on  this  subject, 
is  a  document  prepared  by  J\ir.  A.  M.  Fekgusox,  from 
data  collected  by  the  Planters'  Association,  exhibiting  in 
detail  the  number  of  estates  in  1857,  the  proportion  of 
acres  under  bearing,  the  amount  of  theh  produce,  and  the 


1  Lecamum  Coffea-,  "Walker. 

2  The  liistorv  of  these  insects  is 
so  remarkable,  that  I  have  appended 
as  a  note  to  this  chapter  an  account 
of  them  prepared  chiefly  from  a  re- 
port di-awn  up  by  the  late  Dr. 
Gardnek,  shortly  after  attention  had 


been  attracted  to  the  ravages  oc- 
casioned by  their  visitations  in  the 
coffee  estates  of  the  interior. 

^  Gohoula  ElUotti,  Gray.  See 
Kela art's  Fauna  Zei/la/i.,  p.  67. 

*  See  atite,  ^'ol.  I.  Pt.  i.  ch.  iii.  p. 
91. 


Chap.  VI.]  COFFEE  PLANTING.  235 

labour  required  on  each  during  crop-time.^  The  general 
result  is,  that  on  404  estates  (irrespective  of  large  tracts 
of  unfelled  forest,  reserved  for  future  extension),  the  area 
jdelding  coffee  was  63,771  acres,  and  that  planted,  but  not 
yet  bearing,  17,179.  The  number  of  Malabar  coohes  cm- 
ployed,  estimating  them  at  two  to  each  acre  in  crop-time, 
was  129,200,  and  the  produce  on  an  average  of  the  two 
previous  years,  347,100  cwt.  of  coffee.^ 

This  is,  of  course,  exclusive  of  the  quantity  grown  by 
the  natives  around  their  villages  and  detached  dwelhngs, 
of  which  in  the  same  year  100,000  cwt.  were  exported, 
besides  the  quantity  retained  for  home  consumption.  Esti- 
mating the  area,  therefore,  by  the  produce,  and  taking 
the  latter  at  the  average  of  5^  cwt.  to  each  acre,  it  would 
appear  that  not  less  than  130,000  acres  of  land  were 
yielding  coffee  in  1857,  of  which  50,000  at  least  were 
held  by  natives  of  Ceylon. 

As  to  the  future  prospect  of  the  colony,  Mr.  Ferguson 
calculates  that  suitable  lands  yet  to  be  brought  under 
cultivation  may  add  treble  to  the  present  acreage,  and 
the  produce,  by  improved  processes,  may  be  increased 
at  least  twenty-five  per  cent.  Should  prices  in  Europe 
continue  such  as  to  encourage  enterprise  in  Ceylon,  and 
no  unforeseen  occurrences  obstruct  the  influx  of  inuni- 
grant  labour  from  India,  ]\Ii\  Ferguson  looks  forward 
to  the  day  when  a  quarter  of  a  miUion  of  cultivated 
acres,  together  with  the  native  crops,  may  furnish  two 
million  cwt.  of  coffee  as  the  annual  production  of  the 
island.^ 

However  large  this  estimate  may  seem,  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  tlie  actual  expansion  of  the  trade 
has  hitherto  justified  every  previous  conjecture  as  to 
the  capabihties  of  the  colony :  within  twenty  years,  the 


^  This  table  is  so  valuable  as  an  ,  showing  the  locality  of  each  estate, 
historic  record,  that  I  have  appended  [       ^  Tliis,  it  will   be  observed,  is  at 
it  to  the  present  chapter,    together  '  the  rate  of  but  5|  cwt.  per  acre. 
with   a  map,   by  Mr.    iiiTOWsmith^  I       ^  Colombo  Observer,  1857, 


236  GAMPOLA   AND   THE   COFFEE   REGIONS.      [Part  VII. 

value  of  the  coffee  exported  lias  risen  from  107,000/. 
in  1837  to  1,296,736/.  in  1857  ;  and  whatever  uncer- 
tainty may  be  felt  for  the  future,  as  to  the  probable 
consumption  of  a  production  so  immensely  augmented, 
it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  already  markets  are 
opening  in  which  the  demand  seems  susceptible  of  al- 
most infinite  extension.  France,  last  year,  received 
more  than  one-third  of  the  coffee  sent  from  Ceylon ; 
a  very  considerable  quantity  is  shipped  annually  to 
Holland  (a  portion  of  it  probably  in  transit  to  Belgium 
and  Germany) ;  Australia  is  an  increasing  consumer ; 
the  United  States  take  a  yearly  supply ;  Singhalese 
coffee  has  been  sent  to  South  America ;  Calcutta  and 
Madras  received  it  from  Colombo,  and  even  the  Arabian 
and  Persian  races  have,  in  recent  years,  been  transferring 
their  taste  from  the  berry  of  Mocha,  to  that  of  Malabar 
and  Ceylon. 

Where  circumstances  enable  the  proprietor  to  be  re- 
sident on  his  own  estate,  and  to  superintend  its  opera- 
tions and  control  its  expenditure  in  person,  few  colonial 
pursuits  present  attractions  superior  to  these  exhibited 
by  Ceylon,  either  as  to  actual  enjoyment  or  reasonable 
returns  for  investment.  But  where  the  capitahst  is 
helplessly  reliant  on  the  honour  and  services  of  a  re- 
presentative on  his  distant  possessions  ;  under  circum- 
stances in  which  few  have  the  resolution  to  resist 
stimulants  and  the  usual  devices  for  diversifying  mono- 
tony and  overcoming  the  ennui  attendant  on  isolation 
and  sohtude ;  property  of  this  kind  is  accompanied  by 
inextricable  risks  and  anxieties ;  and  the  owner  will  be 
often  tempted  to  ascribe  to  bad  faith  or  neglect,  the 
disappointments,  outlay,  and  losses  which  are  in  reahty 
attributable  to  ordinary  vicissitudes  rather  than  to  the 
infidelity  of  agents. 

Amongst  the  many  public  works  by  which  Sir  Henry 
G.  Ward  has  signahsed  his  government  of  Ceylon,  one  of 
the  most  important  is  the  suspension-bridge  which  he  has 
succeeded   in    tlu'owing  across  the   Mahawelh-ganga   at 


Chap.  VI.] 


THE    OLD    FERRY. 


237 


Gampola ;  it  completes  the  communication  between  tlie 
central  capital  and  the  coffee  districts  of  the  Southern 
Zone,  and  is  an  object  of  the  highest  value  to  the  planting 
interests.  But  the  early  settlers  in  these  liills  will  long 
remember  with  interest,  the  ancient  ferry,  the  passage  of 
which  was  frequently  attended  with  danger  ;  when  the 
river,  swollen  by  sudden  rains  in  the  mountains,  swept 
past  in  a  torrent,  sometimes  raised  thirty  feet  above  the 
customaiy  level. 


THE    OLD    GAMPOLA   FERRT. 


238 


GAMrOLA   A^'D   THE   COFFEE   REGIONS.  [Pabt  Vn. 


STATISTICS    OF   CEYLON   COFFEE 


{From  the  "  Ceylon 


c 

E 

1 

Names  of  Districts. 

o 

% 
E 

3 

S 

c 

c 
> 

c 

|| 

> 
< 

i 
< 

c 
o 

5 

Average  Cultivation 
on  Estates. 

- 

Acres. 

Acres. 

Acres. 

Cwt. 

Cwt. 

Acres. 

1 

Allagalla 

14 

1,900 

400 

2,300 

7,000 

3-7 

164 

2 

Ambogammoa  . 

21 

4,340 

290 

4,630 

12,000 

2-7 

220 

3 

Badulla     .    . 

23 

2,300 

500 

2,800 

13,000 

5-6 

122 

4 

DiMBOOLA, 
LOWKR 

7 

1,590 

170 

1,760 

8,500 

5-3 

251 

5 

DiMBOOLA,  Up- 
per 

7 

1,110 

330 

1,440 

3,500 

3-1 

206 

6 

DOLLASBAGE     . 

18 

2,900 

370 

3,270 

9,500 

3-3 

182 

7 

DOOMBERE 

9 

1,520 

250 

1,770 

16,000 

10-5 

197 

8 

Hantanke  .     . 

22 

4,090 

700 

4,790 

16,000 

39 

217 

Carried  forward 

121 

19,750 

3,010 

22,760 

85,500 

Chap.  VI.] 


STATISTICS    OF   COFFEE    PLA:XTATI0XS. 


239 


PLANTATIONS,    1857.     BY   A.   M.   FERGUSON,   Esq. 
Observer;'  Uth  July,  1857.) 


c 

o.  . 

=  •5 
to 

Names  of  Estates  to  which  the  foregoing  Statistics  apply. 

Cwt. 

Coolies. 

8,000 

4,000 

Coodoogalle,  Peak,  Kirimittic,  Allagalla,  Oolankanda,  Dckinde, 
Moragaha,  Wyrley  Grove,  Amanapoora,  Kadaganava,  Gangarooa, 
Ingrogalla            (?)                (         ?         ). 

13,000 

6,000 

Iiuboolpittia,  Hyndford,  Wattewellc,  Mount  Jean,  Ineliyra,  Trafal- 
gar, Agrawatte,  Wadiacadoola,  Deckoya,  Gangawatte,  Teniitlc- 
stowe,  "Woodstock,  Galbodde,  Koorookoodia,  Atlierton,  Barcaple, 
Gilston,  Hcnawella,  Mookalana,  Hangran-Oya,  Dahanaike. 

15,000 

5,000 

Way vclhena,  Ootoombye,  Gourakellc.Passera  Polligollc,  Kottugod- 
de,Oodoowcrra,  Gongaltcnne,Glon  Alpin,Baddeganinie  or  Spring 
Valley,  Cannavarella,  Nahavella,  Weweise,  Debedde,  Dickbedde, 
Kahagalle,  Happotella,  Unugalla,  Redipanne,  Elizabeth,  Cooi'oon- 

dokelle            (?)(?)(?). 

9,000 

3,000 

Kellcwattc,  Bogahapatne,  Niagara,  Union,  Hudson,  Stoncycliff, 
Hunugalle. 

4,200 

2,000 

Wattcgodde,  Scalpa,  Louisa,  Eatmalkelle,  Radella,  Palaradclla, 
Hopewell. 

10,400 

5,000 

Kooroondawatte,  Paragalle,  Hillside,  Barnagalla,  Raxawa,  Madool- 
hena,  Malgolla,  Natakanda,  Allakolla,  Dorset,  Windsor  Forest, 
Pcnylan,  Kellie,  Kelvin,  Kattaram,  Hormusjie,  Mirootc,  Oora- 
kandc. 

18,000 

3,500 

Rajewelle  No.  1,  Rajcwelle  No.  2,  Mahabcria,  Ambecotta,  Ganga- 
watte, Deegalla,  Teldenia,  Kondissally,  Palikellc. 

19,000 

7,000 

Doonomadalawa,  Farieland,  Hendrick's,  Hantenne,  Primrosehill, 
Peradenia,  Govinda,  Mount  Pleasant,  Dodangwclla,  Richmond, 
Shrub's  Hill,  Ilindogalla,  Amblamana,  Gallaha,  Ingrogalla, 
Ooragalle,  Horagalle,  Kitoolmoola,  Oodoowella,  Malia  Oya, 
Dunally,  Galoya. 

96,600 

35,500 

240  GAMPOLA   AND    THE    COFFEE   KEGIOXS.  [Part  VIT. 


Names  of  Districts. 

"o 

c 

0) 

a 
o 

"a 

D.    . 
O  •« 

a 
o 

> 

e 
'2. 

s 

P5 

o 

c 
o 

2  ° 
>  " 

c 
c 

u 

O 

< 

Acres. 

Acres. 

Acres. 

Cwt. 

Cwt. 

Acres. 

Brought  forward 

121 

19,750 

3,010 

22,760 

85,500 

9 

Hewahette, 
Lower 

17 

2,550 

720 

3,270 

16,000 

6-3 

192 

10 

Hewahette, 
Upper 

11 

1,790 

944 

2,734 

9,000 

5-6 

249 

11 

HCNASGERIA     , 

17 

3,661 

558 

4,219 

28,000 

7-6 

248 

12 

Kadcgakava  . 

20 

3,975 

1,651 

5,627 

17,000 

4-3 

281 

13 

Kalibokka 

13 

2,660 

770 

3,430 

20,000 

7-5 

264 

14 

Kornegalle  . 

20 

2,500 

750 

3,250 

10,000 

40 

162 

15 

IVOTMALIE     .       . 

22 

3,800 

260 

4,060 

18,000 

4-7 

184 

16 

Knuckles  .     . 

16 

2,045 

792 

2,837 

12,000 

5-9 

177 

17 

Matelle,  East 

27 

3,291 

1,712 

5,003 

26,000 

7-9 

185 

Carried  forward 

284 

46,023 

11,167 

57,190 

241,500 

CiiAr.  VI.]        STATISTICS    OF   COFFEE    FLAXTATIOXS. 


241 


5,000 


3,000 


8,000 


6,000 


5,000 


7,000 


5,000 


8,000 


Names  of  Estates  to  which  the  following  Statistics  apply. 


93,500 


Charlemont,  Medegamma  No.  1,  Medegamma  No.  2,  Bowlana, 
Maousakella,  Bclwood,  Galantenne,  Dcltotte,  Great  Valley,  Little 
Valley,  Bopitia,  Pattiagamma,  Naranghena,  Waloya,  Lool-Con- 
dura,  Codugalla,  Kalloogalpatne. 

Gonavey,  Hope,  Mooloya,  Nathoongodde,  Yakabendakelly,  Rickcl- 
legascadde,  Wevatenne,  Hangurankette,  Pookeloya,  Gallela, 
Cavinella. 

Galgawatte,  Happoowiddc,  Nilocanda,  Kittoolgalla,  Hunugalla, 
Halgolla,  Horagalla,  IMahatenna,  Dotallagalla,  Elkadua,  Algool- 
tenne,  Waygalla,  Ilunasgeria,  Patampahi,  Udogodde,  Gavatenue, 
Ellagalla. 

De  Soysa's,  Mahabelongalla,  Solomon's,  Churcliill,  Franklands, 
Alpittykanda,  Providence  Mount,  Prospect,  Cottagalla,  Kallagalla, 
Wackittiatcnne,  Gona-Adica,  Gadadessa,  Hunegalla,  Ambelawa, 
Sinipitia,  Ashbourne,  Bokanda,  Villakande,  Kehelwatte. 

Relugas,  Hoolankanda,  Deyanilla,  Galhcria,  Nillomally,  Hununa- 
galla,  Maousakelle,  Madoolkelley,  Ilatella,  Wattikelley,  Mai- 
wattey,  Ratnatenne,  Lagallakanda. 

Handrookanda,  Bulatvellekanda,  Kattuwella,  Moorootikanda,  Dod- 
angtalawa,  Goongannua,  Paragodde,  Ambacoombra,  Oodahena, 
Morrakanda,  Katookitool,  Dunira,  Rockhill,Greenwood,  Galgcdera, 
Boldegalla,  Tallatenne,  Hatbowe,  Doolwella,  Belloongodde. 

Bowhill,Kadianlcna,  Baharundra,  Kataboola,  Kooroowakka,  Oonoo- 
cotooa,  Telesangalla,  Y.allebende,  Hennwelle,  Oonoogalpatne, 
Hai-angolla,  Tyspane,  Bellevue,  Queensberry,  Doombcgastalawa, 
Habogastalawa,  Dnonuwille,  Kolapatna,  Gigiranoya,  GongoUa 
Fettercairn,  Cattoogalla. 

AUakoUa,  Kandekettia,  Lcangolla,  Madakelle,  Katooloya,  Kootoo- 
atenne,  Tunisgalla,  Dalookoya,  Bellses,  Barabraella,  Battagalla, 
Middleton,  Moraga,  Goomera,  Lebanon,  Gouragalla. 

Nagalla,  Gammadua,  Kensington,  Mitchell's,  Callaualla,  Opalgalla, 
Ellagalla,  Cattaratenne,  Dankandc,  Midland  Attgodde,  Bambra- 
galla  No.  1,  Cabroosa  Ella,  Bambragalla  No.  2,  Oodelamana, 
Nicholoya,  Poengalhi,  Cabragalla,  Petikanda,  Sylva  Kandc, 
Kinrara,  Damboolagalla,  Kandenewcra,  Maousagalla,  WiriapoUe, 
Godapolla  No.  1,  Godapolla  No.  2. 


VOL.  II. 


242 


G.\iIPOLA   AND    THE    COFFEE    REGIOXS.  [Part  YII. 


Nam(  s  of  Districts. 

C 

P 

c 
> 

"5 

1 
c  » 

"  2 

< 

,5 

> 

01 

% 
E 

3 

1 

P 

O 

'A 

.5 

o 

>  w 
< 

o. 

c 
o 

< 

Acres. 

Acres. 

Acres. 

Cwt. 

Cwt. 

Acres. 

Brought  forwai-d 

284 

46,023 

11,167 

57,190 

241,500 

18 

Mateile.West 

16 

2,100 

830 

2,930 

15,500 

7-4 

183 

19 

Maturatte     . 

10 

330 

890 

1,220 

2,600 

7-9 

122 

20 

Medajiahakew- 

£RA 

9 

895 

450 

1,345 

4,500 

50 

149 

21 

Nllambe     .     . 

9 

2,180 

390 

2,570 

14,000 

6-4 

285 

22 

Pdsilawa  .    . 

28 

6,330 

570 

6,900 

40,000 

6-3 

246 

23 

Ea1!GB0DDE       . 

19 

1,411 

952 

2,363 

7,000 

50 

124 

24 

Rangalla  .    . 

8 

1,095 

820 

1,915 

9,000 

80 

239 

25 

Saffragasi     . 

7 

1,200 

500 

1,700 

5,000 

4-2 

243 

26 

Waliapake     . 

5 

777 

30 

807 

4,500 

5-8 

161 

27 

Yacdessa   .    , 

8 

1,430 

580 

2,010 

3,500 

2-4 

251 

Totals  &  Averages 

403 

63,771 

17,179 

80,950 

347,100 

5-5 

200 

Chap.  YI.]  STATISTICS    OF    COFFEE    PLANTATIONS, 


243 


a 

a, 
o 

O 

11 
■5^3 

Names  of  Estates  to  which  the  following  Statistics  apply. 

Cwts. 

Coolies. 

290,100 

93,500 

20,000 

5,000 

Kent,  Amboka,  Seli<;amraa,  Beradowella,  Vicarton,  Borders,  Etta- 
polla,  Berksliirc,  Wiltshire,  Hampshire,  iladua,  Madewelle,  An- 
coombra,  Ballacadua,  Gorala  Elhi,  Lagahaella, 

8,500 

2,000 

Goodwood,  Gonapatna,  Mormon  Hill,  AUakollawewa,  Smiths's 
Maduren,  Newera,  Manapitia,  Seaton,  Alma,  Bartholomcuz. 

6,500 

2,000 

Nugatenne,  Gallakclla,  CaliforTiia,  Ellen  Maria,  Alea  Vittene, 
Dodangalla,  Woodside,  Watte  Kelle,  Hangrogamme. 

15,000 

4,000 

Wattcgodde,  Haaloya,  Wariagalla,  Nilambc,  Vcdchettia,  Colgrain, 
Nawagalla,  Galloway,  Knowe,  Goorookelle. 

42,000 

10,000 

Moneragalla,  Rothschild,  Gouracoddc,  AVaygahapittiya,  Niapana, 
Harmony,  Katookelle,Yattepiangalla,  Doragalla,  Dowategas,  Pea- 
cock, Kalloogalla,  Moragalla,  Melfort,  Blackfbrcst,  Delta,  Glenlock 
Wliyddon,  Hallebodde,  Kattookitool,  Kandalawa,  Stcllenberg, 
Newmarket,  Proprasse,  Caragastalawa,  MeegoUa,  Peak,  and  Peak 
Forest. 

11,000 

3,500 

Condagalla,  Labookelle,  Pallagalla,  Eangbodde,  Bluepills,  Ram- 

bodde,  Weddcmulla,  Poojagodde,  Wavcndon,  Eyrie,  Willisfords's, 
Sabonadiere's,  Tavalamtennc,  Poondelloya,  Harrow,  Eton,  Robert- 
son's, Neitner's,  Mecriscotoakelle. 

15,500 

3,500 

Cotaganga,  Girindc  Ellc,  Lovegrove,  Gallebodde,  Ranwella,  Batta- 
galla,  Rangallc  No.  1,  Rangalle  No.  2. 

7,000 

2,000 

Massena,  Patigalla,  Hatarebage,  Fpringwood,  Evarton,  Barra, 
Palamcottah. 

4,800 

1,200 

Alnwick,  St.  Margaret's,  Tulloes,  Kirklees,           (         ?         )• 

4,500 

2,500 

Horagalla,  Yacdesse,  Dotola,  Nagastcnue,  Burn,  Galamudina, 
Bennetsfield,  Stenshells. 

424,700 

129,200 

244  GA^irOLA   AXD    THE    COFFEE    REGIOXS.      [Fart  YII. 

NOTE. 

THE  COFFEE  BUG. 

(Lecanium  Cofece,  ^Talker.) 

The  following  notice  of  the  Coccus,  known  in  Ceylon  as  the 
"  coffee-bug,"  and  of  the  singularly  destructive  effects  produced 
by  it  on  the  plants,  has  been  prepared  chiefly  from  a  memoir 
presented  to  the  Ceylon  Grovernment  by  the  late  Dr.  Gardner, 
in  which  he  traces  the  history  of  the  insect  from  its  first 
appearance  in  the  coffee  districts,  until  it  had  established  itself 
more  or  less  permanently  in  all  the  estates  in  full  cultivation 
throughout  the  island. 

The  first  thing  that  attracts  attention  on  looking  at  a  coffee 
tree  which  has  for  some  time  been  infested  by  this  coccus,  is  the 
number  of  brownish  wart-like  bodies  that  stud  the  young  shoots 
and  occasionally  the  margins  on  the  underside  of  the  leaves. 
Each  of  these  warts  or  scales  is  a  transformed  female,  containing 
a  large  number  of  eggs  which  are  hatched  within  it. 

\Mien  the  young  ones  come  out  from  their  nest,  they  run 
about  over  the  plant  looking  very  much  like  diminutive  wood- 
lice,  and  at  this  period  there  is  no  apparent  distinction  between 
male  and  female.  Shortly  after  being  hatched  the  males 
seek  the  underside  of  the  leaves,  while  the  females  prefer  the 
young  shoots  as  a  place  of  abode.  If  the  under  sm'face  of  a 
leaf  be  examined,  it  will  be  found  to  be  studded,  particularly 
on  its  basal  half,  with  minute  yellowish-white  specks  of  an 
oblong  form.  These  are  the  larvas  of  the  males  undergoing 
transformation  into  pupag,  beneath  their  own  skins ;  some  of 
these  specks  are  always  in  a  more  advanced  state  than  the  others, 
the  full-grown  ones  being  whitish  and  scarcely  a  line  long. 
Some  of  this  size  are  translucent,  the  insect  having  escaped; 
the  darker  ones  have  it  still  within,  of  an  oblong  form, 
with  the  rudiment  of  a  wdng  on  each  side  attached  to  the  lower 
part  of  the  thorax  and  closely  applied  to  the  sides ;  the  legs 
are  six  in  number,  the  four  hind  ones  being  directed  backwards, 
the  anterior  forwards  (a  peculiarity  not  occurring  in  other 
insects);  the  two  antennie  are  also  inclined  backwards,  and 
from  the  tail  protrude  three  short  bristles,  the  middle  one 
thinner  and  longer  than  the  rest. 

When    the    transformation    is    complete,    the    mature    in- 


CiiAP.  VI.]  THE    COFFEE    BUG.  245 

sect  makes  its  way  from  beneath  the  pellucid  case ',  all  its 
orofans  havincj  then  attained  their  full  size  :  the  head  is  sub- 
globular,  with  two  rather  prominent  black  eyes,  and  two 
antennae,  each  with  eleven  joints,  hairy  throughout,  and  a 
tuft  of  rather  longer  hairs  at  the  apices;  the  legs  are  also 
hairy,  the  wings  are  horizontal,  of  an  obovate  oblong  shape, 
membranous,  and  extending  a  little  farther  than  the  bristles  of 
the  tail.  They  have  only  two  nerves,  neither  of  which  reaches 
so  far  as  the  tips ;  one  of  them  runs  close  to  the  costal  margin, 
and  is  much  thicker  than  the  other,  which  branches  off  from 
its  base  and  skirts  along  the  inner  margin ;  behind  the  wings  is 
attached  a  pair  of  minute  halteres  of  peculiar  form.  The  pos- 
session of  wings  woukl  appear  to  be  the  cause  why  the  ftdl- 
grown  male  is  more  rarely  seen  on  the  coffee  bushes  than  the 
female. 

The  female,  like  the  male,  attaches  herself  to  the  surface  of 
the  plant,  the  place  selected  being  usually  the  young  shoots ; 
but  she  is  also  to  be  met  with  on  the  margins  of  the  undersides 
of  the  leaves  (on  the  upper  surface  neither  the  male  nor  female 
ever  attach  themselves) ;  but,  unlike  the  male,  which  derives  no 
nourishment  from  the  juices  of  the  tree  (the  mouth  being 
obsolete  in  the  perfect  state),  she  punctures  the  cuticle  with  a 
proboscis  (a  very  short  three-jointed  proviuscis),  springing  as  it 
were  from  the  breast,  but  capable  of  being  greatly  porrectcd, 
and  inserted  in  the  cuticle  of  the  plant,  and  through  this  she 
abstracts  her  nutriment.  In  the  early  pupa  state  the  female 
is  easily  distinguishable  from  the  male,  by  being  more  ellip- 
tical and  much  more  convex.  As  she  increases  in  size  the 
skin  distends  and  she  becomes  smooth  and  dry ;  the  rings  of 
the  body  become  effaced;  and  losing  entirely  the  form  of  an 
insect,  she  presents,  for  some  time,  a  yellowish  pustidar  shajje, 
but  ultimately  assumes  a  roundish  conical  form,  of  a  dark  brown 
colour.^ 


^  'Mr.    Westwooi),  wlio  obsen-ed  ;  Coccus  infest  common  pl<ants  about 

the  operation  in  one   species,  states  gardens,  sncli  as  the  Nerium  Olcan- 

that    they    escape    backwards,    the  der,      riunieria      Acuminata,      anil 

wings  being  extended  flatly  over  the  ;  others   with    milky  juices:    anotlier 

head.  '  subgenus  (Cerophistes?),  the  female 

-  There  are  many  other  species  of  ,  of  which  produces  a  protecting  waxy 

the   Coccus   tribe   in    Ceylon,    some  material,     infests     the     Gendurassa 

(Pseiidococcus  ?)  never  appearing  as  '  "S'ulgaris,  the  Furcrtea  Gigantea,  the 

a  scale,  the  female  wrapping  herself  ;  Jak   tree,  Mango,   and   other  coni- 

up   in   a   white   cottony  exudation  ;  s  mon  trees, 
many  species  nearly  allied  to  the  true  1 

R  3 


24G 


G.UIPOLA   A^B   THE    COFFEE   EEGIOXS.       [Part  YII. 


Until  she  has  nearly  reached  her  full  size,  she  still  possesses 
the  power  of  locomotion,  and  her  six  legs  are  easily  distinguish- 
able in  the  under  surface  of  her  corpulent  body;  but  at  no 
period  of  her  existence  has  she  wings.  It  is  about  the  time  of  her 
obtaining  full  size  that  impregnation  takes  place  (Reaumur  has 
described  the  singular  manner  in  which  this  occurs,  Mem.,  torn. 
iv.),  after  which  the  scale  becomes  somewhat  more  conical,  as- 
sumes a  darker  colour,  and  at  length  is  permanently  fixed  to  the 
surface  of  the  plant,  by  means  of  a  cottony  substance  interposed 
between  it  and  the  vegetable  cuticle  to  which  it  adheres.  The 
scale,  when  full  grown,  exactly  resembles  in  miniature  the  hat  of 
a  Cornish  miner,  there  being  a  narrow  rim  at  the  base,  which 
gives  increased  surface  of  attachment.  It  is  about  ^  inch  in 
diameter,  by  about  yV  deep,  and  it  appears  perfectly  smooth  to 
the  naked  eye,  but  it  is  in  reality  studded  over  with  a  multitude 
of  very  minute  warts,  giving  it  a  dotted  appearance ;  it  is  entirely 
destitute  of  hairs,  except  the  margin,  which  is  ciliated.  The 
number  of  eggs  contained  in  one  of  the  scales  is  enormous, 
amounting  in  a  single  one  to  691.  The  esrsrs  are  of  an  oblong 
shape,  of  a  pale  flesh  colour,  and  perfectly  smooth.  A  few 
small  yellowish  maggots  are  sometimes  found  with  the  eggs ; 
these  are  the  larvee  ^  of  insects,  the  eggs  of  which  have  been 
deposited  in  the  female  while  the  scale  was  soft.  They  escape 
when  mature  by  cutting  a  small  round  hole  in  the  dorsum  of  the 
scale. 

It  is  not  till  after  this  pest  has  been  on  an  estate  for  two  or 
three  years  that  it  shows  itself  to  an  alarming  extent.  During 
the  first  year,  a  few  only  of  the  ripe  scales  are  seen  scattered 
over  the  bushes,  generally  on  the  younger  shoots ;  but  that 
year's  crop  does  not  suffer  much,  and  the  appearance  of  the 
tree  is  little  altered.  The  second  year,  however,  brings  a 
change  for  the  worse ;  if  the  young  shoots  and  the  underside  of 
the  leaves  be  now  examined,  the  scales  will  be  found  to  have 
become  much  more  numerous,  and  with  them  appear  a  multitude 
of  white  specks,  which  are  the  young  scales  in  a  more  or  less 
forward  state.  The  clusters  of  berries  now  assume  a  black 
sooty  look,  and  a  great  number  of  them  fall  off  before  coming 


1  Of  the  parasitic  Clialcididino, 
many  genera  of  which  are  Avell 
knoAAni  to  deposit  their  eggs  in  the 
soft  Coccus,  viz. :  Encystus,  Cocco- 
phagus,  Pteromulus,  Mesosehi,  Ago- 


nioneurus ;  besides  Aphidius,  a 
minutely  sized  genus  of  Ichneu- 
monidtB.  ]\rost,  if  not  all,  these 
s-enera  ai-e  Singhalese. 


CiiAr.  VL]  THE    COFFEE    BUG.  247 

to  maturity ;  the  general  health  of  the  tree  also  begins  to  fail, 
and  it  acquires  a  blighted  appearance.  A  loss  of  crop  is  this 
year  sustained,  but  to  no  great  extent. 

The  third  year  brings  about  a  more  serious  change,  the  whole 
plant  acquires  a  black  hue,  appearing  as  if  soot  had  been  thro\vn 
over  it  in  great  quantities ;  this  is  caused  by  the  growth  of  a 
parasitic  fungus  ^  over  the  shoots  and  the  upper  surface  of  the 
leaves,  forming  a  fibrous  coating,  somewhat  resembling  velvet 
or  felt.  This  never  makes  its  appearance  till  the  insect  has  been 
a  long  time  on  the  bush,  and  it  j)robably  owes  its  existence 
there  to  an  unhealthy  condition  of  the  juices  of  the  leaf,  con- 
sequent on  the  irritation  produced  by  the  coccus,  since  it 
never  visits  the  upper  surface  of  the  leaf  until  it  has  fully 
established  itself  on  the  lower.  At  this  period  the  young 
shoots  have  an  exceedingly  disgusting  look  from  the  dense  mass 
of  yellow  pustular  bodies  forming  on  them,  the  leaves  get 
shrivelled,  and  the  trees  become  conspicuous  in  the  row.  The 
black  ants  are  assiduous  in  their  visits  to  them.  Two-thirds 
of  the  crop  is  lost,  and  on  many  trees  not  a  single  berry  forms. 

As  far  as  it  is  possible  to  ascertain,  the  coffee  bushes  were 
not  affected  before  1843,  when  Captain  Robertson  first  observed 
the  pest  on  his  estate  at  Lapalla  Galla,  whence  it  spread  east- 
Avard  through  other  estates,  and  finally  reached  all  the  other 
estates  in  the  island.  It  or  a  very  closely  allied  species  has  been 
observed  in  the  Botanic  Garden  at  Peradenia,  on  the  Citrus 
acida,  Fsidium  'pomiferum,,  Myrtus  Zeylanica,  Rosa  Indica, 
Careya  arborea,  Vitex  Negiindo,  and  other  plants.  The  coffee 
coccus  has  generally  been  first  observed  in  moist  hollow  jjlaces 
sheltered  from  the  wind ;  and  thence  it  has  spread  itself  even  over 
the  driest  and  most  exposed  parts  of  the  island,  and  in  some 
estates,  after  attaining  a  maximum,  it  has  gradually  declined, 
but  has  shown  a  liability  to  reappear,  especially  in  low  sheltered 
situations,  and  it  is  believed  to  prevail  most  extensively  in  wet 
seasons.  It  is  easily  transmitted  from  one  estate  to  another, 
while  in  its  earlier  stages,  on  the  clothes  of  human  beings,  and 
in  various  other  ways,  which  will  readily  suggest  themselves. 
Dr.  Gardner,  after  careful  consideration  and  minute  examination 
of  estates,  arrived  at  the  conclusion,  that  all  remedies  suggested 


^  Racodium  f  Species  of  this  genus  !  bushes.  It  appears  like  a  dense  in- 
are  not  confined  to  the  coffee  plant  I  terlaced  mesh  of  fibres,  each  made 
alone  in  Ceylon,  but  follow  the  up  of  a  single  series  of  minute  oblong 
"bugs"  in   their  attacks   on   other  !  vesicles  applied  end  to  end. 

R  4 


248  G.OIP0L.\   A^s'D   THE    COFFEE    REGIONS.       [Part  VII. 

up  to  that  time  had  utterly  failed,  and  that  none  at  once  cheap 
and  effectual  was  likely  to  be  discovered.  He  seems  also  to 
have  been  of  opinion  that  the  insect  was  not  under  human 
control ;  and  that  even  if  it  should  disappear,  it  would  only  be 
when  it  should  have  worn  itself  out  as  other  blights  have  been 
known  to  do  in  some  mysterious  way.  \Miether  this  may 
prove  to  be  the  case  or  not,  is  still  very  uncertain,  but  every- 
thing observed  by  Dr.  Gardner  tended  to  indicate  the  per- 
manency of  the  pest. 


249 


CHiVP.  yn. 

PUSILAWA   AND   NEUERA-ELLIA. 

From  tlie  right  bank  of  the  MahaweUi-ganga  at  Gampola, 
the  road  which  up  to  that  point  keeps  the  level  of  the 
river,  begins  at  once  to  ascend  ;  and  thence  to  Pusilawa, 
it  winds  among  the  mountains  in  the  most  picturesque 
contortions  ;  sometimes  hidden  in  recesses,  into  which 
it  retires  in  search  of  a  passage  across  a  rocky  stream, 
and  again  emerging  to  clamber  over  the  opposing  hills. 
For  the  greater  part  of  the  way  it  is  carried  along  the 
face  of  steep  acclivities  with  the  scarped  cliff  on  one 
hand,  and  on  the  other  a  precipitous  bank ;  and  in  the 
depths  below  the  Gallatta  river  is  seen,  ghding  beneath 
over-arched  woods,  or  foaming  amongst  reefs  and  fallen 
rocks. 

The  vegetation  is  as  varied  as  the  scenery; — strange 
trees  attract  the  eye  in  the  forests :  the  goraka  ^,  with 
stem  and  branches  yellow  from  the  exudation  of  gam- 
boge, the  imhul  blazinsf  \\\\h  crimson  blossoms,  and  the 
datura  covered  with  its  snowy  flower  bells.  Tlie  banks 
of  the  streams  glow  with  the  rosy  oleander,  and  the 
damp  ground  adjoining  them  is  feathered  Avith  tree- 
ferns^,  which  here  attain  a  height  of  fifteen  to  twenty 
feet. 

The  sides  of  the  mountains  here  exliibit  that  strange 
pecuharity  to  which  I  liave  before  alluded  ^  of  smooth 
verdant  slopes  known  as  patenas,  occurring  ca})ri- 
ciously  in  the  midst  of  forest  land ;  covered  with  rank 
lemon-grass,  and  avoided  by  all  trees  except  the  stunted 


^   Garcinia  cumlmiia.  I      ^  See  ante,  Vol.  I.  cli.  i.  p.  24. 

*  Alsojihila  yujuntca.  \ 


250 


G.UIPOLA   AXD    THE    COFFEE    KEGIONS.       [Part  Vn. 


cahatta  and  the  amusada-nelli  ^,  whose  thick  and  pungent 
bark  supphes  tannui  to  the  Kandyans. 

In  these  high  ahitiides  the  air  is  so  undisturbed,  and 
tlie  silence  so  profound,  that  individual  sounds,  the  hum 
of  insects,  the  voice  of  bh'ds,  or  the  shrill  call  of  the 
squirrels,  are  caught  mth  surprising  clearness.  Standing 
at  sunset  on  one  of  the  mountains  at  Ambogammoa,  one 
can  hear  distinctly  the  evening  guns  fired  at  Colombo  and 
Kandy,  the  one  thirty  and  the  other  twenty  miles  distant 
in  opposite  directions. 

At  the  time  of  my  first  visit  in  1846,  these  mountains 
exhibited  a  scene  of  wonderful  activity  and  interest ; 
the  .woodman's  axe  resounded  in  all  du^ectious,  and  the 
white  smoke  ascended  in  clouds  from  the  slopes  where 
the  felled  trees  '^,  after,  being  mthered  and  dried  by  the 
scorching  sun,  were  fired  to  get  rid  of  the  fallen  timber 
and  clear  the  ground  for  the  reception  of  the  young 
coffee  plants. 

At  Pusilawa  our  home  on  many  occasions  Avas  the 
hospitable  bungalow  of  j\Ii\  Worms  and  his  brother, 
the  proprietors  of  one  of  the  finest  plantations  in  the 
island.  Then'  estate,  which  now  consists,  besides  un- 
felled  forest,  of  upwards  of  one  thousand  acres  of  cofiee 
trees  in  full  bearing,  was  commenced  by  themselves  in 
1841,  Avhen  the  new  enterprise  was  still  in  its  infancy. 
Theu'  practical  knowledge  of  plantmg  was  therefore 
acquii'ed  during  its  experimental  stages ;  and  no  capi- 
tahsts  in  the  colony  have  contributed  more  to  its  advance- 
ment by  judgment  and  moderation  in  times  of  excite- 
ment, and  firmness  and  perseverance  in  periods  of  diffi- 
culty. Hereafter,  when  the  great  project  to  whicli 
they  have  devoted  their  lives,  shall  have  attained  its 
full  development,  Cejion,  in  the  plenitude  of  commercial 
success,    will   remember   Avith    gratitude    tlie    names    of 


^  Carey  a  arhorea  and  EmhUca 
officinalis. 

'^  For  a  description  of  the  ciirions 
process  adopted  by  the  Kaudyaus  for 


prostrating  a  whole  forest  simulta- 
neously, see  ante,  Vol.  I.  Pt.  i.  ch.  iii. 
p.  lOoI 


CiiAr.  YII.] 


PUSILAWA. 


251 


men  like  these,  who  were  the  earliest  pioneers  of  its 
prosperity. 

It  is  difficult  to  imagine  a  scene  of  greater  natural 
grandeur  than  that  in  the  midst  of  which  their  estates 
have  been  formed.  The  valley  of  Pusilawa  ^  is  over- 
hung on  its  south-eastern  side  by  a  chain  of  wooded 
hills,  the  last  of  Avhich,  known  as  Moonera-galla,  or  the 
"  Peacock  rock,"  rises  upwards  of  4000  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  sea,  and  commands  a  prospect  of  indescribable 
beauty  and  magnificence ;  embracing  far  and  wide 
mountains,  forests,  rivers,  cataracts,  and  plains.  Tlie 
plantations  of  the  Messrs.  Worms  extend  to  the  very 
crown  of  Moonera-galla,  and  the  undulating  sides  of  tlie 
hills,  which  fifteen  years  ago  were  concealed  by  the  trees 
of  the  Black  Forest,  are  now  fenced  mth  roses  and 
covered  in  all  directions  witli  luxuriant  coffee  bushes. 

A  plantation  of  coffee  is  at  every  season  an  object  of 
beauty  and  interest.  The  leaves  are  bright  and  polished 
hke  those  of  a  laurel,  but  of  a  much  darker  green  ;  the 
flowers,  of  the  purest  white,  grow  in  tufts  along  the  top 
of  the  branches,  and  bloom  so  suddenly,  that  at  morn- 
ing the  trees  look  as  if  snow  had  fallen  on  them  in 
wreaths  during  the  night.  Their  jasmine-hke  perfume 
is  powerful  enough  to  be  oppressive,  but  they  last  only 
for  a  day,  and  the  bunches  of  crimson  berries  which 
succeed  resemble  cherries  in  their  brilliancy  and  size. 
Within  the  pulp,  concealed  in  a  parchment-hke  sheath, 
hes  the  double  seed,  which  by  a  variety  of  processes 
is  freed  fi'om  its  integuments,  and  converted  into  coffee. 

On  this  fine  estate  an  attempt  has  been  made  to 
grow  tea :  the  plants  thrive  surprisingly,  and  when 
I  saw  them  they  were  covered  with  bloom.  But 
the    experiment   was   defeated   by   the   impossibihty  of 


^  Piisilawa  is  said  to  mean  the 
"valley  of  flowers."  Another  con- 
jecture is,  that  the  name  is  derived 
from  the  great  climbing  plant,  the 
pus-wad  (Entada  Piirsetha),  whose 


gigantic  pods  five  feet  long  excite 
astonishment  in  passing  through  tlie 
forest.  See  ante,  Vol.  I.  I't.  i.  ch. 
iii.  p.  lOG. 


252  GAMPOLA    .\^^D    THE    COFFEE    REGIONS.       [Part  VII. 

finding  sldlled  labour  to  dry  and  manipulate  tlie  leaves. 
Should  it  ever  be  thought  expedient  to  cultivate  tea  in 
addition  to  cofiee  in  Ceylon,  the  adaptation  of  the  soil 
and  climate  has  thus  been  estabhslied,  and  it  only  remains 
to  introduce  artisans  from  China  to  conduct  the  subse- 
quent processes. 

It  Avill  readily  be  inferred  that  if  the  hfe  of  a  success- 
ful planter  in  these  mountains  be  fraught  with  anxieties, 
these  are  compensated  by  enjoyment.  One  can  imagine 
the  satisfaction  with  which  he  must  contemplate  the  rich 
prospects  that  his  own  energies  have  created,  peophng 
the  sohtudes  Avith  industry,  and  teacliing  the  desert  to 
blossom  hke  the  rose. 

Pusilawa  and  the  surrounding  valleys  and  forests 
have  furnished  large  collections  of  objects,  illustrative 
of  the  zoology  of  the  island ;  but  this  is  a  som^ce  of  en- 
jopiient  of  which  the  successors  of  the  present  genera- 
tion will  be  deprived,  by  the  felling  of  the  forests  and 
the  destruction  of  the  jungle,  which  now  afford  protec- 
tion to  multitudes  of  animals,  birds,  reptiles,  and  insects. 
Their  numbers  are  already  dechning  in  this  particular 
spot ;  but  still,  such  is  tlieir  ]:)rofusion  in  the  forests  and 
throughout  the  region  surrounding  the  coffee  estates, 
that  opportunities  exist  for  observing  their  instincts 
under  most  inviting  ckcumstances,  and  even  the  apa- 
thetic become  interested  in  watching  then-  habits. 
These  are  so  striking  that  they  impress  themselves  on 
every  sense,  and  stand  out  clear  and  iUustrative  in  our 
recollections  of  the  day  and  its  progress.  It  is  not  alone 
that  their  crowded  associations  almost  overpower  the 
memory,  it  is  not  that  they  form  at  all  times  the  in- 
cidents and  life  of  the  landscape — imparting  vivacity 
to  the  foliage,  and  rendering  the  air  harmonious  with 
their  motion  and  tlieir  music ;  but  there  is  a  degree  of 
order  in  their  arrangements,  and  almost  of  system  in 
their  hours  of  appearing  and  retiring,  tliat  serves,  when 
experience  has  rendered  them  famihar,  to  identify  each 
period  of  the    day  Avith    its   accustomed   visitants,  and 


Chap.  VII.]  DAY   IN   THE    JUNGLE.  253 

assigns  to  morning,  noon,  and  twilight  tlieir  peculiar 
symbols. 

With  the  first  ghmmering  of  dawn  the  bats  and  nocturnal 
birds  retire  to  their  accustomed  haunts,  in  wliich  to  hide 
them  from  "  day's  garish  eye ; "  the  jackal  and  tlie 
leopard  steal  back  from  their  nightly  chase  ;  the  elephants 
return  timidly  into  the  shade  of  the  forest,  from  the 
water  pools  in  which  they  had  been  luxuriating  during 
the  darkness  ;  and  the  deep-toned  bark  of  the  elk  re- 
sounds through  the  glens  as  he  retires  into  the  security 
of  the  forest.  Day  breaks,  and  its  earhest  blush  shows 
the  mists  tumbling  in  turbulent  heaps  through  the 
deep  valleys.  The  sun  bursts  upwards  with  a  speed 
beyond  that  which  marks  his  progress  in  the  cloudy 
atmosphere  of  Europe,  and  the  whole  horizon  glows  with 
ruddy  lustre : 

"  Not,  as  in  northern  climes,  obscurely  bright, 
But  one  unclouded  blaze  of  living-  light." 

At  no  other  moment  does  the  verdure  of  the  mountain 
w^oods  appear  so  vivid  ;  eacli  spray  dripping  with  co[)ious 
dew,  and  a  pendant  brilliant  twinkhng  at  every  leaf ;  the 
grassy  glade  is  hoar  with  the  condensed  damps  of  night, 
and  the  threads  of  the  gossamer  sparlde  like  strings  of 
opal  in  the  sunbeams. 

The  earliest  members  of  the  animated  world  that  catch 
the  eye  as  they  move  abroad,  are  the  Uesperidce ;  the 
first  butterflies,  that,  with  abrupt  gesture,  pay  their 
morning  visit  to  the  flowers.  To  them  succeed  the 
Theclce,  distinguished  by  the  blue  metallic  lustre  of  their 
wings  ;  and  the  Polyomniati,  the  minutest  and  most  deli- 
cate of  the  diurnal  lepidoptera.  The  other  species  make 
their  appearances  with  imerring  certainty  at  successive 
stages  of  the  morning ;  the  Theclce  are  followed  by  tlie 
Vanessce^  and  these  by  the  gaudy  Papilios,  till,  as  day 
advances,  the  broad-leaved  plants  and  flowering  shrubs 
are  covered  by  a  dancing  cloud  of  butterflies  of  every 
shape  and  hue.     The  bees  luuTy  abroad  in  all  directions. 


•254  GAMPOLA    .AN'D    THE    COFFEE    REGIOXS.       [rART  YIL 

and  the  golden  beetles  clamber  lazil}-  over  the  still  damp 
leaves. 

The  earhest  bird  upon  the  wing  is  the  crow^,  which 
leaves  his  perch  almost  Avith  the  first  peep  of  dawn,  caw- 
iiig  and  flopping  his  wings  in  the  sky.  The  parroqiiets 
follow  in  vast  companies,  chattering  and  screaming  in 
exuberant  excitement.  Xext  the  cranes  and  waders, 
wliicli  fly  inland  to  their  breeding  places  at  sunset, 
rise  from  the  branches  on  which  they  had  passed  the 
night,  wa\ing  theu"  wdngs  to  disencumber  them  of  the 
dew;  and,  stretching  theh'  awkward  legs  beliind,  they 
soar  away  in  the  direction  of  the  rivers  and  the  far 
sea-shore. 

The  songster  that  first  pours  forth  his  salutation  to 
the  morning  is  the  dial-bird  [Copsychus  saularis),  and 
the  yellow  oriole,  whose  mellow  flute-hke  voice  is  heard 
far  through  the  stillness  of  the  dawn.  The  jungle  cock, 
unseen  in  the  dense  cover,  shouts  his  reveille  ;  not  AA-ith 
the  shriU  clarion  of  his  European  type,  but  in  a  rich 
melodious  call,  that  ascends  from  the  depths  of  the 
valley.  As  hght  increases,  the  grass  warbler  ^  and  may- 
nah  ^  add  their  notes ;  and  the  bronze-winged  pigeons 
make  the  woods  murmur  w^ith  their  plaintive  cry,  wdiich 
resembles  the  distant  lowing  of  cattle.  The  swifts  and 
swallows  sally  forth  as  soon  as  there  is  sufficient  warmth 
to  tempt  the  minor  insects  abroad  ;  the  bulbul  hghts  on 
the  forest  trees,  and  the  Kttle  gem-like  sun- birds  *  (the 
humming-birds  of  the  East)  quiver  on  their  fulgent  wings 
above  the  opening  flowers. 

At  length  the  ferAdd  morn  approaches,  the  sun  mounts 
high,  and  all  animated  nature  begins  to  peld  to  the 
oppression  of  his  beams.  The  green  enamelled  di'agon- 
flies  still  flash  above  every  pool  in  pursmt  of  their  tiny 
prey ;  but  almost  every  other  winged  insect  instinc- 
tively seeks  the  shade  of  the  foliage.     The  hawks  and 


*   Corpus  culminatm.  I       '  Hettprornis  crktatclla. 

2   Cisticoki  cursitam.  \       *  Nvctarima  Ztyhmk-a. 


Chap.  VII.]  DAY    IN    THE    JUXGLE.  255 

falcons  now  sweep  through  the  sky  to  mark  the  smaller 
birds  which  may  be  abroad  in  search  of  seeds  and  larvte. 
The  squirrels  dart  from  bough  to  bough  uttering  tlieir 
shrill,  quick  cry ;  and  the  cicada  on  the  stem  of  the  palm- 
tree  raises  the  deafening  sound  whose  tone  and  volubihty 
have  won  for  him  the  expressive  title  of  the  "  Knife- 
grinder." 

It  is  during  the  first  five  hours  of  daylight  that  nature 
seems  hterally  to  teem  with  life  and  motion,  the  air 
melodious  with  the  voice  of  birds,  the  woods  resounding 
with  the  simmering  hum  of  insects,  and  the  earth  replete 
with  every  form  of  Hving  nature.  But  as  the  sun  ascends 
to  the  meridian  the  scene  is  singularly  changed,  and 
nothing  is  more  striking  than  the  almost  painful  still- 
ness that  succeeds  the  vivacity  of  the  early  morning. 
Every  animal  disappears,  escaping  under  the  thick  cover 
of  the  woods ;  the  birds  retire  into  the  shade ;  the 
butterflies,  if  they  flutter  for  a  moment  in  the  blazing 
sun,  hurry  back  into  the  damp  shelter  of  the  trees  as 
though  their  filmy  bodies  had  been  parched  by  the  brief 
exposure  ;  and,  at  last,  silence  reigns  so  profound  that 
the  ticking  of  a  watch  is  sensibly  heard,  and  even  the 
pulsations  of  the  heart  become  audible.  The  buffalo 
now  steals  to  the  tanks  and  watercourses,  concealing  all 
but  his  gloomy  head  and  shining  horns  in  the  mud 
and  sedges  ;  the  elephant  fans  himself  languidly  with 
leaves  to  drive  away  the  flies  that  perplex  him  ;  and  the 
deer  cower  in  groups  under  the  over-arching  jungle. 
Eusthng  from  under  the  dry  leaves  the  bright  green 
lizard  springs  up  the  rough  stems  of  the  trees,  and  pauses 
between  each  dart  to  look  inqumngly  around.  The 
woodpecker  makes  the  forest  re-echo  with  the  restless 
blows  of  his  beak  on  the  decajdng  bark,  and  the  tortoise 
drops  awkwardly  into  the  still  water  which  reflects  the 
bright  plumage  of  the  kingfisher,  as  he  keeps  his  lonely 
watch  above  it. 

So  long  as  the  sun  is  about  the  meridian,  every  living 
creature  seems  to  fly  Ids  beams  and  hnger  in  the  closest 


256  COIPOLA   AXD    THE    COFFEE    REGIOXS.       [rART  VH. 

shade.  Man  himself,  as  if  baffled  in  all  devices  to  escape 
tlie  exhausting  glare,  suspends  his  toil ;  and  the  traveller 
abroad  since  dawn  reposes  till  the  mid-day  heat  has  passed. 
The  cattle  pant  in  then-  stifling  sheds,  and  the  dogs  lie 
prone  upon  the  ground,  their  legs  extended  far  in  front 
and  behind,  as  if  to  brmg  the  utmost  portion  of  their  body 
into  contact  with  the  cool  earth. 

As  day  dechnes  natm^e  recovers  from  her  languor  and 
exhaustion,  the  insects  again  flutter  across  the  open 
glades,  the  bhds  ventm^e  once  more  upon  the  wing, 
and  the  larger  animals  saunter  from  under  cover,  and 
move  away  in  the  direction  of  the  ponds  and  pasture. 
The  traveller  recommences  his  suspended  journey,  and 
the  husbandman,  impatient  to  employ  the  last  hom's  of 
fading  night,  hastens  to  resume  the  interrupted  labours 
of  the  morning.  The  bfrds  which  had  made  distant 
excursions  to  their  feeding;-o;rouuds  are  now  seen  return- 
iug  to  their  homes ;  the  crows  assemble  round  some 
pond  to  dabble  in  the  water,  and  readjust  their  plumes 
before  rething  for  the  night ;  the  parroquets  settle  with 
deafening  uproar  on  the  crowns  of  the  palm-trees  near 
thefr  nests ;  and  the  pehcaus  and  sea-bfrds,  with  weary 
"sving,  retrace  then*  way  to  their  breeding-place  near 
some  sohtary  watercourse  or  ruined  tank.  The  sun  at 
last 

"  Sinks,  as  a  flaming-o 
Drops  into  her  nest  at  uiglitfoU  ;  " 

twihght  succeeds,  and  the  crepuscular  buxls  and  ani- 
mals awaken  from  their  mid-day  torpor  and  prepare 
to  enjoy  their  nightly  revels.  The  hawk-moths  now 
take  the  place  of  the  gaj^er  butterflies,  which  with- 
draw with  tlie  departm-e  of  Hght ;  innumerable  beetles 
make  short  and  uncertain  flights  in  the  deepening 
shade,  and  in  pursuit  of  them  and  the  otlier  insects 
that  frequent  the  dusk,  the  night-jar  \  with   expanded 


^  C(ipri))uthiiis  Aifinticus, 


Chap.  VII.]  DAY    I.V    TIIK    .TUXGLi:.  257 

jaw.s,  takes  low  and  rapid  circles  above  the  plains  and 
pools. 

Darkness  at  last  descends,  and  every  object  fades  in 
niglit  and  gloom ;  l)ut  still  the  murmnr  of  innumerable 
insects  arises  from  the  glowing  earth.  The  fruit-eating 
bats  launch  themselves  from  the  high  branches  on  which 
they  have  hung  suspended  during  the  day,  and  cluster 
round  the  mango-trees  and  tamarinds ;  and  across  the 
grey  sky  the  owl  flits  in  ]:)ursuit  of  the  night  moths  on  a 
wing  so  soft  and  downy  that  the  air  scarcely  betraj's  its 
pulsations. 

The  palm-cat  now  descends  from  the  crest  of  the 
coco-nut  w^here  she  had  lurked  during  the  day,  and 
the  glossy  genette  emerging  from  some  hollow  tree, 
steals  along  the  branches  to  surprise  the  slumbering 
birds.  Meanwhile,  among  the  grass  already  damp  witli 
dew,  the  glow-worm  lights  her  emerald  lamp  \  and  from 
the  shrubs  and  bushes  issue  showers  of  fire-flies,  whose 
pale  green  flashes  sparkle  in  the  midnight  darkness 
till  day  returns  and  morning  '•  \)i\\es  their  ineffectual 
fires." 

Still  ascending  towards  Neuera-eUia,  the  road  from 
Pusilawa  winds  through  the  valley  skirting  the  bases 
of  the  hills  till  it  reaches  an  apparently  insurmountable 
barrier  of  mountains  in  the  glen  of  Eangbodde.  Here 
the  accUvities  that  bound  the  ravine  are  overcome  by 
a  series  of  terraced  windings  cut  out  of  the  almost  pre- 
cipitous hill,  and  so  narrow  is  tlie  gorge,  that  the  road 
enters  between  two  cataracts  that  descend  on  either 
side  of  the  pass.  Some  of  the  finest  coffee  in  the  island 
is  produced  at  Eangbodde,  and  the  estate  of  General 
Fraser  presents  a  suitable  illustration  of  the  splendid 
scenery  amidst  which  these  ])lantations  have  been 
formed. 

^  The  o^low-worm  of  Ceylon,  tlie  i  without  a  proportionate  increase  of 
female  of  the  Latiipj/ris,  attains  a  .size  |  splendour.     It   feeds   principally  on 
far  exceeding  anything  I  have  heard  i   ."^nails,  making  its  way  into  the  shells 
of  elsewhere.     I   have  seen  it  near  j   and  devouring  tlie  .soft  parts. 
Pusilawa  three  inches  in  IcngUi.  liut  | 

VOL.  II.  S 


•258 


GAiMPOLA    AND    THE    COFFP:e    KEGIOXS. 


[V 


VII. 


s  ".M- 


4y.:s5^W^Pi;};f;''^ 


GENERAL     PHASER'S     ESTATE    AT    KAKGBODDE. 


Ill  tlie  damp  sliade  near  these  water-falls  the  delicate 
spectre  butterfly^  is  seen  in  unusual  numbers,  its  broad 
and  hniber  wings  undulating  as  if  unequal  to  sustain  its 
Aveight,  and  over  the  streams  the  brilhant  green  dragon- 
fly^ dashes  from  place  to  place,  on  wings  that  flash  like 
shced  emeralds  set  in  gold. 

Pusilawa  is  a  favourite  haunt  of  a  curious  species  of 
long-legged  spider^,  that  congregates  in  groups  of  from 
flfty  to  a  hundred,  in  hollow  trees  and  in  holes  in  the 
banks  by  the  roadside,  and  to  a  casual  observer  would 
seem  bunches  of  horse-hair.  This  appearance  is  pro- 
duced by  the  long  and  slender  legs  of  these  creatures, 
which  are  a  shining  black,  whilst  their  bodies,  so  small 
as  to  be  mere  specks,  are  concealed  beneath  them.  The 
same  spider  is  found  in  the  low  country  near  Galle,  but 
there  it  shows  no  tendency  to  become  gregarious.     Can 


Ilestia  Jasonia. 


'  Phalanr/iiim  him/natvm. 


Cnvi-.  Vir.]  RAXGBODDK     PASS.  259 

it  be  that  they  tlms  assemble  in  groiqxs  in  the  hills  lor 
the  sake  of  accumulated  warnitli  at  the  cool  altitude  ot 
■lOUU  feet  ? 

The  lowland  Sina:halese  have  a  horror  of  the  cold  in 
these  elevated  situations,  and  still  more  of  the  rain,  to 
avoid  the  pattering  of  which  on  their  skins  they  would 
at  any  time  crouch  under  water  in  a  stream  or  a  tank. 
It  is  difficult  to  tempt  them  to  the  hills,  and  even  tlic 
Malabar  coolies  shrink  with  apprehension  from  the 
chills  of  Neuera-eUia.  To  provide  labour  for  these 
moimtain  roads  the  Government  retain  in  their  ])ay  a 
body  of  Caffres  as  pioneers,  the  remnant  of  a  force 
which  was  originally  incorporated  Ijy  the  Portuguese, 
Avho  introduced  them  from  their  African  settlements  at 
Mozambique.  The  Dutch  succeeded  in  kee])ing  up  it- 
t^trength  by  an  inuiiigration  from  the  Cape,  and  tlu; 
British  maintained  it  by  purchasing  slaves  from  the 
Portuguese  at  Goa.  At  present  the  Caifres  show  no 
inclination  to  resort  to  the  island,  and  this  valuable 
force  is  threatened  with  extinction  in  consequence. 

On  the  occasion  of  my  first  ascent,  the  lianglxxUle 
pass  was  rendered  dangerous  by  the  presence  of  a 
''  rogue "  elephant  which  infested  it.  He  concealed 
himself  by  day  in  the  dense  forests  on  either  side  of  the 
road,  making  his  way  during  the  darkness  to  the  river 
below ;  and  we  saw,  as  we  passed,  marks  on  the  trunks 
of  the  trees  where  he  had  rubbed  off  the  mud,  after  re- 
turning from  his  midnight  bath.  On  the  morning  when 
I  crossed  the  mountain,  a  ])oor  Caffre,  one  of  the  ])ioneer 
corps,  proceeding  to  his  labour,  came  suddenly  upon  tliis 
savage  at  a  turning  in  the  road,  when  the  elei)liant, 
alarmed  by  the  intrusion,  lifted  him  with  its  trunk  and 
beat  out  his  brains  against  the  bank. 

After  a  slow  and  toilsome  journey  to  an  elevation  (d" 
more  than  6000  feet\  a  sight  is  obtained  of  the  ])laii)   of 


Tho  rpst-lionsp  on  tho  plain  ,it  XciuM-a-ollia  is  (i:>:>2  feet  jibovc  tlic  .-t-a. 


260  GAMPOLA    AND    THE    COFFEE    REGIONS.        [Part  YII. 

Neuera-ellia.  The  first  visit  of  Europeans  to  tliis  lofty 
plateau  was  made  by  some  English  officers,  who,  in  1826, 
penetrated  so  far  in  pursuit  of  elephants.^  Struck  witli 
its  freshness  and  beauty,  the}^  reported  their  discovery  to 
the  Governor,  and  Sir  Edward  Barnes,  alive  to  its  impor- 
tance as  a  sanitary  retreat  for  the  troops,  took  possession 
of  it  instantly,  and  commenced  the  building  of  barracks, 
and  of  a  bungalow  for  his  own  accommodation.  lie 
directed  the  formation  of  a  road ;  and  within  two  years 
Neuera-ellia  was  opened  (in  1829)  as  a  convalescent 
station.  In  the  estimation  of  the  European  and  the 
invalid  it  is  the  Elysium  of  Ceylon.  At  this  elevation, 
and  encircled  by  mountains  (which  on  the  northern  side 
rise  2000  feet  higher  still),  in  the  midst  of  a  grassy  plain, 
watered  by  crystal  streams,  and  surrounded  by  hills 
covered  with  luxuriant  vegetation,  stands  the  httle 
hamlet ;  the  smoke  ciuling  above  the  thatch  of  its 
white  cottages  in  the  midst  of  gardens  of  roses  and  mi- 
gnonette ;  and  even  of  some  European  fruit-trees,  that 
charm  with  their  foliage,  though  they  rarely  bring  their 
fruit  to  maturity.  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  a  higher 
enjoyment  than  to  mount  almost  between  sunrise  and 
sunset  from  the  sultry  calm  of  Colombo  to  the  cool  and 
delicious  breezes  of  this  mountain  plateau ;  to  leave  the 
flamino;  noon  and  the  sufFocatino'  nin-hts  of  the  coast,  and 
after  a  jom^ney  of  less  than  a  hundred  miles  along 
admu^able  roads,  and  through  scenery  unsurpassed  in  its 
loveliness  and  grandeur,  to  rest  in  an  Enghsh  cottage, 
with  a  blazing  wood  fire,  to  sleep  under  blankets,  and 
awake  in  the  morning  to  find  thin  ice  on  the  water  and 
hoar-frost  encrusting  the  herbage. 

The  temperature  of  Neuera-ellia,  according  to  Davy, 
ranges  from  30°  to  81°,  with  a  mean  daily  variance  of 


'  Xeiiera-ellia  was  of  course  pre- 
viously known  by  the  natives.  It 
liad  been  tlu;  retreat  of  one  of  the 


and  from  the  cirounistance  of  its 
having  tlins  become  an  imperial  resi- 
dence, "  nmvara,"  it  obtained  itspre- 


Kiindyan  kings,  who  Hed  tliitlier  from      sent    appeUation    Xmvara-elUa,    the 
the  I'ortugnese  about  the  vear  KilO,  '   "  roval  citv  of  liii'ht." 


Chap.  VIT.] 


NEUERA-ELLIA. 


261 


11°),  but  tliu  latter  is  higlier  than  is  sliown  by  recent 
experiment,  tlie  average  at  noon  being  now  ascertained 
to  be  about  62°,  and  the  highest  observation  of  the 
unexposed  tliermometer  70°. 

At  this  elevation  there  is  a  perpetual  breeze,  but  of 
the  two  winds,  the  residents,  in  spite  of  the  greater 
moisture  and  more  frequent  showers,  prefer  the  south- 
west, to  the  dry  and  parching  breeze  from  the  north  and 
east.  The  quantity  of  rain,  of  course,  varies  in  a  series 
of  years ;  but  it  is  by  no  means  so  great  as  in  the  lower 
range  of  the  hills,  and  does  not  much  exceed  the  ordinary 
average  on  the  western  coast.  ^  During  the  transitional 
periods  of  the  monsoons  the  fall  is  less  equable,  and  the 
intervals  of  suspension  longer ;  on  the  other  hand,  rain 
has  been  known  about  this  period  to  descend  ^vithout 
intermission  for  fourteen  days.  Except  dming  these 
violent  outbursts  there  is  scarcely  a  day  wlien  outdoor 
exercise  is  not  practicable.  Even  at  noon  the  clouds 
which  collect  I'ound  the  summit  of  these  lofty  hills  serve 
to  ward  off  the  sun,  and  outdoor  hfe  is  as  enjoyable 
as  summer  at  home.  Here  the  troops  never  change 
woollen  for  other  clothing^,  and  Em-opean  visitors  are 
glad  to  recall  associations  of  England  by  producing 
their  winter  muffling  and  surtouts. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year,  from  Decembcj-  to 
March,  the  mornings  are  bracing  and  frosty,  and  one  is 
tempted  to  take  the  chill  off  the  water  on  stepping  into 
the  accustomed  bath  before  breakfast.  The  noon-day 
warmth  adds  a  zest  to  the  evening  hre,  and  the  nights 
are  so  biilliant  that  a  book  may  be  read  by  moonlight. 


'  Tlie  quantity  of  rain  falling:  at 
Neuera-ellia  has  perceptibly  decreased 
of  late  years,  probably  owin<r  to  the 
extensive  clearing  of  the  surrounding 
forests,  to  prepare  them  for  coifee 
planting. 

'^  It  may  seem  to  modify  tlie  popu- 
lar opinion  as  to  great  changes  of 
temperature  being  in  themselves 
prejudicial  to  healthy  that  the  medical 


oflicers  in  charge  of  troops  atNeuera- 
ellia  have  remarked  tliat,  notwitli- 
standing  the  sudden  variation,  from 
the  heat  of  the  sun  which  is  some- 
times oppressive  in  the  aftenioou,  to 
chill  br(>e/.es  and  hoar  frost  at  niglit, 
the  men  never  siifler  from  this  cause 
alone ;  without  some  incautious  act 
on  the  part  of  those  exposed. 


3 


262  GAiirOLA    AND    THE    COFFEE    KEGIOXS.       [rARX  Yll. 

May  or  June  ushers  in  tlie  boisterous  monsoon,  ^vitli  its 
thunder  and  torrents,  the  solemnity  of  which  is  increased 
by  storms  of  wind  such  as  are  unknown  in  the  Vnv 
country.  From  July  to  November,  when  the  monsoon 
again  changes,  the  plain  presents  the  same  characteristics 
of  chmate  and  verdure;  flowers  spring  up  after  the  rains, 
and  day  after  day  invahds  enjoy  their  healthfid  drive 
round  the  base  of  the  hills  that  encircle  the  valley,  and 
excursionists  make  their  pilgrimages  to  the  top  of  Peduru- 
talla-galla\  an  elevation  of  8280  feet,  from  which  there  is 
a  view  of  surpassing  magnificence  over  the  lower  range 
of  mountains  and  the  plains  beneath,  threaded  by  tlie 
silvery  line  of  the  rivers,  and  stretcliing  aAvay  till  it  meets 
tlie  sea  on  tlie  far  horizon. 

In  these  imigorating  heights  the  newly  arrived  visitor, 
escaping  in  a  single  night  from  the  sultry  languor  of  the 
low  country  is  surprised  by  the  unexpected  importunities 
of  his  recovered  appetite,  and  seizes  with  a  relish  dishes 
he  would  have  dechned  with  averted  face  the  day  before. 
In  a  temperature  resembhng  that  of  an  English  autumn, 
the  skin  moist,  but  no  longer  sodden,  the  chest  expanding 
in  a  hghter  atmosphere,  and  the  enhvened  circulation 
imparting  an  unaccustomed  glow  and  colom"  to  the 
sinface  ;  he  addresses  hunself  with  vigour  to  pedestrian 
excursions  among  the  surrounding  hills.  Here  a  slight 
ililliculty  of  breathing  surprises  a  stranger — arising 
from  the  high  rarefaction  of  the  an- — but  it  soon 
passes  off. 

To  those  dehcate  constitutions  which,  without  the 
presence  of  actual  disease,  are  nevertheless  debihtated 
IVom  long  exposm-e  to  tropical  heat,  the  change  pro- 
(hiced  by  the  lofty  climate  of  Neuera-elha  is  still  more 
remarkable  ;  muscular  tenuity  disappears,  the  limbs  re- 
cover   their   elasticity    and    roundness,    the    sphits   rise 


'  Geuerally   ciillod    **  Pedro-talla-  i  serve  as  a  substitute  for  the  "■  tulla" 

galla."     It  takes  this  name  from  pro-  |  or  strips  of  leaves;  and  they  gi'ow 

ducincr  some  plants  suitable  for  the  ainonijst  the  rocks  "  t/al/<i,"  near  its 

weaviim   lA'  jnduru,  "  mat,s," — these  |  summit. 


Chap.  VH.]  NEUERA-ELLIA.  '263 

Avitli  the  renewal  of  strength,  tlie  pallor  of  the  features 
disappears,  and  after  a  few  weeks  of  outdoor  excitement 
the  visitor  returns  to  the  coast  with  a  complexion  as 
clear  as  if  freshly  imported  from  Europe. 

But  whilst  thus  adapted  to  the  preservation  of  health, 
and  to  the  stage  of  weakness  consequent  on  the  suljsi- 
dence  of  disease,  Neuera-ellia,  as  a  sanatarium,  is  httle 
to  be  relied  on  for  the  rehef  of  active  ailments,  especially 
such  as  are  incident  to  the  island.  Deran2:ements  of 
the  liver  and  internal  orojans  are  hkely  to  be  aii'fjra- 
vated  there  by  congestion,  and  the  diminution  of  that 
quietude  which  is  essential  to  the  work  of  reparation  ; 
and  in  affections  of  the    luno's   there    is  an  increase  of 

o 

uneasmess  in  the  chest  from  breathing  such  highly  rarefied 
air. 

Only  one  class  of  sufferers  seem  to  derive  a  relief 
at  once  rapid  and  effectual,  —  those  Avith  cutaneous 
abrasions  or  ulcerations  by  leech-bites.  These  "w^oiuids  in 
the  low  country  are  sluggish  and  slow  to  heal,  but  in 
the  tonic  air  of  the  mountain  they  quickly  close,  to  the 
surprise  of  the  patient,  and  almost  without  the  inter- 
vention of  surgical  skill. 

But  however  hmited  its  sanative  effects,  the  blessina: 
with  which  Providence  has  endowed  the  island,  in  placing 
such  a  climate  within  reach  of  the  sultry  coast,  has  never 
been  duly  estimated  by  Europeans,  nor  availed  of  as 
a  i)reventive  against  the  approaches  of  disease.  By  the 
mihtary,  especially,  its  value  has  been  inadequately  ap- 
preciated as  a  propliylactic.  Soldiers  are  only  allowed 
to  visit  it  after  becoming  pronounced  invalids :  when 
health  miglit  have  been  preserved  comparatively  unim- 
paired, had  they  been  sent  there  as  a  precaution,  on 
the  earhest  symptom  of  that  exhaustion  and  debility 
which  ordinarily  prelude  a.ctual  seiziure.  After  the  at- 
tack has  subsided  the  influence  of  the  plain  on  conva- 
lescents is  something  magical ;  and  in  cases  of  fever  no 
effort  should  l)e  spared  to  enable  the  patient  to  reach 
it.     Instances  have  occun'cd  in  wliich  it  might  be  appre- 

b  4 


•264 


GAMrOLA    AND    THE    COFFEE    REGIO>S.        [Part  VII. 


lieucled  that  the  sufferer  would  die  upon  the  road,  when 
he  has  ralhed  and  recovered  after  reaching  Neuera-elha, 
as  if  the  breezes  of  tlie  mountain  were  the  ehxir  of 
St.  Leon. 

As  preventive  of  illness,  therefore,  the  advantages  of 
Neuera-elha  cannot  be  too  highly  lauded.  To  the  hj'^jo- 
chondiiac  and  the  valetudinarian, 

"  TMien  nature,  being  oppress'd,  commands  the  mind 
To  siiifer  with  the  body," 

the  valley  is  a  paradise ;  to  the  languid  and  exhausted 
dweller  on  the  coast  a  visit  to  this  elevated  region  acts 
like  the  touch  of  his  mother  earth,  strengthening  him 
to  wrestle  with  the  heats  below ;  and  children  after 
rejoicing  in  the  bracing  breezes  descend  as  rosy  and  bright 
as  on  their  first  arrival  from  England. 

European  vegetables  have  been  grown  after  infinite 
pains  and  attention  at  Neuera-elha,  and  attempts  have 
been  made  to  cultivate  Enghsh  grain  ^ ;  but  the  result 
has  been  unsatisfactory,  —  the  seed  was  destroyed  by  the 
nuiltitude  of  larvaa  and  other  depredators  in  a  soil  that 
had  never  before  been  disturbed ;  and  although  the 
experiment  may  eventually  prove  successful,  the  labour 
and  cost  in  the  intermediate  stages  must  for  some  time 
to  come  discourage  the  enterprise  as  a  remunerative 
speculation. 

As  the  plain  is  entirely  formed  of  debris  from  the 
hills,  it  has  been  largely  productive  of  precious  stones 
embedded  in  the  alluvial  deposit,  and  is  stiU  covered 
Avith  pits  sunk  by  the  gem-finders.  One  of  the  amuse- 
ments of  visitors  is  jewel-hunting,  and  they  ai^e  frequently 
requited  by  the  discovery  of  small  rubies,  sa})phu'es,  and 
topazes. 

From  Neuera-ellia  to  Badulla  the  road  makes  a  descent 
of  more  than   3000   feet  within  forty  miles,  and  com- 


1  An  accoimt  of  these  expeinments 
and  their  results  will  be  found  in  Mr. 
Bakbr's  Eii/M  Years'  Wanderings  in 


Ceylon,  8vo.  Longmans,  1855,  oh.  ii. 
p.  14,  &c. 


Chap.  VII.] 


NEUERA-ELLIA. 


265 


mands  at  every  point  splendid  \de\vs  over  the  hills  and 
undulating  plains  of  Oovali.  This  fertile  region  was 
formed  into  a  principality  by  King  Senerat,  who,  at  his 
decease  in  1G35,  bequeathed  it  to  his  step-son ;  and  it 
was  here  that  the  Portuguese  commander,  Don  Constan- 
tine  de  Sa  y  Xorofia,  being  tempted  to  invade  the  high 
country,  in  1G30,  was  led  into  an  ambuscade,  and  mer- 
cilessly slaughtered  by  the  Kandyans.  This  gloomy  epi- 
sode in  the  history  of  the  Europeans  in  Ceylon  forms  the 
subject  of  a  touching  narrative  Avritten  by  his  son  Itodri- 
gues  de  Sa  y  Menezes  to  vindicate  the  memory  of  his 
father^,  who  alone  of  all  the  Portuguese  governors  of  the 
island  appears  to  have  been  kindly  remembered  for  some 
endearing  qualities  in  his  disposition. 

The  general  aspect  of  the  pro\dnce  presents  grassy 
plains,  which  afford  better  pasturage  for  cattle  than 
any  other  in  the  island  ;  and  fertile  rice-lands,  in  the 
management  of  Avliich  the  people  of  Oovah  are  pre- 
eminent, from  their  skill  in  leading  streams  from  great 
distances  for  purposes  of  irrigation.^  Cattle  are  abundant, 
and  especially  buffaloes,  which  are  universally  employed 
for  tillage ;  and  amongst  the  objects  of  cultivation  to 
which  the  climate  is  adapted  are  Indian  corn,  millet, 
yams,  potatoes,  and  cassava.  Large  quantities  of  ma- 
terials are  grown  for  the  preparation  of  curry ;  turme- 
ric, capsicums,  onions  and  garUc,  as  well  as  cardamoms 
and  pepper.  Vegetable  oils  are  expressed  from  numerous 
plants  ;  indigo,  madder,  sapan-wood  and  arnotto  furnisli 
dyes ;  and  the  hills,  long  before  European  planters  had 
estabhshed  themselves  around  Kandy,  were  celebrated 
for  yielding  the  linest  native  coffee  in  Ceylon.     At  the 


'  Rchelion  de  Ccyhm,  cS'r.  Usbon, 
A.n.  1(581.  For  an  account  of  this 
ill-fated  expedition,  see  ante,  Vol.  11. 
rt.  IV.  ch.  ii.  p.  40. 

■^  The  sources  of  these  streams 
ai'e  chiefly  in  the  hills  surrounding 
!Neuera-ellia  ;  '■'■  therefore,"  says  Mr. 
V>\\\VM,m\\\9,  Eujlit  Years"  ll^ander- 


iii(/s  in  Cei/Ioii,  "  the  king  in  possession 
of  Xeuera-ellia  had  the  niostconiplcle 
coniniixnd  over  his  subjects  in  Oovah, 
as  he  could  either  give  or  Avitlihold 
the  supply  at  pleasure  by  allowing 
its  free  exit  or  altering  its  course.'' 
Ch.  iii.  p.  49. 


•266 


GAMPOLA    AXD    THE    COFFEE    EEGIONS.       [Part  VII. 


present  inoment  there  are  upwards  of  three  thousand 
acres  in  bearuig,  and  the  ascertained  portion  of  forest 
land  suitable  for  plantations  is  not  less  than  thkty  thousand 
more. 

The  chmate  is  one  of  the  most  salubrious  in  Ceylon ; 
and  owing  to  this  sino-ular  combination  of  capabilities 
there  can  be  httle  doubt  that,  with  the  extension  of  roads 
and  enlarged  means  of  communication  with  the  capitals 
and  the  coast,  Oovali,  as  it  is  already  one  of  the  richest 
districts  in  the  island,  is  destined  at  no  distant  date  to  be 
one  of  the  most  prosperous  and  frequented. 

BaduUa,  the  capital  of  the  principality,  lies  in  a 
valley,  on  one  side  of  which  rises  the  mountain  of 
Xamoone-koole,  whose  summit  is  nearly  7000  feet  liigh. 
No  scene  in  nature  can  be  more  peaceftd  and  lovely, 


but  tlie  valley  has  been  so  often  desolated  by  war,  that 
nothing  remains  of  the  ancient  city  except  its  gloomy 
temples  and  the  vestiges  of  a  ruined  dagoba.  The 
British     liave     couvei-led    an    ancicu!     rcsidrnce    of    the 


Chap.  VII.]  BADULLA.  267 

prince  of  OomxIi  into  a  fort,  defended  by  earth-works ; 
and  the  modern  town,  in  the  activity  of  its  bazaars  and 
tlie  comfort  and  order  of  its  dweUings,  generally  sm'- 
roundcd  by  gardens  of  coco-nuts,  coffee,  and  tobacco, 
attests  the  growing  prosperity  and  contentment  of  tlie 
district. 

About  four  hundred  yards  from  the  Fort  is  tlie  tepid 
spring,  called  by  the  natives  "  the  smoke-mouthed  well," 
which  is  held  in  equal  veneration  by  Buddliists,  Hin- 
dus, and  Mahometans.  The  Hindus  believe  tliat  twcj 
chank  shells,  still  preserved  in  an  adjacent  dewale  which 
is  dependent  on  the  great  temple  of  Kattragam,  were 
obtained  from  two  cobra  de  capellos,  wliicli  rose  with 
them  from  tlie  depths  of  tliis  well ;  and  the  Maliometans 
liave  a  tradition  that  a  devout  Santon,  on  his  pilgrimage 
to  Adam's  Peak,  died,  and  was  buried  near  the  spring. 
It  is  remarkable,  too,  that  in  the  mountains  of  Ooda- 
Kinda,  in  western  Oovah,  there  is  a  small  connmuiity 
known  as  the  "  Padua-guriiwas,'"  who  profess  Islam,  but 
conform  to  Kandyan  customs ;  and  it  seems  to  be 
doubtfid  whether  they  are  Mahometan  converts,  or  the 
descendants  of  a  tribe  from  the  continent  of  India. 

I  have  mentioned  elsewhere  \  the  existence  in  Oovah 
of  a  race  of  out-castes,  the  Ambatteyos,  so  degraded, 
that  even  the  Eodiyas  prevent  their  dogs  from  eating 
the  fragments  of  food  cooked  by  them.  It  is  further 
illustrative  of  the  development  of  caste  in  Ceylon,  that, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Badulla,  there  is  a  class  known 
as  Pareyos,  or  "  strangers,"  and  sometimes  as  Weediye- 
ettos,  or  "  people  of  the  high  road,"  who  are  beheved  to 
be  the  offspring  of  some  Portuguese  captives,  made 
slaves  after  the  massacre  of  Constantiue  de  Sa  y 
Noroiia.  They  were  permitted  to  intermariy  with  women 
of  rank  who  had  been  expelled  from  Kandy  for  crimes ; 
but  these,  as  a  less  punishment  than  consigning  them  to 
the  Piodiyas,  were    degraded   to   the   condition  of  roval 


>  8ce  and:  \nl.  II.  Pi.  vii.  di.  iv.  p.  I'.tl. 


268  GA]MPOLA   AND    THE   COFFEE    REGIONS.       [Part  Vn. 

serfs,  and  condemned  to  menial  services  in  the  rice-lands 
and  granaries. 

Perhaps  there  is  not  a  scene  in  the  world  Avliich  com- 
bines snbliniity  and  beauty  in  a  more  extraordinary 
degree  tlian  that  which  is  presented  at  the  Pass  of  Ella, 
Avhere,  through  an  opening  in  the  chain  of  mountains, 
the  road  from  Badidla  descends  rapidly  to  the  lowlands, 
over  wliich  it  is  carried  for  upwards  of  seventy  miles, 
to  Hambangtotte,  on  the  south  coast  of  the  island.  The 
ride  to  Ella  passes  for  ten  or  twelve  miles  along  the 
base  of  hills  thickly  wooded,  except  in  those  spots  where 
the  forest  has  been  cleared  for  planting  coffee.  The 
\dew  is  therefore  obstructed,  and  at  one  point  appears 
to  terminate  in  an  impassable  glen;  but  on  reaching 
this  the  traveller  is  amazed  at  discovering  a  ravine 
through  wliich  a  torrent  has  forced  its  way,  disclosing  a 
passage  to  the  plains  below,  over  which,  for  more  than 
sixty  miles,  the  prospect  extends,  unbroken  by  a  single 
eminence,  till,  far  in  the  distance,  the  eye  discerns  a  hne 
of  light,  which  marks  where  the  simbeams  are  flashmg 
on  the  waters  of  the  Indian  ocean. 


PART  VTTT. 


THE    ELEPHANT. 


•271 


CHAPTER  I. 


STRUCTURE    AXD    FUXCTIOXS. 


During  my  residence  at  Kandy,  I  had  twice  tlie 
oi)portunity  of  witnessing  the  operation  on  a  grand 
scale  of  capturing  wild  elephants,  intended  to  be  trained 
for  the  public  service  in  tlie  estabhshment  of  the  Civil 
Engineer ; — and  in  the  course  of  my  frequent  journeys 
through  the  interior  of  the  island,  I  succeeded  in 
collecting  so  many  particulars  relative  to  tlie  habits  of 
these  interesting  animals  in  a  state  of  natm-e,  as  have  en- 
abled me  not  only  to  add  to  the  information  previously 
possessed,  but  to  correct  many  fallacies  popularly  re- 
ceived regarding  their  instincts  and  disposition.  These 
I  am  anxious  to  place  on  record  before  proceeding  to 
describe  the  scenes  of  which  I  was  a  spectator,  dming 
the  progress  of  the  elephant  hunts  in  the  district  of  the 
Seven  Corles,  at  wliicli  I  was  present  in  1846,  and  again 
in  1847. 

With  the  exception  of  the  narrow  but  densely  inha- 
bited belt  of  cultivated  land,  wliicli  extends  along  the 
seaborde  of  the  island  from  Chilaw  on  the  western 
coast  to  Tangalle  on  the  east,  there  is  no  part  of  Ceylon 
in  which  elephants  may  not  be  said  to  abound ;  even 
close  to  the  environs  of  tlie  most  populous  locahties  of 
the  interior.  They  frequent  both  the  open  plains  and 
tlie  deep  forests ;  and  their  footsteps  are  to  be  seen 
wherever  food  and  shade,  vegetation  and  water  \  allure 


'  M.  Ad.  Pictet  has  availpcl  him- 
self of  the  love  of  the  elepliant  for 
water,  to  foimd  on  it  a  solution  of  the 
long-contested   question   as    to    the 


etymolopv  of  the  word  "elephant,"' 
— a  term  which,  whilst  it  has  passed 
into  almost  every  dialect  of  the 
West,   is   scarcely   to   be  traced  iu 


272 


THE    ELEPHANT. 


[Part  VIII. 


them,  alike  on  the  summits  of  the  loftiest  momitaiiis,  and 
on  tlie  borders  of  the  tanks  and  lowland  streams. 

From  time  immemorial  the  natives  have  been  taunlit 
to  capture  and  tame  them,  and  the  export  of  elephants 
from  Ceylon  to  India  has  been  going  on  without  inter- 
ruption from  the  period  of  the  first  Punic  War.^  In  later 
times  aU  elephants  were  the  property  of  the  Kandyan 
crown  ;  and  thek  capture  or  slaughter  without  the  royal 
permission  w^as  classed  amongst  the  gravest  offences  in 
the  Kandyan  code. 

In  recent  years  there  is  reason  to  beheve  that  their 
numbers  have  become  considerably  reduced.  They  have 
entkely  disappeared  from  districts  in  which  they  were 


any  language  of  Asia.  The  Greek 
iXiniac,  to  whicli  "we  are  immediately 
indebted  for  it,  did  not  onginally 
mean  the  animal,  but,  as  early  as  the 
time  of  Homer,  applied  only  to  its 
tusks,  and  signified  ivori/.  Bochart 
has  sought  for  a  Semitic  origin,  and 
seizing  on  the  Arabic  Jil,  and  pre- 
fixing the  article  al,  obtains  al/il,  alvin 
to  iXi-t ;  but  to  this  the  objection  lies 
that  it  excludes  the  other  two  syl- 
lables ovToc.  Eejecting  this,  Bo- 
chart himself  resorts  to  the  Hebrew 
eleph,  an  ''ox" — and  this  conjecture 
derives  a  certain  degree  of  coun- 
tenance from  the  fact  that  the  Eo- 
mans,  wheu  they  obtained  theii'  first 
sight  of  the  elephant  in  the  army  of 
Pyrrhus,  in  Lncania,  called  it  the  Lxra 
bos.  But  the  av-og  is  still  imac- 
coimted  for;  and  Pott  has  sought  to 
remove  the  difficulty  by  inti-oducing 
the^\i-abic  hutdi,  Indian,  thns  making 
cleph-hindi,  "  ho^  Indiciis.''  The  con- 
version of  hiiidi  into  cuto  is  an 
obstacle,  but  here  the  example  of 
"  tamarind  "  conies  to  aid ;  tamar 
hindi,  the  "  Indian  date/'  which  in 
mediajval  Greek  forms  rcqiapivn.  A 
theoiy  of  Benary,  that  t  \«(/)ac  might 
be  compounded  of  the  Arabic  «/,  and 
ibha,  a  Sanskrit  name  for  tlie  ele- 
phant, is  expos(>d  to  still  greater  cty- 
mological  exception.  Pictet's  solu- 
tion is,  that  in  the  Sanskrit  epics  the 
King  of  Elephants,  who  has  the  dis- 
tinction of  carrving  the  god  Indra,  is 


called  airavata  or  airavana,  a  modi- 
fication of  airavanta,  "son  of  the 
ocean,"  which  again  comes  from  irn- 
vat,  "  aboimding  in  water."  "Xous 
aimons  done  ainsi,  comme  correlatif 
du  grec  £'\t^ai'ro,ime  ancienne  forme, 
(iirdvcoda  on  dildvanta,  aftaiblie  plus 
tard  en  dirdrata  ou  dirdvana  .... 
On  connait  la  predilection  de  I'ele- 
phant  poiu"  le  voisinage  des  fleuves, 
et  son  amour  pom-  I'eau,  dont  I'abon- 
dance  est  necessairea  son  bien-etre." 
This  Sanskrit  name,  Pictet  supposes, 
may  have  been  earned  to  the  West 
by  the  Phoenicians,  who  were  tlie 
purveyors  of  ivory  from  India ;  and, 
from  the  Greek,  the  Latins  derived 
elejjJta^,  which  passed  into  the  modern 
languages  of  Italy,  Germany,  and 
France.  But  it  is  curious  that  the 
Spaniards  acquired  fi'oni  the  Moors 
their  Arabic  term  for  ivory,  marjil, 
and  tlie  Portuguese  ma>^'m  ;  and  that 
the  Scandinavians,  probably  from 
their  early  expeditions  to  the  Medi- 
terranean, adopted  JiU  as  their  name 
for  the  elephant  itself,  and  Jil-hrin 
for  ivory  ;  in  Danish,  Jih-ben.  (See 
Journ.  Asiat.  184^3,  t.  xliii.  p.  13.">.) 
The  Spaniards  of  South  America  call 
the  palm  whicli  produces  the  vege- 
table ivory  (Phi/fe/ejj/tas  macrocarpa) 
Pahna  de  marjil,  and  the  nut  itself, 
marjil  vegetal. 

'  ^Eliax,  de  Nat.  Anim.  lib.  xvi. 
c.  18;  Cosmas  Lid/ropl.  p.  128. 


CuAr.  I.] 


STRUCTURE   AND   FUNCTIONS. 


273 


formerly  numerous  ^ ;  smaller  lierds  have  been  taken  in 
the  periodical  captures  for  the  pubhc  service,  and  hunters 
returning  fi'om  the  chase  report  them  to  be  more  scarce. 
In  consequence  of  this  diminution  the  peasantry  in 
some  parts  of  the  island  have  even  suspended  the  an- 
cient practice  of  keeping  watchers  and  fires  by  night 
to  drive  away  the  elephants  fi'om  thek  growing  crops.^ 
The  opening  of  roads  and  the  clearing  of  the  mountain 
forests  of  Kandy  for  the  cultivation  of  coffee,  have 
forced  the  animals  to  retu-e  to  the  low  country ;  where 
again  they  have  been  followed  by  large  parties  of  Eu- 
ropean sportsmen ;  and  the  Singhalese  themselves,  being 
more  freely  provided  with  arms  than  in  former  times, 
have  assisted  in  swelhng  the  annual  slaughter. 

Had  the  motive  which  incites  to  the  destruction  of 
the  elephant  in  Africa  and  India  prevailed  in  Ceylon, 
and  had  the  elephants  there  been  pro\ided  with  tusks, 
they  Avould  long  since  have  been  annihilated  for  the 
sake   of  their   ivory.^     But   it   is   a   cm^ious    fact   that, 


^  Le  Britx,  wlio  visited  Ceylon 
A.D.  1705,  says  tliat  in  the  distiict 
round  Colombo,  where  elephants  are 
now  never  seen,  they  were  then  so 
abundant,  that  160  had  been  taken 
in  a  single  con'al.  (  Voyage,  ^-c,  torn. 
ii.  ch.  Ixiii.  p.  331.) 

^  In  some  parts  of  Bengal,  where 
elephants  were  formerly  troublesome 
(especially  near  the  wilds  of  Ram- 
gar),  the  natives  got  rid  of  them  by 
mixing  a  preparation  of  the  poison- 
ous nepal  root  called  dahra  in  balls 
of  gi-ain,  and  other  materials,  of  which 
the  animal  is  fond.  In  Cuttack,  above 
fifty  years  ago,  mineral  poison  was 
laid  for  them  in  the  same  way,  and 
the  carcases  of  eighty  were  foimd 
which  had  been  killed  by  it.  {Asiat. 
Res.,  XV.  183.) 

^  The  annual  importation  of  ivory 
into  Creat  Britain  alone,  for  the 
last  few  years,  has  been  about  one 
million  pounds ;  which,  taking  the 
average  weight  of  a  tusk  at  sixty 
pounds,  would  requii-e  the  slaughter 

VOL.    II.  T 


of  8,333  male  elephants. 

But  of  this  quantity  the  importa- 
tion from  Ceylon  has  generally  aver- 
aged only  five  or  six  himdred  weight; 
which,  making  allowance  for  the 
lightness  of  the  tusks,  woidd  not  in- 
volve the  destruction  of  more  than 
seven  or  eight  in  each  year.  At  the 
same  time,  this  does  not  fixirly  repre- 
sent the  annual  number  of  tuskers 
shot  in  Ceylon,  not  only  because  a 
portion  of  the  ivory  finds  its  way  to 
China  and  to  other  places,  but  be- 
cause the  chiefs  and  Buddliist  priests 
haA'e  a  passion  for  collecting  tusks, 
and  the  finest  and  largest  are  to  be 
fomid  omamenting  tlieir  temples  and 
private  dwellings.  The  Chinese  pro- 
fess that  for  their  exqiusite  carvings 
the  ivoiT  of  Ceylon  excels  all  otlier, 
both  in  density  of  texture  and  in  de- 
licacy of  tint ;  but  in  tlu^  European 
market,  the  ivoiy  of  jVfrica,  from  its 
more  distinct  gi-aining  and  otlier 
causes,  obtains  a  higher  price. 


274 


THE   ELEPHANT. 


[Part  VIII. 


wliilst  in  Africa  botli  sexes  have  tusks,  vnili  some  slight 
disproportion  in  the  size  of  those  of  the  females ;  and 
whilst  in  India  the  females  are  pro\aded  with  them, 
though  of  much  less  cUmensions  than  the  males ;  not 
one  elephant  in  a  hundred  is  found  with  tusks  in  Ceylon, 
and  the  few  that  possess  them  are  exclusively  males. 
Nearly  all,  however,  have  those  stunted  processes  which 
are  called  tushes,  about  ten  or  twelve  inches  in  length 
and  one  or  two  in  diameter, — these  I  have  observed 
them  to  use  in  snapping  off  small  branches  and  chmbing 
plants ;  and  hence  tushes  are  seldom  seen  without  a 
groove  worn  into  them  near  their  extremities.^ 

Amongst  other  surmises  more  ingenious  than  sound, 
the  general  absence  of  tusks  in  the  elephant  of  Ceylon 
has  been  associated  mth  the  profusion  of  rivers  and 
streams  in  the  island ;  whilst  it  has  been  thrown  out  as 
a  possibility  that  in  Afiica,  where  water  is  comparatively 
scarce,  the  animal  is  equipped  with  these  implements 
in  order  to  assist  it  in  digging  wells  in  the  sand 
and  in  raising  the  juicy  roots  of  the  mimosas  and 
succulent  plants  for  the  sake  of  their  moisture.  In  sup- 
port of  this  liy[3othesis,  it  has  been  observed,  that  whilst 
the  tusks  of  the  Ceylon  species,  which  are  never  re- 
quired for  such  uses,  are  slender,  graceful  and  curved, 
seldom  exceeding  fifty  or  sixty  pounds'  weight,  those 
of  the  African  species  are  straight  and  tliick,  weighing 
occasionally  one  hundred  and  fifty,  and  even  three 
hundred  pounds.^ 


^  The  old  fallacy  is  still  renewed, 
that  the  elephant  sheds  his  tusks. 
yELiAN  says  he  drops  them  once  in 
ten  years  (lib.  xiv.  c.  5)  ;  and  Pliny 
repeats  the  story,  adding  that,  when 
dropped,  the  elephants  hide  them  un- 
der gi-ound  (lib.  viii.)  whence,  Shaw 
says,  in  his  Zooloc/i/,  "they  are  fre- 
quently fomid  in  the  woods,"  and  ex- 
ported from  jVfrica  (vol.  i.  p.  21.3)  ; 
and  Sir  W.  Jardixf,,  in  the  Kafu- 
rulisfs  Library  (vol.  ix.  p.  110),  says, 
"  the  tusks  are  shed  about  the  twelfth 


or  thirteenth  year."  This  is  eiTO- 
neous :  after  losing  the  first  pair,  or, 
as  they  are  called,  the  ''milk  tusks," 
which  drop  in  consequence  of  the  ab- 
sorption of  their  roots,  when  the  ani- 
mal is  extremely  yoimg,  the  second 
pair  acquire  their  full  size,  and  be- 
come the  "  penniuient  tusks,"  which 
are  never  shed. 

~  Notwithstanding  the  inferiority 
in  weight  of  the  Ceylon  tusks,  as  com- 
pared with  those  of  the  elephant  of 
India,  it  would,  I  think,  be  precipi- 


Chap.  I.] 


STRUCTURE   AND   FUNCTIONS. 


275 


But  it  is  manifestly  inconsistent  with  tlie  idea  that 
tusks  were  given  to  the  elephant  to  assist  him  in  digging 
for  his  food,  to  find  that  the  females  are  less  bountiiiiUy 
supplied  with  them  than  the  males,  wliilst  the  necessity 
for  their  use  extends  equally  to  both  sexes.  The  same 
argument  would  serve  to  demonstrate  the  fallacy  of  the 
coiijecture,  that  the  tusks  of  the  elephant  were  given  to 
him  as  weapons  of  offence,  for  if  such  were  the  case  the 
vast  majority  in  Ceylon,  males  as  well  as  females,  woidd 
be  left  helpless  in  presence  of  an  assailant.  But  although 
in  their  conflicts  with  one  another,  those  which  are  pro- 
vided with  tusks  may  occasionally  push  with  them  clumsily 
at  their  opponents ;  it  is  a  misapprehension  to  imagine 
that  tusks  are  designed  specially  to  serve  "  in  warding  off 
th.e  attacks  of  the  wily  tiger  and  the  furious  rhinoceros, 
often  securing  the  victory  by  one  blow  which  transfixes 
the  assailant  to  the  earth."  ^ 

So  harmless  and  peaceftd  is  the  hfe  of  the  elephant,  that 


tate  to  draw  the  infereuce  tliat  the 
size  of  the  former  was  imifonuly  aud 
naturally  less  than  that  of  the  latter. 
The  truth,  I  believe  to  be,  that  if 
permitted  to  grow  to  maturity,  the 
tusks  of  the  one  woidd,  in  all  proba- 
bility, equal  those  of  the  other ;  but, 
so  eager  is  the  search  for  ivoiy  in 
Ceylon,  that  a  tusker,  when  once 
obsei"^'ed  in  a  herd,  is  followed  up 
with  such  perseveiing  impatience,  that 
he  is  almost  invariably  shot  before 
attaining  his  fidl  gTowth.  General 
3)i  Lima,  when  returning  from  the 
governorship  of  the  Portuguese  set- 
tlements at  Mozambique,  told  me, 
in  1848,  that  he  had  beeu  requested 
to  procure  two  tusks  of  the  largest 
size  and  straightest  possible  shape, 
which  were  to  be  formed  into  a  cross 
to  surmoimt  the  high  altar  of  the  ca- 
theelral  at  Goa :  he  succeeded  in  his 
commission,  and  sent  two,  one  of 
which  was  180  pounds,  and  the  other 
170  pounds'  weight,  with  the  slightest 
possible  curve.  In  a  periodiciil,  en- 
titled 77ie  Ffii'nd,  published  in  Cey- 
lon, it  is  stated  in  the  vohune  for  1837 
that  the  officers  belonging  to  the  ships 


Q.uoiTah  and  Alburhak,  engaged  in 
the  Niger  Expedition,  were  shown 
by  a  native  king  two  tusks,  each  two 
feet  and  a  half  in  circmnferonce  at 
the  base,  eight  feet  long,  and  weigh- 
ing upwards  of  200  pounds.  (Vol.  i. 
p.  225.)  BEODEiap,  in  his  Zoolot/ical 
Jtecreatiotis,  p.  256,  says  a  tusk  of 
350  pounds'  weight  was  sold  at  Am- 
sterdam, but  he  does  not  quote  his 
authority. 

^  3Ienaf/eries,  ^-c,  published  by 
the  Society  for  the  Difiusion  of  I'se- 
fiil  Knowledge,  vol.  i.  p.  08 :  "  The 
Elephant,"  ch.  iii.  It  will  be  seen 
that  I  have  quoted  repeatedly  from 
this  volume,  because  it  is  the  most 
compendious  and  careful  compila- 
tion with  which  I  am  acquainted  of 
the  information  previously  existing 
regarding  the  elephant.  The  au- 
thor incorporates  no  specidations  of 
his  ovra,  but  has  most  diligently  and 
agi'eeably  arranged  all  the  facts  col- 
lected by  his  predecessors.  The  stoiy 
of  antipathy  between  the  elephant 
and  rhinoceros  is  probably  borrowed 
from  /Elian,  ile  Aar.,  lib.  xvii. 
c.  44. 


276  THE    ELEPHANT.  [Part  VIII. 

nature  appears  to  liave  left  liim  unprovided  with  any 
weapon  of  offence :  liis  trunk  is  too  delicate  an  organ  to 
be  rudely  employed  in  a  conflict  ^\'itli  other  animals, 
and  although  on  an  emergency  he  may  push  or  gore 
Avith  his  tusks  (to  which  the  French  have  hastily  given 
tlie  term  "  defenses'")^  their  almost  vertical  position, 
added  to  the  difficidty  of  raising  his  head  above  the 
level  of  his  shoulder,  is  inconsistent  with  the  idea  of 
their  being  designed  for  attack,  since  it  is  impossible 
for  the  elephant  to  strike  an  effectual  blow,  or  to  wield 
his  tusks  as  the  deer  and  the  buffalo  can  direct  their 
horns.  Nor  is  it  easy  to  conceive  under  what  ckcum- 
stances  an  elephant  could  have  a  hostile  encounter 
with  either  a  rhinoceros  or  a  tiger,  with  whose  pm"- 
suits  in  a  state  of  nature  his  o^vm  can  in  no  way 
confhct. 

Towards  man  elephants  evince  shyness,  arising  from 
their  love  of  solitude  and  dishke  of  intrusion ;  any 
alarm  they  exhibit  at  his  appearance,  may  be  reason- 
ably traced  to  the  slaughter  which  has  reduced  their 
numbers  ;  and  as  some  e^ddence  of  this,  it  has  always 
been  observed  that  an  elephant  exliibits  greater  unpa- 
tience  of  the  presence  of  a  white  man  than  of  a  native. 
Were  his  instincts  to  carry  him  fiu'ther,  or  were  he 
influenced  by  any  feehng  of  animosity  or  hostihty,  it 
must  be  apparent  that,  as  against  the  prodigious 
numbers  which  inhabit  the  forests  of  Ceylon,  man  would 
wage  an  unequal  contest,  and  that  of  the  two  one  or 
other  must  long  since  have  been  reduced  to  a  helpless 
minority. 

Official  testimony  is  not  wanting  in  confirmation  of 
this  view ; — in  the  retmiis  of  108  coroners'  inquests  held 
in  Ceylon,  during  five  years,  from  1849  to  1855  inclusive, 
in  cases  of  death  occasioned  by  wild  animals  ;  16  are 
recorded  as  having  been  caused  by  elephants,  15  by 
buffaloes,  6  by  crocochles,  2  by  boars,  1  by  a  bear,  and 
68  by  serpents ;  (the  great  majority  of  the  last  class  of 
sufferers    being   women   and    cliildren,   who    had    been 


Chap.  I.]  STRUCTURE   AND   FUNCTIONS.  277 

bitten  diu-ing  the  iiiglit).  Little  more  than  three  fatal 
accidents  annually  on  the  average  of  five  years,  is  cer- 
tainly a  small  proportion  amongst  a  population  estimated 
at  a  million  and  a  half,  in  an  island  abounding  with 
elephants,  with  which  encounters  are  daily  stimulated 
by  the  love  of  sport  or  the  hope  of  gain.  Were  the 
elephants  instinctively  vdcious  or  even  highly  irritable 
in  their  temperament,  the  destruction  of  human  life 
under  the  circumstances  must  have  been  infinitely  greater. 
It  must  also  be  taken  into  account,  that  some  of  the 
accidents  recorded  may  have  occurred  in  the  rutting 
season,  when  elephants  are  subject  to  fits  of  temporary 
fury,  known  in  India  by  the  term  must^  in  Ceylon  miidda, 
— a  paroxysm  which  speedily  passes  away,  but  during 
the  fury  of  wliich  it  is  dangerous  even  for  the  mahout 
to  approach  those  ordinarily  the  tamest  and  most  gentle. 

But,  then,  the  elephant  is  said  to  "  entertain  an  ex- 
traordinary dishke  to  all  quadrupeds ;  that  dogs  run- 
ning near  him  produce  annoyance ;  that  he  is  alarmed 
if  a  hare  start  fi'om  her  form ; "  and  from  Phny  to 
BufFon  every  naturahst  has  recorded  his  supposed  aver- 
sion to  swine. ^  These  alleged  antipathies  are  in  a  great 
degree,  if  not  entirely,  imaginary.  The  habits  of  the 
elephant  are  essentially  harmless,  his  Avants  lead  to  no 
rivalry  with  other  animals,  and  the  food  to  which  he  is 
most  attached  is  found  in  such  abundance  that  he  ob- 
tains it  without  an  efibrt.  In  the  quiet  sohtudes  of 
Ceylon,  elephants  may  constantly  be  seen  browsing 
peacefully  in  the  immediate  \dcinity  of  and  in  close 
contact  with  other  animals.  I  have  seen  groups  of  deer 
and  wild  buffaloes  rechning  in  the  sandy  bed  of  a  river 
in  the  dry  season,  and  elephants  plucking  the  branches 
close  beside  them.  They  show  no  impatience  in  the 
company  of  the  elk,  the  bear,  and  the  wild  hog ;  and  on 
the  other  hand,  I  have  never  discovered  an  instance  in 
which  these  animals  have  evinced  any  apprehension  of 


^  Menageries,  ^-c,  "  The  Elephaut/ '  ch.  iii. 
T  3 


278 


THE    ELEPHANT. 


[Part  VIII. 


them.  The  elephant's  natmiil  timidity,  however,  is  such 
that  he  becomes  alarmed  on  the  appearance  in  the  jungle 
of  any  animal  with  wliich  he  is  not  famihar;  he  is 
said  to  be  afraid  of  the  horse,  but  from  my  o^vn  ex- 
perience I  should  say  it  is  the  horse  that  is  alarmed 
at  the  aspect  of  the  elephant ;  in  the  same  way,  from 
some  unaccountable  impulse,  the  horse  has  an  antipathy 
to  the  camel,  and  e^^nces  extreme  impatience,  both  of 
the  sight  and  the  smell  of  that  animal.^  Wlien  enraged, 
an  elephant  will  not  hesitate  to  charge  a  rider  on 
horseback ;  but  it  is  against  the  man,  not  against  the 
horse,  that  his  fiuy  is  du"ected ;  and  no  instance  has  been 
ever  known  of  liis  wantonly  assailing  a  horse. 

A  horse,  wliich  belonged  to  the  late  Major  Eogers^, 
had  run  away  from  his  groom,  and  was  found  some 
considerable  time  afterwards  grazing  quietly  vriih  a 
herd  of  elephants.  Pigs  are  constantly  to  be  seen  feed- 
ing about  the  stables  of  the  tame  elephants,  wliich 
manifest  no  repugnance  to  them.  As  to  the  smaller 
animals,  the  elephant  undoubted^  evinces  uneasiness  at 
the  presence  of  a  dog,  but  tliis  is  referable  to  the  same 
cause  as  his  impatience  of  a  horse,  namely,  that  neitlier 
is  habitually  seen  hj  him  in  the  forest ;  but  it  would 
be  idle  to  suppose  that  this  feehng  could  amount  to 
hostility  against  a  creatm^e  incapable  of  inflicting  on 
him  the  shghtest  injury.^  The  truth  I  apprehend  to  be 
that,  when  they  meet,  the  impudence  and  impertinences 


^  This  peculiarity  was  noticed  by 
the  ancients,  and  is  recorded  by  He- 
rodotus :  "  Kc't[lT)\0V  'ilTTTOQ  (poQliTttl,  Kai 

oi'K  rti'£;(frai  ovn  ri)i'  IShjv  avriic  ophov 
ovri  T)iv  6t^u)v  ci(j<pp(avo^itvoQ^^  (Herod. 
ch.  80).  Camels  have  long  been 
bred  by  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany, 
at  his  establishment  near  Pisa,  and 
even  therethe  same  instinctive  dis- 
like to  them  is  manifested  by  the 
horse  which  it  is  necessary  to  train 
and  accustom  to  their  presence  in 
order     to     avoid     accidents.      Mr. 


Brodeeip  mentions,  that,  "when  the 
precaution  of  such  training  has  not 
been  adopted,  the  sudden  and  dan- 
gerous teiTor  with  which  a  horse  is 
seized  in  coming  unexpectedly  upon 
one  of  them  is  excessive." — Note- 
booh  of  a  XafurdUst,  ch.  iv.  p.  113. 

^  ^lajor  Rogers  was  mauy  years 
the  chief  (i\\\\  officer  of  Government 
in  tlie  district  of  Oovah,  where  he  was 
killed  by  lightning,  1845. 

^  To  account  for  the  impatience 
manifested  by  the  elephant  at  the 


Chap.  I.] 


STRUCTUEE   AND   FUNCTIONS. 


279 


of  tlie  dog  are  offensive  to  the  gravity  of  the  elephant, 
and  incompatible  "svdtli  his  love  of  sohtude  and  ease. 
Or  may  it  be  assumed  as  an  e\^dence  of  the  sagacity 
of  the  elephant,  that  the  only  two  animals  to  which 
he  manifests  an  antipathy,  are  the  two  Avhicli  he  lias 
seen  in  the  company  of  his  enemy,  man? 

Major  Skinner,  whose  official  duties  in  tracing  roads 
involved  the  necessity  of  Ms  being  in  the  jungle  for 
months  together,  always  found  that,  by  niglit  or  by  day, 
the  barldng  of  a  dog  which  accompanied  him,  was  suffi- 
cient to  put  a  whole  herd  to  flight.  On  the  whole, 
therefore,  I  am  of  opinion  that  the  elephant  hves  on  terms 
of  amity  with  every  quadruped  in  the  forest,  that  he 
neither  regards  them  as  his  foes,  nor  provokes  their 
hostihty  by  his  acts ;  and  that,  with  the  exception  of 
man,  his  greatest  enemy  is  a  fly  ! 

These  statements  of  the  supposed  animosity  of  the 
elephant  to  minor  animals,  originated  ^vith  iEhan  and 
Phny,  who  had  probably  an  opportunity  of  seeing,  what 
may  at  any  time  be  observed,  that  when  a  captive  ele- 
phant is  picketed  beside  a  post,  the  domestic  animals, 
goats,  sheep,  and  cattle,  will  annoy  and  kritate  him  by 
their  audacity  in  making  free  with  his  provender ;  but 
this  is  an  evidence  in  itself  of  the  little  instinctive  dread 
wliich  such  comparatively  puny  creatures  enteitain  of 
one  so  powerfid  and  yet  so  gentle. 

Amongst  elephants  themselves,  jealousy  and  other  causes 
of  irritation  frequently  occasion  contentions  between  indi- 
viduals of  the  same  herd ;  but  on  such  occasions  it  is 
their  habit  to  strike  with  their  tnmks  and  to  bear  down 
their  opponents  with  their  heads.  It  is  doubtless  correct, 
that  an  elephant,  when  prostrated  by  the  force  and 
fury    of    an   antagonist   of    his    own    species,   is   often 


presence  of  a  dog,  it  has  been  sug- 
gested that  he  is  .al.armed  lest  tlic  lat- 
ter slioidd  attack  /i/.s  fed,  a  portion 
of  his  body  of  which  the  elephant  is 
peculiarly  careful.     A  tame  elephant 


has  been  observed  to  regard  with  in- 
difierence  a  spear  directed  towards 
his  head,  but  to  sliriuk  timidly  from 
the  same  weapon  when  pointed  at  liis 
foot. 


T  4 


280 


THE    ELEPHAXT. 


[Part  VIII. 


wouuded  by  the  downward  pressure  of  the  tusks,  whicli, 
iu  any  other  position,  it  would  be  ahiiost  impossible  to 
use  offensively. 

Mi\  Mercer,  wdio  in  1846  was  the  prmcipal  ci\il  officer 
of  Govermnent  at  Badulla,  sent  me  a  jagged  fragment 
of  an  elephant's  tusk,  about  five  inches  in  diameter,  and 
weighing  between  twenty  and  thirty  pounds,  wliich  had 
been  brought  to  him  by  some  natives,  who,  being  at- 
tracted by  a  noise  in  the  jungle,  mtnessed  a  combat 
between  a  tusker  and  one  without  tusks,  and  saw  the 
latter  "svith  liis  trunk  seize  one  of  the  tusks  of  his  an- 
tagonist and  wrench  from  it  the  portion  in  question, 
wdiich  measured  two  feet  in  length. 

Here  the  trunk  was  shown  to  be  the  more  powerful 
offensive  weapon  of  the  two ;  but  I  apprehend  that  the 
cliief  rehance  of  the  elephant  for  defence  is  on  his 
ponderous  weight,  the  pressure  of  his  foot  being  suf- 
ficient to  crush  any  minor  assailant  after  being  pros- 
trated by  means  of  his  trunk.  Besides,  in  usmg  his 
feet  for  this  pm^ose,  he  derives  a  wonderfid  facihty 
fi'om  the  peculiar  formation  of  the  knee-joint  in  his 
huid  leg,  w^hich,  enabhng  him  to  swing  Ms  hind  feet 
forward  close  to  the  ground,  assists  him-  to  toss  the 
body  alternately  from  foot  to  foot,  till  he  deprives  it  of 
hfe.i 

A  sportsman  who  had  undergone  this  operation, 
having  been  seized  by  a  wounded  elephant  but  rescued 
from  his  fury,  described  to  me  Ms  sufferings  as  he 
was  thus  flung  back  and  forward  between  the  hind  and 
fore   feet  of  the  ammal,  wdiicli  ineffectuaUy  attempted 


'  In  the  Thii-d  Book  of  Maccabees, 

wliich  is  not  printed  iu  oiu"  Apociy- 
plui,  but  appears  iu  the  Series  in  the 
Greek  Septuagiut,  the  author,  in  de- 
scribing the  persecution  of  the  Jews 
by  Ptolemy  Pliilopater,  u.  c.  210, 
states  that  the  king  swore  vehemently 
that  he  would  send  them  into  the 
other  world,    "  foully   trampled    to 


death  by  the  knees  and  feet  of  ele- 
phants" (^irsfji-.petv  it(;  iiSijV  tv  yovaat 
Kai  TToal  ^tjpiwv  yKicTfiivovQ,  3  Mac. 
y.  42).  ^-EiJAJf  makes  the  remark, 
that  elephants  on  such  occasions  use 
their  k/iees  as  well  as  their  feet  to 
crush  their  victims.  - —  Mi^t,  Ajiim. 
viii.  10. 


CiiAP.  I.]  STRUCTURE   AXD    FUNCTIONS.  281 

to  trample  liiin  at  each  concussion,  but  aljandoned  bini 
without  inflicting  serious  injury. 

Knox,  in  describing  the  execution  of  criminals  by  the 
state  elephants  of  the  former  kings  of  Kandy,  says,  "  they 
will  ran  their  teeth  (tusks)  through  the  body,  and  then  tear 
it  in  pieces  and  throw  it  hmb  from  limb  ;  "  but  a  Kandyan 
chief,  who  was  witness  to  such  scenes,  has  assured 
me  that  the  elephant  never  once  apphed  his  tusks, 
but,  placing  his  foot  on  the  prostrate  victim,  plucked 
off  his  hmbs  in  succession  by  a  sudden  movement  of 
his  trunk.  If  the  tusks  were  designed  to  be  employed 
offensively,  some  alertness  would  naturally  be  exliibited 
in  using  them  ;  but  in  numerous  instances  where  sports- 
men have  fallen  into  the  power  of  a  wounded  elephant, 
they  have  escaped  through  the  failure  of  the  enraged 
animal  to  strike  them  with  its  tusks,  even  when  stretched 
upon  the  ground.^ 

Placed  as  the  elephant  is  in  Ceylon,  in  the  midst  of 
the  most  luxuriant  profusion  of  his  favourite  food,  in 
close  proximity  at  aU  times  to  abundant  supphes  of  water, 
and  with  no  enemies  against  whom  to  protect  himself, 
it  is  difficult  to  conjecture  any  probable  utihty  wliicli  he 
could  derive  from  such  appendages.  The  absence  of 
tusks  is  unaccompanied  by  any  inconvenience  to  those 
in  whom  they  are  wanting  ;  and  as  regards  the  few  who 
possess  them,  the  only  instance  in  which  I  am  aware  of 
then-  being  employed  in  relation  to  the  CEConomy  of 
the  animal,  is  to  assist  in  ripping  open  the  stem  of  the 
jaggery  palms  and  young  palmyras  to  extract  the  fari- 
naceous core  ;  and  in  sphtting  the  juicy  shaft  of  the 
plantain.  Wliilst  the  tuskless  elephant  crushes  the 
latter  under  foot,  thereby  soihng  it  and  wasting  its 
moisture  ;  the  other,  by  opening  it  with  the  point 
of  his   tusk,  performs  the  operation  with  dehcacy  and 


1  The  Ilastisilpey  a  Singhalese  work  |  which  it  is  not  desu'able  to  possess, 
which  treats  of  the  "  Science  of  Ele-  "  the  elephant  which  will  fifrlit  with 
phants,"  enumerates  amongst  those  |  a  stone  or  a  stick  in  his  trunk." 


282 


THE    ELEPIIAJy^T. 


[Part  VIII. 


apparent  ease.  These,  however,  are  trivial  and  ahnost 
accidental  advantages  :  on  the  other  hand,  owing  to  irre- 
gularities in  their  growth,  the  tusks  are  sometimes  an 
impediment  in  feedmg' ;  and  in  more  than  one  instance 
in  the  Government  studs,  tusks  w^hich  had  so  grown  as 
to  approach  and  cross  one  another  at  the  extremities, 
have  had  to  be  removed  by  the  saw,  the  contraction  of 
space  between  them  so  impeding  the  free  action  of  the 
trunk  as  to  prevent  the  animal  from  conveying  branches 
to  his  mouth. ^ 

It  is  true  that  in  capti\dty,  and  after  a  due  course  of 
training,  the  elephant  discovers  a  new  use  for  his  tusks 
when  employed  in  moving  stones  and  pihng  timber ;  so 
much  so  that  a  powerfid  one  will  raise  and  carry  on 
them  a  log  of  half  a  ton  weight  or  more.  One  even- 
ing, whilst  riding  in  the  vicinity  of  Kandy,  towards 
the  scene  of  the  massacre  of  Major  Davie's  party  in 
1803,  my  horse  evinced  some  excitement  at  a  noise 
which  approached  us  in  the  thick  jungle,  and  which 
consisted  of  a  repetition  of  the  ejaculation  urmph!  urmph! 
in  a  hoarse  and  dissatisfied  tone.  A  turn  m  the  forest 
explained  the  mystery,  by  bringing  me  face  to  face  with 
a  tame  elephant,  unaccompanied  by  any  attendant.      He 


^  Among  otlier  eccentric  forms,  an 
elephant  was  seen  in  1844,  in  the  dis- 
ti'ict  of  Biutenne,  neai-  Friar's-Hood 
Moimtain,  one  of  whose  tusks  was  so 
bent  that  it  took  what  sailors  term  a 
''  round  turn,"  and  then  resumed  its 
cuiTcd  direction  as  before.  In  the 
Museum  of  the  College  of  Sui-geons, 
London,  there  is  a  specimen,  No.  2757, 
of  a  spiral  tusk. 

2  Since  the  foregoing  remarks  were 
wi-ittcn  relative  to  the  midefined  use 
of  tusks  to  the  elephant,  I  have  seen 
a  specidation  on  the  same  subject  in 
Dr.  Holland's  Conditidion  of  the 
Animal  Creation^  as  e.rpn'ssed  in 
structural  Appendai/cs  :  "  but  tlie  con- 
jecture of  the  author  leaves  the  pro- 
blem scarcely  less  obscure  tlian  be- 
fore. Struck  with  the  mere  supple- 
mental presence   of   the  tusks,   the 


absence  of  all  apparent  use  serving  to 
distinguish  them  fi'om  the  essential 
oi-gans  of  the  creatm-e,  Dr.  IIoLLAifD 
concludes  that  their  production  is  a 
process  incident,  but  not  ancillaiy,  to 
other  important  ends,  especially  con- 
nected with  the  vital  fmictions  of  the 
trimk  and  the  marvellous  motive 
powers  inherent  to  it ;  his  conjec- 
ture is,  that  they  are  "  a  species  of 
safety  v.alve  of  the  animal  ceconomy," 
—  and  that  "  they  owe  their  develop- 
ment to  the  prtnlominance  of  the 
senses  of  touch  and  smell,  conjointly 
with  the  muscular  motions  of  which 
the  exercise  of  these  is  accompanied." 
''  Had  there  been  no  proboscis,"  he 
thinks,  ''there  would  have  been 
no  supplementary  appendages,  —  the 
former  creates  the  latter." — P.  246, 
271. 


CuAr.  I.] 


STRUCTURE   AXD   FUNCTIONS. 


283 


was  labouring  painfully  to  carry  a  heavy  beam  of  timber, 
Avliicli  lie  balanced  across  his  tusks,  but  the  pathway 
being  narrow,  he  was  forced  to  bend  his  head  to  one 
side  to  permit  it  to  pass  endways  ;  and  the  exertion  and 
inconvenience  combined  led  him  to  utter  the  dissatis- 
fied sounds  wliich  disturbed  the  composure  of  my  horse. 
On  seeing  us  halt,  the  elephant  raised  his  head,  re- 
connoitred us  for  a  moment,  then  flung  down  the  timber 
and  forced  himself  backwards  among  the  brushwood 
so  as  to  leave  a  passage,  of  which  he  expected  us  to 
avail  ourselves.  My  horse  still  hesitated  :  the  elephant 
observed  it,  and  impatiently  thrust  himself  still  deeper  into 
the  jungle,  repeating  his  cry  of  urmph !  but  in  a  voice 
evidently  meant  to  encourage  us  to  come  on.  Still 
the  horse  trembled ;  and  anxious  to  observe  the  in- 
stinct of  the  two  sagacious  creatures,  I  forbore  any  in- 
terference :  agam  the  elephant  wedged  himself  further 
in  amongst  the  trees,  and  waited  impatiently  for  us  to 
pass  him  ;  and  after  the  horse  had  done  so  trembhngly 
and  timidly,  I  saw  the  wise  creature  stoop  and  take  up 
his  heavy  bitrthen,  trim  and  balance  it  on  his  tusks,  and 
resume  his  route,  hoarsely  snorting,  as  before,  his  discon- 
tented remonstrance. 

Between  the  African  elephant  and  that  of  Ceylon,  with 
the  exception  of  the  strildng  pecuharity  of  the  absence  of 
tusks  in  the  latter,  the  distinctions  are  less  apparent  to  a 
casual  observer  than  to  a  scientific  naturahst.  In  the  Cey- 
lon species  the  forehead  is  higher  and  more  hollow,  the 
cars  are  smaller,  and,  in  a  section  of  the  teeth,  the  arindinir 
ridges,  instead  of  being  lozenge-shaped,  are  transverse  bars 
of  uniform  breadth. ' 


'  The  Dutch  naturalists  liave  re- 
cently annoimced  the  discoveiy  of 
some  peculiarities  in  the  elephant  of 
Sumatra,  which  serve  to  distinguish 
it  from  that  of  India  and  Africa;  and, 
as  they  allege,  to  entitle  it  to  the  rank 
of  a  separate  species  to  which  they 


have  given  the  name  of  E.  Suma- 
trensis.  The  supposed  diilerences  are 
said  to  consist  in  the  respective  num- 
ber of  vertebra)  and  ribs,  and  some 
variation  in  the  ridges  of  tlie  grinders. 
—  Crawfubd,  Diet,  of  Indian  Islands, 
p.  13G. 


284  THE   ELEPHANT.  [Part  VIII. 

The  Indian  elephant  is  stated  by  Cuvier  to  have  four 
nails  on  the  hind  foot,  whilst  the  African  variety  has  but 
three  ;  but  amongst  the  perfections  of  a  high-bred  elephant 
of  Ceylon,  is  always  enumerated  the  possession  of  ticenty 
nails,  whilst  those  of  a  secondary  class  have  but  eighteen 
in  all. 

So  conversant  are  the  natives  with  the  structure 
and  '•  points "  of  the  elephant,  that  they  divide  them 
readily  into  castes,  and  describe  with  particularity 
their  distmctive  excellences  and  defects.  In  the  Has- 
tisilpe,  a  Singhalese  work  which  treats  of  their  manage- 
ment, the  marks  of  inferior  breeding  are  said  to  be 
"  eyes  restless  like  those  of  a  crow,  the  hair  of  the  head 
of  mixed  shades  ;  the  face  wi^inkled  and  small ;  the 
tongue  cm-ved  and  black  ;  the  nails  short  and  green ; 
the  ears  small ;  the  neck  thm,  the  skin  fi^eckled ;  the 
tail  without  a  tuft,  and  the  forequarter  lean  and  low  ; " 
wliilst  the  perfection  of  form  and  beauty  is  supposed  to 
consist  in  the  "  softness  of  the  skin,  the  red  colour  of 
the  mouth  and  tongue,  the  forehead  expanded  and  hol- 
low, the  ears  large  and  rectangidar,  the  trunk  broad  at 
the  root  and  blotched  with  pink  m  fi^ont ;  the  eyes 
bright  and  Idndly,  the  cheeks  large,  the  neck  full,  the 
back  level,  the  chest  square,  the  fore  legs  short  and 
convex  in  front,  the  hhid  quarter  plump,  and  five  naiLs 
on  each  foot,  all  smooth,  pohshed,  and  round.  ^  An 
elephant  with  these  perfections,"  says  the  author  of  the 
Ilastisilpe,  "  will  impart  glory  and  magnificence  to  the 
kino- ;  but  he  cannot  be  discovered  amonsst  thousands, 
yea,  there  shall  never  be  found  an  elephant  clothed  at 
once  with  all  the  excellences  herein  described."  Tlie 
"  points"  of  an  elephant  are  to  be  studied  witli  the  greatest 
advantage  in  those  attached  to  the  temples,  which  are 
always  of  the  liighest  caste,  and  exhibit  the  most  perfect 
breeding. 


*  A  native  of  rank  infonued  me,  I  will  sometimes  touch  the  gromid,  hut 
that "  the  tail  of  ahigh-caate  elephant  I  such  are  very  rare." 


Chap.  I.]  STRUCTURE   AND    FUNCTIONS.  285 

The  colour  of  the  animars  skin  in  a  state  of  nature  is 
generally  of  a  hghter  brown  than  that  of  those  in  capti\ity ; 
a  distinction  which  arises,  in  all  probabihty,  not  so  much 
from  the  wild  elephant's  propensity  to  cover  himself  with 
mud  and  dust,  as  from  the  superior  care  wliich  is  taken 
in  repeatedly  bathing  the  tame  ones,  and  in  rubbing  their 
sldns  with  a  soft  stone,  a  lump  of  burnt  clay,  or  the 
coarse  husk  of  a  coco-nut.  This  kind  of  attention, 
together  with  the  occasional  application  of  oil  to  tlie 
skhi,  gives  rise  to  the  deeper  black  wliich  their  hides 
present. 

Amongst  the  native  Singhalese,  however,  a  singular 
preference  is  e\dnced  for  elephants  which  exhibit  those 
flesh-coloured  blotches  which  occasionally  mottle  the  skin 
of  an  elephant,  chiefly  about  the  head  and  extremities. 
The  front  of  the  trunk,  the  tips  of  the  ears,  the  forehead, 
and  occasionally  the  legs,  are  thus  diversified  with  stains 
of  a  yellowish  tint,  inchning  to  pink.  These  are  not 
natural ;  nor  are  they  hereditary,  for  they  are  seldom 
exliibited  by  the  younger  individuals  in  a  herd,  but  ap- 
pear to  be  the  result  of  some  eruptive  affection,  the  iiii- 
tation  of  which  has  induced  the  animal  in  his  uneasiness 
to  rub  himself  against  the  rough  bark  of  trees,  and  thus 
to  destroy  the  outer  cuticle.^ 

To  a  European  these  spots  appear  blemishes,  and  the 
taste  which  leads  the  natives  to  admu^e  them  is  probably 
akin  to  tlie  feehng  which  has  at  all  times  rendered  a 
ichite  elephant  an  object  of  wonder  to  Asiatics.  The 
rarity  of  the  latter  is  accounted  for  by  regarding  this 
pecuhar  appearance  as  the  result  of  albinism ;  and  not- 
withstanding the  exaggeration  of  Oriental  historians,  who 
compare  the  fairness  of  such  creatures  to  the  Avliiteness  of 
snow,  even  in  its  utmost  perfection,  I  apprehend  that  the 
tint  of  a  white  elephant  is  httle  else  than  a  flesh-colour, 
rendered  somewhat  more  conspicuous  by  the  blanching  of 


^  Tins  is  confinned  by  the  fact  that 
the  scar  of  the  ankle  wound,  oc- 
casioned by  the  rope  on  the  logs  of 


those  which  have  been  captured  by 
noosing,  presents  precisely  the  same 
tint  in  the  healed  parts. 


286 


THE    ELEPHA^^T. 


[rAKT  VIII. 


the  skin,  and  the  lightness  of  the  colourless  haks  by  wliicli 
it  is  sparsely  covered.  A  white  elephant  is  mentioned  in 
the  Maliawanso  as  forming  part  of  the  retinue  attached  to 
the  Temple  of  the  Tooth  at  Anarajapoora,  hi  the  fifth 
century  after  Christ  ^ ;  but  it  commanded  no  rehgious 
veneration,  and  hke  those  of  the  kings  of  Siam,  it  was 
tended  merely  as  an  emblem  of  royalty  '-^ ;  the  sovereign 
of  Ceylon  being  addressed  as  the  "  Lord  of  Elephants."  ^ 
In  1633  a  white  elephant  was  exliibited  m  Holland^; 
but  as  this  was  some  years  before  the  Dutch  had  es- 
tablished themselves  firmly  in  Ceylon,  it  was  probably 
brought  from  some  other  of  then-  eastern  possessions. 


^  Mahmvanso,  cli.  xxxA-iii.  p.  254, 
A.D.  433. 

^  Pallegoix,  Siam,  8,-c.,  vol.  i.  p. 
152. 

^  Mahmvanso,  cli.  xviii.  p.  111. 
The  Hindu  sovereioiis  of  Orissa,  in 
the  middle  ages,  bore  the  style  of 


Gaja-pati,  "  powerful  in  elephants." 
— Asicct.  Res.  xv.  253. 

^  Aemaxdi,  Hist.  Ilih'f.  des  Ele- 
phants, lib.  ii.  c.  X.  p.  380.  Horace 
mentions  a  white  elephant  as  having 
been  exhibited  at  Home :  "  Sive  ele- 
phas  albus  vulgi  couverteret  ora." 
—Hoe.  Ep.  n.  106. 


287 


CHAP.   11. 

HABITS   WHEN    WILD. 

Although  found  generally  in  warm  and  sunny  cli- 
mates, it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  elephant  is 
partial  either  to  heat  or  to  light.  In  Ceylon,  the 
mountain  tops,  and  not  the  sultry  valleys,  are  his  fa- 
vourite resort.  In  Oovah,  where  the  elevated  plains 
are  often  crisp  with  the  morning  frost,  and  on  Pedi^o- 
taUa-galla,  at  tlie  heiglit  of  upwards  of  eight  thousand 
feet,  they  are  found  in  herds,  whilst  the  hunter  may 
search  for  them  without  success  in  the  jungles  of  the 
low  country.  No  altitude,  in  fact,  seems  too  lofty  or 
too  chill  for  the  elephant,  provided  it  affords  the  luxury 
of  water  in  abundance ;  and,  contrary  to  the  general 
opinion  that  the  elephant  dehghts  in  sunshine,  he  seems 
at  all  times  impatient  of  its  glare,  and  spends  the  day 
in  the  thickest  depth  of  the  forests,  devoting  the  night  to 
excursions,  and  to  the  luxury  of  the  bath,  in  wdiich  he 
also  indulges  occasionally  by  day.  This  partiality  for 
shade  is  doubtless  ascribable  to  his  love  of  coolness 
and  solitude ;  but  it  is  not  altogether  unconnected  with 
the  position  of  his  eye,  and  tlie  circumscribed  use  which 
his  peculiar  mode  of  hfe  permits  him  to  make  of  his 
faculty  of  sight. 

All  the  elephant  hunters  and  natives  to  whom  I  have 
spoken  on  the  subject,  conciu"  in  opinion  that  his  range 
of  vision  is  circumscribed,  and  that  lie  rehes  more  on  his 
ear  and  his  sense  of  smell,  than  on  his  sight,  which  is 
liable  to  be  obstructed  by  the  dense  fohage ;  besides 
which,  from  the  formation  of  his  neck,  he  is  incapable 


288 


THE    ELEPHAXT. 


[Part  VIII. 


of  directing  the  range  of  liis  eye  much  above  the  level  of 
his  heacl.^ 

The  elephant's  small  range  of  vision  is  sufficient  to 
account  for  his  excessive  caution,  his  alarm  at  unusual 
noises,  and  the  timidity  and  panic  exhibited  by  him  at 
trivial  objects  and  incidents  wliich,  imperfectly  discerned, 
excite  his  suspicions  for  his  safety.^  In  1841  an  officer^ 
was  chased  by  an  elephant  which  he  had  shghtly 
wounded ;  and  which  seizing  him  in  the  dry  bed  of  a 
river,  had  its  fore-foot  already  raised  to  crush  him ;  but 
the  animal's  forehead  being  caught  at  the  instant  by  the 
tendrils  of  a  climbing  plant  which  had  suspended  itself 
from  the  branches  above,  it  suddenly  tm-ned  and  fled ; 
lea\dng  him  badly  hurt,  but  with  no  hmb  broken.  I  have 
heard  many  similar  instances,  equally  well  attested,  of  this 
pecuharity  in  the  elephant. 


^  After  writing  tlie  above,  I  was 
pemiitted  by  the  late  Dr.  H-i.KRisox, 
of  Dublin,  to  see  some  accui-ate 
drawings  of  the  brain  of  an  elephant, 
which  he  had  the  opportunity  of 
dissecting  in  1847,  and  on  looking  to 


that  of  the  base,  I  have  found  a  re- 
marliable  verification  of  the  informa- 
tion which  I  collected  in  Cejdon. 

The  small  figm-e  A  is  the  ganglion 
of  the  fifth  nerve,  showing  the  small 
motor  and  lai'ge  sensitive  poi-tion. 


The  olfactory  lobes,  from  which 
the  olfactoiy  nerves  proceed,  are 
large,  whilst  the  optic  and  7ni(scular 
nerves  of  the  orbit  arc  sinf/iilarli/ 
small  for  so  vast  an  animal ;  and  one 
is  immediately  strucli  by  the  prodi- 
gious size  of  the  filth  nerve,  which 
supplies  the  proboscis  with  its  ex- 
quisite sensibility,  as  well  as  by  the 
gi'eat    size  of  the   motor  portion  of 


Olfactory  lobes  —  large. 


Optic  nerve  —  small. 

Third  pair  —  small. 

Fourth  pair  —  small. 

The  two  poTtions  of  the  fifth  pair,  the  sensitive 

portion  very  large,  for  the  proboscis. 
Sixth  pair  —  small. 
Seventh  pair  —  portio  dura, or  raotor,very  large 

for  proboscis. 


the  seventh,  which  supplies  the  same 
organ  with  its  power  of  movement 
and  action. 

*  Menageries,  Sfc,  "  Tlie  Ele- 
phant," p.  27. 

*  Major  lIoGERS.  An  accoimt  of 
this  singular  adventure  will  be  foimd 
in  the  Cei/lon  3Iisccllani/  for  1842, 
vol.  i.  p.  221. 


Chap.  II.]  HABITS   WHEN   WILD.  289 

On  the  other  hand,  their  power  of  smell  is  so  remark- 
able as  almost  to  compensate  for  the  deficiency  of  sight. 
The  herd  are  not  only  apprised  of  the  approach  of  dan- 
ger by  this  means,  but  when  scattered  in  the  forest, 
and  dispersed  out  of  range  of  sight,  they  are  enabled  by  it 
to  reassemble  with  rapidity  and  adopt  precautions  for 
their  common  safety.  The  same  necessity  involves  a 
dehcate  sense  of  hearuig,  and  the  use  of  a  variety  of 
noises  or  calls,  by  means  of  which  elephants  succeed  in 
communicating  with  each  other  upon  all  emergencies. 
"  The  sounds  wliich  they  utter  have  been  described  by 
the  African  hunters  as  of  three  kinds  :  the  first,  which  is 
very  shrill,  produced  by  blowing  through  the  trunk,  is 
indicative  of  pleasure ;  the  second,  produced  by  tlie 
mouth,  is  expressive  of  want ;  and  the  tliird,  proceeding 
from  the  throat,  is  a  terrific  roar  of  anger  or  revenge."^ 
These  words  convey  but  an  imperfect  idea  of  the 
variety  of  noises  made  by  the  elephant  in  Ceylon ;  and 
the  shrill  cry  produced  by  blowing  through  his  trunk,  so 
far  from  being  regarded  as  an  indication  of  "  pleasure," 
is  the  weU-known  ciy  of  rage  with  which  he  rushes  to 
encounter  an  assailant.  Aristotle  describes  it  as 
resembhng  the  hoarse  sound  of  a  "trumpet."^  The 
French  stiU  designate  the  proboscis  of  an  elepliant  by 
the  same  expression  "  trompe,"  (which  we  have  unmean- 
ingly corrupted  into  trunks)  and  hence  the  scream  of  the 
elephant  is  known  as  "trumpeting"  by  tlie  hunters  in 
Ceylon.  Then-  cry  when  in  pain,  or  when  subjected 
to  compulsion,  is  a  grunt  or  a  deep  groan  from  tlie 
throat,  with  the  proboscis  curled  upwards  and  the  lips 
wide  apart. 

Should  the   attention    of  an   individual  in   the   herd 


^    3Iena(/en'cs,    c^-c,     ''The    Ele-  century,  is  interspersed  with  draw- 

phant,"  ch.  iii.  p.  68.  1  ings  illustrative  of  the  strange  ani- 

2  Aristotle,   Dc  Anitn.,  lib.   iv.  '  mals  of  tlie  East.      Amongst  tlieni 

c.  9.   ^' dfiolou  ffaXTTiyyi."      See   also  are    two    elephants,    whose    trunks 

Pliny,  lib.  x.  ch.   cxiii.     A  manu-  ars   literally  in    the  form   of  tnon- 

script  in  the  British  Museum,  con-  j'^'t^    't''''*  ' c.vpandod    months.       See 

taining  the  romance  of  ^'Alexander,"  I  Wrighi's  Archccoloi/ical  Album,  p. 

which  is  probably  of  the  fifteenth  I  170. 

VOL.  II.  U 


290 


THE    ELEPHANT. 


[Part  VIQ. 


be  attracted  by  any  unusual  appearance  in  the  forest, 
the  intelhgence  is  rapidly  communicated  bj^  a  low  sup- 
pressed sound  made  by  the  hps,  somewhat  resembhng 
the  twittering  of  a  bird,  and  described  by  the  hunters  by 
the  word  '■'prut." 

But  a  very  remarkable  noise  has  been  described  to 
me  by  more  than  one  inchvidual,  who  has  come  unex- 
pectedly upon  a  herd  of  elephants  during  the  night, 
when  their  alarm  Avas  apparently  too  great  to  be  satis- 
fied with  the  stealthy  note  of  warning  just  described. 
On  these  occasions  the  sound  produced  resembled  the 
hollow  booming  of  an  empty  tun  when  struck  with  a 
wooden  mallet  or  a  muffled  sledge.  Major  Macready, 
Mihtary  Secretary  in  Ceylon  in  1836,  who  heard  it 
by  night  amongst  the  wild  elephants  in  the  great  forest 
of  Bmtenne,  describes  it  as  "  a  sort  of  banging  noise 
like  a  cooper  hammering  a  cask ; "  and  Major  Skixner 
is  of  opinion  that  it  must  be  produced  by  the  elephant 
striking  his  sides  rapidly  and  forcibly  with  his  trunk. 
Mr.  Cripps  informs  me  that  he  has  more  than  once  seen 
an  elephant,  when  sm^prised  or  alarmed,  produce  this 
sound  by  striking  the  ground  forcibly  with  the  point  of 
the  trunk,  and  this  movement  was  mstantly  succeeded 
by  raising  the  trunk,  and  pointing  it  in  the  dh'cction 
whence  the  alarm  proceeded,  as  if  to  ascertain  by  the 
sense  of  smell,  the  nature  of  the  threatened  danger.  As 
this  strange  sound  is  generally  mingled  Avith  the  beUoAv- 
ing  and  ordinary  trumpeting  of  the  herd,  it  is  in  all  pro- 
babihty  a  device  resorted  to,  not  alone  for  warning  their 
companions  of  some  approaching  peril,  but  also  for  the 
additional  purpose  of  terrifying  unseen  intruders.^ 

Extravagant  estimates  aie  recorded  of  the  height  of 
the  elephant.  In  an  age  when  popular  fallacies  in 
relation  to  him  Avere  as  yet  uncorrected  in  Europe  by 


^  Pallegoix,  in  his  Description  du 
Roymime  Thai  mi  Siam,  advei-ts  to  a 
.sound  produced  by  the  elephant 
■\\iien  •Nvearv  :  "  quand  il  est  fatigiiej 


il frappelti  terrc  avec  m  tronipe  et  en 
tire  un  son  senHdable  a  celui  du  cor." 
—Tom.  i.  p.  151. 


CiiAP.  II.]  HABITS   WHEN   WILD.  291 

the  actual  inspection  of  the  hving  animal,  he  was  sup- 
posed to  grow  to  the  height  of  twelve  or  fifteen  feet. 
Even  within  the  last  century  in  popular  works  on 
natural  history,  the  elephant,  w^hen  full  grown,  was  said 
to  measure  from  seventeen  to  twenty  feet  from  the 
ground  to  the  shoulder.*  At  a  still  later  period,  so 
imperfectly  had  the  facts  been  collated,  that  the  elephant 
of  Ceylon  was  beheved  "  to  excel  that  of  Africa  in 
size  and  strength."  ^  But  so  far  fi^om  equalling  the 
size  of  the  African  species,  that  of  Ceylon  seldom 
exceeds  the  height  of  nine  feet,  even  in  the  Hambang- 
totte  country,  where  the  hunters  agree  that  the  largest 
specimens  are  to  be  found,  and  the  ordinary  herds  do 
not  average  more  than  eight  feet.  Wolf,  in  his  account 
of  the  Ceylon  elephant^,  says,  he  saAV  one  taken  near 
Jaffna  wliich  measured  twelve  feet  and  one  inch  high. 
But  the  truth  is,  that  the  general  bulk  of  the  elephant 
so  far  exceeds  that  of  the  animals  which  w^e  are  accus- 
tomed to  see  daily,  that  the  imagination  magnifies  his 
unusual  dimensions  ;  and  I  have  seldom  or  ever  met 
with  an  inexperienced  spectator  who  did.  not  uncon- 
sciously over-estimate  the  size  of  an  elephant  shown 
to  him,  whether  in  captivity  or  in  a  state  of  nature. 
Major  Denham  would  have  guessed  some  which  he  saw 
in  Africa  to  be  sixteen  feet  in  height,  but  the  largest 
when  killed  w^as  found  to  measure  nine  feet  six.^ 

For  a  creature  of  his  extraordinary  weight,  it  is 
astonishing  how  noiselessly  and  stealthily  the  elephant 
can  make  his  escape  from  a  pursuer.  When  suddenly 
disturbed  in  the  jungle,  he  will  burst  away  A\ith  a  rush 
that  seems  to  bear  down  all  before  him  ;  but  the  noise 
sinks  into  absolute  stillness  so  suddenly,  that  a  novice 
might  well  be  led  to  suppose  that  the  fugitive  had  only 


^  Natural  History  of  Animals. 
B}'  Sir  John  Hill,  M.D.  London, 
1748-52,  p.  5G.5. 

2  Shaw's  Zoolony.  Lond.  1800, 
vol.  i.  p.  210;  AiiMANDi,  7//*;;.  Milit. 
firs  FJephiins,  liv.  i.  cli.  i.  p.  2. 


^  Wolf's  Life  and  Adventures,  Src, 
p.  104. 

•*  The  fossil  remains  of  the  Indian 
elephant  have  been  discovered  at  Ja- 
l)alpiir,  showino-  a  height  of  fifteen 
feet. — Joiini.  Asia'.  ,Si>r.  livmi.  \\. 


•20-2 


THE   ELEPHANT. 


[Part  VIII. 


halted  within  a  few  yards  of  him,  when  ftu-ther  search 
would  disclose  that  he  has  stolen  silently  away,  making 
scarcely  a  sound  in  his  escape ;  and,  stranger  still,  leaving 
the  fohage  almost  midistm-bed  by  his  passage. 

The  most  venerable  delusion  respecting  the  elephant, 
and  that  which  held  its  gromid  with  unequalled  tenacity, 
is  the  ancient  fallacy  which  is  explamed  by  Sk"  Tho:mas 
Browne  in  his  Pseudodoxia  Epidemica,  that  "  it  hath  no 
joynts,  and  this  absurdity  is  seconded  by  another,  that 
being  unable  to  lye  downe  it  sleepeth  against  a  tree, 
wliich  the  hunters  observing  doe  saw  almost  asunder, 
whereon  the  beast  relying,  by  the  fall  of  the  tree  faUs 
also  down  it-selfe  and  is  able  to  rise  no  more."^  Sir 
Thomas  is  disposed  to  think  that  "  the  huit  and  ground 
of  this  opinion  might  be  the  grosse  •  and  somewhat 
cylindrical!  composure  of  the  legs  of  the  elephant,  and 
the  equahty  and  lesse  perceptible  disposure  of  the 
joynts,  especially  in  the  forelegs  of  this  animal,  they 
appearing  when  he  standeth,  hke  pillars  of  flesh ; "  but 
he  overlooks  the  fact  that  Plixy  has  ascribed  the  same 
peculiarity  to  the  Scandina\'ian  beast  somewhat  re- 
sembling a  horse,  wliich  he  calls  a  "  machhs,"  ^  and  that 
C^SAR  in  describing  the  wild  animals  in  the  Hercynian 
forests,  enumerates  the  alee,  "in  colour  and  configura- 
tion approaching  the  goat,  but  surpassing  it  in  size,  its 
head  destitute  of  horns  and  its  limbs  of  joints,  whence 
it  can  neither  he  down  to  rest,  nor  rise  if  by  any  acci- 
dent it  should  fall,  but  using  the  trees  for  a  resting- 
place,  the  hunters  by  loosening  their  roots  bring  the 
alee  to  the  ground,  so  soon  as  it  is  tempted  to  lean  on 


'    Vul(/ar  Errors,  book  iii.  chap.  1. 

^  Machlis  (said  to  be  derived 
from  a,  priv.,  and  kXIiho,  cido,  quod 
non  cubat).  "^foreover  in  the 
island  of  Scandinavia  there  is  a  beast 
called  Maehlis,  tliat  hath  neither 
ioAnit  in  the  houf^h,  nor  pastemes  in 
his  hind  legs,  and  therefore  he  never 
lieth  down,  but  sleepeth  leaning  to  a 


tree,  wherefore  the  hunters  that  lie 
in  wait  for  these  beasts  cut  downe 
the  trees  while  they  are  asleepe,  and 
so  take  them  ;  othei-wise  they  should 
never  be  taken,  they  are  so  swift  of 
foot  that  it  is  wonderful." —  Puny, 
Xatur.  Hist.  Transl.  Philemon  Hol- 
land, book  viii.  eh.  xv.  p.  200. 


CUAP.   II.] 


HABITS   WHEN   WILD. 


293 


them."  1  Tliis  fallacy,  as  Sir  Thomas  Bkowne  says,  is 
"  not  the  daughter  of  latter  times,  but  an  old  and  grey- 
headed errour,  even  in  the  days  of  Aristotle,"  who  deals 
with  the  story  as  he  received  it  from  Ctesias,  by  whom 
it  appears  to  have  been  embodied  in  liis  lost  work 
on  India.  But  although  Aristotle  generally  receives 
the  credit  of  ha\dng  exposed  and  demohshed  the  fallacy 
of  Ctesias,  it  wiH  be  seen  by  a  reference  to  his  treatise 
On  the  Progressive  Motions  of  Animals^  that  in  reahty 
he  approached  the  question  with  some  hesitation,  and 
has  not  only  left  it  doubtfid  m  one  passage  whether 
the  elephant  has  joints  in  his  knee,  although  he  demon- 
strates that  it  has  joints  in  the  shoulders  ^ ;  but  in 
another  he  has  distinctly  affirmed  that  on  account  of  his 
weight  the  elephant  cannot  bend  his  fore  legs  together, 
but  only  one  at  a  time,  and  rechnes  to  sleep  on  that  par- 
ticular side.^ 


'  ''  Sirnt  item  quse  appellantur 
Alces.  Ilaruni  est  consimilis  capreis 
figau-a,  et  varietas  pellinm ;  sed  inag- 
nitudiiie  paiilo  antecedunt,  mutilfe- 
que  simt  coniibus,  et  crura  sine  nodis 
articulisque  hahent ;  iieque  quietis 
causa  procimibimt ;  neque,  si  quo  af- 
flictse  casu  couciderunt,  erif^-ere  sese 
aut  sublevare  possimt.  His  sunt 
arbores  pro  cubilibus ;  ad  eas  sese 
applicant,  atque  ita,  paulum  m,odo 
reclinatpe,  quietem  capiimt,  quaruui 
ex  vestifpis  cimi  est  animadversmu  a 
venatoribus,  quo  se  rociperc  consue- 
verint,  omnes  eo  loco,  aut  a  radicibus 
subruimt  aut  accidimt  arbores  tan- 
tum,  ut  sumiiui  species  earuni  stan- 
tiuui  relinquatur.  Hue  cum  se  con- 
suetudine  reclinaverint,  infirmas  ar- 
bores pondere  atiligunt,  atque  mm 
ipsfe  concidunt." — Cjesar,  l)e  Bdlo 
Gull.  lib.  vi.  cb.  xxvii. 

The  same  fiction  was  extended  by 
the  early  Arabian  travellers  to  the 
rhinoceros,  and  in  the  MS.  of  the 
voyages  of  the  "Two  Mahomedans," 
it  is  stated  that  the  rhinoceros  of  Su- 
matra "  n'a  point  d'articidation  au 
genou  ni  a  la  main." — Relations  des 
Voyages,  <^c.  Paris,  1845,  vol.  i.  p.  29. 


^  "T\Tien  an  animal  moves  pro- 
gressively an  hypothenuse  is  pro- 
duced, which  is  equal  in  power  to 
the  magnitude  that  is  quiescent,  and 
to  that  which  is  intermediate.  But 
since  the  members  are  equal,  it  is 
necessaiy  that  the  member  which  is 
quiescent  should  be  inflected  either 
in  the  knee  or  in  the  incurvation,  if 
the  animal  that  toalks  is  without  knees. 
It  is  possible,  however,  for  the  leg  to 
be  moved,  when  not  inflected,  in  the 
same  maimer  as  infants  creep ;  and 
there  is  an  ancient  report  of  this  kind 
about  elephants,  which  is  not  true, 
for  such  animals  as  tlu\ee,  are  moved 
in  conseqiiente  of  an  in/leefion  taking 
place  either  in  their  shoulders  or  /u)^s." 
—  ^Vkistotle,  De  Ingrcssu  Anim., 
ch.  ix.  Taylor's  Transl. 

3  Aristotle,  De  Animal.,  lib.  ii. 
ch.  i.  It  is  cmious  that  Taylor,  in 
his  translation  of  this  passage,  was  so 
strongly  imbued  with  the  "  grey- 
headed eiTOur,"  that  in  order  to  eluci- 
date the  somewhat  obscure  meaning' 
of  Aristotle,  ho  has  actually  inter- 
polated the  text  with  the  exploded 
fallacy  of  Ctesias,  and  after  the  word 
reclining  to  sleep,  has  inserted  the 


u  3 


294 


THE    ELEPHANT. 


[Part  VIII. 


So  great  was  the  authority  of  Aristotle,  that  ^liax, 
who  "SMTOtc  two  centuries  later  aucl  borrowed  many  of 
liis  facts  from  the  works  of  his  predecessor,  perpetuates 
tliis  error ;  and,  after  describing  the  exjDloits  of  the 
trained  elephants  exhibited  at  Eome,  adds  the  expression 
of  his  smprise,  that  an  animal  without  joints  (ava^Qpoi/) 
should  yet  be  able  to  dance. ^  The  fiction  was  too  agree- 
able to  be  readily  abandoned  by  the  poets  of  the  Lower 
Empire  and  the  romancers  of  the  middle  ages ;  and 
Phile,  a  contemporary  of  Petrarch  and  Da:n'TE,  who,  in 
the  early  part  of  the  fourteenth  centmy,  addressed  his 
didactic  poem  on  the  elephant  to  the  Emperor  Andi'oni- 
cus  n.,  untaught  by  the  exposition  of  Aristotle,  still 
clmig  to  the  old  delusion, 


"  UoSeg  Si  tovt(^  Qavjxa  km  aa^ig  r'tpac, 
Ovc,  ov  KaQairip  rdXXa  tu>v  ^wwv  y^vtj, 
'EluiOi  Kivslv  t'l  dvdpOpujv  KkaapuTOiv' 
Kai  yap  ffri€apo1g  ffvvrtO'evrsg  dcTTtoic, 
Kai  rrj  TrXa^ap^  twv  ffi<jvr)ujv  KaraaTaati, 
Kai  rrj  TTpoQ  apOpa  rwp  (TKiXiov  UTroiCjOifff/, 
'Nvv  elg  Tovovg  ayovai^  %'vv  tig  viptaiic. 
Tag  7ravroda~ag  iK^pofidg  rov  9)]piov, 

Spaxvr'ipovg  oprag  ^k  ruv  oina^iiov 
'Ava/xipiXeKTiog  olca  rovg  tpLTrpoaQiovg' 
TovTOig  (\e(pag  iv-aOilg  axnrip  arvXoig 
'Op6o(Trdcr]i'  dKafnrrog  virvdjmov  p,'ivti" 


T.  lOG,  &C. 


SoLiNUS  introduced  the  same  fable  into  liis  Polyhistor ; 
and  DicuiL,  the  Irish  commentator  of  the  ninth  century, 
who  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  the  elephant  which 
Haroun  Ali'aschid  sent  as  a  present  to  Charlemagne  ^  in 
the  year  802,  corrects  the  error,  and  attributes  its 
perpetuation  to  the  circumstance  that  the  joints  in  the 


words  "  leaning  against  some  toatt  or 
tree,'^  which  are  not  to  be  found  in 
the  original. 

^   "  'Lwov    li    dvapOpov   cvviivai    Kai 
pvQiiov  Kai  fieXovg,  Kai  (pvXdTTttv  axijfia 


(^vatuyg  Iwpa  ravra  clfia  Kai  i'ci6rt]Q 
Ka(f  iKnaroi'  iicTrXtjKriKtjJ^  —  ^LIAX, 
De  Kat.  Anim.,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xi. 

2'Egixhard,    Vita  Karoli,  c.  xvi. 
and  Annalcs  Francorum,  a.d.  810. 


Chap.  II.] 


HABITS    WIIEX   WILD. 


295 


elephant's  leg  are  not  veiy  apparent,  except  when  he  lies 
down.^ 

It  is  a  strong  illustration  of  the  \4tahty  of  error,  that 
the  delusion  thus  exposed  by  Dicuil  in  the  ninth  centiu-y, 
was  renewed  by  ]\L\tthew  Paris  in  the  thu'teenth  ;  and 
stranger  still,  that  Matthew  not  only  saw  but  made  a 
draW'Uig  of  the  elephant  presented  to  King  Henry  III.  by 
the  King  of  France  in  1255,  in  which  he  nevertheless  re- 
presents the  legs  as  mthout  joints.^ 

In  the  numerous  mediaeval  treatises  on  natural  history, 
known  under  the  title  of  Bestiaries,  this  delusion  re- 
garding the  elephant  is  often  repeated ;  and  it  is  given 
at  length  in  a  metrical  version  of  the  Physiologus  of 
Theobaldus,  amongst  the  AiTindel  Manuscripts  in  the 
British  Museum.^ 

With  the  Proven9al  song  writers,  the  helplessness  of 


^  '^  Sed  idem  Julius,  unimi  de  ele- 
phantibus  mentiens,  falso  loquitur; 
dicens  elephantem  nunquam  jacere; 
dum  illc  sicutbos  certissinie  jacet,  ut 
popidi  communiter  regni  Francorum 
elephantem,  in  tempore  Imperatoris 
Karoli  viderunt.  Sed,  forsitan,  ideo 
hoc  de  elephante  ficte  sestimando 
scriptum  est,  eo  quod  genua  et  suf- 
fragines  sui  nisi  quando  jacet,  non 
palam  apparent."  —  Dicuiltjs,  De 
3Iensura  Orbis  Terrce,  c.  vii. 

'^  Cotton  MSS.  Nero.  D.  1.  fol. 
168,  b. 

s  Arumhl  MSS.  No.  292,  fol.  4, 
&c.  It  has  been  printed  in  the 
Reliquice  AntiqiKS,  vol.  i.  p.  208,  by 
Mr.  Wright,  to  whom  I  am  indebted 
for  the  following-  rendering  of  the 
passage  refen-ed  to  :  — 

in  water  ge  sal  stonden 

in  water  to  mid  side 

(Sat  wanne  hire  harde  tide 

?)at  ge  ne  fiille  niSer  nogt 

(Sat  it  most  in  hire  (Sogt 

for  ho  ne  haven  no  liS 

(Sat  he  mugon  risen  wiJS,  etc. 

"  They  will  stJind  in  the  water, 
in  water  up  to  the  miciillo  of  the  side, 
that  when  it  comes  to  them  liard, 
tlicj-  may  not  fall  down  : 
that  is  most  in  their  thought, 
for  they  have  no  joint 
to  enable  them  to  rise  again. 


H'W  he  resteth  him  this  animal, 

when  he  walketh  abroad, 

hearken  how  it  is  here  told. 

Kor  he  is  all  unwieldy, 

forsooth  he  seeks  out  a  tree, 

that  is  strong  and  steadfast, 

and  le.ins  confidently  against  it, 

when  he  is  weary  of  walkuig. 

The  hunter  has  observed  this, 

who  seeks  to  ensnare  him, 

where  his  usual  dwelling  is, 

to  do  his  will  ; 

saws  this  tree  and  props  it 

in  the  manner  that  he  best  may, 

covers  it  well  that  he  (the  elephant)  may  not  be 

on  his  guard. 
Then  he  makes  thereby  a  seat, 
himself  sits  alone  and  watches 
whether  his  trap  takes  effect. 
Then  comelh  this  unwieldy  elephant, 
and  leans  him  on  his  side, 
rests  against  the  tree  in  the  shadow, 
and  so  both  fall  together. 
If  nobody  be  by  when  he  falls, 
he  roars  ruefully  and  calls  for  help, 
roars  ruefully  in  his  manner, 
hopes  he  shall  through  help  rise. 
Then  conieth  there  one  (elephant)  in  haste, 
hopes  he  shall  cause  him  to  stand  up; 
labours  and  tries  all  his  might, 
but  he  cannot  succeed  a  bit. 
He  knows  then  no  other  remedy, 
but  roars  with  his  brother, 
many  and  large  (elephants)  come  there  in  search, 
thiukiug  to  make  him  get  up, 
but  for  the  help  of  them  all 
he  may  not  get  up. 
Then  they  all  roar  one  roar, 
like  the  blast  of  a  horn  or  the  sound  of  bell ; 
for  their  gre.at  roaring 
a  young  one  cometh  running, 
sloops  immediately  to  him, 
puts  his  snout  under  him, 
and  ^i.-ks  the  help  of  them  all  ; 
this  ill  pliaut  they  raise  on  his  legs : 
ami  thus  fails  this  hunter's  trick, 
in  the  manner  that  1  have  told  vou." 


U   4 


296 


THE    ELEPHANT. 


[Part  VJII. 


tlie  fallen  elephant  was  a  favourite  simile,  and  amongst 
others  Eichard  de  Barbezieux,  in  the  latter  half  of  the 
twelfth  century,  sung  ^, 

^'  Atressi  cum  1'  olifans 
Que  quan  cliai  no  s'  pot  levar." 

As  elephants  were  but  rarely  seen  in  Europe  prior  to  the 
seventeenth  century,  there  were  but  few  opportunities  of 
correcting  the  popular  fallacy  by  ocular  demonstration. 
Hence  Shakspeare  still  beheved  that, 

"  The  elepliant  hath  joints  ;  hut  none  for  courtesy : 
His  legs  are  for  necessity,  not  flexiu'e  :  "  '^ 

and  Donne  sang  of 

"  Nature's  great  masterpiece,  an  Elephant ; 
The  only  hannless  gi'eat  thing : 
Yet  Nature  hath  given  him  no  knee  to  bend  : 
Himself  he  up  props,  on  himself  relies ; 
Still  sleeping  stands."  ^ 

Sir  Thomas  Browne,  whilst  he  argues  against  the  de- 
lusion, does  not  fail  to  record  his  suspicion,  that  "  although 
the  opinion  at  present  be  reasonably  well  suppressed,  yet 
from  the  strings  of  tradition  and  fruitful  recurrence  of 
erroiu:,  it  was  not  improbable  it  might  revive  in  the  next 
generation;"^ — an  anticipation  which  has  proved  singu- 
larly correct ;  for  the  heralds  still  continued  to  explain 
that  the  elephant  is  the  emblem  of  watchfulness,  "  nee 
jacet  in  somno"^  and  poets  almost  of  our  own  times  paint 
the  scene  when 


•  One  of  the  most  venerable  au- 
thorities by  whom  the  fallacy  vf&s 
transmitted  to  modem  times  was 
PiriLiP  de  TnATJN,  who  wi-ote,  about 
the  year  1121  a.d.,  his  Liore  des 
Creatures,  dedicated  to  Adelaide  of 
Louvaine,  Queen  of  Hemy  I.  of 
England.  In  the  copy  of  it  printed 
by  the  Historical  Society  of  Science 
in  1841,  and  edited  by  Mr.  Weight, 
the  following  passage  occurs  :  — 

"  Et  Ysidres  nus  dit  ki  le  elefant  desrrit, 
Es  jambes  par  nature  nen  ad  que  une  jointure, 


II  ne  pot  pas  gesir  quant  il  se  volt  dormir, 
Ke  si  cucliet  estait  par  sei  iicn  leverait ; 
Pur  <;eo  li  slot  apuior,  t'l  lui  del  cuciier, 
U  a  arhre  u  ^  mur,  iilnnc  dort  aseur. 
E  le  gpnt  de  la  terro,  ki  li  volent  conquere, 
I,i  mur  enfunderunt,  u  le  arbre  enciserunt ; 
Quant  li  elefant  vendrat,  ki  s'i  apuierat. 
La  arbre  u  le  mur  carrat,  e  il  tribucherat ; 
Issi  faiterement  le  parnent  cele  gent." — P.  100. 

^  Troilns  and  Cressida,  act  ii.  sc. 
3.  A.D,  1609. 

3  Progress  of  the  Said,  a.d.  16.33. 

*  Sir  T.  Beoavne,  Vtdyar  Errors, 
A.D.  1646. 

'•>  liANDAL  Home's  Academy  of 
Armory,    A.D.    1678.      Home    only 


CuAf.  II.] 


HABITS   WHEN    WILD. 


2it7 


"  Peaceful,  'beneath  primeval  trees,  that  cast 
Their  ample  shade  on  Niger's  yellow  stream, 
Or  where  the  Ganges  rolls  his  sacred  waves, 
Leans  the  huge  Elephant."' 

It  is  not  difficult  to  see  whence  this  antiquated  dehi- 
sion  took  its  origin ;  nor  is  it,  as  Su'  Thomas  Browne 
imagined,  to  be  traced  exclusively  "to  the  grosse  and 
cyhndricall  structure "  of  the  animal's  legs.  The  fact 
is,  that  the  elephant,  returning  in  the  early  morning 
from  his  nocturnal  revels  in  the  reservoirs  and  water- 
courses, is  accustomed  to  rub  his  muddy  sides  against 
a  tree,  and  sometimes  aijainst  a  rock  if  more  convenient. 
In  my  rides  through  the  northern  forests,  the  natives 
of  Ceylon  have  often  pointed  out  that  elephants  of 
considerable  size  must  have  preceded  me,  from  the 
height  at  which  their  marks  had  been  left  on  the  trees, 
against  which  they  had  been  rubbing.  Not  unfrequently 
the  animals  themselves,  overcome  with  drowsiness  fi'om 
the  night's  gambolling,  are  found  dosing  and  resting 
against  the  trees  they  had  so  visited,  and  in  the  same 
manner  they  have  been  discovered  by  sportsmen  asleep, 
and  leaning  against  a  rock. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  explain  that  the  position  is 
accidental,  and  tliat  it  is  taken  by  the  elephant  not  from 
any  difficulty  in  lying  at  length  on  the  ground,  but  rather 
from  the  coincidence  that  the  structure  of  his  legs 
affords  such  support  in  a  standing  position,  that  re- 
chning  scarcely  adds  to  his  enjoyment  of  repose  ;  and 
elephants  in  a  state  of  capti\ity  have  been  known 
for  months  together  to  sleep  without  lying  down.^     So 


pei"petuated  the  error  of  Guillim, 
who  wi-ote  his  Display  of  Ile- 
rahh-y  in  a.d.  1610;  wherein  he 
explains  that  the  elephant  is  "so 
proud  of  his  strength  that  he  never 
bows  himself  to  any  {neither  indeed 
can  he),  and  when  he  is  once  down  he 
cannot  rise  up  again. " — Sec.  ni.  ch. 
xiii.  p.  147. 

1  rnoMSON's  Seasons,  a.d.  1728. 

^  So  little  is  the  elephant  inclined 
to  lie  down  in  captivity,  and  even 


after  hard  lahoiu",  that  the  keepers 
are  generally  disposed  to  suspect  ill- 
ness when  he  betakes  himself  to  this 
posture.  PiULE,  in  liis  poem  De 
Animaliiim  Proprietate,  attributes 
the  propensity  of  tlie  elepliant  to 
sleep  on  his  legs,  to  the  ditHcidty  he 
experiences   in   rising  to   his    feet : 

'Of)6oTraSr]v  ^t  koI  Kafiiv^it  navvvx^oc^ 
"Or'  ovK  dvaoTrjaai  fiiv  ivxip<^€  ^fXfi. 

But  this  is  a  misapprehension. 


•298  THE    ELEPHANT.  [Part  VIII. 

distinctive  is  this  formation,  and  so  self-sustaining  the 
configuration  of  the  hmbs,  that  an  elephant  shot  in 
the  brain,  by  Major  Eogers  in  1836,  was  killed  so 
instantaneously  that  it  died  hterally  on  its  knees,  and 
remained  resting  on  them.  About  the  year  1826, 
Captain  Dawson,  tlie  engineer  of  the  great  road  to 
Kandy,  over  the  Kadaganava  pass,  shot  an  elephant 
at  HangweUe  on  the  banks  of  the  Kalany  Ganga ;  it 
remained  on  its  feet,  but  so  motionless,  that  after  dis- 
charging a  few  more  balls,  he  was  induced  to  go  close 
to  it,  and  found  it  dead. 

The  real  peculiarity  in  the  elephant  in  lying  down  is, 
that  he  extends  his  hind  legs  backwards  as  a  man  does 
when  he  kneels,  instead  of  brinoino-  them  under  him 
Hke  the  horse  or  any  other  quadruped.  The  wise  pur- 
pose of  this  arrangement  must  be  obvious  to  any  one 
who  observes  the  struggle  with  which  the  horse  gets 
up  from  the  ground,  and  the  \T.olent  efforts  which 
he  makes  to  raise  himself  erect.  Such  an  exertion  in 
the  case  of  the  elephant,  and  the  force  requisite  to 
apply  a  similar  movement  to  raise  his  weight  (equal  to 
four  or  five  tons)  would  be  attended  with  a  dangerous 
strain  upon  the  muscles,  and  hence  the  simple  arrange- 
ment, which  by  enabhng  him  to  draw  the  hind  feet 
gradually  under  him,  assists  him  to  rise  almost  without 
a  perceptible  effort. 

-The  same  construction  renders  his  gait  not  a  "gallop," 
as  it  has  been  somewhat  loosely  described  ^,  which  would 
be  too  \dolent  a  motion  for  so  vast  a  body  ;  but  a  shuffle, 
that  he  can  increase  at  pleasure  to  a  pace  as  rapid  as 


1  Moiagcries,  Sic  "  The  Elephant," 
ch.  i. 

Sir  Chaeles  Bell,  in  his  essay- 
on  Tlie  Hand  and  its  Mechanism, 
which  forms  one  of  the  "  Bridgewater 
Treatises,"  has  exhibited  the  reasons 


other  animals  whoso  strnctiu-e  is  de- 
signed to  facilitate  agility  and  speed. 
In  them  the  various  bones  of  the 
shoulder  and  fore  limbs,  especially  the 
clavicle  and  humerus,  are  set  at  such 
an  angle,  that  tlie  shock  in  descending 


deducible  from  organisation,  which  i  ismodified,  and  the  joints  and  sockets 
show  the  incapacity  of  the  elephant  '  protected  from  the  injuiy  occasioned 
to  sj^riny  or  leap  like  the  horse  and  1  by  concussion.     But  in  the  elephant, 


Chap.  II.] 


HABITS   WIIEX    WILD. 


299 


that  of  a  man  at  full  speed,  but  which  he  cannot  maintain 
for  any  considerable  distance. 

It  is  to  the  structure  of  the  knee-joint  that  the  elephant 
is  indebted  for  his  singular  facility  in  ascenchng  and 
descending  steep  accli\ities,  chmbing  rocks  and  travers- 
ing precipitous  ledges,  wdiere  even  a  mule  dare  not 
venture ;  and  this  again  leads  to  the  correction  of 
another  generally  received  error,  that  his  legs  are 
"  formed  more  for  strength  than  flexibihty,  and  fitted  to 
bear  an  enormous  weight  upon  a  level  surface,  without 
the  necessity  of  ascenchng  or  descending  great  accli- 
vities." ^  The  same  authority  assumes  that,  although  the 
elephant  is  found  in  the  neighbourhood  of  mountainous 
ranges,  and  will  even  ascend  rocky  passes,  such  a  service 
is  a  violation  of  his  natural  habits. 

Of  the  elephant  of  Africa  I  am  not  quahfied  to  speak, 
nor  of  the  nature  of  the  ground  which  he  most  frequents  ; 
but  certainly  the  facts  in  connection  with  the  elephant 
of  India  are  all  irreconcilable  with  the  tlieory  men- 
tioned above.     In  Bengal,  in  the  Nilgherries,  in  Nepaul, 


where  the  weight  of  the  body  is 
immense,  the  bones  of  the  leg,  in 
order  to  present  solidity  and  strength 
to  sustain  it,  are  built  in  one  firm 
and  pei-pendicidar  colunui;  instead 
of  being  placed  somewhat  obliquely 
at  their   points   of   contact.      Thus 


whilst  the  force  of  the  weight  in 
descending  is  broken  and  distributed 
by  this  arrangement  in  the  case  of 
the  horse ;  it  woidd  be  so  concen- 
trated in  the  elephant  as  to  endan- 
ger every  joint  from  the  toe  to  the 
shoidder. 


^  Menaf/crics,  i)v.,  "  The  Elephant,"  i-li.  ii. 


300  THE    ELEPHANT.  [Part  VIII. 

in  Burmali,  in  Siam,  and  Ceylon,  the  districts  in  wliicli 
the  elephants  most  abound,  are  all  hilly  and  mountainous. 
In  the  latter,  especially,  there  is  not  a  range  so  elevated 
as  to  be  inaccessible  to  them.  On  the  very  summit  of 
Adam's  Peak,  at  an  altitude  of  7,420  feet,  and  on  a 
pinnacle  which  the  pilgrims  chmb  with  difficulty,  by 
means  of  steps  he^\"n  in  the  rock,  Major  Skinner,  in  1840, 
found  the  spoor  of  an  elephant. 

Prior  to  1840,  and  before  coffee-plantations  had  been 
extensively  opened  in  the  Kandyan  ranges,  there  was 
not  a  mountain  or  a  lofty  feature  of  land  in  Ceylon 
which  they  had  not  traversed,  in  then-  periodical  migra- 
tions in  search  of  water ;  and  the  sagacity  wliich  they 
display  in  "  laying  out  roads "  is  almost  incredible. 
They  generally  keep  along  the  backbone  of  a  chain  of 
hills,  avoiding  steep  gradients ;  and  one  curious  obser- 
vation was  not  lost  upon  the  government  surveyors, 
that  in  crossing  the  valleys  from  ridge  to  ridge,  through 
forests  so  dense  as  altogether  to  obstruct  a  distant  view, 
the  elephants  invariably  select  the  line  of  march  which 
communicates  most  judiciously  with  the  opposite  point, 
by  means  of  the  safest  forcV  So  siure-footed  are  they, 
that  there  are  few  places  where  man  can  go  that  an 
elephant  cannot  follow,  provided  there  be  space  to  admit 
his  bulk,  and  sohdity  to  sustain  his  we'ght. 

This  faculty  is  almost  entirely  derived  fi^om  the 
unusual  position,  as  compared  Avith  other  quach'upeds, 
of  the  knee  jomt  of  the  hind  leg ;  arising  from  the 
superior  length  of  the  thigh-bone,  and  the  shortness  of 
the  metatarsus  :  the  heel  being  almost  where  it  projects 
in  man,  instead  of  being  hfted  up  as  a  "  hock."  It  is 
this  which  enables  him,  in  descending  decUvities,  to  de- 
press and  adjust  the  weight  of  his  hinder  portions,  which 


'   Dr.  Hooker,  in  describing  tlie  1  "  the  elephant's  path  is  an  excellent 


ascent  of  the  Himalayas,  says,  the 
natives  in  making  their  paths  despise 
all  zigzags,  and  nm  in  straight  lines 
up  the   steepest   hUl   faces;    whilst 


specimen  of  engineering  —  the  oppo- 
site of  the  native  track, — for  it  wands 
j  udiciously. ' ' —  Himalayan  Journal, 
vol.  i.  eh.  iv. 


Chap.  II.] 


HABITS   WHEN   WILD. 


301 


would  otherwise  overbalance  and  force  him  headlong.^ 
It  is  by  the  same  arrangement  that  he  is  enabled,  on  un- 
even ground,  to  hft  Ms  feet,  which  are  tender  and  sen- 
sitive, witli  dehcacy,  and  plant  them  with  such  precision 
as  to  ensure  his  own  safety  as  well  as  that  of  objects 
which  it  is  expedient  to  avoid  touching. 

A  herd  of  elephants  is  a  family.     It  is  not  a  group 


^  Since  the  above  passage  was 
written,  I  have  seen  in  the  Journal 
of  the  Asiatic    Society    of   Binyal, 


vol.  xiii.  pt.  ii.  p.  916,  a  paper  upon 
this  subject,  illustrated  by  the  sub- 
joined diagTam. 


ELEPHANT  DESCEKDING  A  DECLIVIT7. 


The  writer  says,  "an  elephant  de- 
scending a  bank  of  too  acute  an 
angle  to  admit  of  his  walking  down 
it  direct,  (which,  wei-e  he  to  attempt, 
his  huge  body,  soon  disarranging  the 
centre  of  gravity,  would  certainly 
topple  over,)  proceeds  thus.  His 
first  manoeuvre  is  to  kneel  do^^Ti  close 
to  the  edge  of  the  decli^-ity,  placing 
his  chest  to  the  gi-oimd :  one  fore-leg 
is  then  cautiously  passed  a  shoit  way 
down  the  slope  ;  and  if  there  is  no 
natural  protection  to  afford  a  firm 
footing,  he  speedily  forms  one  by 
stamping  into  the  soil  if  moist,  or 
kicking  out  a  footing  if  dry.  This 
point  gained,  the  other  fore-leg  is 
Drought  down  in  the  sauie  way ;  and 


perfoi-ms  the  same  work,  a  little  in 
advance  of  the  first ;  which  is  thu3 
at  liberty  to  move  lower  stUl.  Then, 
first  one  and  then  the  second  of  the 
hind  legs  is  carefidly  drawn  over  the 
side,  and  the  hind-feet  in  tiu^i  occupy 
the  resting-places  previously  used  and 
left  by  the  fore  ones.  The  course, 
howevei",  in  sucli  precipitous  gi-ound 
is  not  straight  from  top  to  bottom,  but 
slopes  along  the  face  of  the  bank, 
descending  till  the  animal  gains  the 
level  below.  This  an  elephant  has 
done,  at  an  angle  of  45  degi-ees,  car- 
rying a  hoivdah,  its  occupant,  his  at- 
tendant, and  sporting  apparatus ;  and 
in  a  much  less  time  than  it  tallies  to 
describe  the  operation," 


302  THE    ELEPHANT.  [Part  VIII. 

whom  accident  or  attacliment  may  have  induced  to 
associate  together ;  and  similarity  of  features  and  caste 
attest  that  among  the  various  individuals  which  com- 
pose it,  there  is  a  common  hneage  and  relationship.  In 
a  herd  of  twenty-one  elephants,  captured  in  1844,  the 
trunks  of  each  individual  presented  the  same  pecidiar 
formation, — long,  and  ahnost  of  one  uniform  breadth 
throughout,  instead  of  tapering  gradually  fi'om  the  root 
to  the  nostril.  In  another  instance,  the  eyes  of  tliirty- 
five  taken  in  one  kraal  were  of  the  same  colour  in  each. 
The  same  slope  of  the  back,  the  same  form  of  the  fore- 
head, is  to  be  detected  in  the  majority  of  the  same 
group. 

In  the  forest  several  herds  will  browse  in  close  con- 
tiguity, and  in  their  expeditions  in  search  of  water  they 
may  form  a  body  of  possibly  one  or  two  hundred ;  but 
on  the  shglitest  disturbance  each  distinct  herd  hastens  to 
re-form  within  its  own  particular  ckcle,  and  to  take  mea- 
siu-es  on  its  own  behalf  for  retreat  or  defence. 

The  natives  of  any  place  which  may  chance  to 
be  frequented  by  elephants,  observe  tliat  the  num- 
bers of  the  same  herd  fluctuate  very  slightly ;  and 
hunters  in  pursuit  of  them,  who  may  chance  to  have 
shot  one  or  more,  always  reckon  with  certainty  the 
precise  number  of  those  remaining,  although  a  con- 
siderable interval  may  intervene  before  they  again 
encounter  them.  The  proportion  of  males  is  gene- 
rally small,  and  some  herds  have  been  seen  com- 
posed exclusively  of  females ;  possibly  in  consequence 
of  the  males  having  been  shot.  A  herd  usually  consists 
of  from  ten  to  twenty  individuals,  tliough  occasionally 
they  exceed  the  latter  number ;  and  in  tlieu^  frequent 
migrations  and  nightly  resort  to  tanks  and  water- 
coiu'ses,  aUiances  are  formed  between  members  of  asso- 
ciated herds,  which  serve  to  introduce  new  blood  into  the 
family. 

In  illustration  of  the  attachment  of  the  elephant 
to    its     young,    the    authority    of    Knox     has     been 


ClIAP.   II. J 


ILVBITS   WHEN   WILD. 


303 


quoted,  that  "  the  shes  are  ahke  tender  of  any 
one's  young  ones  as  of  then:  own."  ^  Theh^  affection 
in  this  particidar  is  undoubted,  but  I  question  whether 
it  exceeds  that  of  other  animals ;  and  even  the  trait 
thus  adduced  of  tlieir  indiscriminate  kindness  to  all 
the  young  of  the  herd, — a  fact  to  which  I  have  myself 
been  an  eye-witness, — so  far  from  being  an  evidence 
of  the  strength  of  parental  attachment  individually,  is, 
perhaps,  somewhat  inconsistent  with  the  existence  of 
such  a  passion  to  any  extraordinaiy  degree.'-^  Li  fact, 
some  individuals,  who  have  had  extensive  facilities  for 
observation,  doubt  whether  the  fondness  of  the  female 
elephants  for  their  offspring  is  so  great  as  that  of  many 
other  animals  ;  as  instances  are  not  wanting  in  Ceylon, 
in  which,  when  pursued  by  the  hunters,  the  herd  has 
abandoned  the  young  ones  in  theu"  flight,  notwithstand- 
ing the  cries  of  the  latter  for  help. 

In  an  interesting  paper  on  the  habits  of  the  Indian 


^  A  con-espondent  of  Buffon,  M. 
Marcellus  Bles,  Seigneiu-  de  Moer- 
gestal,  who  resided  eleven  years  in 
Ceylon  in  the  time  of  the  Dutch, 
says  in  one  of  his  conmiunications, 
that  in  herds  of  forty  or  fifty,  en- 
closed in  a  single  corral,  there  were 
frequently  very  young  calves;  and 
that  "  on  ne  pouvoit  pas  reconnaitre 
qu'elles  ^toient  les  mores  de  chacun 
de  ces  petites  elephans,  car  tous  ces 
jeimes  animaux  paroissent  faire 
manse  commune  ;  ils  tetent  indis- 
tinctement  celles  des  femelles  de 
toute  la  troupe  que  ont  du  lait,  soit 
qu'elles  aient  elles-memes  im  petit  en 
propre,  soit  qu'elles  u'en  aient  point." 
— BuFFON,  Supj)!.  a  rilid.  des  Anim., 
vol.  vi.  p.  2o. 

*  WniTE,  in  his  Xatural  Ilistonj  of 
Sclhornc,  philosophising  on  the  fact 
which  had  fallen  under  his  own 
notice  of  this  indiscriminate  suckling 
of  the  young  of  one  aninuil  by  the 
parent  of  another,  is  disposed  to 
ascribe  it  to  a  selfish  feeling;  the 
pleasure  and  relief  of  having  its  dis- 
tended teats  dra^^^l  bv  this  interven- 


tion. He  notices  the  circumstance 
of  a  leveret  having  been  thus  nm-sed 
by  a  cat,  whose  kittens  had  been  re- 
cently dro"svnied  ;  and  observers,  that 
''  this  strange  affection  probably  was 
occasioned  by  that  desiderium,  those 
tender  maternal  feeUngs,  which  the 
loss  of  her  kittens  had  awakened  in 
her  breast ;  and  by  the  complacency 
and  ease  she  derived  to  herself  from 
prociu'ing  lier  teats  to  be  drawn, 
which  were  too  much  distended  with 
milk  ;  till  from  habit  she  became  as 
mufli  delighted  with  this  foundling 
as  if  it  had  been  her  real  offspring. 
This  incident  is  no  bad  solution  of 
that  strange  circumstance  Avhich 
grave  historians,  as  well  as  the  })oets, 
assert  of  exposed  children  being 
sometimes  nurtured  by  female  wWii 
beasts  that  probably  had  lost  their 
young.  For  it  is  not  one  whit  more 
marvellous  that  Romulus  and  Ixemus 
in  their  infant  state  should  be  nursed 
by  a  she  wolf  than  that  a  poor  little 
suckling  leveret  should  be  fostered 
and  cherished  by  a  bloody  Grimalkin." 
— White's  Sefhome,  lett.  xx. 


304 


THE   ELEPHAXT. 


[Part  VIII. 


elepliant,  published  by  Mr.  Coese,  in  the  Philosophical 
Transactions  for  1793,  he  says:  "if  a  wild  elephant 
happens  to  be  separated  from  its  young  for  only  two 
days,  though  giving  suck,  she  never  after  recognises  or 
acknowledges  it,"  although  the  young  one  evidently  knew 
its  dam,  and  by  its  plaintive  cries  and  submissive  ap- 
proaches sohcited  her  assistance. 

An  elephant,  if  by  any  accident  he  becomes  hope- 
lessly separated  from  his  own  herd,  is  not  permitted 
to  attach  himself  to  any  other.  He  may  browse  in  the 
\T.cinity,  or  frequent  the  same  place  to  di"ink  and  to 
bathe ;  but  the  intercomrse  is  only  on  a  distant  and 
conventional  footing,  and  no  famiharity  or  intimate 
association  is  under  any  circumstances  permitted.  To 
such  a  height  is  tliis  exclusiveness  carried,  that  even 
amidst  the  terror  and  stupefaction  of  an  elephant 
corral,  when  an  individual,  detached  from  his  own 
party  in  the  melee  and  confusion,  has  been  driven 
mto  the  enclosm^e  with  an  unbroken  herd,  I  have  seen 
him  repulsed  in  every  attempt  to  take  refuge  among 
them,  and  driven  off  by  heaw  blows  with  thefr  trimks 
as  often  as  he  attempted  to  insinuate  himself  within 
the  circle  wliich  they  had  formed  for  common  security. 
There  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  tliis  jealous  and 
exclusive  pohcy  not  only  contributes  to  produce,  but 
mainly  serves  to  perpetuate,  the  class  of  sohtaiy  elephants 
which  are  known  by  the  term  goondahs,  in  India,  and 
from  their  vicious  propensities  and  predatoiy  habits  are 
called  Hora^  or  Rogues^  in  Ceylon.^ 


^  Tlie  term  "  rogue  "  is  scarcely 
sufficiently  accoimted  for  by  sup- 
posing it  to  be  the  English  equivalent 
for  the  Singhalese  word  Ilora.  In  a 
very  curious  book,  the  Life  and  Ad- 
ventures of  Jonx  Christopher 
Wolf,  late  jyn'ncipal  Serrefari/  of 
State  at  Jaffnapatam  in  C\-yhm,  the 
author  says,  wlien  a  male  elephant  in 
a  quarrel  about  the  females  "  is  beat 
out  of  the  iield  and  obliged  to  go 
without  a  consort,  he  becomes  furious 


and  mad,  killing  eveiy  living  creature 
be  it  man  or  beast :  and  in  this  state 
is  called  rcmkedor,  an  object  of  greater 
teiTor  to  a  traveller  than  a  hundred 
wild  ones." — P.  142.  In  another  pas- 
sage, p.  104,  he  is  called  7'unkedor, 
and  I  have  seen  it  spelt  elsewhere 
ronqucdue.  WoLF  was  a  native  of 
Mecklenburg ;  who  arrived  in  Ceylon 
about  1750,  a.  b.,  as  Chaplain  in  one 
of  the  Dutch  East  Indiamen,  and 
being  talien    into    the    government 


CiiAP.  IL] 


HABITS   WHEN   WILD. 


3C5 


These  are  believed  by  tlie  Singhalese  to  be  either 
individuals,  who  by  accident  have  lost  their  former 
associates  and  become  morose  and  savage  from  rage 
and  solitude ;  or  else  that  being  naturally  vicious  they 
have  become  daring  from  the  jnelding  habits  of  their 
milder  companions,  and  eventually  separated  themselves 
from  the  rest  of  the  herd  which  had  refused  to  associate 
with  them.  Another  conjectirre"  is,  that  being  almost 
universally  males,  the  death  or  capture  of  particular 
females  may  have  detached  them  from  their  foraier 
companions  in  search  of  fresh  alliances.'  It  is  also 
beheved  that  a  tame  elephant  escaping  from  captivity, 
unable  to  rejoin  its  former  herd,  and  excluded  from 
any  other,  becomes  a  "  rogue"  from  necessity.  In 
Ceylon  it  is  generally  beheved  that  the  rogues  are  all 
males  (but  of  this  I  am  not  certain),  and  so  sullen  is 
then'  disposition  that  although  two  may  be  in  the  same 
vicinity,  there  is  no  known  instance  of  their  associating, 
or  of  a  rogue  being  seen  in  company  wdth  another 
elephant. 

They  spend  their  nights  in  marauchng  chiefly  about 
the  dwellings  of  men,  destroying  thek  plantations, 
tramphng  down  their  gardens,  and  committing  serious 
ravages    in    rice   grounds    and  young   coco-nut   planta- 


emplojTTient  lie  served  for  twenty 
years  at  Jaifiia,  first  as  Secretaiy  to 
the  Goveraor,  and  afterwards  in  an 
office  tlie  duties  of  which  he  describes 
to  be  the  examination  and  sifjnature 
of  the  "  wi'itings  wliich  served  to  com- 
mence a  suit  in  any  of  tlie  Courts  of 
j  ustice."  His  book  embodies  a  truth- 
fid  and  generally  accurate  account  of 
the  northern  portion  of  the  island,  witli 
which  alone  he  was  conversant,  and 
his  narrative  gives  a  curious  insight 
into  the  policy  of  the  Dutch  Govern- 
ment, and  the  condition  of  the  natives 
under  their  doniinion.  Wolf  does 
not  g;ive  "  i-a/ikedor'"  as  a  term  pe- 
culiar to  that  section  of  the  islaitd  ; 
but  both  thei-e  and  elsewhere,  it  is 
obsolete  at  the  present  d.ay,  unless 
VOL.  II. 


it  be  open  to  conjecture  that  the 
modern  term  "rogue"  is  a  modifica- 
tion of  runfjuedue. 

'  BucnAXAX,  in  his  Survej/  oj 
Bhaffidpore,  p.  50.3,  says,  that  solitaiy 
males  of  tlie  wild  buffalo,  "  when 
driven  from  the  herd  by  sti-onger 
competitors  for  female  society,  are 
reckoned  very  dangerous  to  meet 
with  ;  for  they  are  apt  to  wreak  their 
vengeance  on  whatever  they  meet, 
and  are  said  to  kill  annually  three  or 
four  people"'  TiTyTN-JsroNE  relates 
the  same  of  the  solitary  hippopot- 
amus, which  becomes  soured  in 
temp(>r,  and  wantonly  attacks  the 
passing  canoes. —  Traveh  in  Soidh 
Africa,  p.  231. 


X 


306  -       THE    ELEPHANT.  [Part  VIII. 

tions.  Hence  fi'om  their  closer  contact  with  man  and 
his  dwellings,  these  outcasts  become  disabused  of  many 
of  the  terrors  which  render  the  ordinary  elephant 
timid  and  needlessly  cautious :  they  break  through 
fences  without  fear ;  and  even  in  the  dayhght  a 
rogue  has  been  known  near  Ambogammoa  to  watch  a 
field  of  labourers  at  work  in  reaping  rice,  and  boldly 
to  walk  in  amongst  them,  seize  a  sheaf  from  the  heap, 
and  reth*e  leisurely  to  the  jungle.  By  day  they  seek 
conceahnent,  but  are  to  be  met  with  prowluig  about  the 
by-roads  and  jungle  paths,  where  travellers  are  exposed 
to  the  utmost  risk  from  their  savage  assaults.  It  is 
probable  that  this  hostility  to  man  is  the  result  of  the 
enmity  engendered  by  those  measures  which  the 
natives,  who  have  a  constant  dread  of  their  visits, 
adopt  for  the  protection  of  their  growing  crops.  In 
some  districts,  especially  in  the  low  country  of  Badulla, 
the  villagers  occasionally  enclose  their  cottages  with 
rude  walls  of  earth  and  branches  to  protect  them  fi'om 
nightly  assaults.  In  places  mfested  by  them,  the 
visits  of  Eiu^opean  sportsmen  to  the  vicinity  of  their 
haunts  are  eagerly  encomiiged  by  the  natives,  who 
think  themselves  happy  in  lending  their  ser\dces  to 
track  the  ordinary  herds  in  consideration  of  the 
benefit  conferred  on  the  village  communities,  by  the 
destruction  of  a  rogue.  In  1847  one  of  these  formid- 
able creatures  frequented  for  some  months  the  Eang- 
bodde  Pass  on  the  great  mountain  road  leading  to  the 
sanatarium,  at  Neuera-eUia  ;  and  one  morning,  at  day- 
break, I  rode  up  to  the  spot  where  he  had  lolled  one  of 
the  corps  of  Caffre  pioneers  but  a  few  moments  before, 
by  seizing  liim  with  his  trunk  and  beating  him  to  death 
against  the  bank. 

To  retm-n  to  the  herd :  one  member  of  it,  generally 
the  largest  and  most  powerful,  is  by  common  consent 
implicitly  followed  as  leader.  A  tusker,  if  there  be 
one  in  the  party,  is  generally  observed  to  be  the 
commander ;    but    a   female,  if  of  superior   energy,  is 


Chap.  II.]  HABITS   WHEX   WILD.  307 

as  readily  obeyed  as  a  male.  In  fact,  in  the  pro- 
motion of  a  leader  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  supremacy  is  almost  unconsciously  assumed  by 
those  endowed  with,  vigour  and  courage  rather 
than  fi'om  the  accidental  possession  of  greater  bodily 
strength ;  and  the  devotion  and  loyalty  which  the 
herd  e\dnce  to  their  leader  is  something  very  re- 
markable. Tliis  is  more  readily  seen  in  the  case  of 
a  tusker  than  any  other,  because  in  a  herd  he  is 
generally  the  object  of  the  keenest  pursuit  by  the 
hunters.  On  such  occasions  the  elephants  do  their 
utmost  to  protect  him  from  danger :  when  driven 
to  extremity  they  place  the  leader  in  the  centre  and 
crowd  so  eagerly  in  front  of  him  that  the  sportsmen 
have  to  shoot  a  number  which  they  might  otherwise 
have  spared.  In  one  instance  a  tusker,  wdiich  was  badly 
wounded  by  Major  Eogers,  w^as  promptly  smTounded  by 
his  companions,  w^ho  supported  him  between  theii"  shoul- 
ders, and  actually  succeeded  in  covermg  his  retreat  to 
the  forest. 

Those  who  have  hved  much  m  the  jungle  in  Ceylon, 
and  who  have  had  constant  opportunities  of  w^atching  the 
habits  of  wild  elephants,  have  witnessed  instances  of  the 
submission  of  herds  to  their  leaders,  that  create  a 
singular  interest  as  to  the  means  adopted  by  the  latter  to 
communicate  with  distinctness,  orders  which  are  observed 
with  the  most  imphcit  obedience  by  their  followers. 
The  narrative  of  an  adventm^e  in  the  great  central  forest 
toward  the  north  of  the  island,  w^liich  has  been  commu- 
nicated to  me  by  Major  Skixner,  who  was  engaged  for 
some  time  in  survepng  and  opening  roads  through  the 
thickly-wooded  districts  there,  will  serve  better  tlian  any 
abstract  description  to  convey  an  idea  of  the  conduct  of  a 
herd  on  such  occasions  :  — 

"  The  case  you  refer  to  struck  me  as  exhibiting  some- 
thing more  than  oi'dinaiy  brute  instinct,  and  approached 
nearer  to  reasoning  powers  than  any  other  instance  I 
can  now  remember.     I  cannot  do  justice   to  the  scene, 

X  2 


308  THE    ELEPHANT.  [rART  VIIT. 

althougli  it  appeared  to  me  at  the  time  to  be  so  remark- 
able that  it  left  a  deep  impression  in  my  mind. 

"  In  the  height  of  the  dry  season  in  Xenera-Iva-lawa, 
you  know  the  streams  are  all  dided  up,  and  the  tanks 
nearly  so.  All  animals  are  then  sorely  pressed  for  water, 
and  they  congregate  in  the  vicinity  of  those  tanks  in 
which  there  may  remain  ever  so  httle  of  the  precious 
element, 

"  Dming  one  of  those  seasons  I  was  encamped  on  the 
bund  or  embankment  of  a  very  small  tank,  the  water 
in  which  was  so  dried  that  its  surface  could  not  have 
exceeded  an  area  of  500  square  yards.  It  was  the  only 
pond  within  many  miles,  and  I  knew  that  of  necessity  a 
very  large  herd  of  elephants,  Avhich  had  been  in  the 
neighbourhood  all  day,  must  resort  to  it  at  night. 

"  On  the  lower  side  of  the  tank,  and  in  a  hue  ^vitli  the 
embankment,  was  a  tliick  forest,  in  which  the  elephants 
sheltered  themselves  during  the  day.  On  the  upper 
side  and  all  around  the  tank  there  was  a  considerable 
margin  of  open  ground.  It  was  one  of  those  beautiful, 
bright,  clear,  moonhght  nights,  when  objects  could  be 
seen  almost  as  distinctly  as  by  day,  and  I  determined 
to  avail  myself  of  the  opportunity  to  observe  the  move- 
ments of  the  herd,  which  had  akeady  manifested  some 
uneasiness  at  our  presence.  The  locahty  was  very  fa- 
vourable for  my  purpose,  and  an  enormous  tree  project- 
ing over  the  tank  afforded  me  a  secure  lodgment  in  its 
branches.  Having  ordered  the  fires  of  my  camp  to  be 
extinguished  at  an  early  hom%  and  all  my  followers  to 
retire  to  rest,  I  took  up  my  post  of  observation  on  the 
overhanging  bough  ;  but  I  had  to  remain  for  upwards  of 
two  hoiu's  before  anything  was  to  be  seen  or  heard  of 
the  elephants,  although  I  knew  they  were  within  500 
yards  of  me.  At  length,  about  the  distance  of  300  yards 
from  the  water,  an  unusually  large  elephant  issued  from 
the  dense  cover,  and  advanced  cautiously  across  the 
open  ground  to  within  100  yards  of  the  tank,  where  he 
stood  perfectly  motionless.     So  quiet  had  the  elephants 


Chap.  II.]  HABITS   WHEX   WILD.  809 

become  (although  they  had  been  roaring  and  breaking 
the  jungle  tlu^oughout  the  day  and  evening),  that  not 
a  movement  was  now  to  be  heard.  The  huge  vidette 
remained  in  his  position,  still  as  a  rock,  for  a  few  minutes, 
and  then  made  three  successive  stealthy  advances  of 
several  yards  (halting  for  some  minutes  between  each, 
with  ears  bent  forward  to  catch  the  shghtest  sound), 
and  in  tliis  way  he  moved  slowly  up  to  the  water's  edge. 
Still  he  did  not  venture  to  quench  liis  thirst,  for  though 
his  fore  feet  were  partially  in  the  tank  and  his  vast 
body  was  reflected  clear  in  the  w^ater,  he  remained  for 
some  minutes  hsteiiing  in  perfect  stillness.  Not  a  mo- 
tion could  be  perceived  in  himself  or  his  shadow.  He 
returned  cautiously  and  slowly  to  the  position  he 
had  at  first  taken  up  on  emerging  from  the  forest. 
Here  in  a  httle  wliile  he  was  joined  by  five  others, 
Avith  which  he  again  proceeded  as  cautiously,  but  less 
slowly  than  before,  to  mthin  a  few  yards  of  the  tank, 
and  then  posted  his  patrols.  He  then  re-entered  the 
forest  and  collected  around  him  the  whole  herd, 
which  must  have  amounted  to  between  80  and  100 
mdividuals, — led  them  across  the  open  ground  with 
the  most  extraordinary  composure  and  quietness,  till 
he  joined  the  advanced  guard,  when  he  left  them  for  a 
moment  and  repeated  liis  former  reconnoissance  at  the 
edge  of  the  tank.  After  which,  and  having  apparently 
satisfied  lumself  that  aU  was  safe,  he  retiu^ned  and  ob- 
viously gave  the  order  to  advance,  for  in  a  moment  the 
whole  herd  rushed  into  the  water  wdth  a  dejjjree  of 
unreserved  confidence,  so  opposite  to  the  caution  and 
timidity  which  had  marked  their  previous  movements, 
that  nothing  will  ever  persuade  me  that  there  was  not 
rational  and  preconcerted  co-operation  throughout  the 
whole  party,  and  a  degree  of  responsible  authority  exer- 
cised by  the  patriarch  leader. 

"  Wlien  the  poor  animals  had  gained  possession  of  the 
tank  (the  leader  being  the  last  to  enter),  they  seemed  to 
abandon  themselves  to   enjoyment  without   restraint  or 

X  3 


no 


THE    ELEPHANT. 


[Part  YIIT. 


appreliension  of  danger.  Sucli  a  mass  of  animal  life  I 
had  never  before  seen  huddled  together  in  so  narrow  a 
space.  It  seemed  to  me  as  though  they  would  have 
nearly  drunk  the  tank  dry.  I  ^vatched  them  "svith  great 
interest  until  they  had  satisfied  themselves  as  well  in 
batliing  as  in  di'inking,  when  I  tried  how  small  a  noise 
would  apprise  them  of  the  proximity  of  unwelcome 
neighbours.  I  had  but  to  break  a  httle  twig,  and  the 
sohd  mass  instantly  took  to  flight  like  a  herd  of  fright- 
ened deer,  each  of  the  smaller  calves  being  apparently 
shouldered  and  carried  alono;  between  two  of  the  older 
ones."  ^ 

In  drinking,  the  elephant,  hke  the  camel,  although 
preferring  water  piure,  shows  no  decided  aversion  to  it 
when  discolom'ed  ^vith  mud'^;  and  the  eagerness  w4th 
which  he  precipitates  himself  into  the  tanks  and 
streams  attests  his  exquisite  enjoyment  of  the  fresh 
coolness,  which  to  him  is  the  chief  attraction.  In 
crossing  deep  rivers,  although  his  rotundity  and  buoy- 
ancy enable  him  to  smm  with  a  less  immersion  than 
other  quadrupeds,  he  generaUy  prefers  to  sink  till  no 
part  of  his  huge  body  is  visible  except  the  tip  of  his 
trunk,  tlu'ough  which  he  breathes,  movuig  beneath  tlie 
surface,  and  only  now  and  then  raising  his  head  to  look 
that  he  is  keeping  the  proper  direction.^  Li  the  dry 
season  the  scanty  streams  which,  diuing  the  rains,  are 
sufficient  to  convert  the  rivers  of  the  low  country  into 
torrents,  frequently  entirely  disappear,  lea\dng  merely 
broad  expanses  of  dry  sand,  which  they  have  swept  down 
with  them  from  the  hills.     In  this  the  elephants  contri\e 


'  Letter  from  ^lajor  Skixxer. 

^  This  pecviliarity  was  known  in 
the  middle  ages,  and  PniLE,  wi-iting- 
in  the  foui'teenth  centiuy,  says,  that 
such  is  his  preference  for  muddy 
water  that  the  elephant  stirs  it  before 
he  drinks. 
'''Ylwp  Si  Trivti  avyxvQiv  Trplv  liv  rrivoi 

To  yap  ^ifii'tt'  <Jiicplt.iojt;  haTTTUti,   — 
Phile  de  Elejih.,  1.  144. 


^  A  tame  elepliant,  when  taken  by 
his  keepers  to  be  bathed,  and  to  have 
his  skin  washed  and  rubbed,  lies 
down  on  his  side,  pressing  his  head 
to  tlie  bottom  under  water,  with  only 
the  top  of  his  trunk  protruded,  to 
breathe. 


CiiAr.  II.] 


HABITS   WIIEX   WILD. 


311 


to  sink  wells  for  their  own  use  by  scooping  out  tlie  sand 
to  the  depth  of  four  or  five  feet,  and  leaving  a  hollow 
for  the  percolation  of  the  spring.  But  as  the  weight  of 
the  elephant  would  force  in  the  side  if  left  perpendicular, 
one  approach  is  always  formed  wdth  such  a  gradient  that 
the  water  can  be  reached  with  his  trunk  without  his  dis- 
turbing' the  surroundino-  sand. 


I  have  reason  to  beUeve,  although  the  fact  has  not  been 
authoritatively  stated  by  naturahsts,  that  the  stomach 
of  the  elephant  will  be  found  to  include  a  section  analo- 
gous to  that  possessed  by  some  of  the  ruminants,  calcu- 
lated to  contain  a  supply  of  water  as  a  provision  against 
emergencies.  The  fact  of  his  being  enabled  to  retahi 
a  quantity  of  water  and  discharge  it  at  pleasure  has 
been  known  to  every  one  observant  of  the  habits  of  the 
animal ;  but  the  proboscis  has  ahvays  been  supposed  to 
be  "  his  water-reservok,"  ^  and  the  theory  of  an  internal 
receptacle  has  not  been  chscussed.  The  truth  is  that  the 
anatomy  of  the  elephant  is  even  yet  but  imperfectly 
understood^,   and,    although    some    pecuharities   of   his 


^  Beodeeip's  Zoological  Recrea- 
tions, p.  259. 

2  For  observing  the  osteology  of 
the  elephant,  materials  are  of  course 
abundiUit  in  the  indestiaictible  re- 
mains of  the  animal :  but  the  study 
of  the  intestines,  and  the  dissection 
of  the  softer  parts  by  comparative 
anatomists  in  Eiu-ope,  have  })een  up 
to  the  present  time  beset  by  dilH- 
culties,  not  alone  from  the  rarity  of 
subjects,  but  even  in  cases  where 
elephants  have  died  in  these  coun- 
tries, decomposition  inteq^oses,  and 
before  the  thorough  examination  of 
80  vast  a  body  can  be  satisfactorily 
completed,  the  great  mass  falls  into 
putrefaction. 

The  principal  English  authorities 


are  An  Anatomical  Account  of  the 
Elephant  accidentally  harnt  in 
Dublin,  by  A.  MoLrNEUX,  a.d. 
1G1)G ;  which  is  probably  a  reprint  of 
a  letter  on  the  same  subject  in  the 
library  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin, 
addressed  by  A.  Sloidin,  to  Sir  Wil- 
liam Petty,'  Lond.  1682.  There  are 
also  some  papers  commimicated  to  Sir 
Hans  Sloane,  and  aftenvards  pub- 
lished in  the  Philosophical  Trans- 
actions of  the  year  1710,  by  Dr.  P. 
Blair,  who  had  an  opportunity  of 
dissecting  an  elephant  which  died  at 
Dmidee  in  1708.  The  latter  writer 
observes  that,  "  notwithstanding  the 
vast  interest  attaching  to  the  ele- 
phant in  all  ages,  yet  has  its  body 
been  hitherto  very  little  subjected  to 


X  4 


312 


THE    ELEPHANT. 


[Part  VIII. 


stomach  were  observed  at  an  early  period,  and  even  their 
configuration  described,  the  function  of  the  abnormal 
portion  remained  undetermined,  and  has  been  only  re- 
cently conjectured.  An  elephant  wliich  belonged  to 
Louis  XIV.  died  at  Versailles  in  1681  at  the  as-e  of  seven- 
teen,  and  an  accoimt  of  its  dissection  was  pubhshed  in  the 
Memoires  ])our  servir  a  I'Histoire  Naturelle,  under  the 
authority  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  in  which  the  un- 
usual appendages  of  the  stomach  are  pointed  out  with 
sufficient  particularity,  but  no  suggestion  is  made  as  to 
then-  probable  uses."^ 

A  writer  in  the  Quarterly  Review  for  December  1850, 
says  that  "  Camper  and  otlier  comparative  anatomists 
have  shown  that  the  left,  or  cardiac  end  of  the  stomach 
m   the   elephant   is   adapted,  by  several  wide  folds   of 


anatomical  iuquivies  ; "  and  lie  la- 
ments tliat  tLe  rapid  decomposition 
of  tLie  carcase,  and  other  causes,  had 
iutei-posed  obstacles  to  the  scrutiny 
of  the  subject  he  was  so  fortunate  as 
to  find  access  to. 

In  1723  Dr.  Wsr.  Stxtckxey  piib- 
lished  Some  Anatomical  Ohserva- 
ti(»is  made  iqjon  the  Dissection  of  an 
Elephant ;  but  each  of  the  above  es- 
says is  necessarily  unsatisfactoiy,  and 
little  has  since  been  done  to  supply 
their  defects.  One  of  the  latest  and 
most  valuable  contributions  to  the 
subject,  is  a  paper  read  before  the 
Iioyal  Irish  Academy,  on  the  18th 
of  Feb.,  1847,  by  Professor  Hae- 
EisoK,  vrho  had  the  opportimity  of 
dissecting  an  Indian  elephant  which 
died  of  acute  fever ;  but  the  examina- 
tion, so  far  as  he  has  made  it  public, 
extends  only  to  the  cranium,  the 
brain,  and  the  proboscis,  the  laiynx, 
ti'achea,  and  oesophagus.  An  essen- 
tial ser\-ice  would  be  rendered  to 
science  if  some  sportsman  in  Ceylon, 
or  some  of  the  officers  coimected  with 
the  elephant  establishment  there, 
would  talce  the  trouble  to  forward 
the  carcase  of  a  yoimg  one  to 
England  in  a  state  fit  for  dissection. 

Postscriptum.  —  I  am  happy  to 
say  that  whilst  the  first  edition  of 


this  work  was  passing  through  the 
press,  a  young  elephant,  carefully  pre- 
sei-ved  in  spirits  has  been  obtained  in 
Ceylon,  and  forwarded  to  Prof.  Owen, 
of  the  British  Museum,  by  the  joint 
exertions  of  M.  Diabd  and  Major 
Skuhstee.  An  opportunity'  has  thus 
been  afforded  from  whicli  science  will 
reap  advantage,  of  devoting  a  patient 
attention  to  the  internal  structm-e  of 
this  interesting  animal. 

^  The  passage  as  quoted  byBiTFFOX 
fi"om  the  Memoires  is  as  follows  : — 
"  L'estomac  avoit  peu  de  diametre ;  il 
en  avoit  moins  que  le  colon,  car  son 
diametre  u'etoit  que  de  quatorze  pon- 
ces dans  la  partie  la  plus  large ;  il 
avoit  trois  pieds  et  demi  de  longueur : 
I'orifice  superieiu*  etoit  a-peu-pres 
aussi  eloigne  du  pylore  que  du  fond 
du  gi-and  cid-de-sac  qui  se  temiinoit 
en  une  pointe  composee  de  timiques 
beaucoup  plus  epaisses  que  celles  du 
reste  de  l'estomac  ;  il  y  avoit  au 
fond  du  grand  cid-de-sac  plusieurs 
feuiUets  ^pais  d'lme  ligne,  larges  d'un 
pouce  et  demi,  et  dispost^s  irr^guliere- 
ment ;  le  reste  de  parois  interieures 
etoit  perce  de  plusieurs  petits  ti'ous 
et  par  de  plus  gi-ands  qui  correspon- 
doient  a  des  grains  glandideux." — 
BrFFOX,  Hist.  Nut.,  vol.  xi.  p.  109. 


CiiAP.  IL] 


HABITS   WHEN   WILD. 


313 


liiiini:,'  membrane,  to  serve  as  a  receiver  for  water;" 
but  this  is  scarcely  correct,  for  although  Camper  has 
figured  accurately  the  external  form  of  the  stomach,  he 
disposes  of  the  question  of  the  interior  functions  with 
the  simple  remark  that  its  folds  "  semblent  en  faire 
une  espece  de  division  particuhere." '^  In  hke  manner 
Sir  EvERARD  Home,  in  his  Lectures  on  Comparative 
Anatomy,  has  not  only  described  carefully  the  form 
of  the  elephant's  stomach,  and  furnished  a  drawing 
of  it  even  more  accurate  than  Camper  ;  but  he  has 
equally  omitted  to  assign  any  pm'pose  to  so  strange  a 
formation,  contenting  himself  wdth  observing  that  the 
structure  is  a  pecuharity,  and  that  one  of  the  remarkable 
folds  nearest  the  orifice  of  the  diaphragm  appears  to  act 
as  a  valve,  so  that  the  portion  beyond  may  be  considered 
as  an  appendage  similar  to  that  of  the  hog  and  the 
peccary.  ^ 


ELEPHANT'S  STOMACH. 


^  "  L'extreinit6  voisine  dii  cardia 
se  termine  par  line  poche  tros  con- 
siderable et  doublee  a  rinterieuro  dii 
qiiatorze  valvid(!S  orbiculaires  que 
semblent  en  faire  line  espece  de  divi- 
sion particidiere." — Camper,  De- 
scription Annfoniique  cTwi  Elephant 
Mule,  p.  .'57,  tabl.  ix. 

*  "  The  elephant  has  another  pe- 
culiarity in  the  internal  structure  of 
the  stomach.  It  is  loufi-er  and  nar- 
rower than  that  of  most  animals. 
The  cuticular  membrane  of  tlie  oeso- 


phagus tenninates  at  the  orifice  of  tlio 
stomach.  At  the  cardiac  end,  which 
is  very  narrow  and  pointed  at  the 
extremity,  the  lining  is  thick  and 
glandular,  and  is  thrown  into  trans- 
verse folds,  of  which  five  are  broad 
and  nine  narrow.  That  nearest  the 
orifice  of  the  ossophagiis  is  the  broadest 
and  appears  to  act  t)ccasionalIy  as  a 
valve,  so  that  the  part  beyond  may 
be  considered  as  an  appendage  similar 
to  that  of  the  peccary  and  the  hog. 
The  membrane  of  the  cardiac  portion 


314 


THE    ELEPHAIfT. 


[Part  VIII. 


The  appendage  thus  alhided  to  by  Sk  Everard 
Home  is  the  "  grand  cul-de-sac,"  noticed  by  the  Aca- 
demic des  Sciences,  and  the  "  division  particuhere," 
ligiu^ed  by  Camper.  It  is  of  sufficient  dimensions 
to  contain  ten  gallons  of  water,  and  by  means  of 
the  valve  above  alluded  to  it  can  be  shut  off  from  the 
chamber  devoted  to  the  process  of  digestion.  Professor 
OwEX  is  probably  the  first  who,  not  from  an  autopsy, 
but  from  the  mere  inspection  of  the  drawings  of  Camper 
and  Home,  ventured  to  assert,  in  lectures  hitherto  un- 
pubhshed,  that  the  uses  of  this  section  of  the  elephant's 
stomach  may  be  analogous  to  those  ascertained  to  belong 
to  a  somewhat  similar  arrangement  in  the  stomach  of  the 
camel,  one  cavity  of  which  is  exclusively  employed  as  a 
reservou^  for  water,  and  performs  no  function  in  the  pre- 
paration of  food.  ^ 

Whilst  Professor  Owex  was  advancing  this  conjectm^e, 
another  comparative  anatomist,  from  the  examination  of 
another  portion  of  the  structure  of  the  elephant,  was 
led  to  a  somewhat  similar  conclusion.  Dr.  Harrison 
of  Dubhn  had,  in  1847,  an  opportunity  of  dissecting 
the  body  of  an  elephant  which  had  suddenly  died ; 
and  in  the  course  of  his  examination  of  the  thoracic 
viscera,  he  observed  that  an  unusually  close  connec- 
tion existed  between  the  trachea  and  oesophagus, 
which  he  found  to  depend  on  a  muscle  unnoticed  by 
any  previous  anatomist,  connecting  the  back  of  the 
former  with  the  forepart  of  the  latter,  along  which  the 
fibres  descend  and  can  be  distinctly  traced  to  the  cardiac 
orifice  of  the  stomach.  Imperfectly  acquainted  with 
the  habits  and  functions  of  the  elephant  in  a  state  of 


is  iiiiiformly  smooth ;  that  of  the 
pyloric  is  thicker  and  more  vascidar." 
— Lectures  on  Comparative  Anatomy, 
by  Sir  Eveeakd  IIome,  Bart.  4to. 
Lond.  vol.  i.  p.  155.  The  figm-e  of 
the  elephant's  stomach  is  given  vol.  ii. 
pliite  xviii. 

1  A    similar    arrangement,    \\'ith 


some  modifications,  has  more  recently 
been  found  in  the  lluma  of  the  iVndes, 
which,  like  the  camel,  is  used  as  a 
beast  of  burden  in  the  Cordilleras  of 
Chili  and  Peru  ;  but  both  these  and 
the  camel  are  ruminatits,  whilst  the 
elephant  belongs  to  the  Pachyder- 
mata. 


Chap.  II.] 


HABITS   WHEN    WILD. 


315 


nature,  Dr.  Harrisox  found  it  dilGcult  to  pronounce  as 
to  the  use  of  tliis  very  peculiar  structure ;  but  looking 
to  the  intimate  connection  between  the  mechanism  con- 
cerned in   the  functions  of  respkation  and   deglutition, 


The  Trachea  drawn 
over,  bringing  into 
view  its  jiostcri  >r 
surface  at  the  bifur- 
cation   


Pnpumogastnr 

Nerves  . 


Diaphragm 


CEsophagus. 

The    Trachea.  CEso- 
phugeal  Muscle. 


Elastic  Tissue  con- 
necting Trachea 
Bronchi,  Qisopha- 
piis,  and  Trachoa- 
CEsnphagealMuscle 
to  the  Diaphragm. 


and  seeing  tliat  the  proboscis  served  in  a  double  capacity 
as  an  instrument  of  voice  and  an  organ  for  the  pre- 
hension of  food,  he  ventured  (apparently  Avithout  ad- 
verting to  the  abnormal  form  of  the  stomach)  to  express 
the  opinion  that  this  muscle,  \T.ewing  its  attachment  to 
the  trachea,  might  either  have  some  influence  in  raising 
the  diaphragm,  and  thereby  assisting  in  expiration,  "  or 
that  it  might  raise  the  cardiac  orifice  of  the  stomachy  and 
so  aid  this  organ  to  regurgitate  a  portion  of  its  contents 
into  the  (Esophagus."^ 

Dr.  Harrison,  on  the  reflection  that  "we  have  no 
satisfactory  evidence  that  the  animal  ever  ruminates," 
thought  it  useless  to  speculate  on  the  latter  supposition 
as  to  the  action  of  the  newly  discovered  muscle,  and 
rather  inchned  to  the  surmise  that  it  was  desi^-ned  to 
assist  the  elephant  in  producing  the  remarkable  sound 


'  Proceed.  Roy.  Irish  Acad.,  vol.  iv.  p.  133. 


31G 


THE    ELEPHAXT. 


[rAKT  VII  r. 


througli  liis  proboscis  known  as  "  trumpeting  ;"  but 
there  is  little  room  to  doubt  that  of  the  two  the  re- 
jected hj^jothesis  was  the  correct  one.  I  have  elsewhere 
described  the  occurrence  to  which  I  was  myself  a 
witness,  of  elephants  mserting  their  proboscis  in  their 
mouths,  and  by  the  aid  of  the  "  trachea-oesophageal " 
muscle,  described  by  Professor  IL\rkisox,  withdra^^dng 
gallons  of  water,  which  could  only  have  been  contained 
in  the  receptacle  figured  by  Camper  and  Home,  and  of 
wliicli  the  true  uses  were  discerned  by  the  clear  inteUect 
of  Professor  Owex.  I  was  not,  till  very  recently,  aware 
that  a  similar  observation  as  to  the  remarkable  habit  of 
the  elephant,  has  been  made  by  the  author  of  the  Ayeen 
Akbery,  in  his  account  of  the  Feel  Kaneh,  or  elephant 
stables  of  the  Emperor  Akbar,  in  wliich  he  says,  "  an 
elephant  frequently  with  his  trunk,  takes  water  out  of 
liis  stomach  and  sprinkles  lumself  with  it,  and  it  is 
not  iu  the  least  offensive."  ^  Forbes,  in  his  Oriental 
Memoks,  quotes  tliis  passage  of  the  Ayeen  Akbery,  but 
without  a  remark  ;  nor  does  any  European  writer  with 
whose  works  I  am  acquainted  appear  to  have  been  cog- 
nisant of  the  pecuharity  in  question. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  Professor  Owex's  dissection  of 
the  yoimg  elephant,  recently  arrived,  may  serve  to 
decide  this  highly  interesting  pomt.^  Shoidd  scien- 
tific investigation  hereafter  more  clearly  estabhsh  the 
fact  that,  in  this  particular,  the  structure  of  the 
elephant  is  assimilated  to  those  of  the  llama  and  the 
camel,  it  will  be  regarded  as  more  than  a  common 
coincidence,  that  an  apparatus,  so  unique  in  its  purpose 
and   action,    should   thus   have   been   conferred   by  the 


^  Ayeen  Ahherif,  tr.onsl.  of  Glad- 
AVix,  vol.  i.  pt.  i.  p.  147. 

'  One  of  the  Indian  names  for  the 
elepliant  is  duipa,  wliich  signifies 
"■  to  drink  t-s^-ice"'  (Aii.vxDi,  p.  513). 
Can  this  have  reference  to  the  pecu- 


liarity of  the  stomach  for  retaining  a 
supply  of  water  ?  Or  has  it  merely 
reference  to  the  habit  of  the  animal 
to  fiU  his  trunk  befoi-e  transfemng 
the  water  to  his  mouth  ? 


Chap.  II.] 


HABITS   WIIEX  WILD. 


317 


Creator  on  the  three  ammals  which  in  sultry  chmates 
are,  by  tliis  arrangement,  enabled  to  traverse  arid  regions 
in  the  service  of  man.^ 

The  food  of  the  elephant  is  so  abundant,  that  in  eat- 
ing he  never  apjoears  to  be  impatient  or  voracious,  but 
rather  to  play  with  the  leaves  and  branches  on  which 
he  leisurely  feeds.  In  riding  by  places  where  a  herd 
has  recently  halted,  I  have  sometimes  seen  the  bark 
peeled  curiously  off  the  twigs,  as  though  it  had  been 
done  for  amusement.  In  the  same  way  in  eating  grass, 
the  elephant  selects  a  tussac  which  he  draws  from  the 
ground  by  a  dexterous  twist  of  his  trunk,  and  nothing 
can  be  more  graceful  than  the  ease  with  which,  before 
convepng  it  to  his  mouth,  he  beats  the  earth  from  its 
roots  by  striking  it  gently  upon  his  fore  leg.  A  coco- 
nut he  first  rolls  under  foot,  to  detach  the  strong  outer 
bark,  then  stripping  off  the  thick  layer  of  fibre  within, 
he  places  the  shell  in  his  mouth,  and  swallows  with 
evident  rehsh  the  fresh  hqiiid  which  flows  as  he  crushes 
it  between  his  grinders. 

The  natives  of  the  peninsida  of  Jaffna  always  look 
for  the  periodical  appearance  of  the  elephants,  at  the 
precise  moment  when  the  fruit  of  the  palmyra  palm 
begins  to  faU  to  the  ground  from  then-  ripeness.  In 
hke  manner  in  the  eastern  provinces,  where  the  custom 
prevails  of  cultivating  chena  land,  by  clearing  a  patch 
of  forest  for  the  purpose  of  raising  a  single  crop,  after 
which  the  ground  is  abandoned,  and  reverts  to  jungle 
again,  although  a  single  elephant  may  not  be  seen  in 
the  neighbourhood  during  the  early  stages  of  the  pro- 
cess, the  Moormen,  who  are  the  principal  cultivators 
of  this  class,  will  predict  their  appearance  with  almost 


^  The  buffiilo  and  the  Imnipecl 
cattle  of  India,  which  are  used  for 
draught  and  burden,  have,  I  believe, 
a  development  of  the  organisation  of 
the  reticulum  which  enables  the 
ruminants  generally  to  endm-e  thirst, 
and  abstain  from   water,  somewhat 


more  marked  than  is  found  in  the 
rest  of  their  congeners ;  but  nothing- 
tliat  approaches  in  singrnlarity  of 
character  to  the  distinct  cavities  of 
the  stomach  exhibited  by  the  three 
animals  above  alluded  to.' 


3! 8  THE    ELEPHANT.  [Part  VIIT. 

unerring  confidence  so  soon  as  the  grains  shall  have 
begun  to  ripen ;  and  although  the  crop  comes  to  matu- 
rity at  a  different  period  in  different  districts,  the  herd 
are  certain  to  be  seen  at  each  in  succession,  as  soon  as 
it  is  ready  to  be  cut.  In  these  weU-timed  excursions, 
they  resemble  the  bison  of  North  America,  which,  by  a 
similarly  mysterious  instinct,  finds  its  way  to  those 
portions  of  the  distant  prames,  where  accidental  fires 
have  been  followed  by  a  gsowth  of  tender  grass.  Al- 
though the  fences  around  these  chenas  are  httle  more 
than  hues  of  reeds  loosely  fastened  together,  they  are 
sufficient,  with  the  presence  of  a  single  watcher,  to 
prevent  the  entrance  of  the  elephants,  who  wait 
patiently  till  the  rice  and  coracan  have  been  removed, 
and  the  watcher  withdrawn ;  and,  then  finding  gaps  in 
the  fence,  they  may  be  seen  gleaning  among  the  leav- 
ings and  the  stubble  ;  and  they  take  their  departure 
when  these  are  exhausted,  apparently  in  the  dh-ection 
of  some  other  chena,  which  they  have  ascertained  to  be 
about  to  be  cut. 

There  is  something  still  unexplained  in  the  di^ead 
which  an  elephant  always  exhibits  on  approacliing  a 
fence,  and  the  reluctance  which  he  displays  to  face  the 
shghtest  artificial  obstruction  to  his  passage.  In  the 
fine  old  tank  of  Tissa-weva,  close  by  Anarajapoora,  the 
natives  cultivate  grain,  dming  the  dry  season,  around  the 
margin  where  the  ground  has  been  left  bare  by  the 
subsidence  of  the  water.  These  httle  patches  of  rice 
they  enclose  with  small  sticks  an  inch  in  diameter  and 
five  or  six  feet  in  height,  such  as  would  scarcely  serve 
to  keep  out  a  wild  hog  if  he  attempted  to  force  his  way 
through.  Passages  of  fi'om  ten  to  twenty  feet  wide  are 
left  between  each  field,  to  permit  the  "svild  elephants 
which  abound  in  the  vicinity,  to  make  their  nocturnal 
visits  to  the  water  remaining  in  the  tank.  Night  after 
night  these  open  pathways  arc  fi'equented  by  immense 
herds,  but  the  tempting  corn   is  never  touched,  nor  is  a 


ClIAP.    II.] 


HABITS   WHEX    WILD. 


319 


single  fence  disturbed,  altliougli  the  merest  movement 
of  a  trmik  would  be  sufficient  to  demolish  the  fragile 
structiu^e.  Yet  the  same  spots,  as  soon  as  the  grain  has 
been  cut  and  carried  home,  are  eagerly  entered  by  the 
elephants,  who  resort  to  glean  amongst  the  stubble. 

Sportsmen  observe  that  the  elephant,  even  when  en- 
rao'ed  by  a  wound,  will  hesitate  to  charge  its  assailant 
across  an  intervening  hedge,  but  will  hurry  along  it  to 
seek  for  an  opening.  It  is  possible  that,  in  the  mind  of 
the  elephant,  there  may  be  some  instinctive  conscious- 
ness, that  owing  to  his  superior  bulls:,  he  is  exposed  to 
danger  from  sources  that  might  be  perfectly  harmless 
in  the  case  of  hghter  animals,  and  hence  his  suspicion 
that  every  fence  may  conceal  a  snare  or  pitfall.  Some 
similar  apprehension  is  apparent  in  the  deer,  which  shrinks 
from  attempting  a  fence  of  ^^^re,  although  it  will  clear 
without  hesitation  a  soHd  wall  of  greater  height.  At  the 
same  time,  the  caution  with  which  the  elephant  is  sup- 
posed to  approach  insecm-e  ground  and  places  of  doubtftil  ^ 
sohdity,  appears  to  me,  so  far  as  my  own  observation 
and  experience  extend,  to  be  exaggerated,  and  the  num- 
ber of  temporary  bridges  which  are  annually  broken 
down  by  elephants  in  all  parts  of  Ceylon,  is  sufficient 
to  show  that,  although  in  captivity,  and  when  famihar 
with  such  structures,  the  tame  ones  may,  and  doubt- 
less do,  exhibit  all  the  wariness  attributed  to  them  ;  yet, 
in  a  state  of  liberty,  and  whilst  unaccustomed  to  such 
artificial  apphances,  their  instincts  are  not  sufficient  to 
ensure  their  safety.  Besides,  the  fact  is  adverted  to 
elsewhere^,  that  the  chiefs  of  the  Wanny,  dming  the 
sovereignty  of  the  Dutch,  were  accustomed  to  take  in 
pitfalls  the  elephants  which  they  rendered  as  tribute  to 
government. 


1  "One  of  tlie  strougest  instincts 
wliich  the  elephant  possesses,  is  this 
whieh  impels  him  to  experiment 
npon  the  solidity  of  eveiy  surface 
wliieh    he    is    refpiired    to     cross." 


—3Ienagenes,  S,-c.     "  The  Elephant," 
vol.  i.  pp.  17,  19,  6G. 

^  Wolf's    Life    and    Adventures, 
p.  151.     See  p.  335,  note. 


320 


THE    ELEPHANT. 


[Part  VI IT. 


A  fact  illustrative  at  once  of  the  caution  and  the  spirit 
of  curiosity  -with  Avhich  an  elephant  regards  an  unac- 
customed object  has  been  frequently  told  to  me  by 
the  officers  engaged  in  opening  roads  through  the  forest. 
On  such  occasions  the  wooden  "  tracing  pegs "  which 
they  are  obliged  to  diive  into  the  ground  to  mark  the 
levels  taken  during  the  day,  will  often  be  withdrawn  by 
the  elephants  during  the  night,  to  such  an  extent  as  fre- 
quently to  render  it  necessary  to  go  over  the  work  a 
second  time,  in  order  to  replace  them.^ 

As  regards  the  general  sagacity  of  the  elephant,  al- 
though it  has  not  been  over-rated  in  the  instance  of  those 
whose  powers  have  been  largely  developed  in  capti^dty, 
an  undue  estimate  has  been  formed  in  relation  to  them 
whilst  still  untamed.  The  difference  of  instincts  and 
habits  renders  it  difficult  to  institute  a  just  comparison 
between  them  and  other  animals.  Cuvier^  is  disposed  to 
ascribe  the  exalted  idea  that  prevails  of  their  intellect 
to  the  feats  which  an  elephant  performs  with  that  unique 
instrument,  its  trunk,  combined  with  an  imposing  ex- 
pression of  countenance  :  but  he  records  his  own  con\T.c- 
tion  that  in  sagacity  it  in  no  way  excels  the  dog,  and 
some  other  species  of  Carnivora.  K  there  be  a  supe- 
riority, I  am  disposed  to  award  it  to  the  dog,  not  from 
any  excess  of  natural  capacity,  but  from  the  higher  de- 
gree of  development  consequent  on  his  more  intimate 
domestication  and  association  with  man. 

One  remarkable  fact  was  called  to  my  attention  by  a 


'  The  Colombo  Observer  for 
March  I808,  contains  an  offer  of  a 
reward  of  t«'enty-five  giiineas  for 
the  destrnction  of  an  ek'phant  which 
infested  the  Rajawelli  coti'ee  planta- 
tion, in  the  vicinity  of  Kandy.  His 
object  seemed  to  be  less  the  search 
for  food,  than  the  satisfying  of  his 
curiosity  and  the  gratification  of  liis 
passion  for  mischief.  Mr.  Tttler, 
the  proprietor,  states  that  he  fre- 
quented the  jungle  near  the  estate, 


whence  it  was  his  custom  to  sally 
forth  at  night  for  flie  pleasure  of 
pulling  down  buildings  and  trees, 
"  and  he  seemed  to  have  taken  a  spite 
at  the  pipes  of  the  water-works,  the 
pillars  of  which  he  several  times 
broke  do^^^l — his  latest  fancy  was  to 
wrench  oll'tlie  cocks."  The  elephant 
has  since  been  shot. 

2  CiTviER,  Ref/ne  Animal.      "  Les 
Mammiferes,"  p.  280. 


Chap.  1 1.]  HABITS   WHEN   WILD.  321 

gentleman  who  resided  on  a  coffee  plantation  at  Kaxava, 
one  of  the  loftiest  mountains  of  the  Ambogammoa  range. 
More  than  once  during  the  terrific  tlunider-bursts  that 
precede  the  rains  at  the  change  of  each  monsoon,  he  ob- 
served that  the  elephants  in  the  adjoining  forests  hastened 
from  under  cover  of  the  trees  and  took  up  their  station 
in  the  open  ground,  where  I  saw  them  on  one  occasion 
collected  into  a  group ;  and  here,  he  said,  it  was  their 
custom  to  remain  till  the  hghtning  had  ceased,  when  they 
retired  again  into  the  jungle.^ 

When  free  in  his  native  woods  the  elephant  evinces 
rather  simphcity  than  sagacity,  and  his  intelligence  seldom 
exhibits  itself  in  cunning.  The  rich  profusion  m  wliicli 
nature  lias  supplied  his  food,  and  anticipated  his  every 
w^ant,  has  made  him  independent  of  tliose  devices  by 
which  carnivorous  animals  provide  for  their  subsistence ; 
and,  from  the  absence  of  all  rivalry  betw^een  himself 
and  the  other  denizens  of  the  plains,  he  is  never  required 
to  resort  to  artifice  for  self-protection.  For  these  reasons, 
in  his  tranquil  and  harmless  life,  he  may  appear  to  casual 
observers  to  exhibit  even  less  than  ordinary  abihty ;  but 
when  danger  and  apprehension  call  for  the  exertion  of 
his  powers,  those  who  have  witnessed  their  display  are 
seldom  inchned  to  undervalue  his  sagacity. 

Mr.  Cripps  has  related  to  me  an  instance  in  which  a 
recently  captured  elephant  was  either  rendered  senseless 
from  car,  or,  as  the  native  attendants  asserted,  feigned 
death  in  order  to  I'cgain  its  freedom.  It  was  led  from  tlie 
corral  as  usual  between  two  tame  ones,  and  had  akeady 
proceeded  far  on  its  way  towards  its  destination ;  when 
night  closing  in,  and  the  torches  being  hghted,  it  hesitated 
to  go  on,  and  finally  sank  to  the  ground  apparently  life- 
less. Mr.  Cripps  ordered  tlie  fastenings  to  be  removed 
from  its  legs,  and  when  aU  attempts  to  raise  it  had  failed, 


^  The  elephant  is  believed  by  the 
Singhalese  to  express  his  uneasiness 
by   his    voice,   on   the    approach  of 


rain :  and  the  Tamils  have  a  proverl), 
— "  Listen  to  tlic  elephant,  rain  is 
cominf/." 


VOL.    ir.  Y 


322  THE   ELEPHANT.  [Part  VIII. 

SO  convinced  was  lie  that  it  was  dead,  tliat  he  ordered 
the  ropes  to  be  collected  and  the  carcase  to  be  aban- 
doned. ^\1iile  this  was  beiiio-  done  he  and  a  frentlemaii 
by  whom  he  was  accompanied  leaned  against  the  body- 
to  rest.  They  had  scarcely  taken  tlieu-  departure  and 
proceeded  a  few  yards,  when,  to  thek  astonishment,  the 
elephant  rose  with  the  utmost  alacrity,  and  fled  towards 
the  jungle,  screaming  at  the  top  of  its  voice,  its  cries 
being  audible  long  after  it  had  disappeared  in  the  shades 
of  the  forest. 


323 


CHAP.  m. 


ELEPHANT  SHOOTING. 


As  the  shooting  of  an  elephant,  whatever  endurance  and 
adroitness  the  sport  may  display  in  other  respects,  requires 
the  smallest  possible  sldll  as  a  marksman,  the  numbers 
which  are  annually  slain  in  this  way  may  be  regarded  as 
evidence  of  the  midtitudes  abounding  in  those  parts  of 
Ceylon  to  which  they  resort.  One  officer.  Major  Eogers, 
killed  upwards  of  1400  ;  another,  Captain  Gallwey,  has 
the  credit  of  slajmig  more  than  half  that  number ;  Major 
Skinner,  now  the  Commissioner  of  Eoads,  almost  as 
many ;  and  less  persevering  aspirants  follow  at  humbler 
distances.^ 

But  notwithstanding  tliis  prodigious  destruction,  a  re- 
ward of  a  few  shilhngs  per  head  offered  by  the  Govern- 
ment for  taking  elephants  was  claimed  for  3500  destroyed 
in  part  of  the  nortliern  province  alone,  in  less  than  three 
years  prior  to  1848 :    and  between   1851  and   185G,  a 


^  To  persons  like  myself,  who  are 
not  addicted  to  yvhat  is  called  "  sport," 
the  statement  of  these  wholesale 
slaughters  is  calculated  to  excite 
eiu-prise  and  curiosity  as  to  the 
nature  of  a  passion  that  impels  men 
to  self-exposure  and  privation,  in 
a  pursuit  which  presents  nothing 
but  the  monotonous  recuiTence  of 
scenes  of  blood  and  sufterino-.  Mr. 
Baker,  who  has  recently  published, 
under  the  title  of  T7ic  liijle  and  the 
Hound  in  Cci/hti,  an  account  of  his 
exploits  in  the  forest,  gives  us  the 
assurance  that  "  all  real  i^poHsmen 
are  tender-hearted  men,  tvho  shun 
cruelty  to  an  aninml,  and  are  easily 


mox'ed  by  a  talc  of  distress  ; "  and 
that  although  man  is  naturally  blood- 
thirsty, and  a  Ijoast  of  prey  by  in- 
stinct, yet  that  the  true  sportsman  is 
distinguished  from  the  rest  of  the 
human  race  by  his  "  lore  of  nature 
and  of  noble  scenery. ^^  In  support  of 
this  pretension  to  a  gentler  miture 
than  the  rest  of  numkind,  the  author 
proceeds  to  attest  his  o^^^l  abhorrence 
of  cruelty  by  narrating  tlie  sull'erings 
of  an  old  hoimd,  which,  although 
"  toothless,"  he  cheered  on  to  assail 
a  boar  at  bay,  but  it  recoiled  "  co- 
vered ^^'ith  blood,  cut  nearly  in  half, 
^vHith  a  wound,  fourteen  inches  in 
length,  from  the  lower  ptu-t  of  the 


Y  2 


324 


THE   ELEPHANT. 


.  [Part  VIII. 


similar  reward  was  paid  for  2000  in  tlie  soutliem  pro- 
vince, between  Galle  and  Hambangtotte. 

Altliougli  there  is  little  opportunity  for  the  display 
of  marksmanship  in  an  elephant  battue,  there  is  one 
feature  in  the  sport,  as  conducted  in  Ceylon,  which 
contrasts  favom^ably  -with  the  slaughterhouse  details 
chronicled  with  revoltino;  minuteness  in  some  recent 
accounts  of  elephant  shooting  in  South  Africa.  The 
practice  in  Ceylon  is  to  aim  invariably  at  the  head,  and 
tlie  sportsman  finds  his  safety  to  consist  in  boldly  facing 
the  animal,  advancmg  to  Avithin  fifteen  paces  ;  and 
lodging  a  bullet,  either  in  the  temple  or  in  the  hollow 
over  the  eye,  or  in  a  well-known  spot  immediately 
above  the  trunk,  where  the  Aveaker  structm^e  of  the 
skull  affords  an  easy  access  to  the  brain.'     Tlie  region 


beUy,  passing  up  tte  flaiak,  completely 
severing-  the  muscles  of  the  hind  leg, 
and  extending-  up  the  spine  ;  his  hind 
leg  having-  the  appearance  of  being 
nearly  ofl'."  In  this  state,  forgetfid 
of  the  character  he  had  so  lately 
given  of  the  ti-ue  sportsman,  as  a 
lover  of  nature  and  a  hater  of  cruelty, 
he  encouraged  ''the  poor  old  dog," 
as  he  calls  him,  to  resimie  the  fight 
with  the  boar,  which  lasted  for  an 
hour,  when  he  managed  to  call  the 
dogs  oft",  and  perfectly  exhausted, 
the  mangled  hound  crawled  out  of 
the  jmigle  with  several  additional 
wounds,  including  a  severe  gash  in 
his  throat.  "  He  fell  from  exhaustion, 
and  we  made  a  litter  with  two  poles 
and  a  horsecloth  to  cany  him  home." 
— P.  314.  If  such  were  the  habitual 
enjoyments  of  this  class  of  sportsmen, 
their  motivele.'^s  massacres  woidd 
admit  of  no  manly  justification.  In 
compaiison  with  them  one  is  disposed 
to  regard  almost  with  favour  the 
exploits  of  a  hunter  like  Major 
Rogers,  who  is  said  to  have  applied 
the  value  of  the  ivory  obtained  from 
his  encountei-s  towards  tlie  piirchase 
of  his  successive  regimental  commis- 
sions, and  had,  therefore,  an  object, 
however  disproportionate,  iu  his 
slaughter  of  1400  elephants. 


One  gentleman  in  Ceylon,  not 
less  distinguished  for  his  genuine 
kindness  of  heart,  than  for  his  mar- 
vellous success  in  sliootiug  elephants, 
avowed  to  me  that  the  eagerness  with 
which  he  foimd  himself  impelled  to 
pursue  them  had  often  excited  siu'- 
prise  in  his  own  mind  ;  and  although 
he  had  never  read  the  theory  of 
Lord  Kames,  or  the  specidations  of 
Vicesimus  Ivnox,  he  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  passion  thus  ex- 
cited within  him  was  a  remnant  of 
the  himter's  instinct,  with  which  man 
was  originally  endowed  to  enable 
him,  by  the  cliase,  to  support  exist- 
ence in  a  state  of  nature,  and  which, 
though  rendered  dormant  by  civili- 
sation, had  not  been  utterly  eradi- 
cated. 

This  theory  is  at  least  more  con- 
sistent and  intelligible  tlian  the  "  love 
of  nature  ixnd  scenery,"  sentimentally 
propoimded  by  the  author  quoted 
above. 

'  The  vidncvability  of  the  elephant 
in  this  region  of  tlu;  head  was  kno-mi 
to  the  ancients,  and  Pltxy,  describing 
a  combat  of  elephants  in  the  amphi- 
theatre at  Rome,  says,  that  one  was 
slain  by  a  single  blow,  "  pilimi  sub 
ocido  adactum,  in  vitalia  capitis 
venerat."      (Lib.  viii.  c.  7.)      Is'ot- 


Chap.  III.]  ELEPHANT   SHOOTING.  325 

of  the  ear  is  also  a  fatal  spot,  and  often  resorted  to, 
the  places  I  have  mentioned  in  the  front  of  the  head 
being  only  accessible  when  the  animal  is  "  charging." 
Professor  Harrison,  in  his  communication  to  the  Eoyal 
Irish  Academy  in  1847,  on  the  Anatomy  of  the  Ele- 
phant, has  rendered  an  intelligible  explanation  of  tliis 
in  the  following  passage  descriptive  of  the  cranium : 
— "  it  exhibits  t^vo  remarkable  facts  ;  firsts  the  smaU 
space  occupied  by  the  brain  ;  and,  secondly,  the 
beautifid  and  curious  structure  of  the  bones  •  of  the 
head.  The  two  tables  of  all  these  bones,  except  the 
occipital,  are  separated  by  rows  of  large  cells,  some 
from  four  to  five  inches  in  length,  others  only  small, 
irregular,  and  honey-comb-like  :  —  these  all  commu- 
nicate with  each  other,  and,  tln^ough  the  frontal  sinuses, 
with  the  cavity  of  the  nose,  and  also  with  the  tympanum 
or  drum  of  each  ear ;  consequently,  as  in  some  bhxls, 
these  cells  are  filled  with  air,  and  thus  while  the  skull 
attains  a  great  size  in  order  to  afford  an  extensive  surftice 
for  the  attachment  of  muscles,  and  a  mechanical  support 
for  the  tusks,  it  is  at  the  same  time  very  hght  and 
buoyant  in  proportion  to  its  bulk ;  a  property  the  more 
valuable  as  the  animal  is  fond  of  water  and  bathes  in 
deep  rivers." 

Generally  speaking,  a  single  ball,  planted  in  the  fore- 
head, ends  the  existence  of  the  noble  creature  instan- 
taneously :  and  expert  sportsmen  have  been  known  to  Idll 
right  and  left,  one  with  each  barrel ;  but  occasionally 
an  elephant  will  not  fall  before  several  shots  have  been 
lodo-ed  in  his  head.^ 


witlistanding  the  comparative  facility  \  I  tliink  the  temple  the  most  certain, 
of  access  to  the  brain  aftbrded  at  this  '  but  authority  in  Ceylon  says  the 
spot,  an  ordmary  leaden  bullet  is  not  ,  '  fronter,'  that  is,  aboVe  the 'trunk, 
certain  to  penetrate,  and  frequently  I  Behind  the  ear  is  said  to  be  deadly, 
becomes  flattened.  The  hunters,  to  I  but  that  is  a  shot  which  I  never  fired 
comiteract  this,  are  accustomed  to  !  or  saw  fired  that  I  remember.  If  the 
harden  the  ball,  by  the  introduction 
of  a  small  portion  of  type-metal  along 
witli  the  lead. 

1   '*  There  is  a  wide  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  the  most  deadly  shot. 


ball  go  true  to  its  mark,  all  shots  (in 
the  head)  are  certain  ;  but  the  bones 
on  either  side  of  the  honey-combed 
passage  to  the  brain  are  so  thick 
that  there  is  in  all  a  'glorious  un- 


Y  3 


32G 


THE    ELEPHAXT. 


[Part  VIII. 


Contrasted  with  this,  one  reads  with  a  shudder  the 
sickening  details  of  the  African  huntsmen  approaching 
behind  the  retiring  animal,  and  of  the  torture  inflicted  by 
the  shower  of  bullets  which  tear  up  its  flesh  and  lacerate 
its  flank  and  shoulders.^ 

The  shooting  of  elephants  in  Ceylon  has  been  de- 
scribed with  tiresome  iteration  in  the  successive  journals 
of  sporting  gentlemen,  but  one  who  turns  to  their  pages 
for  traits  of  the  animal  and  his  instincts  is  disappointed 
to  find  little  beyond  graphic  sketches  of  the  daring  and 


certainty  '  ■wliieli  keeps  a  man  on  the 
qni  vive  till  be  sees  the  elephant 
down." — From  a  paper  on  J^Icphant 
Shoot  in f/  in  Cei/lon,  by  Major 
Macueadt,  late  Military  Secretary 
at  Colombo. 

^  In  Mr.  GoEDOisr  Cummixg's  ac- 
count of  a  Hunter  s  Life  in  South 
Africa,  there  is  a  narrative  of  his 
pursuit  of  a  woimded  elephant  which 
he  had  lamed  by  lodging  a  ball  in  its 
shoulder-blade.  It  limped  slowly 
towards  a  tree,  against  which  it 
leaned  itself  m  helpless  agony,  whilst 
its  pursuer  seated  himself  in  front  of 
it,  in  safety,  to  boil  his  coffee,  and 
observe  its  sufferings.  The  story  is 
continued  as  follows  : — "  Having  ad- 
mired him  for  a  considerable  time, 
/  resolved  to  make  exjjcritnents  on 
vulnerable  2^oi>ds ;  and  approaching 
very  near,  I  fired  several  bullets  at 
different  parts  of  his  enormous 
skidl.  He  only  acknowledged  the 
shots  by  a  salaam-like  movement  of 
his  trunk,  with  the  point  of  which 
he  gently  touched  the  woimds  with 
a  sti-iking  and  peculiar  action.  Sur- 
prised and  shocked  at  finding  that  I 
was  only  prolonging  the  sufferings 
of  the  noble  beast,  which  bore  its 
trials  witli  such  dignified  composure, 
I  resolved  to  finish  the  proceeding 
with  all  possible  despatcli,  and  ac- 
cordingly opened  fire  upon  him  from 
the  left  side,  aiming  at  the  shoidder. 
I  first  fired  sir  shots  with  the  two- 
gl'oo^'ed  rifle,  Avhich  must  have  event- 
ually proved  mortal.  After  which  I 
fired  six  sliots  at  the  same  part  with 
the  Dutch  si.x-poimder.     Lart/c  tears 


note  trickled  from  his  eyes,  which  he 
sloioly  shut  and  opened,  his  colossal 
frame  shivered  conruhively,  and  fall- 
ing on  his  side,  he  expired.^'  (Vol. 
ii.  p.  10.) 

In  another  place  after  detailing 
the  manner  in  which  he  assailed  a 
poor  animal — he  says,  "  I  was  loading 
and  firing  as  fast  as  coiUd  be,  some- 
times at  the  head,  sometimes  behind 
the  shoidder,  imtil  my  elephant's  fore- 
quarter  was  a  mass  of  gore ;  not- 
withstanding which  he  continued  to 
hold  on,  leaving  the  grass  and  branches 
of  the  forest  scarlet  in  his  wake.  * 
*  Having  fired  thirty-Jive  rounds 
with  my  two-grooved  rifle,  I  opened 
upon  him  with  the  Dutch  six- 
poimder,  and  when  forty  bullets  had 
perforated  his  hide,  he  began,  for 
the  first  time,  to  evince  signs  of 
a  dilapidated  constitution."  The 
■  disgusting  description  is  closed  thus : 
"  Throughout  the  charge  he  repeated- 
ly cooled  his  person  with  large  quan- 
tities of  water,  which  he  ejected  from 
his  ti'unk  over  his  sides  and  back, 
and  just  as  the  pangs  of  death  came 
over  him,  he  stood  ti'embling  vio- 
lently beside  a  thorn  tree,  and  kept 
pouring  water  into  liis  Ijloody  mouth 
until  he  died,  when  he  pitched  heavily 
ftn'ward  •nith  the  whole  weight  of 
his  fore-quarters  resting  on  tho 
points  of  his  tusks.  The  strain  was 
fair,  and  the  tusks  did  not  yield ; 
but  the  portion  of  his  head  in  which 
the  tusks  were  embedded,  extending 
a  long  way  above  the  eye,  jdelded 
and  burst  vrith  a  muffled  crash," — 
{lb.,  vol.  ii.  p.  4,  5.) 


Chap.  III.] 


ELEPHANT   SHOOTIXG. 


327 


exploits  of  liis  pursuers,  most  of  wliom,  liaviiig  had  no 
further  opportunity  of  observation  than  is  derived  fi'om  a 
casual  encounter  with  the  outraged  animal,  have  ap- 
parently tried  to  exalt  their  own  prowess  by  misrepresent- 
ing the  ordinary  character  of  the  elephant,  describing  him 
as  "  savage,  wary,  and  revengeful."  ' 

These  epithets  may  undoubtedly  apply  to  the  out- 
casts from  the  herd,  the  "  Eogues  "  or  hora  allia,  but  so 
small  is  the  proportion  of  these  that  there  is  not  prob- 
ably one  rogue  to  be  found  for  every  five  hundred 
of  those  in  herds;  and  it  is  a  manifest  error,  arisino- 
from  imperfect  information,  to  extend  this  censure  to 
them  generally,  or  to  suppose  the  elephant  to  be  an 
animal  "  thirsting  for  blood,  lying  in  wait  in  the  jun^-le 
to  rush  on  the  unwary  passer-by,  and  knomn(»-  no 
greater  pleasure  than  the  act  of  crushing  his  victim  to 
a  shapeless  mass  beneath  his  feet."  ^  The  cruelties  prac- 
tised by  the  hunters  have  no  doubt  taught  these  saga- 
cious creatures  to  be  cautious  and  alert,  but  then- 
precautions  are  simply  defensive  ;  and  beyond  the  alarm 
and  apprehension  wliich  they  evince  on  the  approach 
of  man,  they  exhibit  no  indication  of  hostility  or  a  tliirst 
for  blood. 

An  ordinary  traveller  seldom  comes  upon  elephants 
unless  after  sunset  or  towards  daybreak,  as  they  go  or 
retm^n  from  their  nightly  \'isits  to  the  tanks :  but 
when  by  accident  a  herd  is  disturbed  by  day,  they 
e\ince,  if  unattacked,  no  disposition  to  become  assail- 
ants; and  if  the  attitude  of  defence  which  they  in- 
stinctively assume  prove  sufficient  to  check  the  approach 
of  the  intruder,  no  fmtlier  demonstration  is  to  be  ap- 
prehended. 


^  The  Rifle  and  the  Ilonnd  in  Cey- 
lon ;  by  S.  W.  Bakek,  Esq.,  p.  8,  9. 
"Next  to  a  rogue/'  says  Mr.  Baker, 
"  in  ferocity,  and  even  more  perse- 
vering in  the  pursuit  of  her  victim, 
is  a  female  elephant."     But  he  ap- 


pends the  significant  qualification, 
"  when  her  young  one  has  been  killed r 
—Ibid.,  p.  13. 

^   The  Rife  and  the  Hound  in  Cey- 
lon ;  by  S.  W.  Bakee,  Esq. 


T   4 


328  THE   ELEPHANT.  [rARX  YIIT. 

Even  tlie  hunters  avIio  go  in  search  of  them  fnid  them 
in  positions  and  occupations  altogether  inconsistent  with 
the  idea  of  their  being  savage,  wary,  or  revengeful. 
Then"  demeanour  when  undisturbed  is  indicative  of  gen- 
tleness and  timidity,  and  their  actions  bespeak  lassitude 
and  indolence  induced  not  alone  by  heat,  but  probably 
ascribable  in  some  degree  to  the  fact  that  the  night  had 
been  spent  in  watchfidness  and  amusement.  A  few  are 
generally  browsing  listlessly  on  the  trees  and  plants  within 
reach,  others  fanning  themselves  with  leafy  branches  and 
a  few  are  asleep  ;  whilst  the  young  run  playfully  among 
the  herd,  the  emblems  of  mnocence,  as  the  older  ones  are 
of  peacefulness  and  gravity. 

Almost  every  elephant  may  be  observed  to  exhibit 
some  i^eculiar  action  of  the  hmbs  when  standing  at 
rest ;  some  move  the  head  monotonously  in  a  circle, 
or  from  right  to  left ;  some  swdng  their  feet  back  and 
forward  ;  others  flap  their  ears  or  sway  themselves  from 
side  to  side,  or  rise  and  sink  by  alternately  bending 
and  straightening  the  fore  knees.  As  the  opportunities 
of  observing:  tliis  custom  have  been  almost  confined  to 
elephants  in  captivity,  it  has  been  conjectured  to 
arise  from  some  morbid  habit  contracted  during  the 
length  of  a  voyage  by  sea  ^,  or  from  an  instinctive 
impulse  to  substitute  a  motion  of  this  kind  in  lieu  of 
theu"  wonted  exercise  ;  but  this  supposition  is  erroneous  ; 
the  propensity  being  equally  displayed  by  those  at 
liberty  and  those  in  captivity.  When  surprised  by 
sportsmen  in  the  depths  of  the  jungle,  individuals  of 
a  herd  are  always  occupied  in  SAvinging  their  limbs 
in  this  manner ;  and  in  the  several  corrals  which  I 
have  seen,  where  whole  herds  have  been  captured,  the 
elephants,  in  the  midst  of  the  utmost  excitement, 
and  even  after  the  most  vigorous  charges,  if  they 
stood   still   for   a   moment   in    stupor    and    exhaustion, 


'  Menageries,  ^-c,  "  The  Elephaut/'  ch.  i.  p.  21. 


CiiAP.  III.]  ELEPHANT   SHOOTING.  329 

manifested  their  wonted  habit,  and  swung  their  lunbs  or 
swayed  their  bodies  to  and  fro  incessantly.  So  far 
from  its  being  a  substitute  for  exercise,  those  in  tlie 
government  emplopnent  in  Ceylon  are  observed  to 
practise  then-  acquired  motion,  whatever  it  may  be, 
with  increased  vigour  when  thoroughly  fatigued  after 
excessive  work.  Even  the  favourite  practice  of  fanning 
themselves  with  a  leafy  branch  seems  less  an  enjoyment 
in  itself  than  a  resource  when  hstless  and  at  rest.  The 
term  "  fidgetty"  seems  to  describe  appropriately  the  tem- 
perament of  the  elephant. 

They  evince  the  strongest  love  of  retirement  and  a 
corresponding  dishke  to  intrusion.  The  approach  of 
a  stranger  is  perceived  less  by  the  eye,  the  quickness  of 
which  is  not  remarkable  (besides  which  its  range  is 
obscured  by  the  foliage,)  than  by  sensitive  smell  and 
singular  acuteness  of  hearing  ;  and  the  whole  herd  is 
put  in  instant  but  noiseless  motion  towards  some  deeper 
and  more  secure  retreat.  The  effectual  manner  in 
which  an  animal  of  the  prodigious  size  of  the  elephant 
can  conceal  himself,  and  the  motionless  silence  which 
he  preserves,  is  quite  surprising :  whilst  beaters  pass 
and  repass  within  a  few  yards  of  his  hiding  place,  he  will 
maintain  his  ground  till  the  hunter,  creeping  almost 
close  to  his  legs,  sees  his  httle  eye  peering  out  through 
the  leaves,  when,  finding  himself  discovered,  he  breaks 
away  with  a  crash,  leveUing  the  brushwood  in  his  head- 
long career. 

If  surprised  in  open  ground,  where  stealthy  retreat  is 
impracticable,  a  herd  will  hesitate  in  indecision,  and, 
after  a  few  meaningless  movements,  stand  huddled  toge- 
ther in  a  group,  whilst  one  or  two,  more  adventm'ous 
than  the  rest,  advance  a  few  steps  to  reconnoitre.  Ele- 
phants are  generally  observed  to  be  bolder  in  open 
ground  than  in  cover,  but,  if  bold  at  all,  far  more  dan- 
gerous in  cover  than  in  open  ground. 

In  searching  for  them,  sportsmen  often  avail  themselves 
of  the  expertness  of  the  native  trackers ;    and  notwitli- 


330  THE    ELEPHANT.  [Part  ^^11. 

standing  the  demonstration  of  Combe  that  the  brain  of 
the  timid  Singhalese  is  deficient  in  the  organ  of  destriic- 
tiveness\  he  shows  an  instinct  for  hnnting,  and  exhibits 
in  the  pm'siiit  of  the  elepliant  a  com^age  and  adroitness 
far  surpassing  in  interest  the  mere  handling  of  the  rifle, 
wliich  is  the  principal  share  of  the  proceeding  that  falls 
to  his  European  companions. 

The  beater  on  these  occasions  has  the  double  task  of 
finchng  the  game  and  carrying  the  guns ;  and,  in  an 
animated  communication  to  me,  an  experienced  sportsman 
describes  "  this  lio-lit  and  active  creature,  ^vitll  his  lono- 
glossy  hair  Iianging  down  his  shoulders,  every  muscle 
quivering  with  excitement ;  and  his  countenance  lit  up 
with  intense  animation,  leaping  from  rock  to  rock,  as  nim- 
ble as  a  deer,  tracking  the  gigantic  game  like  a  blood- 
hound, falhng  behind  as  he  comes  up  with  it,  and  as  the 
elephants,  baflled  and  irritated,  make  the  first  stand, 
passing  one  rifle  into  your  eager  hand  and  holding  the 
other  ready  whilst  right  and  left  each  barrel  performs  its 
mission,  and  if  fortune  does  not  flag,  and  the  second  gun 
is  as  successful  as  tlie  first,  three  or  four  huge  carcases 
are  piled  one  on  another  witlihi  a  space  equal  to  the  area 
of  a  dining-room."  ^ 

It  is  curious  that  in  these  encounters  the  herd  never 
rush  forward  in  a  body,  as  bufliiloes  or  bisons  do,  but 
only  one  elephant  at  a  time  moves  in  advance  of  the 
rest  to  confront,  or,  as  it  is  called,  to  "  charge,"  the 
assailants.  I  have  heard  of  but  one  instance  in  which 
two  so  advanced  as  champions  of  their  companions. 
Sometimes,  indeed,  the  whole  herd  will  follow  a  leader, 
and  mancEuvre  in  his  rear  like  a  body  of  cavahy ;  but  so 
large  a  party  are  necessarily  hable  to  panic  ;  and,  one  of 
them  being  turned  in  alarm,  the  entire  body  retreat  with 
terrified  precipitation. 

As  regards  boldness  and  courage,  a  strange  variety  of 


1  System  ofPhroioIof/t/,  by  Geouge  I       -  Private  letter  from  Capt.  Pliilip 
Combe,  vol.  i.  p.  250.  |  Payiio  Gallwey. 


Chap.  III.] 


ELEPHANT   SIIOOTIXG. 


331 


temperament  is  observable  amongst  elephants,  but  it  may 
be  affirmed  that  they  are  much  more  generally  timid  than 
courageous.  One  herd  may  be  as  difficidt  to  approach 
as  deer,  ghding  away  through  the  jungle  so  gently  and 
quicldy  that  scarcely  a  trace  marks  their  passage ;  another, 
in  apparent  stupor,  will  huddle  themselves  together  hke 
swine,  and  allow  their  assailant  to  come  witliin  a  few 
yards  before  they  break  away  in  terror ;  and  a  third  will 
await  his  approacli  without  motion,  and  then  advance 
with  fury  to  tlie  "  charge." 

Li  individuals  the  same  chfferences  are  discernible : 
one  flies  on  the  first  appearance  of  danger,  whilst  another, 
alone  and  unsupported,  will  ftice  a  whole  host  of  enemies. 
When  wounded  and  infuriated  with  pain,  many  of 
them  become  hterally  savage^  ;  but,  so  unaccustomed 
are  they  to  act  as  assailants,  and  so  awkward  and 
mexpert  in  using  their  strength,  tliat  they  rarely  or  ever 
succeed  in  killing  a  pursuer  who  falls  into  their  power. 
Although  the  pressm^e  of  a  foot,  a  blow  with  the  trtuik, 
or  a  thrust  with  the  tusk  could  scarcely  fail  to  prove 
fatal,  three-fourths  of  those  who  have  fallen  into 
their  power  have  escaped  without  serious  injury. 
So  great  is  this  cliance  of  impunity,  that  the 
sportsman  prefers  to  approach  within  about  fifteen 
paces  of  the  advancing  elephant,  a  space  which  gives 
time  for  a  second  fire  should  the  first  shot  prove  inef- 
fectual, and  should  both  fail  there  is  stiU  opportunity  for 
flioflit. 

Amongst  full  grown  timber,  a  skilful  runner  can 
escape  an  elephant  by  dodging  round  the  trees,  but  in 
cleared  land,  and  low  brushwood,  the  thfficidty  is  much 
increased,  as  the  small  growth  of  iniderwood  which 
obstructs  the  movements  of  man  presents  no  obstacle 
to   those  of  an  elephant.     On  tlie  other  hand,  on  level 


'  Some  years  ago  au  elephant 
whicli  had  been  wounded  b}'  u  native, 
near  Hanibanf>totte,  pursued  the  man 
into  the  town,  followed  him  aloHg 


the  street,  trampled  him  to  death  in 
the  bazaar  before  a  crowd  of  terrilied 
spectators,  and  succeeded  in  making 
good  ita  retreat  to  the  jungle. 


332  THE   ELEPHANT.  [Part  YIII. 

and  open  ground  tlie  chances  are  rather  in  fa\'our  of  the 
elephant,  as  his  pace  in  fidl  flight  exceeds  that  of  man, 
akhough  it  is  far  from  equal  to  that  of  a  horse,  as  has 
been  erroneously  asserted.^ 

The  incessant  slaughter  of  elephants  by  sportsmen 
in  Ceylon,  appears  to  be  merely  in  subordination  to  the 
influence  of  the  organ  of  destructiveness,  since  the 
carcase  is  never  apphed  to  any  useful  purpose,  but  left 
to  decompose  and  to  defile  the  air  of  the  forest.  The 
flesh  is  occasionally  tasted  as  a  matter  of  curiosity ; 
as  a  steak  it  is  coarse  and  tough ;  but  the  tongue  is 
as  dehcate  as  that  of  an  ox ;  and  the  foot  is  said  to 
make  palatable  soup.  The  Caffres  attached  to  the 
pioneer  corps  in  the  Kandyan  province  were  in  the 
habit  of  securing  the  heart  of  any  elephant  shot  in 
thek  vicinity,  and  said  it  was  their  custom  to  eat  it 
in  Africa.  The  hide  it  has  been  found  hnpracticable 
to  tan  in  Ceylon,  or  to  convert  to  any  useful  purpose, 
but  the  bones  of  those  shot  have  of  late  years  been 
collected  and  used  for  manuring  coffee.  The  hak  of 
the  tail,  which  is  extremely  strong  and  horny,  is  mounted 
by  the  native  goldsmith,  and  made  into  bracelets ; 
and  the  teeth  are  sawn  by  the  Moormen  at  Galle  (as 
they  used  to  be  by  the  Eomans  during  a  scarcity  of 
ivory)  into  plates,  out  of  which  they  fashion  numerous 
articles  of  ornament,  knife-handles,  card  racks,  and 
presse-papiers. 


^  Shaw,   in    Lis    Zoology,   asserts  I  as    a    liorse    am    gallop.     London, 
that  an  elephant  can  run  as  s-wiftly  |  1800-0,  vol.  i.  p.  216. 


CuAP.  in.]  ELEPHANT    SHOOTIXG.  333 


NOTE. 

Amongst  extraordinary  recoveries  from  desperate  wounds  I 
venture  to  record  here  an  instance  which  occurred  in  Ceylon 
to  a  gentleman  while  engaged  in  the  chase  of  elephants,  and 
which,  I  apprehend,  has  few  parallels  in  pathological  experience. 
Lieutenant  Gerard  Fretz,  of  the  Ce3don  Rifle  Kegiment,  whilst 
shooting  at  an  elephant  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  ^NlacDonald,  in 
Oovah,  was  wounded  in  the  face  by  the  bursting  of  his  fowling- 
piece,  on  the  22nd  January,  1828.  He  was  then  about  thirty- 
two  years  of  age.  On  raising  him,  it  was  found  that  part  of 
the  breech  of  the  gun  and  about  two  inches  of  the  barrel  had 
been  driven  through  the  frontal  sinus,  at  the  junction  of  the 
nose  and  forehead.  It  had  sunk  almost  perpendicularly  till  the 
iron  plate  called  "  the  tail-pin,"  by  which  the  barrel  is  made 
fast  to  the  stock  by  a  screw,  had  descended  through  the  palate, 
carrying  with  it  the  screw,  one  extremity  of  which  had  forced 
itself  into  the  right  nostril,  where  it  was  discernible  externally, 
whilst  the  headed  end  lay  in  contact  with  his  tongue.  To 
extract  the  jagged  mass  of  iron  thus  sunk  in  the  ethmoidal  and 
sphenoidal  cells  was  found  hopelessly  impracticable ;  but,  strange 
to  tell,  after  the  inflammation  subsided,  Mr.  Fretz  recovered 
rapidly,  his  general  health  was  unimpaired,  and  he  returned  to 
his  regiment  with  this  singular  appendage  firmly  embedded 
behind  the  bones  of  his  face.  He  took  his  tiu-n  of  duty  as 
usual,  attained  the  command  of  his  company,  participated  in  all 
the  enjoyments  of  the  mess-room,  and  died  eight  years  after- 
.ivards,  on  the  1st  of  April,  1836,  not  from  any  consequences  of 
this  fearful  wound,  but  from  fever  and  inflammation  brought 
on  by  other  causes. 

So  little  was  he  apparently  inconvenienced  by  the  presence 
of  the  strange  body  in  his  palate  that  he  was  accustomed  with 
his  finger  partially  to  undo  the  screw,  which  but  for  its  extreme 
length  he  might  altogether  have  withdrawn.  To  enable  this 
to  be  done,  and  possibly  to  assist  by  this  means  the  extraction 
of  the  breech  itself  through  the  original  orifice  (which  never 
entirely  closed),    an  attempt  was  made  in   1835  to  take  off  a 


334  THE    ELEPHANT.  [Part  VIII. 

portiou  of  the  screw  with  a  file,  but,  after  having  cut  it  three 
parts  through,  the  operation  was  interrupted,  chiefly  owing  to 
the  carelessness  and  indifference  of  Capt.  Fretz,  whose  death 
occurred  before  the  attempt  could  be  resumed.  The  piece  of 
iron,  on  being  removed  after  his  decease,  was  found  to  measure 
2 1  inches  in  length,  and  weighed  two  scruples  more  than  two 
ounces  and  three  quarters.  A  cast  of  the  breach  and  screw 
now  forms  No.  2790  amongst  the  deposits  in  the  Medical 
JMuseum  of  Chatham. 


3i5 


CHAP.  IV. 


AN   ELEPHANT   CORRAL. 

So  long  as  the  elephants  of  Ceylon  were  merely 
requked  in  small  numbers  for  the  pageantry  of  the 
native  princes,  or  the  sacred  processions  of  the  Buddliist 
temples,  their  capture  was  effected  either  by  the  instru- 
mentality of  female  decoys,  or  by  the  artifices  and 
agihty  of  the  individuals  and  castes  who  devoted 
themselves  to  their  pursuit  and  training.  But  after 
the  arrival  of  the  European  conquerors  of  the  island, 
and  when  it  had  become  expedient  to  take  advantage 
of  the  strength  and  intelhgence  of  these  creatures  in 
clearing  forests  and  making  roads  and  other  works, 
estabhshments  were  organised  on  a  great  scale  by  the 
Portuguese  and  Dutch,  and  the  supply  of  elephants 
kept  up  by  periochcal  battues  conducted  at  the  cost 
of  the  government,  on  a  plan  similar  to  that  adopted 
on  the  continent  of  India,  when  herds  varying  in  num- 
ber fi'om  twenty  to  one  hundred  and  upwards  are 
driven  into  concealed  enclosures  and  secured. 

In  both  these  processes,  success  is  entirely  dependent 
on  the  skill  with  which  the  captors  turn  to  advantage 
the  terror  and  inexperience  of  the  wild  elephant,  since 
all  attempts  would  be  futile  to  subdue  or  confine  by 
ordinary  force  an  animal  of  such  strength  and  sagacity.^ 


'  Tlie  device  of  taking  them  by 
means  of  pitfalls,  in  addition  to  tlie 
difficidty  of  provjding-  against  that 
caution  -vvith  which  the  elephant 
always  reconnoitres  suspicious  or 
insecm-e  gi-ound,  has  the  further 
disadvantage  of  exposing  him  to 
injmy  from  bruises  and  dislccitions 
in  his  ffdl.  Still  it  wms  the  mode  of 
captm-e  employed  by  the  Singhalese, 
and  so  late  as  1750  AVolf  relates 
that  the  native  chiefs  of  the  Wanuy, 
when  captiuino;  elephants  for  the 
Dutch,  made  "pits  some  fathoms  deep 


in  those  places  whither  the  clopliant 
is  wont  to  go  in  search  of  food,  across 
which  were  laid  poles  covered  with 
branches  and  baited  with  the  food  of 
which  he  is  fondest,  making  towards 
which  he  finds  himself  taken  un- 
awai-es.  Thereafter  being  subdued 
by  fright  and  exhaustion,  he  was 
assisted  to  raise  himself  to  the  sur- 
face by  means  of  hurdles  and  eartli, 
which  he  placed  underfoot  as  they 
were  thrown  dovm  to  him,  till  he  was 
enabled  to  step  out  on  solid  ground, 
when  the  noosers  and  decovs  were 


33G 


THE    ELEPHANT. 


[Part  VIII. 


Kxox  describes  with  circumstantiality  the  mode 
adopted  at  that  time  by  the  servants  of  the  king  to 
catch  elephants  for  the  royal  stud.  He  says,  "After 
discovering  the  retreat  of  such  as  have  tusks,  unto 
these  they  diive  some  she  elephants,  which  they  bring 
with  them,  for  the  purpose,  which,  when  once  the 
males  have  got  a  sight  of,  they  wiU  never  leave,  but 
follow  them  wheresoever  they  go,  and  the  females 
are  so  used  to  it  that  they  will  do  whatsoever,  either 
by  word  or  a  beck,  thek  keepers  bid  them.  And  so 
they  delude  them  along  through  towns  and  countries, 
and  through  the  streets  of  the  city,  even  to  the  very 
gates  of  the  king's  palace,  where  sometimes  they  seize 
upc^n  them  by  snares,  and  sometimes  by  driving  them 
into  a  Idnd  of  pound,  they  catch  them."  ^ 

In  Nepaul  and  Burmah,  and  througliout  the  Chin- 
Indian  Peninsula,  when  in  pursuit  of  single  elephants, 
either  rogues  detached  from  the  herd,  or  indi\dduals 
who  have  been  marked  for  the  beauty  of  their  ivory, 
the  natives  avail  themselves  of  the  aid  of  females  in 
order  to  effect  their  approaches  and  secure  an  opportunity 
of  casting  a  noose  over  the  foot  of  the  destined  captive. 
All  accounts  concur  in  expressing  high  admiration  of 
their  courage  and  address ;  but  from  Avhat  has  fallen 
under  my  own  observation,  added  to  the  descriptions  I 
have  heard  from  other  eye-witnesses,  I  am  inchned 
to  beheve  that  in  such  exploits  the  Moormen  of 
Ceylon  evince  a  daring  and  adroitness  that  far  surpass 
all  others. 

These  professional  elephant  catchers,  or  as  they 
are  called,  Panickeas,   inhabit    the  Moorish  villages   in 


in  readiness  to  tie  liim  up  to  the 
nearest  tree." — See  "Wolf's  Life  and 
Advcniurcs,  p.  152.  Shakspere  ap- 
pears to  have  been  acquainted  with 
the  plan  of  taking  elephants  in  pit- 
falls :  Decius,  encouraging  the  con- 
spirators, reminds  them  of  Cfesar's 
taste  for  anecdotes  of  animals,  by 


which  he  would  undertake  to  lure 
him  to  his  fate : 

''  For  he  lov<?s  to  hear 
That  unicorns  may  be  betrayed  with  trees, 
Andbears  with  ghisses  ;  r/rp/ia/its  with  holes." 
JiLius  Cksaii,  Act  ii.  Scene  I. 

^  Kxox's    Historiml    Rdcdion   of 
Ceylon,  A.D.  1G81;  part  i.  cli.  vi.  p.  21. 


Chap.  IV.]         AN  ELEPHANT  COKKAL.  337 

the  north  and  north-east  of  the  island,  and  from  time 
immemorial  have  been  engaged  in  taking  elephants, 
which  are  afterwards  trained  by  Arabs,  chiefly  for  the 
use  of  the  rajahs  and  native  princes  in  the  south  of  India, 
whose  vakeels  are  periodically  despatched  to  make  pm^- 
chases  in  Ceylon. 

The  abihty  evinced  by  these  men  in  tracing  elephants 
through  the  woods  has  almost  the  certainty  of  instinct ; 
and  hence  their  services  are  eagerly  sought  by  the 
Eiu-opean  sportsmen  who  go  down  into  their  countiy  in 
search  of  game.  So  keen  is  their  glance,  that  almost  at 
the  top  of  their  speed,  hke  hounds  running  "  breast 
high"  they  will  follow  the  course  of  an  elephant,  over 
glades  covered  with  stunted  grass,  where  the  eye  of  a 
stranger  would  fail  to  discover  a  trace  of  its  passage, 
and  on  through  forests  strewn  with  dry  leaves,  Avhere 
it  seems  impossible  to  perceive  a  footstep.  Here  they 
are  guided  by  a  bent  or  broken  twig,  or  by  a  leaf 
dropped  from  the  animal's  mouth,  on  which  they  can 
detect  the  pressure  of  a  tooth.  If  at  feult,  they  fetch  a 
circuit  hke  a  setter,  till  hghting  on  some  fresh  marks, 
then  go  a  head  again  with  renewed  vigour.  So  dehcate 
is  the  sense  of  smell  in  the  elephant,  and  so  indispensable 
is  it  to  go  against  the  wind  in  approaching  him,  that 
the  Panickeas,  on  those  occasions,  when  the  "wind  is  so 
still  that  its  direction  cannot  be  otherwise  discerned,  will 
suspend  the  film  of  a  gossamer  to  determine  it  and  shape 
their  course  accordingly. 

They  are  enabled  by  the  inspection  of  the  footmarks, 
when  impressed  in  soft  clay,  to  describe  the  size  as  well 
as  the  number  of  a  herd  before  it  is  seen  ;  the  height 
of  an  elephant  at  the  shoulder  being  as  nearly  as  possible 
twice  the  ckcumference  of  his  fore  foot.^ 


^  Previous  to   the   death   of    the  j  1851,  Mr.  Mitchell,  the  Secretary, 
female   elephant    in   the    Zoological  i  caused  the  measurements  to  be  accu- 
Gardens,  in  the  Regent's  Park,  in  |  rately  made^  and  found  the  statement 
VOL.  II.  Z 


338 


THE    ELEPHANT. 


[Part  VIII. 


On  overtaking  the  game  their  courage  is  as  con- 
spicuous as  their  sagacity.  If  they  liave  confidence 
in  the  sportsman  for  whom  they  are  finding,  they  will 
advance  to  the  very  heel  of  the  elephant,  slap  him  on 
the  quarter,  and  then  convert  his  timidity  into  anger, 
till  he  turns  upon  his  tormentor  and  exposes  his  front  to 
receive  the  bullet  which  is  awaiting  him.' 

So  fearless  and  confident  are  they  that  two  men, 
without  aid  or  attendants,  will  boldly  attempt  to  capture 
the  largest  sized  elephant.  Then"  only  weapon  is  a 
flexible  rope  made  of  elk's  or  buffalo's  hide,  with  which 
it  is  their  object  to  secure  one  of  the  hind  legs.  This 
they  effect  either  by  following  in  his  footsteps  when  in 
motion  or  by  stealing  close  up  to  him  when  at  rest,  and 
availing  themselves  of  the  propensity  of  the  elephant  at 
such  moments  to  swing  his  feet  backwards  and  forwards, 
they  contrive  to  slip  a  noose  over  his  hind  leg. 

At  other  times  this  is  achieved  by  spreading  the 
noose  on  the  ground  partially  concealed  by  roots  and 


of  the  Singhalese  hunters  to  be  strictly 
correct,  the  height  at  the  shoulders 
being  precisely  twice  the  circuui- 
ference  of  the  fore  foot. 

1  Major  Skinnek,  late  the  Chief 
Officer  at  the  head  of  the  Commission 
of  Roads,  in  Ceylon,  in  writing  to  me, 
mentions  an  anecdote  illustrative  of 
the  daring  of  the  Panickeas.  "  I 
once  saw,"  he  says,  "  a  very  beautiful 
example  of  the  confidence  with  which 
these  fellows,  from  their  knowledge 
of  the  elephants,  meet  their  woi-st 
defiance.  It  was  in  Neuera-Kalawa  ; 
I  was  bivouacking  on  the  bank  of  a 
river,  and  had  been  kept  out  so  late 
tliat  I  did  not  get  to  my  tent  until 
between  9  and  10  at  night.  On  our 
return  towards  it  we  passed  several 
single  elephants  making  their  way  to 
the  nearest  water,  but  at  length  we 
came  upon  a  large  herd  which  had 
taken  possession  of  the  only  road  by 
which  we  could  pass,  and  which  no 


intimidation  would  induce  to  move 
off.  I  had  some  Panickeas  with  me ; 
they  knew  the  herd,  and  counselled 
extreme  caution.  After  trying  eveiy 
device  we  could  think  of  for  a  length 
of  time,  a  little  old  jNIoorman  of  the 
party  came  to  me  and  requested  we 
should  all  retire  to  a  distance.  He 
then  took  a  couple  of  chules  (flam- 
beaux of  di-ied  wood,  or  coco-nut 
leaves),  one  in  each  hand,  and  waving 
them  above  his  head  till  they  fiamed 
out  fiercely,  he  advanced  at  a  de- 
liberate pace  to  within  a  few  yards  of 
the  elephant  who  was  acting  as  leader 
of  the  party,  and  who  was  gi'owling 
and  trumpeting  in  his  rage ;  and 
flourished  the  flaming  torches  in  his 
face.  The  effect  was  instantaneous ; 
the  whole  herd  dashed  away  in  a  pa- 
nic, bellowing,  screaming,  and  crash- 
ing through  the  imderwood,  whilst 
we  availed  ourselves  of  the  open  path 
to  make  our  way  to  our  tents." 


Chap.  IV.]  AN   ELEPHANT    CORRAL.  339 

leaves   beneatli   a   tree   on   which   one  of   the  party  is 
stationed,   whose   business   it   is   to  hft  it  suddenly  by 
means  of  a  cord,  raising   it    on   the    elephant's   leg   at 
the    moment    when    his    companion    has    succeeded    in 
provoking    him    to    place    his    foot   within    its    circle, 
the   other   end   having   been    previously   made   fast   to 
the  stem  of  the   tree.     Should  the  noosing  be  effected 
in  oj^en  ground,  and  no  tree  of   sufficient   strength  at 
hand  round  which  to  wind  the  rope,  one  of  the  Moors, 
allowing   himself   to   be   pm^sued   by   the    enraged   ele- 
phant,   entices  him  towards   the   nearest  grove  ;  where 
his  companion,  dexterously  laj-ing  hold  of   the  rope  as 
it   trails   along   the   ground,   suddenly  coils   it   round  a 
suitable  stem,  and  brings  the  fugitive  to   a  stand  still. 
On  finding  himself  thus   arrested,  the   natural   impulse 
of  the  captive  is  to  turn  on  the  man  who  is  engaged  in 
making  fast  the  rope,  a  movement  which  it  is  the  duty 
of  his  colleague  to  prevent  by  running  up  close  to  the 
elephant's  head  and  provoking  him  to  confront  him  by 
irritating   gesticulations   and   incessant   shouts   of    dah! 
dah  !  a  monosyllable,  the  sound  of  which  the  elephant 
pecuharly  dishkes.     Meanwhile  the  first  assailant,  having 
secured  one  noose,  comes  up  from  behind  with  another, 
with  which,  amidst  the  vain  rage  and  struggles  of  the 
victim,  he  entraps  a  fore  leg,  the  rope  being,  as  before, 
secured  to  another  tree  in  front,  and  the  whole  four  feet 
having  been  thus  entangled,  the  capture  is  completed. 

A  shelter  is  then  run  up  with  branches,  to  protect 
him  from  the  sun,  and  the  hunters  proceed  to  build  a 
wigwam  for  themselves  in  front  of  their  prisoner, 
kindhng  their  fires  for  cooking,  and  making  all  the  ne- 
cessary arrangements  for  remaining  day  and  night  on 
the  spot  to  await  the  process  of  subduing  and  taming 
his  rage.  In  my  journeys  through  the  forest  I  liave 
come  unexpectedly  on  the  halting  place  of  adventu- 
rous hunters  when  thus  engaged ;  and  on  one  occasion, 
about  sunrise,  in  ascending  the  steep  ridge  from  the 
bed  of  the  Malwatte  river,  the  foremost  rider  of   our 

z  2 


340  THE    ELEPHANT.  [Part  VIIL 

party  was  suddenly  di'iven  back  by  a  furious  elephant, 
wliicli  we  found  picketed  by  two  Panickeas  on  the 
crest  of  the  bank.  In  such  a  position,  the  elephant 
soon  ceases  to  stru2:a'le  ;  and  what  with  the  exhaustion 
of  rage  and  resistance,  the  terror  of  fire  which  he 
cbeads,  and  the  constant  annoyance  of  smoke  wliich  he 
detests,  in  a  very  short  time,  a  few  weeks  at  the  most, 
his  spirit  becomes  subdued  ;  and  being  plentifully  sup- 
phed  with  plantains  and  fresh  food,  and  indulged 
with  water,  in  which  he  luxuriates,  he  grows  so  far 
reconciled  to  his  keepers  that  they  at  length  venture  to 
remove  him  to  their  own  village,  or  to  the  sea-side  for 
shipment  to  India. 

No  part  of  the  hunter's  performances  exhibits  greater 
skill  and  audacity  tlian  this  first  forced  march  of  the 
recently  captured  elephant  from  the  great  central  forests 
to  the  sea-coast.  As  he  is  still  too  morose  to  submit 
to  be  ridden,  and  it  would  be  equally  impossible  to 
lead  or  to  drive  him  by  force,  the  ingenuity  of  the 
captors  is  displayed  in  alternately  kritating  and  eluchng 
his  attacks,  but  always  so  attracting  his  attention  as  to 
aUure  him  along  in  the  du^ection  in  which  they  want  him 
to  go.  Some  assistance  is  derived  from  the  rope  by 
which  the  original  captm^e  was  effected,  and  which,  as 
it  serves  to  make  him  safe  at  night,  is  never  removed 
fi'om  the  leg  till  his  taming  is  sufficiently  advanced  to 
permit  of  his  being  entrusted  with  partial  hberty. 

In  Ceylon  the  principal  place  for  exporting  these 
animals  to  India  is  Manaar,  on  the  western  coast,  to 
which  the  Arabs  from  the  continent  resort,  bringing 
horses  to  be  baitered  for  elephants.  In  order  to  reach 
the  sea  open  plains  mvist  be  traversed,  across  which  it  re- 
quires the  utmost  courage,  agihty,  and  patience  of  the 
Moor  to  coax  their  reluctant  charge.  At  Manaar  the 
elephants  are  usually  detained  till  any  wound  on  the 
leg  caused  by  the  rope  has  been  healed,  when  the 
sliipment  is  effected  in  the  most  primitive  manner,  it 
beinf  next  to  impossible  to  induce   the   still   untamed 


Chap.  IV.]  .\N   ELEPHANT   CORRAL.  341 

creature  to  walk  on  board,  and  no  mechanical  contri- 
vances being  provided  to  ship  him.  A  dlioney,  or  native 
boat,  of  about  forty  tons  burthen,  is  brought  alongside 
the  quay  in  front  of  the  Old  Dutch  Fort,  and  being 
about  tliree  parts  filled  with  the  strong  ril^bed  leaves 
of  the  Palmyra  pahn,  it  is  lashed  so  that  the  gunwale 
may  be  as  nearly  as  possible  on  a  hue  mth  the  level  of 
the  wharf.  The  elephant  being  placed  with  his  back 
to  the  water  is  forced  by  goads  to  retreat  till  his  hind 
legs  go  over  the  side  of  the  quay,  but  the  main  contest 
commences  when  it  is  attempted  to  disengage  his  fore 
feet  from  the  shore,  and  force  him  to  entrust  liimself  on 
board.  The  scene  becomes  exciting  from  the  screams 
and  trumpeting  of  the  elephants,  the  shouts  of  the  Arabs, 
the  calls  of  the  Moors,  and  the  rushing  of  the  crowd. 
Meanwhile  the  huge  creatiu^e  strains  every  nerve  to 
regain  the  land  ;  and  the  day  is  often  consumed  before 
his  efforts  are  overcome,  and  he  finds  himself  faMy 
afloat.  The  same  dhoney  wdll  take  from  four  to  five 
elephants,  who  place  themselves  athwart  it,  and  exhibit 
amusino;  adroitness  in  accommodatincf  their  own  move- 
ments  to  the  rolling  of  the  httle  vessel ;  and  in  this  way 
they  are  ferried  across  the  narrow  strait  which  separates 
the  continent  of  India  from  Ceylon.^ 

But  the  feat  of  ensnarino;  and  subduinor  a  sino-le 
elephant,  courageous  as  it  is,  and  demonstrative  of  the 
supremacy  with  which  man  melds  his  "  dominion  over 


^  In  the  Philosophical  Transactions 
ft)r  1701,  there  is  "  An  Account  of  the 
taking  of  Elephants  in  Ceylon,  by 
JNIr.  Strachax,  a  Physician  who  lived 
seventeen  years  there,"  in  wliicli  the 
author  descrihes  the  manner  in  which 
they  were  shipped  by  the  Dutch,  at 
Matura,  Galle,  and  Negi)nibo.  A 
piece  of  strong  sail-cloth  having  been 
WTapped  round  the  elephant's  chest 
and  stomachy  he  wa.s  forced  into  the 
sea  between  two  tame  ones,  and  there 
made  fast  to  a  boat,  on  which  the 
tame  ones  returned  to  laud  ;  he  swam  |  lOol 

z  3 


after  the  boat  to  the  ship,  where 
tackle  was  reeved  to  the  sail-clotli, 
and  he  was  hoisted  on  board. 

"But  a  better  way  ha*)  been  in- 
vented lately,"  he  saysj  "a  large 
flat-bottomed  vessel  is  prepared, 
covered  with  planks  like  a  floor ;  so 
that  this  floor  is  iilmost  of  a  height 
Avitli  the  key.  Then  the  sides  of  the 
key  and  the  vessel  are  adonied  with 
greeu  branches,  so  that  tlie  elephant 
sees  no  water,  till  he  is  in  the  ship." 

Phil.  Trans,  vol.  xxiii.  No.  22~,  p. 


342  THE    ELEPHANT.  [Part  VIII. 

every  beast  of  the  earth,"  falls  far  short  of  the  daring 
exploit  of  capturing  a  whole  herd  ;  when  from  thirty 
to  one  hundred  wild  elephants  are  entrapped  in  one  vast 
decoy.  The  mode  of  effecting  this,  as  it  is  practised  in 
Ceylon,  is  no  doubt  imitated,  but  with  considerable 
modifications,  from  the  methods  prevalent  in  various 
parts  of  Incha.  It  was  introduced  by  the  Portuguese, 
and  continued  by  the  Dutch,  the  latter  of  whom  had 
two  elephant  hunts  in  each  year,  and  conducted  their 
operations  on  so  large  a  scale,  that  the  annual  export, 
after  supplpng  the  government  estabhshments,  was 
from  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  elephants, 
taken  principally  in  the  vicinity  of  Matura,  in  the 
southern  province,  and  marched  for  shipment  to 
Manaar.^ 

The  custom  in  Bengal  is  to  construct  a  strong  en- 
closure (called  a  keddah),  in  the  heart  of  the  forest, 
formed  of  the  trunks  of  trees  firmly  secured  by  trans- 
verse beams  and  buttresses,  and  leaving  the  gate  for  the 
entrance  of  the  elephants.  A  second  enclosure,  open- 
ing from  the  first,  contains  water  (if  possible  a  rivulet)  ; 
and  this,  again,  communicates  with  a  third,  which  ter- 
minates in  a  funnel-shaped  passage,  too  narrow  to  admit 
of  an  elephant  turning,  and  within  this  the  captives 
being  dri^^en  in  fine,  are  secured  ivith  ropes  from  the 
outside,  and  led  away  in  custody  of  tame  ones  trained  for 
the  purpose. 

The  keddah  being  thus  prepared,  the  first  operation 
is  to  drive  the  elephants  towards  it,  for  which  purpose 
vast  bodies  of  men  fetch  a  compass  in  the  forest  around 
the  haunts  of  the  herds,  contracting  it  by  degrees,  till 
they  complete  the  enclosure  of  a  certain  area,  round 
Avhich  tliey  kindle  fires,  and  cut  footpaths  through  the 
jungle,  to  enable  the  watchers  to  communicate  and 
combine.  All  this  is  performed  in  cautious  silence 
and  by  slow  approaches,  to  avoid  alarming  the  herd. 


1  ValemyN;  Oud  en  Kicuw  Oost-Mlien,  cli.  xv.  p.  272. 


Chap.  IV.]  AN   ELEPHANT   CORRAL.  343 

A  fresh  circle  nearer  to  the  keddah  is  then  formed  in 
the  same  way,  and  into  tliis  the  elephants  are  admitted 
from  the  first  one,  the  hunters  following  from  behind, 
and  hghting  new  fires  around  the  newly  inclosed  space. 
Day  after  day  the  process  is  repeated ;  till  the  drove 
has  been  brought  sufficiently  close  to  make  the  final 
rush  ;  when  the  whole  party  close  in  from  all  sides,  and 
with  drums,  guns,  shouts,  and  flambeaux,  force  the 
terrified  animals  to  enter  the  fatal  enclosure,  when  the 
passage  is  barred  behind  them,  and  retreat  rendered 
impossible. 

Their  effbrts  to  escape  are  repressed  by  the  crowd, 
who  drive  them  back  from  the  stockade  with  spears 
and  flaming  torches  ;  and  at  last  compel  them  to  pass  on 
into  the  second  enclosure.  Here  they  are  detained  for 
a  short  time,  their  feverish  exhaustion  being  reheved 
by  free  access  to  water ;  and  at  last  being  tempted  by 
food  or  otherwise  induced  to  trust  themselves  in  the 
narrow  outlet ;  they  are  one  after  another  made  fast  by 
ropes,  passed  in  through  the  pahsade,  and  picketed  in 
the  adjoining  woods  to  enter  on  theu'  com'se  of  syste- 
matic training. 

These  arrangements  vary  in  different  districts  of 
Bengal ;  and  the  method  adopted  in  Ceylon  differs  in 
many  essential  particulars  from  them  all ;  the  Keddah, 
or,  as  it  is  there  called,  the  corral  or  korahl  ^  (from  the 
Portuguese  curral,  a  "  cattle-pen  ")  consists  of  but  one 
enclosure  instead  of  three.  A  stream  or  wateriiig-[)]ace 
is  not  uniformly  enclosed  within  it,  because,  although 
water  is  indispensable  after  the  long  thkst  and  ex- 
haustion of  the  captives,  it  has  been  found  that  a  pond 
or  rivulet  within  the  corral  itself  adds  to  the  difficulty 
of  mastering  them,  and  increases  their  reluctance  to 
leave  it ;  besides  which,  the  smaller  ones  are  often  smo- 
thered by  the  others  in  their  eagerness  to  crowd  into 


^  It  is  thus  spelled  by  Wolf,  in 
his  Life  and  Adventures,  p.  l44. 
Corral  is  at  the .  present  day  a  house- 


hold word  in  South  America,  and 
especially  in  La  Plata,  to  desij^mate 
an  enclosure  for  cattle, 

z  4 


344  THE    ELErHA^s'T.  [rARx  VIII. 

the  Avater.  The  funnel-shaped  outlet  is  usually  dis- 
pensed with,  as  the  animals  are  hable  to  bruise  and 
injure  themselves  against  the  narrow  stockade,  and 
should  one  of  them  die  in  it,  as  is  too  often  the  case  in 
the  midst  of  the  struggle,  the  difficulty  of  removing  so 
great  a  carcase  is  extreme.  The  noosing  and  secu- 
ring them,  therefore,  takes  place  in  Ceylon  witliin  the 
area  of  the  first  enclosm-e  into  which  they  enter,  and 
the  dexterity  and  daring  displayed  in  this  portion  of 
the  work  far  surpasses  that  of  merely  attaching  the  rope 
tlu^ough  the  openings  of  the  pahng,  as  in  an  Indian 
keddah. 

One  result  of  this  change  in  the  system  is  manifested 
in  the  increased  proportion  of  healthy  elephants  which 
are  eventually  secured  and  trained  out  of  the  number 
originally  enclosed.  The  reason  of  this  is  obvious : 
under  the  old  arrangements,  months  were  consumed  in 
the  preparatory  steps  of  surrounding  and  driving  in  the 
herds,  which  at  last  arrived  so  wasted  by  excitement  and 
exhausted  by  privation  that  numbers  died  "vvithin  the 
corral  itself,  and  still  more  died  during  the  process  of 
training.  But  in  later  years  the  labour  of  months  being 
reduced  to  weeks,  the  elephants  are  driven  in  fresh  and 
fuU  of  \TLgour,  so  that  comparatively  few  are  lost  either 
in  the  enclosure  or  the  stables.  A  conception  of  the 
whole  operation  from  commencement  to  end  will  be 
best  conveyed  by  describing  the  progress  of  an  elephant 
corral  as  I  witnessed  it  in  1847  in  the  great  forest  on 
the  banks  of  the  Alligator  Eiver,  the  Kimbul-oya,  in 
the  district  of  Kornegalle,  about  thirty  miles  north-west  of 
Kandy. 

Kornegalle,  or  Kiuunai-galle,  was  one  of  the  ancient 
capitals  of  the  island,  and  the  residence  of  its  kings 
from  A.D.  1319  to  1347.^  The  dwelhng-house  of  the 
principal  civil  officer  in  charge  of  the  district  now  oc- 
cupies the  site  of  the   former  palace,  and  the  ground 


*  See  ante,  Vol.  I.  Pt.  III.  cli.  xii.  p.  41o. 


CUAP.   IV.] 


AN  ELEPHANT   CORRAL. 


345 


is  strewn  with  fragments  of  columns  and  carved  stones, 
the  remnants  of  the  royal  buildings.  The  modern  town 
consists  of  the  bungalows  of  the  European  officials,  each 
surrounded  with  its  own  garden  ;  two  or  three  streets 
inhabited  by  Dutch  descendants  and  Moors ;  and  a 
native  bazaar,  with  the  ordinary  array  of  rice  and  curry 
stuffs  and  cooking  chattees  of  brass  or  burnt  clay. 

But  the  charm  of  the  village  is  the  unusual  beauty  of 
its  position.  It  rests  witliin  the  shade  of  an  enormous 
rock  of  gneiss  upwards  of  600  feet  in  height,  nearly 
denuded  of  verdure,  and  so  rounded  and  worn  by  time 
that  it  has  acquired  the  form  of  a  couchant  elephant, 
from  which  it  derives  its  name  of  Aetagalla,  the  Eock 
of  the  Tusker.^  But  Aetagalla  is  only  the  last  emi- 
nence in  a  range  of  similarly-formed  rocky  mountains, 
Avhich  here  terminate  abruptly ;  and,  from  the  fantastic 
shapes  into  which  theu^  gigantic  outhnes  have  been 
wrought  by  the  action  of  the  atmosphere,  are  called  by 
the  names  of  the  Tortoise  Eock,  the  Eel  Eock,  and  the 
Eock  of  the  Tusked  Elephant.  So  •  impressed  are  the 
Singhalese  by  the  aspect  of  these  stupendous  masses  that 
in  the  ancient  grants  their  lands  are  conveyed  in  perpe- 
tuity, or  '■''SO  long  as  the  sun  and  the  moon,  so  long  as 
Aetasjalla  and  Anda2;alla  shall  endure."^ 

Kornegalle  is  the  resort  of  Buddhists  from  the  re- 
motest parts  of  the  island,  who  come  to  visit  an  ancient 
temple  on  the  summit  of  tlie  great  rock,  to  which  access 
is  had  from  the  valley  below  by  means  of  steep  paths 
and  steps  hewn  out  of  the  soHd  stone.  Here  the  chief 
object   of  veneration  is  a  copy   of   the  sacred  footstep 


*  Another  enomious  mass  of  gneiss 
is  called  the  Kununinia-galle,  or  the 
Beetle-rock,  from  its  resemblance  in 
shape  to  the  back  of  that  insect,  and 
hence  is  said  to  have  been  derived 
the  name  of  the  town,  Kuruna-yallc 
or  Korne-galle, 

2  FoRUES  quotes  a  Tamil  convey- 
ance of  land  the  pm-chascr  of  -wliich 
is  to  "possess  and  enjoy  it  as  long  as 


the  sun  and  the  moon,  tlie  earth  and 
its  vegetables,  the  mountains  and  the 
lliver  Cauveiy  exist." — Orietitdl  Me- 
moirs, vol.  ii.  chap.  ii.  It  will  not  fail 
to  be  observed,  tluit  the  .«tanie  figure 
was  employed  in  Hebrew  literature  as 
a  type  of  duration — "  They  sliall  fear 
thee,  so  Imuj  as  the  sun  and  moon  en- 
dure ;  througliout  all  generations." 
I'salm  Ixxii.  5,  17. 


346  THE   ELEPHANT.  [Part  VIII. 

hollowed  in  the  granite,  similar  to  tliat  "which  confers 
sanctity  on  Adam's  Peak,  the  towering  apex  of  which, 
about  forty  miles  distant,  the  pilgrims  can  discern  from 
Aetagalla. 

At  times  the  heat  at  KornegaUe  is  extreme,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  perpetual  glow  diffused  from  these 
granite  cliffs.  The  warmth  they  acqim^e  duruig  the 
blaze  of  noon  becomes  ahnost  intolerable  towards 
evening,  and  the  sultiy  night  is  too  short  to  permit 
them  to  cool  between  the  settino;  and  the  rising;  of  the 
sun.  The  chstrict  is  also  hable  to  occasional  droughts 
when  the  watercourses  ftiil,  and  the  tanks  are  dried 
up  ;  one  of  these  occurred  about  the  period  of  my  visit, 
and  such  was  the  suffering  of  the  wild  animals  that 
numbers  of  alligators  and  bears  made  then-  way  into 
the  to^vn  to  drink  at  the  wells.  But  the  soil  is  prolific 
in  the  extreme  ;  rice,  cotton,  and  dry  grain  are  culti- 
vated largely  in  the  valley.  Every  cottage  is  sur- 
rounded by  gardens  of  coco-nuts,  arecas,  jak-fruit  and 
coffee ;  the  slopes,  which  they  till,  are  covered  with 
luxuriant  vegetation,  and,  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach 
on  every  side,  there  are  dense  forests  intersected  by 
streams,  in  the  shade  of  which  the  deer  and  the  elephant 
abound. 

In  1847  arrangements  were  made  for  one  of  the 
great  elephant  hunts  for  the  supply  of  the  Ci\'il 
Engineer  Department,  and  the  spot  fixed  on  by  Mr. 
Morris,  the  Government  officer  who  conducted  the  corral, 
was  on  the  banks  of  the  Kimbul  river,  about  fifteen 
miles  from  KornegaUe.  The  country  over  which  we  rode 
to  the  scene  of  the  capture  showed  traces  of  the  recent 
di'ought,  the  fields  lay  to  a  great  extent  untiUed  owing 
to  the  want  of  water,  and  the  tanks,  almost  reduced  to 
dryness,  were  covered  with  the  leaves  of  the  rose-coloured 
lotus. 

Our  cavalcade  was  as  oriental  as  the  scenery  through 
which  it  moved ;  the  Governor  and  the  officers  of  his 
staff  and  household  formed  a  long  cortege,  escorted  by 


CiiAP.  IV.]  AX    ELEPHANT   CORKAL.  347 

the  native  attendants,  horse-keepers,  and  foot-runners. 
The  ladies  were  borne  in  palankins,  and  the  younger 
individuals  of  the  party  carried  in  chairs  raised  on 
poles,  and  covered  with  cool  green  awnings  made  of 
the  fresh  leaves  of  the  tahpat  pahn. 

After  traversing  the  cultivated  lands,  the  path  led 
across  open  glades  of  park-hke  verdure  and  beauty,  and 
at  last  entered  the  great  forest  under  the  shade  of 
ancient  trees  wreathed  to  their  crowns  with  chmbinsj 
plants  and  festooned  by  natural  garlands  of  convolvulus 
and  orchids.  Here  silence  reigned,  disturbed  only  by  the 
murmuring  hum  of  glittering  insects,  or  the  shrill  clamour 
of  the  plum-headed  parroquet  and  the  flute-like  calls  of 
the  golden  oriole. 

We  crossed  the  broad  sandy  beds  of  two  rivers  over- 
arched by  tall  trees,  the  most  conspicuous  of  which  is 
the  Kombook^  from  the  calcined  bark  of  which  the 
natives  extract  a  species  of  hme  to  be  used  with  their 
betel.  And  from  the  branches  hung  suspended  over 
the  water  the  gigantic  pods  of  the  huge  puswel  bean  ^, 
the  sheath  of  which  measures  six  feet  long  by  five  or  six 
inches  broad. 

On  ascending  the  steep  bank  of  the  second  stream, 
we  found  ourselves  in  front  of  the  residences  which  had 
been  extemporised  for  our  party  in  the  hnmediate 
vicinity  of  the  corral.  These  cool  and  enjoyable  struc- 
tures were  formed  of  branches  and  thatched  with  pahn 
leaves  and  fragrant  lemon  grass  ;  and  in  adchtion  to  a 
dining-room  and  suites  of  bedi'ooms  fitted  with  tent 
furniture,  they  included  kitchens,  stables,  and  store- 
rooms, all  run  up  by  the  nati\-es  in  the  course  of  a  few 
days. 

In  former  times,  the  work  connected  with  the  elephant 
hunts  was  performed  by  the  "  forced  labour "  of  the 
natives,  as  part  of  that  feudal  service  which  under  the 
name  of  Eaja-kariya  was  extorted  from  the  Singlialese 


Pentaptera  paniculata.  »  Entada  inirscctha. 


348  THE    ELEPHANT.  [Part  VIII. 

during  the  ride  of  tlieir  native  sovereigns.  The  system 
was  continued  by  the  Portuguese  and  Dutch,  and  pre- 
vailed under  the  British  Government  till  its  abohtion 
by  the  Earl  of  Eipon  in  1832.  Under  it  fi'om  fifteen 
hundred  to  two  thousand  men  used  to  be  occupied, 
superintended  by  their  headmen,  in  constructing  the 
con'al,  collecting  the  elephants,  maintaining  the  cordon 
of  watch-fii^es  and  watcliers,  and  conducting  all  the 
laborious  operations  of  the  capture.  Since  the  abohtion 
of  Eaja-kariya,  hoAvever,  no  difficulty  has  been  found  in 
obtaining  the  voluntary  co-operation  of  the  natives  on 
these  exciting  occasions.  The  govermnent  defrays  the 
expense  of  that  portion  of  the  preparations  which  in- 
volves actual  cost,  —  for  the  skiUed  laboiu:  expended  in 
the  erection  of  the  corral  and  its  appurtenances,  and  the 
providing  of  spears,  ropes,  arms,  flutes,  drums,  gunpow- 
der, and  other  necessaries  for  the  occasion. 

The  period  of  the  year  selected  is  that  which  least 
interferes  with  the  cultivation  of  the  rice  lands  (in  the 
interval  between  seed  time  and  harvest),  and  the  people 
themselves,  in  addition  to  the  excitement  and  enjopnent 
of  the  sport,  liave  a  personal  interest  in  reducing  tlie 
number  of  elephants,  whicli  inflict  serious  injury  on 
their  gardens  and  growing  crops.  For  a  similar  reason 
the  priests  encourage  the  practice,  because  the  elephants 
destroy  the  sacred  Bo-tree,  of  the  leaves  of  which  they 
are  passionately  fond ;  besides  which  it  promotes  the 
facihty  of  obtaining  elephants  for  the  processions  of  the 
temples  :  and  the  Eatc-mahat-mayas  and  headmen  have 
a  pride  in  exhibiting  the  number  of  retainers  who  follow 
them  to  the  field,  and  the  performances  of  the  tame 
elepliants  which  they  lend  for  the  business  of  the  corral. 
Vast  numbers  of  the  peasantry  are  thus  voluntarily 
occupied  for  many  weeks  in  putting  up  the  stockades, 
cutting  patlis  through  the  jungle,  and  relieving  the  beaters 
who  are  engaged  in  surrounding  and  driving  in  tlie 
elephants. 

In  selecting  the  scene  for  tlie  hunt,  a  position  is  chosen 


Chap.  IY.]  AN   ELEPHANT   CORRAL.  349 

which  hes  on  some  old  and  frequented  route  of  the 
animals,  in  their  periodical  migrations  in  search  of 
forage  and  water ;  and  the  \'icinity  of  a  stream  is  indis- 
pensable, not  only  for  the  supply  of  the  elephants  during 
the  time  spent  in  inducing  them  to  approach  the  enclo- 
sure, but  to  enable  them  to  bathe  and  cool  themselves 
throughout  the  process  of  training  after  the  capture. 

In  constructing  the  corral  itself,  care  is  taken  to 
avoid  disturbino;  the  trees  or  the  brushwood  within  the 
included  space,  and  especially  on  the  side  by  which  the 
elephants  are  to  approach,  where  it  is  essential  to  con- 
ceal the  stockade  as  much  as  possible  by  the  density  of 
the  foliage.  The  trees  used  in  the  structure  are  from 
ten  to  twelve  inches  in  diameter ;  and  are  sunk  about 
three  feet  in  the  earth,  so  as  to  leave  a  length  of  from 
twelve  to  fifteen  feet  above  ground  ;  with  spaces  between 
each  stanchion  sufficiently  wide  to  permit  a  man  to  glide 
through.  The  uprights  are  made  fast  by  transverse 
beams,  to  which  they  are  lashed  securely  with  ratans  and 
flexible  chmbing  plants,  or  as  they  are  called  "jungle 
ropes,"  and  the  whole  is  steadied  by  means  of  forked 
supports,  which  grasp  the  tie  beams,  and  prevent  the 
work  from  being  driven  outward  by  the  rush  of  the  wild 
elephants. 


OROUND    PLAN    OP    A    CORRAL,    AND    METHOD   OF   FENCING    IT. 

The  space  thus  enclosed  on  the  occasion  I  am  now 
attempting   to   describe,  was  about  500  feet  in  length 


850  THE    ELEPIIAA^T.  [Part  VIIL 

by  half  that  width.  At  one  end  an  entrance  was  left 
open,  fitted  with  shding  bars,  so  prepared  as  to  be  capable 
of  being  instantly  shut ;  —  and  from  each  angle  of  the 
end  by  which  the  elephants  were  to  approach,  two  hnes 
of  the  same  strong  fencing  were  continued  on  either 
side,  and  cautiously  concealed  by  the  trees ;  so  that  if, 
instead  of  entering  by  the  open  passage,  the  herd  were 
to  swerve  to  right  or  left,  they  would  find  themselves 
suddenly  stopped  and  forced  to  retrace  then-  course  to  the 
gate. 

The  preparations  were  completed  by  placing  a  stage 
for  the  governor's  party  on  a  group  of  the  nearest  trees 
looking  down  into  the  enclosure,  so  that  a  \dew  could 
be  had  of  the  entire  proceeding,  fi^om  the  entrance  of 
the  herd,  to  the  leading  out  of  the  captive  elephants. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  observe  that  the  structure  here  de- 
scribed, ponderous  as  it  is,  would  be  entu'ely  ineffectual 
to  resist  the  shock,  if  assaulted  by  the  full  force  of  an  en- 
raged elephant ;  and  accidents  have  sometimes  happened 
by  the  breaking  through  of  the  herd ;  but  reliance  is 
placed  not  so  much  on  the  resistance  of  the  stockade  as 
on  the  timidity  of  the  captives  ;  and  their  unconscious- 
ness of  their  own  strength,  coupled  with  the  daring  of 
their  captors  and  their  devices  for  ensming  submission. 

The  corral  being  thus  prepared,  the  beaters  address 
themselves  to  drive  in  the  elephants.  For  this  purpose  it 
is  often  necessary  to  fetch  a  circuit  of  many  miles  in  order 
to  surround  a  sufficient  number,  and  the  caution  to  be 
observed  involves  patience  and  delay ;  as  it  is  essential 
to  avoid  alarming  the  elephants,  which  might  otherwise 
rush  in  the  wrong  direction.  Their  disposition  being 
essentially  peaceful,  and  their  only  impulse  to  browse 
in  solitude  and  security ;  they  withdraw  instinctively 
before  the  slightest  intrusion,  and  advantage  is  taken 
of  this  timidity  and  love  of  retirement  to  cause  only 
just  such  an  amount  of  disturbance  as  will  induce  them 
to  move  slowly  onwards  in  the  direction  which  it  is  de- 
sired they  should  take.     Several  herds  are  by  this  means 


CiiAP.  IV. J  AX   ELEPHAXT   CORRAL.  351 

concentrated  within  such  an  area  as  will  admit  of  their 
being  completely  encircled  by  the  watchers  ;  and  day 
after  day,  by  slow  degrees,  they  are  moved  gradually  on- 
wards to  the  immediate  confines  of  the  corral.  When 
their  suspicions  become  awakened  and  they  exhibit 
restlessness  and  alarm,  bolder  measures  are  resorted  to 
for  preventing  their  escape.  Fires  are  kept  burning  at 
ten  paces  apart,  night  and  day,  along  the  cu'cumference 
of  the  area  within  which  they  are  detained  ;  a  corps  of 
from  two  to  three  thousand  beaters  is  completed,  and 
pathways  are  carefully  cleared  through  the  jungle 
so  as  to  open  a  communication  along  the  entire  line. 
The  headmen  keep  up  a  constant  patrol,  to  see  that 
their  followers  are  alert  at  their  posts,  since  neglect 
at  any  one  spot  might  permit  the  escape  of  the  herd, 
and  undo  in  a  moment  the  \agilance  of  weeks.  By  this 
means  any  attempt  of  the  elephants  to  break  away  is 
immediately  checked,  and  on  any  point  threatened  a 
sufficient  force  can  be  instantly  assembled  to  drive  them 
back. 

At  last  the  elephants  are  forced  omvards  so  close  to 
the  enclosure,  that  the  investing  cordon  is  united  at 
either  end  with  the  wings  of  the  corral,  the  whole 
forming  a  circle  of  about  two  miles,  within  the  area  of 
which  the  herd  is  detained  to  await  the  signal  for  the 
final  drive. 

Two  months  had  been  spent  in  these  preparations, 
and  they  had  been  thus  far  completed,  on  the  day 
when  w^e  arrived  and  took  our  places  on  the  stage 
erected  for  us,  overlooking  the  entrance  to  the  corral. 
Close  beneath  us  a  group  of  tame  elephants,  sent  by 
the  temples  and  the  chiefs  to  assist  in  securing  the 
wild  ones,  were  picketed  in  the  shade,  and  lazily  fan- 
ning themselves  with  leaves.  Three  distinct  herds, 
whose  united  numbers  w^ere  variously  represented  at 
from  forty  to  fifty  elephants,  were  enclosed,  and  were 
at  that  moment  concealed  in  the  jimgie  within  a  short 
distance  of  the  stockade.     Not  a  sound  was  permitted 


352 


THE    ELEPHAXT. 


[rART  YIII. 


to  be  made,  each  person  spoke  to  his  neighbour  in 
wliispers,  and  such  was  the  silence  observed  by  the 
muhitude  of  the  watchers  at  their  posts,  that  occasionally 
we  could  hear  the  rusthno;  of  the  branches  as  some  of 
the  elephants  stripped  off  thek  leaves. 

Suddenly  the  signal  was  made,  and  the  stillness  of 
the  forest  was  broken  by  the  shouts  of  the  guard,  the 
rolhno;  of  the  di'ums  and  tom-toms,  and  the  discliaro;e 
of  muskets ;  and  beoiinninf;  at  the  most  distant  side  of 
the  area,  the  elephants  were  urged  forward  towards 
the  entrance  into  the  corral. 

The  watchers  along  the  hne  kept  silence  only  tiU  the 
herd  had  passed  them,  and  then  joining  the  cry  in  their 
rear  they  ch'ove  them  onward  with  redoubled  shouts 
and  noises.  The  tumult  increased  as  the  terrified  rout 
drew  near,  swelling  now  on  one  side  now  on  the  other, 
as  the  herd  in  their  panic  dashed  from  point  to  point  in 
their  endeavom^s  to  force  the  hne,  but  were  instantly 
driven  back  by  screams,  guns,  and  drums. 

At  length  the  breaking  of  the  branches  and  the 
crackhng  of  the  brushwood  announced  their  close  ap- 
proach, and  the  leader  bm'sting  from  the  jungle  rushed 
wildly  forward  to  within  twenty  yards  of  the  entrance 
followed  by  the  rest  of  the  herd.  Another  moment 
and  they  would  have  plunged  into  the  open  gate,  when 
suddenly  they  wheeled  round,  re-entered  the  jungle, 
and  in  spite  of  the  hunters  resumed  their  origmal 
position.  The  chief  headman  came  forward  and  ac- 
counted for  the  freak  by  saying  that  a  wild  pig\  an 
animal  wdiicli  the  elephants  are  said  to  dishke,  had 
started  out  of  the  cover  and  run  across  the  leader,  who 
would  otherwise  have  held  on  chrect  for  the  corral ;  and 
he  mtimated  that  as  the  herd  was  now  in  the  liiG;hest 


*  Fire,  the  sound  of  a  horn,  and 
the  gruntinfr  of  a  boar  are  the  three 
things  which  the  Greeks,  in  the 
middle  ages,  believed  the  elephant 
specially  to  dislike ; 


ITiip  Zi.  iTTOHrai  Kai  Kpibv  Kipaa<p6povj 
Kal  rihv  fioviwv  ri/v  fiotjv  ri]V  aOpoav. 

PmLE,  Expositio  de  Elephante,  1.  177. 


Chap.  IV.J  A^    ELEPHANT   CORRAL.  353 

state  of  excitement ;  and  it  was  at  all  times  much  more 
difficult  to  effect  a  successful  capture  by  daylight  than  by 
night  when  the  fires  and  flambeaux  act  with  double  effect, 
it  was  the  wish  of  the  hunters  to  defer  their  final  effort 
till  the  evening,  when  the  darkness  would  lend  a  power- 
ful aid  to  their  exertions. 

After  sunset  the  scene  exhibited  was  of  extraordinary 
interest ;  the  low  fires,  which  had  apparently  only  smoul- 
dered in  the  sunhght,  assumed  their  ruddy  glow  amidst 
the  dai'kness,  and  threw  their  tinge  over  the  groups  col- 
lected round  them ;  while  the  smoke  rose  in  eddies 
through  the  rich  fohage  of  the  trees.  The  crowds  of 
spectators  maintained  profound  silence,  and  not  a  sound 
was  perceptible  beyond  the  hum  of  an  insect.  On  a 
sudden  the  stillness  was  broken  by  the  roll  of  a  drum, 
followed  by  a  discharge  of  musketry.  This  was  the  signal 
for  the  renewed  assault,  and  the  hunters  entered  the 
circle  with  shouts  and  clamour ;  dry  leaves  and  sticks 
were  flung  upon  the  watch-fires  till  they  blazed  aloft,  and 
formed  a  line  of  flame  on  every  side,  except  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  corral,  which  was  studiously  kept  dark  ;  and 
thither  the  teriified  elephants  betook  themselves  followed 
by  the  yells  and  racket  of  their  pursuers. 

They  approached  at  a  rapid  pace,  tramphng  do^^m  the 
brushwood  and  crushing  the  dry  branches,  the  leader 
emerged  in  front  of  the  corral,  paused  for  an  instant, 
stared  wildly  round,  and  then  rushed  headlong  through 
the  open  gate  followed  by  the  rest  of  the  herd. 

As  if  by  magic  the  entire  circuit  of  the  corral,  which 
to  this  moment  had  been  kept  in  profound  darkness,  now 
blazed  with  a  thousand  hghts,  every  hunter  on  the  instant 
that  the  elephants  entered,  rushing  forward  to  the  stockade 
with  a  torch  kindled  at  the  nearest  watch-fire. 

The  elephants  first  dashed  to  the  very  extremity  of 
the  enclosure,  and  being  brought  up  by  the  powerful 
fence,  retreated  to  regain  the  gate,  but  found  it  closed. 
Their  terror  Avas  subhme  :  they  hurried  round  the  corral 
at  a  rapid  pace,  but  saw  it  now  girt  by  fire  on  every  side ; 

VOL.  n.  A  A 


;j54 


THE    ELEPHANT. 


[Part  VTII. 


they  attempted  to  force  the  stockade,  but  were  driven 
back  by  the  guards  with  spears  and  flambeaux ;  and  on 
Avhichever  side  they  approached  they  were  repulsed  with 
shouts  and  discliarges  of  musketry.  Collecting  into  one 
group,  they  would  pause  for  a  moment  in  apparent  be- 
wilderment, then  burst  off  in  another  direction  as  if  it  had 
suddenly  occurred  to  them  to  try  some  point  which  they 
had  before  overlooked ;  but  again  baflled,  they  slowly 
returned  to  their  forlorn  resting-place  in  the  centre  of 
the  corral. 

The  interest  of  this  strange  scene  was  not  confined  to 
the  spectators ;  it  extended  to  the  tame  elephants  which 
were  stationed  outside.  At  the  first  approach  of  the 
flying  herd  they  evinced  the  utmost  interest  in  the  scene. 
Two  in  particular  which  were  picketed  near  the  front 
were  intensely  excited,  and  continued  tossing  their  heads, 
pawing  the  ground,  and  starting  as  the  noise  drew  near. 
At  length  when  the  grand  rush  into  the  corral  took  place, 
one  of  them  fairly  burst  from  her  fastenings  and  started 
olF  towards  the  herd,  leveUing  a  tree  of  considerable  size 
whicli  obstructed  her  passage.^ 


'  The  otlier  elephant,  a  fine  tusker, 
which  belonged  to  Dehigam  Rate- 
Mahatmeya,  continued  in  extreme 
excitement  throughout  all  the  sub- 
sequent operations  of  the  capture, 
and  at  last,  after  attempting  to 
break  his  way  into  the  corral,  shak- 
ing the  bars  with  his  forehead  and 
tusks,  he  went  otF  in  a  state  of  frenzy 
into  the  jungle.     The  Aratchy  went 


in  search  of  him  a  few  days  after 
with  a  female  decoy,  and  waiting  his 
approach,  he  sprang  fairly  on  the 
infm'iated  beast,  with  a  pair  of  sharp 
hooks  in  his  hands,  whicli  he  pressed 
into  tender  parts  in  front  of  tlie 
shoulder,  and  held  him  firmly  till 
chains  were  passed  over  his  legs,  aiul 
he  permitted  himself  to  be  led  ciuictly 
away. 


355 


CHAP.  V. 

THE    CAPTIVES. 

Foe  upwards  of  an  liour  tlie  clepliants  continued  to  tra- 
verse the  corral  and  assail  the  pahsade  with  unabated 
energy,  trumpeting  and  screaming  with  rage  after  each 
disappointment.  Again  and  again  they  attempted  to  force 
the  gate,  as  if  aware,  by  experience,  that  it  ought  to 
afford  an  exit  as  it  liad  ah'eady  served  as  an  entrance, 
but  they  slirunk  back  stunned  and  bewildered.  By  de- 
grees their  efforts  became  less  and  less  frequent.  Single 
ones  rushed  about  here  and  there  returning  sullenly  to 
their  companions,  and  at  last  the  whole  lierd,  stupified 
and  exhausted,  formed  themselves  into  a  single  group, 
drawn  up  in  a  circle  with  the  young  in  tlie  centre,  and 
stood  motionless  under  the  dark  shade  of  the  trees  in  tlie 
middle  of  the  corral. 

Preparations  were  now  made  to  keep  watch  diu'ing 
the  night,  the  guard  was  reinforced  around  the  enclosure, 
and  wood  heaped  on  the  fires  to  keep  up  a  high  flame 
tiU  sunrise. 

Three  herds  had  been  originally  entrapped  by  tlie 
beaters  outside  ;  but  witli  chai'acteristic  instinct  they  had 
kept  clear  of  each  other,  talving  up  different  stations  in 
tlie  space  invested  by  the  watchers.  Wlien  the  final  drive 
took  place  one  herd  only  had  entered,  the  other  two 
keeping  behind  ;  and  as  the  gate  had  to  be  instantly  closed 
on  the  first  division,  the  last  were  unavoidably  shut  out 
and  remained  still  concealed  in  the  jungle.  To  prevent 
their  escape,  the  watches  were  ordered  to  their  former 

A    A     2 


356 


THE    ELEPHANT. 


[Part  VIII. 


station?;,  their  fires  were  repleiiisliecl ;  and  all  precautions 
being  thus  taken,  we  returned  to  pass  the  night  in  our 
bungalows  by  the  river. 

As  oiu"  sleeping-place  was  not  above  two  hundi^ed  yards 
from  the  corral,  we  were  frequently  awakened  during  the 
early  part  of  the  night  by  the  din  of  the  multitude  who 
were  bivouacking  in  the  forest,  by  the  merriment  round 
the  watch-fires,  and  now  and  then  by  the  shouts  with 
which  the  guards  repulsed  some  sudden  charge  of  the 
elephants  in  attempts  to  force  the  stockade.  But  at  day- 
break, on  going  down  to  the  corral,  we  found  all  still  and 
vio'ilant.  The  fires  were  allowed  to  die  out  as  the  sun 
rose,  and  the  watchers  who  had  been  reheved  were  sleep- 
ing near  the  great  fence,  but  the  enclosure  on  all  sides 
was  surrounded  by  crowds  of  men  and  boys  "vvith  spears 
or  white  peeled  wands  about  ten  feet  long,  wliilst  the 
elephants  Avithin  were  huddled  together  in  a  compact 
group,  no  longer  turbulent  and  restless,  but  exhausted 
and  calm,  and  utterly  subdued  by  apprehension  and 
amazement,  at  all  that  had  been  passing  around  them. 

Nine  only  had  been  as  yet  entrapped  ^,  of  wliich  three 
were  very  large,  and  two  httle  creatures  but  a  few  months 
old.  One  of  the  larg;e  ones  was  a  "  rog-ue,"  and  beino; 
unassociated  with  the  rest  of  the  herd,  although  per- 
mitted to  stand  near  them,  he  was  not  admitted  to  their 
circle. 

Outside,  preparations  were  making  to  conduct  the 
tame  elephants  into  the  corral,  in  order  to  secure  the 
captives.  The  nooses  were  in  readiness ;  and  far 
apart  from  all  stood  a  party  of  the  out-caste  Eodiyas, 
the  only  tribe  who  will  touch  a  dead  carcase,  to  whom. 


'  In  some  of  the  elephant  hunts 
conducted  in  the  southern  provinces 
of  Ceylon  by  the  earlier  British 
Governors,  as  many  as  170  and  200 
elephants  have  been  secured  in  a 
single  eoiTal,  of  which  a  portion  only 
were  taken  out  for  the  pu1)lic  sem-ice, 
and  the  rest  shot,  the  aim  being  to  rid 


the  neighbourhood  of  them,  and  thus 
protect  the  crops  fi-om  destruction.  In 
the  present  instance,  the  object  being 
to  secure  only  as  many  as  were  re- 
qiured  for  the  Government  stud,  it 
was  not  sought  to  entrap  more  than 
could  conveniently  be  attended  to 
and  trained  after  capture. 


Chap.  V.]  THE    CAPTIVES.  357 

therefore,  the  duty  is  assigned  of  preparing  the  fine  flexible 
rope  for  noosing,  which  is  made  from  the  fresh  hides  of 
the  deer  and  the  buffalo. 

At  lenoth,  the  bars  which  secured  the  entrance  to  the 
corral  were  cautiously  withdrawn,  and  two  trained  ele- 
phants passed  stealthily  in,  each  ridden  by  his  mahout, 
(or  ponnekella,  as  he  is  termed  m  Ceylon,)  and  one  attend- 
ant ;  and,  carrying  a  strong  collar,  formed  by  coils  of  rope 
made  from  coco-nut  fibre,  fi'om  which  hung  on  either 
side  cords  of  elk's  liide,  prepared  with  a  ready  noose. 
Along  with  them,  and  concealed  behind  them,  the 
headman  of  the  "  cooroowe"  or  noosers,  crept  hi,  eager 
to  secm^e  the  honour  of  taking  the  first  elephant,  a  dis- 
tinction which  this  class  jealously  contests  with  the 
mahouts  of  the  chiefs  and  the  temples.  He  was  a  wiry 
httle  man,  nearly  seventy  years  old,  who  had  served  in  the 
same  capacity  under  the  Kandyan  king,  and  wore  two 
silver  bangles,  which  had  been  conferred  on  liim  in  testi- 
mony of  his  prowess.  He  was  accompanied  by  his  son, 
named  Kanghanie,  equally  renowned  for  his  coiu'age  and 
dexterity. 

On  tliis  occasion  ten  tame  elephants  were  in  attend- 
ance ;  two  were  the  property  of  an  adjoining  temple 
(one  of  which  had  been  caught  only  the  year  before, 
yet  it  was  now  ready  to  assist  in  captimng  others), 
four  belonged  to  the  neighbouring  chiefs,  and  the  rest, 
including  the  two  which  now  entered  the  corral,  were 
part  of  the  Government  stud.  Of  the  latter,  one  was 
of  prodigious  age,  having  been  in  the  service  of  the 
Dutch  and  Enghsli  Governments  in  succession  for  upwards 
of  a  centirry.^  The  other,  called  by  her  keeper  "  Siri- 
beddi,"  was  about  fifty  years  old,  and  distinguished 
for  her  gentleness  and  docihty.  The  latter  was  a  most 
accomphshed  decoy,   and  evinced  the  utmost  relish  for 


'  This  elephant  is  since  dead ;  she  1  now  in  the  Museum  of  the  Natural 
grew  infirm  and  diseased,  and  died  at     Historj'  Society  at  Belfast. 
Colomho  in  184S.     Her  skeleton  is  j 

A   A    .'? 


358  THE    ELEPHANT.  [Part  VIIF. 

the  sport.  Having  entered  the  corral  noiselessly,  she 
moved  8lo^YIy  along  with  a  sly  composure  and  an 
assumed  air  of  easy  indifference ;  sauntering  leisurely  in 
the  direction  of  the  captives,  and  halting  now  and  then  to 
pluck  a  bunch  of  grass  or  a  few  leaves  as  she  passed. 
As  she  approached  the  herd,  they  put  themselves  in 
motion  to  meet  her,  and  the  leader,  lia\'ing  advanced  in 
fi'ont  and  passed  his  trunk  gently  over  her  head, 
tiu^ned  and  paced  slowly  back  to  his  dejected  compa- 
nions. Skibeddi  followed  with  the  same  listless  step,  and 
drew  herself  up  close  behind  him,  thus  affording  the 
nooser  an  opportunity  to  stoop  under  her  and  shp  the 
noose  over  the  hind  foot  of  the  wild  one.  The  latter 
instantly  perceived  his  danger,  shook  off  the  rope,  and 
tiu'ued  to  attack  the  man.  He  woidd  have  suffered  for  his 
temerity,  had  not  Suibeddi  protected  him  by  raising  her 
trunk  and  driving  the  assailant  into  the  midst  of  the 
herd,  when  the  old  man,  being  shghtly  wounded,  was 
helped  out  of  the  corral,  and  his  son,  Eanghanie,  took  liis 
place. 

The  herd  again  collected  in  a  cu^cle,  with  their 
heads  towards  the  centre.  The  largest  male  was 
singled  out,  and  two  tame  ones  pushed  boldly  in, 
one  on  either  side  of  him,  till  the  tlrree  stood  nearly 
abreast.  He  made  no  resistance,  but  betraj^ed  his  un- 
easiness by  shifting  restlessly  from  foot  to  foot.  Eang- 
hanie now  crept  up,  and,  hokhng  the  rope  open  with 
both  hands  (its  other  extremity  being  made  fast  to 
Siribeddi's  collar,  and  watching  the  instant  when  the 
wild  elephant  hfted  its  hind-foot,  he  succeeded  in  pass- 
ing the  noose  over  its  leg,  di^ew  it  close,  and  fled  to  the 
rear.  The  two  tame  elephants  instantly  fell  back,  Siri- 
beddi  stretched  the  rope  to  its  full  length,  and,  whilst 
she  dragged  out  the  captive,  her  companion  placed 
himself  between  her  and  the  herd  to  prevent  any  inter- 
ference. 

In  order  to  secure  him  to  a  tree  he  liad  to  be  drawn 
backwards  some  twenty  or  tlikty  yards,  making  furious 


Chap.  V.] 


THE   CAPTIVES. 


359 


resistance,  bellowing  in  terror,  plunging  on  all  sides,  and 
crushing  the  smaller  timber,  which  bent  hke  reeds  beneath 
his  clumsy  struggles.  Siribeddi  drew  him  steadily  after 
her,  and  wound  the  rope  round  the  proper  tree,  holding  it 
all  the  time  at  its  full  tension,  and  stepping  cautiously 
across  it  when,  in  order  to  give  it  a  second  turn,  it  was 
necessary  to  pass  between  the  tree  and  the  elepliaiit. 
With  a  coil  round  the  stem,  liowever,  it  was  beyond  her 
strength  to  haul  the  prisoner  close  up,  which  was,  never- 
theless, necessary  in   order  to  make  liim  perfectly  fast ; 


but  the  second  tame  one,  percei\'ing  the  difficulty,  re- 
turned from  the  herd,  confronted  the  struggling  prisoner, 
pushed  him  shoulder  to  shoulder,  and  head  to  head,  and 
forced  him  backwards,  whilst  at  every  step  Siribedch 
liauled  in  the  slackened  rope  till  she  brouglit  liim  fairly 
up  to  the  foot  of  the  tree,  where  he  was  made  fast  by  tlie 
cooroowe  people.  A  second  noose  was  then  passed  over 
the  other  hind-leg,  and  secured  like  tlie  first,  botli  k\i>-s 
being  afterwards  hobbled  together  by  ro])es  madc^  from  tlie 

A     v     4 


360 


THE    ELEPHANT. 


[Part  VIII. 


fibre  of  the  kittool  or  jaggery  palm,  which,  being  nioi-e 
flexible  than  that  of  the  coco-nut,  occasions  less  formidable 
ulcerations. 

The  two  decoys  then  ranged  themselves,  as  before, 
abreast  of  the  prisoner  on  either  side,  thus  enabhng  Eang- 
hanie  to  stoop  under  them  and  noose  the  two  fore-feet  as 
he  had  akeady  done  the  hind  ;  and  these  ropes  being  made 
fast  to  a  tree  in  front,  the  capture  was  complete,  and  the 
tame  elephants  and  keepers  withdrew  to  repeat  the  opera- 
tion on  another  of  the  herd.  As  lono:  as  the  tame  ones 
stood  beside  him  the  poor  animal  remained  comparatively 
cahn  and  almost  passive  under  his  sufferings,  but  the  mo- 
ment they  moved  off,  and  he  was  left  utterly  alone,  he 
made  the  most  surprising  efforts  to  set  himself  free  and  re- 


join his  companions.  lie  felt  the  ropes  with  his  trunk 
and  tried  to  untie  the  numerous  knots  ;  he  di'ew  back- 
wards to  hberate  his  fore-legs,  then  leaned  forward  to  extri- 
cate the  hind  ones,  till  every  branch  of  the  tall  tree  vibrated 
Avitli  his  struggles.  He  screamed  in  his  anguish  with  his 
proboscis  raised  high  in  the  air,  then  falling  on  his  side  he 
laid  his  head  to  tlie  ground,  first  his  cheek  and  then  his 
brow,  and  pressed  down  his  doubled-in  trunk  as  tliough 
lie  would  force  it  into  tlie  earth  ;  tlien  suddenlv  risina;  he 


Chap.  V.]  THE    CAPTIVES.  Sfil 

balanced  himself  on  his  forehead  and  his  fore-Ws,  holdinii; 
his  hind-feet  faudy  off  the  ground.  Tliis  scene  of  distress 
continued  some  hom^s,  with  occasional  pauses  of  ap- 
parent stupor,  after  wliich  the  struggle  was  from  time 
to  time  renewed  abruptly,  and  as  if  by  some  sudden  im- 
pulse, but  at  last  tlie  vain  strife  subsided,  and  tlie  poor 
animal  stood  perfectly  motionless,  the  image  of  exliaustion 
and  despair. 

MeauAvhile  Eanghanie  presented  himself  in  front  of  the 
governor's  stage  to  claim  the  accustomed  largesse  for  tying 
the  first  elephant.  He  was  rewarded  by  a  shower  of 
rupees,  and  retired  to  resume  his  perilous  duties  in  the 
corral. 

The  rest  of  the  lierd  were  now  in  a  state  of  pitiable 
dejection,  and  pressed  closely  together  as  if  under  a  sense 
of  common  misfortune.  For  the  most  part  they  stood  at 
rest  in  a  compact  body,  fretful  and  uneasy.  At  intervals 
one  more  impatient  than  the  rest  would  move  out  a  few 
steps  to  reconnoitre  ;  the  others  would  folloAV  at  first 
slowly,  then  at  a  quicker  pace,  and  at  last  the  whole  herd 
would  rush  off  furiously  to  renew  the  often-baffled  attempt 
to  storm  the  stockade. 

There  was  a  strange  combination  of  the  subhme  and 
the  ridiculous  in  these  abortive  onsets  ;  the  appearance 
of  prodigious  power  in  their  ponderous  hmbs,  coupled 
with  the  almost  ludicrous  shullie  of  their  clumsy  gait, 
and  the  fury  of  their  apparently  resistless  charge,  con- 
verted in  an  instant  into  timid  retreat.  They  ruslied 
madly  doAvn  the  enclosure,  their  backs  arched,  then-  tails 
extended,  their  ears  spread,  and  their  trunks  raised  higli 
above  their  heads,  trumpeting  and  uttering  shrill  screams, 
and  when  one  step  further  would  have  dashed  the  oppos- 
ing fence  into  fragments,  they  stopped  short  on  a  few 
white  rods  being  pointed  at  them  through  the  ]^ahng  ; 
and,  on  catching  the  derisive  shouts  of  the  crowd,  they 
turned  in  utter  discomfitm*e,  and  after  an  objectless  cii'cle 
or  two  through  the  corral,  they  paced  slowly  back  to 
tluMi-  melancholy  halting  place  in  the  shade. 


362 


THE    ELEPHANT. 


[Part  VIH. 


The  crowd,  cliiefly  comprised  of  young  men  and  boys, 
exhibited  astonisliing  nerve  and  composure  at  such  mo- 
ments, rushing  up  to  the  point  towards  Avhich  the  ele- 
phants charged,  pointing  their  wands  ^  at  their  trunks,  and 
keeping  up  the  continual  cry  of  ichoop  !  luhoop !  which 
invariably  turned  them  to  flight. 

The  second  victim  singled  out  from  the  herd  was 
secm:ed  in  the  same  manner  as  the  first.  It  was  a 
female.  The  tame  ones  forced  themselves  in  on  either 
side  as  before,  cutting  her  off  from  her  companions,  whilst 
Eanghanie  stooped  under  them  and  attached  the  fatal 
noose,  and  Siribeddi  dragged  her  out  amidst  unavaihng 
struggles,  when  she  was  made  fast  by  each  leg  to  tlie 
nearest  group  of  strong  trees.  Wlien  the  noose  Avas 
placed  upon  her  fore-foot,  she  seized  it  with  her  trunk, 
and  succeeded  in  carrying  it  to  her  mouth,  where  she 
would  speedily  liave  severed  it  had  not  a  tame  elephant 
interfered,  and  placing  his  foot  on  the  rope  pressed  it 
downwards  out  of  her  jaws.  The  individuals  who  acted 
as  leaders  in  the  successive  charges  on  the  pahsades  were 
always  those  selected  by  the  noosers,  and  the  operation 
of  tying  each,  from  the  first  approaches  of  the  decoys, 
till  tlie  captive  was  left  alone  by  the  ti'ee,  occupied 
on  an  average  somewhat  less  than  three  quarters  of  an 
hour. 

It  is  strange  that  in  these  encounters  the  A\dld  elephants 
made  no  attempt  to  attack  or  dislodge  the  mahouts  or 
the  cooroowes,  who  rode  on  the  tame  ones.  They  moved 
in  the  veiy  midst  of  the  herd  ;  any  one  of  whom  could  in 
a  moment  have  pulled  the  riders  from  their  seats,  but  no 
effort  was  made  to  molest  them.^ 


'  The  fact  of  the  elephant  ex- 
hibiting timidit}',  on  havinpr  a 
long  rod  pointed  towards  him,  was 
known  to  the  Konians ;  and  PLrxY, 
quoting  from  the  annals  of  I'iso, 
relates,  that  in  order  to  inculcate 
contempt  for  want  of  courage  in  the 
elephant,  they  were  introduced  into 
tlie    circus    during    tlic    triuuiph    ol' 


Metellus,  after  the  conquest  of  the 
Carthaginians  in  Sicily,  and  driven 
rouiKl  the  area  hi/  workmen  Jiahlin;/ 
bliinfed  upearit, — "  Ab  operariis  ha^t.is 
prrepilatas  liabentibus,  per  circum 
totam  actos." — Lib.  viii.  c.  G. 

^  "  In  a  corral,  to  be  on  a  tame 
elephant,  seems  to  insure  perfect  im- 
Huuiitv  from  (lie  attacks  of  the  wild 


Chap.  V.] 


THE    CAPTIVES. 


363 


As  one  after  another  their  leaders  were  entrapped  and 
forced  away  from  them,  the  remainder  of  tlie  group 
evinced  increased  emotion  and  excitement ;  but  wliatever 
may  have  been  their  sympatliy  for  tiieir  lost  com[)anions, 
their  alarm  seemed  to  prevent  them  at  first  from  fol- 
lowing them  to  the  trees  to  which  they  had  been  tied. 
In  passing  them  afterwards  they  sometimes  stopped, 
mutuaUy  entwined  their  trunks,  lapped  them  round  their 
hmbs  and  neck,  and  exhibited  the  most  touching  distress 
at  their  detention,  but  made  no  attempt  to  disturb  the 
cords  that  bound  them. 


The  variety  of  disposition  in  tlie  herd  as   evidenced 
by  the  difference  of  demeanour  was  very  remarkable ; 


ones.  I  once  saw  the  old  chief  Mol- 
legodde  ride  in  amongst  a  henl  of 
■wild  (.'li^pliaiits,  on  a  sniidl  elephant ; 
so  sniiill  tliat  tlie  jVdigar's  head  was 
on    a   level    with    the    back    of    the 


wild  animals  :  I  felt  very  nervous, 
but  he  rode  riyht  in  among:  them, 
and  received  not  the  sliglitest  mo- 
lestation." —  Letter  ^rom  Major 
Skinnkk. 


364  THE    ELEPHANT.  [Part  VIII. 

some  submitted  with  comparatively  little  resistance ; 
whilst  others  in  their  fury  dashed  themselves  on  the 
ground  Avith  a  force  sufficient  to  destroy  any  weaker 
animal.  They  vented  theii^  rage  upon  every  tree  and 
plant  witliin  reach ;  if  small  enough  to  be  torn  down, 
they  levelled  them  with  their  trunks,  and  stripped  them 
of  then-  leaves  and  branches,  which  they  tossed  wildly 
over  their  heads  on  all  sides.  Some  in  their  struggles 
made  no  sound,  whilst  others  bellowed  and  trumpeted 
fiu-iously,  then  uttered  short  convulsive  screams,  and  at 
last,  exhausted  and  hopeless,  gave  vent  to  their  anguish 
in  low  and  piteous  moanings.  Some,  after  a  few  \iolent 
efforts  of  this  kind,  lay  motionless  on  the  ground,  with  no 
other  indication  of  suffering  than  the  tears  which  suf- 
fused their  eyes  and  flowed  incessantly.  Others  in  all 
the  vigour  of  then"  rage  exhibited  the  most  surprising 
contortions  ;  and  to  us  who  had  been  accustomed  to 
associate  with  the  umvieldy  bidk  of  the  elephant  the  idea 
that  he  must  of  necessity  be  stiff  and  inflexible,  the  atti- 
tudes into  which  they  forced  themselves  were  ahnost 
incredible.  I  saw  one  lie  with  the  cheek  pressed  to  the 
earth  and  the  fore-legs  stretched  in  front,  whilst  the  body 
was  tmsted  round  till  the  hind-legs  extended  at  the 
opposite  side. 

It  was  astonishing  that  their  trunks  was  not  wounded 
by  the  violence  with  which  they  flung  them  on  aU  sides. 
One  twisted  his  proboscis  into  such  fantastic  shapes,  that 
it  resembled  the  writhings  of  a  gigantic  worm  ;  he  coiled 
it  and  uncoiled  it  with  restless  rapichty,  curhng  it  up  hke 
a  watch-spring,  and  suddenly  unfolding  it  again  to  its  full 
length.  Another,  which  lay  otherwise  motionless  in  all 
the  stupor  of  hopeless  anguish,  slowly  beat  the  ground 
with  the  extremity  of  his  trunk,  as  a  man  in  despair  beats 
his  knee  with  his  open  palm. 

They  displayed  an  amount  of  sensitiveness  and  de- 
hcacy  of  touch  in  the  foot,  wliich  was  very  remarkable  in 
a  hmb  of  such  clumsy  dimensions  and  protected  by  so 
thick  a  covering.     The  noosers  could  always  force  them 


Chap.  V.]  THE    CAPTIVES.  365 

to  lift  it  from  the  ground  by  the  gentlest  touch  of  a  leaf 
or  twig,  apparently  applied  so  as  to  tickle ;  but  the  ini- 
])Osition  of  the  rope  was  instantaneously  perceived,  and  if 
it  could  not  be  reached  by  the  trunk  the  other  foot  w^as 
applied  to  feel  its  position,  and  if  possible  remove  it  before 
the  noose  could  be  drawn  tight. 

One  practice  was  incessant  with  almost  the  entire 
herd  :  in  the  interval  of  every  struggle,  they  beat  up 
the  ground  with  their  fore-feet,  and  taking  up  the  dry 
earth  in  a  coil  of  their  trunks,  they  llimg  it  dexterously 
over  every  part  of  thek  body.  Even  wdien  lying  down, 
the  sand  wdthin  reach  was  thus  collected  and  scattered 
over  their  hmbs  :  then  inserting  the  extremity  of  their 
trunks  in  theu^  mouths,  they  withda^ew  a  quantity  of 
water,  which  they  discharged  over  theii'  backs,  repeating 
the  operation  again  and  again,  till  the  dust  was  tho- 
roughly saturated.  I  was  astonished  at  the  quantity 
of  water  thus  apphed,  which  was  sufficient  wdien  the 
elephant,  as  was  generally  the  case,  had  worked  the 
spot  where  he  lay  into  a  hollow,  to  convert  its  surftice 
into  a  thin  coating  of  mud.  Seeing  that  the  herd 
had  been  now  twenty-four  hours  ^vithout  access  to  water 
of  any  kind,  surrounded  by  watch-fires,  and  exliausted 
by  strugghng  and  terror,  the  supply  of  moisture  he  was 
capable  of  containing  in  the  receptacle  attached  to  his 
stomach  must  have  been  very  considerable. 

The  conduct  of  the  tame  elephants  during  all  these 
proceedings  was  truly  wonderful.  They  chsplayed  the 
most  perfect  conception  of  every  movement,  both  the 
object  to  be  attained,  and  the  means  of  accomphshing 
it.  They  evinced  the  utmost  enjopnent  in  what  was 
going  on.  There  was  no  ill-humour,  no  mahgnity  in 
the  spirit  displayed,  in  what  was  otherwise  a  heartless 
proceeding,  but  they  set  about  it  in  a  way  that 
showed  a  thorough  rehsh  for  it,  as  an  agreeable  pas- 
time. Their  caution  was  as  remarkable  as  their  sa<ra- 
city ;  there  was  no  hurrying,  no  confusion,  they  never 
ran  foul   of  the  ropes,  were  never  in  the  wav  of  those 


366  THE    ELEPHANT.  [Part  VIII. 

noosed ;  and  amidst  the  most  violent  struggles,  when 
the  tame  ones  had  frequently  to  step  across  the  cap- 
tives, they  m  no .  instance  trampled  on  them,  or  oc- 
casioned the  shghtest  accident  or  annoyance.  So  far 
from  this,  they  saw  intuitively  a  difficidty  or  a  danger, 
and  addressed  themselves  voluntarily  to  remove  it.  Li 
tying  up  one  of  the  larger  elephants  he  contrived,  before 
he  coidd  be  hauled  close  up  to  the  tree,  to  walk  once 
or  twice  round  it,  carrying  the  rope  with  liim  ;  the  decoy, 
perceiving  the  advantage  he  had  thus  gained  over  the 
nooser,  walked  up  of  her  own  accord,  and  pushed  him 
backwards  "wdtli  her  head,  till  she  made  liim  unwind 
himself  again ;  when  the  rope  Avas  hauled  tight  and 
made  fast.  More  than  once,  when  a  A\ald  one  Avas 
extending  his  trunk,  and  would  have  intercepted  the 
rope  about  to  be  placed  over  his  leg,  Suibeddi,  by  a 
sudden  motion  of  her  oAvn  trunk,  pushed  his  aside, 
and  prevented  him ;  and  on  one  occasion,  when  suc- 
cessive efforts  had  failed  to  put  the  noose  over  the  leg 
of  an  elephant  Avhich  was  already  seciu-ed  by  one  foot, 
but  Avhich  Avisely  put  the  other  to  the  ground  as  often 
as  it  was  attempted  to  pass  the  noose  under  it,  I  saw 
the  decoy  watch  her  opportunity,  and  Avlien  his  foot  was 
again  raised,  suddenly  push  in  her  own  leg  beneath 
it,  and  hold  it  up  till  the  noose  Avas  attached  and  draAvn 
tight. 

One  could  almost  fancy  there  Avas  a  display  of  dry 
humour  in  the  manner  in  Avhich  the  decoys  thus  played 
Avith  the  fears  of  the  wild  herd,  and  made  hght  of  their 
efforts  at  resistance,  Wlien  reluctant  they  shoved 
them  forward,  AA'hen  A-iolent  they  di'OA-e  them  back ; 
A\dien  the  Avild  ones  thrcAV  themselves  doAvn,  the  tame 
ones  butted  them  A\atli  head  and  shoidders,  and  forced 
them  up  again.  And  Avhen  it  Avas  necessary  to  keep 
them  doAvn,  they  knelt  upon  them,  and  prevented  them 
fi'om  rising,  tiU  the  ropes  Avere  secured. 

At  cA'ery  moment  of  leisure  they  fanned  themseh^es 
Avith    a    bunch    of  leaves,    and    the    gracefid   ease  Avith 


Chap.  V.]  THE    CAPTIVES.  367 

which  an  elephant  uses  liis  trunk  on  such  occasions  is 
very  striking.  It  is  doubtless  owing  to  the  combina- 
tion of  a  circular  with  a  horizontal  movement  in  that 
flexible  hmb ;  but  it  is  impossible  to  see  an  elephant 
fanning  himself  without  being  struck  by  the  singular 
elegance  of  motion  which  it  displays.  They  too  in- 
dulged themselves  in  the  luxury  of  dusting  themselves 
with  sand,  by  flinging  it  from  their  trunks ;  but  it  was 
a  curious  instance  of  then'  dehcate  sagacity,  that  so 
long  as  the  mahout  was  on  their  necks,  they  confined 
themselves  to  flinging  it  along  theii'  sides  and  stomach, 
as  if  aware,  that  to  tliTow  it  over  their  heads  and  back 
would  cause  annoyance  to  their  riders. 

One  of  the  decoys  which  rendered  good  service,  and 
was  ob\'iously  held  in  special  awe  by  the  wild  herd,  was 
a  tusker  belonging  to  Dehigame  Eate-mahatmeya.  It 
was  not  that  he  used  his  tusks  for  purposes  of  offence, 
but  he  was  enabled  to  insinuate  himself  between  two 
elephants  by  wedging  them  m  where  he  could  not  force 
his  head ;  besides  which,  they  assisted  him  to  raise  up 
the  fallen  and  refractory  with  greater  ease.  In  some 
instances  where  the  intervention  of  the  other  deco3^s 
failed  to  reduce  a  wild  one  to  order,  the  mere  presence 
and  approach  of  the  tusker  seemed  to  inspire  fear,  and 
insure  submission,  without  more  active  intervention. 

I  do  not  know  whether  it  was  the  sm^prising  quahties 
exhibited  by  the  tame  elephants  that  cast  the  courage 
and  dexterity  of  the  men  into  the  shade,  but  even  when 
supported  by  the  presence,  the  sagacity,  and  co-operation 
of  these  wonderful  creatures,  the  part  sustained  by  the 
noosers  can  bear  no  comparison  with  the  address  and 
daring  displayed  by  the  iiicador  and  matador  in  a 
Spanish  bull-fight.  They  certainly  possessed  great 
quickness  of  eye  in  watching  the  shghtest  movement 
of  an  elephant,  and  great  expertness  in  flinging  the 
noose  over  its  foot  and  attaching  it  firmly  before  the 
animal  coidd  tear  it  off"  with  its  trunk ;  but  in  all  this 
they  had  the  cover  of  the  decoys  to  conceal  tliem  ;  and 


368  THE    ELEPHANT.  [Part  VIII. 

their  protection  behind  whicli  to  retreat.  Apart  from 
the  services  which  from  their  prodigious  strength  the 
tame  elephants  are  alone  capable  of  rendering  in  drag- 
ging out  and  securing  the  captives,  it  is  perfectly 
obvious  that  without  their  co-operation  the  utmost 
prowess  and  dexterity  of  the  hunters  would  not  avail 
them,  to  enter  the  corral  unsupported,  or  to  ensnare 
and  lead  out  a  single  captive. 

Of  the  two  tiny  elephants  which  were  entrapped, 
one  was  about  ten  months  old,  the  other  somewhat 
more.  The  smallest  had  a  httle  bolt  head  covered 
with  woolly  brown  hair,  and  was  the  most  amusing 
and  interesting  miniatui'e  imaginable.  Both  kept  con- 
stantly with  the  herd,  trotting  after  them  in  every 
charge ;  when  the  others  stood  at  rest  they  ran  in  and 
out  between  the  legs  of  the  older  ones ;  not  their  own 
mothers  alone,  but  every  female  in  the  group,  caressing 
them  in  turn. 

The  dam  of  the  youngest  was  the  second  elephant 
singled  out  by  the  noosers,  and  as  she  was  dragged 
along  by  the  decoys,  the  httle  creature  kept  by  her  side 
tiU  she  was  drawn  close  to  the  fatal  tree.  The  men  at 
first  were  rather  amused  than  otherwise  by  its  anger ; 
but  they  found  that  it  wx)uld  not  permit  them  to  place 
the  second  noose  upon  its  mother ;  it  ran  between  her 
and  them,  it  tried  to  seize  the  rope,  it  pushed  them 
and  struck  them  with  its  httle  trunk,  till  they  were 
forced  to  drive  it  back  to  the  herd.  It  retreated  slowly, 
shouting  all  the  way,  and  pausing  at  every  step  to  look 
back.  It  then  attached  itself  to  the  largest  female 
remaining  in  the  herd,  and  placed  itself  across  her  fore- 
legs, whilst  she  hung  down  her  trunk  over  its  side  and 
soothed  and  caressed  it.  Here  it  contiiuied  moanini? 
and  lamenting,  till  the  noosers  had  left  oil  securing  the 
mother,  when  it  instantly  returned  to  her  side ;  but  as 
it  became  troublesome  again,  attacldng  every  one  who 
passed,  it  was  at  last  secured  by  a  rope  to  an  adjoining 
tree,  to  which  the  other  young  one  was  also  tied  up. 
The  second  little  one,  equally  with  its  playmate,  exhi- 


Chap.  V.]  THE    CAPTIVES.  360 

bited  great  aflection  for  its  dam ;  it  went  willingly 
with  its  captor  as  far  as  tlie  tree  to  which  she  was 
fastened,  when  it  stretched  out  its  trunk  and  tried  to  rejoin 
her  ;  but  finding  itself  forced  along,  it  caught  at  every 
twig  and  branch  it  passed,  and  screamed  with  grief  and 
disappointment. 

These  two  httle  creatures  were  the  most  vociferous 
of  the  whole  herd,  their  shouts  were  incessant,  they 
struggled  to  attack  every  one  within  reach  ;  and  as 
their  bodies  were  more  lithe  and  pliant  than  those  of 
greater  growth,  their  contortions  were  quite  wonderful. 
The  most  amusing  thing  was,  that  in  the  midst  of  all 
their  agony  and  affliction,  the  httle  fellows  seized  on 
every  article  of  food  that  was  thrown  to  them,  and  ate 
and  roared  simultaneously. 

Amongst  the  last  of  the  elephants  noosed  was  the 
rogue.  Though  far  more  savage  than  the  others,  he 
joined  in  none  of  their  charges  and  assaults  on  the 
fences,  as  they  uniformly  drove  him  off  and  would  not 
permit  him  to  enter  their  circle.  Wlien  dragged  past 
another  of  his  companions  in  misfortune,  who  was  lying 
exhausted  on  the  ground,  he  flew  upon  him  and  at- 
tempted to  fasten  his  teeth  in  his  head  ;  this  was  the 
only  instance  of  viciousness  which  occurred  during  the 
progress  of  the  corral.  When  tied  up  and  overpowered, 
he  was  at  first  noisy  and  violent,  but  soon  lay  down 
peacefully,  a  sign,  according  to  the  hunters,  that  his 
death  was  at  hand.  In  this  instance  their  prognostica- 
tion was  correct.  He  continued  for  about  twelve  hours 
to  cover  himself  with  dust  hke  the  others  and  to  moisten 
it  with  water  from  his  trunk,  but  at  length  he  lay  ex- 
hausted, and  died  so  calmly,  that  having  been  moving 
but  a  few  moments  before,  his  death  Avas  only  perceived 
by  the  myriads  of  black  flies  by  which  his  body  was 
almost  instantly  covered,  although  not  one  was  \isible 
a  moment  before.^     The  Eodiyas  were  called  in  to  loose 

'  The    sui-prisiug   faculty  of  viil-  I  a  subject  of  much  speculation,  as  to 
tures  in  discoveiing  carrion,  has  been  |  whotlicr   it  be   dependent  on   their 
VOL.    II.  B  B 


370 


THE   ELEPHANT. 


[Part  VIII. 


tlie  ropes  from  tlie  tree,  and  two  tame  elephants  being 
harnessed  to  the  dead  body,  it  was  dragged  to  a  distance 
without  the  corraL 

When  every  wild  elephant  had  been  noosed  and  tied 
up,  the  scene  presented  was  one  truly  oriental.  From 
one  to  two  thousand  natives,  many  of  them  in  gaudy 
dresses  and  armed  with  spears,  crowded  about  the  enclo- 
sures. Then-  families  had  coUected  to  see  the  spectacle  ; 
women,  whose  cliildren  clung  hke  httle  bronzed  Cupids 
by  their  side ;  and  girls,  many  of  them  in  the  graceful 
costume  of  that  part  of  the  coinitry,  a  scarf,  which, 
after  having  been  brought  round  the  waist,  is  thrown  over 
the  left  shoulder,  leaving  the  right  arm  and  side  free  and 
uncovered. 

At  the   foot   of  each  tree  was  its  captive  elephant ; 


power  of  sight  or  of  scent.  It  is  not, 
however,  more  mysterious  than  the 
imening  certainty  and  rapidity  ■wdth 
whicli  some  of  the  minor  animals, 
and  more  especially  insects,  in  warm 
climates  congregate  around  the  ofl'al 
on  which  they  feed.  Circumstanced 
as  they  are,  they  must  be  guided 
towards  their  object  mainly  if  not 
exclusively,  by  the  sense  of  smell  ; 
but  that  which  excites  astonishment 
is  the  small  degree  of  odoiu"  which 
seems  to  suffice  for  the  pui-pose  ;  the 
subtlety  and  rapidity  with  which  it 
tivaverses  and  impregnates  the  air ;  and 
the  keen  and  quick  perception  with 
which  it  is  taken  up  by  the  organs  of 
those  creatm-es.  The  instance  of  the 
scavenger  beetles  has  been  already 
alluded  to ;  the  promptitude  with 
which  they  discern  the  existence  of 
matter  suited  to  their  purposes,  and 
the  speed  with  which  they  hurry  to  it 
from  all  directions  ;  often  from  dis- 
tances as  extraordinary,  })roportion- 
ably,  as  those  traAcrsed  by  the  eye  of 
the  vulture.  In  the  instance  of  the 
dying  elephant  referred  to  above, 
life  was  barely  extinct  when  the  flies, 
of  which  not  one  was  visible  but  a 
moment  before,  arrived  in  clouds 
and  Idackened  the  body  by  their 
nuiltitude  ;  scarcely  an  instant  was 


allowed  to  elapse  for  the  commence- 
ment of  decomposition  ;  no  odour  of 
putrefaction  could  be  discerned  by 
us  who  stood  close  by ;  yet  some 
peculiai-  smell  of  mortality,  simul- 
taneously ^"ith  parting  breath,  must 
have  summoned  them  to  the  feast. 
Ants  exhibit  an  instinct  equally  sm*- 
prising.  I  have  sometimes  covered 
up  a  particle  of  refined  sugar  with 
paper  on  the  centre  of  a  polished 
table  ;  and  coimted  the  number  of 
minutes  which  woidd  elapse  before  it 
was  fastened  on  by  the  small  black 
ants  of  Ceylon,  and  a  line  formed  to 
lower  it  safely  to  tlie  floor.  Here 
was  a  substance  whicli,  to  our  appre- 
hension at  least,  is  altogether  ino- 
dorous, and  yet  the  quick  sense  of 
smell  must  have  been  the  only 
conductor  of  the  ants.  It  has  been 
observed  of  those  fishes  which  travel 
overland  on  the  evaporation  of  the 
ponds  in  which  they  live,  that  they 
invariably  march  in  the  direction  of 
the  nearest  water,  and  even  when 
captured,  and  placed  on  the  floor  of 
a  room,  their  efforts  to  escape  are 
always  made  towards  the  same  point. 
Is  the  sense  of  smell  sufficient  to 
account  for  this  display  of  instinct  in 
them  ?  or  is  it  aideil  by  special  organs 
in  the  case  of  the  others  ? 


Cii.vr.  v.]  THE    CAPTIVES.  371 

some  still  struggling  and  writhing  in  feverish  excite- 
ment, wliilst  others,  in  exhaustion  and  despair,  lay 
motionless,  except  that  from  time  to  time  they  heaped 
fresh  dust  upon  their  heads.  The  mellow  notes  of  a 
Kandyan  flute,  which  was  played  at  a  httle  distance, 
had  a  striking  effect  upon  one  or  more  of  them ;  they 
turned  their  heads  in  the  dfrection  from  which  the 
music  came,  expanded  their  broad  ears,  and  were  evi- 
dently soothed  with  the  plaintive  sound.  The  two 
young  ones  alone  still  roared  for  freedom ;  they  stamped 
their  feet,  and  blew  clouds  of  dust  over  thefr  shoulders, 
brandishing  their  httle  trunks  aloft,  and  attacking  every 
one  who  came  within  their  reach. 

At  first  the  older  ones,  when  secured,  spurned  every 
offer  of  food,  trampled  it  under  foot,  and  turned 
liaughtily  away.  A  few,  however,  as  they  became  more 
composed,  could  not  resist  the  temptation  of  the  juicy 
stems  of  the  plantain,  but  rolhng  them  under  foot,  till 
they  detached  the  layers,  they  raised  them  in  their 
trunks,  and  commenced  chewing  them  hstlessly. 

On  the  whole,  whilst  the  sagacity,  the  composure,  and 
docihty  of  the  decoys  were  such  as  to  excite  lively 
astonishment,  it  was  not  possible  to  withhold  the  highest 
admiration  from  the  calm  and  dioiiified  demeanour  of 
the  captives.  Their  entire  bearing  was  at  variance  with 
the  representations  made  by  some  of  the  "  sportsmen  " 
who  harass  them,  that  they  are  treacherous,  savage, 
and  revengeful ;  when  tormented  by  the  guns  of  their 
persecutors,  they,  no  doubt,  display  their  powers  and 
sagacity  in  efforts  to  retaliate  or  escape ;  but  here  their 
every  movement  was  indicative  of  innocence  and  timidity. 
After  a  struggle,  in  which  they  evinced  no  disposition  to 
violence  or  revenge,  they  submitted  with  the  calmness  of 
despair.  Their  attitudes  were  pitiable,  their  grief  was 
most  touching,  and  their  low  moaning  went  to  the  heart. 
It  would  not  have  been  tolerable  had  they  either  been 
captured  with  unnecessaiy  pain  or  reserved  for  ill  treat- 
ment afterwards. 

B  n   2 


372  THE   ELEPHANT.  [Part  VIII. 

It  was  now  about  two  hours  after  noon,  and  the  first 
elephants  that  had  entered  tlie  corral  having  been 
disposed  of,  preparations  were  made  to  reopen  the  gate, 
and  drive  in  the  other  two  herds,  over  which  the 
watchers  were  still  keeping  guard.  Tlie  area  of  the 
enclosure  was  cleared ;  silence  was  again  imposed  on  the 
crowds  who  surrounded  the  corral.  The  bars  which 
secured  the  entrance  were  withdrawn,  and  every  pre- 
caution repeated  as  before ;  but  as  tlie  space  inside  was 
now  somewhat  trodden  down,  especially  near  the  en- 
trance, by  the  frequent  charges  of  the  last  herd,  and  it 
was  to  be  apprehended  that  the  others  might  be  earher 
alarmed  and  retrace  their  steps,  before  the  barricades 
could  be  replaced,  two  tame  ones  were  stationed  inside 
to  protect  the  men  to  whom  that  duty  was  assigned. 

All  prehminaries  being  at  length  completed,  the 
signal  was  given ;  the  beaters  on  the  side  most  distant 
fi'om  the  corral  closed  in  with  tom-toms  and  discor- 
dant noises ;  a  hedge-fire  of  musketry  was  kept  up  in 
the  rear  of  the  terrified  elef)hants ;  thousands  of  voices 
urged  them  forward ;  we  heard  the  jungle  crashing  as 
they  came  on,  and  at  last  they  advanced  througli  an 
opening  amongst  the  trees,  bearing  down  all  before 
them  like  a  cliarge  of  locomotives.  They  were  led 
by  a  huge  female,  nearly  nine  feet  high,  after  whom 
dashed  one  ]mlf  precipitately  through  the  narrow  en- 
trance, but  the  rest  turning  suddenly  towards  the  left, 
succeeded  in  forcing  the  cordon  of  guards  and  made 
good  their  escape  to  the  forest. 

No  sooner  had  the  others  passed  tlie  gate,  than  tlie 
two  tame  elephants  stepped  forward  from  either  side, 
and  before  the  herd  could  return  from  the  further  end 
of  the  enclosure,  the  bars  were  drawn,  the  entrance 
closed,  and  the  men  in  charge  glided  outside  the 
stockade. 

The  elephants  which  had  previously  been  made  pri- 
soners within  exhibited  intense  excitement  as  the  fresh 
dm  arose  around  them  ;  they  started  to  their  feet,  and 


Chap.  V.]  THE    CAPTIVES,  878 

stretclied  their  trunks  in  tlie  direction  whence  they 
winded  the  scent  of  the  flying  herd ;  and  as  the  latter 
rushed  headlong  past,  they  renewed  their  struggles  to  get 
free  and  follow. 

It  is  not  possible  to  imagine  anything  more  exciting 
than  the  spectacle  which  the  wild  ones  presented  career- 
ing round  the  corral,  uttering  piercing  screams,  their 
heads  erect  and  trunks  aloft,  the  very  emblems  of  rage 
and  perplexity,  of  power  and  helplessness. 

Along  with  those  which  entered  at  the  second  drive 
was  one  that  evidently  belonged  to  another  herd,  and  had 
been  separated  from  them  in  the  melee  when  the  latter 
effected  then'  escape,  and,  as  usual,  his  new  companions  in 
misfortune  drove  him  off  indignantly  as  often  as  he  at- 
tempted to  approach  them. 

The  demeanour  of  those  taken  in  the  second  drive  dif- 
fered materially  from  that  of  the  preceding  captives,  who, 
having  entered  the  corral  in  darkness,  and  fmding  them- 
selves girt  with  fire  and  smoke,  and  beset  by  hideous 
sounds  and  sights  on  every  side,  were  more  speedily 
reduced  by  fear  to  stupor  and  submission  —  whereas 
the  second  herd  not  only  passed  into  the  enclosure  by 
dayhght,  but  its  area  being  trodden  down  in  many 
places,  they  could  discover  the  fences  more  clearlj",  and 
were  consequently  more  alarmed  and  enraged  at  their 
detention.  They  were  thus  as  restless  as  the  others  had 
been  comparatively  calm,  and  so  much  more  vigorous  in 
their  assaults  that,  on  one  occasion  in  particular,  their 
courageous  leader,  undaunted  by  the  multitude  of  white 
wands  thrust  towards  her,  was  only  dii\eii  back  from 
the  stockade  by  a  hunter  hurhng  a  blazing  flambeau 
at  her  head.  Her  attitude  as  she  stood  repulsed,  but 
still  irresolute,  was  a  study  for  a  painter.  Her  eye 
dilated,  her  ears  expanded,  her  back  arched  hke  a 
tiger,  and  her  fore-foot  in  air,  whilst  she  uttered  those 
hideous  screams  which  are  imperfectly  described  by  the 
term  "  trumpeting.'''' 

Although  repeatedly  passing  by  the  unfortunate's  from 

B   u     3 


374  THE   ELEPHAKT.  [Part  VIII. 

the  former  drove,  the  new  herd  seemed  to  take  no 
friendly  notice  of  them  ;  they  hahed  inquuingly  for  a 
minute,  and  then  resumed  then-  career  round  the  corral, 
and  once  or  twice  in  theu*  headlong  flight  they  rushed 
madly  over  the  bodies  of  the  prostrate  captives  as  they 
lay  in  their  misery  on  the  ground. 

It  was  evening  before  the  new  captives  grew  wearied 
with  furious  and  repeated  charges,  and  stood  still  in  the 
centre  of  the  corral  coUected  into  one  terrified  and 
motionless  group.  The  fires  were  then  rehghted,  the 
guard  redoubled  by  the  addition  of  the  Avatchers,  who 
were  now  reheved  from  duty  m  the  forest,  and  the 
spectators  retu'ed  for  the  night. 

The  business  of  the  third  day  began  by  noosing  and 
tying  up  the  new  captives,  and  the  first  sought  out 
was  their  magnificent  leader.  Siribeclch,  and  the  tame 
tusker  having  forced  themselves  on  either  side  of  her, 
a  boy  in  the  service  of  the  Eate-Mahat-meya  succeeded 
in  attaching  the  rope  to  her  hind  foot.  Siribeddi 
moved  off,  but  feehng  her  strength  insufiicient  to  di'ag 
the  reluctant  prize,  she  went  down  on  her  fore-knees, 
so  as  to  add  the  full  weight  of  her  body  to  the  pull. 
The  tusker,  seeing  her  difficulty,  placed  himself  in  front 
of  the  prisoner,  and  forced  her  backwards,  step  by 
step,  till  his  companion  brought  her  fafrly  up  to  the 
tree,  and  wound  tlie  rope  round  the  stem.  Though 
overpowered  by  fear,  she  showed  the  fullest  sense  of 
the  nature  of  the  danger  she  had  to  apprehend.  She 
kept  her  head  turned  towards  the  noosers,  and  tried 
to  step  in  advance  of  the  decoys,  and  in  spite  of 
all  their  efforts,  she  tore  off  the  first  noose  from  her 
fore-leg,  and  placing  it  under  her  foot,  snapped  it  into 
fathom  lengths.  When  finally  seciu'cd,  her  writhings 
were  extraordinary.  She  doubled  in  her  head  under 
her  chest,  till  she  lay  as  round  as  a  hedge-liog,  and 
rising  again,  stood  on  her  fore-feet,  and  hfting  her  hind- 
feet  off  the  groinid,  she  wrung  them  from  side  to  side,  till 
the  great  tree  abow  her  quivered  in  every  branch. 


Cii.vr.  v.] 


THE    CAPTIVES. 


375 


Before  proceeding  to  catch  tlie  others,  we  requested 
tliat  the  smaller  trees  and  jungle,  which  partially  ob- 
structed our  view,  might  be  broken  away,  being  no 
longer  essential  to  screen  the  entrance  to  the  corral :  five 
of  the  tame  elephants  were  brought  up  for  the  pui-pose. 
They  felt  the  strength  of  each  tree  with  their  trunks, 
then  swajang  it  backwards  and  forwards,  by  pushing  it 
with  their  foreheads,  they  watched  the  opportunity 
when  it  was  in  full  motion  to  raise  their  fore-feet  against 
the  stem,  and  bear  it  down  to  the  ground.  Then  tearing 
off  the  festoons  of  chmbing  plants,  and  tramphng  down 
the  smaller  branches  and  brushwood,  they  pitched  them 
with  their  tusks,  and  piled  them  into  heaps  along  the  side 
of  the  fence. 

Amongst  the  last  that  was  secured  was  the  sohtary 
indi\'idual  belonging  to  the  fugitive  herd.  When  they 
attempted  to  drag  him  backwards  from  the  tree  near 
which  he  was  noosed,  he  laid  hold  of  it  with  his  trunk 
and   lay  down   on   his   side   immoveable.     The   temple 


tusker  and  another  were  ordered   up   to   assist,  and   it 
required  the  combined  efforts  of  the  three  elephants  to 


n  It    4 


376  THE   ELEPHANT.  [Part  Vnt 

force  him  along.  Wlieii  dragged  to  tlie  place  at  which 
he  was  to  be  tied  up,  he  coiitiuiied  the  contest  ^\iih 
desperation,  and  to  prevent  the  second  noose  being  placed 
on  his  foot,  he  sat  down  on  his  haunches,  almost  in  the 
attitude  of  the  "Florentine  Boar,"  keeping  his  hind- 
feet  beneath  him,  and  defending  his  fore-feet  with  liis 
trunk,  with  which  he  flung  back  the  rope  as  often  as  it 
was  attempted  to  attach  it.  When  oveipowered  and 
made  fast,  his  grief  was  most  affecting  ;  his  \'iolence  sunk 
to  utter  prostration,  and  he  lay  on  the  ground,  uttering 
choking  cries,  with  tears  trickhng  down  liis  cheeks. 

The  final  operation  Avas  that  of  slackening  the  ropes 
and  marching  each  captive  down  to  the  river  between 
two  tame  ones.  This  was  effected  very  simply.  A 
decoy,  with  a  strong  coUar  round  his  neck,  stood  on 
either  side  of  the  wild  one,  on  which  a  similar  collar 
was  formed,  by  successive  coils  of  coco-nut  rope ;  and 
then,  by  connecting  the  three  collars  together,  the  pri- 
soner was  effectually  made  safe  between  his  two  guards. 
During  this  operation,  it  was  ciuious  to  see  how  the 
tame  elephant,  from  time  to  time,  used  its  trunk  to 
sliield  the  arm  of  its  rider,  and  ward  off  the  trunk  of 
the  prisoner,  who  resisted  the  placing  the  rope  round 
his  own  neck.  This  being  done,  the  nooses  were  removed 
from  his  feet,  and  he  was  marched  off  to  the  river,  in 
wliich  he  was  allowed  to  bathe ;  a  pri\alege  of  wliich  all 
eagerly  availed  themselves.  Each  was  then  made  fast  to 
a  tree  in  the  forest,  and  keepers  being  assigned  to  him, 
with  a  retinue  of  leaf-cutters,  he  was  plentifidly  supphed 
with  his  favourite  food,  and  left  to  the  care  and  tuition  of 
liis  new  masters. 

Eetm-ning  from  a  spectacle  such  as  I  have  attempted 
to  describe,  one  cannot  help  feehng  how  immeasurably  it 
exceeds  in  interest  those  royal  battues  where  timid  deer 
are  driven  in  crowds  to  unresisting  slaughter ;  or  those 
vaunted  "wild  sports"  the  amusement  of  which  appears 
to  be  in  proportion  to  the  effusion  of  blood.  Here  the 
only  display  of  cruelty  was  the  imposition  of  restraint ; 
and  though  considerable  mortality  often  occurs  amonirst 


Chap.  V.]  THE   CAPTIVES.  377 

the  animals  caught,  the  infliction  of  pain,  so  far  from 
being  an  incident  of  the  operation,  was  most  cautiously 
avoided  from  its  tendency  to  enrage,  the  poUcy  of  the 
captor  being  to  concihate  and  soothe.  The  whole  scene 
exhibits  the  most  marvellous  example  of  the  voluntaiy 
alhance  of  sagacity  and  instinct  in  active  co-operation 
with  human  inteUigence  and  courage  ;  and  nothing  in 
nature,  not  even  the  chase  of  the  whale,  can  afford  so 
vivid  an  illustration  of  the  sovereignty  of  man  over  brute 
creation  even  when  confronted  with  force  in  its  most  stu- 
pendous embodiment. 

Of  the  two  young  elephants  which  were  taken  in  the 
corral,  the  least  was  sent  down  to  my  house  at  Colombo, 
Avhere  he  became  a  general  favourite  with  the  servants. 
He  attached  himself  especially  to  the  coachman,  who  had 
a  httle  shed  erected  for  him  near  his  own  quarters  at 
the  stables.  But  his  favourite  resort  was  the  Idtchen, 
where  he  received  his  daily  allowance  of  milk  and 
plantains  and  picked  up  several  other  dehcacies  besides. 
He  was  innocent  and  playful  in  the  extreme,  and  when 
walking  in  the  grounds  would  trot  up  to  me  and  twine 
his  httle  trunk  round  my  arm  and  coax  me  to  take  him 
to  the  fruit  trees.  In  the  evening,  the  grass-cutters  now 
and  then  indulged  him  by  permitting  him  to  carry  home 
a  load  of  fodder  for  the  horses,  on  which  occasions  he 
assumed  an  air  of  gravity  that  was  highly  amusmg, 
showing  that  he  was  deeply  impressed  "wdth  the  import- 
ance of  the  service  intrusted  to  him.  Being  sometimes 
permitted  to  enter  the  dining-room,  and  helped  to  fruit 
at  dessert,  he  at  last  learned  his  way  to  the  side-board  ; 
and  on  more  than  one  occasion  having  stolen  in  in  the 
absence  of  the  servants,  he  made  a  clear  sweep  of  the 
wine-glasses  and  china  in  his  endeavoiu*s  to  reach  a 
basket  of  oranges.  For  these  and  similar  pranks  Ave  were 
at  last  forced  to  put  him  away.  He  was  sent  to  the 
Government  stud,  where  he  was  affectionately  received 
and  adopted  by  Siribeddi,  and  he  now  takes  his  tui-n  of 
public  duty  in  the  department  of  the  Commissioner  of 
lloads. 


378 


THE    ELEPHANT. 


rp.vRT  yiii. 


CHAP.  VI. 


CONDUCT    IX    CAPTIVITY. 


The  idea  prevailed  in  ancient  times,  and  obtains  even  at 
tlie  present  day,  that  the  Indian  elephant  snrpasses  that 
of  Africa  in  sagacity  and  tractabihty,  and  consequently  in 
capacity  for  training,  so  as  to  render  its  services  available 
to  man.  There  does  not  appear  to  me  to  be  sufficient 
ground  for  this  conclusion. 

It  originated,  in  aU  probabihty,  in  the  first  impression 
created  by  the  accounts  of  the  elephant  brought  back 
by  the  Greeks  after  the  Indian  expedition  of  Alexander, 
and  above  aU,  by  the  descriptions  of  Aristotle,  whose 
knowledge  of  the  animal  was  derived  exclusively  fi'om 
the  East.  A  long  interval  elapsed  before  the  elephant 
of  Africa,  and  its  capabihties,  became  known  in  Em^ope. 
The  first  elephants  brought  to  Greece  by  Antipater,  were 
from  India,  as  were  also  those  introduced  by  Pyrrhus 
into  Italy.  Taught  by  this  example,  the  Carthaginians 
undertook  to  employ  Afiican  elephants  in  war.  Jugmtha 
led  them  against  Metellus,  and  Juba  against  Caesar  ;  but 
from  inexperienced  and  deficient  training,  they  proved 
less  effective  than  the  elephants  of  India  \  and  the  liis- 


^  AuMANDi,  Hist.  MiHt.  cles  Ele- 
2)hants,  liv.  i.  ch.  i.  p.  2.  It  is 
an  extraordinan'  fact,  noticed  by 
Abmandi,  that  the  elephants  figured 
on  the  coins  of  Alexander,  and  the 
Seleucidae  invariably  exhibit  the 
characteristics  of  the  Indian  type, 
whilst  those  on  Ilonian  medals  can 
at  once  be  pronounced  African,  from 
the  peculiarities  of  the  convex  fore- 


head and  expansive  ears.  —  lliid.  liv. 
i.  c.  i.  p.  3. 


Chaf.  yi.] 


CONDUCT   IN  CAPTIVITY. 


379 


torians  of  these  times  ascribed  to  inferiority  of  race,  that 
which  was  but  the  result  of  insufficient  education. 

It  must,  however,  be  remembered  that  the  elephants 
which,  at  a  later  period,  astonished  the  Eomans  by  their 
sagacity,  and  whose  performances  in  the  amphitheatre 
have  been  described  by  JEhan  and  Phny,  were  brought 
from  Africa,  and  acquired  their  accomplishments  from 
Eiu-opean  instructors  ^ ;  a  sufficient  proof  that  under  equally 
favourable  auspices  they  are  capable  of  developing  similar 
docihty  and  powers  with  those  of  India. 

But  it  is  one  of  the  facts  from  wliich  the  inferiority 
of  the  Negro  race  has  been  inferred,  that  they  alone, 
of  all  the  nations  amongst  whom  the  elephant  is  found, 
have  never  manifested  ability  to  domesticate  it,  and  even 
as  regards  the  more  highly  developed  races  who  in- 
habited the  vaUey  of  the  Nile,  it  is  observable  that  the 
elephant  is  nowhere  to  be  found  amongst  the  animals 
figured  on  the  monuments  of  ancient  Eg}q:)t,  whilst  they 
represent  the  cameleopard,  the  lion,  and  even  the  hippo- 
potamus. And  although  in  later  times  the  knowledge 
of  the  art  of  training  appears  to  have  existed  under  the 
Ptolemies,  and  on  the  southern  shore  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean ;  it  admits  of  no  doubt  that  it  was  communicated 
by  the  more  accomphshed  natives  of  India  who  had 
settled  there.^ 

Another  favourite  doctrine  of  the  earher  visitors  to 
the  East  seems  to  me  to  be  equally  fallacious  ;  Pyrard, 
Berxier,  Phillipe,  Tiievexot,  and  other  travellers  in 
the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centmies,  proclaimed  the 


*  tElian,  lib.  ii.  ch.  ii. 

*  See  Schlegel's  Essay  on  the 
Elephant  and  the  Sphjiix,  Classical 
Journal,  No.  Ix.  Although  the 
trained  elephant  nowhere  appe.ars 
upon  the  monuments  of  the  Egj-p- 
tians,  the  animal  wa.s  not  unknown 
to  them,  and  ivory  find  elephants  are 
figured  on  the  walls  of  Thebes  and 
Karnae  amongst  the  spoils  of  Thotli- 
mes  III.,    iiud  the    tribute   paid   to 


Eameses  I.  The  Island  of  Ele- 
phantine, in  the  Nile,  near  .iVssouan 
(Syene)  is  styled  in  hierogl^iihic-al 
wi-iting  "  The  Land  of  the  Elephant ;" 
but  as  it  is  a  mere  rock,  it  probably 
owes  its  designation  to  its  form.  See 
Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson's  Anc'ont 
E()}iptians,  vol.  i.  pi.  iv. ;  vol.  v.  p.  170. 
The  elephant  as  iigiired  in  the  sculp- 
tures of  Nineveh  is  uui\ersally  as 
wild,  not  domesticated. 


380 


THE   ELEPHANT. 


[Part  VIII. 


superiority  of  tlie  elephant  of  Ceylon,  in  size,  strength, 
and  sagacity,  above  those  of  all  other  parts  of  India  ^ ; 
and  Taverxier  in  particular  is  supposed  to  have  stated 
that  if  a  Ceylon  elephant  be  introduced  amongst  those 
bred  in  any  other  place,  by  an  instinct  of  nature  they 
do  him  homage  by  laying  their  trunks  to  the  ground, 
and  raising  them  reverentially.  This  passage  has  been  so 
repeatedly  quoted  in  Avorks  on  Ceylon  that  it  has  passed 
into  an  aphorism,  and  is  always  adduced  as  a  testimony  to 
the  surpassing  intelhgence  of  the  elephants  of  that  island  ; 
althousfh  a  reference  to  the  orierinal  shows  that  Tavernier's 
observations  are  not  only  fanciful  in  themselves,  but  are 
restricted  to  the  supposed  excellence  of  the  Ceylon  animal 
in  war'^;  but  the  behef  is  pretty  general  that  in  other  de- 
partments he  is  equally  pre-eminent.  I  have  had  no  op- 
portunity of  testing  by  personal  observation  the  justice  of 
this  assumption  ;  but  from  all  that  I  have  heard  of  the 
elephants  of  continental  India,  and  seen  of  those  of  Cey- 
lon, I  have  reason  to  conclude  that  the  difference,  if  not 


^  This  is  merely  a  reiteration  of 
tlie  statement  of  ^Elian,  who  as- 
cribes to  the  elephants  of  Taprobane 
a  vast  superiority  in  size,  strength, 
and  intelligence,  above  tliose  of  con- 
tinental India, — "  Kai  ol£e  ye  vrjatu/Tai 
tXecfui'reg  tujv  i)irtifno-iijv  aXKi/iwrepoi 
re  T7]v  pojfirii'  Kai  [itiZ,nvi;  iSelv  eial  Kcii 
^vfioaoiiOiTfpoi  ce  "KavTa  ttcivtij  Kpivoi}- 
To  ch'.'^ — ^Elian,  De  jV(it.Amm.,\ih. 
xvi.  cap.  xviii. 

^LiAN  also,  in  the  same  chapter, 
states  the  fact  of  the  shipment  of 
these  elephants  in  large  boats  from 
Ceylon  to  the  opposite  continent  of 
India,  for  sale  to  the  king  of  Calingaj 
so  that  the  export  from  Manaar, 
described  in  a  fonner  passage,  has 
been  going  on  apparently  without 
interruption  since  the  time  of  the 
Itomans. 

-  The  expression  of  Taveknier  is 
to  the  effect  that  as  compared  "vsnth 
all  others,  the  elepliants  of  Ceylon 
are  "plus  cour.ageux  it  la  yuerrey 
The  passage  is  a  curiosity :  — 


"  II  faut  remarquer  ici  une  chose 
qu'ou  am-a  peut-etre  de  la  peine  a 
croire,  mais  qui  est  toutefois  tres  ve- 
ritable :  c'est  que  lorsque  quelque  roi 
ou  quelque  seigneur  a  quelqu'mi  de 
ces  elephants  de  Ceyhan,  et  qu'on  en 
ameue  quelqu'autre  des  lieux  ou  les 
marchands  vont  les  prendre,  comme 
d'Achen,  de  Siam,  d'Arakan,de  Pegu, 
du  royaume  de  ]3outan,  d' Assam,  des 
terres  de  Cochin  et  de  la  coste  du 
Meliude,  des  que  les  elephants  en 
voient  mi  de  Ceylan,  par  un  instinct 
de  nature,  ils  lui  font  la  reverence, 
portant  le  bout  de  leur  tronipe  a  la 
terre  et  la  relevant,  II  est  vrai  que 
les  elepliants  que  les  gi-ands  seigneurs 
entretiennent,  quand  on  les  amene 
devant  eux,  pour  voir  s'ils  sont  en 
bon  point,  font  trois  fois  une  espece 
de  r(5verence  avec  lour  trompe,  ce 
que  fed  vu  souvcnt;  mais  ils  sont 
styles  {\  cela,  et  leurs  maitres  le  leur 
enseignent  de  bonne  hem-e." — Les 
Hix  Voyaqcs  de  J.  B.  Taveknier,  lib. 
iii.  ch,  "20. 


Chap.  VI.] 


CONDUCT    IN   CAPTIVITY. 


S81 


imaginary,  is  exceptional,  and  must  have  arisen  in  parti- 
cular and  individual  instances,  from  more  judicious  or  ela- 
borate instruction. 

The  earliest  knowledge  of  the  elephant  in  Europe  and 
the  West,  was  derived  from  the  conspicuous  position' 
assigned  to  it  in  the  wars  of  the  East :  in  India,  from 
the  remotest  antiquity,  it  formed  one  of  the  most  pic- 
turesque, if  not  the  most  effective,  features  in  the 
armies  of  the  native  princes.^  It  is  more  than  proljable 
that  the  earhest  attempts  to  take  and  train  the  ele- 
phant, were  with  a  view  to  military  uses,  and  that  the 


^  Armandi.  has,  with  infinite  in- 
dustry, collected  froni  original  sources 
a  mass  of  ciuious  informations  rela- 
tive to  the  employment  of  elephants 
in  ancient  warfare,  which  he  has 
published  under  the  title  of  Ilistoire 
Milvtaire  des  Elcplumts  clepuis  les 
temps  les  pilus  recuUs  jusqiCu  Vintro- 
duction  des  amies  a  feu.     Paris.   184.3. 

The  only  mention  of  the  elephant 
in  Sacred  Ilistoiy  is  in  the  account 
given  in  Maccabees  of  the  invasion 
of  Efiypt  by  Antiochus,  who  entered 
it  170  B.C.,  "  with  chariots  and  ele- 
phants, and  horsemen,  and  a  g:i-eat 
navy." — 1  Maccab.  i.  17.  Frequent 
allusions  to  the  use  of  elephants  in 
war  occur  in  both  books,  and  in 
chap.  vi.  .34,  it  is  stated  that  "to 
provoke  the  elephants  to  fight  they 
showed  them  the  blood  of  gi-ape's 
and  of  mulberries."  The  term 
showed,  "  tt^H^ffj',"  mig-ht  be  thought 
to  imply  tiiat  the  animals  were 
enraged  by  the  sight  of  the  wine 
and  its  colour,  but  in  the  third 
Book  of  Maccabees,  in  the  Greek 
Septuagint,  various  other  passages 
show  that  wine,  on  such  occa- 
sions, was  administered  to  the 
elephants  to  render  them  furi- 
ous. Maccab.  v.  2,  10,  4."5.  Piiile 
mentions  the  same  fact,2>e  Elcphante, 
1.  145. 

There  is  a  veiy  curious  account  of 
the  mode  in  which  the  Arab  con- 
querors of  Scinde,  in  the  Htli  and 
10th  centuries,  equipped  llie  elephant 


for  war ;  which  being  written  with  all 
the  particularity  of  an  eye-witness, 
bears  the  impress  of  truth  and  accu- 
racy. MASSorDi,  who  was  bom  in 
Bagdad  at  the  close  of  the  9th  cen- 
tuT}-,  travelled  in  India  in  the  year 
A.D.  913,  and  visited  the  Gulf  of 
Cambay,  the  coast  of  Malabar,  and 
the  Island  of  Ceylon,  and  from  a 
larger  accoimt  of  his  journeys  he 
compiled  a  summary  mider  the  title 
of  "  3IoroiidJ-(d-dzeheb,^^  or  the 
"  Golden  Meadows,''''  the  MS.  of 
which  is  now  in  the  Bibliotheque 
Nationale.  M.  Reixatjd,  in  de- 
scribing this  manuscript  says,  on  its 
authority,  *'  The  Prince  of  jNIansura, 
whose  dominions  lay  south  of  the 
Indus,  maintained  eiglity  elephants 
trained  for  war,  each  of  wliicli  bore 
in  his  trunk  a  bent  cymeter  (carthel ), 
witli  which  lie  was  taught  to  cut  and 
thrust  at  all  confronting  him.  The 
trunk  itself  was  effectually  protected 
by  a  coat  of  mail,  and  the  rest  of  the 
body  enveloped  in  a  covering  com- 
posed jointly  of  iron  and  horn. 
Other  elephants  were  employed  in 
drawing  chariots,  can-ying  baggage, 
and  grinding  forage,  mid  the  per- 
formance of  all  bespoke  the  utmost 
intelligence  and  docility."  —  Rei- 
'S\\:vi,Mem()ire  sur  Vlnde,  anterieare- 
ment  au  Diiliex  dif  XI"  siecle,  (Fapres 
les  ecrivuitis  arahes,  persa/is  et  ehinois. 
Paris,  M.D.ccc.XLix.  p.  2\o.  See 
Sprenger's  English  Translation  of 
Massoudi,  vol.  i.  p.  383. 


382 


THE   ELEPHANT. 


[Part  VIII. 


art  was  perpetuated  in  later  times  to  gratify  tlie  pride  of 
the  eastern  kings,  and  sustain  the  pomp  of  their  proces- 
sions. An  impression  prevails  even  to  the  present  day, 
that  the  process  of  training  is  tedious  and  difficult,  and  the 
reduction  of  a  full-grown  elephant  to  obedience,  slow  and 
reluctant  in  the  extreme.^  In  both  particulars,  however, 
the  contrary  is  the  truth.  The  training  as  it  prevails  in 
Ceylon  is  simple,  and  the  conformity  and  obedience  of  the 
animal  are  developed  with  singular  rapidity.  For  the  first 
three  days,  or  till  they  Avill  eat  freely,  which  they  seldom 
do  in  less  time  than  this,  the  newly-captured  elephants  are 
allowed  to  stand  quiet,  or,  if  practicable,  a  tame  elephant 
is  tied  near  to  give  the  wild  ones  confidence.  Where  many 
elephants  are  being  trained  at  once,  it  is  customary  to  put 
every  new  captive  between  the  stalls  of  half-tamed  ones, 
when  the  former  soon  takes  to  its  food.  This  stage  being 
attained,  training  commences  by  placing  tame  elephants 
on  either  side.  The  cooroowe  \idahn,  or  other  head  of 
the  stables,  stands  in  front  of  the  wild  elephants  hold- 
ing a  long  stick  mth  a  sharp  iron  point.  Two  men 
are  then  stationed  on  either  side,  assisted  bj^  the  tame  ele- 
phants, and  each  holding  a  hendoo  or  crook^  towards  the 
wild  one's  trunk,  whilst  one  or  two  others  rub  their  hands 
over  his  back,  keeping  up  all  the  while  a  soothing  and 


'  Beodeeip,  Zoolof/ical  Hecrca- 
tions,  p.  2()G. 

^  The  iron  goad  witli  -whicli  the 
keeper  directs  the  movements  of  the 
elephants,  called  a  hendoo  in  Ceylon 
and  hmokus  in  Bengal,  appears  to 
have  retained  the  present  shape  from 


the  remotest  antiquity,  and  is  figured 
in  the  medals  of  Caracalla  in  the 
identical  form  in  wliich  it  is  in  use 
at  the  present  day  in  India. 

The  Greeks  called  it  "Vjtt?/,  and  the 
Romans  cusjiis. 


£-. 


:=^ 


Modern  Hendoo. 


Medal  of  Numidia. 


Chap.  VI.]  CONDUCT   IN    CAPTIVITY.  383 

plaintive  chaunt,  interlarded  witli  endearing  epithets,  such 
as  "  ho  !  my  son,"  or  "  ho  !  my  father,"  or  "  my  mother," 
as  may  be  appUcable  to  the  age  and  sex  of  tlie  captive. 
The  elephant  is  at  first  furious,  and  strikes  in  all  directions 
with  his  trunk  ;  but  the  men  in  front  receive  all  these 
blows  on  the  points  of  their  weapons,  until  the  extremity 
of  the  trunk  is  so  sore  that  the  animal  curls  it  up  close,  and 
seldom  after  attempts  to  use  it.  The  fii'st  dread  of  man's 
power  being  thus  established,  the  process  of  taking  him 
to  bathe  between  two  tame  elephants  is  greatly  facihtated, 
and  by  lengthening  the  neck  tie,  and  drawing  the  feet 
together  as  close  as  possible,  the  process  of  lapng  him 
down  in  the  water  is  finally  accomphshed  by  the  keepers 
pressing  the  sharp  point  of  their  hendoos  upon  the  back- 
bone. 

For  many  days  the  roaring  and  resistance  which 
attend  the  operation  are  considerable,  and  it  often  re- 
quires the  sagacious  interference  of  the  tame  elephants 
to  control  the  refractory  wild  ones.  It  soon,  however, 
becomes  practicable  to  leave  the  latter  alone,  only  taking 
them  to  and  from  the  staU  by  the  aid  of  a  decoy. 
This  step  lasts,  under  ordinary  treatment,  for  about 
three  weeks,  when  an  elephant  may  be  taken  alone  with 
his  legs  hobbled,  and  a  man  walking  backwards  in  front 
witli  the  point  of  the  hendoo  always  presented  to  the 
elephant's  head,  and  a  keeper  with  an  iron  crook  at 
each  ear.  On  getting  into  the  water  the  fear  of  being 
pricked  on  his  tender  back  induces  him  to  lie  down 
directly  on  the  crook  being  only  lield  over  him  in  terrorem. 
Once  this  point  lias  been  achieved,  the  further  process 
of  taming  is  dependent  upon  the  disposition  of  the 
creature. 

The  greatest  care  is  requisite,  and  daily  medicines  are 
applied  to  heal  the  fearful  wounds  on  the  legs  wliich  even 
the  softest  ropes  occasion.  This  is  the  great  difficulty  of 
training ;  for  the  Avounds  fester  grievously,  and  many, 
months  and  sometimes  years  will  elapse  before  an  elephant 


384  THE    ELEPHANT.  [Part  VIII. 

will  allow  his  feet  to  be  touched  without  indications  of 
alarm  and  anger. 

The  observation  has  been  frequently  made  that  the 
most  vicious  and  troublesome  elephants  to  tame,  and 
the  most  worthless  when  tamed,  are  those  distin- 
guished by  a  thin  trunk  and  flabby  pendulous  ears.  The 
period  of  tuition  does  not  appear  to  be  influenced  by  the 
size  or  strength  of  the  animals :  some  of  the  smallest 
give  the  greatest  amount  of  troul)le  ;  whereas,  in  the 
instance  of  the  two  largest  that  have  been  taken  in 
Ceylon  within  the  last  thirty  years,  both  were  docile 
in  a  remarkable  degree.  One  in  particular,  which  was 
caught  and  trained  by  Mr.  Cripps,  when  Government 
agent,  in  the  Seven  Corles,  fed  from  the  hand  the  first 
night  it  was  secured,  and  in  a  very  few  days  evinced 
pleasure  on  being  patted  on  the  hoad.^  There  is 
none  so  obstinate,  not  even  a  rogue,  that  may  not, 
when  kindly  and  patiently  treated,  be  conciliated  and 
trained. 

The  males  are  generally  more  unmanageable  than  the 
females,  and  in  both  an  inclination  to  lie  down  to  rest 
is  regarded  as  a  favourable  symptom  of  approach- 
ing tractabihty,  some  of  the  most  resolute  having 
been  known  to  stand  for  months  together,  even  during 
sleep.  Those  which  are  the  most  obstinate  and  violent 
at  first  are  the  soonest  and  most  effectually  subdued, 
and  generally  prove  permanently  docile  anil  submis- 
sive.    But  those  which  are   sullen  or  morose,  although 


^  Tliis  was  the  largest  elcpliant 
that  has  been  tamed  in  Ceyh)u;  he 
measured  upwards  of  nine  feet  at  the 
shoulders  and  belonged  to  the  caste 
so  highly  prized  by  the  temples. 
Though  gentle  after  his  first  capture, 
his  removal  from  the  corral  to  tlie 
stables,  tliougli  oidy  a  distance  of  six 
miles,  was  a  matter  of  the  extremest 


the  attendant  decoys.  lie,  on  one 
occasion,  escaped,  and  was  recaptured 
in  the  forest ;  and  lie  afterwartls  be- 
came so  docile  as  to  perfonn  a  variety 
of  triclvs.  lie  was  at  l(>ngth  ordered 
to  be  removed  to  Colombo ;  but  such 
was  his  terror  on  approaching  the 
fort,  tliat  on  coaxing  him  to  enter 
the  gate,  he  became  paralyzed  in  the 


dithculty;  liis  extraordinary  strength  !  extraordinary  way  elsewhere  alluded 
rendering  him  more  than  a  match  for  I  to,  and  died  on  the  spot 


Chap.  Vi.] 


COXDUCT    IX    CAPTIVITY. 


385 


they  may  provoke  no  cliastisement  by  tlieir  viciousness 
are  always  slower  iu  being  tamed,  and  are  rarely  to  be 
trusted  in  after  life.^ 

But  whatever  may  be  its  natural  gentleness  and 
docihty,  the  temper  of  an  elephant  is  seldom  to  be 
imphcitly  rehed  on  in  a  state  of  captivity  and  coercion. 
The  most  amenable  are  subject  to  occasional  fits  ot 
stubbornness;  and  even  after  years  of  submission,  irri- 
tabihty  and  resentment  will  unaccountably  manifest 
themselves.  It  may  be  that  the  restraints  and  severer 
discipline  of  training  have  not  been  entirely  forgotten  ; 
or  that  incidents  which  in  ordinary  health  would  be 
productive  of  no  demonstration  whatever,  may  lead,  in 
moments  of  temporary  illness,  to  fretfulness  and  anger. 
The  knowledge  of  tliis  infirmity  led  to  the  popidar 
behef  recorded  by  Phile,  that  the  elephant  had  two 
hearts^  under  the  respective  influences  of  which  he 
evinced  ferocity  or  gentleness  ;  subdued  by  the  one  to 
habitual    tractabihty   and    obedience,    but    occasionally 


*  The  natives  profess  tliat  the  high 
caste  elephants,  such  as  are  allotted 
to  the  temples,  are  of  all  others  the 
most  difficult  to  tame,  and  M.  Bles, 
the  Dutch  correspondent  of  Buffox, 
mentions  a  caste  of  elephants  which 
he  had  heard  of,  as  being  pecidiar  to 
the  Kandyan  kingdom,  that  were  not 
higher  than  a  ]ieifer(gt'nisse),  covered 
Avith  hair,  and  insusceptible  of  being 
tamed.  (Buffon,  ISupp.,  vol.  vi.  p. 
2i).)  Bishop  IIeber,  in  the  account 
of  his  journey  from  Bareilly  towards 
tlie  Himalayas,  describes  the  Baja 
Gom-man  Sing,  "  mounted  on  a  little 
female  elephant,  hardly  bigger  than 
a  Durham  ox,  and  almost  as  shaggy 
as  a  poodle." — Joiirn.  ch.  xvii.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  the  elephant 
discovered  in  1803  embedded  in  icy 
soil  in  Siberia,  was  covered  with  a 
coat  of  long  hair,  with  a  sort  of  wool 
at  the  roots ;  and  there  arose  the 
question  whether  that  nortlicrn  region 
had  been  ftirmerly  inhabited  by  a  race 

VOL.  II.  C 


of  elephants,  so  fortified  by  nature 
against  cold  ;  or  whether  the  in- 
dividual discovered  had  been  bonie 
thither  by  currents  from  some  more 
temperate  latitudes.  To  the  latter 
theory  the  presence  of  hair  seemed  a 
fixtal  objection ;  but  so  far  as  my  o^wn 
observation  goes,  I  believe  the  ele- 
phants are  more  or  less  proA^ided  -vniXi 
hair.  In  some  it  is  more  developed 
than  in  others,  and  it  is  particidarly 
observable  in  the  young,  whicli  wlicn 
captured  are  frequently  covered  with 
a  woolly  ileece,  especially  about  the 
head  and  shoulders.  In  the  older 
individuals  in  Ceylon,  this  is  less 
apparent  :  and  in  captivity  the  hair 
appears  to  be  altogether  removed  by 
the  custom  of  the  mahouts  to  rulj 
their  sldn  daily  witli  oil  and  a  rough 
lump  of  burned  clay.  See  a  paper 
on  the  subject,  Asiat.  Jottrn.  N.  S. 
vol.  xiv.  p.  182,  by  Mi-.  G.  Fair- 

nOLlIE. 


THE   ELEPHANT. 


[Part  VIIT. 


roused  by  the  other  to  resume  his  former  rage  and 
resistance.^ 

As  a  general  rule,  the  presence  of  the  tame  ones  may 
be  dispensed  with  after  two  months,  and  the  captive  may 
then  be  ridden  by  the  driver  alone ;  and  after  three  or 
four  months  lie  may  be  entrusted  with  hibour,  so  far  as 
regards  docihty,  but  it  is  undesirable,  and  even  involves  the 
risk  of  hfe,  to  work  the  elepliant  too  soon  ;  as  it  has 
frequently  happened  that  a  valuable  animal  has  lain  down 
and  died  the  first  time  it  was  tried  in  liarness,  from  wliat 
the  natives  beheve  to  be  "  broken  heart,"  —  certainly 
without  any  cause  inferable  from  injury  or  pre\ious  dis- 
ease.^ It  is  observable,  that  till  a  captured  elepliant 
begins  to  rehsh  his  food,  and  grow  fat  upon  it,  he  be- 
comes so  fretted  by  work,  that  hi  an  incredibly  short 
space  of  time  it  kiUs  him. 

The  first  emplopiient  to  which  an  elephant  is  put  is 
treading  clay  in  a  brick-field,  or  drawing  a  waggon  in 
double  harness  with  a  tame  companion.  But  the  work 
in  which  the  display  of  sagacity  renders  his  labours  of  the 
highest  value,  is  that  which  involves  the  use  of  heavy 
materials ;  and  hence  in  dragging  and  pihng  timber,  or 
moving  stones  ^  for  the  construction  of  retaining  walls  and 


^   "  Ai;T/\(jt'  ^f  (paatv  finroprJTai  Kap^tac' 
Kai  rrj  fitv  ilrai  Gv^hkov  to  Orjpiov 
EiQ  aKpaT)]  K'n'r](nv  rjpi^ia^iii'ov, 
Trj  le  irpomji'ic;  /era  BpcKTvrtjTOf;  ^sj'oi'. 
Kai  rfi  i^tv  avTiZv  c'lKpociaOai  tojv  X()yojj' 
ODt'  fiv  TtQ  'Ip^oq  li'  TiBatyiinov  \eyot, 

Ty   St   irpOQ  UVTOVC  TOVQVOIJ.t~tQiTVlTp'iX(lV 

E(t;  TUQ  TToKaint;  tKTpmrtv  icaKoiiftyinr. 
Philt),  E.rpositio  de  Elvphante, 
1.  126,  &c. 
^  Captain  Yule,  in  liis  Narrative 
of  his  Emhasf!)/  to  Ava  in  1855,  re- 
cords an  illustration  of  this  tendency 
of  the  elephant  to  sudden  death  ;  one 
newly  captured,  the  process  of  taming- 
which  was   exhibited  to  the  British 
Envoy,  "  made  vigorous  resistance  to 
the   placing  of  a  collar  on   its  neck, 
and   the  people  were   proceeding  to 
tighten  it,  when  the  elephant,  which 
had  lain  down  as  if  quite  exhausted, 


reared  suddenly  on  the  hind  quar- 
ters, and  fell  on  its  side — dead  !  " — P. 
104. 

INIr.  Strachan  noticed  the  same 
liability  of  the  elephants  to  sudden 
death  from  very  slight  causes ;  "  of 
the  fall,"  he  says,  "  at  any  time, 
though  on  plain  ground,  they  either 
die  immediately,  or  languish  till  they 
die ;  their  gi-eat  weight  occasioning 
them  so  much  hurt  by  the  fall." — 
Phil.  Trans,  a.d.  1701,  vol.  xxiii.  p. 
1052. 

*  A  coiTespondent  infonns  me  that 
on  tlie  Malabar  coast  of  India,  the 
elephant,  when  employed  in  dragging 
stones,  moves  them  Ijy  meaiis  of  a 
rope,  which  he  either  draws  witli  his 
forehead,  or  manages  by  seizing  it 
with  his  teeth. 


Chap.  VI.]  COXDUCT   IN   CAPTIVITY.  387 

the  approaches  to  bridges,  his  ser\dces  in  an  unopened 
country  are  of  the  utmost  importance.  When  roads  are 
to  be  constructed  along  the  face  of  steep  dechvities,  and 
the  space  is  so  contracted  that  risk  is  incurred  either  of 
the  elephant  faUing  over  the  precipice  or  of  rocks  shpping 
dow^n  from  above,  not  only  are  the  measures  wliich  he  re- 
sorts to  the  most  judicious  and  reasonable  that  could 
be  devised,  but  if  urged  by  his  keeper  to  adopt  any 
other,  he  manifests  a  reluctance  which  shows  that  he 
has  balanced  in  his  own  mind  the  comparative  ad- 
vantages of  each.  He  appears  on  all  occasions  to  com- 
prehend the  purpose  and  object  which  he  is  expected  to 
promote,  and  hence  he  voluntarily  executes  a  variety 
of  details  without  any  guidance  whatsoever  from  his 
keeper.  This  is  one  characteristic  in  which  the  elephant 
manifests  a  superiority  over  the  horse  ;  although  in 
strength  in  proportion  to  his  weight  he  does  not  equal 
the  latter. 

His  minute  motions  when  engrossed  by  such  opera- 
tions, the  activity  of  his  eye,  and  the  earnestness  of  his 
attitudes  can  only  be  comprehended  by  being  seen.  In 
moving  timber  and  masses  of  rock  the  trunk  is  the 
instrument  with  which  he  mainly  goes  to  work,  but 
those  which  have  tusks  turn  them  to  account ;  to  get 
a  weighty  stone  out  of  a  hollow  he  kneels  down  so  as 
to  apply  the  pressure  of  his  head  to  move  it  upwards, 
then  steadying  it  with  one  foot  till  he  can  raise  himself, 
lie  apphes  a  fold  of  his  trunk  to  shift  it  to  its  place,  and 
adjust  it  accurately  in  position  :  this  done,  he  steps  round 
to  view  it  on  either  side,  and  readjust  it  with  due  pre- 
cision. He  appears  to  gauge  liis  task  by  his  eye,  to 
form  a  judgment  whether  the  weight  be  proportionate  to 
his  strength.  If  doubtful  of  his  own  power,  he  hesitates 
and  halts,  and  if  urged  against  his  will,  he  roars  and 
shows  temper. 

In  clearing  an  opening  through  forest  land,  the  power 
of  the  African  elephant,  and  the  strength  ascribed  to 
liim   by  a   recent   traveller,   as    displayed  in  u[)rooting 

c  c  2 


388 


THE   ELEPHANT. 


[Part  VIIT. 


trees,  has  never  been  equalled  or  approached  by  any- 
thing I  have  seen  of  the  elephant  in  Ceylon '  or  heard 
of  them  in  India.  Of  course  much  must  depend  on 
the  natm^e  of  the  timber  and  the  moisture  of  the  soil ; 
a  strong  tree  on  the  verge  of  a  swamp  may  be  over- 
thrown with  greater  ease  than  a  small  and  low  one  in 
parched  and  sohd  ground.  I  have  seen  no  "tree"  de- 
serving the  name,  nothing  but  jungle  and  brushwood, 
thrown  down  by  the  mere  movement  of  an  elephant 
without  some  special  exertion  of  force.  But  he  is  by 
no  means  fond  of  gratuitously  tasldng  liis  strength ; 
and  his  food  being  so  abundant  that  he  obtains  it  "s\dth- 
out  an  effort,  it  is  not  altogether  apparent,  even  were 
he  able  to  do  so,  why  he  should  assail  "  the  largest  trees 
in  the  forest,"  and  encumber  his  own  haunts  with  their 
broken  stems ;  especially  as  there  is  scarcely  anytliing 
which  an  elephant  more  dishkes  than  to  venture  amongst 
fallen  timber. 

A  tree  of  twelve  inches  in  diameter  resisted  success- 
fidly  the  most  strenuous  struggles  of  the  largest  ele- 
phant I  saw  led  to  it  in  a  corral ;  and  when  directed  by 


^  '^  Here  tlie  trees  were  large  and 
handsome,  but  not  strong  enough  to 
resist  the  inconceivable  strength  of 
the  mightj'  monarch  of  these  forests ; 
almost  every  tree  had  half  its  bran- 
ches broken  short  by  them,  and  at 
every  himdred  yards  I  came  upon 
entire  trees,  and  these,  the  largest  in 
the  forest,  uprooted  clean  out  of  the 
gi'oimd,  and  broken  short  across  their 
sterns.''^ — A  Hunter'' s  Life  in  South 
Africa.  By  R.  Goedon  Cumiitxg, 
Tol.  ii.  p.  305. — "  Spreading  out  from 
one  another,  they  smash  and  destroy 
all  the  finast  trees  in  the  forest  which 
happen  to  be  in  their  course.  .  .  . 
I  have  rode  through  forests  where 
the  ti'ees  thus  broken  lay  so  thick 
across  one  another,  that  it  was  almost 
impossible  to  ride  through  the  dis- 
trict."—26/f/.  p.  .310. 

Mr.  Gordon  Cumming  does  not 
name  the  trees  whicli  he  saw  thus 
''uprooted"  and  "broken  across,"  nor 


has  he  given  any  idea  of  their  size 
and  weight;  but  Major  DENHAM,who 
observed  like  traces  of  the  elephant 
in  Africa,  saw  only  small  trees  over- 
thro-^-n  by  them  ;  and  jNIr.  PKrN'GLE, 
who  had  an  opportunity  of  observing 
similar  practices  of  the  animals  in 
the  neuti'al  territory  of  the  Eastern 
frontier  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
describes  their  ravages  as  being  con- 
tined  to  the  mimosas,  ''  immense 
numbers  of  which  had  been  torn  out 
of  the  ground  and  placed  in  an  in- 
verted position,  in  order  to  enable 
tlie  animals  to  browse  at  their  ease 
on  the  soft  and  juicy  roots,  which 
form  a  favourite  part  of  their  food. 
Many  of  the  larger  mimosas  had  re- 
sisted all  their  efforts ;  and  indeed  it  is 
onli/  after  heavi/  rain,  when  the  soil  is 
soft  and  loose,  that  they  ever  suc- 
cessfulhf  attempt  this  operatioti." — 
Piungle's  Sketches  of  South  Africa. 


Chap.  YI.]  CONDUCT   IX   CArTIYITY.  383 

their  keepers  to  clear  away  growing  timber,  the  removal 
of  even  a  small  tree,  or  a  healthy  young  coco-nut  palm, 
is  a  matter  both  of  time  and  exertion  to  the  tame  ones. 
For  this  reason  the  services  of  an  elephant  are  of  much 
less  value  in  clearing  a  forest  than  in  dragging  and  pihng 
felled  timber.  But  in  the  latter  occupation  in  particular, 
he  manifests  an  intelligence  and  dexterity  which  is  sur- 
prising to  a  stranger,  because  the  sameness  of  the  opera- 
tion enables  the  animal  to  go  on  for  hours  disposing  of  log 
after  log,  almost  without  a  hint  or  a  direction  from  liis 
attendant.  In  this  manner,  two  elephants  employed  in 
piling  ebony  and  satinwood  in  the  yards  attached  to  the 
commissariat  stores  at  Colombo,  were  so  accustomed  to 
the  work,  that  they  were  enabled  to  accomphsh  it  with 
equal  precision  and  with  greater  rapidity  than  if  it  had 
been  done  by  dock-labourers.  Wlien  the  pile  attained  a 
certain  height,  and  they  were  no  longer  able  by  their 
conjoint  efforts  to  raise  one  of  the  heavy  logs  of  ebony  to 
the  summit,  they  had  been  taught  to  lean  two  pieces 
against  the  heap,  up  the  inchned  plane  of  which  they 
gently  rolled  the  remaining  logs,  and  placed  them  trimly 
on  the  top. 

It  has  been  asserted  that  in  these  occupations  "  ele- 
phants are  to  a  surprising  extent  the  creatm^es  of  habit,"  ^ 
that  their  movements  are  altogether  mechanical,  and  that 
"  they  are  annoyed  by  any  deviation  from  theii'  accus- 
tomed practice,  and  resent  any  constrained  departure 
from  the  regularity  of  their  course."  So  far  as  my  own 
observation  goes,  this  is  incorrect ;  and  I  am  assm-ed  by 
the  officers  in  charge  of  them,  that  in  regard  to  changing 
tlieir  treatment,  their  hours,  or  their  occupation,  an  ele- 
phant evinces  no  more  consideration  than  a  horse,  but 
exhibits  the  same  pHancy  and  facihty. 

At  one  point,  however,  the  utihty  of  the  elephant  stops 
short.     Such  is  the  intelligence  and  earnestness  he  dis- 


^  Menageries,  cjjr.,  "  Tlio  Elephant,"  vol.  ii.  ji.  2."3. 
c  c  3 


890 


THE    ELEPHAXT. 


[Pakt  VIII. 


plays  ill  work,  which  he  seems  to  conduct  ahiiost  without 
supervision,  that  it  has  been  assumed^  that  he  would 
continue  his  labour,  and  accomphsh  liis  given  task,  as 
well  in  the  absence  of  his  keeper  as  during  his  presence. 
But  here  his  innate  love  of  ease  displays  itself,  and  if  the 
eye  of  his  attendant  be  withdi^a^vn,  the  moment  he  has 
fimshed  the  thing  immediately  in  hand,  he  ^vill  stroll 
away  lazily,  to  browse  or  enjoy  the  luxury  of  fanning 
himself  and  blowing  dust  over  his  back. 

His  obedience  to  his  keeper  is  the  result  of  affection, 
as  well  as  of  fear  ;  and  although  his  attachment  is  so 
strong  that  an  elephant  in  Ceylon  has  been  known  to 
remain  out  all  night,  without  food,  rather  than  retm^n, 
and  leave  belund  him  his  mahout,  who  was  lying  intoxi- 
cated in  the  jungle  ;  he  manifests  little  difficulty  in  peld- 
ing  the  same  submission  to  a  new  driver  in  the  event  of  a 
change  of  attendants.  This  is  opposed  to  the  popidar  be- 
hef  that  "  the  elephant  cherishes  such  an  endming  remem- 
brance of  his  old  mahout,  that  he  cannot  easily  be  brought 
to  obey  a  stranger."^  In  the  extensive  estabhshments  of 
the  Ceylon  Government,  the  keepers  are  changed  Avithout 
hesitation,  and  the  animals,  when  equally  kindly  treated, 
are  in  a  very  short  time  as  tractable  and  obedient  to  their 
new  driver  as  to  the  old,  so  soon  as  they  have  become 
familiarised  with  his  voice.^ 

This  is  not,  however,  invariably  the  case  ;  and  ]\Ir. 
Ceipps,  who  had  remarkable  opportunities  for  observing 
the  habits  of  the  elephant  in  Ceylon,  mentioned  to 
me  an  instance  in  which  one  of  a  singidarly  stubborn 
disposition  occasioned  some  inconvenience  after  the 
death  of  his  keeper,  by  refushig  to  obey  any  other, 
till  his  attendants  bethought  them  of  a  cliild  about 
twelve  years  old,  in  a  chstant  \nllage,  where  the  animal 
had    been    formerly   picketed,    and   to   whom    he   had 


'  Menaqerics,  ^-c,  "  The  Elephant," 
c.  vi.  p.  1:38. 

2  Ihid,  vol.  i.  p.  19. 


^  Enojchp.  Brit.,  Mammalia^  art. 
Elephant. 


Chap.  VI.] 


CONDUCT    IN    CAPTIVITY. 


391 


manifested  much  attachment.  The  child  was  sent  for ; 
and  on  its  arrival  the  elephant,  as  anticipated,  evinced 
extreme  satisfaction,  and  was  managed  with  ease,  till  by 
deo-rees  he  became  reconciled  to  the  presence  of  a  new 
superintendent. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  mahouts  die  young,  owing 
to  some  supposed  injury  to  the  spinal  column  from  the 
pecuhar  motion  of  the  elephant ;  but  such  a  remark  does 
not  apply  to  those  in  Ceylon,  who  are  healthy,  and  as 
long  lived  as  others.  If  the  motion  of  the  elephant  be 
thus  injurious,  that  of  the  camel  must  be  still  more  so ; 
yet  we  never  hear  of  early  death  ascribed  to  tlus  cause 
by  the  Arabs. 

The  voice  of  the  keeper,  with  a  very  hmited  vocabulary 
of  articulate  sounds,  serves  almost  alone  to  guide  the 
elephant  in  his  domestic  occupations.^  Sir  Eveeard 
Home,  from  an  examination  of  the  muscular  fibres  in  the 
drum  of  an  elephant's  ear,  came  to  the  conclusion,  that 
notwithstanding  the  distinctness  and  power  of  his  per- 
ception of  sounds  at  a  greater  distance  than  other  animals, 
he  was  insensible  to  then"  harmonious  modulation  and 
destitute  of  a  musical  ear.^     But  Professor  Harrison,  in  a 


^  The  principal  sound  by  which 
the  mahouts  in  Ceylou  direct  the 
motions  of  the  elephants  is  a  repeti- 
tion, with  various  modulations,  of 
the  words  ur-7'e .'  ur-re  !  This  is  one 
of  those  interjections  in  which  the 
soimd  is  so  expressive  of  the  sense 
that  persons  in  charge  of  animals  of 
almost  eveiy  description  throughout 
the  world  appear  to  have  adopted  it 
with  a  concuiTence  that  is  verv  curi- 
ous. The  camel  drivers  in  Turkey, 
Palestine,  and  Egyi^t  encourage  them 
to  speed  by  shouting  ar-re !  ar-rc ! 
The  Arabs  in  Algeria  ciy  eirich  !  to 
their  mules.  The  Moors  seem  to 
have  carried  the  custom  with  them 
into  Spain,  where  nudes  are  still 
driven  with  cries  oiarre  (whence  the 
niideteers   derive  their  Spanish  ap- 


pellation of  "  arrieros").  In  Franco 
the  sportsman  excites  the  hound  by 
shouts  of  hare  !  hare  !  and  the  wag- 
goner there  turns  his  horses  by  bis 
voice,  and  the  use  of  the  word  hur- 
hardl  In  the  North,  " //«;vs  was_a 
word  used  by  the  old  Germans  in 
urging  their  horses  to  speed ;"  and 
to  the  present  day,  the  herdsmen  in 
Ireland,  and  parts  of  Scotland,  drive 
their  pigs  with  shouts  of  hurrish  I 
hnrrish  !  closely  resembling  that  used 
by  the  mahouts  in  Ceylon. 

^  On  the  Difference  hetween  the 
Human  3Iemhrana  Tipnpani  and 
that  of  the  Elephant.  By  Sir  EvE- 
rardIIome,  Bart,  Philos.  Trans. 
1823.  Paper  by  Prof.  Harrison, 
Proc.  Ro}  al  Irish  Academy,  vol.  iii. 
p.  o8G. 


c  c  4 


392 


THE    ELEPHANT. 


[Part  YIII. 


paper  read  before  theEoyal  Irish  Academy  in  1847,  has 
stated  that  on  a  careful  examination  of  the  head  of  an 
elephant  which  he  had  dissected,  he  could  "  see  no  evi- 
dence of  the  muscular  structure  of  the  membrana  tyni- 
pani  so  accurately  described  by  Sir  Eyerakd  Home," 
whose  deduction  is  clearly  inconsistent  with  the  fact  that 
the  power  of  two  elephants  may  be  steadily  combined  by 
singing  to  them  a  measured  chant,  somewhat  resembhng 
a  sailor's  capstan  song  ;  and  in  labour  of  a  particular 
kind,  such  as  hauhng  a  stone  with  ropes,  they  will  thus 
move  conjointly  a  weight  to  which  their  divided  strength 
would  be  unequal.  ^ 

Nothing  can  more  strongly  exhibit  the  impulse  of 
obedience  in  the  elephant,  than  the  patience  with  which, 
at  the  order  of  the  keeper,  he  swaUows  the  nauseous 
medicines  of  the  native  elephant-doctors  ;  and  it  is  im- 
possible to  witness  the  fortitude  with  whicli  (without 
shrinking)  he  submits  to  excruciating  sm^gical  opera- 
tions for  the  removal  of  tumours  and  ulcers  to  which 
he  is  subject,  without  conceiving  a  vivid  impression  of 
his  gentleness  and  intelhgence.  On  such  occasions  one 
might  almost  imagine  that  comphance  was  induced  by 
some  perception  of  the  object  to  be  attained  by  tempo- 
rary endurance  ;  but  this  is  inconsistent  with  the  touch- 
ing incident  which  took  place  during  the  slaughter  of 
the  elephant  at  Exeter  Change  in  1826,  when  after  re- 
ceiving  ineffectually  upwards   of  120   balls   in   various 


'  I  have  already  noticed  the  strik- 
ing etiect  produced  in  the  captive 
elephants  in  the  corral,  by  the  har- 
monious notes  of  an  i\'ory  flute  ;  and 
on  looking  to  the  gi-aphic  description 
which  is  given  by  yElian  of  the  ex- 
ploits which  he  witnessed  as  per- 
formed by  the  elephants  exhibited 
at  liome,  it  is  remarkable  how  very 
large  a  share  of  tlioir  training  appears 
to  have  been  ascribed  to  the  employ- 
ment of  music. 

Phile,  in  the  account  which  he 
has  given  of  the  elephant's  fondness 


for  music,  would  almost  seem  to 
have  versified  the  prose  naiTative  of 
yEuAN,  as  he  describes  its  excite- 
ment at  the  more  animated  portions, 
its  step  regulated  to  the  time  and 
movements  of  the  harmony;  the  whole 
"  siirprisiiif/  in  a  creature  tvhose  limbs 
are  tcithoid  Joi)ds  1 " 
''  \ktnr6v  Ti  m  iMviii'iV('((<B(yMVop-/(lfi<>i\  ' 

— PiiiLK,  Expos,  de  Eleph.,  1.  210, 

For  an  accoimt  of  the  ti-aining  iuid 
performances  of  the  elepliants  at 
Rome,  as  narrated  by  ^'Elian,  see  the 
appendix  to  this  chapter. 


CiiAr.  VI.]  CONDUCT    IX   CAPTIVITY.  393 

parts  of  his  body,  he  turned  his  face  to  his  assailants  on 
hearing  the  voice  of  his  keeper,  and  knelt  down  at  the 
accustomed  word  of  command,  so  as  to  bring  his  fore- 
head within  rauQ-e  of  the  rifles.^ 

o 

The  working  elephant  is  always  a  delicate  animal, 
and  requires  Avatchfulness  and  care ;  as  a  beast  of 
bmxlen  he  is  unsatisfactory  ;  for  although  in  point  of 
mere  strength  there  is  scarcely  any  weight  which  could 
be  conveniently  placed  on  him  that  he  could  not  carr}% 
it  is  difficult  to  pack  it  without  causing  abrasions  that 
afterwards  ulcerate.  His  sldn  is  easily  chafed  by  har- 
ness, especially  in  wet  weather.  Either  during  long 
droughts  or  too  much  moisture,  his  feet  are  hable  to 
sores,  which  render  him  non-effective  for  months.  Many 
attempts  have  been  made  to  provide  him  with  some  pro- 
tection for  the  sole  of  the  foot,  but  from  his  extreme 
weight  and  peculiar  mode  of  planting  the  foot,  they 
have  all  been  unsuccessful.  His  eyes  are  also  liable  to 
frequent  inflammation,  and  the  skill  of  the  native  ele- 
phant-doctors, which  has  been  renowned  since  the  time 
of  -3^han,  is  nowhere  more  strikingly  displayed  than  in 
the  successfid  treatment  of  such  attacks.^  In  Ceylon,  the 
murrain  among  cattle  is  of  frequent  occurrence  and 
carries  off  great  numbers  of  animals,  wild  as  well  as 
tame.  In  such  visitations  the  elephants  suffer  severely, 
not  only  those  at  hberty  in  the  forest,  but  those  care- 
fully tended  in  the  government  stables.  Out  of  a  stud  of 
about  40  attached  to  the  department  of  the  Commission 
of  Eoads,  the  deaths  between  1841  and  1849  were  on  an 
average  four  in  each  year,  and  this  was  nearly  doubled 
in  those  years  Avhen  murrain  prevailed. 

Of  240  elephants  employed  in  the  pubhc  departments 
of  the  Ceylon  Government  which  died  in  twenty-five 
years  from  1831  to  185G,  the  length  of  time  that  each 


1  A  shocking  accoimt  of  the  death  I  Evenj-l)ay  Book,  M;u'ch,  1830,  p.  337, 
of  this  poor  animal  is  given  in  Hone's  |      ^  ^Elian,  lib.  xiii.  c.  7. 


394 


THE    ELEPHANT. 


[Part  YIII. 


lived  in  captivity  lias  only  been  recorded  in  tlie  instances 
of  138.     Of  these  there  died  :— 


Duration  of  Captivity. 

No. 

Male. 

Female. 

Under  1  year                ..... 

72 

29 

43 

From  1         to            2  years 

14 

5 

9 

9                           'i 

8 

5 

3 

»       "          j>              ^      )} 

8 

3 

5 

}f      ^           }}              ^      V 

3 

2 

1 

»      5         „            0      „ 

2 

2 

)9          ^                 V                     '           » 

3 

1 

2 

})       '            »              "       r 

5 

2 

3 

}}         ^               V                   9         f> 

5 

5 

. 

;;       "            )}             10       )) 

2 

2 

. 

„    10         „          11      „ 

2 

2 

„    11          „          12      „ 

3 

1 

2 

„    12          „          13      „ 

3 

. 

3 

„    13         „          14      „ 

. 

V     I'l            »             15       „ 

3 

i 

2 

„    15          „           16      „ 

1 

1 

. 

„    Kj          „           17      ,} 

1 

. 

1 

V    17           >;            18      „ 

„    18         „          19      „ 

2 

i 

1 

„    19         „          20      „ 

1 

1 

Total 

. 

138 

62 

76 

Of  the  72  who  died  in  one  year's  ser\dtude,  35  ex- 
pu"ed  within  the  first  six  months  of  their  captivity. 
During  training,  many  of  them  die  in  the  unaccount- 
able manner  akeady  referred  to,  lying  down  suddenly 
and  expiring,  of  what  the  natives  designate  a  broken 
heart 

On  being  first  subjected  to  work,  the  elephant  is 
hable  to  severe  and  often  fatal  swellings  of  the  jaws 
and  abdomen.^ 

From  these  causes  tliere  died,  between  1841  and  1849       .         .     9 
Of  eattle  miuTain      .........  10 

Sore  feet  ..........     1 

Colds  and  inflammation    ........     G 

Diarrhoea  ..........     1 

Worms  ..........     1 


^  The  elephant  which  was  dissect- 
ed by  Dr.  IIaurisox,  of  Dublin,  in 
1847,  died,  after  foiu'  or  iive  days' 
illness,  of  a  febrile  attack,  which  Dr. 


II.  says  was  "  veiy  like  scarlatina  (at 
that  time  a  prevailin<i:  disease) —liis 
skin  in  some  cases  became  almost 
scai-let. ' ' — Private  Letter. 


Chaf.  YI.]  conduct    IX    CAPTIVITY.  395 

Of  diseased  liver 1 

Injuries  from  a  fall   .........  1 

General  debility        .........  1 

Unknown •  3 


Of  the  whole,  twenty-three  were  females,  and  eleven 
males. 

The  ages  of  those  that  died  could  not  be  accurately 
stated,  ov^ng  to  the  circumstance  of  their  having  been 
captured  in  corral.  Only  two  were  tuskers.  Towards 
keeping  the  stud  in  health,  nothing  has  been  found  so 
conducive  as  regularly  bathing  the  elephants,  and  giving 
them  the  opportunity  to  stand  with  their  feet  in  water 
or  in  moistened  earth. 

On  the  whole,  there  may  be  a  question  as  to  the 
prudence  or  economy  of  maintaining  a  stud  of  elephants 
for  the  purposes  to  which  they  are  now  assigned  in 
Ceylon.  In  the  rude  and  imopened  parts  of  the  country, 
where  rivers  are  to  be  forded,  and  forests  are  only 
traversed  by  jungle  paths,  their  labour  is  of  value, 
in  certain  contingencies,  in  the  conveyance  of  stores, 
and  in  the  earher  operations  for  the  construction  of 
fords  and  rough  bridges  of  timber.  But  in  more  highly 
civihsecl  districts,  and  wherever  macadamised  roads  ad- 
mit of  the  employment  of  horses  and  oxen  for  draught, 
I  apprehend  that  the  services  of  elephants  might,  with 
advantage,  be  gradually  reduced,  if  not  altogether  dis- 
pensed with. 

The  love  of  the  elephant  for  coolness  and  shade 
renders  him  at  all  times  more  or  less  impatient  of  work 
in  the  sun,  and  every  moment  of  leisure  he  can  snatch 
is  employed  in  covering  his  back  with  dust,  or  fanning 
himself  to  diminish  the  annoyance  of  the  insects  and 
heat.  From  the  tenderness  of  his  skin  and  its  lia- 
bihty  to  sores,  the  labour  in  which  he  can  most  ad- 
vantageously be  employed  is  that  of  draught;  but  the 
reluctance  of  horses  to  meet  or  pass  elephants  renders 
it  difficult  to  work  the  latter  with  safety  on  frequented 
roads.     Besides,  were  the  full  load  which  an  elephant 


396 


THE   ELEPHAXT. 


[Part  YIII. 


is  capable  of  di-awing  in  proportion  to  his  muscular 
strength,  to  be  placed  upon  waggons  of  corresponding 
dimension,  the  injuiy  to  the  roads  woidd  be  such  that  the 
wear  and  tear  of  the  highways  and  bridges  woidd  prove 
too  costl)^  to  be  borne.  On  the  other  hand,  by  restrict- 
ing it  to  a  somewhat  more  manageable  quantity,  and  by 
limiting  the  weight,  as  at  present,  to  about  one  ton  and 
a  half,  it  is  doubtful  whether  an  elephant  performs  so 
much  more  work  than  could  be  done  by  a  horse  or  by 
bullocks,  as  to  compensate  for  the  greater  cost  of  his 
feedino'  and  attendance. 

Add  to  this,  that  from  accidents  and  other  causes, 
from  ulcerated  abrasions  of  the  skin,  and  illness  of  many 
Idnds,  the  elephant  is  so  often  invahded,  that  the  actual 
cost  of  liis  labom-,  when  at  Avork,  is  very  considerably 
enhanced.  Exclusive  of  the  salaries  of  higher  officers 
attached  to  the  government  establishments,  and  other 
permanent  charges,  the  expenses  of  an  elephant,  looking 
only  to  the  wages  of  his  attendants  and  the  cost  of  his 
food  and  medicines,  varies  from  three  shillings  to  four 
shillings  and  sixpence  per  diem,  according  to  his  size 
and  class.  ^     Taking  the  average  at  three  shilhngs  and 


^  An  ordinaiy-sized  elephant  en- 
grosses tlie  iindi\'i(iecl  attention  of 
three  men.  One,  as  his  mahout  or 
superintendent,  and  tT\-o  as  leaf-cut- 
ters, who  biing  him  branches  and 
gi'ass  for  his  daily  supplies.  One  of 
larger  growth  woidd  probably  require 
a  third  leaf-cutter.  The  daih*  con- 
sumption is  two  cwt.  of  gTeen  food, 
with  about  half  a  bushel  of  gi-ain. 
When  in  the  vicinity  of  towns  and 
■villages,  the  attendants  have  no  dif- 
ficulty in  procuring  an  abundant 
supply  of  tlie  brandies  of  the  trees  to 
which  they  are  partial ;  and  in  jour- 
neys through  the  forest  and  miopened 
countiy,  the  leaf-cutters  are  sulli- 
ciently  expert  in  the  knowledge  of 
those  particular  plants  with  which 
the  elephant  is  satisfied.  Those  that 
woiUd  be  likely  to  disagi'ee  with 
him  he  uneiTingly  rejects.     His  fa- 


vourites are  the  palms,  especially  the 
cluster  of  rich,  imopened  leaves, 
known  as  the  "  cabbage,''  of  the  coco- 
nut, and  areca ;  the  yoimg  trunks  of 
the  palmp-a  and  jaggery  (Cari/ota 
weiis)  are  torn  open  in  search  of 
the  farinaceous  matter  contained  in 
the  spongy  pith.  Next  to  these 
come  the  varieties  of  fig-trees,  par- 
ticularly the  sacred  Bo  (F.  religiosa) 
which  is  found  near  every  temple,  and 
the  na  f/a/ui  (Jlessua  ferrca),  with 
thick  dark  leaves  and  a  scarlet  fiower. 
The  loaves  of  the  .Tak-tree  and  bread 
fruit  (Artocarpus  infef/rifolia  and  A. 
iiicim),  the  wood  apple  {^Hf/lc  Jlar- 
mclos),  Palu  (Mi»iiisoj).'i  indica),  and  a 
number  of  others  well  knoT\Ta  to  their 
attendants,  are  all  consumed  in  turn. 
The  stems  of  the  plantain,  the  stalks 
of  the  sugar-cane,  and  the  featheiy 
tops  of  the  bambooS;  are  irresistible 


Chap.  VI.] 


COXDUCT   IX    CAPTIVITY. 


397 


nine-pence,  and  calculating  that  liarcUy  any  individual 
works  more  than  four  days  out  of  seven,  the  charge  for 
each  day  so  employed  would  be  equal  to  sLv  shillings 
and  sixpence.  The  keep  of  a  powerful  dray  horse, 
working  five  days  in  the  week,  would  not  exceed  half- 
a-crown,  and  two  such  would  unquestionably  do  more 
work  than  any  elephant  under  the  present  system.  I 
do  not  know  whether  it  be  from  a  comparative  calcu- 
lation of  this  kind  that  the  strength  of  the  elephant 
establishments  in  Ceylon  has  been  gradually  diminished 
of  late  years,  but  iu  the  department  of  tlie  Commis- 
sioner of  Eoads,  the  stud,  which  formerly  numbered 
upwards  of  sixty  elephants,  has  been  reduced  of  late 
years  to  thirty-six,  and  is  at  present  less  than  half  that 
number. 

The  fallacy  of  the  supposed  reluctance  of  the  elephant 
to  breed  in  capti\dty  has  been  demonstrated  by  many 
recent  authorities ;  but  with  the  exception  of  the  buth 
of  young  elephants  at  Eome,  as  mentioned  by  ^lian,  the 
only  instances  that  I  am  aware  of  theu"  actually  produc- 
ing young  under  such  circumstances,  took  place  in  Ceylon. 
Both  parents  had  been  for  several  years  attached  to  the 
stud  of  the  Commissioner  of  Roads,  and  in  1844  the 
female,  whilst  engaged  in  dragging  a  waggon,  gave  butli 
to  a  still-born  calf.  Some  years  before,  an  elephant, 
which  had  been  captured  by  Mr.  Cripps,  di^opped  a 
female  calf,  which  he  succeeded  in  rearing.  As  usual, 
the  little  one  became  the  pet  of  the  keepers  ;  but  as  it  in- 
creased in  growth,  it  exhibited  the  utmost  violence  when 


luxuries.  Pine-apples,  water  melons, 
and  fruits  of  every  description,  are 
voraciously  devoured,  and  a  coco-nut 
when  foimd  is  first  rolled  under  foot 
to  detach  it  from  the  husk  and  fibre, 
and  then  raised  in  his  trunk  and 
crushed,  almost  without  an  eftbrt  of 
his  ponderous  jaws. 

The  gi'asses  are  not  found  in  suf- 
ficient quantity  to  be  an  item  of  his 
daily  fodder;  the  Mauiitius  or  the 


Guinea  gi-ass  is  seized  with  avidity  ; 
lemon  <a'ass  is  rejected  from  its  over- 
powering perfume,  but  rice  in  the 
straw,  and  every  description  of  gi'ain, 
whether  gi'owing  or  diy  ;  grain 
(Cicer  arietimun),  Indian  corn,  and 
millet  are  his  natural  food.  Of  such 
of  these  as  can  be  found,  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  leaf-cutters,  when  in  the 
jungle  and  on  march;  to  provide  a 
daily  supply. 


398  THE    ELEPHAXT.  [Part  YIII. 

tlnvartecl ;  striking  out  with  its  hind  feet,  tlirowing  itself 
headlong  on  the  ground,  and  pressing  its  trunk  against 
any  opposing  object. 

The  ancient  fable  of  the  elephant  attaining  the  age 
of  two  or  tln*ee  hundi'cd  years  is  still  prevalent  amongst 
the  Singhalese.  But  the  Europeans  and  those  in  im- 
mediate charge  of  them  entertain  the  opinion  that  the 
duration  of  hfe  for  about  seventy  years  is  common  both 
to  man  and  the  elephant ;  and  that  before  the  arrival  of 
that  period,  the  symptoms  of  debihty  and  decay  ordi- 
narily begin  to  manifest  themselves.  Still  instances  are 
not  ^vanting  in  Ceylon  of  trained  decoys  that  have 
hved  for  more  than  double  the  reputed  period  in 
actual  servitude.  One  employed  by  ]\ir.  Cripps  in  the 
Seven  Corles  was  represented  by  the  Cooroowe  people 
to  have  served  the  king  of  Kandy  in  the  same  capacity 
sixty  years  before ;  and  amongst  the  papers  left  by 
Colonel  Eobertson  (son  to  the  liistorian  of  "  Charles  Y."), 
who  held  a  command  in  Ceylon  in  1799,  shortly  after 
the  capture  of  the  island  by  the  British,  I  have  found  a 
memorandum  shoAving  that  a  decoy  was  then  attached 
to  the  elephant  estabhshment  at  Matura,  which  tlie  re- 
cords proved  to  have  served  under  the  Dutch  dming 
the  enth'e  period  of  their  occupation  (extending  to  up- 
wards of  one  hundred  and  forty  years) ;  and  was  said  to 
have  been  found  in  the  stables  by  the  Dutch  on  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  Portuguese  in  a.d.  1656. 

It  is  perhaps  from  this  popular  behef  of  their  ahnost 
inimitable  age,  that  the  natives  generaUy  assert  that  the 
body  of  a  dead  elephant  is  seldom  or  never  to  be  dis- 
covered in  the  woods.  And  certain  it  is  that  fi'equenters 
of  the  forest  with  wdiom  I  have  conversed,  wdietlier 
European  or  Singhalese,  are  consistent  in  their  assurances 
that  they  have  never  found  the  remains  of  an  elephant 
that  had  died  a  natural  death.  One  chief,  the  Wannyah 
of  the  Trincomahe  district,  told  a  friend  of  mine,  that 
once  after  a  severe  murrain,  which  had  swept  the  pro- 


Chap.  VI.] 


COXDLTT    IX    CAPTIVITY. 


899 


vince,  he  found  the  carcases  of  elephants  that  had  died  of 
the  disease.  On  the  other  hand,  a  European  gentleman, 
who  for  thkty-six  years  without  intermission  has  been 
hving  in  the  jungle,  ascending  to  the  summit  of  moun- 
tains in  the  prosecution  of  the  trigonometrical  survey, 
and  penetrating  valleys  in  tracing  roads  and  opening 
means  of  communication  ;  one,  too,  who  has  made  the 
habits  of  the  wild  elephant  a  subject  of  constant  observa- 
tion and  study, — has  often  expressed  to  me  his  astonish- 
ment that  after  seeing  many  thousands  of  Mving  elephants 
in  all  possible  situations,  he  had  never  yet  found  a  single 
skeleton  of  a  dead  one,  except  of  those  which  had  fallen 
by  the  rifle.  ^ 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  bones  of  the  elephant 
may  be  so  porous  and  spongy  as  to  disappear  in  conse- 
quence of  early  decomposition  ;  but  this  remark  would 
not  apply  to  the  grinders  or  to  the  tusks ;  besides  which, 
the  inference  is  at  variance  with  the  fact,  that  not  only 
the  horns  and  teeth,  but  entire  skeletons  of  deer,  are 
frequently  fomid  in  the  districts  inhabited  by  the  ele- 
phant. 

The  natives,  to  account  for  tliis  popular  behef,  declare 
that  the  herd  bury  those  of  their  companions  who 
happen  to  perish.^  It  is  curious  that  this  belief  was 
current  also  amongst  the  Greeks  of  the  Lower  Empire ; 
and  Phile,  who  wrote  at  Constantinople  early  in  the 
fourteenth   century,    not    only    describes    the    younger 


^  Tbis  remark  regarding  the  ele- 
phant of  Ceylon  does  not  appear  to 
extend  to  that  of  iVfrica,  as  I  observe 
that  Beaver,  in  his  African  Me- 
moranda, says  that  "  the  skeletons  of 
old  ones  that  have  died  in  the  woods 
are  frequently  found."  —  African 
3Icnioran(/a  relative  to  an  atfeinpt  to 
establish  liriti^h  Settlements  at  the 
Island  of  Bulama.  Lon.  1815,  p.  353. 

^  A  corral  was  organised  near 
Putlani  in  184G,  by  Mr.  Morris,  the 
chief  officer  of  the  district.  It  was 
constructed  across  one  of  the  paths 


which  the  elephants  frequent  in  their 
frequent  marches,  and  during  the 
course  of  the  proceedings  two  of  the 
captured  elephants  died.  Their  car- 
cases were  left  of  coiu-se  within  the 
enclosure,  which  was  abandoned  as 
soon  as  the  captm-e  was  complete. 
The  •wild  elephants  resimied  their 
path  through  it,  and  a  few  days 
afterwards  the  headman  reported  to 
Mr.  Mon-is  that  the  bodies  had  been 
removed  and  carried  outside  the 
corral  to  a  spot  to  which  nothing  but 
the  elephants  coiild  have  bome  them. 


400 


THE    ELEPIL\XT. 


[rART  ym. 


elephants  as  tending  the  woiuided,  but  as  burying  the 
dead : 

*'  "Oroiv  0   eTTKTTfi  rr^g  TeXzurrig  b  ^oovog 
KoJvoD  riXryjg  Siixuvav  o  ^ivog  <^='^=<."^ 

The  Singhalese  have  a  further  superstition  in  relation 
to  the  closing  hfe  of  the  elephant :  they  beheve  that,  on 
feehng  the  approach  of  dissolution,  he  repaks  to  a  soli- 
tary valley,  and  there  resigns  himself  to  death. 

A  native  who  accompanied  Mr.  Cripps,  when  hunting 
in  the  forests  of  Anarajapoora,  intimated  that  he  was 
then  in  the  immediate  \'icinity  of  the  spot  "  to  which  the 
elephants  came  to  die,'"  but  that  it  was  so  mysteriously 
concealed,  that  although  every  one  beheved  in  its 
existence,  no  one  had  ever  succeeded  in  penetrating 
to  it.  At  the  corral  which  I  have  described  at 
Kornegalle,  in  1847,  Dehigame,  one  of  the  Kandyan 
chiefs,  assured  me  it  was  the  universal  behef  of  his 
countrymen,  that  the  elephants,  when  about  to  die, 
resorted  to  a  valley  in  Saffragam,  among  the  mountains 
to  the  east  of  Adam's  Peak,  which  was  reached  by  a 
narrow  pass  ^vith  walls  of  rock  on  either  side,  and  that 
there,  by  the  side  of  a  lake  of  clear  water,  they  took 
their  last  repose.^  It  was  not  mthout  mterest  that 
I  afterwards  recognised  this  tradition  in  the  story  of 
Sinbad  of  the  Sea,  who  in  his  Seventh  voyage,  after 
convepng  the  presents  of  Haroun  al  Easchid  to  the 
King  of  Serendib,  is  wrecked  on  his  return  from  Ceylon 
and  sold  as  a  slave  to  a  master  who  employs  him  iu 


^  PniLE,  Expositio  de  Elq)h.,  1. 
243. 

2  The  selection  by  animals  of  a 
place  to  die,  is  not  confined  to  the 
elepliant.  DARA\*rN  says,  that  in 
South  America  "  the  gixanacos 
(llamas)  appear  to  have  favourite 
spots  for  l\'ing  down  to  die ;  on  the 
banks  of  the  Santa  Cruz  river,  in 
certain  circimiscribed  spaces  which 
were  generally  bushy  trnd  all  near 


the  water,  the  ground  was  actually 
white  with  their  bones ;  on  one  such 
spot  I  counted  between  ten  and 
twenty  heads." — Ned.  Voy.  ch.  viii. 
The  same  has  been  remarked  in  the 
Eio  Gallegos ;  and  at  St.  .Jago  in 
the  Cape  de  Verde  Islands,  Dakwin 
saw  a  retired  corner  similarly  covered 
with  the  bones  of  the  goat,  as  if  it 
were  "  the  burial-pTouud  of  all  the 
ffoats  in  the  islmid." 


Chap.  VI.] 


CONDUCT    IX   CAPTIVITY. 


401 


shooting  elephants  for  the  sake  of  their  ivory;  till  one 
day  the  tree  on  which  he  was  stationed  having  been  up- 
rooted by  one  of  the  herd,  he  fell  senseless  to  the  ground, 
and  the  great  elephant  approaching  wound  his  trunk 
around  him  and  carried  him  away,  ceasing  not  to  pro- 
ceed, until  he  had  taken  liim  to  a  place  where,  his 
terror  having  subsided,  he  found  himself  amongst  the 
bones  of  elephants,  and  knew  that  this  was  their  burial 
place  "^  It  is  cmious  to  find  this  legend  of  Ceylon  in 
what  has,  not  inaptly,  been  described  as  the  "Ai^abian 
Odyssey "  of  Sinbad ;  the  original  of  which  evidently 
embodies  the  romantic  recitals  of  the  sailors  returning 
from  the  navigation  of  the  Indian  Seas,  in  the  middle 
ages^,  wliicli  were  current  amongst  the  Mussulmans,  and 
are  reproduced  in  various  forms  throughout  the  tales  of 
the  Arabian  Nights. 


^  Arabian  Kiyhts'  Entertainment, 
Lane's  edition,  vol.  iii.  p.  77. 

^  See  a  disquisition  on  tlie  oripin 
of    the    stoiy    of     Sinbad,    by    M. 


REiNArD,  in  the  inti-oduction  pre- 
fixed to  his  translation  of  the  Ara- 
bian Geogra2>h)j  of  Ahoidfeda,  vol.  i. 
p.  Ixxvi. 


VOL.    II. 


D    D 


402  THE    ELErHANT.  [Part  VIII. 


APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  VI. 


As  Elian's  work  on  tlie  Nature  of  Animals  has  never,  I  believe, 
been  republished  in  any  English  version,  and  the  passage  in 
relation  to  the  training  and  performance  of  elephants  is  so  per- 
tinent to  the  present  inquiry,  I  venture  to  subjoin  a  translation 
of  the  nth  Chapter  of  his  2nd  Book. 

"  Of  the  cleverness  of  the  elephant  I  have  spoken  else- 
where, and  Ukewise  of  the  manner  of  hunting.  I  have  men- 
tioned these  things,  a  few  out  of  the  many  which  others 
have  stated ;  but  for  the  present  I  purpose  to  speak  of  their 
musical  feeling,  their  tractability,  and  facility  in  learning 
what  it  is  difficult  for  even  a  human  being  to  acquire,  much 
less  a  beast,  hitherto  so  wild :  —  such  as  to  dance,  as  is  done 
on  the  stage ;  to  walk  with  a  measured  gait ;  to  listen  to  the 
melody  of  the  flute,  and  to  perceive  the  difference  of  sounds, 
that,  being  pitched  low  lead  to  a  slow  movement,  or  high  to  a 
quick  one :  all  this  the  elephant  learns  and  understands,  and  is 
accurate  withal,  and  makes  no  mistake.  Thus  has  Nature 
formed  him,  not  only  the  gi'eatest  in  size,  but  the  most  gentle  and 
most  easily  taught.  Now  if  I  were  going  to  write  about  the  trac- 
tability and  aptitude  to  learn  amongst  those  of  India,  ^Ethiopia, 
and  Libya,  I  should  probably  appear  to  be  concocting  a  tale  and 
acting  the  braggart,  or  to  be  telling  a  falsehood  respecting  the 
nature  of  the  animal  founded  on  a  mere  report,  all  which  it  be- 
hoves a  philosopher,  and  most  of  all  one  who  is  an  ardent  lover 
of  truth,  not  to  do.  But  what  I  have  seen  myself,  and  what 
others  have  described  as  having  occurred  at  Kome,  this  I  have 
chosen  to  narrate,  selecting  a  few  facts  out  of  many,  to  show 
the  particular  nature  of  those  creatures.  The  elephant  when 
tamed  is  an  animal  most  gentle  and  most  easily  led  to  do 
whatever  he  is  directed.  And  by  way  of  showing  honour  to 
time,  I  will  first  narrate  events  of  the  oldest  date.  Coesar  Ger- 
manicus,  the  nephew  of  Tiberiuis,  exhibited  once  a  public  show, 
wherein  there  were  many  full-grown  elephants,  male  and  female. 


Chap.  VI.]  APPENDIX.  403 

and  some  of  their  breed  born  in  this  country.    When  their  limb.? 
were  beginning  to  become   firm,  a  person   familiar  with   such 
animals  instructed  them  by  a  strange  and  surprising  method  of 
teaching ;  using  only  gentleness  and  kindness,  and  adding  to  his 
mild  lessons  the  bait  of  pleasant  and  varied  food.  By  this  means 
he  led  them  by  degrees  to  throw  off  all  wildnes.%  and,  as  it  were, 
to  desert  to  a  state  of  civilisation,   conducting  themselves  in  a 
manner  almost  human.     He  taught  them  neither  to  be  excited 
on  hearing  the  pipe,   nor  to  be  disturbed  by  the  beat  of  drum, 
but  to  be  soothed  by  the  sounds  of  the  reed,  and  to  endure  un- 
musical noises  and  the  clatter  of  feet  from  persons  while  march- 
ing ;  and  they  were  trained  to  feel  no  fear  of  a  mass  of  men,  nor 
to  be  enraged  at  the  infliction  of  blows,  not  even  when  compelled 
to  twist  their  limbs  and  to  bend  them  like  a  stage-dancer,  and 
this  too,  although  endowed  with  strength  and  might.    And  there 
is  in  this  a  very  noble  addition  to  nature,  not  to  conduct  them- 
selves in  a  disorderly  manner  and    disobediently  towards    the 
instructions  given  by  man ;  for  after  the    dancing-master  had 
made  them  expert,  and  they  had  learnt  their  lessons  accurately, 
they  did  not  belie  the    labour  of  his  instruction    whenever  a 
necessity  and  opportunity  called  upon  them  to  exhibit  what  they 
had  been  taught.     For  the  whole  troop  came  forward  from  this 
and  that  side  of  the  theatre,  and  divided  themselves  into  parties  ; 
they  advanced  walking  with  a  mincing  gait  and  exhibiting  in 
their  whole  body  and  persons  the  manners  of  a  beau,  clothed  in 
the  flowery  dresses  of  dancers ;  and  on  the  ballet-master  giving 
a  signal  Avith  his  voice,  they  fell  into  line  and  went  round  in  a 
circle,  and  if  it  were  requisite  to  deploy,  they  did  so.     They 
ornamented  the  floor  of  the  stage  by  throwing  flowers  upon  it, 
and  this  they  did  in  moderation  and  sparingly,  and  straightway 
they  beat  a  mea.sure  with  their  feet  and  kept  time  together. 

"  Now  that  Damon  and  Spintharus  and  Aristoxenus  and 
Xenophilus  and  Philoxenus  and  others  should  know  music  ex- 
cellently well,  and  for  their  cleverness  be  ranked  amongst  the 
few,  is  indeed  a  thing  of  wonder,  but  not  incredible,  nor  contrary 
at  all  to  reason.  For  this  reason  that  a  man  is  a  rational  animal, 
and  the  recipient  of  mind  and  intelligence.  But  that  a  joint- 
less  animal  {avapdpov)  should  understand  rhythm  and  melody, 
and  preserve  a  gesture,  and  not  deviate  from  a  measured  move- 
ment, and  fulfil  the  requirements  of  those  who  laid  down 
instructions,  these  are  gifts  of  nature,  I  think,  and  a  peculiarity 
in  every  way  astounding.     Added  to  these  there  were  things 

D    D   2 


404  THE    ELEPHAJfT.  [Part  VIII. 

enough  to  drive  the  spectator  out  of  his  senses ;  when  the  strewn 
rushes  and  other  materials  for  beds  on  the  ground  were  placed 
on  the  sand  of  the  theatre,  and  they  received  stuffed  mattresses 
such  as  belonged  to  rich  houses  and  variegated  bed  coverings, 
and  goblets  were  placed  there  very  expensive,  and  bowls  of  gold 
and  silver,  and  in  them  a  great  quantity  of  water  ;  and  tables 
were  placed  there  of  sweet-smelling  wood  and  ivory  very  superb ; 
and  upon  them  flesh  meats  and  loaves  enough  to  fill  the  stomachs 
of  animals  the  most  voracious.  When  the  preparations  were  com- 
pleted and  abundant,  the  banqueters  came  forward,  six  male  and 
an  equal  number  of  female  elephants ;  the  former  had  on  a  male 
dress,  and  the  latter  a  female ;  and  on  a  signal  being  given  they 
stretched  forward  their  trunks  in  a  subdued  manner,  and  took 
their  food  in  great  moderation,  and  not  one  of  them  appeared  to 
be  gluttonous,  greedy,  or  to  snatch  at  a  greater  portion,  as  did 
the  Persian  mentioned  by  Xenophon.  And  when  it  was  requi- 
site to  drink,  a  bowl  was  placed  by  the  side  of  each  ;  and  inhaling 
with  their  trunks  they  took  a  draught  very  orderh^ ;  and  then 
they  scattered  the  drink  about  in  fun ;  but  not  as  in  insult. 
Many  other  acts  of  a  similar  kind,  both  clever  and  astonishing, 
have  persons  described,  relating  to  the  peculiarities  of  these 
animals,  and  I  saw  them  writing  letters  on  Roman  tablets  with 
their  trunks,  neither  looking  awry  nor  turning  aside.  The  hand, 
however,  of  the  teacher  was  placed  so  as  to  be  a  guide  in  the 
formation  of  the  letters ;  and  while  it  was  writing  the  animal 
kept  its  eye  fixed  down  in  an  accomplished  and  scholarlike 
manner.'' 


PART    IX. 


THE  NORTHERN  FORESTS. 


D  D    3 


407 


CHAPTEE  I. 

FOREST  TRAVELLIXG  IX  CEYLOX. 

Ox  the  adjonrnment  of  the  Council  in  tlie  sprino-  of 
1848,  I  availed  myself  of  the  recess  in  order  to  acquire 
a  personal  knowledge  of  a  part  of  the  island  which  the 
urgency  of  piibhc  affairs  had  previously  prevented  me 
from  visiting.  The  journey  that  I  contemplated,  ex- 
tended round  the  unfrequented  country  Ipng  to  the 
north  of  the  MahaweUi-ganga  and  the  Kandyan  zone, 
comprising  that  section  of  the  island  which  formed,  at 
a  remote  period,  the  division  of  the  Singhalese  Kino- 
dom,  known  as  Pihiti,  or  the  Eaja-ratta.  It  includes 
the  ruins  of  two  of  the  ancient  capitals ;  Anarajapoora 
and  Pollanarrua ;  and  from  the  extent  of  its  works  for 
irrigation,  and  the  number  of  its  agricultural  com- 
munities, it  must  have  been,  at  an  early  period,  the 
most  productive  as  well  as  the  most  densely  populated 
portion  of  Ceylon.  This  character  it  retained  until  the 
misery  and  devastation  consequent  on  the  incursions 
and  domination  of  the  Malabars  reduced  its  cities  to 
ruins,  its  villages  to  desolation,  and  its  cultivated  lands 
to  wilderness  and  jungle.  With  the  exception  of  those 
tracts  which  approach  the  coast,  it  is  now  one  continuous 
forest,  extending  from  sea  to  sea,  concealing  the  ruins  of 
stupendous  monuments,  and  encircling  the  sites  of  pro- 
digious reservofrs ;  some  of  them  of  dimensions  so  vast, 
that  even  in  then-  decay  they  form  artificial  lakes  of  miles 
in  ckcumference. 

This  singular  region  is  so  httle  known  to  Europeans 
that  in  one  of  the  most  recent  Maps  of  Ceylon  \  it  is  left 


•  Adas  of  the  Socictij  for  the  DiJJ'mivn  of  Useful  Kiiotdedje. 

D    D    4 


408  THE   NOKTHEEN   FOKESTS.  [Part  IX. 

blank  as  an  "  Uiiexplored  district ;"  —  yet  it  is  by  no 
means  destitute  of  population.  Scattered  throughout  its 
recesses,  there  exists  a  senii-ci\dlised  race,  whose  members 
have  httle  or  no  intercourse  with  the  inhabitants  of  the 
rest  of  the  island,  but  dwell  apart  in  these  deep  sohtudes, 
subsisting  by  the  cultivation  of  rice,  generally  in  the 
basins  of  deserted  tanks,  or  on  the  marghis  of  the  neglected 
watercourses. 

One  vast  expanse  to  the  north-east  of  the  Kandyan 
mountains  is  known  by  the  name  of  the  Vedda-ratta, 
or  country  of  the  Yeddahs,  a  harmless  and  uncivihsed 
tribe,  who  hve  in  caves,  or  inhabit  rude  dwellings  con- 
structed of  bark  and  grass.  For  food  they  are  dependent 
upon  then-  arrows,  and  they  never  leave  the  \'icinity  of 
their  solitary  homes,  except  at  certain  periods  of  the 
year,  when  they  visit  the  confines  of  the  civilised  country 
in  order  to  barter  honey  and  dried  deer-flesh  for  arrow- 
heads and  other  articles,  essential  in  their  rude  mode  of 
life. 

The  influence  of  the  successive  settlements  planted 
in  turn  by  Em^opeans,  on  the  confines  of  tliis  secluded 
district,  has  never  penetrated  far  within  its  borders. 
Whilst  the  forts  and  the  factories  estabhshed  by  the 
Portuguese  and  the  Dutch,  at  Batticaloa,  Cottiar,  and 
Trmcomahe  on  the  eastern  coast,  and  at  Jafhia  and 
Manaar  on  the  west,  enabled  them  to  maintain  a  suffi- 
ciently secure  position  for  the  protection  of  their  com- 
merce, no  evidence  remains  of  their  having  estabhshed, 
or  sought  to  estabhsh,  then*  authority  permanently  in 
the  interior  of  Neuera-kalawa  or  the  Wanny.  Even 
the  English,  tiU  recently,  devoted  no  attention  to  these 
outlying  provinces ;  but  a  highway  has  lately  been  cut 
due  north  and  south  through  the  central  forests, 
from  Jafliia  to  Kandy;  one  branch  extending  eastward 
to  Trincomahe,  and  a  second  westward  through  Anarnja- 
poora  to  Putlam.  Other  roads  are  in  progress,  leachng 
to  the  interior  from  those  points  on  the  coast  Avhere  the 
Malabar  Coohes  disembark,  on  arriving  from  the  con- 


CuAr.  1.]  FOEEST   TRAVELLING    IN   CEYLON.  409 

tinent  of  Lidia,  in  quest  of  employment  in  the  coffee 
plantations  of  the  Central  Province.  In  consequence  of 
the  opening  of  these,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  annual 
current  of  immigration,  instead  of  setting,  as  it  has 
hitherto  done,  along  the  hot  sands  and  inhospitable 
deserts  of  the  western  shore,  may  be  tempted  to  pass 
by  the  central  hne  of  communication,  where  the  faci- 
hties  for  obtaining  shade  and  water  w^ill  increase  the 
comforts  of  theu"  march ;  and  the  sight  of  vast  tracts  of 
arable  but  now  unoccupied  land  may  eventually  lead  to 
the  permanent  settlement  in  the  island  of  some  portion  of 
these  migratory  labourers. 

Another  ckcumstance  which  wdll  contribute  to  tlie 
improvement  of  the  northern  section  of  the  island,  is  the 
attention  recently  dii'ected  to  the  sea-borde  as  a  suitable 
locahty  for  the  cultivation  of  the  coco-nut.  Within  the 
last  twenty  years,  large  plantations  of  these  palms  have 
been  formed  at  Batticaloa  on  the  east,  at  Jaffna  on  the 
north,  and  at  Chilaw  and  Calpentyn  on  the  west  of  the 
great  central  forests ;  and  it  is  reasonable  to  expect  that 
the  success  of  these  will  stimulate  agriculture  inland, 
settlers  being  encouraged  by  the  known  fertihty  of  the 
soil,  and  by  the  facihties  for  travel,  provided  by  the  roads 
already  in  existence  and  to  be  extended  hereafter  by 
means  of  those  now  in  progress. 

I  set  out  on  my  joiu-ney  with  the  intention  of  crossing 
the  island  from  west  to  east,  from  Colombo  to  Batti- 
caloa. To  reach  the  latter  ])lace,  I  did  not  avail  myself 
of  the  convenient  but  circuitous  high  road  by  Neuera- 
ellia  and  Badulla ;  but  made  arrangements  for  riding 
across  the  island  in  a  dkcct  line  from  Kandy,  by  way  of 
Bintenne  through  the  country  of  the  Veddalis,  in  order 
to  become  acquainted  with  the  actual  state  of  these  w^ild 
creatmres,  and  to  enable  myself  to  judge  of  the  amount 
of  success  which  had  attended  the  recent  attempts  to 
introduce  civihsation,  and  induce  them  to  settle  in  vil- 
lages and  engage  in  agricultiu'e.  From  Batticaloa,  I 
[iroposed  to  turn  northward  to  Trincomahe,  and  there, 


410  THE   XORTIIERX   FORESTS.  [Pakt  IX. 

leaving  tlic  coast,  to  strike  inland  for  the  purpose  of 
visiting  the  great  tank  of  Padivil,  one  of  the  most  stu- 
pendous in  Ceylon.  Thence  I  arranged  to  return  east- 
ward to  the  sea  at  Moeletivoe ;  to  proceed  to  the  penin- 
sula of  Jaffna,  and  finally  to  reach  the  Gulf  of  Manaar  in 
time  to  be  received  on  board  the  Government  steamship, 
when  on  her  way  to  the  annual  inspection  of  the  Pearl 
Banks,  in  the  Bay  of  Condatchy ;  and  thus  to  return  by 
sea  to  Colombo. 

The  arrangement  of  provisions  for  such  a  journey, 
forms  one  of  the  leading  difficulties  in  all  expeditions 
through  this  region  of  Ceylon.  From  time  immemorial, 
the  natives  of  the  central  and  northern  provinces,  and 
especially  the  inhabitants  of  the  ancient  Kandyan  king- 
dom, have  been  averse  to  trade,  and  indisposed  either 
to  labour  for  hire,  or  to  exchange  the  produce  of  their 
lands  for  money.  In  fact,  till  a  very  recent  period, 
money  Avas  almost  unknown  in  these  parts  of  the  island ; 
and  the  policy  of  the  chiefs  was  inimical  ahke  to  the 
active  industry  which  is  creative  of  property,  and  to  the 
process  of  barter  which  would  lead  to  the  accumulation 
of  wealth  ; — either  would  have  subverted  the  system  of 
dependence,  whereby  the  tillers  of  the  soil  were  rendered 
subservient  to  thek  cliiefs ;  and  both  were,  therefore, 
as  far  as  possible  discouraged  amongst  all  who  were 
amenable  to  their  sway.  In  general,  the  soil  is  the  ex- 
clusive property  of  the  headmen,  and  those  who  cidti- 
vate  it,  in  place  of  papng  rent  to  its  proprietors,  receive 
fi^oni  them  payment  in  kind.  Thus,  throughout  the 
hill  country,  the  chiefs  may  be  said  to  retain  sole  pos- 
session of  nearly  all  tlie  grain  that  is  grown ;  Avith  it 
they  remunerate  their  labom^ers,  maintain  their  house- 
holds, and,  by  issuing  food  from  their  baronial  gra- 
naries in  times  of  famine,  rivet  more  closely  the 
dependency  of  their  people.  The  ambition  of  a  chief 
is  not  to  amass  property,  but  to  acqime  land :  and 
land  is  prized  not  for  produce,  as  represented  by  its 
value  in  money,  but  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  re- 


Chap.  I.]  FOREST   TRAVELLIXG    IX   CEYLOX.  411 

taiiiers  and  dependents  it  will  feed.  Hence  the  peasantry 
have  seldom  corn  to  dispose  of :  no  Kandyan  betakes  him- 
self to  dealing  or  to  barter,  and  few  \illages  possess  even 
the  convenience  of  a  bazaar. 

In  setting  out  therefore  on  any  lengthened  expedition, 
it  is  indispensable  that  Europeans  shoidd  pro\dde  them- 
selves with  means  for  carrymg  from  town  to  town  the 
sup23hes  of  rice  and  other  articles  necessary  for  their  own 
consumption,  and  even  the  gram  ^  and  paddi  required  for 
the  use  of  their  horses.  On  the  journey  of  Avliich  I  am 
spealdng,  our  tents  were  carried  by  elephants,  beds,  bag- 
gage canteens,  and  provisions  by  coohes,  and  our  party  at 
the  first  encampment,  mcluding  servants,  horse-keepers, 
arid  grass-cutters,  mustered  one  hundred  and  fifty  persons. 
We  found  that  milk,  eggs,  and  fowl,  were  to  be  procured 
at  some  of  the  villages  on  the  route,  and  occasionally  a 
sheep  or  a  cow  :  and  along  the  sea-coast  we  had  frequently 
supphes  of  fish,  but  in  the  main  we  were  dependent  upon 
the  guns  of  the  party  for  pro\dding  oiur  table.  Through- 
out, venison  and  game  were  to  be  had  in  abundance,  espe- 
cially pea-fowl,  jungle-cocks,  flamingoes,  and  parrots, 
which  last  make  excellent  pies.  Water,  except  in  the 
vicinity  of  rivers,  was  scarce ;  generally  bad,  near  the 
sea,  owing  to  the  prevalence  of  salt  marshes  ;  —  and  in  the 
low-country,  where  streams  are  rare,  and  wells  few,  the 
only  supply  was  derived  from  artificial  tanks  and  tlieii* 
tributary  streams  and  outlets,  in  which  the  sediment  is 
liable  to  be  stuTcd  up  at  all  times  by  cattle,  and  by  deer 
and  elephants  which  resort  to  them  after  sunset,  or  bathe 
in  them  dm^mg  the  night.  To  correct  the  impurity  of  the 
tank-water,  when  intended  for  their  own  use,  the  natives 
employ  a  horny  seed,  the  produce  of  a  species  of  strych- 
nus,  about  the  size  of  a  coffee-bean,  called  by  the  Tamils 
tettan-kotta,  and  by  the  Singhalese  ingini?  This  they 
mib  round  the  inside  of  the  unglazed  earthen  chatty  in 


*   Gram   is  tlio  jiea   of  the  Ciccr  I       ^  Stiyclinus  potatorum. 
arietinumy — paddi,  rice  in  the  husk. 


412  THE   Is^OETHERN   FOKESTS.  [Part  IX. 

wliicli  the  muddy  water  is  held,  till  about  one  half  of 
the  seed  is  ground  off,  which  minghng  with  the  water 
it   forms  a  delicate  mucilao'e.     In  the   course  of  a  few 

o 

minutes  the  impure  particles  being  seized  by  this,  de- 
scend and  form  an  apparently  viscid  sediment  at  the 
bottom,  whilst  the  clearer  fluid  remains  at  the  top,  and 
although  not  altogether  bright,  it  is  sufficiently  pm-e  for 
ordinary  purposes. 

The  necessity  of  carrying  supplies  for  two  months  for  so 
large  a  company,  through  a  country  which,  for  the  first 
three  hundred  miles  after  leaving  Kandy,  was  altogether 
destitute  of  roads,  rendered  progress  toilsome  and  slow. 
Our  day's  journey  seldom  exceeded  fifteen  miles,  as  the 
bearers  and  foot-runners  coidd  not  accomphsh  more,  and 
even  at  this  pace  they  requu'e  an  occasional  halt  of  a  day 
or  two  to  recruit. 

For  the  first  five  or  six  miles  after  leaving  Kandy, 
we  had  the  advantage  of  a  carriage-road,  and  for  twenty 
more  our  route  lay  along  a  bridle-path,  which  had  been 
formed  some  thkty  years  before,  for  the  purpose  of 
keeping  up  a  military  communication  with  the  Fort  of 
Badulla,  but  this  has  been  abandoned  ever  since  the 
opening  of  the  highway  across  the  mountains  of  Neuera- 
elha.  On  leaving  this  rugged  road,  we  struck  into  the 
great  Eastern  Forest,  through  Avliich  oiu-  path  lay  for 
many  days,  till  we  began  to  approach  the  low  marshy 
plains  in  the  vicinity  of  Batticaloa.  For  the  most  part, 
we  made  our  way,  under  cover  of  lofty  trees,  along  tracks 
with  which  the  natives  were  famihar,  but  which  it  would 
be  hazardous  for  a  stranger  to  attempt  to  follow  Avithout 
the  aid  of  an  experienced  guide.  In  fact,  immediately 
after  descending  from  the  hills,  the  face  of  the  country 
is  so  level,  that  no  eminence  arises  for  miles  from  wliich 
it  would  be  possible  for  a  traveller  to  discern  any  land- 
marks for  his  direction.  Once  or  tmce  in  our  journey, 
we  had  an  opportunity  of  ascendmg  detached  rocks  from 
which  the  level  forest  alone  Avas  visible,  stretching  aAvay 
to  the  verge  of  the  horizon.      On  such  occasions,  the 


CiiAF.  I.]  FOREST   TRAVELLING    IX    CEYLOX.  413 

feeling  experienced  was  ratlier  nervous  and  uneasy; 
emergino;  for  an  instant  from  beneath  an  ocean  of  foliafje 
in  whose  depths  we  were  wandering,  viewing  its  boundless 
green  expanse  extending  on  every  side,  "without  inequahty, 
and  apparently  without  end, —  then  descending  again  into 
the  depths  of  the  forest,  and  trusting  to  our  senii-civihsed 
guides  to  pilot  us  in  safety  through  the  endless  labp-uith 
of  woods. 

There  is  something  solemn  and  impressive  in  the 
majestic  repose  of  these  leafy  solitudes,  where  the  deep 
silence  is  unbroken,  except  by  the  hum  of  innumerable 
insects,  whose  noises,  though  far  too  fine  and  delicate  to 
be  individually  audible,  unite  to  form  an  aggregate  of 
gentle  sounds,  that  murmur  softly  on  every  side,  and  pro- 
duce an  effect  singularly  soothmg  and  di'eamy.  It  is  a 
popular,  but  erroneous  behef,  that  these  dense  woods  are 
the  dweUings  of  numerous  animals,  which  find  food  and 
shelter  within  their  deep  recesses ;  and  nothing  more 
powerfidly  excites  sm^prise  in  a  stranger's  mind,  than  the 
comparative  scarcity  of  hfe  in  the  heart  of  these  thick 
forests.  Even  birds  are  rarely  seen  in  their  depths,  and 
other  creatures  begin  to  appear  only  when  we  come  to  the 
confines  of  the  plains,  and  enter  those  pastm-e  lands  and 
park-like  openings,  which  occur  in  the  immediate  vicuiity 
of  the  low  country. 

The  fact  is  that  the  density  of  the  forest,  though  capable 
of  affording  cover  to  the  wilder  carnivora,  is  unftxvourable 
to  the  growth  of  any  kind  of  herbage  fitted  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  graminivorous  animals.  Quadrupeds  are 
therefore  compelled  to  keep  for  the  most  part  on  the 
verge  of  the  open  country,  and  in  the  \dcinity  of  water, 
where  the  phytophagous  tribes  find  abundance  of  food, 
and  the  carnivorous  congregate  attracted  by  the  resort  of 
the  others. 

Generally,  our  horses  were  able  to  ford,  or  to  swim 
over,  such  rivers  as  we  were  obhged  to  cross  on  our 
route  ;  but  tlie  more  rapid  and  impetuous  streams  we 
passed  in  canoes  or  on  rafts  formed  of  sticks  laid  across 


414  THE   NORTHERN    FORESTS.  [rARX  IX. 

two  hollowed  trunks  of  trees.  Whenever  it  was  prac- 
ticable, we  halted  for  the  night  in  the  pansela  of  a  temple  ; 
and  on  the  more  frequented  tracks,  towards  the  coast,  we 
had  occasionally  tlie  shelter  of  the  government  rest-houses  ; 
but  in  the  majority  of  instances,  we  spent  the  night  either 
under  tents,  or  in  booths  which  the  natives  rapidly  con- 
structed of  fresh  branches,  dexterously  covered  with  leaves 
and  grass. 

The  servants  and  attendants  were  formed  into  two 
companies,  of  which  one  was  always  in  advance,  sent 
forward  to  make  arrangements  for  our  arrival  at  the 
next  halting  place,  so  that  the  set  of  tents  in  which  we 
dined  and  slept  passed  us  on  our  subsequent  march  and 
were  ready  for  our  reception  at  breakfast  on  the  following 
morninG;.  We  were  in  the  saddle  before  sunrise,  and  our 
arrival  at  the  scene  of  our  mid-day  rest,  which  was  gene- 
rally beside  a  river  or  a  tank,  was  the  signal  for  the  light- 
ing of  the  cooking  fires,  the  compounding  of  curries,  the 
preparation  of  coffee,  the  roasting  of  game  on  wooden 
spits,  and  the  other  arrangements  for  a  morning  repast. 
By  the  time  that  we  had  fully  enjoyed  the  luxmy  of  a 
bath,  breakfast  was  ready  to  be  eaten  with  the  rehsli 
which  morning;  exercise  alone  can  secure.  When  the 
heat  of  noon  was  past,  we  resumed  oiu:  route,  to  reach 
our  next  encampment  after  sunset,  and  there  to  dine  and 
spend  the  night.  Such  traveUing  was  unaccompanied 
with  privations  or  discomfort ;  its  freedom  was  indescri- 
bably exhilarating  and  enjoyable,  and  I  shall  ever  look 
back  to  these  journeys  as  the  most  agreeable  of  the  many 
pleasant  incidents  that  marked  my  residence  in  Ceylon. 


415 


CHAP.  11. 

BINTEXXE. THE    NAVIGATION"    OF    THE    MAIIAWELLI-GAXGA. 

THE   CUSTOM    OF    POLYANDRY. THE    RESTORATION    OF 

THE    RUINED    TANKS. 

All  preparations  for  our  journey  having  been  completed, 
the  elephants  with  the  heavy  baggage  were  sent  forward 
from  Kandy  on  tlie  7th  of  February,  and  on  the  follow- 
ing evening  we  set  out  by  the  lower  Badulla  road,  which 
for  some  distance  follows  the  descent  of  tlie  Maliawelli- 
ganga,  afterwards  turning  due  east,  towards  Bintenne, 
and  the  country  of  the  Veddahs.  JSTothing  can  be  finer 
than  the  scenery  along  this  portion  of  the  river  ;  wliich 
falls  1500  feet  between  Kandy  and  Bintenne;  making 
its  way  through  the  gorges  of  those  wonderfid  hills, 
wooded  to  their  highest  ascents,  and  so  steep  that,  when 
standing  by  the  water's  edge,  it  strains  the  eye  to  look 
upward  to  then-  summits.  The  great  current  is  turbu- 
lent in  the  extreme ;  it  rolls  down  long  dech\'ities  and 
struggles  between  rocks  of  granite,  with  a  loud  roar 
that  came  up  through  tlie  thick  forest  to  the  path  by 
which  we  rode,  so  high  above  the  river  that  its  channel 
was  hardly  discernible  in  the  valley  below.  Presently, 
as  we  journeyed  along,  we  caught  sight  of  it  emer- 
ging from  woody  defiles,  and  spreading  its  waters  into 
placid  levels  over  deep  beds  of  yellow  sand,  from  the 
repeated  occurrence  of  which  it  has  acquired  the  name 
of  the  "  great  sandy  river."  Its  banks  are  fringed 
with  the  graceful  foliage  of  the  bamboos,  which  here 
attain  a  height  of  fifty  to  sixty  feet,  their  feathery 
crowns  waving  majestically,  hke  ostrich  plumes,  above 
the  stream. 

The  almost  abandoned  path  by  which  we  descended 


416  THE    NOKTHERX    FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

presented  many  objects  of  curious  interest ;  it  was  fre- 
quently crossed  by  rivulets  from  the  mountains,  one  so 
densely  charged  mth  calcareous  matter  that  it  had  coated 
the  rocks  in  its  descent  with  a  deposit,  wliich  lay  so  thick 
as  almost  to  form  an  elevated  channel  for  the  stream ; 
others  were  impregnated  with  iron,  and  so  highly  coloured 
as  to  indicate  its  presence  in  great  abundance  in  the  liills 
above. 

For  the  first  ten  miles  after  leaving  Kandy,  the 
rivers  are  either  bridged  or  fordable  ;  but,  after  sunset, 
we  came  to  the  Maha-oya,  the  first  which  presented 
neither  of  these  facihties.  As  we  rode  down  to  its 
bank,  a  headman,  the  coralle  of  the  district,  appeared 
with  his  foUowers  on  the  further  side,  and  a  httle  raft 
pushed  off  towards  us,  constructed  of  branches  laid 
across  two  hollowed  trees.  On  this  we  placed  ourselves 
and  our  saddles,  and  with  our  horses  swimmmg  behind 
us,  reached  the  opposite  bank,  whence  a  ride  of  two 
miles  to  the  top  of  the  pass  of  Gonnegamme  brought  us 
to  the  native  house,  where  oiu*  servants  were  awaiting 
om^  arrival.  It  was  a  poor  hovel,  its  wretchedness 
but  ill  concealed  by  the  wliite  cloths  with  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  native  fashion,  the  walls  and  ceilings 
were  hung  in  honom^  of  strangers.  It  afforded  us, 
however,  cover  for  the  night,  our  servants  sleepmg  out- 
side in  the  open  air,  and  before  daybreak  we  were 
again  in  the  saddle  by  torchhght  en  route  for  the^bank 
of  the  Ooma-oya  \  wliich  we  hoped  to  reach  in  time  for 
breakfast. 

The  low-country  Smghalese  make  these  torches,  or 
"  chules,"  as  they  are  caUed,  out  of  the  dry  leaves  of  the 
coco-nut  palm,  binding  them  into  bundles  six  feet  long, 
and  three  or  foiu-  inches  in  diameter,  and  these  burn  for 
about  half  an  hour  if  dexterously  carried.  In  the  north, 
however,  wdiere  tlie  coco-nut  is  rare,  the  inhabitants  employ 
an  mgenious  substitute,  and  form  a  much  superior  torch 

1  Ganga,  in  Singaleso,  meaus  a  gi-eat  river;  Oya,  a  smaller  one;  and 
EUa,  a  ri^1llet  or  stieam. 


Chap.  II.]  CROSSING   EIVEKS.  417 

generally  out  of  a  straight  dried  branch  of  the  "  welang 
tree "  ^  of  which  the  Veddahs  make  their  arroAvs.  Tliis 
is  bruised  into  loose  strips,  some  of  which  extend  the 
whole  length  of  the  branch,  so  that  the  bundle  does  not 
require  to  be  tied,  and  at  the  same  time  is  rendered  so 
flexible  and  elastic  that  it  biu"ns  fi-eely  and  steadily.  On 
a  journey,  a  "  chule"  of  the  latter  description  will  last 
for  two  hours  :  they  are  used  everywhere  in  the  north 
by  travellers  and  foot-runners  to  warn  bears  out  of  the 
path,  and  by  the  watchers  to  drive  away  wild  boars 
and  elephants  from  nocturnal  visits  to  the  rice  lands. 
A  party  in  motion  before  sunrise  forms  a  picturesque 
object  winding  down  a  mountain  pass  by  torchhght, 
and  still  more  so  when  the  flames  of  the  chules  are  re- 
flected from  the  waters  of  an  inland  lake,  as  they  skirt 
along  its  margin. 

Instead  of  arriving  at  the  Ooma-oya  for  breakfast  as 
we  had  expected,  we  found  the  road,  which  for  a  good 
part  of  the  way  runs  in  the  bed  of  a  torrent,  so  much 
injured  by  the  rains  and  the  flooded  streams,  that  it  was 
nearly  sunset  before  we  reached  our  destination.  In 
descending  from  the  hiUs  we  had  to  cross  several  tribu- 
taries of  the  MahaweUi-ganga,  the  passage  of  wliich, 
owing  to  the  rocks,  we  found  much  more  troublesome 
than  that  of  rivers  of  the  same  size  in  the  low  country, 
^vdiere  the  quiet  depth  of  water  enables  horses  to  swam 
with  ease.  But  it  is  difficult  to  induce  a  horse  to  swim 
the  rapid  rivers  in  the  hill  country,  and  nearly  impossible 
to  ford  them,  broken  up  as  they  frequently  are  into 
pools  and  obstructed  by  rocks.  We  crossed  one  stream 
of  great  volume  and  tm^bulence,  the  Koorinda-oya, 
or  "  Cinnamon  river,"  on  a  tree  adroitly  felled,  so 
as  to  faU  at  right  angles  with  the  stream ;  our  horses 
scrambling  over  the  rocks  and  through  the  eddies 
higher  up. 

The  Ooma-oya,  which  we  reached  at  sunset,  and  near 
which  we  halted  for  the  night,  is  the  deepest  and  largest 

^  rierosj}ermum  mberifolium, 
VOL.  II.  E    E 


418  THE   NORTHERN   FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

of  those  which  flow  into  this  portion  of  the  Mahawelli- 
ganga.  Our  elephants  were  exceedingly  reluctant  to 
enter  it,  but  their  loads  having  been  sent  over  on  rafts, 
their  drivers  forced  them  to  plunge  in :  and  they  swam 
across,  burying  eveiy  portion  of  their  bodies  beneath 
the  water,  mth  the  exception  of  the  tips  of  their 
trunks.  Occasionally  they  raised  their  heads  to  observe 
their  com^se,  and  then  sank  again,  makuig  du-ect  for  the 
opposite  bank. 

During  the  night  rain  began  to  fall  heavily,  and 
appeared  to  threaten  a  long  continuance.  This  was  a 
serious  embarrassment,  as  we  had  still  two  of  the  most 
dangerous  rivers  to  cross  before  reaching  Bintenne,  and 
if  we  had  delayed  till  these  had  become  swelled  by  the 
flood,  it  appeared  certain  that  they  would  be  impassable, 
as  our  coohes  and  foot-runners  Avould  have  found 
neither  a  boat  nor  a  ford.  Besides,  as  one  party  of  our 
people  in  charge  of  the  stores  and  provisions  had  not 
yet  come  up,  we  had  reason  to  fear  that  some  of  the 
streams  which  we  had  crossed  the  day  before  were 
already  swollen  into  torrents.  It  was  clear,  therefore, 
that  if  we  did  not  get  on  at  once  to  Bintenne,  where 
provisions  Avere  abundant,  we  Avere  hkely  er^  long  to 
find  ourselves  enclosed  between  impracticable  rivers  on 
either  side,  without  food  for  ourselves,  rice  for  our  people, 
or  corn  for  our  cattle.  Xo  time  Avas  to  be  lost ;  despite 
the  rain  Ave  got  again  in  motion,  SAvam  the  Badulla 
river  and  the  Logole-oya,  Avhich  Avere  already  rolhng 
in  torrents  ;  and  by  sunset  reached  Pangragamme  in 
safety. 

This  village  consists  of  a  fcAv  mud  houses  built  under 
tamarind  trees  of  patriarchal  age  and  prodigious  size. 
As  it  is  situated  in  a  holloAV,  these  rude  dwellings  Avere 
rendered  uncomfortable  by  the  rains,  the  floors  being 
turned  to  black  mud,  besides  Avhich  Avater  oozed  tlirou2rli 
the  erass  thatch  in  all  directions.  PanjT^ra£!;anime  is 
inhabited  chiefly,  if  not  exclusively,  by  Moors,  who 
have    erected    there    a   small   mosque  of  the   humblest 


Chap.  II.]  BINTENNE.  419 

pretensions.  It  is  the  point  at  wliicli  the  principal  road 
turns  off  to  Welasse.  a  district  whose  fertihty  in  ancient 
times  procured  for  it  the  name  Wel-laksya,  or  "  tlie 
hundred  thousand  rice  fields,"  which  it  bears  to  tlie 
present  day  ;  but  the  miserable  state  of  its  cultivation  ill 
sustains  its  title  to  that  designation.  To  remain  in  such 
wretched  quarters  longer  than  was  absolutely  necessary 
was  by  no  means  desirable,  and  by  daybreak  we  were 
again  on  horseback  for  Bintenne. 

On  our  arrival  we  found  the  large  pansela,  or  dwell- 
ing of  the  priests  attached  to  the  great  temple,  hung 
with  white  cloth  and  prepared  for  our  reception  ;  and 
our  tent  furniture  having  been  arranged,  we  took  up 
our  residence  for  a  day  or  two  ;  if  not  in  agreeable 
quarters  at  least  under  shelter  from  the  storm  ;  w^ith 
leisure  to  open  our  portmanteaus,  which  had  been  wetted 
in  forchng  the  rivers,  and  to  await  more  favourable 
weather  for  resuming  our  journey.  The  tents  also  were 
so  soaked,  that  the  elephants  were  unequal  to  their  weight, 
and  could  not  proceed  until  they  had  been  dried  in 
the  sun. 

In  the  district  through  which  we  had  been  passing 
the  population  was  thin  and  cultivation  rare.  Occasion- 
ally paddi-fields  were  to  be  seen  near  the  Mahawelh- 
ganga,  or  terraced  high  up  in  the  recesses  between  two 
hills  where  a  stream  afforded  the  means  of  irrigation ; 
and  now  and  then  we  could  descry,  on  the  tops  of  some 
of  the  mountains,  the  temporary  Chena  villages,  as 
they  are  called,  of  squatters,  who  settle  there  fi-oni  time 
to  time  to  burn  down  patches  of  the  jungle  and  reap  a 
single  crop  of  dry  rice  or  millet,  after  which  the  soil  is 
left  to  fallow  for  a  series  of  years  before  the  operation 
can  be  repeated.  But  in  the  vicinity  of  Bintenne,  the 
country  is  infinitely  more  rich  and  productive.  Eice  is 
cultivated  on  an  extensive  scale,  and  we  found  none  of 
the  usual  difficulties  in  purchasing  food  for  our  people  or 
fodder  for  our  horses. 

The  town  of  Bintenne  is  situated  in  a  wide  level  plain, 

E   E   2 


420 


THE   NORTHERX   FORESTS. 


[Part  IX. 


at  an  anp;lc  wliere  tlie  river,  after  running  clue  east  from 
Kancly  for  fifty  miles,  turns  suddenly  north  to  seek  the 
sea  at  Trincomahe.  The  tracts  around  this  spot  are 
watered  by  a  stream  wliich  joins  the  river,  but  is  inter- 
cepted near  the  village  of  Horrabora,  about  three  miles 
from  Bintenne,  and  there  serves  to  fill  one  of  tliose  stu- 
pendous tanks,  the  ruins  of  whicli  occur  so  frequently 
throughout  tlie  north  of  Ceylon.  If  husbanded,  the 
contents  of  tliis  reservoir  would  be  sufficient  to  UTigate 
a  prodigious  extent  of  rice  land,  but  at  present  its 
embankment  is  broken,  its  contents  are  permitted  to 
run  to  waste,  and  only  a  few  fields  are  enriched  by 
them ;  but  even  these  are  capable  of  more  than  supply- 
ing the  wants  of  the  declining  population  of  Bintenne  and 
the  surrounding  district. 

In  point  of  antiquity  Binteime  transcends  even  the 
historic  renown  of  Anarajapoora.  Long  before  the 
Wijayan  invasion,  it  was  one  of  the  chief  cities  of  the 
aborigines,  and  Gotama,  on  his  first  visit  to  Lanka,  de- 
scended "  in  the  agreeable  Mahanaga  garden,  the  assem- 
bhng  place  of  the  Yakkos  ;"  the  site  of  which  is  still 
marked  by  the  ruins  of  a  dagoba,  buih  three  liundred 
years  before  tlie  Christian  era,  by  the  brother  of  King 
Devenipiatissa,  in  commemoration  of  that  great  event. ^ 
The  city,  which  was  then  caUed  Mahayangana,  continued 
for  many  centuries  to  be  one  of  the  most  important 
places  in  Ceylon.  It  was  the  birthplace  of  Sangatissa, 
the  king  who,  in  the  year  a.d,  234,  placed  a  glass  ])in- 
nacle  on  the  spire  of  the  Ruanwelle  dagoba,  at  the  capital 


^  3Ia]iawanso,  ch.  i.  p.  3.  Accord- 
ing' to  tlie  3I(th(twimso,  Gotcama  gave 
to  the  chief  of  the  devos  Sumano,  ^'  a 
handful  of  pure  blue  locks  from 
the  growino-  hair  of  liis  head,"  and 
this,  together  Avith  the  bone  of  liis 
thorax  recovered  from  liis  funeral 
pile,  was  enclosed  in  the  origi- 
nal dagoba,  built  shortly  after  his 
decease.  "  Tlic  younger  brother  of 
King  Devenipiatissa  (B.C.  307),  dis- 
covering this  marvellous  dagoba,  con- 
structed another,  encasing  it,  thirty 


cubits  in  height ;  the  King  Dutlia- 
gaminu  (b.c.  104)  constructed  a 
dagoba,  enclosing  tliat  one  eiglity 
cubits  in  height ;  and  th  as  was  the 
Mahayangana  dagoba  coniplcited." — 
Ihkl.,  ch.  i.  p.  4.  Tlie  existence  of 
this  dagoba  and  its  contents,  were 
alluded  to  as  antiquities  by  Mahindo, 
in  his  conversations  with  Deveni- 
piatissa, previously  to  tlie  final  (estab- 
lishment of  tlie  lUiddliist  religion  in 
Ceylon.- — Ibid.,  ch.  x\  ii.  p.  104. 


CiiAi'.  ir.] 


BINTENNE. 


421 


"  to  serve  as  a  protection  against  lightning ; "  ^  and 
Bintenne  (not  Maliagam,  as  is  generally  snpposed)  was 
the  Maagrammum  of  Ptolemy,  which  he  describes  as 
the  "  metropolis  "  of  Taprobane,  "  beside  the  great  river  " 
Mahawelli-ganga. 

The  ruined  dagoba  stands  close  by  the  pansela  in  wliicli 
we  were  lodG:ed.  It  is  a  huo-e  semicircular  mound  of 
brickwork,  three  hundred  and  sixty  feet  in  circumference, 
and  still  one  hundred  feet  high,  but  so  much  decayed 
at  the  top,  that  its  original  outline  is  no  longer  ascertain- 
able. Wlien  Spilberg  the  Dutch  admiral  saw  it,  on  liis 
way  to  Kandy  in  1602  ",  it  was  comparatively  perfect, 
as  white  as  marble,  and  sm-mounted  by  a  "  gilded 
pyramid."  ^  There  were  at  that  time  a  number  of  other 
monuments,  and  a  Buddhist  monastery,  the  priests  of 
which  Spilberg  describes  as  moving  along  the  streets 
under  the  shade  of  large  umbrellas  borne  by  slaves.  The 
temples  were  then  remarkable  for  the  richness  of  their 
decorations,  but  the  only  one  remaining  at  the  present 
day,  is  a  low  and  mean  edifice  of  whitened  mud,  en- 
closing a  rude  statue  of  Buddha,  the  exterior  walls 
covered  with  barbarous  mythological  drawmgs.  The 
village  contains  about  thh-ty  miserable  houses,  but  it 
presents  one  feature,  which  I  have  seen  in  no  other 
Kandyan  hamlet,  that  the  houses  are  built  in  a  con- 
nected hue  and  under  one  continuous  roof,  instead 
of  being,  as  in  Kandyan  villages  generally,  a  mere 
cluster  of  detached  clweUings,  concealed  in  a  tope  of 
coco-nut  and  jak  trees,  and  each  constructed  to  secure 
seclusion  and  privacy.  This  improvement,  if  it  be  such, 
in  Bintenne  may  [)robably  have  taken  place  when  it  ^vas 
a  mihtary  station  after  the  rebellion  of  1817  ;  but  still 
it  is  a  smgular  instance,  and  the  only  one  I  have  seen, 
of  the  adoption  by  Kandyans  of  the  European  practice  of 
building  a  street. 


1  Malutwanso,  ch.  xxxvi.  p.  229. 
For  a  notice  of  this  occurrence  in  the 
early  history  of  Electricity,  see  (Dite, 
Voh  I.  rt.  IV.  ch.  ix.  p.  500. 


2  See  ante,  \o\.  II.  Pt.  Ti.  ch.  ii. 
p.  35. 

^  Spilberg,  Voiaqc,  i^c,  torn.  ii.  p. 
42G.  ^ 


E  E   3 


422 


THE    XOETHERN   FORESTS. 


[rAKT  IX. 


Even  dLU'iiijT;  the  doniiiiion  of  the  Dutch,  Bintenne 
continued  to  be  a  place  of  dignity  and  importance; 
they  spoke  of  it  as  the  "  finest  city  in  the  island,  with  a 
spacious  palace  belonging  to  the  emperor."  ^  It  was  in 
tliis  palace,  that  Spilberg  was  received  in  1602  by  one 
of  the  queens  of  Kmg  Senerat,  at  an  interview,  of  which 
the  admiral  has  left  a  lively  description.^  The  town 
now  contains  no  memorials  of  its  former  greatness, 
except  a  few  carved  stones  that  mark  the  site  of  ancient 
edifices. 

By  following  a  shady  path  for  a  few  hundred  yards 
from  the  temple,  we  come  upon  a  splendid  view  of  the 
MahaweUi-ganga  and  of  the  magnificent  hill-country 
from  which  it  here  emerges  on  the  fertile  plains,  across 
whose  level  it  pursues  its  sohtary  course  to  the  sea. 
Immediately  belihid  are  the  Kandyan  Mountains,  and 
the  ancient  pass  of  Galle-pada-huUa,  or  the  "  path  of 
one  thousand  steps,"  ^  which  led  towards  Kandy  from 
the  now  forgotten  city  of  Meda-maha-neuera ;  and  to 
the  left  tower  the  lofty  hills  of  Oovah,  presenting  one 
of  the  grandest  imaginable  examples  of  bold  mountain 
scenery.  At  our  feet  rolled  the  great  river,  now  swollen 
and  turbulent  from  the  recent  rains ;  its  stream  as  broad 


^  Yalexttx,  OkcI  en  Kicinv  Oost- 
Indien,  ch.  ii.  p.  40. 

^  Spilbeeg,  Voidf/e,  SiT.,  toI.  ii.  p. 
424.  Spilberg  speaks  of  tliis  lady  as 
a  daughter  of  the  late  King  AVimala 
Dhanua,  "  tille  du  feii  Eoi  tie  Candy 
qui  etoit  une  des  feninies  du  rcg- 
iiaut." — Ibid.,  p.  42.5.  If  so,  it  must 
have  been  a  former  wife,  as  Senerat 
married  his  widow,  the  Queen  Donna 
Catharina." — See  ante,Yo\.  II.  Pt.  Ti. 
ch.  ii.  p.  30. 

^  Tlio  following  description  of  this 
singular  pass  as  it  existed  in  181.3, 
■will  sei"\-e  to  give  an  idea  of  the 
strength  of  the  "  natm-al  fortifica- 
tions" by  which  the  kings  of  Kandy 
considered  thcmsehes  beyond  the 
risk  of  iuA-asion  from  the  low 
country.     "  Our  first  labour  was  an 


ascent  up  the  Galle-pada-hulla  Pass 
by  a  path  which  I  cannot  otheiTX'ise 
describe  than  by  sapng  that  it  was 
the  most  abrupt  and  precipitous  that 
it  has  ever  been  my  lot  to  see.  Our 
horses  were  not  merely  useless  but 
an  encumbrance,  from  the  extreme 
hazard  to  which  they  were  exposed  ; 
and  it  was  only  by  the  most  laborious 
efforts  tluit  we  could  prosecute  our 
jom-ney.  After  an  ascent  of  about 
four  miles,  bringmg  us  to  an  eleva- 
tion of  4000  feet  above  the  path  we 
had  left,  we  supposed  our  difficulties 
were  ended ;  but  in  this  we  were 
mistaken,  and  the  road  Avas  of  the 
same  description,  alternately  ascend- 
ing and  descending  all  the  way  to 
Kandy." —  Ceowtuee's  3Imwnan/ 
Notices,  S)C.,  1813. 


Cjiap.  II.]        NAVIGATION   OF   THE   MAHAWELLI-GANGA.  423 

as  the  Thames  at  London,  and  of  sufficient  depth  at  all 
times  to  be  navigable  for  small  vessels.  Valentyn  states 
that  so  late  as  the  beginning  of  the  last  centmy,  the 
kings  of  Kandy  had  establishments  at  Bintenne  for 
building  galleys  and  tsampans.^  The  strongest  feehng 
awakened  at  this  remarkable  spot  is  that  of  deep  regret 
on  seeing  this  prodigious  agent  of  enrichment  and 
civihsation  roUing  its  idle  waste  of  waters  to  the  sea. 
It  sweeps  through  luxuriant  sohtudes,  past  wide  ex- 
panses of  rich  but  now  unproductive  land,  and  under 
the  very  shade  of  forests  whose  timber  and  cabinet 
woods  alone  woidd  foi-m  the  wealth  of  an  industrious 
people. 

At  one  time  the  possibihty  of  rendering  this  noble 
river  navigable  from  the  coast  to  the  interior  eno;ao;ed 
the  attention  of  the  government,  and  in  1832,  Mr. 
Brooke,  the  Master  attendant  at  Trincomahe,  was  di- 
rected by  Sir  Eobert  Horton  to  explore  its  course,  as- 
cending it  from  the  sea  in  the  direction  of  Kamhj ;  in 
order  to  ascertain  its  probable  value  if  employed  for  com- 
mercial purposes  ;  the  size  of  boats  for  wliicli  it  was 
really  available  ;  and  how  far  its  impediments  were  sus- 
ceptible of  removal,  so  as  to  determine  the  extent  to 
which  it  might  be  employed  for  the  conveyance  of  troops 
and  stores.'^ 

About  forty  miles  before  it  enters  the  sea,  the  Maha- 
weUi-ganga  separates  into  two  distinct  branches,  —  one, 
the  Kooroogal-ganga,  continuing  a  noitherly  course  till 
it  falls  into  the  bay  of  Trincomahe,  west  of  Cottiar ; 
the  other,  the  Vergel-aar,  diverging  almost  at  right  angles 
at  a  point  called  Koorangemone,  and  reaching  the  coast 
by  several  mouths  north  and  south  of  Arnetivoe,  or  the 
"  Island  of  Elephants."     The   tradition   of  the   natives 


^  "Ilier  werden  de  beste  galeyen 
eutsjampana  des  keysers  geniaakt." 
—  Olid  en  Nicuw  Oost-Indien,  ck.  iii. 
p.  40. 

'^  An     abstract   of    iMr.    Bkooki;"s 


Eeport  on  the  navigation  of  tlie 
Mahawelli-ganga  was  publislicd  in 
the  Joiotuil  of  (he  Ji<>y.  Oeot/r.  Soe. 
for  1833,  vol  "iii.  p.  223. 


E    E    4 


424  THE    NORTIIEEX    FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

is  that  at  no  very  remote  period,  tlie  Vergel-aar  was  a 
narrow  watercourse,  cut  by  the  natives  for  irrigating 
thcK  paddi-lields,  but  that,  the  soil  being  hght  and 
yielding,  it  hollowed  out  and  deepened  its  OAvn  bed  with 
such  rapidity  as  almost  to  drain  the  original  channel 
of  the  river  below  the  point  of  junction  ;  the  Yergel 
becoming,  what  it  now  is,  one  of  the  most  tumultvious 
and  dangerous  torrents  on  the  eastern  side  of  Ceylon. 
B}^  the  same  operation  the  original  channel  of  the  Maha- 
welli-ganga  was  rendered  so  shallo"w  as  to  be  at  all  times 
unna\^gable,  and  even  diy  in  many  places,  except  during 
the  freshes  after  the  rains,  Avlien  it  resumes  its  origmal 
depth  and  unportance. 

]\Ii\  Brooke,  in  setting  out  to  ascend  the  Mahawelh- 
ganga  from  Trincomahe  towards  Kandy,  proceeded  by 
land  to  a  place  on  the  main  stream  called  Kooroogal- 
gamma,  thirty-two  miles  from  the  sea,  up  to  which, 
ow^ng  to  the  level  nature  of  the  country,  the  river 
being  affected  by  the  tides,  the  water  is  always  more 
or  less  salt.  To  this  point  he  caused  the  boats  to  be 
hauled  up  the  stream  ;  but  the  channel  was  so  diy  that 
in  many  places  the  boatmen  failed  to  find  even  the  few 
inches  of  water  requisite  to  float  canoes,  and  were  fre- 
quently obhged  to  drag  them  over  long  banks  of  dry 
sand.  Between  the  sea  and  the  junction  with  the  Ver- 
gel,  there  was  not  a  village  nor  a  human  dwelling, 
except  the  sohtary  shed  at  a  ferry  near  Kooroogal- 
gamma,  across  whicli  the  people  from  the  interior  carry 
their  products  to  the  bazaar  of  Trincomahe.  Yet,  such 
is  the  fertihty  of*  the  adjacent  country,  that,  were  the 
river  rendered  navigable,  large  quantities  of  grain  might 
be  carried  down  its  com'se,  and  find  a  ready  market  at 
numerous  places  on  the  coast. 

At  the  point  where  the  main  river  empties  its  waters 
into  the  Yergel,  the  bed  of  the  latter  is  so  deep  and 
nan^ow  that  the  current  rushes  in  with  extreme  impe- 
tuosity. The  natives,  in  floating  down  timber  to  Trin- 
comahe, whilst  the  river  is  high  after  the  rains,  approach 


Chap.  II.]      NAVIGATION   OF   THE   MAIIAWELLI-GANGA.  425 

tlie  separation  of  the  two  streams  with  apprehension ; 
since  instances  are  frequent  in  which  rafts  have  been 
carried  into  the  Vergel  and  swept  out  to  sea,  those  in 
charge  being  compelled  to  abandon  tliem  precipitately 
and  swim  to  land. 

Mr.  Brooke  succeeded  in  ascending  tlie  river  to  Bintenne 
and  Pangragamme,  a  distance  of  120  miles  from  the  bay 
of  Trincomalie,  and  describes  his  voj^age  as  rendered  ha- 
zardous by  the  rapids,  in  which  it  was  difficult  to  steady 
the  boats,  whilst  an  upset  would  have  been  dangerous, 
omna;  to  the  multitude  of  crocodiles  with  which  the  river 
swarmed. 

After  passing  Koorangemone,  where  the  two  branches 
of  the  river  diverge,  villages  became  more  frequent,  but 
the  inhabitants  were  poor  and  exhausted  by  fever,  their 
houses  being  built  over  marshy  ground  and  raised  on 
piles,  to  obviate  inconvenience  from  the  periodical  in- 
undation of  the  river  after  the  rains.  The  popidation  on 
the  left  or  western  bank  were  chiefly  Moors  who  cul- 
tivate a  little  rice,  whilst  to  the  right  extended  the  vast 
forests  of  Bintenne  frequented  by  the  uncivilised  Veddah 
tribes. 

The  river,  as  far  up  as  Perriatorre,  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  remarkable  mountain  called  the  Gunner's  Quoin, 
varies  from  100  to  140  yards  in  width,  and  after  tliis 
point  occasionally  expands  to  upwards  of  500.  Its  depth 
is  from  4  to  7  feet,  but  rising  to  25  or  30  during  the 
rains.  The  chief  obstructions  for  the  first  80  miles  are 
huge  banks  of  sand  piled  up  at  the  angles  and  sharp 
bends  of  the  river,  and  occasionally  collections  of  dead 
trees  swept  together  by  the  floods,  hang  across  the  river, 
impeding  the  passage  and  helping  to  accumulate  fresh 
heaps  of  sand  and  drift-wood. 

At  Calinga,  twenty-foiu"  miles  above  Perriatorre,  the 
MahaweUi-ganga  loses  its  sandy  character,  and  flows 
over  rocks  of  granite.  Here  Mr.  Brooke  found  the 
navigation  extremely  difficult,  occasionally  presenting  ra- 
pids and  falls  of  twelve  feet  and  upwards,  round  which 


426  THE    XORTHERN   FOEESTS.  [Pakt  IX. 

liis  boats  had  to  be  dragged  along  the  bank.  These  rocky 
obstructions  extend  for  fourteen  miles,  after  which  the 
river  recovers  its  former  character  and  is  easily  navi- 
oable  as  far  as  Bintenne  and  Pans-raoamme ;  but  above 
this  the  reefs  become  so  formidable  that  they  effectually 
prevented  further  progress ;  and  here  ]\ii\  Brooke  ter- 
minated the  portion  of  his  journey  practicable  by  boats, 
and  explored  the  remainder  of  the  channel  to  Kandy  on 
foot. 

The  result  of  his  expedition  was  satisfactoiy,  in  so 
far  as  it  served  to  establish  the  fact  that,  by  preventing 
the  abstraction  of  the  water  now  diverted  into  the 
Vergel,  and  by  removing  some  sand  banks  and  minor 
obstructions  below  the  present  junction,  the  MahaweUi- 
ganga  miglit  be  easily  rendered  navigable  for  eighty 
miles  from  the  bay  of  Trincomahe  to  Calinga,  an  impor- 
tant locahty  in  the  centre  of  one  of  the  most  fertile  and 
productive  districts  of  Ceylon,  where,  however,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  absence  of  roads,  or  any  other  means 
of  intercommunication,  the  soil  can  scarcely  be  said  to 
be  under  cultivation,  except  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
the  Moorish  viUages,  which  are  scattered  over  the  district 
of  Tamankadua.  For  thirty  miles  above  Cahnga,  the  re- 
moval of  the  rocks  and  impediments  woidd  be  difficult ; 
but  even  here  a  communication  might  be  estabhshed  for 
a  moderate  expenditure,  and  inland  na\dgation  rendered 
possible  from  the  eastern  coast,  almost  to  the  foot  of  the 
Kandyan  hills,  and  the  \Ticinity  of  the  coffee  plantations 
in  the  mountain  zone.  To  the  latter  the  conveyance 
of  rice  and  stores  from  the  low  country  would  be  a  sig- 
nal advantage ;  and  the  transport  of  coffee  to  a  shipping 
port,  at  a  reasonable  charge,  woidd  reduce  one  of  the 
most  formidable  difficulties  ^vith  which  the  planters  have 
to  struggle  in  their  competition  with  other  countries. 

To  the  Kandyan  people  the  realisation  of  such  a  pro- 
ject would  be  productive  of  simultaneous  advantage,  by 
opening  up  a  market  for  the  agricultural  productions 
of  the    interior,  as    well    as    an    outlet  for   its   mineral 


Chap.  II.]      NAVIGATION   OF   THE   MAITAWELLI-GAXGA.  427 

wealth.  It  would  also  afford  an  easy  transport  to  the  sea 
for  the  ebony,  satm-wood,  and  other  valuable  timber, 
which  now  grow  in  neglected  luxuriance  and  in 
almost  exliaustless  proflision  throughout  the  forests  in- 
tersected by  the  Mahawelh-ganga.  It  is  a  painful  but 
convincing  illustration  of  the  evils  consequent  on  the 
destitution  of  facilities  for  communication,  that,  notwith- 
standing the  abundance  of  timber  in  the  eastern  province, 
it  is  cheaper,  at  Colombo,  to  import  teak  from  Burmah, 
and  jarrah  wood  from  Australia,  than  to  bring  halmalille 
beams  from  the  forests  of  Neuera-kalawa.  Of  the  large 
quantities  of  cabinet  woods  exported  from  Trincomahe 
only  a  very  small  portion  is  carried  down  the  river, 
and  the  trees  which  are  sent  by  it  have  first  to  be  cut 
into  short  lengths,  as  there  is  not  sufficient  water  in 
the  channel  to  float  heavy  logs.  Were  the  obstnictions 
judiciously  removed,  and  the  water  restored  to  the  old 
channel  below  Kooroogalgammoa,  the  gain  to  Government 
from  the  exportation  of  timber  alone  woidd  in  a  few 
years  repay  the  outlay,  not  to  speak  of  the  permanent 
increase  to  the  revenue  which  would  necessarily  arise, 
from  the  extension  of  the  quantity  of  land  brought  into 
cultivation  for  rice. 

At  one  extremity  of  the  town  of  Bintenne  is  the 
Wellawe,  or  residence  of  the  local  headman,  a  chief 
named  Gonnigodde,  who  formerly  held  the  high  rank  of 
"Dissave  of  Bintenne."  Its  buildings  encircle  a  court- 
yard, round  Avhich  a  covered  verandali  supported  on 
pillars  affords  a  commmiication  with  the  several  apart- 
ments. So  little  idea  of  domestic  comfort  or  refinement 
have  the  Kandyans,  even  of  this  high  rank,  that  the 
largest  of  these  chambers  are  httle  dingy  dens  from 
ten  to  twelve  feet  square,  each  lighted  by  a  single 
window,  or  rather  a  hole,  the  area  of  which  does  not 
exceed  a  square  foot. 

The  old  chief  escorted  us  to  visit  the  ladies  of  his 
family,  who  were  introduced  as  we  sat  at  table  in  the 
small  entrance  room.     Ilis  wife,  a  rather  comely  person, 


4-28  THE   NORTITERN    FORESTS.  [rART  IX. 

and  his  daughter,  came  in  timidly,  remained  standing 
for  a  few  moments,  and  then  retired.  They  were  di^essed 
in  loose  cloths,  in  the  Kandyan  fashion.  Their  feet 
w^ere  bare,  but  their  necks,  arms,  and  ankles  Avere 
loaded  with  gold  chains  and  jewels,  so  dirty  that  it 
Avas  difficult  to  estimate  their  value,  or  discover  their 
beauty. 

In  this  instance  tlie  lady  was  the  wife  of  one  hus- 
band, but  the  revolting  practice  of  polyandry  prevails 
throughout  the  interior  of  Ceylon,  chiefly  amongst  the 
Avealthier  classes ;  of  whom,  one  woman  has  frequently 
three  or  four  husbands,  and  sometimes  as  many  as 
seven.  The  same  custom  was  at  one  time  universal 
throucfhout  the  island  \  but  the  influence  of  the  Por- 
tuo-uese  and  Dutch  sufficed  to  discountenance  and 
extinguish  it  in  the  maritime  provinces.  As  a  general 
rule  the  husbands  are  members  of  the  same  fomily,  and 
most  frequently  brothers.  According  to  the  notion  of 
the  Singhalese,  the  practice  originated  in  the  feudal 
tunes,  when,  as  is  alleged,  their  lice  lands  Avould  have 
gone  to  destruction,  during  the  long  absences  enforced 
on  the  people  by  the  duty  of  personal  attendance  on 
the  king  and  the  higher  chiefs,  had  not  some  interested 
party  been  left  to  conduct  theu"  tillage.  Hence  the 
community  of  property  led  eventually  to  the  community 
of  wives.  An  aged  chief  of  the  Four  Corles,  Ai^anpulle 
Eatemahatmeya,  who  lived  under  three  native  kings, 
prior  to  the  conquest  of  Kandy  liy  the  British,  informed 
me,  in  1848,  in  reply  to  an  inquiry  addressed  to  him  as 
to  the  origin  of  polyandry,  that  its  prevalence  was  attri- 
butable to  the  services  above  alluded  to,  "  when  the  peo- 
ple gave  their  attendance  at  the  royal  palace,  and  at 
the  residences  of  the  great  headman,  besides  contributing 


1  The  King  of  Cotta,  "NVijayoBahu  I  witli  his  brother;  and  Raja  Singhal. 
VII.,  who  was  reigiiing  when  the  was  born  in  polyandry. — Valextyn, 
rortuguese  built  their  first  fort  at  Oiul  en  Nietm  Oost-Indim,  eh.  vi.  p. 
Colombo,  had  one  wife  in  common  '  05. 


CUAP.   II.] 


CUSTOM   OF   POLYANDRY. 


4-29 


labour  on  tlie  lands  of  their  lords,  and  accompanying 
them  m  theh^  distant  journeys;  durmg  such  intervals 
of  prolonged  absence  their  own  fields  would  have  re- 
mained uncidtivated  and  then-  crops  uncut,  had  they 
not  resorted  to  tlie  expedient  of  identifying  tlieir 
representatives  mth  tlieir  interests,  by  adopting  their 
brotliers  and  nearest  relatives  as  the  partners  of  their 
wives  and  fortunes."  In  more  recent  times  the  custom 
has  been  extenuated  on  tlie  plea,  that  it  prevents  the 
subdivision  of  estates,  the  children  of  these  promiscuous 
marriages  being  the  recognised  lieu's  of  all  the  husbands, 
however  numerous,  of  their  mother. 

But  the  practice  of  polyandry  is,  I  apprehend,  mucli 
more  ancient  than  the  system  thus  indicated.  In 
point  of  antiquity  it  can  be  sliown  to  have  existed  at  a 
period  long  antecedent  to  the  conquest  of  Wijayo,  or 
the  estabhshment  of  his  feudal  followers  in  Ceylon.  It 
appears  to  have  been  encouraged  amongst  almost  every 
race  on  the  continent  of  India ;  it  receives  a  partial 
sanction  in  the  institutes  of  Menu ;  and  it  is  adverted 
to  without  reproach  in  the  epic  of  the  Maha  Barat  \  the 
heroine  of  which,  Draupadi,  was  the  wife  of  five  Pandu 
brothers.  It  has  existed  from  time  immemorial  hi  the 
valley  of  Kashmir  ^,  in  Thibet,  and  in  the  Sivalik  inoiui- 
tains  :  it  is  found  in  Sylhet  and  Kachar  ^,  anioug  the 
Coorgs  of  Mysore  and  the  Todas  on  the  Nilgherry  hills  ; 
and  to  the  present  hour  it  serves  to  regulate  the  laws  of 
inheritance  amongst  the  Nairs  in  the  southern  extremity 
of  the  Dekkan.^ 


*  The  odious  custom  would  appear 
to  have  been  comnion  in  Britain  at 
the  period  of  CcBsar's  invasion. 
"  The  Britons,"  he  Stays,  "  uxores 
habeut  deni  duodeniquc  inter  se  com- 
munes, ct  iiKi.riiiw  frcifres  ctiin  fratri- 
htis,  et  parentes  cum  liberis.  Sed  si 
qui  sunt  ex  his  nati,  eorum  habentm* 
liberi  a  quibus  prinium  A^irgines 
qupeque  ducta)  sunt." — De  Jicllo 
Oallico,  lib.  v.  cli.  xiv. 


'^  Vigne's  Kashmir,  vol.  i.  p.  ^7. 

'  Journ.  Asiat.  Sue.  Beny.,  vol.  ix. 
p.  834. 

*  Adat.  Re'<.,  vol.  v.  p.  13.  Cas- 
TANiiEDA,  one  of  the  Portuguese 
historians  of  India,  ascribes  tlie  pre- 
valence of  polyandry  amongst  the 
Nairs  to  the  design  of  the  sove- 
reigns, that  being  devoid  of  care  and 
love  for  their  children,  tlieir  attention 
might  be  the  more  exclusivelv  given 


430  THE    XORTHERX   FOEESTS.  [Part  IX. 

Altliougii  polyandry  is  inferentially  reprobated  in  the 
Rajavali  and  Mahaicanso  ^,  tlie  Buddhist  priesthood 
have  never  interposed  to  discourage  it  hi  Ceylon.  No 
infamy  attaches  to  such  unions,  and  the  offspring  are 
regarded  as  equally  legitimate  with  those  born  in  wed- 
lock :  British  courts  of  justice  being  bound  to  protect 
the  rights  of  descent  and  hilieritance  as  regulated  by 
the  local  customs  of  the  Kandyans,  have  been  hitherto 
constrained  to  recognise  its  existence,  but  within  a 
very  recent  period  a  law  has  been  introduced,  under  the 
influence  of  wdiich,  if  it  can  be  enforced  with  the  co- 
operation of  the  more  highly  educated  natives  of  Kandy, 
it  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  opprobrium  will  ere  long 
cease  to  disgrace  a  possession  of  the  British  Cro^^^l. 

Ha^dng  expressed  a  wish  to  visit  the  ruined  tank  of 
Horra-bora,  the  most  interesting  object  in  the  district 
of  Bintenne,  tlie  old  cliief  mounted  his  horse,  and  rode 
forward  to  show  us  the  path  through  the  forest.  The 
road  led  for  the  entire  distance  across  a  succession  of 
paddi  fields,  which  Avere  then  under  water  from  the 
previous  rains  ;  but  the  sight  of  the  ruin  w^  ell  repaid 
the  inconvenience  of  the  ride.  It  is  a  stupendous 
"svork,  —  a  stream  flo^^dng  between  two  hills  about 
three  or  four  miles  apart,  has  been  intercepted  by  an 
artificial  dam  drawn  across  tlje  valley  at  the  point 
where  they  approach ;  and  the  water  thus  confined  is 
thrown  back  till  it  forms  a  lake  eight  or  ten  miles 
long  by  three  or  fom*  wdde,  exclusive  of  narrow 
branches  running  behind  spm'S  of  the  hills.  The 
embankment  is  from  fifty  to  seventy  feet  liigh,  and 
about  two  hundi'ed  feet  broad  at  the  base.  But  one 
of  the  most  ingenious  features  in  the  work  is  the 
advantage   wdiich   has   been   taken    in    its    construction 


to   mai-tial   service. — Coxquista   da  I  one  of  the  Canaries. — Narmt.  cli.  i. 

India,  c^c,  ch.  xiv.  p.  36.  ^  Rajavali,    p.     168  ;    Mahaivanso, 

IIuMKOLDT  foiiml  tlie  custom  of  po-  |  cli.    xxxvi.    p.    227,    ch.    xxxvii.    p. 

Ijandry  iu  the  island  of  Lancerota;  ,  250. 


CiJAP.  II.]  RESTORATION   OF   RUIXED   TANKS.  431 

of  two  vast  masses  of  rock,  whicli  have  been  included 
in  the  retaining  bund,  the  intervening  spaces  being 
filled  up  by  earth-work,  and  faced  "svith  stone.  In  order 
to  form  the  sluices,  it  is  obvious  that  the  simplest  plan 
would  have  been  to  have  placed  them  in  the  artificial 
portions  of  the  bank  ;  but  the  builders,  conscious  of  the 
comparatively  unsubstantial  nature  of  their  own  Avork, 
and  apprehensive  of  the  combined  effect  of  the  weight 
and  rush  of  the  water,  foresaw  that  the  immense  force 
of  its  discharge  w^ould  speedily  wear  away  any  artificial 
conduits  they  could  have  constructed  for  its  escape ; 
and  they  had  the  resolution  to  hollow  out  channels  in 
the  sohd  rock ;  through  Avhich  they  opened  two  passages, 
each  sixty  feet  deep,  four  feet  broad  at  the  bottom,  and 
widening  to  fifteen  or  twenty  at  the  top.  The  walls 
on  either  side  still  exhibit  traces  of  the  wedges  by  which 
the  stone  was  riven  to  effect  the  openings.  These  pas- 
sages had  formerly  been  furnished  with  sluices  for  regu- 
lating tlie  quantity  of  water  allowed  to  escape,  and  the 
hewn  stones  which  retain  these  flood-gates  he  displaced, 
but  unbroken  in  the  bed  of  the  channel. 

The  tank  is  now  comparatively  neglected,  and  its  re- 
taining Avail  Avould  e\idently  have  been  long  since  Avorn 
aAvay  by  the  force  of  the  escaping  Avater,  had  not  this 
precaution  of  its  builders  effectually  provided  against 
its  destruction.  The  basin  abounds  Avith  crocodiles, 
some  of  Avhich  were  lying  on  the  rocks  as  Ave  rode  up, 
and  floundered  into  the  lake  on  oiu"  approach.  The 
embankment  A\^as  overgroAvn  not  merely  Avith  jungle, 
but  Avith  forest  trees,  Avhose  roots  ha\"e  contributed  to 
giA'e  it  solidity.  Amongst  these  are  numbers  of  the 
curious  Terminalia  alata^  Avhose  roots  run  above  ground 
as  thick  as  a  man's  Avrist ;  the  extremity  of  each,  instead 
of  terminating  in  a  single  fibre,  expands  into  a  round 
knob  as  large  as  a  melon.  The  margin  of  the  Avater 
shoAved  the  dead  shells  of  the  Unio,  AAdiich  abounds 
in  the  Ceylon  tanks,  and  might  become  an  article  of 
food  Avcre  it  not  for  the  prejuchce  of  the  natives.     One 


432  THE    XORTHERX   FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

species,  the  U.  marginalis,  produces  small  pearls.  Palu- 
dince  and  Limncei  swarm  amongst  the  wet  sedges,  and 
a  white  Planorbis  (P.  indica  ?)  creeps  up  the  stems 
of  the  bulrushes,  and  boldly  launching  itself  on  the 
still  water,  floats  across  it  by  means  of  its  expanded 
foot. 

The  impression  left  on  my  mind  by  the  inspection  of 
this  magnificent  work,  and  confirmed  by  subsequent 
examination  of  many  specimens  of  the  ancient  tanks 
throughout  the  northern  di^dsions  of  the  island,  induced 
me  in  1848  to  submit  to  the  Council  at  Colombo,  a 
project  for  initiating  by  legislative  authority,  and  under 
the  control  of  government  officers,  measm-es  for  the 
gradual  restoration  of  some  of  these  important  reservou's. 
The  suggestion  was  adopted  \  but  occiu-rences  which 
afterwards  disturbed  the  tranquillity  of  the  island,  pre- 
vented the  carrjing  out  of  my  plans,  and  the  distinction 
Avas  reserved  for  a  subsequent  governor,  Su*  Henry  G. 
Ward,  not  only  to  promulgate  an  orchnance  to  facihtate 
the  revival  of  the  ancient  customs  regarding  irrigation  ^, 
but  to  contribute  to  the  promotion  of  this  great  national 
object  in  the  eastern  and  southern  provinces,  both  by 
the  encoiu*agement  of  the  Government,  and  by  the 
apphcation  of  funds  at  its  disposal. 

The  sentiments  not  less  than  the  interests  of  the 
Singhalese  people  are  deeply  involved  in  this  question. 
The  stupendous  ruins  of  their  reservoirs  are  the  proudest 
monuments  wliich  remain  of  the  former  greatness  of 
their  country,  when  the  opulence  which  they  engendered 
enabled  the  kings  to  lavish  untold  wealth  upon  edifices 
of  rehgion,  to  subsidise  mercenary  armies,  and  to  fit 
out   expeditions   for   foreign    conquest.      Exce2:)ting  the 


'  In  tlie  Leorislative  Council,  Gtli 
November,  1848,  the  attention  of 
the  Home  Government  had  been 
previou.'^ly  directed  to  tlie  subject  of 
adopting  preliminary  measiu'es  for 
restoring  the  cultivation  of  rice  by 


repairin<r  the  ruined  tanks.     (See  Sir 
.7.    Emersox   Tkxxext's   Report  on 
the  Finance  and  Commerce  of  Cci/loti. 
ParUamentary  Papers,  1848,  p.  69.) 
-  Ordinance,  No.  9,  1850. 


Chap.  If.]  RESTORATIOX   OF   RUIXED   T.YNKS.  431 

exaggerated  dimensions  of  Lake  Moeris  in  Central  Egypt, 
and  the  mysterious  "  basin  of  Al  Aram,"  the  bursting  of 
whose  embankment  devastated  the  Arabian  city  of 
Mareb^,  no  simikr  constructions  formed  by  any  race, 
whether  ancient  or  modern,  exceed  in  colossal  magnitude 
the  stupendous  tanks  of  Ceylon.  Tlie  reservoir  of  Koh- 
rud  at  Ispahan,  the  artificial  lake  of  Ajmeer,  or  the  tank 
of  Hyder,  in  Mysore,  can  no  more  be  compared  in  extent 
or  grandeur  Avith  Kala-weva  or  Padivil-colom  than  the 
conduits  of  Hezekiah^,  the  kanats  of  the  Persians,  or  the 
subterranean  water-courses  of  Peru^  can  vie  with  the 
Ellahara  canal,  which  probably  connected  tlie  lake  of 
Mineri  and  the  "Sea  of  Prakrama"  witli  the  Amban- 
ganga  river. 

Eeasons  have  been  elsewhere  assigned*,  why  works 
of  this  natm^e  were  rendered  indispensable  by  the 
pecuHarities  of  chmate,  and  the  deficient  supply  of 
rain  or  river  water  for  purposes  of  agriculture  in  the 
northern  districts  of  Ceylon,  whilst  in  the  mountainous 
regions  of  the  south,  the  deluge  of  the  monsoons  and 
the  perennial  freshness  of  the  streams  render  the  pea- 
santry independent  of  artificial  irrigation.  Hence  every 
village  to  the  north  of  the  Kandyan  zone  was  proAdded 
with  one  tank  at  least ;  and  by  the  provident  munifi- 
cence of  the  native  sovereigns,  the  face  of  the  country 
became  covered  with  a  network  of  canals  to  convey 
streams  to  the  rice  lands.  So  long  as  these  precious 
structures  remained  intact  cultivation  was  continuous 
and  famines  unknown.  But  their  preservation  was  de- 
pendent not  only  on  the  maintenance  of  the  co-operative 
village  system  (a  system  whose  existence  was  contingent 
on  the  duration  of  peace  and  tranqmllity),  but  on  the 
supremacy  of  a  domestic  government  sufficiently  strong 


^  The  Koran,  ch.  xxxiv. 

2  2  Kiugs,  ch.  XX.  v.  20. 

3  Dakwin,  Nat.  Vol/.,  ch.  xvi.  p. 
358.  ■ 


*  Sec  ante,  Vol,  I    Pt.  i.  ch.  ii, 

p.  73. 


VOL.  II.  F    F 


434  THE    XORTHEEX   FOKESTS.  [Pakt  IX. 

to  control  the  Avill  and  direct  the  action  of  these  rural 
municipalities.  This  salutary  authority  was  superseded, 
and  eventually  anniliilated  by  the  Malabar  invaders. 
They  do  not  appear  to  have  molested  or  wantonly  de- 
stroyed the  village  tanks ;  (in  fact,  the  only  recorded 
instance  of  the  dehberate  destruction  of  a  tank  was  by 
the  Portuguese  in  the  sixteenth  centmy^ ;)  but  the 
presence  of  an  enemy  paralysed  the  organisation  under 
which  alone  they  could  be  administered  for  the  general 
advantage  of  the  community,  and  the  gradual  decline 
of  the  peasantry  involved  the  neglect,  and  eventually 
the  ruin,  of  the  reservoirs  and  canals.  Between  the 
seventh  century  and  the  twelfth,  agricultm'e  was  so 
successful,  that  Ceylon  produced  ample  supplies  for  the 
sustenance  of  her  teeming  population  ^ ;  but  in  the 
thirteenth  and  fom'teenth  centuries,  when  the  baneful 
domination  of  the  Malabars  had  become  intolerable, 
industry  was  stifled,  and  the  remnant  of  the  people 
became  helplessly  rehant  on  the  continent  of  India  for 
their  annual  supphes  of  food  —  a  dependency  wliich  has 
continued  unrelieved  to  the  present  time. 

The  difficulties  attendant  on  any  attempt  to  bring 
back  cidtivation  by  the  repair  of  the  tanks  are  too 
apparent  to  escape  notice.  The  effort  must  be  made 
by  judicious  degrees.  The  system  to  be  restored  was 
the  growth  of  a  thousand  years  of  freedom  which  a 
brief  interval  of  despotism  sufficed  to  destroy ;  and  it 
would  require  the  lapse  of  centuries  to  reproduce  the 
population,    and    re-create    the   wealth    in    cattle    and 


1  This  event  took  place  during  the 
siege    of   Colombo  by  Raja  Singha 


clesembarcaram    e    tomaram     huma 
tranqiieira." — Asia,  dee.  x.  ch.  xv.  ; 


II.,   A.D.    1587,    when     Thome    de      Faeiv    y    Souza,    Poiiur/uese  Asia, 


Souza  d'AiTOuches  was  despatched, 
to  make  a  diversion  by  ravaging  the 
southern  coast  of  Ceylon.  De 
CorTO  recounts,  amongst  other  atro- 
cities  then    pei-peti'ated,    tliat    after 


vol.  iii.  p.  5-3.  An  accoimt  of  this 
infamous  expedition  of  Souza  D'-\i'- 
ronches  will  be  foimd  in  another 
part  of  the  present  work,  Vol.  II. 
rt.  VI.  ch.  i.,  and  Vol.  II.  Pt.  vii.  ch.  i. 


sacking   the   town   of    BeUegam,   a  j     ^  "  La  population  est  agglomeree,  et 

party  was  sent  to  a  river  which  he  la  ten-e  produit  des  gi-aius  en  abou- 

caUs  the  Meliseu,  where  they  halted  dance." — IIiouEX  Thsaxg,  Voyages, 

and   destroi/ed    the  tank,   "  no   qual  I  i^V.,  tom.  i.  p.  194. 


Chap.  IL]  RESTOEATIOX   OF   RUIXED    TANKS.  435 

manual  labour  essential  to  realise  again  the  ao-ricul- 
tural  felicity  which  prevailed  under  the  Singhalese 
dynasties.  But  the  experiment  is  one  worthy  of  the 
beneficent  rule  of  the  British  Crown,  under  whose 
auspices  the  ancient  organisation  may  be  revived 
amongst  the  native  Singhalese.  The  project  has  been 
broaclied  of  initiating  the  experiment  by  colonisation 
from  the  coast  of  India,  or  by  the  introduction  of 
agriculturists  from  China ;  but  the  suggestion  is  un- 
congenial of  attempting  the  revival  of  agriculture 
through  the  instrumentality  of  Tamils,  the  very  race 
to  whose  mahgnant  influence  it  owes  its  decay  ;  and  any 
project,  to  be  satisfactory  as  well  as  successfid,  should 
contemplate  the  benefit  of  the  natives,  and  not  that  of 
strangers  in  Ceylon. 

The  Singhalese  within  the  last  three  hundred  years 
have  seen  three  European  nations  in  succession  take  pos- 
session of  their  country  and  monopohse  its  productions 
for  the  enrichment  of  foreigners.  The  Portuguese  and 
Dut'»h  extorted  its  cinnamon  and  pearls,  the  British 
have  covered  its  mountains  with  plantations  of  coffee, 
and  its  coasts  with  gardens  of  coco-nut  palms ;  but  each 
has  failed  in  turn  to  inaugurate  a  pohcy  that  would 
tend  successfully  to  elevate  native  industry,  or  emanci- 
pate the  people  themselves  from  their  dependence  upon 
foreigners  for  food.  Apathetic  and  impassive  as  they 
are  in  other  particulars,  the  people  are  keenly  sen- 
sitive to  their  wrongs  in  this  respect.  Tradition  and 
their  historical  annals  have  famiharised  them  A\dth  the 
names  of  those  sovereigns  whose  reigns  were  signalised 
by  the  promotion  of  the  one  paramount  interest  of 
tlieir  subjects,  and  whose  memory  is  cherished  Avith  cor- 
responding devotion.  Even  the  rule  of  usurpers  was 
submitted  to  not  merely  with  patience  but  with  grati- 
tude, where  it  was  characterised  by  generosity  in 
the  maintenance  of  the  great  works  on  which  pro- 
sperity was  so  largely  dependent.  In  the  gloom  of  its 
dechne  the  native  chronicles  of  the  island  do  not  fail  to 

F    F    2 


436  THE    XORTIIERX    FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

record  tliat,  "  because  the  fertility  of  tlie  land  had  de- 
creased, Idngs  were  no  longer  esteemed  as  before."^ 
Notliing  is  more  natural  than  the  disaffection  of  the 
Kandyans  to  a  government  under  which  this  indiffer- 
ence to  their  interests  is  perpetuated,  and  notliing 
would  so  much  endear  to  them  tlie  name  and  authority 
of  Great  Britain  as  an  energetic  and  successfid  effort 
to  emulate  the  ancient  Idngs  in  the  encom"agement  and 
protection  bestowed  on  the  agricultural  industry  of  the 
island. 

The  tank  at  Horra-bora  presents  singular  facihties 
for  commencing  the  attempt.  From  its  superior  state 
of  preservation  its  repah^s  might  be  effected  at  a  com- 
paratively small  cost,  and  the  experiment  derives  pe- 
culiar encourasrement  from  the  fact  that  the  reservoir 
is  siuTounded  by  a  vast  expanse  of  government  land 
suitable  for  rice  cultivation,  and  that  it  hes  within  a 
distance  from  Kandy  and  the  coffee  estates  so  incon- 
siderable as  to  offer  no  appreciable  obstacle  to  the 
ready  sale  of  almost  any  amount  of  produce  derivable 
from  it. 


'  Rftjavali,  p.  239. 


437 


ciLVP.  m. 

THE   VEDDAHS. 

At  Bintenne  I  had  an  opportunity  of  acquiring  tlic 
information  I  was  so  desirous  to  collect  regarding  the 
progress  and  past  success  of  the  attempt  made  by 
Government  to  introduce  ci\ihsation  amongst  the  Ved- 
dahs.  The  district  which  they  inhabit,  about  ninety 
miles  in  length  by  half  that  breadth,  is  situated  in  the 
south-eastern  section  of  the  island,  and  extends  towards 
the  sea,  from  the  base  of  the  Budulla  and  Oovali  hill^'. 
Within  a  comparatively  recent  period,  they  ranged  over 
a  much  more  extended  area ;  and  in  the  time  of  the 
Dutch,  to  whom  they  paid  a  tribute  m  elephants  \  they 
were  found  in  the  Wanny,  within  a  very  short  distance 
of  the  peninsula  of  Jaffna. 

It  is  incorrect  to  apply  the  term  savages  to  harmless 
outcasts  hke  these,  who  neither  in  disposition  nor  m 
action  exhibit  such  \dces  as  we  are  accustomed  to 
associate  with  that  epithet.  The  proofs  are  stated  else- 
where^ which  show  the  Veddahs  to  be  a  remnant  of 
the  Yakkos,  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  Ceylon,  who, 
after  the  conquest  of  the  island  by  Wijaj^o  and  his 
followers,  retired  before  the  invaders  into  the  wilds  of 
the  east  and  south  ;  whence  they  never  emerged,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  withdrew  still  deeper  into  the  jungle 
in  order  to  avoid  contact  with  civihsation. 

Here,  for   upwards   of  two   thousand   years,  has  this 


^  Valei^ttn,  Oud  en  Nieuxv  Oost- 
Lulien,  Sfc,  cli.  ii.  p.  8,  32 ;  ch.  iii.  p 
49. 


501), 
r  r  3 


*  See  ante,  Vol.  I.  Pt.  iii.  cli.  vii. 
p.  372 ;  Ihkl.,  Vol.  I.  rt.  V.  cli.  ii.  p. 


438  THE   NORTHERN   FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

remarkable  fragment  of  an  ancient  race  remained  al- 
most unaltered  as  regards  customs,  language,  and  pur- 
suits ;  and  it  exlubits,  at  the  present  day,  a  living  por- 
traiture of  the  condition  of  the  islanders  as  described 
in  the  Mahawanso  before  the  Bengal  conquerors  had 
taught  the  natives  the  rudiments  of  agricidtiu'e,  and 
"  rendered  Lanka  habitable  for  men."  ^ 

In  relation  to  the  mass  of  the  Singhalese  people,  the 
Veddahs  stand  in  a  position  similar  to  that  of  tlie 
scattered  tribes,  vestiges  of  the  aborigines  of  Lidia, 
still  lurking  in  the  mountain  forests  of  Hindustan,  and 
which  for  ages  have  shrunk  from  intercourse  with  the 
Aryan  races,  who  subjugated,  and  whose  descendants 
still  occupy,  the  Peninsida.'^ 

There  is  no  lack  of  historical  evidence  to  estabhsh 
the  identity  of  the  Veddahs  with  the  Yakkos.^  The 
allusions  of  the  Mahawanso  and  other  native  chro- 
nicles are  confirmed  by  classical  authorities*,  as  well 
as  by  the  dkect  testimony  of  the  Chinese  Buddliists, 
who  wrote  of  Ceylon  betAveen  the  fifth  and  seventh 
centuries^  ;  and  in  the  cm^ious  tract  De  Moribus  BracJi- 
manorum,  wliich  bears  the  name  of  Palladius,  and 
appears  to  have  been  written  about  the  year  400, 
the  Veddahs  are  alluded  to  almost  by  name,  and 
described  in  terms  which  apply  to  this  extraordinary 
tribe  even  at  the  present  day.^ 


^  3IaJuiwmiso,  cli.  vii.  p.  49. 
^  Such  are  tlie  K^oolies  in  Guzerat, 
the  Blieels  in  Malwa,  the  I'uttooas 


writers  on  the  subject  of  the  Veddahs 
and  the  endurance  of  a  custom 
■\vhicli  identifies  them  incontrovertihly 


Cuttack,    and     the    Khoonds   in  |  witli  the  aborigines  of  Ceylon. 

Gimdwana,  tlie  15edas  in  Mysore,  and  j       ^  Fa    IIian,    luir-Koue    Ki,    ch. 
the  still  more  savage  hordes  anionjjst     xxxviii.  ;  IIioven  Tus.us'^g,  Pelerins 

the  mountains  (?ast  of  Bengal. —  See  ;  Bouddh.,  tom.  ii.  p.  146 


Asiat.  iSuc.  Joio-n.  Ben<j.,  vol.  xxvi. 
p.  200. 

3  Lassen,  I/idische  AUerthims- 
hoi(l(\  vol.  i.  p.  200. 

^  Allusitm  has  been  made  else- 
where (^'ol.  I.  rt.  V.  ch.  ii.  p.  500) 
to  the  concurrent  testimonv  of  Plinv, 


^  Tlu!  traveller  of  Thebes,  fi-om 
whom  the  author  of  the  tract  pro- 
fesses to  have  derived  his  information, 
describes  the  Veddahs  in  the  follow- 
ing' terms  :  '*  !<pOaffa  tyyi's  tiov  kciXov- 
fiii'o)V  flKTaSair,  LOvog  Se  icttiv  tKth'o 
travv     (TfitKpoTaTOV    Kai    a^paviararov 


and    a    long    chain    of    subsequent   ,  \L"ivoic<jwt]\aloic:h'oiKovvTiro'lTirfCKai 


Cu.vr.  Ill] 


THE   YEDDAHS. 


439 


The  modern  Veddahs  live  more  or  less  by  limiting 
and  the  use  of  t]ie  bow,  in  drawing  which  they  occa- 
sionally employ  their  feet  as  well  as  tlieir  hands.  ^  The 
"Eock  Veddahs"  and  the  "Village  Veddahs"  form  tlie 
two  grand  divisions  of  the  tribe,  whose  respective 
names  serve  to  indicate,  faintly,  tlie  difference  in  tlie 
amount  of  civilisation  which  is  found  to  subsist  amongst 
tlie  members  of  this  wild  race.  The  Village  Veddahs 
approach  the  confines  of  the  European  settlements  on 
the  eastern  coast,  where  they  cultivate  some  rude 
species  of  grain,  and  submit  to  dwell  in  huts  of  mud 
and  bark.  The  Eock  Veddahs^  remain  concealed  in 
the  forests,  subsisting  on  roots,  fish,  honey,  and  the 
produce  of  the  chase ;  lodgmg  in  caves,  or  under  the 
shelter  of  overhanging  rocks,  and  sometimes  sleeping 
on  stages,  which  tliey  construct  in  the  trees.  ^  Li  the 
choice  of  their  food,  both  classes  are  almost  omnivorous, 
no  carrion  or  vermin  being  too  repulsive  for  tliek 
appetite.  They  subsist  upon  roots,  grain,  and  fruit, 
when  they  can  procure  them  ;  and  upon  birds,  bats, 
crows,  owls  and  kites,  which  they  bring  down  with  the 
bow ;  but  for  some  unexplained  reason,  they  will  not 
touch  the   bear,  the  elephant,  or  buffalo,  altliougli  the 


Kpriftvotaritv  tTriaravTat  Sid  ti)v  tou 
Tonov  ffViTTpotjiijv,  Ei'iri  St  kuI  ol  UtaaSif; 
c'lv'^poiirnpia,  Ko\a€u,  ijeyaXoKi-'jaXa, 
dicapra,  Kai  aTrXorptya." — Lib.  iii.  cll. 
viii.  It  is  a  remarkable  coincidence 
that  this  name  of  liisncke,  or  Besmlce 
(which  in  mediiBval  Greek  is  pro- 
noimced  Vesadae)  is  applied  by 
Ptolemy  to  a  similar  race  inhabitinf^- 
Northern  India.  A  forest  tribe  of 
IMysore,  knowii  by  the  name  of 
Bedas  or  Vedas,  formed  part  of  the 
army  of  Tippoo  Sahib. 

1  See  ante,  Vol.  I.  Pt.  iv.  ch.  viii. 
p.  499.  One  meaning  of  the  word 
V  eddah,  is  "  an  Archer."  De  Alwis, 
Sidath  Sangara,  p.  xvii.  ;  and  the 
3fahaw((nso,  speaking  of  one  of  the 
waiTiors  of  Dutngaimimu  who  came 


from  the  Yeddah  coimtiy,  says,  the 
"  exercise  of  the  bow  was  the  pro- 
fession of  their  caste,"  ch.  xxiii. 

'^  The  term  "  Rock  Veddalis," 
(faUe-vedda,  is  probably  a  modern 
distinction  ;  but  may  not  the  tribe 
still  represent  the  ancient  "  Gallas  " 
who  once  inhabited  the  south  of  the 
island,  and  from  whom  it  is  just 
possible  that  the  harbom-  of  Galle 
may  have  acquired  its  name,  although 
other  derivations  are  more  plausible  ? 

^  Humboldt  mentions  a  race  of 
South  Anu!i-ican  Indians,  the  Gua- 
raons  in  tlie  Delta  of  the  Orinoco, 
who  construct  their  dwelings  in 
trees,  and  generally  on  the  top  of  the 
Mauritia  I'alms,  —  Pcrsmi.  Narrat., 
ch.  XXV. 


r  F    4 


440 


THE    XORTHERN   FORESTS. 


[Pakt  IX. 


latter  are  abundant  in  their  liunting  groimds.  Tlie 
flesh  of  deer  and  other  animals  they  diy  on  stages  in 
the  sun  and  store  away  in  hollow  trees  for  future  use, 
closing  the  apertures  Avith  clay.  They  uivariably  cook 
their  meat  with  fire,  and  avow  a  preference  for  the 
iguana  hzard  and  roasted  monkeys  above  all  other 
dainties. 

The  EocJc  Veddahs  are  di\dded  mto  small  clans  or 
famihes  associated  by  relationship,  who  agree  in  par- 
titioning the  forest  among  themselves  for  hunting 
grounds,  the  hmits  of  each  family's  possessions  being- 
marked  by  streams,  hills,  rocks,  or  some  well-known 
trees,  and  these  conventional  allotments  are  always 
honourably  recognised  and  mutually  preserved  fi'om 
violation.  Each  party  has  a  headman,  the  most  ener- 
getic senior  of  the  tribe,  but  who  exercises  no  sort  of 
authority  beyond  distributing  at  a  particular  season  the 
honey  captured  by  the  various  members  of  the  clan. 
The  produce  of  the  chase  they  dry  and  collect  for  barter, 
carrying  it  to  the  borders  of  the  inhabited  country, 
whither  the  ubiquitous  Moors  resort,  bringing  cloths, 
axes,  arrow-heads,  and  other  articles  to  be  exchanged 
for  deer  flesh,  elephants'  tusks,  and  bees'  wax.  In  these 
transactions  the  wild  Yeddahs  are  seldom  seen  by  those 
with  whom  they  come  to  deal.^  They  deposit  in  the 
night  the  articles  wliich  they  are  disposed  to  part  with, 
indicating  by  some  mutually  understood  signals  the 
description  of  those  they  expect  in  return ;  and  these 
being  brought  on  the  following  day  to  the  appointed 
place,  disappear  dming  the  ensuing  night.  Money  to 
them  is  worthless,  but  coco-nuts,  salt,  hatchets,  iron, 
arrow-heads,  and  dyed  cloths,  or  cooking  chattis,  are 
valuables  much  in  request. 

Their  language,  wliich  is  Hmited  to  a  very  few  words. 


^  The  concurrent  testimonies  on 
this  curious  custom  of  the  Veddahs, 
from  the  fii-st  centuiy  to  the  present 


time,  have  been  adverted  to  before. 
See  mite,  Vol.  I.  Pt.  v.  ch.  ii.  p.  568. 


CUAP.    III.] 


THE   VEDDAIIS. 


441 


is  a  dialect  of  Singhalese  without  any  admixture  from 
the  Sanskrit  or  Pah  ^ — a  circumstance  mdicative  of  thek 
repugnance  to  intercourse  with  strangers.  But  so  de- 
graded are  some  of  these  wretched  outcasts,  that  it  has 
appeared  doubtful  in  certain  cases  whether  they  possess 
any  language  whatever.  One  gentleman^  who  resided 
long  in  thek  vicinity  has  assm'ed  me  that  not  only  is 
their  dialect  incomprehensible  to  a  Singhalese,  but  that 
even  thek  commmiications  with  one  another  are  made 
by  signs,  grimaces,  and  guttural  sounds  which  bear  little 
or  no  resemblance  to  distinct  words  or  systematised 
language.  They  have  no  marriage  rites  ;  although  they 
acknowledge  the  marital  obhgation  and  the  duty  of 
supporting  their  own  famihes.  Marriages,  amongst 
them,  are  settled  by  the  parents  of  the  contracting 
parties  ;  the  father  of  the  bride  presents  his  son-in-law 
with  a  bow  ;  his  own  father  assigns  him  a  right  of  chase 
in  a  portion  of  his  hunting  gTOund  ;  he  presents  the  lady 
with  a  cloth  and  some  rude  ornaments  ;  and  she  foUows 
him  into  the  forest  as  his  wife.  The  community  is  too 
poor  to  afford  polygamy.  A  gentleman  who  in  a  hunt- 
ing excursion  had  passed  the  night  near  a  clan  of  Wild 
Veddahs,  gave  me  a  description  of  their  mode  of  going 
to  rest.  The  chief  first  stretched  himself  on  the  ground, 
after  having  placed  his  bow  at  hand  and  clutched  his 
hatchet,  which  is  always  an  object  of  much  care  and 
sohcitude.  The  children  and  younger  members  next 
lay  do^\m  around  him  in  close  contact  for  sake  of  the 
warmth  —  whilst  the  rest  took  up  thek  places  in  a 
circle  at  some  chstance,  as  if  to  watch  for  the  safety  of 
the  party  during  the  night. 

They  have  no  knowledge  of  a  God,  nor  of  a  future 


^  The  Dutch,  in  tlieir  limited  in- 
tercourse with  tlie  Yeddahs,  found 
them  sing'uhxrly  disposed  to  silence 
and  to  intercourse  by  siirns,  and 
Vaxentyn  dwells  on  the  paucity  of 


words  in  theii-  dialect. — Oitden  Kiemo 
Oost-hulien,  ch.  xv.  p.  208. 

*  G.  R.  Mercer,  Esq.,  of  the  Civil 
Service,  who  held  office  at  Badidla. 


442 


THE   XOKTHERX   FORESTS. 


[rART    IX. 


state ;  no  temples,  no  idols,  no  altars,  prayers,  or 
charms  ;  and,  in  short,  no  instinct  of  worship,  except,  it 
is  reported,  some  addiction  to  ceremonies  analogous  to 
de\il  worship,  in  order  to  avert  storms  and  hghtnmg ; 
and  when  sick,  they  send  for  de\'il  dancers  to  drive 
away  the  e^-il  spirit,  who  is  beheved  to  inflict  the  disease. 
The  dance  is  executed  in  front  of  an  offering  of  some- 
thing eatable,  placed  on  a  tripod  of  sticks,  the  dancer 
having  his  head  and  girdle  decorated  mth  green  leaves. 
At  first  he  shuffles  with  his  feet  to  a  plaintive  air, 
but  by  degrees  he  works  Imnself  into  a  state  of  great 
excitement  and  action,  accompanied  by  moans  and 
screams,  and  during  tliis  paroxysm,  he  professes  to  be 
inspired  "with  instruction  for  the  cure  of  the  patient. 

So  rude  are  the  Veddahs  in  all  respects,  that  they  do 
not  even  bmy  their  dead,  but  cover  them  with  leaves 
and  brushwood  m  the  jungle.  They  have  no  system 
of  caste  amongst  themselves ;  but,  singular  to  say,  this 
degi^aded  race  is  still  regarded  by  the  Singhalese  as  of 
the  most  honom^able  extraction,  and  is  recognised  by 
them  as  belonfjino;  to  one  of  the  hiohest  castes.^  This 
behef  originates  in  a  legend  to  the  effect  that  a  Veddali 
chased  by  a  wild  animal  took  refuge  in  a  tree,  whence 
all  night  long  he  threw  down  flowers  to  diive  away 
liis  pursuer.  But  in  the  morning  instead  of  a  ^^Id 
beast,  he  found  an  idol  under  the  tree,  who  addressed 
him  -s^dth  the  announcement,  that  as  he  had  passed  the 
night  in  worshipping  and  offering  flowers,  the  race  of 
the  A^eddahs  should  ever  after  take  the  highest  place  in 
the  caste  of  the  Vellales  or  cultivators,  the  most  exalted 
of  all.  The  Veddahs  smile  at  the  story  and  say  they 
know  nothing  of  it,  but  nevertheless  they  would  not 
touch  meat  dressed  by  a  low-caste  Kandyan. 


^  Lassen,  in  hh  Indische  AUeHhums- 
kunde,  vol.  ii.  p.  1002,  sugg^esta 
that  the  Veddahs  may  be  the  de- 
scendauts  of  the  degraded  caste  of 


lianibakanakos  alluded  to  in  the 
Mahairanw ;  but  the  conjecture  is 
undoubtedly  en-oneous. 


CUAP.   III.] 


THE  VEDDAUS. 


443 


The  Village  Veddahs  are  but  a  shade  superior  to  the 
wild  tribes  of  the  jungle.  They  manifest  no  sym- 
pathy, and  maintain  no  association  with  them.  They 
occupy  a  position  intermediate  between  that  of  the  semi- 
civihsed  Kandyans  of  the  Wanny  and  the  coast,  and 
the  Veddahs  of  the  rock,  but  evince,  to  the  present  day, 
their  ancestral  reluctance  to  adopt  the  habits  of  civihsed 
life.  They  are  probably  to  some  extent  the  descendants 
of  Kandyans  who  may  have  intermingled  with  the  wild 
race,  and  whose  offspring,  from  theu"  intercourse  with 
the  natives  of  the  adjoining  districts,  have  acquired  a 
smattering  of  Tamil,  in  addition  to  their  natm^al  dialect 
of  Singhalese.-^  They  wear  a  bit  of  cloth  a  httle  larger 
than  that  worn  by  the  tribes  of  the  forest,  and  the 
women  ornament  themselves  with  necldaces  of  brass 
beads,  and  bangles  cut  from  the  chank  shell.  The  ears 
of  the  children  when  seven  or  eight  years  old  are  bored 
with  a  thorn  by  the  father,  and  decorated  with  rings. 
The  Veddahs  have  no  idea  of  time  or  distance,  no 
nafhes  for  hours,  days,  or  years.  They  have  no  doctors, 
and  no  knowledge  of  medicine,  beyond  the  practice  of 
applying  bark  and  leaves  to  a  wound.  They  have  no 
games,  no  amusements,  no  music,  and  as  to  education 
it  is  so  utterly  unknown,  that  the  Wild  Veddahs  are 
unable  to  count  beyond  live  on  their  own  fingers. 
Even  the  Village  Veddahs  are  somewhat  migratory  in 
theu-  habits,  removing  their  huts  as  facihties  vary  for 
cultivating  a  httle  Indian  corn  and  yams,  and  occasionally 
they  accept  wages  in  kind  from  the  Moors  for  watching 
the  paddi-fields  at  night,  in  order  to  drive  away  wild 
elephants.  The  women  plait  mats  from  the  palm  leaf, 
and  the  men  make  bows,  the  strings  of  which  are 
prepared  from  the  tough  bark  of  the  Eittagaha  or  Upas 


^  Boyd,  in  his  account  of  his  Em- 
bassy to  Kandy,  speaks  highly  of  the 
character  and  abilities  of  a  Veddah 
who    had    been    assigned     to     liini 


as  intei-preter  at  Trincomalie,  and 
who,  in  his  intei'views  -n-ith  the  King 
of  Kandy,  translated  Singlialese  into 
Tamil. — Jliwcll.  Wo)-kfi,\o\.  ii.  p.  2-34. 


414  THE    NORTHERN    FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

tree,  but  beyond  these  they  have  no  knowledge  of  any 
manufactiu'e. 

The  Coast  Veddahs,  another  tribe  who  might  almost 
be  considered  a  thn-d  class,  have  settled  themselves  in 
the  jungles  between  Batticaloa  and  Trincomahe,  and 
subsist  by  assisting  the  fishermen  in  their  operations,  or 
in  felling  timber  for  the  Moors,  to  be  floated  down  the 
rivers  to  the  sea. 

The  Eock  Veddahs,  who  till  lately  resided  almost  ex- 
clusively within  the  Bintenne  forests,  consisted  of  five 
clans  or  hunting  parties,  but  it  is  obvious  that  no  data 
whatever  can  exist  to  aid  us  in  forming  an  approximate 
estimate  of  thek"  numbers.  The  settlements  of  the 
Village  Veddahs,  are  in  the  vicinity  of  the  lagoon 
districts  around  Batticaloa,  where  as  they  have  mingled 
by  slow  degrees  with  tlie  inliabitants  on  the  outsldrts 
of  that  region,  it  is  difficult  now  to  discriminate  them 
with  precision,  but  they  do  not  exceed  one  hundred  and 
forty  famiUes,  divided  into  nine  httle  communities, 
distmguished  by  pecuharities  known  only  to  each  other. 
The  Coast  Veddahs  are  principally  m  the  \icinity  of 
Eraoor,  and  the  shores  extending  northwards  towards 
Venloos  Bay  ;  where  they  may  probably  reckon  four 
to  five  hundi^ed  individuals.  The  entire  number  of 
Veddahs  of  all  classes  in  Ceylon  has  been  estimated  at 
eight  thousand,  but  this  is  obviously  a  mere  conjecture, 
and  probably  an  exaggerated  one. 

]\Ir.  Atherton,  the  Assistant  Government  Agent  of  the 
district,  who  exhibited  a  laudable  energy  in  seconding 
the  efforts  made  by  the  Government  Off&cers  to  re- 
claim these  outcasts,  spoke  to  me  in  favoiu'able  terms 
of  the  gentleness  of  their  disposition,  apparent  amidst 
extreme  indifference  to  morals,  although  grave  crimes 
are  rarely  committed.  In  case  of  theft  the  dehn- 
quent,  if  detected,  is  forced  to  make  restitution,  but 
imdergoes  no  punishment.  If  a  girl  be  carried  off* 
from  her  parents,  she  is  claimed  and  brought  home  ; 
and  tlie  husband  of  a  faithless  wife  is  equally  contented 


CuAr.  III.] 


THE   VEDDAHS. 


445 


to  receive  her  back,  his  family  inflicting  a  flogging  on 
the  seducer.  Murder  is  ahnost  unknown,  but  Avlien 
discovered,  it  is  compromised  for  goods,  or  some  other 
consideration  paid  to  the  relatives  of  the  deceased. 
]\Ir.  Atherton  described  the  Veddahs  as  in  general 
gentle  and  afiectionate  to  each  other,  and  remarkably 
attached  to  their  children  and  relatives.  Widows  are 
always  supported  by  the  community,  and  receive  their 
share  of  aU  fruits,  grain,  and  produce  of  the  chase. 
"  They  appeared  to  him  a  quiet  and  submissive  race, 
obeying  the  shghtcst  intimation  of  a  wish,  and  very 
grateful  for  attention  or  assistance.  They  are  sometimes 
accused  of  plundering  the  fields  adjacent  to  their  haunts, 
but  on  investigation  the  charge  has  generally  been  shown 
to  have  been  false,  and  brought  by  the  Moormen  with  a 
view  to  defraud  the  Veddahs,  whom  they  habitually  im- 
pose upon,  cheating  them  sliamefuUy  in  aU  their  trans- 
actions of  barter  and  exchano-e."^ 


'  E.xtract  from  a  2)nvafe  letter. 
The  following  story  of  the  death  of 
a  Veddah,  told  ])y  Major  Macready, 
formerly  Military  Secretary  iu  Cey- 
lon, appeared  iu  one  of  the  Ceylon 
newspapers  in  1847.  The  writer 
and  his  companions  were  awaiting 
in  silence  the  approach  of  a  herd  of 
elephants,  when  their  "  anticipated 
sport  was  inteiTupted  by  a  wild  and 
mourufid  howl,  which  spoke  unniis- 
takcably  of  some  sad  mischance. 
Those  who  were  nearest  to  the  cry 
ran  down,  and  to  their  hoiTor  found 
a  Veddah,  a  fme  young  fellow,  sm-- 
rtumded  by  his  people  and  seated, 
his  back  against  a  tree,  with  his  in- 
testines iu  his  lap.  A  wild  bufialo 
that  he  had  passed  almost  without 
notice  in  the  cover  had  rushed  on 
him  from  behind,  knocked  him  do^^•n, 
and  gored  him  from  the  groin  up- 
wards as  he  fell.  There  ncAer,  I 
believe,  in  the  world,  or  in  all  the 
foncifui  imaginations  of  poetic  minds 
seeking  to  illusti-ate  the  dignity  of 


our  nature,  was  a  finer  picture  of 
manly  fortitude  than  in  that  noble 
savage.  lie  positively  never — never 
once,  during  the  many  hours  we 
were  with  him,  showed  by  a  move 
or  the  contraction  of  a  muscle,  that 
he  felt  pain  from  his  wound,  or 
feai'ed  the  death  that  seemed  too 
sure  to  follow  it  — though  the  per- 
spiration literally  pom-ing  from  his 
cheek  and  shoidders  showed  how 
much  he  suffered.  He  looked  up 
calndy  in  our  faces,  poor  fellow ;  if 
it  Wixs  to  fiud  comfort  or  confidence 
there,  I  fear  he  foimd  little  of  either. 
I  do  not  believe  that  one  of  us  could 
check  the  tears  tlmt  involuntarily 
iiowed  to  see  the  manlv  fellow  and 
to  know  his  fate  ine\-itatle.  "We  did 
all  we  coidd  —  made  a  litter,  carried 
him  to  his  rock,  built  a  shed  over 
him,  put  back  the  bowels,  and  sewed 
up  tlie  wound,  but  the  end  of  the 
story  was  that  the  poor  fellow  died 
the  day  after,  to  our  great  grief.'' 


446  THE    NORTHERN   FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

About  the  year  1838,  the  condition  of  tliis  neglected 
people  attracted  the  attention  of  the  Governor,  Mr. 
Stewart  Mackenzie,  and  he  attempted  to  penetrate  their 
country,  but  was  turned  back  by  an  attack  of  jungle 
fever.  The  Assistant  Government  Agent,  however,  in 
conjunction  with  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  missionaries 
at  Batticaloa,  were  commissioned  to  place  themselves  in 
communication  wdth  the  Veddahs,  and  to  make  them 
offers  of  land  and  houses,  seed-grain,  tools,  and  pro- 
tection, if  they  would  consent  to  abandon  their  forest 
hfe,  and  become  settlers  and  cultivators  m  the  low- 
country.  'Ml'.  Atherton  and  the  Eev.  ]\Ii\  Stott  suc- 
ceeded during  their  jom^ney  in  obtaining  the  fullest 
and  most  accurate  information  possible  as  to  their 
actual  condition  and  sufferings.  Their  destitution  they 
discovered  to  be  so  great,  that  in  one  community  they 
found  seven  famihes  with  but  a  single  iron  mammotie 
(hoe)  amongst  them  for  the  cultivation  of  the  whole 
settlement ;  and  such  was  their  want  of  even  weapons 
for  the  chase,  that  but  one  arrow  was  left  in  a  family. 
Mr.  Atherton  gave  them  twelve,  with  directions  to  divide 
them  with  three  clans ;  but  so  ignorant  was  the  head- 
man, that  he  could  not  even  separate  them  hito 
four  equal  parcels.  Many  of  the  Eock  Veddahs  will- 
ingly availed  themselves  of  the  offer  of  settlement  and 
assistance,  but  firmly  refused  to  remove  from  the  im- 
mediate vicinity  of  their  native  forest.  Cottages  were 
built  for  them  in  their  own  district,  rice-land  assigned 
them,  wells  dug,  coco-nuts  planted,  and  two  commu- 
nities were  speedily  settled  at  Vippam-madoo,  close  by 
their  ancient  hunting  fields.  There  they  w^ere  provided 
with  seed,  hoes  and  axes,  for  agricultm-e,  and  clothes 
and  food  for  their  immediate  wants.  A  school-house 
was  subsequently  erected,  and  masters  sent  to  instruct 
them  through  the  medium  of  the  Singhalese  language ; 
and  the  experiment  so   far  succeeded,  that  settlements 


Chap.  III.]  THE   VEDDAHS.  447 

on  the  same  plan  were  afterwards  formed  at  other 
places,  the  principal  being  in  the  Bintenne  Distiict,  at 
Oomany  and  Villengelavelly.  The  teachers,  however, 
at  the  first  locahty  misconducted  themselves,  the  neigh- 
bouring Kandyans  were  unfavourable  to  the  measure, 
and  the  settlement  at  Vippam-madoo  was  eventually  bro- 
ken up,  and  the  Veddahs  again  dispersed.  But  the  good 
effects  of  even  this  temporary  experiment  were  apparent ; 
not  one  of  the  Veddahs  returned  again  to  his  cave 
and  savage  habits,  but  each  built  for  himself  a  house  of 
bark,  on  the  plan  of  the  one  he  had  left,  and  continued 
to  practise  the  cultivation  he  had  been  taught.  The 
other  colony  at  Oomany  continues  to  the  present  day 
prosperous  and  successful ;  twenty-five  famihes  are  resi- 
dent around  it;  rice  and  other  grains  are  produced  in 
sufficiency,  and  coco-nuts  are  planted  near  the  cottages. 
The  only  desertions  have  been  the  departures  of  those 
in  search  of  emplojTiient,  who  have  removed  to  other 
villages  in  quest  of  it.  The  school  was  closed  in  1847, 
o'sving  to  there  being  no  more  cliildren  at  the  time  re- 
quiring instruction ;  but  the  missionaries  have  been  so 
successful,  that  the  whole  community  have  professed 
themselves  Christians,  and  abandoned  their  addiction  to 
devil  dances.  Their  former  appellation,  derived  from 
the  pecuharity  of  their  habits,  can  no  longer  apply,  and 
it  may  thus  be  said,  that  the  distinction  of  the  Eock 
Veddahs  has  ceased  to  exist  in  that  part  of  the  country ; 
all  having  more  or  less  adopted  the  customs  and  habits  of 
villagers. 

Amongst  the  Village  Veddahs  also,  the  efforts  of  the 
Government  have  been  even  more  successful ;  their  dispo- 
sition to  become  settled  has  been  confirmed  by  permission 
to  cultivate  land,  and  encouraged  by  presents  of  tools  and 
seed-grain ;  and  upwards  of  eighty  famihes  were  located 
in  villages  under  the  direction  of  ;Mi\  Atherton.  A  few 
refused  all  offers  of  permanent  settlement,  preferring  their 


448  THE   NOETHERX   FORESTS.  [Pakt  IX. 

OAVii  wild  and  wandering  life,  and  casual  emplojanent,  as 
watchers  or  occasional  .laboiu'ers,  amongst  the  Moorish 
villagers ;  but  generally  speaking,  the  mass  are  becom- 
ing gradually  assimilated  in  their  habits,  and  intermingled 
with  the  ordinary  native  population  of  the  district. 

The  third  class,  the  Coast  Veddahs,  to  the  amount  of 
about  three  hundred,  have  in  like  manner  been  signaUy 
improved  in  then"  condition,  by  attention  to  then"  wants 
and  comforts.  They  were  the  last  to  hsten  to  the  in- 
vitations, or  to  avail  themselves  of  the  assistance,  of 
Government;  at  length,  in  1844,  they  came  in,  ex- 
pressing the  utmost  reluctance  to  abandon  the  sea-shore 
and  the  water,  but  accepting  gladly  patches  of  land, 
wdiich  were  cleared  for  them  in  the  forest,  near  the 
beach  ;  cottages  were  built,  fruit-trees  planted,  and 
seed  supphed;  and  they  are  now  concentrated  in  the 
beautiful  woody  headlands  around  the  Bay  of  Yenloos, 
where  they  maintain  themselves  by  fishing,  or  cutting 
ebony  and  satin-wood  in  the  forests,  to  be  floated  down 
the  river  to  the  Bay.  Education  has  made  progress  ;  the 
Wesleyan  Missionaries  have  been  active ;  the  great  ma- 
jority have  embraced  Christianity,  and  there  can  be  no 
reasonable  doubt,  that  within  a  very  few  years,  the  habits 
of  this  singular  race  will  be  absolutely  changed,  and  their 
appellation  of  Yeddahs  be  retained  only  as  a  traditionary 
name. 

Formerly  the  vast  tract  of  forest  between  the  Kan- 
dyan  mountain  and  the  sea,  frequented  by  these  people 
and  known  as  the  Veddah  Eatta,  or  "  Country  of  the 
Veddahs,"  was  regarded  by  Em^opeans  with  apprehen- 
sion ;  excited  by  the  exaggerated  representation  made 
by  the  Kandyans  as  to  the  savage  disposition  of  the 
Veddahs,  and  none  but  armed  parties  ventured  to  pass 
through  their  fastnesses.  Of  late  years,  this  delusion 
has  been  entu-ely  dispelled  ;  and  travellers  now  feel 
themselves  as  safe  in  the  vicinity  of  the  tribes,  as  in 
that  of  the  villages  of  the   Singhalese.     They  are  con- 


CiiAp.  III.]  THE   YEDDAIIS.  449 

stantly  visited  by  traders  in  search  of  deer's-horiis  and 
ivory ;  and  the  inhabitants  of  Velassy  obtain  from  their 
wild  neighbours  supphes  of  diied  deer's-fiesh  and  honey. 
The  Veddahs  themselves  have  in  a  great  degree  cast 
aside  their  timidity,  and  not  only  come  out  into  the 
open  country  with  confidence,  but  even  venture  into  the 
towns  for  such  commodities  as  they  have  the  means 
of  purchasing.  The  experiment  has  cost  the  Govern- 
ment but  a  few  hundred  pounds,  and  I  am  justified 
in  sapng  that  the  expenditure  has  been  well  repaid 
by  even  the  partial  reclamation  of  this  harmless  race 
from  a,  state  of  debasement,  scarcely,  if  at  all,  ele- 
vated above  that  of  the  animals  which  they  follow  in 
the  chase. 

The  morning  after  our  arrival  at  Bmtenne,  a  party 
of  Veddahs  about  sixty  in  number,  were  brought  in 
by  the  headman  to  be  exhibited  before  us.  It  Avas 
a  melancholy  spectacle.  We  were  assured  that  they 
were  Eock  Veddahs,  but  this  I  doubted ;  they  were 
more  probably  unsettled  stragglers  from  the  Veddah 
villages,  with  perhaps  a  few  genuine  denizens  of  the 
forest.  But  they  were  miserable  objects,  active  but 
timid,  and  athletic  though  deformed,  with  large  heads 
and  misshapen  hmbs.  Their  long  black  hair  and  beards 
fell  down  to  their  middle  in  uncombed  lumps,  they 
stood  with  their  faces  bent  towards  the  ground,  and 
their  restless  eyes  twinkled  upwards  with  an  expres- 
sion of  uneasiness  and  apprehension.  They  wore  the 
smallest  conceivable  patches  of  dirty  cloth  about  their 
loins  ;  and  were  each  armed  with  an  iron-headed  axe 
stuck  in  their  girdle,  a  rude  bow  about  six  feet  long, 
strung  with  twisted  bark;  and  a  handful  of  clumsy 
arrows  feathered  with  peacock's  pinions,  and  with  iron 
heads  about  seven  inches  long,  unbarbed,  and  tapering 
to  a  point.  At  our  request  they  sliot  at  a  target, 
but  they  exhibited  no  skill,  only  one  arrow  out  of  tliree 
striking    the   cential    mark.       Tlie    truth   is,    tliat    the 

vol..  II  G  a 


450  THE   NORTHERN   FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

Vedclalis  are  indifferent  marksmen,  and  bring  down 
their  game  by  surprise  rather  than  by  adroitness  with 
the  bow.  If  it  be  only  womided  they  give  chase,  and 
hang  upon  its  track  till  it  falls  exliausted  or  presents 
an  opportunity  for  repeating  the  shot.  In  this  way, 
it  is  said,  that  theu^  mode  of  kiUing  the  elephant  is  by 
planting  an  arrow  in  the  spongy  substance  which  forms 
the  sole  of  his  foot,  when  the  shaft  breaking  short  off 
festers  in  the  wound,  and  the  huge  creatiure  eventually 
becomes  their  prey  through  exliaustion  and  pain.  They 
danced  for  us,  after  the  exhibition  of  their  archery, 
shuffling  with  their  feet  to  a  low  and  plaintive  chaunt, 
and  shaking  their  long  hair,  till  it  concealed  the  upper 
part  of  their  body ;  and  as  they  excited  themselves 
with  their  exercise  they  uttered  shrill  cries,  jumped 
in  the  air,  and  clung  round  each  other's  necks.  We 
were  told  that  the  dance  generally  ended  in  a  kind  of 
frenzy,  after  which  they  sunk  exhausted  on  the  groimd ; 
but  the  whole  scene  was  so  repulsive  and  humihating 
that  we  could  not  permit  the  arrival  of  this  denouement ; 
and  dispersed  the  party  with  a  present  of  some  silver. 
They  received  it  without  an  apparent  emotion,  and  slimk 
off  into  the  jungle,  some  few  afterwards  returning  to  be 
hired  as  coohes  to  carry  our  hght  baggage  on  towards 
Batticaloa. 

On  our  route  thither  we  encountered  stragghng  parties 
of  Veddahs  at  several  points  of  the  jom-ney ;  but  they 
aU  presented  the  same  characteristics  of  wretchedness 
and  dejection, — projecting  mouths,  prominent  teeth,  flat- 
tened noses,  stunted  statm^e,  and  the  other  evidences 
of  the  physical  depravity  which  is  the  usual  consequence 
of  hunger  and  ignorance.  The  children  were  unsightly 
objects,  entirely  naked,  with  misshapen  joints,  huge 
heads,  and  protuberant  stomachs  ;  —  the  women,  who 
were  apparently  reluctant  to  appear,  were  the  most 
repulsive  specimens  of  humanity  I  have  ever  seen  in  any 
countiy. 


Chap.  IU.]  THE   VEDDAHS.  451 

On  one  occasion  we  saw  the  Veddalis  perform  the  opera- 
tion more  frequently  read  of  than  witnessed,  of  kindhng 
a  fire  by  the  friction  of  two  diied  sticks.^  For  this 
purpose  one  of  them  took  his  arrow,  broke  it  into  two 
pieces,  sharpened  the  one  hke  a  pencil,  and  made  a 
hole  in  the  other  to  receive  its  point.  Then  placing 
the  latter  on  the  ground,  and  holding  it  down  firmly 
with  his  toes,  he  whirled  the  pointed  one  round  in  the 
hole,  rolling  it  rapidly  between  the  palms  of  his  hands. 
In  a  few  moments  it  began  to  smoke,  a  httle  charcoal 
then  fell  in  powder,  and  presently  a  spark  jumped  out, 
kindled  the  charcoal  dust,  and  the  end  was  accomphshed. 
The  Yeddah  blew  it  gently  with  his  breath,  hghted 
a  dry  leaf  by  its  heat,  and  pihng  up  small  cliips 
and  dry  twigs  upon  the  flame,  raised  in  a  few  minutes 
a  cheerfid  blaze,  by  which  om*  servants  prepared  their 
coffee. 

On  leaving  Bintenne  our  company  divided ;  —  one 
party,  whose  object  was  hunting,  turning  northward, 
in  search  of  wild  elephants,  deer,  and  smaller  game, 
in  pursuit  of  which  they  had  liitherto  met  mtli  but 
indifferent  success,  because  the  country  was  under 
water,  and  the  natives  were  deterred  from  beating 
the  jungle  through  fear  of  crocodiles.  The  other, 
with  the  Commissioner  of  Eoads,  my  son,  and  myself, 
kept  on  a  course  due  east  tlu"ough  the  forests  towards 
Batticaloa.  The  richness  of  the  region  amongst  the 
low  hills  which  we  passed  in  this  direction  was  quite 
astonishing ;  pastiu-e,  where  the  forests  became  broken, 
was  luxuriant  in  the  extreme  ;  and  we  rode  across 
long  tracts  of  land  adapted  in  the  highest  degree  for 
the  production  of  grain,  and  still  showing  traces  of 
ancient  cultivation,  but  now  sohtary  and  uttei'ly  neg- 
lected.    Satin-wood   and   ebony   were   more   and   more 


^  The  wood  used  for  this  purpose  1  Ifihiscm   tiliacem,  —  Dakwin,    Nat. 
by  the  natives  of  Tahiti  is  that  of  |    Voi/.,  ch.  xviii. 

O   G     2 


452  THE   NORTIIEKN   FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

frequent  as  we  approached  tlie  low  country ;  and  game 
and  wild  animals  became  abundant  in  these  favourite 
and  undistiu'bed  retreats. 

The  only  road  in  the  dkection  of  the  sea  was  a  wide 
path  carried  east  and  west  from  the  shore  of  the  lake  at 
Batticaloa  to  Teldenia,  at  the  foot  of  the  Badulla  Moun- 
tains ;  and  on  this  we  occasionally  met  the  tavalams  or 
little  caravans  of  bullock  drivers,  bringing  up  commo- 
dities of  all  kinds  to  the  hiUs  of  the  interior,  and  car- 
rying down  coffee  and  other  produce  for  sale  on  the 
coast.  This  track  is  speedily  becoming  one  of  great 
importance,  as  it  connects  the  coffee  districts  of  the 
central  province  with  the  extensive  coco-nut  planta- 
tions near  Batticaloa ;  and  not  only  is  it  used  for 
conveying  the  cotton  cloths,  rice,  salt,  and  fish  from 
the  coast  ;  but  in  time  the  coffee  crops  of  BaduUa 
are  hkely  to  find  their  way  by  it  to  the  sea  for  ship- 
ment, in  preference  to  traversing  the  circuitous  and  much 
more  costly  route  through  Kandy  to  Colombo. 

On  the  lower  slopes  of  the  hills  where  they  gradually 
sink  into  the  plain,  the  pasture  in  the  open  parks  or 
talawas  is  of  the  most  luxuriant  description.  From 
the  vast  herds  of  deer  and  wild  buffaloes  which  fre- 
quent them,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  they  would 
be  Avell  suited  for  rearing  horses  and  cattle  ;  but,  un- 
fortunately, this  is  a  pursuit  for  which  the  Kandyans 
have  no  inchnation,  and  of  which  they  possess  no  ex- 
perience, horses  being  seldom  employed  by  them  for 
any  purpose ;  and  black  cattle  only  kept  to  supply 
bidlocks  for  tillage  and  transport.  Milk  they  never 
use,  the  calves  enjoying  it  unstinted  ;  and  the  pre- 
judice is  universal,  that  the  cows  woidd  die  were  it 
otherwise  disposed  of 

Approaching  Batticaloa  we  exchanged  these  luxu- 
riant pastures  and  wooded  park-like  landscapes  for 
swampy  marshes,  overgrown  with  brushwood  and  liter- 
ally   swarming   with   leeches ;    and   finally,    on   coming 


Chap.  III.]  THE    VEDDAHS.  453 

within  a  few  miles  of  the  sea,  we  rode  across  a  vdde 
sandy  phxin  only  partially  cultivated,  which  extended 
as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach.  Far  on  its  eastern 
verge,  the  long  groves  of  coco-nut  pahns  are  chscern- 
ible,  wliich  fringe  the  shore,  and  stretch  thkty  miles 
north  and  south  of  Batticaloa. 


G    G     3 


454  THE   NORTHERN   FORESTS.  [Paet  IX 


CHAP.    IV. 

BATTICALOA.  —  COCO-NUT  PLANTATIONS.  —  STRANGE  CUSTOMS. 
THE  "  MUSICAL  FISH." THE  SALT  LAKES. 

A  REMARKABLE  peculiarity  characterises  the  division  of 
the  island  in  which  the  fort  of  Batticaloa  is  situated, 
and,  in  fact,  nearly  the  whole  eastern  section  of  Ceylon. 
The  coast  and  in-lying  country,  for  two  hundred  miles 
from  north  to  south,  and  from  ten  to  tliirty  miles  inland, 
is  a  flat  alluvial  plain,  sandy  but  verdant,  in  the  im- 
mediate vicinity  of  the  shore,  and  covered  with  jungle 
and  forest  as  it  recedes  towards  the  interior.  Across 
this  a  number  of  rivers  of  greater  or  less  magnitude 
flow  into  the  sea,  some  branching  from  the  MahaweUi- 
ganga,  and  others  issuing  from  the  tanks  and  broken 
reservou"s  in  the  depths  of  the  forest.  Owing  to 
the  permeable  and  unresisting  natm^e  of  the  soil, 
these  streams  have  repeatedly  changed  their  course, 
when  swollen  by  the  tropical  rains,  or  obstructed  by 
the  falhng  in  of  their  banks ;  and  as  the  level  natm^c 
of  the  country  permits  their  abandoned  channels  to 
retain  water,  these  have  become  still  lakes  commu- 
nicating with  the  original  river,  and  thus  a  network 
of  na\dgable  canals  has  been  spread  over  the  entire 
surface  of  the  district.  Their  banks  are  covered  with 
mangroves,  growing  to  the  lieight  of  fifty  feet,  and 
the  water  ebbs  and  flows  beneath  their  roots,  which 
rise  in  innumerable  arches  above  its  surface.  When 
the  tide  is  low  and  the  sands  uncovered,  quantities 
of  shellfish  pecuhar  to  brackish  water  are  found 
collected  under  the  mangrove  roots,  or  crawhng  over 
the    damp    slopes ;    and   in   particular   two   varieties    of 


Chap.  IV.]  BATTICALOA.  455 

Cerithium  ^  are  equally  remarkable  for  their  size  and  the 
activity  of  their  motions. 

With  the  exception  of  the  sea-hne,  this  part  of  the 
coast  has  not  been  minutely  surveyed,  nor  have  these 
singular  and  sohtary  inlets  ever  been  thorouglily  explored. 
Their  navigation  is  only  known  to  the  natives,  who  find 
their  way  through  devious  passages  by  noting  particidar 
trees,  or  by  other  landmarks  known  to  them,  but  too 
indistinct  to  serve  as  guides  to  the  unpractised  eye  of  a 
Em^opean.  Wlien  ghding  noiselessly  in  a  canoe,  nothing 
can  be  more  striking  than  the  sensation  caused  by  tmiiing 
unexpectedly  into  one  of  these  quiet  and  unfrequented 
openings,  where  dense  foliage  lines  each  side  and  almost 
meets  above  the  water.  The  trees  are  covered  with  bkds 
of  gorgeous  plumage ;  pea-fowl  sun  themselves  on  the 
branches,  and  snowy  egrets  and  azure  kingfishers  station 
themselves  lower  down  to  watch  the  fish,  which  frequent 
these  undisturbed  pools  in  prodigious  numbers.  The 
silence  and  stillness  of  these  places  is  quite  remarkable ; 
the  mournful  cry  of  the  water-fowl  is  heard  from  an 
incredible  distance ;  and  the  plash  of  a  crocodile  as  he 
plunges  into  the  stream,  or  the  surprise  of  a  deer  when, 
distiurbed  at  his  morning  draught,  he 

"  Stamps  with  all  his  hoofs  togethei", 
Listens  with  one  foot  uplifted," 

and  breaks  away  to  conceal  himself  in  the  jungle,  cause 
an  instant  commotion  amongst  the  fishing  birds  and 
cranes ;  they  rise  heavily  on  their  unwieldy  Avings,  and 
betake  themselves  to  the  highest  trees,  where  they  wait 
for  the  intruder's  departure  to  resume  then-  patient  watcli 
upon  the  mangroves. 

In  the  immechate  vicinity  of  Batticaloa  the  country 
is  but  partially  wooded,  and  the  fort  and  town  are 
built  on  an  island  in  one  of  those  singular  estuaries, 
where  the  confluence  of  several  streams  has  formed 
a  lake  some  thirty  or  forty  miles  lonsr,  thoudi  scarcely 

^  C.  telescopium,  C.  palustre. 

G    G     4 


45d 


THE    NORTHERN    FORESTS. 


[Part  IX. 


more  than  one  or  two  in  l")reacltli.  At  its  southern 
extremity  this  narrow  inlet  penetrates  a  marshy  and 
ahnost  submerged  country,  covered  w^th  bukushes  and 
lotus.  Here  water-fowd  are  found  in  astonishing  num- 
bers and  of  infinite  variety,  thek  haunts  being  seldom 
disturbed  by  a  sportsman,  and  so  unfrequented  as  to  be 
entu'ely  out  of  the  ordinary  route  of  travellers. 

The  httle  islet  in  the  lake  on  which  the  fort  stands  is 
called  by  the  natives  Poehantivoe,  the  "  island  of  tama- 
rinds ; "  and  its  approach  from  the  land  side  is  ex- 
tremely picturesque,  thick  groves  of  coco-nut  pahns 
forming  an  impervious  shade  above  the  white  houses 
of  the  town,  each  of  which  is  surrounded  by  a  garden 
of  fi'iiit  trees  and  flowering  shrubs.  A  few  hundi-ed 
yards  beyond  the  landing  place,  we  emerged  from  a 
green  lane  upon  the  esplanade,  wdth  the  old  Dutch 
fortress  in  front,  beyond  wdiicli  we 
cauglit  ghmpses  of  the  Bay  of  Bengal, 
through  the  forest  of  palms. 

The  fine  of  coast  north  and  south 
PM  of  Batticaloa  presents  a  remarkable 
(  example  of  the  great  sandy  forma- 
tions elsewhere  described^,  resulting 
from  the  conjoint  action  of  the  rivers 
and  the  ocean  cmTcnts.  It  is  nearly 
thirty  miles  in  lengtli  A\dth  a  breadth 
of  little  more  than  a  mile  and  a  half, 
and  separates  the  sea  from  the  still 
waters  of  the  lagoon. 

Tliis  natural  embankment  is  covered 
from  one  extremity  to  the  other  with 
plantations  of  coco-nut  trees,  many 
of  them  of  veiy  ancient  growth,  the 
pecuhar  adaptation  of  the  soil  hav- 
ing been  discovered  at  an  early 
period  by  the  Moors,   whose  descendants  have  settled 


■  GOBBS  ■■  ON  TEE  EAST  COAST- 


'  See  (lute,  Yol.  I.  Vt  i.  cb.  i.  p.  4o. 


CiiAP.  IV.]  COCO-NUT   PLANTATIONS.  457 

themselves  in  a  dense  colony  at  this  favourite  spot. 
The  success  of  the  cultivation,  the  remarkable  luxu- 
riance of  the  trees,  and  the  unusual  Aveight  and  rich- 
ness of  the  fruit,  attracted  the  attention  of  European 
speculators,  and  the  entire  line  of  coast  for  sixteen 
miles  north  of  Batticaloa,  and  for  twenty-seven  miles 
to  the  south,  is  now  one  continuous  garden  of  palms, 
pre-eminent  for  beauty  and  luxuriance.  One  unripe 
nut  was  brought  to  me  weighing  fifteen  pounds,  and 
of  tliese  a  tree  in  full  bearing  produces  annually  from 
one  hundred  and  twenty  to  one  himdred  and  fifty,  equal 
to  a  ton  of  fruit  from  a  single  coco-palm  in  the  course  of 
a  year.  Such  is  their  excellence  that  the  nuts  of  tliis 
district  are  sold  for  3/.  a  thousand,  whilst  those  on  the 
south-western  side  of  the  island  do  not  brino;  more  than 
two-thirds  of  this  price. 

The  natives  ascribe  this  superiority  to  the  combination 
of  advantages  to  be  found  at  Batticaloa,  —  a  soil  sandy 
and  pervious,  a  profusion  of  water  from  the  fresh  lake  on 
the  one  side,  and  the  sea  on  the  other ;  a  saline  atmo- 
sphere caused  by  the  constant  tossing  of  the  spray  on  the 
adjacent  shore,  a  warm  and  genial  sun  and  timely  rains 
during  both  monsoons  ;  as  the  proximity  of  this  district 
to  the  Kandyan  mountains  secures  for  it  an  equable  and 
plenteous  supply. 

The  peninsula  of  Jaffna  competes  with  Batticaloa  in 
this  species  of  cultivation.  Each  locahty  lias  fecihties 
peculiar  to  itself,  but  whilst  Jaffna  has  the  advantage 
in  population  and  labour,  I  am  disposed  to  believe  that 
Batticaloa  enjoys  pecuharities  of  climate  and  position, 
that  entitle  it  to  the  preference ;  but  the  experiment 
now  in  progress  at  both  is  so  recent  as  to  render  it 
premature  to  hazard  an  opinion  as  to  comparative 
results. 

In  the  meantime  the  energy  with  whicli  the  enterprise 
has  been  urged  forward  at  Batticaloa,  lias  given  a 
remarkable  impulse  to  tlie  activity  and  ]:>rosperity  of 
the   district;  —  the  tonnage  of  the  port  doubled  within 


458  THE   NOETHERN   FOEESTS.  [Part  IX. 

a  few  j^ears ;  the  former  postal  communication  by  the 
circuitous  route  of  Kandy  and  Trincomalie  was  found 
inadequate  to  the  wants  of  the  planters ;  and  new  roads 
and  canals  have  been  eagerly  projected  to  connect  their 
estates  with  the  interior,  and  furnish  the  requisite  facih- 
ties  for  the  conveyance  of  stores  and  the  transport  of 
produce. 

The  Moors  are  almost  the  only  section  of  the  native 
population  who  divide  this  valuable  cultm^e  with  the 
Enghsh.  They  have  numerous  and  flourishing  villages 
throughout  the  district,  and  almost  monopohse  the 
trade  of  Batticaloa,  exporting  ebony,  satin-wood  and 
timber,  and  'introducing  cotton  goods  and  brass-ware 
from  the  Coromandel  coast.  Their  dhoneys  ply  between 
Ceylon  and  the  French  possessions  at  Pondicherry 
and  Karical,  and  they  export  rice  and  Indian  corn 
to  Colombo,  and  deer's-horns  and  wax  to  Point  de 
GaUe,  collecting  the  latter  from  the  Veddahs  in  barter 
for  coco-nuts  and  salt.  They  are  hkewise  manufac- 
turers, and  employ  the  Tamils  in  the  village  of  Arra- 
patoo  in  wea\dng  cotton  twist,  imported  from  India, 
into  a  coarse  Idnd  of  damask,  which  is  in  such  demand 
that  the  supply  is  insufficient  even  for  the  consumption 
of  Colombo. 

Far  less  frequented  by  Singhalese  and  Europeans 
than  any  other  portion  of  Ceylon,  the  Eastern  Province 
has  retained  many  ancient  liabits,  and  presents  more 
frequent  instances  of  curious  social  peculiarities  than 
are  to  be  noticed  in  the  rest  of  the  island.  In  the 
western  extremity  of  the  province  adjoining  Bintenne, 
a  custom  prevails,  and  has  acquired  the  recognition  of 
law,  whereby  nephews  by  the  sister's  side  succeed  to 
the  inheritance  to  tlie  exclusion  of  tlie  possessor's  sons. 
This  anomalous  arrangement  is  observed  in  various 
parts  of  Jndia,  in  Sylhet  and  Kachar,  in  Canara,  and 
amoncrst    the    Nairs    in    the    south    of    the    Dekkan.^ 


^  "  The   Nairs   are    the    military 
caste   iu    Malabar;    with    them  the 


not  to  leave  her  mother's  house,  or 
even  to  consort  witli  her  husband.  It 


custom  on  marriage  is  for  a  woman      is  his  duty  to  ]irovide  liev  with  food, 


Chap.  IV.] 


STRANGE   CUSTOMS. 


469 


The  guardianship  of  the  sacred  island  of  Eamiseram 
is  vested  in  a  chief  of  the  tribe  of  Byragees,  who  is 
always  devoted  to  cehbacy,  the  succession  being  perpe- 
tuated in  the  hue  of  his  sister.  Traces  of  the  same 
custom  are  to  be  found  amongst  some  of  the  African 
tribes,  and  even  among  the  North  American  Indians,  the 
Hurons  and  the  JSTatchez  preferring  the  female  to  the 
male  hne,  and  setting  aside  the  claims  of  the  direct  heir  in 
favour  of  the  son  of  a  sister.^ 

The  Singhalese  kings  frequently  married  their  sisters^ ; 
and  the  natives  explain  the  usage  by  a  legend  to  the 
effect  that  one  of  their  kings  being  directed  by  an  oracle 
to  sacrifice  a  male  child  of  the  blood  royal  in  order  to 
thwart  the  mahce  of  a  demon  who  nightly  destroyed  the 
bund  of  a  tank  in  process  of  construction,  his  queen 
refused  to  surrender  one  of  her  chikben  ;  on  which  his 
sister  voluntarily  devoted  her  o^vn  boy  to  deatli,  and  the 
king,  in  honour  of  her  patriotism,  declared  that  nephews 
were  ever  after  to  be  entitled  to  the  succession  in  pre- 
ference to  sons. 

Feudal  service  prevails  in  its  amplest  details  in  this 
singular  district.  For  example,  the  country  around 
Amblantorre,  to  the  west  of  Batticaloa,  is  rich  in 
paddi-land,  the  whole  of  which  is  claimed  by  the  chief 
of  the  district,  "  the  Vanniah  of  Manmone."  Accordins^ 
to  the  custom  of  the  country,  he  directs  its  cultivation 
by  the  villagers  ;  they  acknowledge  his  authority,  and 
so  long  as  they  hve  on  the  land,  devote  their  whole 
time  and  labour  to  his  service,  receiving  in  return  a  di- 


clotbing,  and  ornaments,  but  lie  is  not 
recognised  as  father  of  her  cliildrtui, 
and  indeed  usually  is  not  so,  for  tem- 
porary wedlock  is  alloAved  to  her  with 
anyone,  provided  he  bo  of  equal  or 
higher  caste  to  herself.  On  the  death 
of  her  mother  the  wedded  Nairiue 
lives  ^-ith  her  brothers,  and  in  conse- 
quence of  this  sti-ange  ordinance  a 
man's  heirs  are  not  his  own  children, 
but  the  cliildren  of  his  sister.  *  * 
Tlie  family  of  the  Zamorin  of  Calicut 
(the  reigning  prince  of  Malabar  when 


the  Portuguese  an-ived)  belonged  to 
the  Nair  caste,  and  among  liis  de- 
scendants to  the  present  day  "  the 
eldest  son  of  the  eldest  sister  always 
succeeds  to  the  vacant  musnud."— 
Sir  E.  Perry's  JUnTs-ei/e  View  of 
ludia,  ch.  xiv.  p.  84 ;  Asiatic  lii- 
st'iirc/ics,  vol.  V.  p.  12  ;  Buchaxax's 
Mysore,  vol.  ii.  p.  412  ;  Asiat.  8oc. 
Juitrn.  Hoif/al,  vol.  ix.  p.  H;'4. 

'  IIuJlDOLDT,  Personal Xar.c\\.xx\\. 

^  Vat.extyx,  Oi/d  en  Nicuic  Oost- 
Indicn,  ch.  iv.  p.  03. 


AGO  THE    NORTHERN   FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

vision  of  tlie  grain,  a  share  of  milk  from  his  cattle,  and 
the  certainty  of  support  in  periods  of  famine  and  distress. 
Their  liouses,  gardens,  and  wells,  though  built,  planted, 
and  dug  by  themselves,  are  the  property  of  the  chief, 
who  alone  can  dispose  of  them.  According  to  the 
report  of  Mi\  Atherton,  the  government  agent  of  the 
district,  these  serfs,  whilst  they  live  on  the  land,  are 
bound  to  perform  every  service  for  the  lord  of  the  soil, 
without  pay  ;  "  they  fence  his  gardens,  cover  his  houses, 
carry  his  baggage,  perform  the  work  of  coolies  in 
balams  ^  fish  for  him,  act  as  his  messengers ;  and,  when 
absent  from  his  village,  they  must  provide  food  for 
himself  and  his  servants.  They  may,  in  fact,  be  called 
his  slaves  except  that  they  are  at  hberty  to  quit  his 
service  for  that  of  another  chief  when  they  choose.  But 
as  they  seldom  do  change,  it  may  safely  be  presumed  that 
they  are  contented  with  the  arrangement,  and  their 
healthy  and  pleasant  faces  sufficiently  prove  that  they  are 
well  fed  and  happy." 

The  ancient  organisation  for  rice-cultivation,  known 
as  the  ^^  village  system,'"  exists  in  undiminished  vigour 
throughout  the  Eastern  province;  —  during  the  unoc- 
cupied portion  of  the  year,  betAveen  the  two  rice 
harvests,  the  villagers  enjoy  an  interval  of  absolute 
idleness  and  ease ;  but  on  the  arrival  of  the  proper 
season  to  resume  their  tillage,  the  whole  community 
recommence  labour  simultaneously.  The  chief  of  the 
district  supphes  tools,  hatchets,  cattle,  and  seed  grain  ; 
the  people  repair  the  dams  and  channels  which  lead  the 
water  through  the  rice  ground ;  plough  it,  tramp  the 
mud,  sow  and  fence  it,  and  complete  the  work  by  their 
joint  labour.  One  portion  (generally  one-eighth)  is 
cultivated  exclusively  for  the  lord  of  the  soil.  Together 
with  a  tithe  of  the  remainder,  he  gets  a  share  for  the 
services  and  labour  of  the  cattle,  and  deducts  the  seed 
grain  advanced  by  him,  with  an  increase  of  50  per  cent. 
The  residue  of  the  harvest  is  then  divided  into  conventional 

^  Canoes. 


ClIAP.  IV.] 


STRANGE   CUSTOMS. 


4G1 


shares  amongst  the  villagers  and  their  hereditary  officers, 
incluthng  the  doctor,  schoolmaster,  tomtom-beater,  barber, 
and  washerman.^ 

The  two  latter  individuals  are  the  most  important 
functionaries  in  the  httle  community ;  they  operate  for 
all,  but  receive  no  remuneration  except  theu'  peri- 
odical share  of  the  rice  crop.  In  addition  to  their 
pecuHar  professional  duties,  the  barber  and  the  washer 
are  the  official  witnesses  to  every  legal  conveyance  and 
deed ;  and  every  marriage  and  important  ceremony 
must  be  solemnised  in  their  presence,  in  order  to  ensm^e 
testimony  to  its  vahdity.  In  Ceylon,  as  in  India  gene- 
rally, even  the  poorest  natives  never  wash  their  own 
linen,  and  that  duty  has  devolved  immemorially  on  the 
washer  caste  of  the  community.  But,  in  adchtion  to 
these  services,  the  headman  of  the  Avashers  has  en- 
trusted to  him  the  duty  of  preparing  apartments  for 
the  reception  of  visitors  of  distinction,  Avhich  it  is  the 
custom  to  hang  with  white  cloths.  Li  every  village 
where  we  rested  during  our  journeys,  a  house  was  thus 
varnished  for   us,    the   walls   and   ceilino-s   havino^  been 

O  '  CO 

covered  previously  to  our  arrival  with  white  cloths, 
borrowed  from  the  villagers  for  the  occasion.  These 
cloths  it  is  a  part  of  the  washer's  duty  to  keep  or  collect 
for  every  ceremonial  observance ;  such  as  a  wedding,  a 
feast,  or  the  arrival  in  the  \illao:e  of  strano-ers  or 
persons  in  authority,  on  whose  departure  they  are  taken 
dowm  by  him  to  be  bleached  and  returned  to  their 
respective  owners. 

In  this  oriental  custom  of  the  "  honours  of  the  white 
cloth"  as  it  exists  at  the  present  day  m  Ceylon,  may 


*  Out  of  the  community  of  in- 
terest thus  engendered  throughout 
the  district  arose  another  curious 
practice  which  still  prevails  in  some 
parts  of  the  province.  The  care  of 
the  fences  and  watercoiu-ses  is  en- 
trusted by  sections  to  every  iield 
servant  interested  in  the  crop,  and  to 
secure  their  faithful  perftmnance  of 
this   dutv  it   is   customary    for   the 


\'illagers  to  elect  one  of  themselves 
as  an  overseer,  with  power  to  inspect 
every  portion  of  the  work,  and  by 
connuou  consent  to  inllict  corporal 
punishment  in  case  of  neglect,  the 
delinquent  being  compelled  at  tlio 
division  of  the  harvest  to  pay  to  this 
functionary  a  proportion  of  liis  own 
share  as  reiJuoirralioH  for  /tis  troiihh 
ill  iv/iij)j)i)i(/  him. 


462 


THE   NORTHERN   FORESTS. 


[Part  IX. 


be  discerned  the  origin  of  the  "  hangmgs  "  of  which  the 
room-paper  of  modern  times  is  but  a  recent  imitation. 
Tlie  introduction  of  tapestry  was  one  of  the  refinements 
which  followed  the  return  of  the  Crusaders  (a  fact  mdi- 
cated  by  the  term  tapis  Sarrazinois  ^),  and  in  Europe,  as 
in  India,  its  first  use  was  to  conceal  the  rude  earth-work 
and  stones  which  formed  the  walls  of  every  apartment ; 
and  to  impart  unusual  splendour  on  the  occasion  of 
festivities  or  royal  receptions.^ 

Two  circumstances  serve  to  estabhsli  the  identity  of 
practice  in  the  western  hemisphere  with  that  which  still 
prevails  in  the  East ;  the  painted  and  embroidered 
pieces  wliich  in  Eiu-ope  adorned  the  walls  upon  occa- 
sions of  ceremony  were  not  exclusively  appropriated 
to  that  purpose,  but,  hke  the  TrsTrXog  of  the  Greeks,  were 
worn  as  shawls  by  their  wealthy  proprietors,  just  as 
the  cloths  wliich  the  Singhalese  and  Tamils  suspend  in 
honour  of  then*  guests,  and  spread  upon  the  foot-paths 
to  receive  them,  form  portions  of  the  ordinary  apparel 
of  tlieh  owners,  ^schylus  represents  Agamemnon  as 
rejecting  the  "  garments "  s'/jotara,  that  Clytemnestra 
]iad  directed  to  be  spread  on  his  path  to  welcome  lihn 
on  liis  return  from  Troy.^  Plutarch  mentions  that 
w^heii  Cato  left  the  Macedonian  army,  the  soldiers 
laid  down  their  cloths  for  him  to  walk  on  ;  and  the 
more  solemn  illustration  will  suggest  itself  of  the  mul- 
titude, who  "  spread  their  garments  on  the  way "  to 
welcome  the  Saviour  to  Jerusalem.  The  other  point 
of  similarity  is  that  in  Europe,  as  in  Ceylon,  these 
highly  prized  articles  were  not  fixtures  on  the  walls  ^, 


^  JTJBrNAL,  Recherches  sur  V usage 
des  Tapisseries,  Ȥe.,  p.  16. 

2  "  Non  seulement  elles  servirent 
alors  pour  tenclre  les  appartemeiis  et 
faire  disparaitre  leiir  nudite,  mais  on 
les  employa  surtout  daus  les  occa- 
sions solenuelles ;  par  exemple,  aux 
entrees  des  princes,  a  donner  line 
physionomie  joyeuse  aux  villes  et 
aux  places  publiques." — Ibid.,  p.  20. 


3  .'EscuYLTJS,  Ar/am.j  V.  896. 

^  In  the  Transactimis  of  the  Kil- 
kenny ArcJueolo(jical  Societi/  are 
documents  showing  that  the  tapes- 
tries belonging  to  the  Ormonde 
family  were  carried  from  house  to 
house  as  the  earls  removed  fi-om 
one  of  their  residences  to  another. 
Vol.  ii.  p.  8. 


Chap.  IV.]  AGEICULTURE   AT   BATTICALOA.  463 

but  were  taken  down  and  stored  away  on  the  departure 
of  the  mdividual  in  honour  of  whose  arrival  they  had 
been  hung  up. 

After  leaving  the  rice  grounds  in  the  vicinity  of  Bin- 
tenne,  and  passing  through  the  long  extent  of  unin- 
habited forest  which  Hes  to  tlie  eastward  of  them,  where 
for  thirty  miles  no  human  dwelling  meets  the  eye  on 
any  side,  the  first  symptoms  of  life  and  activity  which 
we  encountered  were  the  "  natties  "  or  patches  of  what 
is  called  "  Chena "  cultivation  \  scattered  through  the 
woods  as  we  drew  nearer  to  Batticaloa.  Large  spaces 
in  the  forest  of  two  and  three  hundred  acres  suddenly 
appeared  cleared  of  the  timber,  and  enclosed  by  rustic 
fences,  with  a  few  temporary  huts  run  up  in  the  centre, 
and  all  the  surrounding  area  divided  into  patches  of 
Indian  corn,  coracan,  gram,  and  dry  paddi :  with  plots 
of  esculents  and  curry  stuffs  of  every  variety,  onions, 
chilhes,  yams,  cassava,  and  sweet  potatoes  ;  whilst  cotton 
plants,  more  or  less  advanced  to  maturity,  are  scattered 
throughout  the  whole  space  which  had  been  brought  mto 
cultivation. 

The  process  of  Chena  cultivation  in  this  province  is 
uniform  and  simple.  The  forest  being  felled,  burned, 
cleared,  and  fenced,  each  individual's  share  is  distin- 
guished by  marks,  huts  are  erected  for  the  several 
families,  and  in  September  the  land  is  planted  with 
Indian  corn  and  pumpkins ;  and  melon  seeds  are  sown, 
and  cassava  plants  put  down  round  the  enclosiure.  In 
December,  the  Indian  corn  is  pulled  in  the  cob  and 
carried  to  market ;  and  the  ground  is  re-sown  with 
millet  and  other  kinds  of  grain,  cliilhes,  sweet  potatoes, 
sugar-cane,  hemp,  yams,  and  other  vegetables,  over 
which  an  unwearied  watch  is  kept  up  till  March  and 
April,  when  all  is  gathered  and  carried  off.  But  as 
the  cotton  plants,  which  are  put  in  at  the  same  time 


^  The  custom  of  "Chena'"  farms  I  It  is  aUudod  to  in  tlio  Mahmvanso 
is   of  extreme  antiquity  in    Ceylon.  |  li.c.  101,  ch.  xxiii.  p.  140. 


464  THE    XORTHERX    FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

with  the  small  grain,  and  other  articles  that  form  the 
second  crop  after  the  Indian  corn  has  been  pulled, 
require  two  years  to  come  to  maturity ;  one  party 
is  left  beliind  to  tend  and  gather,  wliilst  their  com- 
panions move  forward  into  the  forest  to  commence 
the  process  of  felhng  the  trees,  and  forming  anotlier 
Chena  farm. 

The  Chena  cultivation  lasts  but  for  two  years  in  any 
one  locahty.  It  is  undertaken  by  a  company  of  specu- 
lators under  a  license  from  the  government  agent  of  the 
district,  and  a  single  crop  of  grain  having  been  secured 
and  sufficient  time  allowed  for  the  ripening  and  collection 
of  the  cotton,  the  whole  enclosm-e  is  abandoned  and 
permitted  to  return  to  jungle,  the  adventurers  moving 
onward  to  clear  a  fresh  Chena  elsewhere,  and  take  a  crop 
off  some  other  enclosure,  to  be  in  turn  abandoned  hke  the 
first ;  as  in  tliis  province  no  Chena  is  considered  worth 
the  labour  of  a  second  cultivation  until  after  an  interval  of 
fifteen  years  from  the  first  harvest. 

During  the  period  of  cultivation  great  numbers  resort 
to  the  forests,  comfortable  huts  are  built ;  poultry  is 
reared,  thread  spun,  and  chatties  and  other  earthenware 
vessels  are  made  and  filled  ;  and  by  this  primitive  mode  of 
Hfe,  which  lias  attractions  much  superior  to  the  mono- 
tonous cultivation  of  a  coco-nut  garden  or  an  ancestral 
paddi  farm,  numbers  of  the  population  find  the  means  of 
support.  It  likewise  suits  the  fancy  of  those  who  feel 
repugnant  to  labour  for  like,  but  begrudge  no  toil  upon 
any  spot  of  earth  wliich  they  can  call  then'  own ;  Avhere 
they  can  choose  their  own  hours  for  work  and  follow  then- 
own  impulses  to  rest  and  idleness.  It  is  impossible  to 
deny  that  this  system  tends  to  encourage  the  natives  in 
their  predilection  for  a  restless  and  unsettled  life,  and  tliat 
it  therefore  militates  ao'ainst  tlieir  attachino;  themselves 
to  fixed  pursuits,  through  which  the  interests  of  the  whole 
community  would  eventually  be  advanced.  It  Ukemse 
leads  to  the  destruction  of  large  tracts  of  forest  land, 
which,  after  conversion  to  Cliena,  are  unprofitable  for  a 


Chap.  IV.] 


BATTICALOA. 


465 


long  series  of  years ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is 
equally  evident  that  the  custom  tends  materially  to 
augment  the  food  of  the  district  (especially  during 
periods  of  drought) ;  to  sustain  the  wages  of  labour, 
and  to  prevent  an  undue  increase  in  the  market  value 
of  the  first  necessaries  of  hfe.  Eegarding  it  in  this 
hght,  and  lookhig  to  the  prodigious  extent  of  forest  land 
in  the  island,  of  which  the  Chena  cultivation  affects 
only  a  minute  and  unsaleable  portion,  it  is  a  prevalent 
and  plausible  supposition,  in  which,  however,  I  am  little 
disposed  to  acquiesce,  that  the  advantages  are  sufficient 
to  counterbalance  the  disadvantages  of  the  system. 

The  old  Dutch  fort  of  Batticaloa  is  a  grim  httle 
quadi^angular  stronghold,  with  a  battery  at  each  angle 
connected  by  a  loop-holed  wall,  and  surrounded  by 
a  ditch  swarming  with  crocodiles.  The  interior  of  the 
square  is  smTounded  by  soldiers'  quarters,  and  encloses 
a  house  for  the  commandant,  a  bomb-proof  magazine, 
and,  the  invariable  accompaniment  of  every  Dutch  for- 
tification, a  church  of  the  most  Calvinistic  simplicity. 

In  the  fifteenth  century,  Batticaloa  (which  was  formerly 
called  by  the  Tamils  Alaticaloa,  from  Mada-kalappoo, 
the  "  muddy  lake  ")  was  a  fief  of  the  kingdom  of  Kandy, 
held  by  one  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Wanny  ^ ;  and  on  a  branch 
of  the  Natoor  river  there  are  still  to  be  seen  the  remains 
of  a  stone  bridge  which  led  to  a  palace  of  the  "  Vanichee,"" 
or  queen  of  the  district.^ 

The  Portuguese,  whose  jurisdiction  at  Batticaloa,  did 
not  extend  beyond  the  island  of  Poehantivoe,  built  the 


^  PoRCACcni,  in  his  Isolan'o,  pub- 
lished at  Padua  in  lo70,  fj-ives  a 
strange  account  of  the  inhabitants  of 
"Batech,"  which  from  the  context 
would  appear  to  mean  Batticaloa. 
He  describes  them  as  being  per- 
petually at  war  with  their  neighbours, 
eating  the  flesh  of  their  prison- 
ers, and  selling  their  scalps  at  liigh 
prices :    "  di    maniera   die    volendo 

VOL.  II.  II 


comprare  alcima  mercantia,  danno 
due  6  piu  teste;  all'  incontro  secondo 
il  valore:  et  clii  ha  piii  teste  in  casae 
riputato  il  piu  ricco." — P.  188.  This 
information  he  got  from  the  Moors, 
but  it  applies  with  truth  to  no  tribe 
in  Ceylon. 

^  VALKNxrN,  Ou(7  en  Kieidv  Oo.4- 
Indien,  cli.  xv.  p.  223. 


11 


466 


THE    NORTHERN    FORESTS. 


[Part  IX. 


fort  in  1G27  in  violation  of  tlieir  treaty  witli  the  emperor.^ 
This  was  the  &st  spot  on  which  "  the  Hollander  "  secured 
a  footing  in  Ceylon,  when  afterwards  invited  by  the 
kuig  of  Kandy  to  assist  him  against  the  insolence  and 
tyranny  of  the  Portuguese.  In  1638,  the  Dutch  admiral 
arrived  from  Batavia  with  a  flotilla  of  six  ships  of  war  ; 
and,  according  to  the  historian  of  the  defeated  party, 
the  Portuguese  fort  was  so  ill  situated  for  defence  and 
the  walls  so  unsubstantial,  that  in  a  very  few  days  a 
breach  was  made  by  the  artillery,  two  bastions  w^ere 
overthrown,  the  garrison  capitulated,  and  not  one  stone 
was  left  on  another.^ 

On  the  esplanade  in  front  of  the  government  house 
there  are  the  remains  of  wdiat  had  formerly  been  a 
Dutch  garden,  with  a  reservoir  in  the  centre,  abounding 
wdth  tortoises^  and  small  fish.  Contrary  to  the  usual 
habits  of  the  kingfisher  ^,  which  is  fond  of  lonely  places, 
where  it  can  piu^sue  its  prey  unmolested,  large  numbers 
of  these  beautiful  creatures  sat  all  day  long  on  the 
branches  above  the  water,  perfectly  undistm'bed  and 
indiiferent  to  om^  presence,  allow^ing  us  at  all  times  to 
approach  within  a  few  yards  of  them. 

The  lagoon  of  Batticaloa,  and  indeed  all  the  still  waters 
of  this  district,  are  remarkable  for  the  numbers  and  pro- 
dimous  size  of  the  crocodiles  which  infest  them.  Their 
teeth  are  sometimes  so  large  that  the  natives  mount  them 
with  silver  hds  and  use  them  for  boxes  to  cany  the 
pow^dered  chunam,  which  they  chew  with  the  betel  leaf. 
On  the  morning  after  oiu"  arrival  a  crocodile  was  caught 
within  a  few  yards  of  the  government  agent's  re- 
sidence, where  a  hook  had  been  laid  the  night  before, 
baited  with  the  entrails  of  a  goat,  and  made  fast,  in  the 
native   fashion,   by   a   bunch  of  fine   cords,  which  the 


*  See  ante,  Vol.  I.  Pt.  vi.  ch.  ii.  p. 
40 ;  KiBEYiiO,  lib.  ii.  cli.  i.  p.  189 ; 
Valentyn,  Oud  en  Nieuw  Oost-Indien, 
ch.  X.  p.  118. 

2  RiBEYRO;  lib.  ii.  cli.  vi.  p.  227. 


^  Emys  Sch(p,  and  Eniyda  Ccylo- 
nensis,  the  "  Ibba  "  and  "  luri-ibba  " 
of  the  Singhalese. 

*  Halcyon  Ccqimm. 


Chap.  IV.]  CROCODILES.  467 

creature  cannot  gnaw  asunder  as  he  would  a  solid  rope, 
since  they  sink  into  the  spaces  between  liis  teeth.  The 
one  taken  was  small,  being  only  about  ten  or  eleven 
feet  in  length,  whereas  they  are  frequently  killed  fi'om 
fifteen  to  nineteen  feet  long.  As  long  as  he  was  in  the 
water,  he  made  strong  resistance  to  being  hauled  on 
shore,  carrying  the  canoe  out  into  the  deep  channel, 
and  occasionally  raising  his  head  above  the  water,  and 
clashing  his  jaws  together  menacingly.  This  action 
has  a  horrid  sound,  as  the  crocodile  has  no  fleshy  Hps, 
and  he  brings  his  teeth  and  the  bones  of  his  mouth 
together  with  a  loud  crash,  hke  the  clank  of  two  pieces 
of  hard  wood.  After  pla}dng  him  a  little,  the  boatmen 
drew  him  to  land,  and  when  once  fairly  on  the  sliore 
all  his  courage  and  energy  seemed  suddenly  to  desert 
him.  He  tried  once  or  twice  to  regain  the  water,  but 
at  last  lay  motionless  and  perfectly  helpless  on  the  sand. 
It  was  no  easy  matter  to  kill  him ;  a  rifle  ball  sent 
diagonally  through  his  breast  had  httle  or  no  eflect, 
and  even  when  the  shot  had  been  repeated  more  than 
once,  he  was  as  hvely  as  ever.  He  feigned  death  and 
lay  motionless,  with  his  eyes  closed,  but,  on  being 
pricked  with  a  spear,  he  suddenly  regained  all  his 
activity.  He  was  at  last  finished  by  a  harpoon  and 
then  opened.  His  maw  contained  several  small  tor- 
toises, and  a  quantity  of  broken  bricks  and  gra^'el, 
taken  medicinally,  to  promote  digestion,  which  in  these 
creatures  is  said  to  be  so  slow,  that  the  natives  assert 
that  the  crocodile,  fix)m  choice,  never  swallows  his  prey 
when  fresh,  but  conceals  it  under  a  bank  till  far  advanced 
in  putrefaction. 

During  our  journeys  we  had  numerous  opportimities 
of  observing  the  habits  of  these  hideous  creatures,  and 
I  am  far  from  considering;  them  so  formidable  as  is 
usually  supposed.  They  are  evidently  not  wantonly  de- 
structive ;  they  act  only  under  the  influence  of  hunger, 
and  even  then  their  motions  on  land  are  awkward  nud 
ungainly,  their  action  timid,  and  their  whole  demeanour 

II    H     2 


468 


THE   NORTHERN   FORESTS. 


[rAET  TX. 


devoid  of  tlie  sagacity  and  courage  which  characterise 
other  animals  of  prey. 

On  the  occasion  of  another  visit  which  I  made  to 
Batticaloa,  in  September,  1848, 1  made  some  inquiries 
relative  to  a  story  which  had  reached  me  of  musical 
sounds,  said  to  be  heard  issuing  from  the  bottom  of  the 
lake,  at  several  places,  both  above  and  below  the  ferry 
opposite  the  old  Dutch  Fort ;  and  which  the  natives 
supposed  to  proceed  from  some  fish  pecuhar  to  the 
locality.  The  report  was  confirmed  to  me  in  all  its 
particulars,  and  one  of  the  spots  whence  the  sounds 
proceed  was  pointed  out  between  the  pier  and  a  rock 
which  intersects  the  channel,  two  or  three  hundi^ed 
yards  to  the  eastward.  They  were  said  to  be  heard 
at  night,  and  most  distinctly  when  the  moon  was  nearest 
the  full,  and  they  were  described  as  resembling  the 
faint  sweet  notes  of  an  ^Eolian  harp.  I  sent  for  some 
of  the  fishermen,  who  said  they  were  perfectly  aware 
of  the  fact,  and  that  their  lathers  had  always  knowTi 
of  the  existence  of  the  musical  sounds  heard,  they 
said,  at  the  spot  aUuded  to,  but  only  dmdng  the  diy 
season,  and  they  cease  when  the  lake  is  swoUen  by  the 
freshes  after  the  rain.  They  believed  them  to  proceed 
from  a  shell,  which  is  known  by  the  Tamil  name  of 
(oorie  coolooroo  cradoo,  or)  the  "  crying  shell,"  a  name  in 
which  the  sound  seems  to  have  been  adopted  as  an  echo 
of  the  sense.  I  sent  them  in  search  of  the  shell,  and 
they  returned  bringing  me  some  li\ing  specimens  of 
different  shells,  chiefly  littorina  and  ceritliium} 


^  Littorina  Icevis.  Cerithium  pa- 
iKstre.  Of  the  latter  the  specimens 
brought  to  me  were  dw.irfod  and 
solid,  exhibitinty  in  this  particiilai* 
the  usual  peculiarities  that  distin- 
guish (1.)  shells  inhabiting  a  rocky 
locality  from  {'2.)  their  congeners  in 
a  sandy  bottom.  Their  longitudinal 
development  was  less,  with  greater 
breadth,  and  increased  slreng-th  and 
weight. 


i-UUHIUM    PAI-OSTRE. 


CiiAP.  IV.]  THE   MUSICAL  FISH.  46a 

111  the  evening  when  the  moon  had  risen,  I  took  a 
boat  and  accompanied  the  fishermen  to  the  spot.  We 
rowed  about  two  hundred  yards  north-east  of  the  jetty 
by  the  fort  gate  ;  there  was  not  a  breath  of  wind,  nor 
a  ripple  except  that  caused  by  the  dip  of  our  oars ;  and 
on  coming  to  the  point  mentioned,  I  distinctly  heard 
the  sounds  in  question.  They  came  up  from  the  water 
hke  the  gentle  tlirills  of  a  musical  chord,  or  the  faint 
vibrations  of  a  wine-glass  when  its  rim  is  rubbed  by 
a  wet  finger.  It  was  not  one  sustained  note,  but  a 
multitude  of- tiny  sounds,  each  clear  and  distinct  in  it- 
self ;  the  sweetest  treble  minghng  witli  the  lowest  bass. 
On  appl}ing  the  ear  to  the  woodwork  of  the  boat,  the 
vibration  was  greatly  increased  in  volume  by  conduction. 
The  sounds  varied  considerably  at  different  points,  as  we 
moved  across  the  lake,  as  if  the  number  of  the  animals 
from  which  they  proceeded  was  greatest  in  particular 
spots  ;  and  occasionally  we  rowed  out  of  hearing  of  them 
altogether,  until  on  returning  to  the  original  locahty  the 
sounds  were  at  once  renewed. 

This  fact  seems  to  indicate  that  the  causes  of  the  sounds, 
whatever  they  may  be,  are  stationary  at  several  points ; 
and  this  agrees  with  the  statement  of  the  natives,  that 
they  are  produced  by  moHusca,  and  not  by  fish.  They 
came  evidently  and  sensibly  from  the  depth  of  tlie 
lake,  and  there  was  nothing  in  the  surrounding  cu'cum- 
stances  to  support  a  conjecture  that  they  could  bo 
the  reverberation  of  noises  made  by  insects  on  tlie  shore, 
conveyed  along  the  surface  of  the  water ;  for  they 
were  loudest  and  most  distinct  at  those  points  where 
the  nature  of  the  land,  and  the  intervention  of  the  fort 
and  its  buildings,  forbade  the  possibihty  of  this  kind  of 
conduction. 

Sounds  somewhat  similar  are  heard  under  water  at 
some  places  on  the  western  coast  of  Incha,  especially 
in  the  harbour  of  Bombay.  At  Caldera,  in  Chili, 
musical  cadences  are  stated  to  issue  from  the  sea  near 
the     landing-place;    they   are   described    as   rising    and 

II  II    3 


470 


THE    XORTIIEEX    FORESTS. 


[Part  IX. 


fiilliiig  fully  four  notes,  resembling  the  tones  of  harp 
strings,  and  mingling  hke  those  at  Batticaloa,  till  they 
produce  a  musical  discord  of  great  delicacy  and  sweet- 
ness. The  animals  from  which  they  proceed  have  not 
been  identified  at  either  place,  and  the  mystery  remains 
unsolved,  whether  those  at  Batticaloa  are  given  forth 
by  fishes  or  by  molluscs. 

Certain  fishes  are  known  to  utter  sounds  when  re- 
moved from  the  water  ^,  and  some  are  capable  of 
making  noises  when  under  it  ^ ;  but  all  the  circum- 
stances connected  ^yiih.  the  sounds  which  I  heard  at 
Batticaloa  are  unfavourable  to  the  conjecture  that  they 
were  produced  by  either. 

Organs  of  hearing  have  been  clearly  ascertained  to  exist, 
not  only  in  fishes  ^,  but  in  moUusca.  Li  an  oyster  the 
presence  of  an  acoustic  apparatus  of  the  simplest  possible 
construction  has  been  estabhshed  by  the  discoveries  of 
Siebold  ^,  and  from  our  knowledge  of  the  reciprocal  rela- 
tions existino'  between  the  faculties  of  hearino;  and  of 
producing  sounds,  the  ascertained  existence  of  the  one 


^  Tlie  Cuckoo  Gumard  {Triglia 
cuchIhs)  and  the  inaigre  {Scicena 
aqiiila)  utter  soiuids  wbeu  taken  out 
of  the  Avater  (Yaerell,  \o\.  i.  p.  44, 
107)  ;  and  herringft  when  the  net  has 
just  been  draAA-n  have  been  observed 
to  do  the  same.  This  ett'ect  has  been 
•ittributed  to  the  escape  of  air  from 
the  air  bhidder,  but  no  air  Wadder 
has  been  found  in  the  Cottus,  which 
makes  a  simiLoi'  noise. 

^  The  iishenneu  assert  that  a  fish 
about  five  inches  in  length,  foimd  in 
the  hike  at  Colombo,  and  Ciillcd  by 
them  "  mcHjooraJ^  makes  a  gTunt 
when  disturbed  under  water.  Pal- 
LEGOix,  in  his  account  of  Siam, 
speaks  of  a  fisli  rescm])ling-  a  sole, 
but  of  brilliant  colom-ing  with  black 
spots,  which  the  natives  call  the 
"  dog's  tongue,"  that  attaches 
itself  to  the  bottom  of  a  boat,  "et 
fait  entendre  un  bruit  tres-sonore 
et  meme  iiarmonieux." — Tt)m.  i.  p. 
194.     A  iSilunis,  found  in   tlic    liio 


Parana,  and  called  the  "  annado,"  is 
remarkable  for  a  harsh  grating  noise 
when  caught  by  hook  or  line,  and 
which  can  be  distinctly  heai-d  when 
the  fish  is  beneath  the  water. — 
Dakwin,  Nat.  Joum.  ch.  vii.  Ai-is- 
totle  and  ^Elian  were  awai-e  of  the 
existence  of  this  faculty  in  some 
of  the  fishes  of  the  Mediterranean. 
Aristotle,  Be  Animal,  lib.  iv.  ch. 
ix. ;  ^Eltax,  De  Xat.  Anim.,  lib.  x. 
ch.  xi.  ;  see  also  Pltn'T,  lib.  ix.  ch. 
vii.,  lib.  xi.  ch.  cxiii.  5  Athenjeus,  lib. 
vii.  ch.  iii.  vi. 

^  Agassiz,  Comjjarative  Physiology, 
sec.  ii.  158. 

*  It  consists  of  two  round  vesicles 
containing  fluid,  and  crystalline  or 
elliptic-al  calcareous  particles  or  oto- 
lites, rcmark'ablo  for  their  o.scilla- 
toiT  action  in  the  liA'ing  or  recently 
killed  animal.  Owen's  Lectures  on 
the  Comparative  Anatomy  and  Phy- 
siohi/ij  of  the  Inveiiehrate  Animals, 
1855,"  p.  "511-552. 


CuAP.  IV.]  TEE   TRITOXIA   ARBOEESCEXS.  471 

might  afford  legitimate  grounds  for  inferring  the  co-ex- 
istence of  the  other  in  animals  of  the  same  class. 

Besides,  it  has  been  clearly  established,  that  one  at 
least  of  tlie  gasteropoda  is  furnished  with  the  power  of 
producing  sounds.  Dr.  Grant,  in  1826,  communicated 
to  the  Edinburgh  Philosopliical  Society  the  fact,  tliat 
on  placing  some  specimens  of  the  Tritonia  arborescens 
in  a  glass  vessel  filled  with  sea  water,  liis  attention  was 
attracted  by  a  noise  which  he  ascertained  to  proceed  from 
these  mollusca.  It  resembled  the  "  chnk  "  of  a  steel  wire 
on  the  side  of  the  jar,  one  stroke  only  being  given  at  a 
time,  and  repeated  at  short  intervals.^ 

The  affinity  of  structure  between  the  Tritonia  and  the 
mollusca  inhabiting  the  shells  brought  to  me  at  Batti- 
caloa,  might  justify  the  behef  of  tlie  natives  of  Ceylon, 
that  tlie  latter  are  the  authors  of  the  sounds  I  heard ; 
and  the  description  of  those  emitted  by  the  former  as 
given  by  Dr.  Grant,  so  nearly  resemble  them  that  I  have 
always  regretted  my  inabihty,  on  the  occasion  of  my  visits 
to  Batticaloa,  to  investigate  the  subject  more  narrowly.  At 
subsequent  periods  I  liave  renewed  my  efforts,  but  with- 
out success,  to  obtain  specimens  or  observations  of  the 
habits  of  the  hving  mollusca. 

The  only  species  afterwards  sent  to  me  were  Cerithia  ; 
but  no  vigilance  sufficed  to  catch  the  desired  sounds,  and 
I  still  hesitate  to  accept  the  dictum  of  the  fishermen,  as 
the  same  mollusc  abounds  in  all  the  other  brackisli 
estuaries  on  the  coast ;  and  it  would  be  singular,  if 
true,  that  the  phenomenon  of  its  uttering  a  musical 
note  should  be  confined  to  a  single  spot  in  the  lagoon 
of  Batticaloa.''^ 

On  lea\T.ng  Batticaloa  we  liad  to  encounter  still  more 
of  the  inconveniences  to  which  travellers  in  Ceylon  are 


^  Udmhurffh  Philosophical  Journ., 
vol.  xiv.  p.  l88. 

2  A  letter  whirli  I  received  from 
Dr.  Grant  on  this  subject,  1  have 
placed  in  a  note  to  the  present  chap-  |  full 

u  II    4 


ter,  in  the  hope  that  it  may  stinnilate 
some  other  inquirer  in  Ceyhm  to 
prosecute  the  investigation  which 
I  was  imablo   to  carry  out  success' 


472  THE    XORTHERX    FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

exposed.  The  route  before  us  was  wild  and  inhos- 
pitable in  the  extreme,  traversed  by  innumerable  inlets 
and  rivers,  and  leading  across  long  extents  of  salt 
marshes  and  unhealthy  swamps.  Our  foot  runners, 
worn  out  by  their  recent  jom^ney,  deserted  in  num- 
bers, regardless  ahke  of  threats  of  punishment  and 
temptations  of  reward.  We  had  the  utmost  difficulty 
in  hiring  grass-cutters  and  coohes  to  carry  om^  pro- 
visions and  baggage  to  Truicomahe ;  and  we  were 
obhged  to  provide  and  take  with  us  fi'om  Batticaloa 
rice  for  their  food,  bread  for  oui^selves,  and  fodder  for 
our  horses. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  18th  of  February  we  crossed 
the  lake,  and  took  the  road  northward  towards  the 
village  of  Eraoor,  through  a  rich  country  hned  the 
whole  way  with  coco-nut  plantations  on  our  right  hand, 
and  on  the  left  abounchng  with  large  tracts  of  rice- 
ground,  carefully  cultivated,  and  plentifully  irrigated 
from  an  arm  of  the  lagoon,  which  here  forms  a  broad 
canal,  connecting  Batticaloa  ■s^dtli  the  populous  district 
of  Eraoor.  To  the  west,  and  far  in  the  distance,  were 
the  remarkably-shaped  mountains  of  tlie  Friar's  Hood, 
and  Gunner's  Quoin,  rising  abruptly  above  the  forests  of 
the  Wanny. 

Eraoor  is  a  Moorish  viUasre,  and  one  of  the  larg-est 
in  the  district.  Its  inhabitants  are  chiefly  agriculturists, 
though  the  manufactm^e  of  cotton  cloth  is  conducted  on 
a  small  scale ;  but  the  principal  occupation  of  the 
section  of  its  population  not  engaged  in  cultivation,  is 
as  drivers  of  tavalams  into  the  mterior ;  carr3ruig  coco- 
nuts, salt,  and  brass-ware  from  the  coast,  in  order  to 
change  these  commodities  for  areca-nuts,  deer's  horns, 
and  wax. 

The  Moors  of  Eraoor  were  celebrated  for  tliefr  courage 
and  address  in  the  capture  of  wild  elephants,  so  long  as 
these  were  in  demand  for  the  courts  of  the  Lidian 
princes.  Of  late  years,  however,  the  demand  has  al- 
most ceased ;  thouuh,  at  the  time  of  oiu'  visit,  a  vakeel 


CuAr.  IV.]  THE    SALT   LAKES.  473 

was  at  Jaffna  in  search  of  elephants  for  the_'Eaja  of 
Sattara. 

The  Panickeas,  or  elephant  hunters  of  Eraoor,  use 
no  arms  or  apparatus  of  any  kind,  except  a  noosed 
rope,  with  whicli  they  steal  upon  the  elephant  when  at 
rest ;  and  whilst  one  of  the  party  provokes  liim  in 
front  till  he  puts  himself  in  motion,  another  shps  the 
noose  over  his  foot  as  he  raises  it  beliind,  and  at  once 
brings  him  up  by  taking  a  turn  of  the  rope  round  the 
nearest  tree.  Formerly,  in  passing  through  the  villages, 
it  was  customary  to  see  two  or  three  elephants  so^^  cap- 
tured, and  made  fast  to  stakes  near  the  houses  of  the 
panickeas,  to  await  the  arrival  of  purchasers.  Now  the 
only  employment  of  hunters  is  the  occasional  search 
after  buffaloes,  that  break  away  from  the  village  to 
join  the  wild  herds  in  the  marshes  and  jungles,  where 
they  are  followed  and  brought  back  by  these  stealthy 
pursuers. 

The  first  great  river  which  we  crossed,  north  of  Bat- 
ticaloa,  Avas  the  Natoor,  which  discharges  itself  into  the 
sea  at  the  beautifid  Bay  of  Venloos.  We  rowed  down 
it  from  Chittandy  in  a  double  canoe,  formed  of  two  hol- 
lowed trees  laid  side  by  side,  jomed  by  a  platform,  and 
covered  with  an  awning  of  white  cloth.  Its  stream  is 
wide  and  rapid,  studded  with  numerous  fertile  islands, 
and  is  navigable  for  a  considerable  distance  westward ; 
but  its  course  has  never  been  thoroughly  explored  by 
Europeans.  Numbers  of  the  Coast  Veddahs  have 
recently  settled  in  the  forests  near  its  mouth,  and 
are  now  engaged  as  fishermen  in  the  bay,  each  of  the 
families  cultivating  a  little  patch  of  rice  near  his  own 
dwelhng. 

The  scenery  round  Yenloos  Bay  is  charming.  The 
sea  is  overhung  by  gentle  acchvities  wooded  to  the  sum- 
mit ;  and  in  an  opening  between  two  of  these  the  river 
flows  through  a  cluster  of  httle  islands  covered  with 
mangroves  and  acacias.  A  bar  of  rocks  pi'ojects  across 
it,  at  a  short  distance  from  the  shore  ;  and  these  are  ire- 


474  THE    XORTHEEX   FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

quented  all  day  long  by  pelicans,  that  come  at  sun- 
rise to  fisli,  and  at  evening  return  to  their  sohtary 
breeding-places  remote  from  the  sea.  The  strand  is 
hterally  covered  with  beautiful  shells  in  endless  va- 
rieties ;  and,  in  the  course  of  our  very  short  visit,  we 
added  largely  to  our  collections.  The  shell-dealers 
f]"om  Trincomalie  derive  their  principal  supphes  from 
Venloos,  and  know  the  proper  season  to  visit  it  for  each 
particular  variety  ;  but  the  entire  coast,  as  far  north  as 
the  Elephant  Pass,  is  indented  by  httle  rocky  inlets, 
where  shells  of  every  description  may  be  collected  in 
great  abundance. 

This  trade  is  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the  Moors, 
who  clean  the  shells  with  great  expertness,  arrange  them 
in  satin-wood  boxes,  and  send  them  to  Colombo  and  all 
parts  of  the  island  for  sale.  In  general,  the  specimens  are 
more  prized  for  their  beauty  than  valued  for  their  rarity, 
thoug;h  some  of  the  "  Ai'irus  "  cowiies  ^  have  been  sold  as 
high  as  four  guineas  a  pair. 

Our  elephants  and  horses  swam  the  river  about  a  mile 
from  the  sea,  and  after  a  tedious  and  wearisome  day's 
jom^ney,  we  pitched  our  tents  in  a  marsh  beside  the  salt 
lake  of  Panetjen-Kerny.  Before  reacliing  oiu"  camp  for 
the  night,  I  rowed  for  five  miles  in  a  canoe,  up  one 
of  the  sohtary  inlets  of  the  Xatoor,  between  forests  of 
mangroves,  and  landed  near  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  stone 
biidge,  called  "  Vanattey  Palam,"  that  trachtion  says  led 
to  the  residence  of  the  Wanninchee,  or  ancient  queen  of 
the  Wanny,  the  ruins  of  which  are  still  visible  in  the 
jiuigle.  The  bridge  had  been  constructed  of  single  stones ; 
and  huge  squared  pillars  still  stand  in  the  middle  of  the 
stream,  supporting  transverse  pieces  of  prodigious  dimen- 
sions, evidently  designed  to  cany  a  wooden  platform  as 
the  roadway. 

Oiu'  com^se  towards  Panetjen-Kerny  had  lain  through 
one    continuous   marsh,   frequently   some   inches    under 

'   Cyprcca  Aryus, 


CiiAr.  IV.]  THE    SALT    LAKES.  475 

water,  and  poclied  by  wild  elephants  into  deep  holes, 
that  rendered  riding  dangerous.  It  was  covered  with 
myriads  of  wild  fowl  —  flamingoes,  white  paddy  birds, 
wild  ducks,  curlews,  snipe,  and  a  varied  multitude  of 
others. 

The  salt  lake,  or  leway  of  Panetjen-Kerny,  is  a  very 
remarkable  spot.  Tradition  says  that  it  was  once  the 
site  of  a  royal  residence  ;  the  district  surrounding  it 
having  being  submerged  by  irruptions  of  the  sea,  which 
never  thorouglily  retired,  but  left  behind  the  present 
lake,  and  the  vast  sahne  marshes  from  which  the  whole 
district  now  derives  its  supply  of  salt.  The  leway  itself 
is  six  miles  in  length  by  three  broad,  and  is  capable  of 
yielding  ten  thousand  bushels  of  salt  in  tlie  season  for 
collection.  It  is  a  wild  and  desolate  spot,  and  exliibits 
apparent  traces  of  some  such  calamity  as  the  legend 
records. 

The  country  retains  more  or  less  the  same  dreary 
character  from  the  Natoor  river  to  the  Yergel,  tlie  branch 
of  the  MahaweUi-ganga  before  alluded  to  \  which  here 
separates  the  revenue  district  of  Batticaloa  from  that 
of  Trincomalie.  As  we  approached  towards  the  north, 
the  forests  became  more  frequent ;  but  where  we  crossed 
the  Vergel  the  river  traverses  a  rich  alluvial  plain,  culti- 
vated with  rice,  and  studded  occasionally  witli  prosperous 
villages.  Tliis  stream  is  one  of  the  deepest  and  most 
dangerous  in  Ceylon,  and  the  soil  through  which  it  flows 
being  loose  and  alluvial,  it  has  hollowed  out  its  ciiannel 
to  such  a  depth,  that  the  banks  stand  liigh,  and  almost 
perpendicular  on  either  side,  so  that  we  were  obliged  to 
cut  a  sloping  pathway,  doAvn  wliicli  our  horses  scrambled 
to  pass  the  stream. 

Our  elephants  were  reluctant  to  cross ;  and  our 
horses,  equally  frightened  at  the  rapidity  of  its  ciurent, 
required  some  violence  to  force  them  down  the  bank, 
and  as  they  swam  with  difficulty  after  the  canoe,  two 


»  See  Vol.  II.  Pt.  IX.  cli.  ii.  p.  424. 


476  THE   XOETHERN   FOEESTS.  [Pakt  IX. 

crocodiles  kept  close  to  them  all  the  time,  and  were 
only  deterred  from  attacking  tliem  by  some  balls  from  a 
rifle. 

A  river  so  impetuous,  and  flowing  tlirough  a  level 
country,  is  subject  to  sudden  inundations  arising  from 
the  fall  of  the  rains  in  the  hills  of  the  mterior.  Some 
years  ago,  a  mihtary  officer  and  his  lady,  proceeding  to 
TrincomaHe,  were  detained  by  a  rise  of  the  Yergel  river, 
that  overflowed  the  adjacent  village,  and  drove  the 
inhabitants  to  take  refuoe  on  a  neio-hbourino;  rock,  till 
the  waters  subsided.  Contrary  to  expectation,  the  rains, 
instead  of  ceasing,  increased ;  the  whole  country,  far  and 
wide,  was  laid  under  water ;  and  a  fortnight  elapsed 
ere  the  party  were  enabled  to  descend  and  pm^sue  then' 
journey. 

The  mouths  of  the  Yergel,  before  it  empties  itself  into 
the  sea,  form  a  delta  called  Amitivoe,  or  the  "  island 
of  elephants,"  on  which  we  passed  the  night  in  a  rest- 
house,  on  the  northern  bank.  A  wide  and  shallow 
tank,  close  by  the  place  where  we  halted,  is  a  fiivourite 
haunt  of  these  animals,  from  which  the  place  takes  its 
name  ;  and  the  ground  near  it  showed  abundant  evi- 
dences of  their  recent  resort,  being  poched  into  deep 
holes  in  every  direction  by  then'  feet.  A  gentleman 
assured  me  that,  on  one  occasion,  at  this  spot,  he  counted 
two  hundred  elephants  in  one  group,  and  that  others 
were  hidden  by  the  jimgle.  We  were  unfortunate  in 
seeing  none ;  but  the  evening  after  we  had  passed,  a 
herd  of  sixty  came  close  beside  the  rest-house,  and  were 
seen  by  some  travellers,  quietly  browsing  there  till  the 
morning. 

As  yet,  no  public  roads  exist  in  this  portion  of  tlie 
island ;  for  the  path  fi'equented  by  the  tappal  runners 
is  a  mere  track  along  the  sea-coast,  obhterated  by  every 
rise  of  a  river,  or  overflow  of  a  salt  marsh.  When  the 
time  arrives  for  constructino;  a  liiirhwav,  to  connect  the 
two  eastern  ports  of  Trincomahe  and  Batticaloa,  it  will 
be  expedient  to  carry  the  road  fiuther  inland,  so  as  to 


Chap.  IV.]  TRINCOMALIE. — COTTIAE.  477 

cross  the  great  rivers  before  they  branch  off  into  arms 
and  deltas  ;  rendering  one  bridge  sufficient  instead  of 
many ;  whilst  the  streams  thus  avoided,  and  the  innu- 
merable inlets  and  bays,  into  which  they  diverge  in  all 
directions,  will  afford  facihties  for  canal  navigation  at  a 
trifling  expense,  such  as  will  add  to  the  value  of  local  pro- 
duce, by  facihtating  the  traffic  between  the  interior  and 
the  coast. 

The  night  before  reaching  Trincomahe,  we  passed  in 
tents  under  a  tope  of  tamarind  trees,  close  by  the  tank  of 
Topoor.  The  night-scene  in  such  a  position  is  solemnly 
impressive.  The  sky  is  so  "  cloudless,  clear,  and 
beautiful,"  that  the  very  starlight  casts  a  shadow,  and 
the  constellation  of  the  "  Southern  Cross  "  awakens  the 
solemn  consciousness  of  a  new  home  in  another 
hemisphere.^  The  camp-followers  gather  in  groups 
round  the  watch-fires,  the  horses  picketed  beside  them, 
and  the  elephants  stand  a23art  under  the  trees,  lazily 
fanning  themselves  with  branches  to  drive  off  the  torment- 
ing mosquitoes.  Throughout  these  sohtudes,  absolute 
silence  never  reigns ;  the  hoarse  voice  of  the  tank-frogs 
resounds  from  a  distance,  and  close  at  hand  is  heard  the 
incessant  metallic  chirp  of  the  hyla,  the  shrill  call  and 
answer  of  the  tree-cricket,  and  the  hum  of  the  myriad 
insects,  which  keep  up  their  murmurs  from  sunset  to 
dawn.  Within,  the  stillness  of  the  tent  is  distm-bed  by 
the  flutter  of  the  night  moths,  or  its  gloom  is  startled 
by  the  entrance  of  tlie  fire-fly,  that  dashes  around  in 
circles,  alternately  kindhng  and  concealing  its  brilhancy ; 
and  then  suddenly  departing,  leaves  all  in  darkness  as 
before.     At  length, 

"  Niglit  wanes, 
The  mists  around  the  mmmtains  curled 
Melt  into  morn ;  and  light  awakes  the  world." 

At  Cottiar,  on  the  following  morning,  we  halted  by 


'  Ja  descoberto  tinliamos  di.inte  I  Nao  vista  de  outra  gente,  etc. 

La  no  novo  lieinisplierio  nova  estitlla  |  Camoens,  Lusiiuin,  cli.  v.  s.  xiv. 


478 


THE   NOETIIEEX   FOKESTS. 


[Part  IX. 


the  identical  tamarind  tree,  under  wliicli  two  centuries 
before  Captain  Eobert  Knox,  the  gentlest  of  liistorians 
and  the  meekest  of  captives,  was  betrayed  by  the  Kan- 
dyans,  and  thence  carried  into  their  liills ;  to  be  detained 
an  inoffensive  prisoner  from  boyhood  to  grey  haks.  But 
to  that  captivity  we  are  indebted  for  the  most  faithfid 
and  hfe-hke  portraiture  that  was  ever  di'awn  of  a  semi- 
ci\dHsed,  but  remarkable  people. 

Cottiar,  or  Koetjar  (as  it  is  called,  in  the  old  Dutch 
maps  of  Ceylon),  was  a  place  of  importance  in  the  six- 
teenth and  seventeenth  centuries  ;  when  it  carried  on  an 
active  trade  with  the  coast  of  India,  whilst  Trincomalie, 
notwithstanding  its  magnificent  bay,  was  then  compara- 
tively insignificant.  It  was  this  circumstance,  and  the 
consequent  facilities  wliich  it  afforded  for  repaks,  that  in 
1659  induced  Knox,  the  father  of  the  good  old  chronicler, 
to  resort  to  Cottiar,  in  order  to  refit  liis  dismasted  ship, 
Avheu  he,  and  his  son,  and  his  ship's  company,  were  seized 
and  consigned  to  their  long  captivity,  by  the  order  of  Eaja 
Sino'ha  II. 

In  1612,  the  Dutch,  by  the  treaty  negotiated  by 
Buschouwer,  obtained  permission  fi'om  the  Emperor  of 
Kandy  to  erect  a  fort  at  Cottiar,  "provided  the  King 
of  Cottiarum  may  enjoy  his  customs  and  other  reve- 
nues ;  "  ^  and  in  1675,  they  had  constantly  from  eighty 
to  one  hundi'ed  ships,  bringing  clothes  and  other  wares 
from  Coromandel,  to  be  bartered  for  areca-nuts,  pal- 
myra sugar,  and  timber.^  The  countrj^  surrounding  it 
was  then  full  of  \iUages  ;  rich  in  arable  and  pastm^e 
lands;  producing  large  quantities  of  rice  for  expor- 
tation, and  importing  merchandise  annually  to  the 
value  of  one  hundred  thousand  pagodas.  But  within 
less  than  a  century,  the  whole  aspect  of  the  place 
was  changed  ;    the  Dutch  abandoned   their   fort ;   trade 


^  Bald^tjs,  ch.  X.  p.  016 ;  Valex- 
TYK,  Oud  en  Nieuio  Ood-Indien,  ch. 
ix.  p.  112. 


yALE^•TY^',  ell.  XV.  p.  221. 


CiiAP.  IV.]  COTTIAE. — OYSTEES.  479 

deserted  the  harbour  ;  the  town  fell  to  ruin,  and  the 
Governor  of  TrincomaHe,  writnig  in  1786  (the  Dutch 
having  resumed  possession  of  the  district  about  twenty 
years  before),  described  the  region  as  an  uncultivated 
sohtude,  and  the  people  as  savages,  "  with  hardly  any- 
thing of  human  nature,  but  its  outward  form  ;  "  —  and 
strongly  recommended  that  an  effort  should  be  made  to 
colonise  Cottiar  with  labourers  from  China  or  Java.^ 
To  the  present  day,  the  district  remains  thinly  popu- 
lated ;  the  village  itself  is  chiefly  inhabited  by  fishers, 
and  the  only  tolerable  building  is  the  old  rest-house, 
apparently  of  the  time  of  the  Dutch. 

At  Cottiar  I  was  struck  with  the  prodigious  size  of 
the  edible  oysters,  which  were  brought  to  us  at  the  rest- 
house.  The  shell  of  one  of  these  measured  a  little  more 
than  eleven  inches  in  length,  by  half  as  many  in  breadth  : 
thus  unexpectedly  attesting  the  correctness  of  one  of  the 
stories  related  by  the  historians  of  Alexander's  expedi- 
tion, that  in  India  they  had  found  oysters  a  foot  long.^ 

We  found  the  government  barge  awaiting  us  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river,  and  after  a  sail  of  an  horn'  and  a  half 
across  the  magnificent  bay  of  Trincomahe,  we  passed  the 
batteries  of  Fort  Ostenburg,  and  landed  in  the  inner  har- 
bour on  the  seventeenth  day  from  leaving  Kandy. 


1  Journal  o/FABEicirs  Van  Sen- 
DEN,  A.D.  1786. 

^  "  In  Indico  mari  Alexandri 
rerum  auctores  pcdalia  inveniri  pro- 


didere." — Plin.;  i\a<. //(*■/., lib.  x.xxii.  '  ch.  viii. 


cb.  31.  Dakavin  says,  that  amongst 
tbe  fossils  of  Patagonia,  be  found  ''  a 
massive  gigantic  oyster,  sometimes 
even  a  foot  in  diameter." — Nut.  Voy., 


480  THE   NORTHEEN   FORESTS.  [Pakt  IX. 


NOTE. 

TRITONIA  ARBOEESCENS. 


The   following   is   the    letter   of     Dr.    Grant,   referred   to    at 
page  471  :  — 

Sir,  —  I  have  perused  with  much  interest,  your  remarkable 
communication  received  yesterday,  respecting  the  musical  sounds 
which  you  heard  proceeding  from  under  water,  on  the  east 
coast  of  Ceylon.  I  cannot  parallel  the  phenomenon  you  witnessed 
at  Batticaloa,  as  produced  by  marine  animals,  with  anything 
with  which  my  past  experience  has  made  me  acquainted  in 
marine  zoology.  Excepting  the  faint  clink  of  the  TrUonia  arbo- 
rescens,  repeated  only  once  every  minute  or  two,  and  apparently 
produced  by  the  mouth  armed  with  two  dense  horny  laminae,  I 
am  not  aware  of  any  sounds  produced  in  the  sea  by  branchiated 
invertebrata.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  in  the  memorandum  you 
have  not  mentioned  your  observations  on  the  living  specimens 
brought  you  by  the  sailors  as  the  animals  which  produced  the 
sounds.  Your  authentication  of  the  hitherto  unknown  fact, 
would  probably  lead  to  the  discovery  of  the  same  phenomenon 
in  other  common  accessible  paludinse,  and  other  allied  branch- 
iated animals,  and  to  the  solution  of  a  problem,  which  is  still  to 
me  a  mystery,  even  regarding  the  tritonia. 

My  two  living  tritonia,  contained  in  a  large  clear  colourless 
glass  cylinder,  filled  with  pure  sea  water,  and  placed  on  the 
central  table  of  the  Wernerian  Natural  History  Society  of 
Edinburgh,  around  which  many  members  were  sitting,  con- 
tinued to  clink  audibly  within  the  distance  of  twelve  feet 
during  the  whole  meeting.  These  small  animals  were  individu- 
ally not  half  the  size  of  the  last  joint  of  my  little  finger.  What 
effect  the  mellow  sounds  of  millions  of  these,  covering  the 
shallow  bottom  of  a  tranquil  estuary,  in  the  silence  of  night, 
might  produce,  I  can  scarcely  conjecture. 

In  the  absence  of  yoiu'  authentication,  and  of  all  geological 


CiiAr.  IV.j  TRITONIA   ARBORESCEXS.  481 

explanation  of  the  continuous  sounds,  and  of  all  source  of  fallacy 
from  the  hum  and  buzz  of  living  creatures  in  the  air  or  on  the 
land,  or  swimming  on  the  waters,  I  must  say  that  I  should  be 
inclined  to  seek  for  the  source  of  sounds  so  audible  as  those  you 
describe  rather  among  the  pulmonated  vertebrata,  which  swarm 
in  the  depths  of  these  seas —  as  fishes,  serpents  (of  which  my 
friend  Dr.  Cantor  has  described  about  twelve  species  he  found  in 
the  Bay  of  Bengal),  turtles,  palmated  birds,  pinnipedous  and 
cetaceous  mammalia,  &c. 

The  publication  of  your  memorandum  in  its  present  form, 
though  not  quite  satisfactory,  will,  I  think,  be  eminently  calcu- 
lated to  excite  useful  inquiry  into  a  neglected  and  curious  part 
of  the  economy  of  nature. 

I  remain.  Sir, 

Yours  most  respectfully, 

Robert  E.  Grant. 

Sir  J.  Emerson  Tennent,  d'c.  dr. 


VOL.  II.  11 


^8_> 


TUK    NORTTfEFvX    FORESTS. 


[Part  IX. 


CHAr.  Y. 

TRIXCO^rALTR. — THE    EBONY    FORESTS. THE    GREAT    TANK 

OF    PADIYIL.  —  CROCODILES. 

The  Bay  of  Trincoiiialie  presents  to  the  eye  a  scene  of 
singular  beauty.  Landlocked,  and  still  as  an  inland 
lake,  its  broad  expanse  of  waters,  its  numerous  beautiful 
islands,    and    its    rocky    headlands,    together    with     the 


»-.-'iite>=*' 


THE  HARBOOil  OF  'XBiNCOMALlii  iKOM  FOKT  OSTSNBDKG 

woody  acclivities  in  its  vicinity,  and  the  towerin<j: 
mountains  in  the  distance,  combine  to  form  an  oriental 
Windermere.^ 


'  The  position  ;ind  beauty  of  the 
Bay  of  Tiinconialie,  tlie  overlian^ing 
rocks  at  its  enti\ince,  the  stillness  of 
the  expanse  within,  and  the  luxu- 
riance of  tlie  wooded  acclivities  snr- 
romiding  all,  for<-ibly  recall  "S'iroil's 
iniatiinarv  description  of  tlie  liavbour 
of  C'arthaire  — 


Est  in  secessu  longo  locus  :  in<iila  portuin 
Elficil  objectu  Utpnim  quibiis  oiniiis  ah  alto 
Fiaiigitiir     inque     sinus     scinilit    sese    unda 

ifiluctos. 
nine  atqiie  liinc   va-tae   rupes  geminique  ml- 

naiitur 
In  ccelu  n  fcopiili  ;  qnnnim  sub  verticelate 
-Equora   tuta   silent:  —  tiiin   syliis    Scena    ro- 

ruscis. 
Deiuper   hoiientiqiie  atruni     nenuis    imminci 

umbra. 

.i;NF.ll),  lib.  i.  lG."i,  etc. 


Chap.  V.]  TRIXCOMALli:.  483 

The  town  is  built  oii  tliu  neck  ot"  ;i  bold  pL'iiiu.sula, 
which  stretches  between  the  inner  and  outer  liarboui's, 
rising,  at  its  southern  extremity,  into  lofty  precipices 
covered  to  their  summits  with  luxuriant  forests ;  and  is 
strengthened,  at  the  narrow  entrance  of  the  inner  har- 
bour, by  the  batteries  of  Fort  Ostenbm;g,  rising  one  above 
another  for  the  defence  of  the  port  and  arsenal.  A 
huge  rock  to  seaward  has  been  surmounted  by  the  works 
of  Fort  Frederick ;  but  it  is  commanded  from  the  ad- 
jacent heights ;  and  being  situated  three  miles  to  the 
northward  of  the  dockyard  and  the  mouth  of  the  inner 
harbom",  it  protects  only  the  outer  anchorage,  and  is 
available  solely  as  a  jwint  cVcqipui.  Even  now,  and  not- 
withstanding their  extent,  the  mihtary  works  are  utterly 
incommensm-ate  with  the  importance  of  the  position,  and 
Avould  be  found  ineffectual  for  its  protection  in  the  event 
of  attack. 

Tiincomalie,  though  a  place  of  great  antiquity,  de- 
rived its  ancient  renown  less  from  pohtical  than  from 
rehgious  associations.  The  Malabar  invaders  appear  to 
have  adopted  it  as  the  site  of  one  of  their  most  cele- 
brated shrines  ;  and  a  pagoda  which  stood  upon  the 
lofty  chff,  now  known  as  the  "  Saaniy  Eock,"  and  in- 
cluded within  the  fortifications  of  Fort  Frederick,  was 
the  resort  of  pilgrims  from  all  parts  of  India.  With 
this  echfice,  which  is  still  spoken  of  as  the  "  Temple  of 
a  Thousand  Columns,"  is  connected  one  of  the  most 
graceful  of  the  Tamil  legends.  An  oracle  had  de- 
clared, that  over  the  dominions  of  one  of  the  kings  of 
the  Dekkan  impended  a  ])eril,  which  was  only  to  be 
averted  by  the  sacrifice  of  his  inlant  daughter;  who  was, 
in  consequence,  committed  to  the  sea  in  an  ark  of  sandal 
wood.  The  child  was  wafted  to  the  coast  of  Ceylon, 
and  landed  south  of  Trincomahe,  at  a  ])lace  still  known 
by   the    name    of    Pannoa  ^    or    the    "smiling    infant," 


^  The  districts  at  the  soullicni  ex- 
tremity of  BatticiiloM,  ]*(uniO(i,  and 
PaiifiJtdiii,    are    so    cidlcil    t'loin    the 


two  Tamil  words  ^^ jxi/c/i-ttm/ni."  tli 
smilin;i-l)a])e. 


484 


THE   TSrORTIIEEN    FORESTS. 


[Part  IX. 


where,  being  adopted  by  tlie  king  of  the  district,  she 
succeeded  to  his  dominions.  Meantime,  a  Hindu 
prince,  having  ascertained  from  the  Puranas  that  the 
rock  of  Trincomahe  was  a  holy  fragment  of  the  golden 
mountain  of  Meru,  hurled  into  its  present  site  dm-ing 
a  conflict  of  the  gods,  repaired  to  Ceylon,  and  erected 
upon  it  a  temple  to  Siva.  The  princess,  hearing  of  his 
arrival,  sent  an  army  to  expel  him,  but  concluded  the 
war  by  accepting  him  as  her  husband  ;  and  in  order  to 
endow  the  pagoda  which  he  had  built,  she  attached  to 
it  the  vast  rice-fields  of  Tamblegam,  and  formed  the 
great  tank  of  Kandelai,  or  Gan-talawa  \  for  the  pur- 
pose of  irrigating  the  surrounding  plain.  In  process 
of  time,  the  princess  died,  and  the  king,  retiring  to  the 
Saamy  Eock,  shut  himself  up  in  the  pagoda,  and  was 
found  translated  into  a  golden  lotus  on  the  altar  of 
Siva. 

In  the  earher  portion  of  their  career  in  Ceylon,  the 
PortugTiese  showed  the  utmost  indifference  to  the  pos- 
session of  Trincomahe  ;  but  after  the  appearance  of  the 
Dutch  on  this  coast,  and  the  conclusion  of  an  alliance 
between  them  and  the  Emperor  of  Kandy,  Constan- 
tino de  Saa,  in  1G22,  alarmed  at  the  possibihty  of 
these  dauQ-erous  rivals  forming;  estabhshments  in  the 
island,  took  possession  of  the  two  ports  of  Batticaloa 
and  Trincomahe,  and  ruthlessly  demolished  the  "  Temple 
of  a  Thousand  Columns,"  in  order  to  employ  its  mate- 
rials in  fortif\nng  the  heights  on  which  it  stood.^  Some 
of  the  idols  were  rescued  from  this  desecration,  and  con- 
veyed to  the  pagoda  of  Tamblegam  ^ ;  but  fi-agments  of 


^  This,  of  course,  is  en'oneoiis,  the 
tank  liaving  been  formed  by  King 
Maba  Sen  between  a.d.  275-801. — 
3Iahftw(mso,  ob.  xxxiii.  p.  238.  The 
Ceylon  fiorentnieut  Gazette,  for 
Nov.  1881,  contains  the  translation 
of  a  metrical  legend  ■written  by 
Kavi  li\.i\  Varothayex,  an  an- 
cient Tamil  hard  of  Ceyhjn,  who  says 
that  the  temple  was  built  l)y  Kuhok' 


Kotu  ^laliaraja,  son  of  a  king  of 
Coromandel  ;  who  also  reclaimed 
the  surrounding  lands  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  priests. 

•  Valextyn,  Oud  en  Nietno  Oost- 
Ltdien,  isjC,  ch.  xvi.  p.  367;  Ribeyeo, 
torn.  ii.  ch.  i.  p.  188. 

^  Journal  of  Vax  Sexdex,  Go- 
vernor of  Trincomalie^  a.d.  1786. 


Chap.  V.]  TRIXCOMALIE.  485 

carved  stone-work  and  slabs  bearing  inscriptions  ^  in 
ancient  characters,  are  still  to  be  discerned  in  the  walls  of 
the  fort,  and  on  the  platforms  for  the  guns. 

The  site  of  this  sacrilege  is  still  held  in  the  profoundest 
veneration  by  the  Hindus.  Once  in  each  year  ^,  a  pro- 
cession, attended  by  crowds  of  devotees,  who  bring  of- 
ferings of  fi'idts  and  flowers,  repairs,  at  sunset,  to  the  spot 
where  the  rock  projects  four  hundred  feet  above  the 
ocean  ;  —  a  series  of  ceremonies  is  performed,  including 
the  mysterious  breaking  of  a  coco-nut  against  the  cliff; 
and  the  officiating  Brahman  concludes  his  invocation  by 
elevating  a  brazen  censer  above  liis  head  filled  with  m- 
flammable  materials,  the  light  of  wliicli,  as  they  bmii,  is 
reflected  far  over  the  sea. 

The  promontory  sustains  a  monument  of  later  times, 
with  which  a  story  of  toucliing  interest  is  associated. 
The  daughter  of  a  gentleman  of  rank  in  the  civil  service 
of  Holland,  was  betrothed  to  an  officer,  who  repudiated 
the  engagement ;  and  his  period  of  foreign  service  hav- 
ing expired,  he  embarked  for  Europe.  But  as  the  ship 
passed  the  precipice,  tlie  forsaken  girl  flimg  herself 
from  the  sacred  rock  into  the  sea  ;  and  a  pillar,  mth  an 
inscription  now  nearly  obhterated^,  recalls  the  fate  of 
this  eastern  Sappho,  and  records  the  date  of  the  cata- 
strophe. 

Shortly  after  the  rupture  between  Louis  XIV.  and 
the  United  Provinces  in  1672,  the  French  Admii-al  de 
la  Haye  took  possession  of  Trincomalie.  The  Dutch  in 
their  panic  abandoned  the  fort,  as  well  as  those  of  Cot- 
tiar  and  Batticaloa ;  but  the  French,  having  laid  waste 
the  surrounding  country,  were  unable  to  provision  their 
fleet,  and  were  forced  to  retu^e  from  their  conquest.* 

They  renewed  the  attempt  in   1782,  when  Admu'al 


'  Fac-similes    of    three    of   these  I  '  "  TOT  gedactenis  van  feancina 

inscriptions   will  be    found    in    the  van  reede  luf  *  *  mydkegt  desen 

Jouni.  Asiat.  Soc.  Bengal,  vol.  v.   p.  A°,  1087  24  atril  orcEKEGT." 

550,  55().  *  ^^\LENXYN,  Oud  en  Xieuw  Oost- 

^  On  the  23rd  January.                     |  Indien,  ch.  xv,  p.  256. 

I  I  3 


486  THE    NORTH ERX    FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

the  Bailli  de  Suffreiii,  in  the  absence  of  the  British  com- 
mander, compelled  the  English  garrison  to  Avithdi'aw  to 
Madras,  and  took  possession  of  the  fort ;  but  in  the  fol- 
lowing year,  it  was  restored  to  the  Dutch,  by  whom  it 
was  held  till  the  capture  of  Ceylon  by  Great  Britain  in 
1795.1 

The  condition  of  neglect  and  insecmity  which  Trin- 
comalie  exhibits  at  the  present  day,  is  painfully  irre- 
concilable witli  the  terms  of  exultation  with  Avhich  its 
capture  was  originaUy  announced  to  the  nation.  Then 
it  was  extolled,  as  the  sole  harbour  of  refuge  to  the 
east  of  Cape  Comorin,  Bombay  being  the  only  capa- 
cious port  on  the  Avest  coast  of  Hindustan  ;  and  pro- 
jects were  in  contemplation,  to  render  it  the  grand  eni- 
])orium  of  Oriental  conmierce,  the  Gibraltar  of  India, 
and  the  arsenal  of  the  East.  Eememberino;  these  ex- 
citing  assurances,  and  contemplating  the  capabihties 
presented  by  the  locality  for  their  utmost  reahsation  ; 
an  extreme  feehng  of  disappointment  is  excited  now  by 
looking  upon  its  incomplete  fortifications,  its  neglected 
works,  and  its  reduced  military  estabhsliments  —  utterly 
unequal  to  any  emergency.  These  render  Trincomahe 
as  insecm^e  at  the  present  day  as  it  was  un})repared 
in  the  last  century  for  the  assaults  of  SiiiTrein  and  De  la 

With  all  its  natural  advantages  the  country  iiinne- 
(hately  around  the  bay  is  deserted  ;  the  native  })opu- 
lation,  with  tlie  exception  of  the  Moors,  are  poor  and 
unenterprising  ;  and  the  town  is  consequentl}^  dependent 
on  Jaffna,  Batticaloa,  and  the  coast  of  India  for  its  sup- 
phes  of  rice,  fruits,  currj'-stuffs  and  coco-nuts ;  which  the 
tacility  of  water-carriage   renders   cheap  and  abundant. 


'  Sec  fi/ite,  Vol.  II.  Pt.  vr.  cli.  iii.  |  I'Asie;  "  and  the  sui-prise  excited  bv 

p.  6(1  I  its  neglect,  are  forcibly  expressed  by 

^  The  appreciation  of  tlie  harbour  IjAPLACE,  CircuniHavu/otion  de  I'Ar- 

of  Trincomalie  a.s  "  lo  meilleur  port,  fcmtW,  toni.  ii.  cli.  aIII.  p.  157. 
gaus  contredit,   de   cette    partie   de 


Chap.  V.]  BAY   OF   TRINCOMALIE.  487 

Tlie  constant  residence  of  tlie  civil  authorities  of  the 
province,  tlie  presence  of  the  military,  and  the  occa- 
sional visits  of  the  squadron  luider  the  naval  com- 
niander-in-cliief,  are  the  main  circumstances  to  which 
Trincomalie  is  indebted  for  whatever  measm-e  of  pros- 
perity it  enjoys. 

With  the  exception  of  the  official  buildings,  the  toAvn 
is  poorly  constructed,  and  the  bazaars  the  least  inviting 
in  Ceylon.  There  are  a  number  of  Hindu  temples, 
with  the  usual  paraphernalia  of  idols  and  cars,  for  reh- 
gious  festivals  and  processions  ;  but  these  are  in  such 
barbarous  taste  as  to  stifle  interest  and  repel  curiosity. 

On  compaiing  this  magnificent  bay  witli  the  open 
and  unsheltered  roadstead  of  Colombo,  and  the  danger- 
ous and  hicommodious  harbour  of  Galle,  it  excites  an 
emotion  of  sur])rise  and  regret  that  any  other  than 
Trincomahe  sJiould  ever  have  been  selected  as  the  seat 
of  government  and  the  commercial  capital  of  Ceylon. 
But  the  adoption  of  Colombo  by  the  Portuguese,  and 
its  retention  by  the  Dutch,  were  not  matters  of  delibe- 
ration or  choice.  Its  selection  was  determined  solely  by 
the  accident  of  its  proximity  to  the  only  district  of  the 
island  which  produced  the  precious  cinnamon,  which,  [is 
13alda3us  quaintly  observes,  has  always  been  "  the  Helen 
or  l)ride  of  contest,"  whose  exclusive  .possession  was 
chsputed  in  turn  by  every  European  invader. 

The  Portug-uese  constructed  tlie  fort  of  Colombo  to 
control  the  petty  princes  of  the  interior,  and  enable  their 
officers  to  exact  their  annual  tribute  of  the  precious 
spice ;  in  their  eagerness  for  which  the  productions  or 
capabihties  of  all  the  rest  of  Ceylon  were  disregarded. 
On  the  same  principle,  the  policy  of  the  Dutch  was 
exclusively  chrected  to  secure  this  grand  niono]ioly ; 
and,  as  they  prohibited  trade  from  all  hands  otlier  than 
their  own,  they  never  even  dreamed  of  considering  Avhat 
port  might  be  the  most  advantageous  for  external  com- 

1  I    4 


488  THE   XORTHERN  FORESTS.  [Pakt  IX. 

Dierce ;  or  best  calculated  to  encourage  industry  and 
promote  the  internal  prosperity  of  the  Singhalese.^ 

For  years  after  the  occupation  of  Ceylon  by  the 
British,  the  new  conquerors  Avere  influenced  by  the 
same  motives  as  theu*  predecessors  ;  and  their  planta- 
tions of  cinnamon  Avere  guarded  as  the  only  sources  of 
income.  For  the  security  of  these  valuable  possessions 
of  the  croAvn,  it  had  become  indispensable  to  retain  the 
residence  of  the  Governor  in  their  immediate  vicinity; 
and  hence  the  continued  retention  of  Colombo  as  the 
■capital  of  the  colony. 

Within  recent  years,  however,  the  ch'cumstances  of 
the  island  have  materially  altei'cd.  Cinnamon  has  not 
only  ceased  to  be  a  Government  monopoly,  but  it  has 
ceased  to  be  productive  to  the  rcA'enue,  even  as  an  article 
of  general  export.  Instead  of  one  pampered  object  of  cul- 
tivation engrossing  all  care  and  influencing  all  pohcy, 
other  interests,  not  local  or  exclusive,  but  popidar  and 
universal,  have  grown  up  in  every  part  of  the  island, 
demanding  an  equal  share  of  encoiu*agement,  and  ad- 
vancing an  equal  claim  to  pubhc  attention.  Hence  the 
question  of  the  position  most  suitable,  conventionally  as 
well  as  geographically,  for  the  seat  of  government,  and 
the  centre  of  trade  and  its  operations,  has  been  akeady 
mooted  and  warmly  discussed  in  Ceylon.- 

At  some  distance  from  the  sea,  the  soil  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Colombo  is  of  the  poorest  and  least 
productive  description,  a  stiff  unyielding  clay,  Avith  a 
shght  admixture  of  vegetable  mould  on  the  surface, 
capable  of  bearing  rice,  but  only  after  frequent  falloAvs, 
and  Avith  the  most  laborious  cultivation,  for  the  main- 
tenance of  Avhich  the  supply  of  Avater  is  by  no  means 
abundant.  On  the  other  hand,  tlu'oughout  tlie  country 
to  the  Avest  of  TrincomaUe,  the  soil,  except  in  the  imme- 


1  See  Vaxextyx,  Oud  oi  Xiemc  I      2  .^jj.  jj    q    Ward's  Minute   on 


Oost-Indien,    ch.    xii.    p.    149 ;    cli. 
xiii.  p.  165. 


the  Eastern  Province,  1850. 


Chap.  V.]  TRIXCOMALIE.  48<J 

diate  vicinity  of  the  sea,  is  rich  and  productive,  and  the 
numerous  rivers  which  flow  eastward  from  the  mountain 
zone  afford  tlie  amplest  facihties  for  the  cultivation 
of  every  species  of  produce  ;  and  the  forests  abound 
with  an  exhaustless  supply  of  timber  available  either 
for  local  consumption  or  for  foreign  export.  On  the 
western  side  of  the  island,  the  land  has  been  cultivated 
for  an  indefinite  period  uninterruptedly,  and  to  such 
an  extent  that  it  now  exhibits  symptoms  of  exhaustion. 
Besides  which,  its  eager  occupation  and  minute  sub- 
division amongst  innumerable  small  cultivators,  and  its 
unsuitabihty  for  the  production  of  more  than  a  very 
Hmited  number  of  articles,  serve  to  show  that  over 
population  has  been  added  to  the  other  evils  of  po- 
verty of  soil  and  deficiency  of  capital.  On  the  eastern 
coast,  on  the  contrarv,  cultivation  has  been  so  louir 
suspended  that  everything  wears  the  aspect  of  a  new 
country,  presenting  not  only  a  ready  outlet  for  the  over- 
crowded or  impoverished  population  of  other  districts, 
but  capable  of  affording  increased  facilities  and  advan- 
tages for  the  general  benefit  of  the  island. 

As  a  harbour,  Trincomalie  is  renowned  for  its  extent 
and  security ;  but  its  peculiar  superiority  over  every 
other  in  the  Indian  seas  consists  in  its  perfect  acces- 
sibihty  to  eveiy  description  of  craft  in  eveiy  variation 
of  weather.  It  can  be  entered  with  equal  facility  and 
safety  in  the  north-east  as  in  the  south-west  mon- 
soon, and  the  water  within  is  so  deep  that  vessels 
can  he  close  to  the  beach,  and  discharge  or  receive 
cargo  witliout  the  intervention  of  boats.  Its  geo- 
graphical position  has  already  caused  its  adoption 
as  the  most  favourable  point  for  a  naval  rendezvous 
and  dockyard ;  whence  instructions  and  intelligence 
can  be  most  ra])idly  comnumicated  to  the  various  forces 
in  the  eastern  seas.  Eegarding  Ceylon  at  the  present 
moment  as  the  centre  of  all  o])erations  for  jDostal  com- 
munications Avith  Madras  and  Calcutta,  tlie  Straits 
settlements,  Chma,  and  Austraha,   as  well   as  Avitli  tlie 


4!)0  THE    XORTIIERX    FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

French,  Dutch,  and  Spanish  possessions  in  the  East, 
the  insufficiency  and  defects  of  Point  de  Galle  as  a 
harbour,  are  so  evident,  as  to  render  it  idle  to  institute 
a  compai'ative  inquiry  into  the  manifest  advantages 
offered  by  Trincomahe.  Tlie  unrivaUed  position  of  the 
hitter  for  commerce,  fronting  the  Bay  of  Bengal,  and 
presenting  a  natural  point  of  rendezvous  and  depar- 
ture for  all  vessels  trading  to  India  and  the  East,  marks 
it  out  as  having  been  destined  for  a  great  emporium, 
to  which  the  shipping  of  all  nations  will  yet  lind  it  their 
interest  to  resort. 

To  the  natives  great  and  lasting  benefits  would  accrue 
from  the  adoption  of  Trincomahe  as  the  commercial 
capital  of  Ceylon.  Cultivation  woidd  be  restored  to 
the  now  deserted  districts  of  Tamankadua  and  the 
Wanny;  and  an  immediate  impulse  would  be  apphed 
to  increase  labour  and  employment  of  e\'eiy  kind. 
Above  all,  such  a  step  would  secure  to  the  planters  the 
advantage  of  having  their  produce  shipped  in  a  com- 
modious harbour,  where  vessels  can  he  and  recei\e 
their  ladins^  alongside  the  wharves  at  all  seasons  of  the 
year ;  instead  of  ha\'ing  it  carried  in  boats,  as  at  pre- 
sent, a  distance  of  a  mile  or  more  in  the  open  road- 
stead of  Colombo,  to  be  put  on  board  in  the  offing  ;  — 
an  operation  that  can  only  be  performed  with  safety 
during  one  period  of  the  year,  when  the  wind  blows  off 
the  shore  ;  and  even  then  it  is  beset  by  accidents,  often 
involving  the  damage  of  the  coffee  by  sea-water,  or  its 
discolourment  by  damp. 

The  measure  for  transferring  the  seat  of  government 
and  trade  from  Colombo  to  Trincomahe,  Avill  encounter 
opposition  from  those  already  in  possession  of  commei- 
cial  establishments  on  the  western  coast,  who  may 
naturally  hesitate  to  exchange  ascertained  facihties  for 
contingent  advantages  in  another  locidity.  A  grave 
obstacle  too  is  said  to  exist  in  the  circumstance,  that 
the  rains  are  usually  ])revalent  at  Trincomahe  at  the 
])arlicular   season   when   coirce  reqiiires   to    be    di'ied   at 


CiiAP.  v.]  TRLVCOMALIE.  491 

the  shipping  })lace,  preparatory  to  embarcation.  But 
even  Avere  the  latter  objection  uniformly  existent,  (which 
is  far  from  being  the  case,)  its  inconveniences  would  soon 
be  obviated  by  improvements  in  the  })rocess  of  drying,  by 
the  construction  of  more  suitable  buikUngs,  and  by  greatly 
increased  facilities  of  transport. 

The  project  .may  at  present  be  premature,  and  its 
realisation-  remote,  but  it  is  one  which  the  clianging 
circumstances  of  the  colony  is  rendering  year  by  year 
more  obvious  and  imminent ;  and  the  growing  conxic- 
tion  of  its  utility  in  the  minds  of  the  ])lanting  and  agri- 
cultural conmiunity,  by  far  the  most  influential  in  Ceylon, 
will  eventually  overcome  the  scruples  and  hesitation  of 
the  mercantile  l)ody. 

The  once  fertile  ])lains  of  Tamblegam  are  now  a 
shallow  lake,  some  twenty  miles  in  circumference,  com- 
municating with  the  western  side  of  the  Bay  of  Trin- 
comalie.  The  natives  have  a  tradition  which  accords 
Avith  the  legend,  before  adverted  to,  that  at  no  remote 
period  the  bottom  of  this  lake  was  one  broad  expanse 
of  paddi-fields,  irrigated  by  a  canal  from  tlie  enormous 
tank  at  Kandelai,  twenty-four  miles  to  the  westward. 
But  the  tank  was  permitted  to  fall  into  ruin  ;  and  the 
waters,  escaping  in  a  torrent,  converted  their  ordinary 
outlet  into  an  impetuous  river,  wliich  speedily  over- 
liowed  the  plains  below,  and  burst  open  an  entrance 
for  the  sea,,  which,  once  admitted,  ever  since  has  con- 
tinued to  hold  possession.  An  examination  of  the 
locality  coufirms,  to  some  extent,  the  possible  truth  of 
this  tracUtion.  The  remains  of  the  great  tank  are  still 
in  fine  preservation,  and  could  be  readily  restored  ; 
but  the  waters  issuing  from  the  broken  bund,  altliougli 
])artially  a])plied  to  cultivation,  flow  almost  neglected 
through  the  lai^'oon  of  Tamblegam. ^ 

Tlie  Tamblegam   lake  itself  is  chiefly  valuable  for  its 


'   lujwii  of  \h.  Kklaaut,  Oct.  l.<)7. 


492  THE   NORTHEEN   FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

fish.  It  produces  in  singular  perfection  the  thin  trans- 
parent oyster  {Placuna  placenta),  whose  clear  white 
shells  are  used,  in  China  and  elsewhere,  as  a  substitute 
for  window  glass.  They  are  also  collected  annually  for 
the  sake  of  the  diminutive  pearls  contained  in  them,  and 
these  are  exported  to  the  coast  of  India,  to  be  burned 
into  a  species  of  hme,  Avhich  the  more  luxurious  princes 
affect  to  chew  with  their  betel.  So  prohfic  are  the 
moUusca  of  the  Placuna,  that  the  quantity  of  shells  taken 
by  the  licensed  renter  in  the  three  years  prior  to  1858, 
could  not  have  been  less  than  eighteen  millions.^  They 
dehght  in  brackish  water,  and  on  more  than  one  recent 
occasion,  an  excess  of  either  salt  water  or  fresh  has 
proved  fatal  to  great  numbers  of  them. 

The  forest  approaches  so  close  to  the  town  that  the 
vicinity  of  Trincomahe  is  often  \isited  by  wild  animals. 
In  one  of  my  evening  drives  on  the  high  road,  in  the 
direction  of  Mllavelh,  the  passage  was  obstructed  by  a 
herd  of  wild  elephants,  and  the  carriage  had  to  halt 
whilst  the  horse-keepers  drove  them  into  the  jungle. 
Leopards  frequently  approach  the  town-,  and  monkeys^ 
are  so  numerous,  as  to  be  a  pest  in  the  gardens.  Their 
method  of  approach  was  described  to  me  by  a  gentle- 
man, whose  grounds  they  frequently  visited.  A  green 
sward  separated  his  garden  from  the  jimgle,  and  across 
this  a  single  monkey  would  cautiously  steal  about 
twenty  paces,  and  halt  to  assure  himself,  by  eye  and 
ear,  that  all  was  safe.  Presently  a  second  would  ven- 
ture out  from  the  trees,  pass  in  front  of  the  first,  and 
squat  himself,  after  making  another  reconnaissance.  A 
tliird,   and  possibly  a  fourtli,  would   thus   stealthily  ap- 


^  Report   of  Dr.   Kelaaet,   Oct. 

1857. 

*  A  belief  is  prevalent  at  Trin- 
conialie  that  a  Beng-al  tiger  inhabits 
the  junirle  in  its  vicinity;  and  the 
story  runs  tliat  it  escaped  fr<Mii  the 
Avi-eck  of  a  vessel  on  which  it  had 
been  embarked  for  England.  Offi- 
cers of  the  Government  state   posi- 


tively that  they  have  more  than  once 
come  on  it  whilst  hunting ;  and  one 
gentleman  of  tlie  Ifoyal  Engineers 
who  had  seen  it,  assured  me  that  he 
coidd  not  be  mistaken  a.s  to  its  being 
a  tiger  of  India,  and  one  of  the 
laa-gest  description. 

^    Preshytes       cephalopterus.       P. 
Priavius. 


Chap.  V.]  COUNTRY   XORTII    OF   TRINCOMALIE.  493 

preach,  always  gaining  an  advance  beyond  tlie  last 
vidette ;  and  finally  the  whole  body,  having  ascertained 
the  absence  of  danger,  advanced  hastily  but  noiselessly 
to  the  enclosure  ;  and  having  with  inhnite  rapidity  se- 
cured a  sufficient  supply  of  fruit,  the  troop  dispersed 
simultaneously,  with  a  rush  and  an  exulting  scamper, 
conscious  that  caution  was  no  longer  essential. 

After  a  rest  of  a  few  days  at  Trincomahe,  to  recruit 
our  footrrunners  and  coohes,  we  resumed  our  course 
towards  the  north.  My  design  w^as  to  keep  the  hne  of 
the  sea-coast  as  far  as  Lake  Ivokelai,  and  having  made 
the  circuit  of  it,  then  to  timi  westward  into  the  great 
central  forest  of  the  Wanny,  in  order  to  reach  the 
ruins  of  the  tank,  at  Padi\dl,  the  largest  as  well  as  the 
most  perfect  of  those  ancient  and  gigantic  works  in 
Ceylon.  Afterwards,  returning  eastward  again  to  the 
coast  at  Moeletivoe  it  was  my  intention  to  proceed  to 
the  north  of  the  island,  in  order  to  visit  the  Peninsida 
of  Jaffna. 

The  country  to  be  traversed  in  this  route  presents, 
so  far  as  regards  the  sea-coast,  many  features  similar 
to  those  which  characterise  the  region  we  had  passed 
after  leaving  Batticaloa ;  with  the  exception,  that 
rivers  occur  less  frequently  and  are  less  dangerous. 
The  salt  formations  cease  a  few  miles  north  of  Trin- 
comahe, and  the  inliospitable  swamps  and  marshes  that 
he  between  the  Mahawelli-ganga  and  the  sea,  farther  to 
the  south,  are  exchanged  for  tlie  rich  pastures  and  rice 
grounds  of  the  Wanny,  wdiich  occur  at  intervals  in  tlie 
openings  of  the  forests.  The  population  of  the  intei'ior 
is  so  scattered  and  meagre,  that  no  cultivation  is  carried 
on  beyond  the  minimum  requisite  for  the  bare  sustenance 
of  the  locahty,  and  the  only  occupation  which  brings  the 
dwellers  in  this  region  into  contact  with  strangers,  is  the 
felhng  of  timber  in  the  forests,  to  be  floated  down  the 
rivei's  to  the  coast. 

Tlie  parties  engaged  in  this  business  lead  a  wan- 
dering life,  which    is    not    without    its    attractions ;  less 


494  TllK    XoIiTHEKX    FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

lucrative  perhaps  than  the  wild  existence  of  tlie  lum- 
berers of  North  America,  but  infinitely  more  enjoyable 
and  exciting.  The  timber-cutters  of  Ceylon  obtain  a 
hcence  fi'om  the  government  agent,  and  having  formed 
themselves  into  companies,  betake  themselves  at  the 
proper  season  to  those  parts  of  the  forest  where  ebony 
and  cabinet  woods  are  known  to  abomid  in  sufficiently 
close  proximity  to  water  to  ensm^e  tliek  easy  transport 
when  felled.  In  onr  morning  and  evening  rides  through 
the  woods,  before  and  after  sunset,  we  frequently  came 
upon  these  wandering  parties,  each  with  a  bidlock-cart 
to  cany  their  axes,  cooking  utensils,  and  rice  ;  and  fol- 
lowed by  hired  assistants.  They  were  either  setting  out 
on  an  exciu"sion  of  two  or  three  months  into  the  interior, 
or  returning  after  having  felled  the  intended  quantity  of 
timber,  leaving  it  to  be  floated  do^vn  the  rivers,  and 
brought  round  by  sea  to  Trincomalie.  There  was  always 
an  air  of  gaiety  and  recklessness  about  all  the  parties  I 
met,  very  characteristic  of  their  um^estrained  and  roving 
habits.  The  warmth  of  the  chmate  renders  them  in- 
different to  clothing ;  they  cook  and  eat  beneath  the 
shade  of  the  forest ;  sleep  under  the  open  sky,  mth  a 
watclifire  to  keep  off  the  wild  animals ;  and  by  sunrise 
then'  axes  are  echoing  through  tlie  solitary  woods. 

Ebony  is  the  most  important  of  the  trees  which  they 
are  in  the  habit  of  felling,  as  well  as  the  one  involving 
the  greatest  amount  of  labour,  from  the  hardness  and 
weight  of  the  timber,  ^vliicli  is  so  dense  and  heavy,  that, 
to  permit  of  then'  moving  it  at  all,  they  are  obhged  to 
cut  it  into  very  short  logs.  The  densely  black  portion, 
which  is  an  article  of  commerce,  occupies  the  centre 
of  the  tree ;  and  in  order  to  reach  it,  the  whiter 
wood  that  surrounds  it  is  carefully  cut  away.  Tlie 
Arabs  were  so  ^\"ell  aware  of  this  pecidiarity  in  ebony, 
that  Albvrouni,  in  his  treatise  on   Lidia\   calls    it   the 


'  ALBYKorxi.iu  \lEiy.\Tv'sFrai/?u. 
Araln'S,  vol.  i.  p.  Il'4.     Ebony  \va.<  so 


savs  Pompey  liad  it   earned   in  his 
triunipli  al'ter  tlip  defeat  of  ^lithri- 


])rized  l)y  tlu'   iloniaus,   that    Pi.ixY      dates. — Xut.  Ilisf.  lib.  xii.  eap.  ix 


Cn.vr.  v.]  XIIJ..\n-:LLI.  —  SAl.T    TANS.  495 

"black  marrow  of  a  tive,  divested  of  its  outer  integu- 
ments." 

Besides  ebony  and  satin-wood,  one  of  the  most  valu- 
able of  the  trees  in  these  forests  is  the  iron-wood  (the 
Na-galui  of  tlie  Singhalese^),  the  name  being  expressive 
of  its  intense  sohdity  and  duration.  It  is  always  planted 
as  an  ornament  near  the  temples,  not  only  because  of 
the  loveliness  of  its  broad,  violet-perfimied  flowers,  the 
outer  leaves  of  which  are  white  and  theii'  centres  a  deep 
maroon,  but  also  because  of  the  gracefulness  of  its  shape, 
the  dark  polished  green  of  its  foliage,  and  the  brilhant 
red  of  its  young  leaves  and  shoots,  which  in  their  season 
suffuse  the  surface  of  the  tree  with  crimson. 

The  only  high  road  in  tlie  direction  we  were  now  tra- 
velling extended  but  four  miles  north  of  Trincomalie, 
where  it  terminated  at  an  unbridged  inlet  of  the  sea. 
Having  forded  this  on  horseback,  we  entered  the  forest 
on  the  op])osite  side,  by  an  uniinished  bridle-patli, 
which  conducted  us  as  far  as  Nillavelh,  the  great  station 
for  the  supply  of  salt  to  the  eastern  provinces.  Here  it 
is  collected  from  artificial  pans,  which  are  capable  of 
yielding,  on  an  exigency,  50,000  bushels  in  the  year ; 
but  they  are  never  employed  for  the  preparation  of  more 
than  half  tliat  quantity.  The  salt  of  Ceylon  is  of  the 
purest  description,  and  the  capabihties  of  the  island  for 
its  production  are  so  great,  that,  in  orchnary  seasons,  it 
could  satisfy  the  demand  of  the  whole  continent  of 
India.  But  the  pohcy  of  the  East  India  Company,  and 
the  necessity  of  creating  a  revenue  from  their  own 
resources,  has  for  the  present  sus])ended  the  ex])ort 
from  Ceylon, 

At  Nillavelli  the  salt-}nins  extend  for  about  a  mile  in 
length,  and  about  one-sixteenth  of  a  mile  in  breadth, 
along  the  margin  of  a  shallo^v  estuary.  They  vary  in 
size,  from  foily  to  sixty  feet  square,  with  the  dejith  of 
jibout  twelve  inches,  and  are  formed  simj)ly  by  levelling 

'   ]\Ii-s.<ii<i  fcrrcd. 


496  THE    XORTIIERX    FORESTS.  [Part  IX 

and  embanking  tlie  clayey  soil,  wliicli  is  deeply  im- 
pregnated by  the  constant  deposit  of  salt  from  the  over- 
flowing of  the  sea.  This  line  of  the  shore  is  portioned 
off  in  strips,  the  property  of  different  proprietors ;  and 
each  of  these  is  formed  into  a  succession  of  pans,  vary- 
ing from  five  to  seven  in  number,  at  the  discretion  of 
the  proprietor.  The  process  of  manufacture  is  simple : 
the  sea-water  is  raised  into  one  of  the  pans  by  means  of 
a  wooden  scoop  swung  ft'om  a  triangle,  and  having  been 
allowed  to  rest  for  a  day  or  two  to  deposit  its  sand  and 
earthy  particles,  it  is  run  off  successively  into  a  second 
and  a  third  reservoir,  to  complete  the  process  of  defeca- 
tion. By  degrees  it  becomes  fitted  for  the  final  operation 
of  evaporating  the  sea-water,  which  is  performed  in  the 
remaining  pans,  in  which  the  brine  hes  exposed  to  the 
intense  heat  of  the  sun.  The  dry  crystals  of  salt  are  then 
cautiously  collected  from  the  sm'face  of  the  clay  and  re- 
moved to  the  Government  stores. 

A  few  miles  north  of  Mllavelh,  at  the  village  of 
Coomberapoote,  the  process  is  muc^h  more  simple  and 
expeditious,  but  the  salt  is  less  pure  and  of  proportion- 
ately lower  value.  There  it  is  prepared  by  merely  con- 
structmg  a  dam  to  pre\'ent  the  retkement  of  the  sea, 
which  spreads  far  on  the  level  shore,  to  the  depth  of  a 
few  inches.  In  the  course  of  from  ten  to  fom'teen  days, 
according  to  the  intensity  of  the  sun,  the  evaporation  is 
complete,  and  the  salt  may  be  hfted  in  a  thick  crust  fi'om 
the  surface  of  the  soil.  In  both  cases  the  rapidity  and 
success  of  the  process  is  entkely  dependent  on  the  heat  of. 
the  weather,  and  the  collection  can  only  be  made  about 
foin*  times  in  each  year,  as  the  occurrence  of  rain  would 
be  fatal  to  the  operation. 

A  few  miles  inland  from  Xillavelli  there  are  two 
places  of  interest,  one  the  hot  springs,  Kannea^,  and 
the  other  a  nameless  spot  in  the   deep  sohtudes  of  the 


'  An  analysis  of  the  water  will  be  I  for  1800,  p.  8 ;  and  in  the  Account  of 
found  in  the  Asiatic  Annual  Register  \  Ceylon,  by  Dr.  Davy,  p.  43. 


CiiAr.  v.]  HOT   WELLS.  407 

forest,  where  there  have  recently  been  discovered  ex- 
tensive ruins  of  temples  and  buildings ;  and  remains 
of  richly  carved  stone-work ;  but  as  to  their  age  or 
history,  the  inhabitants  possess  not  the  faintest  tra- 
dition. The  hot  wells,  in  addition  to  their  medical 
qualities,  are  held  sacred  in  the  eyes  of  the  Tamils, 
from  their  dedication  to  Kannea,  the  mother  of  Eawana. 
They  are  a  place  of  constant  resort  for  the  devout, 
who  repair  to  them  on  the  thirtieth  day  after  the  death 
of  their  friends,  to  perform  certain  funeral  rites,  and 
distribute  alms  and  rice  amongst  the  poorer  members  of 
their  families.  The  ruins  of  a  temple  to  Ganesa  are  still 
to  be  traced.  The  masonry  and  conduits  by  Avhich  the 
wells  are  enclosed  and  the  water  conducted,  were  |)robably 
the  work  of  the  Dutch,  who  were  aware  of  the  hygienic 
properties  of  the  spring. 

We  passed  the  night  in  the  rest-house  of  Nillavelli, 
built  on  the  model  of  one  of  those  substantial  edifices, 
by  which  "  the  Hollander "  has  left  a  memento  of  his 
presence  in  the  maritime  districts  of  Ceylon.  TJiis  old 
house  is  said  to  have  been  timbered  from  the  wreck  of 
a  ship  stranded  on  the  seashore  within  gunshot  of  the 
village.  Thence  by  Coomberapoote,  CuchaveUi,  Terrai 
and  Koombanda-mootoo,  we  made  our  way  to  the 
southern  shore  of  the  lake  of  Kokelai,  halfway  between 
Jaffna  and  Trincomahe.  Tliis  hne  of  coast  is  indented 
at  frequent  intervals  by  rocky  bays,  where  the  fisher- 
men have  established  themselves  in  villnges,  less  with 
a  view  to  the  pursuit  of  their  ordinary  calling,  than  for 
facility  of  communication  with  the  smugghng  boats  that 
carry  on  a  contraband  trade  with  India  ;  lanchng  cotton, 
cloth,  brass  ware,  and  other  articles  from  the  Coromandel 
coast,  which  are  carried  through  forest  paths  to  be  bartered 
in  the  Kandyan  country. 

The  rocks,  which  run  into  the  sea  near  these  coves 
are  deeply  impregnated  with  iron  ;  and  at  CutchaveUi 
in  particular,  the  sand  for  some  miles  Avas  as  black  as 
coal,   bearing    at  least  fifty  per  cent,  of  magnetic  iron, 

VOL.  II.  K  K 


498  THE   NORTHERN   FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

and  reduced  to  an  almost  impalpable  dust  by  the  con- 
tinued action  of  the  surf. 

Here  the  shore  abounded  -with  shells,  amongst  others 
Avith  a  species  of  Bullia  \  the  inhabitant  of  which  has 
the  faculty  of  mooring  itself  firmly  by  sending  down 
its  membraneous  foot  into  the  w^et  sand,  where,  im- 
bibing the  water,  this  organ  expands  horizontally  into 
a  broad  fleshy  disc,  by  Avhich  the  animal  anchors  itself, 
and  thus  secured,  collects  its  food  in  the  ripple  of  the 
waves.  On  the  slightest  alarm,  the  water  is  discharged, 
the  disc  collapses  into  its  original  dimensions,  and  the 
shell  and  its  inhabitant  disappear  together  beneath  the 
sand. 

On  the  rocks  Avhich  are  washed  by  the  siu'f  there  are 
quantities  of  the  curious  little  fish,  Salarias  alticus  ^, 
which*  possesses  the  faculty  of  darting  along  the  surface 
of  the  water,  and  running  up  the  wet  stones,  with  the 
utmost  ease  and  rapidity.  By  aid  of  its  pectoral  and 
ventral  fins  and  gill-cases,  it  moves  across  the  damp 
sand,  ascends  the  roots  of  the  mangroves,  and  chmbs 
up  the  smooth  face  of  the  rocks  in  search  of  flies  ;  ad- 
hering so  securely  as  not  to  be  detached  by  repeated 
assaults  of  the  waves.  These  httle  creatures  are  so 
nimble,  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  lay  hold  of  them, 
as  they  scramble  to  the  edge,  and  plunge  into  the  sea 
on  the  sHghtest  attempt  to  molest  them.  They  are 
from  three  to  four  inches  in  length,  and  of  a  dark 
brown  colour,  almost  indistinguishable  from  the  rocks 
they  fi^equent. 

In  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  sea,  om^  ride  was 
always  sufficiently  cool,  owing  to  .the  prevalence  of  the 
north-east  monsoon  ;  but  inland,  the  heat  was  intole- 
rable while  passing  over  the  wliite  sandy  plains  which 
abound  in  this  district,  and  are  but  scantily  covered 
with  verdure.     To  avoid  this,  we  travelled  as  much  as 


'  Ji.  rittdfa.  I  Hist.  Nat.  des  Poissons,  torn.  xi.  p. 

-    CUVIKU       and       ^'ALENCIENNES,    |   249. 


Chai'.  v.]  lake    of    KOKELAI.  499 

possible  before  sunrise,  by  far  tlie  most  interesting 
hour  in  these  dimates  for  observing  the  habits  of  the 
animals  and  early  birds.  Sometimes  our  horses  were 
frightened  by  the  sudden  plunge  of  a  crocodile,  as  we 
disturbed  him  on  the  sands ;  but,  more  frequently,  we 
ourselves  were  startled  in  the  morning  twilight  by 
a  deer  bounding  across  our  path  into  cover,  or  an 
elephant  shuffling  out  of  our  way,  and  tramphng  down 
the  jungle  as  he  leisurely  retired.  On  one  occasion, 
an  hour  before  sunrise,  we  rode  suddenly  into  the 
centre  of  a  herd  of  wild  hogs,  at  least  a  hundred 
in  number,  that  were  feeding  amongst  some  clumps 
of  acacias,  and  gave  battle  immediately  in  defence  of 
their  young,  wliich  the  coohes  laid  hold  of  without 
hesitation  or  pity.  Our  guns  brought  down  two  or 
three  full  grown  ones,  that  proved  an  acceptable  feast 
for  our  people. 

The  Lake  of  Kokelai  is  a  very  remarkable  spot ;  hke 
that  of  Tamblegam,  it  is  about  twenty  miles  in  circum- 
ference ;  and,  like  it,  it  is  behoved  to  have  been  at  one 
time  a  rich  and  fertile  plain,  in  which  the  cultivation 
of  rice  was  carried  on  by  means  of  the  enormous  reser- 
voir of  Padivil,  some  twenty  miles  inland  ;  but,  by  a 
calamity  similar  to  that  which  I  have  before  recorded, 
the  sluices  became  decayed,  the  embankments  of  the 
tank  gave  way,  and  the  overcharged  channels  suddenly 
inundated  the  plains  below,  whence  the  collected  waters 
burst  theu^  way  into  the  sea,  which,  once  admitted  to 
enter,  has  never  since  been  excluded,  and  now  ebbs  and 
flows  with  every  variation  of  the  tide.  The  bottom  of 
the  lake  is  never  wholly  diy,  but  its  deepest  spots  do 
not  much  exceed  six  or  seven  feet.  It  is  so  shallow  at 
all  times,  that  in  the  south-west  monsoon,  when  the 
rains  are  light  and  the  waters  low,  the  surf  forms  a  bar 
of  sand  across  the  entrance,  and  it  ceases  for  a  time  to 
communicate  with  the  sea.  Were  advantage  taken  of 
this  pecuharity,  the  sea  might  be  permanently  and 
effectually  kept  out ;  but,  in   its  present  condition,    the 

K    K     2 


500  THE   XOETHEKX    FORESTS.  [r.vKT  IX. 

bar  disappears  with  the  change  of  tlie  monsoon,  tlie 
pent-iip  waters  of  the  lake  again  burst  open  a  passage, 
and  the  salt  Avater  retiu-ns  to  renew  and  perpetuate 
barrenness.  The  woods  surrounding  the  lake  abound 
Avith  pea-fowl  and  game ;  and  its  shores  are  remarkable 
for  the  profusion  of  wild  animals  by  wdiich  they  are 
fi-equented ;  herds  of  buiHiloes  and  deer,  wild  hogs, 
jackals,  and  hares. 

On  emerging  fi'om  the  forest,  we  obtained  the  first 
sight  of  the  lake,  at  its  south-western  extremity,  near 
the  httle  village  of  Amera-Vayal ',  and  rode  eastward 
along  the  shore  to  the  opening  which  admits  the  sea. 
It  was  a  sultry  day,  and  in  the  exhalation  from  the 
salt-encrusted  sand,  we  witnessed  one  of  the  most 
beautifid  instances  that  I  had  seen  in  Ceylon  of  the 
Fata  Morgana.  The  water  appeared,  in  the  distance, 
to  cover  the  ground  over  which  we  were  to  pass ; 
and  right  before  us,  in  its  midst,  we  saw  a  fairy 
island  of  graceful  vegetation,  and  the  shadows  of  its 
tall  trees  reflected  in  the  waves  of  the  imaginary 
lake.  A  ride  of  a  quarter  of  an  hour  dispelled  the 
beautiful  deception ;  without  entkely  disappearing,  the 
hues  and  features  became  famter  as  we  approached, 
till  they  melted  into  ak;  but  not  without  leaving  a 
doubt  whether  a  scene  so  perfect  in  all  its  parts  could  be 
really  an  illusion. 

The  Tamil  village  of  Kokelai  is  close  by  the  junction 
of  the  lake  with  the  sea,  and  in  the  vast  pastures  around 
it,  which  are  enriched  by  the  proximity  of  this  large 
sheet  of  fresh  or  nearty  fresh  Avater,  numerous  herds 
of  cattle  Avere  grazing,  the  finest  and  most  numerous 
I  had  seen  m  the  province.  At  KokotodaAvey  Ave 
came  up  Avith  the  Government  agent  of  the  northern 
proAdnce,  JMi\  Dyke,  Avhom  Ave  found,  A\'itli  five  tents 
and   a   large   suite  of  foUoAvers,  encamped  close  to  the 


*  Amerawayeliam,  in  General  Fraser's  Map. 


Chap.  Y.]  GREAT   TANK    OF   TADIVIL.  501 

village  ;  and  along  with  his  company,  the  following  morn- 
ing, we  resumed  our  tour  round  the  north  of  the  lake, 
completing  the  circuit  at  Amera-Yayal,  whence  we  had 
started  two  days  before. 

In  order  to  do  this,  we  had  to  cross  the  river  flowing 
out  of  the  great  tank  of  Padivil,  by  which  the  lake 
of  Kokelai  is  formed.  The  dimensions  of  this  tank  may 
be  inferred  from  the  fact,  that  the  stream  issuing 
from  its  ruins  is  between  two  and  three  hundred  feet 
broad,  and  so  deep  and  impetuous,  that  it  was  mth 
difficulty  our  horses  crossed  it  in  safety.  The  country 
along  its  banks  is  rich,  and  would  be  fertile,  but  the 
place  is  so  neglected  that  herds  of  wild  buffaloes  were 
rolling  in  the  marshes,  and  elephants  are  so  abun- 
dant that  the  water  was  still  trickling  into  the  foot- 
marks in  the  sand,  which  they  had  left  a  moment 
before,  having  crossed  a  branch  of  the  river  on  our 
approach. 

As  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  great  tank  is  so 
infested  Avith  malaria,  as  to  render  it  dangerous  to 
pass  the  night  there  ;  we  arranged  to  halt  and  sleep  at  a 
Tamil  village  about  ten  miles  to  the  south-west  of  it, 
called  Liende-hitte-hamelawa.  The  following  day,  after 
inspecting  the  tank  in  the  morning,  we  proposed  to  ride 
to  Koolan-colom,  eighteen  miles  beyond  it,  and  there  to 
rest  for  the  night. 

As  this  plan  involved  a  long  day's  journey,  we 
started  for  the  tank,  from  our  sleeping-place,  by  torch- 
light, some  hours  before  the  sun.  It  was  tedious  work  ; 
the  path  under  the  trees  being  used  by  the  natives 
only  on  foot,  the  branches,  thorns,  and  cHmbing  plants 
closed  overhead  so  low,  that  for  a  great  part  of  the 
way  it  was  impossible  to  ride  in  tlie  gloom,  and  we 
were  obhged  to  get  down  and  load  our  horses.  The 
direction  of  the  foot-path  had  nowhere  been  chosen 
with  a  view  to  the  convenience  of  riders  ;  it  ran  along 
the  embankments  of  ne<2:lected  tanks,  and  over  rocks  of 
gneiss,  wliicli  occasionally  diversify  the  mountainous  level 

K    K     3 


502  THE   NORTHERN   FORESTS.  [rART  IX. 

of  the  forest,  and  their  sloping  sides  rendered  it  difficult 
for  horses  to  retain  a  secure  footino-.  So  httle  is  this 
country  known  or  frequented  by  Eiu'opeans,  that  the 
Odear,  or  native  headman,  who  acted  as  our  guide  to  the 
great  tank,  told  me  I  was  the  third  white  man  who  had 
visited  it  for  thirty  years. 

Owing  to  the  richness  of  the  soil  and  the  abundance 
of  water,  the  trees  were  of  extraordinary  size,  especially 
the  species  of  Strychnos,  which  rose  into  vast  mounds  of 
verdure  covered  profusely  with  rich  orange  fruit.  The 
pahi,  by  far  the  most  valuable  timber  tree  of  the  north, 
here  attains  gigantic  dimensions,  and  its  topmost  branches 
are  the  favourite  resort  of  the  Buceros,  the  Indian 
Toucan. 

Before  daybreak  Ave  entered  on  the  bed  of  the  tank 
of  Padivil,  at  its  south-eastern  angle,  and  proceeded 
towards  the  main  embankment,  a  ride  which  occupied 
us  nearly  two  hours.  The  tank  itself  is  the  basin  of 
a  broad  and  shallow  valley,  formed  by  two  hues  of  low 
hills,  which  gradually  sink  into  the  plain  as  they 
approach  towards  the  sea.  The  extreme  breadth  of 
the  enclosed  space  may  be  twelve  or  fourteen  miles, 
narrowing  to  eleven  at  the  spot  where  the  retaining  bund 
has  been  constructed  across  the  valley ;  and  when  this 
enormous  embankment  was  in  effectual  repair,  and  the 
reservou^  filled  by  the  rains,  the  Avater  must  have  been 
throAvn  back  along  the  basin  of  the  vaUey  for  at  least 
fifteen  miles.  It  is  difficult  now  to  determine  the  precise 
distances,  as  the  recent  overgrowth  of  Avood  and  jungle 
has  obhterated  all  hues  left  l^y  the  original  level  of  the 
lake  at  its  junction  with  the  forest.  Even  Avlien  Ave  rode 
OA^er  it,  the  centre  of  the  tank  Avas  deeply  submerged, 
so  that  notAvithstanding  the  partial  escape,  tlie  Avater 
still  covered  an  area  of  ten  miles  in  diameter.  Its  depth 
when  full  must  be  A^ery  considerable,  for  higli  on  the 
branches  of  the  trees  Avhich  groAV  in  the  area,  the  last 
flood  had  left  quantities  of  driftAvood  and  Avithered 
grass  ;  and  the  rocks  and  banks  Avere  coated  Avitli  the 


Chap,  v.]  GEEAT   TANK    OF   PADIVIL.  503 

yeasty  foam,  tliat  remains  after  the  subsidence  of  an  agi- 
tated flood. 

The  bed  of  the  tank  was  difficult  to  ride  over,  being 
still  soft  and  treacherous,  although  covered  everpvhere 
with  tall  and  wa\dng  grass  ;  and  in  ever}^  direction  it  was 
poched  into  deep  holes  by  the  innumerable  elephants  that 
had  conojreo;ated  to  roll  in  the  soft  mud,  to  bathe  in  the 
collected  water,  or  to  luxuriate  in  the  rich  herbage,  under 
the  cool  shade  of  the  trees.  The  ground,  too,  was  thrown 
up  into  hummocks  like  great  molehills,  which,  the  natives 
told  us,  were  formed  by  a  Inige  earth-worm,  common  in 
Ceylon,  nearly  two  feet  in  length,  and  as  tliick  as  a  small 
snake.  Through  these  inequahties  the  water  Avas  still 
running  off  in  natural  drains  towards  the  great  channel  in 
the  centre,  that  conducts  it  to  the  broken  sluice  ;  and 
across  these  it  was  sometimes  difficult  to  find  a  safe  footing 
for  our  horses. 

In  a  lonely  spot,  towards  the  very  centre  of  the  tank, 
we  came  unexpectedly  upon  an  extraordinary  scene.  A 
sheet  of  still  water,  two  or  three  hundred  yards  broad,  and 
about  half  a  mile  long,  was  surrounded  by  a  hue  of  tall 
forest-trees,  whose  branches  stretched  above  it.  The  sun 
had  not  yet  risen,  when  we  perceived  some  white  objects 
seated  in  large  numbers  on  the  tops  of  the  trees,  and  as 
we  came  nearer  we  discovered  that  a  vast  colony  of  peh- 
cans  had  formed  their  settlement  and  breeding-place  in 
this  sohtary  retreat.  They  literally  covered  the  trees  in 
hundreds  ;  and  their  heavy  nests,  hke  those  of  the  swan, 
constructed  of  large  sticks,  formed  great  platforms,  sus- 
tained by  the  horizontal  branches.  In  each  .nest  there 
were  three  esrijs,  rather  laro;er  than  those  of  a  ^oose,  and 
the  male  bird  stood  patiently  beside  the  female  as  she  sat 
upon  them. 

Nor  was  this  all ;  along  with  the  pehcans  prodigious 
numbers  of  other  large  water-birds  had  selected  this  for 
their  dwelling-place,  and  covered  the  trees  in  thousands, 
standing  on  the  topmost  branches :  tall  flamingoes, 
herons,   egrets,   storks,   ibises,   and   other   waders.     We 

K    K     4 


304 


THE    NORTHERN   FORESTS. 


[Part  IX. 


liad  disturbed  tliem  tliiis  early,  before  tlieii-  habitual 
hour  for  betaking  themselves  to  the  lishing-fields.  By 
degrees,  as  the  light  increased,  we  saw  them  begmning 
to  move  upon  the  trees ;  they  looked  around  them 
on  every  side,  stretched  their  awkward  legs  behind 
them,  extended  their  broad  wings,  gradually  rose  in 
groups,  and  slowly  soared  away  in  the  dii^ection  of  the 
sea-shore. 

The  pehcans  were  apparently  later  in  their  movements  ; 
they  allowed  us  to  approach  as  near  them  as  the  swampy 
nature  of  the  soil  would  permit ;  and  even  when  a  gun 
was  discharged  amongst  them,  those  only  moved  off  which 
the  particles  of  shot  disturbed.  They  were  in  such  num- 
bers at  tliis  favourite  place,  that  the  water  over  Avliich 
they  had  taken  up  their  residence  was  swarming  with 
crocodiles,  attracted  by  the  frequent  fall  of  the  young 
buxls ;  and  the  natives  refused,  from  fear  of  them,  to 
wade  in  for  one  of  the  larger  pehcans  which  had  faUen, 
struck  by  a  rifle  ball.  It  was  altogether  a  very  remark- 
able sight. 

About  seven  o'clock  we  reached  om^  destination,  near 
the  great  breach  in  the  embankment,  having  first  efTected 
a  passage  with  difficulty  over  the  wide  stream,  that  was 
flowing  towards  it  from  the  basin  of  the  tank.  The 
huge  banlv  Avas  concealed  from  sight  by  the  trees  with 
which  it  is  overgrown,  till  suddenly  we  found  ourselves 
at  its  foot.  It  is  a  prodigious  Avork,  nearly  eleven 
miles  in  length,  thirty  feet  broad  at  the  top,  about 
tAvo  hundred  at  the  base,  upAvards  of  seventy  high,  and 
faced  throughout  its  Avhole  extent  by  layers  of  squared 
stone. 

The  fatal  breach  througli  Avhich  the  Avaters  escape 
is  an  ugly  chasm,  tAVO  hundred  feet  broad,  and  half  as 
many  deep,  Avith  the  riA^r  running  sloAvly  beloAv.^     Tliis 


'  The  natives  haA'e  a  tradition  that 
the  destruction  of  the  bund  was 
effected  by  a  foreign  enemy  tliat 
landed   at    KokeLai,    and   burst   the 


embankment  by  heating  the  rock 
with  lire,  and  quenching  it  with 
acid  milk. 


CiiAP.  v.]  GREAT    TAXK    OF    PADIVIL.  505 

breach  affords  a  good  idea  of  the  immense  magnitude 
of  the  work,  as  it  presents  a  perfect  section  of  the  em- 
bankment from  summit  to  base.  As  we  stood  upon 
the  verge  of  it  above,  we  looked  down  upon  the  tops 
of  the  highest  trees  ;  and  a  peHcan's  nest,  with  young 
birds,  was  resting  on  a  branch  a  considerable  way 
below  us. 

We  walked  about  two  miles  along  the  embankment 
to  see  one  of  the  sluices,  which  remains  so  far  entire  as 
to  permit  its  original  construction  to  be  clearly  under- 
stood. From  its  position,  I  am  of  opinion  that  the 
breach  in  the  embankment  through  wliich  the  water 
now  escapes  was  originally  the  second  sluice,  which  had 
been  carried  away  by  the  pressure  of  the  waters  at  some 
remote  period.  The  existing  sluice  is  a  very  remarkable 
work,  not  merely  from  its  dimensions,  but  from  the 
ingenuity  and  excellence  of  its  workmanship.  It  is  built 
of  layers  of  hewn  stones,  varpng  from  six  to  twelve 
feet  in  length,  and  still  exliibiting  a  sharp  edge  and  every 
mark  of  the  chisel.  These  rise  into  a  ponderous  wall 
immediately  above  the  vents  wliich  regulated  the  escape 
of  the  water ;  and  each  layer  of  the  work  is  kept  in 
its  place  by  the  frequent  insertion,  endwise,  of  long 
phnths  of  stone,  whose  extremities  project  beyond  the 
surface,  with  a  flange  to  key  the  several  courses,  and 
prevent  them  from  being  forced  out  of  their  places. 
The  ends  of  these  retauiing  stones  are  carved  with 
elephants'  heads  and  other  devices,  like  the  extremities 
of  gotliic  corbels  ;  and  numbers  of  similarly  sculptured 
blocks  are  lying  about  in  every  direction,  though  the 
precise  natiure  of  the  original  ornaments  is  no  longer 
apparent. 

About  the  centre  of  the  great  embankment,  advantage 
has  been  taken  of  a  rock,  about  two  hundi^ed  feet  high, 
which  has  been  included  m  the  bund,  to  give  strength 
to  the  work.  We  chmbed  to  the  top  of  this  rock. 
The  sun  was  now  high,  and  the  heat  intense ;  for,  in 
addition  to  the  warmth  of  the  day,  the  stone  itself  was 


506  THE   NORTHERX    FORESTS.  [rART  IX. 

still  glowing  from  its  exposure  to  many  previous  suns. 
It  was  covered  with  vegetation,  springing  vigorously 
from  every  handful  of  earth  that  had  lodged  in  the 
interstices  of  the  stone ;  and,  amongst  a  variety  of 
curious  plants,  we  found  the  screwed  Euphorbia^,  the 
only  specimen  of  it  which  I  saw  in  the  island.  The 
view  from  this  height  was  somethinsj  \vonderful  —  it 
w\^s,  in  fact,  one  of  the  most  memorable  scenes  I 
witnessed  in  Ceylon.  Towards  the  west,  the  moun- 
tains near  Anarajapoora  were  dimly  visible  in  the  ex- 
treme distance  ;  but  between  ns  and  the  sea,  and  for 
miles  on  all  sides,  there  was  scarcely  an  eminence,  and 
not  one  half  as  high  as  the  rock  on  which  we  stood. 
To  the  farthest  vero-e  of  the  horizon  there  extended  one 

o 

vast  imbroken  ocean  of  verdure,  varied  only  by  the  tints 
of  the  forest,  and  with  no  object  on  which  the  eye  could 
rest,  save  here  and  there  a  tree  a  little  loftier  than 
the  rest,  that  served  to  undulate  the  otherwise  uniform 
surface. 

Turning  to  the  side  next  the  tank,  its  prodigious  area 
lay  stretched  below  us  ;  broken  into  numerous  ponds, 
and  diversified  with  groves  of  trees.  About  lialf  a  mile 
from  where  we  stood,  a  herd  of  wild  buffaloes  w^ere 
lumbering  through  the  long  grass,  and  roUing  in  the 
fresh  mud.  These,  with  the  birds,  and  a  deer,  which 
came  to  drink  from  the  watercourse,  w^ere  the  only  liv- 
ing creatures  to  be  seen  in  any  direction  ;  but  the  natives 
regard  the  tank  and  the  surrounding  jungle  as  the  great 
breeding-place  of  most  of  the  wild  animals,  elks,  elephants, 
and  bears. 

As  to  human  habitation,  the  nearest  was  in  tlic  village 
where  we  had  passed  the  preceding  niglit ;  but  we  were 
told  that  a  troop  of  unsettled  Veddahs  had  lately  sown 
some  rice  on  the  verge,  of  the  reservoir,  and  taken  their 
departure  after  securing  their  httle  crop.  To  feed  a -few 
wanderino:  outcasts — such  is  the  sole  use  to  which  this 


Euphorhifi  tortilis 


CiiAP.  v.]  GEEAT   TANK    OF    PADIVIL.  507 

gigantic  work  is  at  present  subservient ;  yet  its  capabilities 
are  so  prodigious,  that  it  might  be  made  to  fertihse  a  dis- 
trict equal  in  extent  to  an  Englisli  county. 

The  solution  of  the  inquiry  as  to  who  was  the  construc- 
tor of  this  mighty  monument  remains  buried  in  obscurity. 
So  vast  is  the  scale  on  wdiich  it  is  projected,  that  it  has 
been  conjectured  to  be  the  great  lake  known  as  "  the  Sea 
of  Prakrama  ;  "  ^  but  the  investigations  of  some  recent 
explorers  appear  to  me  to  have  succeeded  in  estabhshing 
the  conjecture  of  Colonel  Forbes  '^,  and  in  fixing  the  site 
of  the  latter  between  Dambool  and  the  Amban-ganga.^ 
Sir  H.  G.  Waed  has  ascribed  the  formation  of  Pachvil  to 
Maha  Sen,  a.d.  60  ^ ;  but  this  is  erroneous,  as  Malia  Sen 
did  not  ascend  the  throne  till  a.d.  275,  and  an  inscription 
of  an  earlier  date  on  the  rock  at  ]\Iihintala  ^,  records  that 
the  lake  of  "  Pahadewila "  was  at  that  period  the  pro- 
perty of  the  temple. 

On  the  top  of  the  great  embankment  itself,  and  close  by 
the  breach,  tliere  stands  a  tall  sculptured  stone  Avith  two 
engraved  compartments,  tlie  possible  record  of  its  history, 
but  the  Odear  informed  us  that  "  the  characters  were 
Nagari,  and  the  dialect  Pali,  or  some  other  language  no 
longer  understood  by  the  people." 

The  command  of  labour  must  have  been  extraordinary 
at  the  time  when  such  a  construction  was  successfully 
carried  out,  and  the  population  enormous  to  whose  use 


'  See  a  paper  by  Dk  Sotza 
]\rooDLiAK,  in  the  Journal  of  the 
Ceylon  Branch  of  the  A--iiaf.  Sac.  for 
1856-8,  p.  140,  in  which  the  autlior 
rests  his  supposition  on  a  passage  in 
the  Ixviiith  chap,  of  the  JLihawanso, 
whicli  rehxtes  that  Prakrama  Bahu, 


refer  only  to  the  repair,  and  not  to 
the  original  formation  of  the  tnnk, 
which  would  appear  to  liave  taken 
place  nearly  a  thousand  years  before. 
^  FoEBics'  Eleven  Years  in  Cey- 
lon, vol.  ii.  ch.  ii.  p.  3."». 

See  the  Report  of  Mesars.  Al)A Jis, 


having  enlarged  the  Panda  Wapi,  or     CnuRcniLL     and    Bailey,     on    the 

Tank  of  Panda,  gave  it  the  name  of  '■  Ellahara  Canal. 

the  "  Sea  of  Prakrama."     Panda,  J)q         ■*  3Iin>de  on  tJie  Eastern  Province, 

Soyza  conjectures,  may  be  identical     1856,  p.  4. 

with  Padivil ;  but  if  Upham's  ver-  !       *  See     Appendix    to    TtrRXorii's 

sion  be  correct,  there  is  a  still  more  '  Epitome,  4'"f'.,  p.  79,  80.      The   Ma- 

striking  passage  in  the  Ixxviith  diap.  >  hawanso,  ch.  xxxvii.    enumerate   by 

which  states  that  Prakrama   Bahu,  j  name  the  "sixteen  "  tanks  construct- 

among  others,  repaired  tlio  tank  of  j  ed  by  Maha  Sen,  but  "  Padivil "  is 

"  Padie."      Both    verses,     however,  '  not  one  of  them. 


508 


THE    XORTIIERX   FORESTS. 


[r.vKT  IX. 


it  was  adapted.  The  number  of  cubic  yards  in  tlie  bund 
is  upwards  of  17,000,000  ;  and,  at  the  ordinary  value  of 
labour  in  this  country,  it  must  have  cost  1,300,000/., 
without  including  the  stone  facing  on  the  inner  side  of 
the  bank.  The  same  sum  of  money  that  would  be 
absorbed  at  tlie  present  day  in  making  the  embankment 
of  Padivil,  would  be  sufficient  to  form  an  Enghsh  railway, 
one  hundi'ed  and  twenty  miles  long,  and  its  completion 
would  occupy  10,000  men  for  more  than  five  years. 
Be  it  remembered,  too,  that  in  addition  to  thirty  of  these 
immense  reservoirs  in  Ceylon,  there  are  from  five 
hundred  to  seven  hundred  smaller  tanks  distributed  over 
the  face  of  the  country,  the  majority  in  ruins,  but  many 
stiU  in  serviceable  order,  and  all  susceptible  of  effectual 
restoration. 

Ha\in<T:  devoted  the  raornino-  to  visitmo;  the  several 
parts  of  this  magnificent  ruin,  we  returned  to  our  tents, 
wliich  had  been  pitched  at  the  foot  of  the  great  embank- 
ment, near  the  breach  through  wliich  the  cmTcnt  of  the 
waters  escaped.  Here  we  were  rejoined  by  Captain 
Gallwey,  and  the  party  of  hunters  who  had  separated 
from  us  at  Bintenne,  and  who  brought  us  a  welcome 
addition  to  our  larder  in  the  shape  of  a  buck,  wliich  they 
killed  on  the  confines  of  the  great  tank.  In  the  afternoon 
we  started  for  Koolan-colom. 

The  resrion  in  which  Padi\'il  is  situated  is  conven- 
tionaUy  known  by  the  epithet  of  the  "  Wannj^"  ^  It 
forms  the  extreme  northern  section  of  the  island,  im- 
mediately adjoining  the  peninsula  of  Jaffiia,  and  in  the 
time  of  the  Dutch  its  southern  boundaries  were  the 
Aripo  river  ^  and  tlie  Kalu-aar.  Of  its  earlier  history 
no  satisfactory  record  survives,  beyond  the  ascer- 
tained fiict  that,   after   the  withdrawal  of    tlie   Sino-ha- 


*  Two  derivations  are  assigned  to 
this  word,  one  sii^iiifieaut  of  the  "/b- 
rcs^,"  whicli  covers  it  to  a  great  ex- 
tent; the  other  of  the  intense  "heat" 


which  characterises  the  region. 

-  In  the  map  given  by  Valexttx, 
the  ^\j'ipo  river  is  called  by  the  Dutch 
the  "  Koronda  Weya." 


CuAP.  v.]  THE   WAXXY.  509 

lese  sovereigns  from  their  northern  capitals  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  and  tlie  abandonment  of  tlieir 
deserted  country  to  the  Malabars,  the  latter,  chsor- 
ganised  and  distracted  in  turn,  by  the  ruin  they  them- 
selves had  made,  were  broken  up  into  small  princi- 
pahties  under  semi-independent  chiefs,  and  of  these  the 
Wanny  was  one  of  the  last  that  sur\T.ved  the  general 
decay. 

In  modern  times  the  Wanny  was  governed  by  native 
princes,  styled  Wannyahs,  and  occasionally  by  females 
with  the  title  of  Wanninchees ;  their  chiefs  professed 
allegiance  and  paid  tribute  to  the  Malabar  rajahs  of 
Jaffna;  and  later  still  to  the  kings  of  Kandy;  but  their 
submission  to  the  latter  was  ostensible  rather  than  real, 
and  involved  scarcely  a  virtual  subjection. 

The  Portuguese,  after  the  capture  of  Jaffna-patam, 
became  the  nominal  sovereigns  of  the  Wanny ;  but 
their  dominion  never  extended  beyond  the  sea-coast, 
and  they  exercised  no  actual  control  over  its  restless 
chieftains  and  then'  followers.  The  Dutch,  as  the 
successors  of  Portugal,  affected  to  assert  a  right  of 
supremacy ;  but  were  only  enabled  to  enforce  their 
annual  tribute  of  elephants  by  a  frequent  resort  to 
arms.^  In  1782  these  continued  conflicts  were  brought 
to  an  apparent  issue  by  a  combined  and  vigorous  effort 
of  the  Dutch,  who  routed  the  forces  of  the  Wanny  ah  s 
at  all  points,  and  reduced  their  country  to  at  least  the 
outward  semblance  of  submission.  It  is  characteristic 
of  the  spii'it  of  this  people  that  the  Dutch  met  nowhere 
a  more  determined  resistance  than  from  one  of  the 
native  princesses,  the  Wanmnchee  Maria  Sembatte,  whom 
they  were  obhged  to  carry  away  prisoner,  and  to  detain 
in  captivity  in  the  fort  of  Colombo. 

For  the  security  of  their  conquests  the  Dutch  erected 
a  fort  at  Moeletivoe,  on  the  eastern  coast ;  but  the  sole 


^  Yalentyn,  Oud  en  Nicnw  Oost-  I  172 ;  Balb^tts,   p.   717 ;   Kxox,    p. 
Lulicn,    ch.    iii.    p.    49;    cli.   xiii.  p.   |  175. 


510  THE    NORTHERN    FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

result  of  their  policy  was  tlie  inipoverisliment  and 
desolation  of  the  Wanny,  without  insming  its  thorough 
subjection.  The  people,  impatient  of  their  presence 
and  control,  appear  to  have  abandoned  agriculture  and 
peaceful  pursuits,  and  to  have  betaken  themselves  to 
a  wild  and  marauding  hfe,  making  sudden  descents  on 
the  cultivated  lands  on  either  seaborde  of  the  island,  and 
carrying  on  a  predatory  warfare  against  the  Dutch  in 
their  settlements  at  Manaar  and  Trincomahe.  They 
penetrated  even  into  the  peninsula  of  Jaffna,  across  the 
isthmus  of  which  the  Dutch  were  compelled  to  build  a 
hue  of  small  forts,  and  to  loophole  the  church  at  Elephant 
Pass,  in  order  to  keep  the  Wannyahs  at  bay. 

After  the  transfer  of  the  sovereignty  of  Ceylon  to 
the  British,  the  excesses  and  turbulence  of  this  part 
of  the  country  still  continued.  In  1803,  on  the  occa- 
sion of  our  first  hostihties  with  the  king  of  Kandy, 
Pandara  Wannyah,  an  iirfluential  chief  on  the  borders  of 
the  Neuera-kalawa  district,  undertook  to  expel  the  En- 
glish from  his  country,  and  succeeded  in  occupying 
Cottiar,  on  the  bay  of  Trincomahe.  He  drove  out  the 
garrison  at  Moeletivoe,  and  seized  the  fort,  which  had 
been  left  in  charge  of  a  British  officer  and  a  few 
Sepoys ;  —  they  escaped  in  a  fisher's  boat  to  Jaffna, 
whilst  the  insurgents  carried  away  some  useless  cannon, 
that  still  he  bmied  in  a  rice  field  near  the  Padivil  tank. 
The  attempt  was  of  course  followed  by  no  permanent 
success ;  the  insurgents  were  speedily  dislodged ;  the 
forts  retaken,  and  the  power  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Wanny 
was  finally  and  effectually  extinguished.  Their  last 
descendant  and  representative  was  an  old  lady,  who,  in 
1848,  resided  near  the  fort  of  Jaffna,  and  enjoyed  a 
small  hereditary  estate,  the  remnant  of  her  ancestral 
possessions. 

The  result  of  these  intestine  wars  and  calamities 
consummated  the  ruin  of  the  Wanny ;  the  cattle,  so 
essential  to  cidtivation,  were  carried  off;  the  tanks  were 
injured,   partly   through   abandonment,   and    partly   by 


Chap,  v.]  THE    WAXNY.  511 

natural  causes  —  amongst  wliicli  was  a  storm,  in  1802, 
during  wliicli  the  waters  in  the  larger  lakes  were  driven 
so  fimously  on  the  bunds,  that  many  of  them  gave 
way ;  and  there  being  no  one  to  repair  the  damage,  it 
spread  so  as  almost  to  defy  renovation  by  any  means 
at  the  command  of  the  local  communities.  In  addition 
to  these  calamities,  the  lawless  guerillas  of  Pandara 
•  formed  themselves  into  troops  of  banditti,  and  after  the 
suppression  of  the  rebellion  infested  the  province  from 
sea  to  sea ;  plundering  tlie  villages  and  solitary  ham- 
lets, and  carrying  away  the  inhabitants,  particularly 
the  women  and  girls,  to  be  sold  as  slaves  witliin  the 
territory  of  the  Kandyan  king. 

Danger  thus  drove  the  remnant  of  the  inhabitants 
from  the  richer  districts  of  the  Wanny,  to  the  poor  and 
sandy  soil  in  the  vicinity  of  the  forts  on  the  coast,  where 
they  could  carry  on  tillage,  and  dwell  in  comparative 
security ; — and  the  central  forests,  thus  abandoned  to 
solitude,  became  in  a  few  years  so  infested  and  overrun 
with  elephants,  that  the  efforts  of  the  Government  were 
directed  to  their  destruction,  as  cultivation,  when  the 
people  had  courage  to  resume  it,  was  rendered  imprac- 
ticable by  their  ravages. 

The  mode  of  capturing  elephants,  by  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Wanny,  differs  from  that  pursued  in  the  Singha- 
lese districts,  and  is  effected  by  sinking  concealed  holes 
in  the  paths  frequented  by  the  animals.  On  the  top  of 
each  hole  a  running  noose  is  placed,  the  other  end  of 
the  rope  being  made  fast  to  an  adjoining  tree ;  and  the 
foot  of  the  elephant,  in  sinking,  gives  play  to  a  spring, 
formed  by  a  bough  cautiously  bent,  which,  in  its  recoil, 
carries  the  noose  high  up  on  the  leg,  thus  effectually 
seciu"ing  the  captive.^ 

At  Koolan-colom,  where  we  slept,  after  riding  eighteen 
miles  from  Padivil,  I  was  disturbed  towards  morninj]^ 
in  my  tent  by  a  disagreeable  incident,  not  of  unusual 


'  Report  on  the  State  of  the  Wamty  in  1807,  by  Geokge  Tcenour,  Esq. 


5l)i  THE    XORTHERX    FORESTS.  [Pakt  IX. 

occurrence  with  travellers  in  tliese  forests.  I  was  sud- 
denly awakened  by  a  violent  smarting  in  my  face  and 
neck,  and  from  my  throat  and  shoulders  pulled  off 
handfuls  of  insects,  that  were  biting  me  intolerably. 
On  starting  from  my  bed,  my  feet  and  ankles  were 
instantly  assailed.  The  tent  was  dark,  but  obtaining  a 
hght  from  the  watch-fire,  I  found  myself  covered  with 
large  black  ants,  each  half  an  inch  long,  and  furnished, 
with  powerful  mandibles,  with  which  they  inflicted  the 
torment  I  had  felt.  In  one  of  their  migrations,  a  colony 
of  these  fierce  creatures,  called  Kaddias  by  the  Singha- 
lese, had  approached  my  tent  in  a  stream  four  or  five 
feet  in  breadtli,  and  composed  of  myriads  of  individuals. 
They  had  made  their  way  in  under  the  canvas  of  the 
tent ;  and,  on  finding  my  bed  in  the  fine  of  their  march, 
had  held  on  their  course,  as  their  custom  is,  directly 
across  it,  descending  again  to  the  floor  of  the  tent,  and 
streaming  out  at  the  opposite  side  into  the  jungle.  My 
pillow  and  sheets  were  hterally  black  with  their  num- 
bers. In  their  onslaught,  however,  they  use  only  their 
mandibles,  and  bite  without  infusing  any  venom  into  the 
wound,  which  does  not  inflame  hke  the  bite  of  the  hiU- 
ant  at  home.  With  one  exception  ^,  I  think  that  none  of 
the  numerous  species  of  ants  in  Ceylon  are  provided  w^ith 
the  reservoir  of  formic  acid — the  injection  of  which  so 
aggravates  the  assault  of  the  common  Enghsh  ant. 

On  this  part  of  our  journey,  instead  of  deferring 
dinner  till  our  arrival  at  the  places  where  our  tents 
were  pitched  for  the  night,  we  frequently  had  it  laid 
under  a  tree  in  some  open  glade  of  the  forest,  and  these 
afternoon  halts  were  full  of  pleasant  incidents.  So 
plentiful  was  game  in  this  part  of  the  country,  that  on 
one   occasion   at   MoUia-velle  between  Peria-itty-madoo 


'  The  species  alluded  to  is  found  '  sting  is  exti-enielyvinilent.  Amonp:st 
in  the  northern  parts  of  Ceylon,  and  the  midtitude  of  ants  in  Ceylon 
appears  to  belong  to  the  genus  ,  tliere  may  be  otliers  similarly  pro- 
IL/rmica  of  Latreille.  It  is  dis-  vided  witli  venom,  but  this  is  the 
tinguisluible  by  its  elongation,  and  !  only  one  I  have  seen, 
a  double  knot  on  the  peduncle.     Its  | 


Chap.  V.]  VILLAGES    OF   THE    T.UIILS.  513 

and  Moeletivoe,  when  seated  round  our  pic-nic  repast  at 
the  side  of  a  green  opening  in  the  jungle,  a  buck  stepped 
out  from  cover  within  a  hundred  yards  of  us,  threw  up 
his  head,  gazed  at  the  party  for  a  few  moments  in  sm'- 
prise,  and  began  leisurely  to  graze  where  he  stood. 
Presently,  two  peacocks,  one  with  a  train  of  prodigious 
splendour,  strutted  out  on  the  sward,  and  by  and  by  no 
less  than  five  jungle  fowl,  their  plumage  gleaming  hke 
metal,  joined  the  party,  and  all  fed  undisturbed  within 
pistol-shot  of  where  we  were  seated.  No  morbid  appe- 
tite for  "  sport "  was  permitted  to  abuse  the  confidence 
which  these  innocent  creatures  displayed. 

Cultivation   in   tlfis   district   is    carried   on    by   small 
tanks,  one  of  which  is  attached  to  almost  every  Tamil 
village  that  we  passed.     These  villages  differ  widely  in 
every   particular   from    those  of  the  Kandyans    or   the 
low-country   Singhalese.      The    latter    generally   consist 
of    ill-arranged   houses,    seldom    hghted    by   windoAvs ; 
the  coco-nut  garden  which  adjoins  them  is  strewn  with 
leaves  and  rubbish,  and   frequently  a   stagnant   puddle 
at  the  door.     Those  of  the  Kandyans  might  be  equally 
described  by  the  same  epithets  of  filth  and  discomfort, 
in  addition  to  which,  they  have   the  fancy   for   being 
always  carefully  carried  to  a  secure  distance  from  unj 
high  road,  buried  in  the  hottest  hollows,  and  concealed 
in  the  closest  folds  of  the  hills.     The    villages  in  the 
north  of  the  Wanny,  on  the  contrary,  are  always  placed 
in  the  most  open  and  airy  situations  that  the  forest  will 
afford  ;    often  surrounded  by  a  wide  pasture  for  their 
sheep  and  cattle  ;   with  rice  grounds,  and  their  never- 
failing  accompaniment,  an  artificial   tank.      Each  liouse 
is  biult  in  a  well-fenced  enclosiu-e,  from  which  all  grass 
and  weeds  are  removed,  and  the  white  sand  raked  every 
morning,  so   clean  that  it  looks  almoj>t  hke    a   flagged 
courtyard.     In  the  centre  of  this  a  platform  is  raised, 
somewhat  larger  than  the  area  of  the  intended  dwelling, 
and  the  sides  and  top  of  this  little  terrace,  so  far  as  it  is 
visible,    are   coated    with    chunam,   and   kept   carefully 
VOL.  n.  L  L 


514  THE   NORTHERN    FORESTS.  [Paut  IX. 

wliitencd  and  trim.  On  this  platform  stands  the  house, 
a  low  cottage,  with  a  projecting  roof,  covered  with  palm 
leaves,  and  about  the  door  are  grouped  the  owners  of 
the  dwelling,  and  their  httle  naked  children,  mth  glossy- 
black  hair,  graceful  hmbs  decorated  with  armlets,  anklets, 
and  rings. 

The  pm-suits  of  this  people  are  exclusively  agricul- 
tm'al,  and  their  gardens  are  kept  in  the  nicest  order, 
thickty  planted  with  jak-trees,  mangoes,  coco-nuts,  orange, 
limes,  and  all  the  fruit-trees  of  the  South.  Here,  too, 
the  beautifid  palmyra  palm,  which  abounds  over  the 
north  of  the  island,  begins  to  appear,  and  its  plaited  stem 
is  often  wreathed  with  a  plentifid  growth  of  the  pepper 
\TLne,  from  which  the  Tamils  collect  a  remunerative  crop. 
Eound  the  dwelhng-houses  we  saw  a  variety  of  vegetables, 
httle  if  at  all  cultivated  by  the  Singhalese  ;  amongst  the 
rest  a  small  but  very  dehcious  melon,  which  was  trained 
on  a  treUis  in  the  courtyards. 

The  first  appearance  of  the  Tamils  and  of  their  agricul- 
tural economy  was  calculated  to  convey  a  most  favour- 
able impression  of  their  industry  and  capabihties,  and  this 
was  fully  borne  out  when  I  came  to  see  the  cultivation 
on  a  large  scale  which  they  carry  on  most  successfully 
throuo;hout  the  whole  Peninsula  of  Jaffna. 

About  sunrise  on  the  morning  on  wliicli  we  approached 
the  old  fort  of  Moeletivoe,  whilst  riding  over  the  sandy 
plain  by  which  it  is  surrounded,  we  came  suddenly  upon 
a  crocodile  asleep  under  some  bushes  of  the  Bufiido- 
thorn,  several  hundred  yards  from  the  water.  The  terror 
of  the  poor  wretch  was  extreme,  when  he  awoke  and 
found  himself  discovered  and  completely  surrounded. 
He  was  a  hideous  creature,  upwards  of  ten  feet  long, 
and  evidently  of  prodigious  strength,  had  he  been  in 
a  condition  to  ex(jrt  it,  but  consternation  completely  para- 
lysed him.  He  started  to  his  feet  and  turned  round 
in  a  chcle  hissing  and  clanking  his  bony  jaws,  with  his 
ugly  green  eye  intently  fixed  upon  us.  On  being  struck 
he  lay  perfectly  quiet  and  apparently  dead.     Presently 


Chap.  V.]  FORT   OF   MOELETIVOE.  515 

he  looked  round  cunningly,  and  made  a  rush  towards 
the  water,  but  on  a  second  blow  he  lay  again  motionless 
and  feigning  death.  We  tried  to  rouse  him,  but  without 
effect,  pulled  his  tail,  slapped  his  back,  struck  his  hard 
scales,  and  teased  him  in  every  way,  but  all  in  vain ; 
nothing  would  induce  him  to  move  till  accidentally  my 
son,  a  boy  of  twelve  years  old,  tickled  him  gently  mider 
the  arm,  and  in  an  instant  he  drew  it  close  to  his  side 
and  turned  to  avoid  a  repetition  of  the  experiment. 
Again  he  w^as  touched  under  the  other  arm,  and  the 
same  emotion  was  exhibited,  the  great  monster  twisting 
about  hke  an  infant  to  avoid  being  tickled.  The  scene 
was  highly  amusing,  but  the  sun  Avas  liigh  and  we  pur- 
sued our  journey  to  Moeletivoe,  lea\ing  the  crocodile  to 
make  his  way  to  the  adjoining  lake. 

The  Fort  here  was  built  by  the  Dutcli,  to  keep  the 
Wannyahs  m  check.  It  is  merely  a  quadi'angidar  earth- 
work thrown  up  on  the  wild  sea  beach  of  the  Bay  of 
Bengal,  without  harbour,  shelter,  or  other  advantage  to 
recommend  it.  In  the  general  insmTCCtion  which  fol- 
lowed the  massacre  of  Major  Davie's  garrison  at  Kandy 
in  1803,  the  fort  was  captured  by  the  insurgents,  but 
quickly  recovered  by  the  British.^  Its  remains  at  the 
present  day  consist  of  bastions  at  the  angles  on  the  land 
side,  a  pile  of  Dutch  barracks,  and  a  Commandant's 
quarters,  which  are  now  the  residence  and  offices  of  the 
Assistant  to  the  Government  Agent  of  the  northern  pro- 
vince. It  is  a  solitary  place,  no  European  behig  hving 
on  any  side  within  fifty  miles. 

A  formidable  surf  bursts  upon  the  shore  dining  the 
north-east  monsoon,  and  has  piled  it  higli  with  mounds 
of  yellow  sand.  The  remains  of  shells  upon  the  water 
mark  show  how  rich  the  sea  is  in  mollusca  at  this  point. 
Amongst  them  were  prodigious  numbers  of  tlie  ubiqui- 
tous violet-coloured  lanthiiur,  which  rises  when  the  sea 


^  See  ante,  Vol.  II.  Pt.  vi.  cli.  iii.   I       ^  lanthina  communis,  Ivi-auss.    L. 
p.  84.  I  2i>'ohn(/ata,  Blainv. 


L  L    2 


516  THE   NOETHERN   FORESTS.  [Pakt  IX. 

is  calm,  and  by  means  of  its  inflated  vesicles  floats  lightly 
on  the  sm^face. 

The  fort  is  siirromided  by  the  remains  of  a  mihtary 
ditch  of  considerable  depth,  and,  as  usual,  filled  ^vitli 
crocodiles.  The  day  before  our  arrival  one  of  them 
seized  a  sheep  within  a  few  yards  of  the  Eesidence  and 
was  dragging  it  through  the  shallow  water,  when  the 
coohes  gave  chase,  and  the  reptile  abandoned  his  captive 
and  fled.  Another  inlet  of  the  sea  which  we  crossed  on 
leavinsf  Moeletivoe  was  also  swarming;  -with  these  crea- 
tures  :  we  passed  it  at  a  point  called  Wattor-Avakall-aar 
on  a  ledge  of  sunken  rocks  ahnost  level  ^vith  the  water, 
and  at  least  twenty  of  them  were  resting  their  noses  on 
the  stones  within  a  dozen  yards  of  our  path,  the  rest  of 
their  bodies  being  covered  by  the  water.  We  did  not 
molest  them,  and  they  took  not  the  shghtest  notice  of  us. 


517 


CHAP.  Yl. 

THE  PENINSULA  OF  JAFFNA. —  THE  PALMYRA  PALM. 

From  Moeletivoe  we  turned  north-west  towards  the 
great  trunk  road  that  connects  the  Kandyan  country 
with  Jaffna,  and  joined  it  at  Kandavelle ;  wliere  we 
passed  the  night  in  the  rest-house.  The  folloAving  day 
we  rode  across  the  shallow  sandy  gulf  that  forms  the 
southern  boundary  of  the  peninsula,  and  entered  it  by 
the  Elephant  Pass  ;  a  ford  which  has  acquired  its  name 
from  being  one  of  the  points  chosen  by  the  ^vild 
elephants  for  their  passage  from  the  mainland,  at  the 
season  when  tlie  fruit  of  the  pahnp"a  palms,  wliich 
abound  on  the  other  side  of  the  estuary,  is  begimiing  to 
ripen.^ 

Close  beside  the  northern  shore  stands  a  rest-house, 
erected  from  the  materials  of  an  old  Dutch  fort,  part  of 
the  outer  wall  of  which  is  still  remaining.  This  and  two 
similar  strongholds  at  short  distances  across  the  isthmus 
at  Pass  Beschuter  ^  and  Pass  Pyl,  were  erected  by  the 


*  See  post,  p.  525. 

2  Professor  Lee  conjectures  that 
Beschuter  may  be  ideutified  with 
"  Buzna,"  a  place  which  lux  Batuta 
visited  ou  his  way  fi'om  Gampola  to 
Adam's  Peak;  and  that  the  name  may 
be  derived  from  the  Persian  word 
Buzna,  a  monkey.  (See  note  to  Lee's 
ti-anslation  of  the  Travels  of  Um 
Batuta,  p.  187.)  But  independently 
of  the  fact  that  the  "  Buzna  "  of  the 
traveller  was  on  a  bend  of  the  Maha- 
welli-ganga,  and  had  no  identifica- 
tion with  .Jaffiia,  it  is  difficult  to  see 
how  the  Persian  tenn  "  buzna " 
could  have  been  vemaculai"  in  Ceylon. 


The  probability  is,  that  the  modem 
Pass  Beschuter  obtained  its  name 
from  the  remarkable  man  ^larcellus 
de  Boschouwer  or  Boschouder,  who, 
in  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
centuiy,  played  so  important  a  part 
at  the  Coiul;  of  the  Emperor  of 
Kandy,  by  whom  he  was  created 
Prince  of  Migone.  See  ante,  Vol.  II. 
Pt.  VI.  ch.  ii.  p.  38 ;  and  in  the  same 
manner  Pass  Pyl,  according  to  Va- 
LEXTYN,  was  so  Called  in  honour  of 
Lorenzo  Van  Pyl,  Governor  of  JafF- 
napatam,  in  1079.  "  Pas  Pyl  ter  ge- 
dagtenis  van  den  Landvoogd  Pyl." — 
OudenNiemv  Oost-Lulicn,  cli.  ii.  p.30. 


L    L     3 


518  THE   NOETHEEN    FOEESTS.  [Part  IX. 

Dutch,  for  the  accommodation  of  guards  stationed  here 
to  check  the  incursions  of  the  Wannyahs  and  their 
predatory  followers  ;  one  of  whose  last  exploits  was  the 
seizm^e  of  the  fort  at  Elephant  Pass  in  1803,  at  the  same 
time  that  they  succeeded  in  dislodging  the  garrison  at 
Moeletivoe. 

On  crossing  over  into  the  peninsula  of  Jaffna,  we 
immediately  perceive  a  strildng  change  in  the  soil,  the 
chmate,  the  productions,  and  the  people.  The  country 
presents  one  uniform  level ;  unbroken  by  a  single  hill, 
and  scarcely  varied  by  an  undulation  of  more  than  a 
very  few  feet.  So  shght  is  its  elevation  above  the  sea 
that,  in  addition  to  the  principal  gulf  which  separates 
it  from  the  mainland,  several  other  inlets  penetrate  and 
intersect  the  district,  forming  extensive  shallow  lagoons 
impassable  for  boats,  except  at  a  considerable  distance 
from  the  shore. 

It  has  been  akeady  stated  that  the  western  coast  of 
Ceylon  has  been  undergoing  a  gradual  upheaval ;  and, 
at  no  distant  period,  extensive  fields  of  madrepore  and 
breccia  have  been  elevated  throughout  the  peninsula,  in 
close  proximity  to  the  shore.  The  estuaries  that  cover 
the  portion  still  submerged,  though  scarcely  available 
from  then"  shallowness  for  the  purpose  of  traffic  or 
carriage,  are  not  without  their  salutary  uses.  They  con- 
tribute to  the  deposit  and  formation  of  quantities  of  the 
finest  salt,  which  is  one  of  the  chief  riches  of  this  dis- 
trict;— and,  in  the  total  absence  of  rivers  or  streams, 
they  serve  to  fertihse  the  surrounding  lands  by  filtration  ; 
whilst  the  evaporation  from  their  surface  so  tends  to 
moisten  and  refresh  the  air  that  the  chmate  is  never  so 
oppressive  as  that  of  adjoining  portions  of  Ceylon ; 
and  by  the  Dutch  as  well  as  by  the  Enghsh  Jaffiia  has 
always  been  regarded  as  one  of  the  healthiest  parts  of 
the  island. 

Throughout  this  remarkable  portion  of  Ceylon,  the 
characteristic  of  the  landscape  is  the  profusion  of  the 


Chap.  VI.] 


THE    PALMYRA    PALil. 


519 


beautiM  palmyi*a  palm  {Borassus  flahelliformis)}  It 
retains  the  name  Palmeira  hrava^  bestowed  on  it  by 
the  Portuguese,  as  if  to  express  their  appreciation  of 
its  form  and  quahties.  These  vahiable  trees  flourish 
in  great  topes  and  forests,  that  cover  miles  in  various 
parts  of  the  peninsula  and  the  adjacent  islands.  Their 
broad  fan-hke  leaves,  though  inferior  in  dimensions 
to  those  of  the  gigantic  tahpat,  are  more  gracefully 
arranged  round  the  stem,  which  towers  to  the  height 
of  seventy  or  eighty  feet,  though  the  average  is  some- 
what less.  Unhke  the  coco-nut  palm,  whose  softer 
and  more  spongy  wood  bends  imder  the  weight  of  its 
crown  of  leaves  and  fruit,  the  timber  of  the  palmyra 
is  compact  and  hard,  so  that  the  tree  rises  vertically 
to  its  full  altitude  mthout  a  curve  or  deviation^,  and 
no  object  in  vegetable  nature  presents  an  aspect  of 
greater  luxuriance  than  this  majestic  pahii  when  laden 
with  its  huge  clusters  of  fruit,  each  the  size  of  an 
ostrich's  egg,  of  a  rich  brown  tint,  fading  into  bright 
golden  at  its  base.  It  is  not  till  the  tree  has  attained 
a  mature  aQ;e,  that  its  leaves  beoin  to  detach  themselves 
from  tlie  stem  ;  they  ascend  it  from  the  ground  to  its 
summit  in  spiral  convolutions,  envelopmg  it  so  densely 
as  to  present  the  closest  cover  for  the  many  animals, 
ichneumons,  squirrels,  and  crowds  of  monkeys  which 
resort  to  it  for  concealment.  In  these  hiding  places, 
the   latter   defy  aU   the   arts   of  the    sportsman,  unless 


^  The  fullest  and  most  accm-ate 
account  which  I  have  seen  of  the 
physiology,  culture,  and  uses  of  the 
palmyra  is  contained  in  a  Mono- 
graph by  Mr.  FEKGUSOif,  of  the  Sur- 
yeyor-General's  Department  in  Cey- 
lon, entitled  The  rdlnv/ra  Palm  and 
its  Products.     Colombo,  1850. 

2  In  some  exceedingly  rare  in- 
stances, the  palm^Ta,  like  the  doom 
palm  of  India,  is  found  in  Ceylon, 
with  a  double  crown,  the  ti-unk 
haying  separated  into  seyeral  distinct 


branches  at  a  considerable  height 
from  the  ground.  Forbes,  in  his 
Oriental  Memoirs,  yol.  ii.  ch.  yii. 
p.  201,  mentions  one  of  these  tiift- 
hoadod  palmp-as  at  Amhedabad, 
which  was  looked  on  as  a  yeiy 
uncommon  yariet}',  and  a  *'  gi'eat 
curiosity."  So  many  palmjTas  on 
Dill  Island,  at  the  southern  ex- 
tremity of  Guzerat,  and  at  other 
places  near  Bombay,  haye  compound 
heads,  that  it  has  been  altonipted  to 
distinguish  them  as  the  B.  dichotomns. 


I.  L    4 


520  THE    NORTHERN    FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

lie  be  accompanied  by  a  dog,  in  Avhicli  case  the  mon- 
key, as  if  fascinated  and  forgetful  of  its  wonted  caution, 
in  its  eagerness  to  watch  the  movements  of  the  dog, 
invariably  exposes  itself  and  falls  a  victim  to  cm^iosity. 

As  the  leaves  nearest  the  ground  begin  to  decay  from 
the  larger  trees,  a  portion  of  their  stall^s  still  remain 
attached  to  the  trunl^.  Grasping  these,  convolvuh, 
ipomoeas,  and  other  climbing  plants,  ascend  in  great 
variety,  and  clothe  the  palm  with  festoons  of  flowers 
and  verdure.  The  cavities  on  the  stem  become  also  re- 
ceptacles for  epiphytic  plants,  which  germinate  and 
flourish  there  in  infinite  profusion. 

The  figs,  and  particidarly  the  banyan,  —  their  seeds 
being  deposited  by  the  birds  in  these  recesses,  —  speedily 
seize  upon  the  palmjTa,  enlacing  it  with  their  nimble 
shoots,  till  they  reach  the  earth  and  take  root.  An 
entirely  new  tree  is  thus  formed  around  the  original 
palm,  above  which  the  crown  of  the  palmjTa  is  alone  to 
be  discerned,  "  issuing  from  the  trunk  of  the  banyan,  as 
if  it  grew  thence,  whereas  the  palm  being  the  older  tree, 
runs  down  through  its  centre,  and  has  its  own  root  in  the 
ground."  ^ 

The  Tamils  look  with  increased  veneration  on  their 
sacred  tree  thus  united  in  "marriage  -with  the  palm." 
Examples  of  this  fantastic  union  are  frequent  in  the  topes 
of  Jaffiia,  and  a  specimen  now  in  the  Museum  of  Belfast 
of  the  trunk  of  the  Borassus  thus  enlaced  by  the  banyan, 
as  well  as  another  in  the  collection  at  Kew,  were  pro- 
cured by  Dr.  Gardner  and  myself  in  the  forests  I  am  now 
describing. 

So  multifarious  are  the  uses  of  the  palmyra  and  its 
products  to  the  natives  of  the  countries  favoured  by  its 
growth,  that  the  Hindus  have  dedicated  it  to  Ganesa, 
and  celebrate  it  as  the  "  Kalpa  tree,"  or  "  tree  of  life," 
of  their  Paradise.     A  Tamil  poem,  of  which  a  translation 


^    rfoXBURGTI. 


Chap.V].] 


THE    PALMYRA    PALif. 


521 


is  given  by  Mr.  Fergusox\  professes  to  describe  the 
creation  of  the  pahnyra,  and  the  "  eight  hundred  and 
one"  uses  to  which  the  tree  is  apphed.  It  opens  by 
describing  the  various  productions  of  the  earth,  created 
by  Brahma,  as  insufficient  for  the  wants  of  mankind ; 
one  substance  l^eing  still  desired  capable  of  "assuaging 
hunger  and  curing  disease,  feeding  the  people  and  en- 
riching the  race,"  and  men  in  then-  distress  and  per- 
plexity, "  trembhng  hke  water  on  the  leaf  of  the  lotus," 
made  poojahs,  and  prayed  to  Siva  for  rehef  Siva  heard 
theu^  prayers,  and  sternly  called  upon  Vishnu  to  explain 
the  neglect  of  his  function  of  preservation.  Vishnu 
attributes  the  blame  to  the  insufficient  provision  of 
Brahma  for  the  wants  of  mankind,  and  Brahma  being 
called  to  account,  trembled  in  his  turn,  and  "mth  his 
finger  under  his  under  hp,"  pleaded  that  he  had  exerted 
his  power  of  creation  to  the  utmost  of  his  knowledge. 
Siva,  thus  baffled,  directs  Brahma  to  transplant  the 
Kalpa  tree  from  Paradise  to  earth.  Brahma  obeyed, 
and  "  at  the  injunction  of  Siva  adorned  with  the  cres- 
cent moon,  he  created  in  abundance  the  heavenly  tree 
palmyra." 

Of  all  the  palms,  the  palmyra,  with  the  exception  of 
the  date,  has  probably  the  widest  geographical  distri- 
bution ;  it  extends  from  the  confines  of  Arabia  to  the 
isles  of  Amboyna  and  Timor,  and  is  found  in  every  region 
of  Hindustan,  from  the  Indus  to  Siam.  It  is  cultivated 
more  or  less  in  every  district  of  Ceylon,  but  plantations  on 
a  vast  scale  are  exclusively  confined  to  the  district  of 
Jaffiia.^ 


^  Essay  on  the  Pahn;/m,  ^-c. 
Appx.  p.  1.  The  Tamil  author  was 
Arunachalam,  of  Conibaconiim,  iu 
Taujore.  In  his  hands  the  801  uses 
of  the  palm  dwindles  into  a  very 
small  proportion  of  that  number. 

^  IluMrKiiTS,  iu  his  account  of  the 
palmyra  in  the  Ilcrb/ininit  Aiiiboinctise, 
quaintly  says:  "  It  is  truly  remarkable 
that  tlie  two  nuts  of  India,  the  coco- 


nut and  the  palmj-ra,  cherish  such 
secret  envy  anil  hatred  towards  each 
other,  that  they  will  not  f>row  in  the 
same  field,  nor  in  one  and  the  samo 
region,  which  however  must  be 
attributed  to  the  great  wisdom  of 
the  CreJitor,  who  is  imwilling  tliat 
these  trees,  so  productive  and  so 
necessaiy  to  the  human  race,  shoidd 
STOW  ill  the  same  localitv.     "We  sec 


THE   NORTHEEN   FORESTS. 


[Part  IX. 


Taking  the  area  of  the  Jaffna  peninsnla  at  seven  hun- 
dred square  miles,  Mr.  Fergusox,  whose  experience  as  a 
Government  Surveyor  entitles  his  authority  to  respect, 
estimates  that  if  one-fourteenth  of  the  land  be  devoted  to 
palmyras,  even  at  the  rate  of  two  hundred  trees  to  an 
acre,  which  is  far  below  the  ordinary  ratio,  "  the  number 
of  palms  in  this  district  alone  must  be  close  upon 
7,000,000,  the  edible  product  of  which  supply  one- 
fourth  of  the  food  of  220,000  inhabitants." 

On  the  continent  of  India  the  oeconomical  value  of  the 
palmjTa  is  equally  signal,  its  fruits  affording  a  compen- 
sating resource  to  7,000,000  of  Hindus,  on  every  occasion 
of  famine  or  failure  of  the  rice-crop.  In  fact,  the  pahnyra 
fruit  season  has  nearly  as  great  an  influence  on  the  pe- 
riodical immiofration  of  the  coohes  from  the  Coromandel 
coast  to  Ceylon  in  search  of  employment  on  the  coffee 
estates,  as  that  produced  by  the  cutting  of  the  rice  har- 
vest. In  what  is  emphatically  called  the  "  Palmyra  re- 
gions," in  the  southern  Dekkan,  the  saving  of  the  fruit  is 
always  followed  by  an  increased  emigration,  including 
numbers  who  had  previously  returned  from  Ceylon  for 
the  express  purpose  of  assisting  at  tliis  important  domestic 
operation. 


that  in  all  tlie  western  pai'ts  of  Hin- 
dustan and  Ceylon,  the  coco-nut  tree 
^•ows  abundantly  and  vigorously, 
but  there  we  rarely  or  never  see  a 
palmyi-a.  On  the  other  hand,  in  the 
eastern  parts  of  Ceylon  and  Coro- 
mandel, the  palmjTa  predominates, 
and  the  coco-nut  is  rare,  and  those 
few  that  do  gi'ow  are  always  to  be 
found  in  some  solitary  place.  It  is 
true  that  instances  may  be  known 
where  the  two  are  gi'owing-  together, 
but  always  in  less  numbers  and 
sickly.  I  have  seen  an  Amboina  or 
Palmvi'a  tree  perfect  and  of  full 
growth,  which  had  been  cultivated 
with  great  laboiu"  and  was  neverthe- 
less alwaj'S  barren,  because  that  it 
stood  amongst  many  coco-nut  trees." 
The  real  cause  of  the  baiTenness  in 


the  instance  alluded  to  by  Rmnphius 
must  have  been  that  the  palm  grew 
apart  from  a  male  tree  of  its  ovra 
species  ;  but  unfortunately  for  the 
general  correctness  of  the  piece  of 
foUi-lore  thus  recorded,  although 
at  the  time  Eimiphius  wi'ote  the 
"  two  nuts  "  had  practically  divided 
Ceylon  between  them  ;  the  coco-nut 
monopolizing  the  south,  and  the 
palmyra  liaving  colonised  the  north- 
ern districts  of  the  island ;  the  fallacy 
of  llie  popular  belief  is  now  conclu- 
sively demonstrated,  as  the  plantations 
of  coco-nuts  at  Jatliia  have  recently 
become  so  prodigious,  as  almost  to 
out-nuniber  the  palmjTas ;  which 
have  in  many  instances  been  felled 
to  make  room  for  their  rivals. 


ClIAP.    VI.] 


THE   PALMYRA   PALM. 


523 


The  palmyra  must  attain  an  age,  variously  stated  at 
from  fifteen  to  thirty  years,  before  it  begins  to  yield  fruit. 
The  spathes  of  the  fruit-bearing  trees  exhibit  themselves 
in  November  and  December,  and  the  toddy-drawer  forth- 
with commences  his  operations,  chmbmg  by  the  assistance 
of  a  loop  of  flexible  jungle  vine,  sufficiently  wide  to  admit 
both  his  ancles,  and  leave  a  space  between  them  ;  thus 
enabhng  him  to  grasp  the  trunk  of  the  tree  with  his  feet, 
and  support  himself  as  he  ascends.  Ha\ing  primed  off 
the  stalks  of  fallen  leaves,  and  cleansed  the  crown  from 
old  fruit  stalks,  and  other  superfluous  matter,  he  bmds  the 
spathes  tightly  with  thongs  to  prevent  them  from  further 
expansion,  and  descends,  after  having  thoroughly  bruised 
the  embyro  flowers  within  to  facilitate  the  exit  of  juice. 
For  several  succeeding  mornings  the  operation  of  crushmg 
is  repeated,  and  each  day  a  thin  shce  is  taken  off  the  end 
of  the  racemes  to  facilitate  the  exit  of  the  sap,  and  prevent 
its  biu-sting  the  s})atlie.  About  the  eighth  morihng  the 
sap  begins  to  exude  ;  an  event  which  is  notified  by  the 
immediate  appearance  of  birds,  especially  of  the  "  toddy 
bird,"  a  species  of  shrike  (Artamus  fiiscus),  attracted  by 
the  flies  and  other  insects,  which  come  to  feed  on  tlie 
luscious  juice  of  the  pahn.  The  crows,  ever  on  tlie  alert 
when  any  unusual  movement  is  in  progress,  keep  up  a 
constant  chattering  and  wrangling;  and  about  this  pe- 
riod the  palmyra  becomes  the  resort  of  the  palm-cat 
and  the  glossy  and  gracefrd  genet,  which  fi-equent  the 
trees,  and  especially  the  crown  of  the  coco-nuts,  in  quest 
of  birds.  • 


^  Ferguson's  Ilonor/raph  on  the 
Pah)ii/r(i,-p.  yO.  KELAAi{T,iii  hif^FiiKtia 
ZcyUmica,  names  this  cat  (wbich  the 
Siughalese  call  oocjoo-dood,  and  the 
Tamils  3Iaranaya),  the  Paradoxiu'us 
Tj'pus.  He  says  it  is  common  at 
Colombo,  lodging  by  day  on  the  trees, 
where  it  lies  rolled  up  in  a  ball,  and 
that  it  lives  for  months  in  contino- 
ment  solely  on  vegetable  food^  but 


preferring  flesh,  especially  that  of 
birds.  lie  adds  that  the  fact  of  its 
consuming  the  toddy  of  the  palmyra 
is  well  established;'  —  but  to  me  it 
appears  more  probable  that  it  resorts 
to  the  palm  during  the  time  of  toddy- 
dra\^-ing  for  the  sake  of  the  birds, 
which  in  turn  are  allured  by  the  flies 
that  then  abound. 


5-24  THE    NORTHEEN    FOEESTS.  [rARX  IX. 

On  ascertaining  that  tlie  first  flow  of  the  sap  has  taken 
place,  the  todcly-di'awer  again  trims  the  wounded  spathe, 
and  inserts  its  extremity  in  an  earthen  chatty,  to  collect 
the  juice.  Morning  and  evening  these  vessels  are  emptied, 
and  for  a  period  of  four  or  five  months  the  palmyra 
Avill  continue  to  pour  forth  its  sap  at  the  rate  of  three 
quarts  a  day.  But  once  in  eveiy  three  years  the  ope- 
ration is  omitted,  and  the  fruit  is  allowed  to  form,  with- 
out which  the  natives  assert  that  the  tree  would  pine  and 
die. 

The  juice,  if  permitted  to  rest  and  ferment,  is  speedily 
converted  into  toddy,  a  shghtly  intoxicating  and  impala- 
table  di'iiik.^  It  is  not  used  for  distillation  at  Jaffna;  and 
for  that  purpose  is  said  to  be  inferior  to  that  of  the  coco- 
nut palm.  If  intended  to  be  made  into  sugar,  a  httle  lime 
is  added  to  the  sap,  and  the  hquor,  after  being  boiled  doAvn 
to  the  consistency  of  sp^up,  is  poured  into  small  baskets 
made  of  the  palmyi'a  leaf,  Avhere  it  cools,  and  a  partial 
crystaUisation  ensues.  In  this  state,  and  without  under- 
going any  further  process  to  discharge  the  molasses,  it  is 
sold  as  jaggery  in  the  bazaars,  at  about  three  fartliings 
per  pound. 

The  quantity  of  toddy  annually  produced  by  a  male- 
palmyra  is  but  one-thu'd  or  one-fourth  of  that  obtained 
from  a  female  tree.  Tliree  quarts  of  toddy  will  yield 
one  pound  of  jaggery.  Of  the  produce  of  Jaffiia, 
about  10,000  cwt.  are  annually  exported  to  the  op- 
posite coast  of  India,  where  it  undergoes  the  process  of 
refining.  The  granulation  is  said  to  sm"pass  that  of 
the  sugar-cane  ;  and  considerable  quantities  of  palmyi^a 
sugar  are  annually  exported  to  Europe  from  Cuddalore 
and  Madras.  As  yet,  no  attempts  have  been  made  in 
Ceylon  to  perfect  the  manufacture  by  refining  jaggery 
on    a    large  scale,   nor   have  the   experiments   hitherto 


^  The    toddy    is    converted    into  [  earthen  vessels,  where  it  is  peiinitted 
vinegar  by  exposing  it  to  the  sun  in  I  to  ferment  freely. 


Chap.  VI.] 


THE    PALMYEA    PALM. 


525 


instituted  been  sufficient  to  remove  tlie  apprehensions 
that  the  cost  of  culture  and  treatment,  added  to  local 
disadvantages,  will  always  render  it  difficult  for  the 
produce  of  the  palmyra  to  compete  with  that  of  the  sugar- 
cane in  European  markets,  or  even  in  Ceylon. 

If  the  fruit  be  permitted  to  form,  instead  of  being 
crushed  in  embryo  by  the  toddy-drawer,  it  ripens  about 
July  or  August,  and  presents  itself  in  luxuriant  clusters 
of  from  ten  to  twenty  on  each  flower  stem,  of  which  the 
tree  bears  seven  or  eight.  Such  is  their  size  and  weight, 
that  a  single  cluster  is  a  sufficient  load  for  a  coohe.  As 
the  period  of  their  ripening  approaches,  the  elephants 
from  the  main  land  cross  over  into  the  peninsula  at  points 
of  the  isthmus,  to  feed  upon  the  fallen  fruit,  or  pidl  down 
the  younger  plants  for  the  sake  of  the  tender  leaves  of  the 
cro'wn. 

Almost  invariably,  the  tougli  and  pohshed  case  of  the 
fruit  contains  within  it  three  intensely  hard  seeds,  em- 
bedded in  a  farinaceous  orange  pulp,  mixed  with  fibre. 
The  taste  of  this  pulp  in  its  natural  state  is  sweet,  but 
too  oily  and  rank  to  be  palatable  to  a  Em'opean.  The 
natives  eat  it,  occasionally  raw,  more  frequently  roasted  ; 
but  the  prevaihng  practice  is  to  extract  it  by  pressure, 
and  convert  it  into  "  poonatoo  \"  by  diying  it  in  squares 
in  the  sun ;  after  which  it  is  preserved  in  the  smoke  of 
their  houses,  and  used  in  various  forms,  either  for  cakes, 
soup,  or  curry. 

Another  form  in  which  food  is  extracted  from  the 
pahnyi^a,  is  by  planting  the  seeds  or  kernels  of  the  fi^uit, 
the  germs  of  whicli  in  their  first  stage  of  growth  are 
of  the  shape  and  dimensions  of  a  parsnip,  but  of  a 
more  firm  and  waxy  consistency.     These  are  dried   in 


'  Humboldt  found  the  Indiaus 
on  the  Upper  Orinoco  makiufy  ,a 
preparation  from  the  Piritu  Pal  in, 
tlic  fruit  of  which  seems  to  resemble 
that  of  the  Pahnji-a,  being  "  a  fari- 


naceous substance,  as  yellow  as  tlie 
yolk  of  an  e<^g,  slirrhtly  saccharine, 
and  exti'cmely  nutritious." — Nurra- 
ticc,  ch.  xxii. 


526  THE   NOKTIIERX    FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

the  sun,  and  when  dressed  in  sUces,  form  a  palatable 
kind  of  vegetable.  Under  the  name  of  kelingoos,  these 
roots  are  exported  in  large  quantities  from  Point 
Pedro  to  Colombo  and  other  parts  of  Ceylon,  and 
esteemed  a  dehcacy  in  aU  the  southern  bazaars.  The 
kehngoo  is  reducible  to  a  flour,  which  in  the  time  of 
the  Dutch  was  so  much  prized  for  its  dehcacy  that 
it  was  sent  home  as  an  enviable  present  to  frieiids  in 
HoUand. 

The  shells  of  the  seeds,  after  the  kehngoos  have  been 
taken  from  them,  are  collected  and  charred,  in  which 
state  they  are  used  by  the  blacksmiths  and  workers  in 
metal,  who  believe  them  to  surpass  all  other  fuel  in  the 
power  of  engendering  a  glowing  heat. 

The  wood  of  the  palmyra  is  so  hard  and  diu-able, 
that  a  proverb  of  the  Tamils  says,  "  it  hves  for  a  lac 
of  years  after  planting,  and  lasts  for  a  lac  of  years 
when  felled."  It  consists,  hke  the  other  palms,  of 
straight  horny  fibres,  which  confer  the  faculty  of  sepa- 
ration into  lengths,  and  as  these  are  said  to  resist  the 
attacks  of  the  white  ants,  they  are  used  universaUy  in 
Ceylon  and  India,  for  roofing  and  similar  purposes.  The 
export  from  Jaffna  alone  of  palmyra  rafters  and  reapers 
(laths),  consumes  annually  between  70,000  and  80,000 
palms,  each  of  the  value  of  fr'om  three  to  six  shillings. 
The  trees  require  to  have  reached  a  considerable  age 
before  they  are  fit  to  be  cut  for  timber  ;  at  one  hundred 
years  they  are  held  to  be  good,  but  the  older  they  are 
the  harder  and  blacker  the  wood.  Eafters  and  pieces 
requiring  strength  and  solidity  are  taken  from  the 
lower  part  of  the  trunk,  laths  and  reapers  from  the 
top.  The  outer  circumference  of  the  tree  always  yields 
the  firmest  and  most  compact  timber  ^,  and  tlie  Singha- 


^  The  centre  of  the  palmyra  and 
its  top  {ire  soft  and  sponpy,  contain- 
ing a  kind  of  coarse  farina  inter- 
mixed with  woody  fibre.  For  this 
reason  the  natives  of  Jaffiia  Liy  these 


portions  in  places  where  game  arc 
plentifid,  and  the  wild  hogs  and 
hares,  attracted  to  feed  on  them, 
are  thus  secured  to  the  sportsman. 
(See  FekgusoN;  p.  10.) 


Chap.  VI.] 


THE    PALMYRA    PALM. 


527 


lese  have  an  idea  that  the  side  next  the  south  is  su- 
perior to  the  rest  of  the  wood.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  timber  of  the  female  pahn  is  much  harder  and 
blacker  than  that  of  the  male  ;  inasmuch  as  it  brings 
nearly  triple  its  price :  the  natives  are  so  well  aware  of 
the  difference,  that  they  resort  to  the  device  of  immersing 
the  male  tree  in  salt  water  to  deepen  its  colour  as  well  as 
to  add  to  its  Aveight.^ 

The  leaves  are  in  almost  greater  request  than  the 
wood  and  fruit  of  the  palmyi^a.  Once  in  every  two 
years  the  thatch  of  the  native  houses  and  the  fences 
of  their  fields  are  renewed  with  this  convenient  and 
most  suitable  substance ;  the  old  material  being  care- 
fully conveyed  as  manure  to  their  rice-lands.  Mats  are 
woven  for  the  floors  and  ceihngs,  and  baskets  are 
plaited  so  densely  that  they  serve  to  carry  water  for  irri- 
gating fields  and  gardens.  Caps,  fans,  and  umbrellas 
are  all  provided  from  the  same  inexliaustible  source, 
and  strips  of  the  finer  leaves  steeped  in  milk  to  render 
them  elastic,  and  smoothed  by  pressm^e  so  as  to  enable 
them  to  be  written  on  "vvith  a  stile,  serve  for  their 
books  and  correspondence ;  and  are  kept,  duly  stamped, 
at  the  cutcherries  to  be  used  instead  of  parchment  for 
deeds  and  legal  documents.'"^     These   are  but  a  few  of 


1  Pliny  notices  as  a  fact,  that 
certain  woods  on  being  dried  after 
immersion  in  the  sea,  acquire  addi- 
tional density  and  durability. — Xat. 
Hist.,  lib.  xiii.  ch.  1. 

^  In  the  Ai'abian  manuscript  of 
Albyroxjni,  who  wrote  his  accoimt  of 
India  in  the  tenth  centuiy,  he  describes 
a  tree  in  the  south  of  the  Dekkan, 
resembling  the  date  or  the  coco-nut 
palm,  on  the  leaves  of  which  the 
natives  wi-ote,  and  passing  a  cord 
through  a  hole  in  the  centre  formed 
books.  These  leaA^es,  he  says,  were  a 
cubit  in  length  and  three  finger- 
breadths  wide,  and,  according  to  him, 
they  were  called  "  ^«r//."  i3y  Tary, 
M.  IlErxAUD,  who  quotes  from  tlie 
Arabic,  supposes  Albyroimi  to  mean 


tala,  but  it  is  clear  that  he  meant 
not  the  talipot,  but  the  palmyra  ;  as 
he  specially  says  that  the  fruit  of  tlie 
tree  lie  alludes  to  is  eatable,  which 
that  of  the  talipat  is  not.  Besides 
Turi  is  one  of  the  native  Tamil  names 
for  the  palmyra.  Eeinaud,  Mem. 
mr  VInde,  p.  305-307,  says  "  les 
Europeens  ont  donne  aux  feuiUes  do 
cet  arbre  le  non  d'o/Zw ;  mot  qui  a 
ote  mis  en  usage  par  les  auteurs 
Portugais."  But  De  Barros,  though 
he  uses  the  term  "  olla "  to  denote 
the  leaves  used  for  writing  in  India, 
says  expressly  that  it  is  an  Indiiui 
word:  "todo  o  gentio  da  India,  as 
cousas  que  quer  eucommodar  a  nie- 
moria  per  escritura,  he  em  liumas 
folhas  de  paluia,  a  que  elks  chamam 


528 


THE   XOETIIERX   FOEESTS. 


[r.vRT  IX. 


the  imiiimerable  benefits  derived  by  tlie  natives  of 
Ceylon  from  tlieii'  precious  palm ;  which  supphes  at 
once  shelter,  fiuiiiture,  food,  drink,  oil,  and  fuel  for 
themselves ;  with  forage  for  their  cattle,  and  utensils 
for  their  farms.  No  single  production  of  nature,  not 
even  the  coco-nut  itself,  is  capable  of  conferring  so  many 
blessings  on  mankind  in  the  early  stages  of  ci^"ihsation  ; 
and  hence  that  outbm^st  of  simple  gratitude  in  which 
it  has  been  exalted  by  the  Tamils  into  an  object  of 
veneration,  and  celebrated  in  songs  as  a  tree  trans- 
planted from  Paradise. 

At  about  eight  miles  from  Elephant  Pass  we  found 
om'  tent  pitched  in  the  forest  near  Palai,  in  the  imme- 
diate ^■icinity  of  the  numerous  coco-nut  plantations, 
wliich  have  been  recently  opened  in  this  di\ision  of  Jaffna. 
The  cultivation  of  this  palm  on .  the  sea-coast  of  Ceylon 
was  commenced  by  Em^opeans,  about  the  same  tune 
that  plantations  of  coffee  began  to  be  opened  in  the 
mountain  ranges  of  the  interior.  The  suitabihty  of 
Jafiiia  for  its  growth  attracted  attention  about  the 
year  1842,  and  between  that  and  the  present  time 
more  than  ten  thousand  acres  of  government  land 
have  been  purchased  and  partially  planted,  and  upwards 
of  fifty  estates  are  now  under  cultivation,  in  the  district 
of  Pachelapalle. 

For  some  years  after  the  estabhshment  of  coco-nut 
^plantations  on  a  large  scale,  the  high  value  of  coco-nut 
oil  promised  to  render  the  speculation  extremely  re- 
munerative in  its  results ;   but  of  late  years  the  enter- 


o//rt." — Dec.  i.  torn.  i.  pt.  ii.  lib.  ix. 
ch.  iii.  p.  322.  The  leaves  are  called 
Old  in  the  Tamil  poem  of  Ai-unacha- 
1am  on  the  Palmyra. 

To  prepare  the  olas  for  -writing, 
the  leaf  of  the  palm  is  taken  while 
tender,  and  the  flat  portions  being 
cnt  into  strips  and  freed  from  the 
ribs  and  woody  tendons,  are  boiled 
and  aftei-wards  di-ied,  first  in  the 
sliade   and   aftei-wards  in    the    sun. 


In  this  state  they  ai-e  called  by  the 
Singhalese  karah-ola,  and  applied  to 
the  more  ordinaiy  pui-poses.  But  a 
still  finer  description,  called  Pusk-ola, 
is  prepai-ed  in  the  temples  by  the 
Samanera  priests  and  novices,  who, 
after  damping  the  karakola,  draw  it 
tightly  over  the  shai-p  edge  of  aboard, 
so  as  to  remove  all  inequalities  and 
render  it  polished  and  smooth.  (See 
Vol.  I.  p.  510-513.) 


Chap.  VI.]  COCO->'UT   PALMS.  529 

prise  lias  been  somewhat  discouraged  by  the  non-reahsation 
of  the  liopes  of  the  first  adventurers.  Though  hixuriant 
in  their  early  growth,  the  young  palms  failed  to  come  to 
maturity  within  the  anticipated  period,  and  the  great 
operations  of  crushing  and  exporting  the  oil  have  scarcely 
yet  commenced  within  the  Jaffna  peninsula. 

Experience  ha^  shown  that  the  further  the  coco-nut 
palm  is  removed  from  the  shore  and  the  influence  of  the 
sea,  the  more  its  growth  is  diminished,  and  tlie  less 
abundant  its  fruit. ^  Hence,  and  also  from  the  palms'  re- 
quuing  constant  irrigation  during  the  early  stages  of  their 
growth,  the  Jaffna  planters  have  selected  for  their  opei'a- 
tions  those  portions  of  the  coast  which  are  flanked  by 
estuaries  and  intersected  by  inland  lakes,  where  wells  can 
be  sunk  at  a  small  cost  and  water  carried  with  the  least 
expense. 

The  first  operation  in  coco-nut  planting  is  the  formation 
of  a  nursery,  for  which  purpose  the  ripe  nuts  are  placed 
in  squares  containing  about  four  hundred  each ;  these  are 
covered  an  inch  deep  with  sand  and  sea-weed  or  soft  mud 
from  the  beach,  and  watered  daily  till  they  germinate. 
The  nuts  put  down  in  April  are  sufiiciently  grown  to  be 
planted  out  before  the  rains  of  September,  and  they  are 
then  set  out  in  holes  three  feet  deep  and  twenty  to  thu'ty 
feet  apart,  experience  having  showai'that  the  practice  of 
the  natives  in  crowding  them  into  less  than  half  that 
space  is  prejudicial  to  the  growth  of  the  trees,  those  in  the 
centre  yielding  httle  or  no  fruit.  Before  putting  in  the 
young  plant,  it  is  customary  to  bed  the  roots  with  soft 


^  I  have  been  told  by  an  experi- 
enced planter  at  Jaftiia,  that  of  two 
estates,  one  at  Tatto-van-kadoo, 
where  the  soil  is  grey  santl,  and 
where  water  is  abundant  at  twelve 
feet  deep,  the  coco-nut  trees  usually 
attained  the  height  of  twelve  feet  iii 
three  years;    whilst    similar    plants 

VOL.  H.  M  U 


tended  T^dth  great  care  reached  only 

one-hiilf  that  height  within  the  same 
period,  on  an  estate  at  Aya-nan-gny- 
kadoo,  within  a  short  distance,  where 
the  soil  was  red  sand  and  the  sup- 
plies of  water  limited  even  at  a 
deptli  of  twenty-one  feet  from  tlie 
surface. 


530  THE    XOETHERX   FORESTS.  [rvRT  IX. 

mud  and  sea-weed,  and  for  the  first  two  years  they  must 
be  watered,  and  protected  from  the  glare  of  the  sun  under 
shades  made  of  the  plaited  fronds  of  the  coco-nut  palm  or 
the  fon-hke  leaves  of  the  palmyra. 

During  the  early  stages,  too,  the  anxieties  of  the  planter 
are  incessant.  He  must  invent  plans  to  protect  the  young 
plants  from  wild  hogs,  rats,  and  elephants,  with  all  of 
whom  the  tender  shoots  are  especial  favom^ites,  and  as 
the  stem  ascends,  it  has  to  encounter  the  most  destructive 
enemy  of  all,  the  "cooroominiya"  beetles  (Batocera  rubiis), 
which  penetrate  the  trunk  near  the  ground  and  deposit 
then'  eggs  ^ ;  the  grubs,  when  hatched,  eating  their  way 
upwards  tlirough  the  centre  of  tlie  tree  to  the  top,  where 
they  pierce  the  young  leaf-buds  and  do  incredible  damage. 
As  the  injmies  from  these  united  causes  involve  the  loss 
of  about  one-fourth  of  the  plants  put  do^vn,  constant  re- 
newal is  required,  in  order  to  replace  those  destroyed. 
After  the  second  year,  irrigation  becomes  unnecessary, 
and  all  that  is  then  requu'ed  is  to  keep  the  ground 
ploughed  and  fi'ee  from  weeds,  and  each  alternate  year 
to  dress  the  young  palms  with  sea-weed  and  salt  ma- 
nure. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  fifth  year,  the  flower-stock  may 
be  expected  to  appear;  but  the  period  varies,  and  is 
sometimes  delayed  till  the  seventh  year  and  even  later. 
Every  stock  will  bring  to  maturity  from  five  to  thirty 
nuts,  a  tree  on  an  average  yielding  sixty  in  the  com'se  of 
a  year ;  and  each  nut  requires  tweh'e  months  to  ripen. 
The  fruit  when  collected  is  stripped  of  its  outer  bark, 
which  is  macerated  to  convert  the  fibre  into  coir,  whilst 
the  fleshy  fining  of  the  shell  is  dried  by  exposure  in  the 
sun,  preparatory  to  expressing  the  oil."  The  ordinary 
estimate  is,  that  one  thousand  full-grown  nuts  of  Jaflha 
will  yield  five  hundi'ed  and  twenty -five  pounds  of  coj^ra 


'  See  cmtc,  \o\.  I.  Pt.  ii.  cli.  vi.  p.  241). 


Chap.  VI.]  JAFFNA   SHEEP.  531 

when  dried,  wliicli  in  turn  will  produce  twenty-five  gallons 
of  coco-nut  oil. 

Mingled   Avitli   the   palm-trees,   the   forests   of   Jaffna 
present  the  usual  undergi'owth  of  jungle  brushwood,  mi- 
mosas, mustard-trees,  and  the  hardier  timbers  which  flou- 
rish in  unpromising  soil.     In  the  vicinity  of  the  villages 
and  houses,  the  artificial  gaixlen  mould  produces  mangoes, 
oranges,  citrons,  tamarmds,  and  all  the  ordinary  fruit-trees 
of  Ceylon  in  abundance.     In  spite  of  all  the  difficulties  of 
soil  and  irrigation,  a  large  quantity  of  rice  is  grown, 
though  not  enough  to  suffice  for  the  actual  consumption 
of  the  inhabitants.     The  flat  surface  of  the  ground  is  in 
many  places  an  obstacle  to  the  extension  of  rice  cultivation, 
inasmuch  as  it  prevents  the  water  from  flowing  down  over 
the  necessary  terraces ;  —  and  to  ob\'iate  this  difficidty, 
the  natives  of  many  districts  are  obhged  to  reduce  the 
level  of  their  fields  ivith  incredible  labour  and  toil,  holloAv- 
ing  them  to  the  depth  of  several  feet,  heaping  up  the 
excavated  earth  in  high  mounds,  and  thus  admitting  the 
rains  and  collected  water  to  flow  into  the  cavities,  where 
it  is  retained  tiU  the  grain  is  ripe. 

Black  cattle  are  pastured  in  large  numbers,  and  the  finest 
sheep  in  Ceylon  are  reared  upon  the  dry  plains  which 
overhe  the  hmestone  and  coral  rock,  on  the  northern  and 
western  coasts.  There  sheep,  instead  of  being  coated  ^dth 
wool,  are  covered  with  long  hair,  resembhng  that  of 
goats,  and  the  horny  callosities  that  defend  theii"  knees, 
and  -which  arise  from  their  habit  of  kneeling  down  to 
crop  the  short  herbage,  serve  to  distinguish  the  Jaffna 
flocks  from  those  of  the  other  portions  of  the  island.^ 
At  the  time  of  oiu'  visit,  a  sandy  road  from  Pallai  to  Ko- 
digammo  ran  almost  continuously  between  the  palmyra 
fences  of  the  recently  opened  coco-nut  estates,  a  great  part 
of  which  are  the  property  of  Bengal  civihans  and  others 


^  At  Jaffiaa  a  sheep  may  be  piu--  I  the  Tamils,  they  are  probably  Icopt 
chased  forasliillinp' oreightoenpeiu-e.  to  fold  in  the  fields  for  the  stilie  of 
Their  flesh  being  little  in  demaud  by  j  maum'e. 

M   M  2 


532  TPIE    NORTIIERX    FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

in  the  service  of  the  East  India  Company ;  but  as  we  ap- 
proaclied  the  west,  the  country  is  amply  provided  with 
metalled  highways  and  bridges,  and  intersected  in  all  di- 
rections by  parish-roads.  Jaffna  is  in  fact  the  only  part 
of  Ceylon  in  which  the  native  population  seem  clearly  to 
appreciate  the  value  of  roads,  and  are  anxious  to  afford 
every  facihty,  and  contribute  every  assistance  for  their 
construction. 

At  Kodigammo  we  turned  northward  and  passed 
through  Varany,  on  our  way  to  Point  Pedro,  crossing  the 
great  estuaiy  of  Sirrokally,  and  diiving  through  a  district 
from  which  the  rice  crops  had  recently  been  gathered, 
and  in  which  the  cattle,  instead  of  being  left  to  forage  for 
themselves,  as  is  the  custom  in  the  rest  of  the  island,  were 
folded  in  shady  pens  and  well-enclosed  fields. 

The  prevalence  of  this  practice,  and  the  care  with 
which  fencing  is  universally  attended  to,  is  the  best  evi- 
dence of  the  value  set  upon  land  by  a  dense  population. 
Their  perception  of  the  rights  of  property,  and  theii"  de- 
sire to  maintain  and  respect  them,  are  amply  attested  by 
their  many  arrangements  to  restrain  the  trespass  of  cattle. 
On  the  otlier  liand,  one  of  the  most  serious  annoyances  with 
which  the  planters  of  the  south  have  had  to  contend,  both 
on  their  coffee  and  sugar  estates,  arises  from  the  notorious 
indifference  of  the  Kandyans  and  Singhalese  in  this  parti- 
cular, and  their  disregard  of  all  precautions  for  securing 
their  buffaloes  and  bullocks  by  day  or  by  night. 

In  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  Point  Pedro 
(and  the  description  applies  equally  to  the  vicinity  of 
Jaffna  and  the  western  division  of  the  peninsula  in 
general),  the  perfection  of  the  village  cultivation  is 
truly  remarkable ;  it  is  horticidture  rather  than  agricul- 
ture, and  reminds  one  of  the  market-gardens  of  Ful- 
ham  and  Chelsea  more  forcibly  than  anything  I  have 
seen  out  of  England.  Almost  every  cottage  has  a  gar- 
den attached  to  it,  wherein  are  grown  fruit-trees  and 
flowers,  the   latter   being  used   in   great   quantities   for 


Cu.vr.  VI.]  WELLS   AT   JAFF.XA.  533 

decoration  and  offerings  in  the  temples.  Each  is  situated 
in  a  well-secured  enclosure,  with  one  or  more  wells. 
From  these,  night  and  day,  but  chiefly  during  the  night, 
labourers  are  employed  in  raising  water,  by  means  of 
vessels  (frequently  woven  of  palm-leaves)  attaclied  to 
horizontal  levers,;  something  like  the  sakkias  used  by  the 
peasants  on  the  Nile  for  a  similar  purpose,  except  that  in 
Jafliia  two  persons  at  least  are  required  at  each  well,  one 
of  whom  walks  back  and  forward  along  the  lever,  whilst 
the  other  below  directs  the  bucket  in  its  ascent  and 
empties  its  contents  into  a  reservoir,  whence,  by  re- 
moving a  clod  of  earth  with  the  foot,  it  is  admitted  into 
conducting  channels,  and  led  to  the  several  beds  in  suc- 
cession.^ The  value  of  these  wells  is  extreme  in  a  country 
where  rivers  and  even  the  smallest  stream  are  unknown, 
and  where  the  cultivators  are  entirely  dependent  on  the 
rains  of  the  two  monsoons.  But  such  has  been  the  in- 
defatigable industry  of  the  people  in  providing  them,  that 
tliey  may  be  said  to  have  virtually  added  a  third  liarvest 
to  the  year,  by  the  extent  to  which  they  have  multiplied 
the  means  of  irrigation  around  their  principal  towns  and 
villages. 

The  articles  raised  by  this  species  of  garden  cultiva- 
tion are  of  infinite  variety.  Every  field  is  carefully 
fenced  in  with  pahng  formed  of  the  mid-ribs  of  the 
palmyra-leaf,  or  by  rows  of  prickly  plants,  aloes,  cactus, 
euphorbia,  and  others  ;  and  each  is  divided  into  small 
beds,  each  containing  a  different  crop ;  but  the  most  fre- 
quent and  valuable  crops  are  the  ingredients  for  the  pre- 
paration of  curry ;  such  as  onions  and  chilies,  which  are 
exported  to_  aU  parts  of  the  coast  and  carried  in  large 
quantities  into  the  interior.  Along  with  these,  are  tur- 
meric, ginger,  pumpldns,  brinjals,  gourds,  melons,  j'ams, 


'  Til  is  feature  in  the  imgation  of  |  '^  with  the  sole  of^mi/ foot  hnye  I  dried 
the  Taniil  pavdons  lias  boon  aptly  |  up  the  nvers  of  besieged  places," 
adduced   in  illustration  of   the  text,   |  2  Kimjs,  ch.  xix.  24. 


M   M   3 


534  THE   XORTHERX    FOEESTS.  [Part  IX. 

sweet-potatoes,  keere  (or  countiy  cabbage),  arrow-root, 
and  gram.  In  these  carefully  tended  little  farms  weeds 
are  nowliere  to  be  seen ;  the  walks  between  the  different 
beds  are  straight  and  accurately  clean ;  and,  from  the 
profusion  of  Avater  with  which  they  are  supphed,  there  is 
a  freshness  and  cool  verdure  over  these  beautiful  fields 
which  singularly  contrasts  witli  the  arid  and  sun-scorched 
plains  that  surround  them. 

But  the  grand  staple  of  the  thstrict,  and  that  on  which 
the  prosperity  of  its  agriculture  is  chiefly  dependent,  is 
tobacco,  for  the  excellence  of  which  Jaffna  has  long  been 
celebrated  in  the  South  of  India;  and  at  a  former 
period  it  was  in  equal  request  in  Sumatra,  Java,  and 
the  Eastern  Ai'chipelago.  The  export  is  now  almost 
confined  to  Travancore,  the  Eaja  of  which  has  an  agent 
resident  at  Jaffna  to  purchase  up  the  produce  from  tlie 
growers.  It  is  on  the  breadtli  and  success  of  this  crop 
that  the  extent  and  excellence  of  aU  the  others  are 
mainly  dependent;  for,  as  the  gi'ound  requires  to  be 
highly  prepared  for  tobacco,  two  and  even  three  crops  of 
a  less  exliausting  description  are  afterwards  taken  off  it 
in  succession,  without  additional  manuring ;  whilst  the 
increasino;  demand  for  tobacco  causes  new  land  to  be 
broken  up  for  its  growth,  thus  stimulating  a  constantly 
progressive  improvement  in  the  culture  of  fJl  the  inferior 
lands. 

The  dry  grains  (as  contradistinguished  from  rice, 
which  is  grown  in  water),  produced  in  Jaffna  are  more 
numerous  than  those  cultivated  in  other  parts  of  Ceylon, 
varagoo^,  kolloo,  millet,  moondi/,  and  pulse  of  various 
kinds  being  raised  in  addition  to  coracan^,  and  gingele.^ 
The  necessity  of  importing  a  portion  of  the  rice  con- 
sumed within  the  district  is  thus  compensated  to  some 
extent,  since  the  inhabitants  are  enabled  to  export  their 


^  Paspalnm  frumodaceum.  I  ^  Svsamum  Orkntcde. 

'  Cijnosurm  corocanns.  \ 


CuAP.  VI.]  POINT   PEDKO.  535 

Gwii  surplus  produce  of  other  articles  to  nearly  an  equiva- 
lent amount. 

In  the  midst  of  these  interestino;  o;ardens  is  the  villaire 
of  Point  Pedro,  a  corruption  of  tlie  Portuguese  Punta 
das  Pedras^  "  the  rocky  cape,"  a  name  descriptive  of  the 
natural  features  of  the  coast.  Point  Pedro  is  not,  as 
generally  represented,  the  extreme  point  of  Ceylon,  for 
the  coast  trends  still  farther  north  at  Point  Palmyra,  a 
promontory  some  miles  to  the  westward.  Close  by  the 
beach  there  is  still  standing  the  "  tall  Tamarind-tree " 
commemorated  by  Baldasus  ^,  who  preaclied  under  its 
shade  to  the  first  Protestant  converts  in  Ceylon,  TJiis  his- 
torical tree  is  forty-two  feet  in  circumference  at  the  base 
of  the  trunk. 

Point  Pedro  is  an  open  roadstead,  which  affords, 
however,  tolerably  secure  anchorage  within  the  shelter 
of  a  coral  reef  iUthough  twenty  miles  distant  from 
Jaffna,  it  must  still  be  regarded  as  its  principal  port ;  for 
though  Jaffna  appears  on  the  map  to  be  situated  on  the 
sea,  the  water  shoals  so,  that  the  town  is  not  approach- 
able within  some  miles  by  square-rigged  vessels,  wliich 
consequently  receive  and  discharge  their  cargoes  at  Point 
Pedro  to  the  north,  and  at  Kayts,  in  Leyden  Island, 
twelve  miles  to  the  south-west.  To  a  <2;reat  dcGfree,  the 
little  town  of  Point  Pedro  partakes  of  the  care  wliich  is 
lavishly  bestowed  upon  the  gardens  around  it ;  its  streets 
are  trim  and  regular,  its  houses  more  substantial  and 
commodious  than  usual,  and  its  Hindu  temple  and  tank 
are  on  a  scale  that  attests  the  wealtli  and  hberality  of  its 
devotees. 

In  the  evening  we  drove  along  the  sliore  to  Valvetti- 
torre,  a  village  about  three  miles  to  the  west  of  Point 
Pedro,  containing  a  much  larger  population,  and  one 
equally  industrious  and  enterprising.  There  was  a  vessel 
of  considerable  tonnage  on  tlie   stocks,  the  Tamil  ship- 


1    BALDiEUS,  p.  730. 
M   M     4 


536  THE    XORTHERX    FORESTS.  [rARX  IX. 

builders  of  tliis  little  place  being  amongst  the  most  suc- 
cessful in  Ceylon.  As  ^xe  entered  the  ^dllage,  we  passed 
by  a  large  well  under  a  grove  of  palms  and  tamarind- 
trees,  around  which,  as  it  was  sunset,  the  females  of  the 
place  were  collected,  according  to  the  immemorial  custom 
of  the  East,  "  at  the  time  of  the  evening,  even  the  time 
that  the  women  o'o  out  to  draw  water."  In  ficcure  and 
carriage,  the  Tamil  women  are  much  supeiior  to  the 
Sino^halese.  This  is  shoAvn  to  advantao'e  in  their  siniju- 
larly  gracefid  and  classical  costume,  consisting  of  a  long 
fold  of  cloth,  enveloping  the  body  below  the  waist,  and 
brought  tastefully  over  the  left  shoulder,  leaving  the  right 
arm  and  the  bosom  free.  This,  together  with  the  custom 
of  carrying  vases  of  water  and  otlier  burdens  on  their 
heads,  gives  them  an  erect  and  stately  gait,  and  disposes 
their  hmbs  in  attitudes  so  graceful  as  to  render  them, 
when  young  and  finely  featured,  the  most  unadorned 
models  for  a  sculptor. 

The  following  morning  we  drove  before  breakfast  to 
Jaffna,  a  distance  of  twenty-one  miles,  by  Achavelle, 
Potoor,  and  Copay.  Xear  Potoor,  at  a  place  called  Xava- 
keere,  there  is  a  remarkable  well,  elsewhere  aUuded  to  ^, 
which  is  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  peninsula.  It  occurs 
in  a  bed  of  stratified  hmestone,  so  hollow  that  in  pass- 
ing over  it  the  footsteps  of  our  horses  sounded  as 
though  they  were  striking  on  an  arch.  The  weU  is 
about  thkty  feet  in  diameter,  and  sinks  to  a  depth  of 
four-and-twenty  fathoms.  On  the  surface  it  is  fresh, 
but  lower  down  it  is  brackish  and  salt,  and  on  plunging 
a  bottle  to  the  extreme  depth,  the  water  came  u]d 
highly   foetid,    and   giving   off  bubbles    of  sulphuretted 


^  See  Vol.    I.  Pt.  I.  ch.  i.  p.  21.  i  seeking  to  recover  Sita.     The  simi- 

Balb  jxs  says,  p.  723,  that  the  well  laritv   of  this   leprend   to  the  act  of 

of  Potoor  was  "  opened  bv  a  thunder-  '  Moses  in  smiting  the  rock  to  procure 

holt."     This  probably   refers  to  the  ,  water  for  the  Israelites  is   anotlier  of 

native   ti-adition,  tliat  the   well  was  the  coincidences  which  occa^sionally 

opened  by  Kama  by  a  stroke  of  his  strike  us  between  tlie  Scripture  liis- 

aiTOW,  to  refresh  his  followei's,  Avhen  tories  and  tlie  eastern  chronicles. 


Chap.  VI.] 


SPRING   NEAR   POTOOR. 


537 


hj^drogeii  gas.  But  tlie  most  remarkable  fact  connected 
with  this  well  is  that  its  surface  rises  and  falls  a  few 
inches  once  in  every  twelve  hours,  but  it  never  over- 
flows its  banks,  and  is  never  reduced  below  a  certain 
fixed  point,  even  by  the  abstraction  of  large  quantities 
of  water.  In  1824,  the  Governor,  Sir  Edward  Barnes, 
conceived  the  idea  of  using  this  apparently  inexhaust- 
ible spring  for  maintaining  a  perpetual  iriigation  of  tlie 
surrounding  districts.  With  this  view,  he  caused  a 
steam-engine  Avith  three  pumps  to  be  erected  at  the 
well  of  Potoor.  But  for  some  reasoii,  which  I  have 
been  unable  to  ascertain  \  the  attempt  was  soon  aban- 
doned. In  reporting  the  early  progress  of  the  expe- 
riment, the  Government  officer  of  the  district  repre- 
sented that  the  pumps,  though  worked  incessantly  for 
forty-eight  hours,  and  drawing  off  a  prodigious  quan- 
tity of  water,  had  in  no  degree  reduced  the  apparent 
contents  of  the  well,  which  rose  each  day  precisely  an 
inch  and  a  half  between  the  hours  of  seven  in  the  morn- 
ing and  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon ;  and  again  between 
eight  o'clock  and  twelve  at  night  —  falling  to  an  equiva- 
lent extent  in  the  intervals.-  The  natives  are  perfectly 
familiar  Avith  all  these  phenomena,  and  beheve  that  the 
well  communicates  with  the  sea  at  the  Kieremalie,  near 
Kangesen-torre,  a  distance  of  seven  miles,  from  Avhich  tliey 
affirm  that  a  subterranean  stream  flows  iuAvards,  as 


^  I  have  since  been  told  that  hinds 
iiTigated  by  the  water  procured  from 
the  well  were  found  to  yield  no  in- 
crease, the  grain  reaped  being  scarcely 
equal  to  the  quantity  of  seed  sown  in 
the  ground. 

'^  This  rise  of  the  water  is  very 
ciirious  ; — but  the  phenomena  liave 
been  too  imperfectly  investigated  to 
be  susceptiljle  of  ready  explanation. 
I  can  have  little  doubt  that  the 
Goveniment  officer  reported  with 
tolerable  accuracy  the  fact  as  he 
found  it ;  a  fact,  moreover,  which  is 
stated  to  have  been  well  known  to 


the  natives,  both  in  regard  to  this 
well,  and  another  at  a  short  distance 
from  it.  It  is  to  be  lioped  that  future 
exploration  will  disclose  the  causes  of 
these  mysterious  oscillations  :  mean- 
time we  mu.st  rest  content  with  the 
popular  Iniiothesis  of  a  communica- 
tion direct  from  the  sea  to  the  bottom 
of  the  well,  where  the  water  is  salt, 
by  means  of  some  irregular  fissure ; 
and  refer  the  presence  of  fresher 
Avater  at  top  to  percolation  througli 
the  coral  rock,  and  perluips  to  casual 
additions,  deriA-ed  at  rare  iiifci-vals, 
from  surface  supply. 


538 


THE   NORTHERX   FORESTS. 


[Part  IX. 


"  Alpli,  the  sacred  river,  ran 
Tlirougli  caverns  measureless  to  man 
Do'svn  to  a  smiless  sea." 

There  certainly  are  numerous  springs  in  the  sands  along 
the  shore  at  the  point  referred  to  ^,  whose  o]^eiiings  are  co- 
vered by  the  tide  at  high  water  ;  but  whether  a  connection 
exists  between  any  one  of  them  and  the  well  of  Potoor  is 
a  problem  still  unsolved. 

At  Potoor,  one  of  the  fine  old  churches  erected  by  the 
Portuguese  abuts  on  the  high  road,  and  has  recently  been 
restored,  the  Wesleyan  ]\Iission  having  a  successful  station 
in  the  vicinity.  From  thence  into  Jaffna  the  road  passes 
through  a  succession  of  fields  so  cleanly  cultivated  and 
securely  fenced,  that  a  stranger  might  almost  fancy  a  resem- 
blance between  it  and  a  scene  in  England, — an  illusion 
wliich  is  not  dispeUed  on  arri\-ing  at  the  residence  of  Mi\ 
Dyke,  the  Government  agent  of  the  province  :  a  spacious 
mansion  in  the  midst  of  a  park-hke  demesne,  studded 
with  forest-trees,  and  diversified  with  clumps  of  flowers 
and  groups  of  the  choicest  and  rarest  plants  and  shrubs  of 
Ceylon. 

In  the  court-yard  to  the  rear  is  a  spacious  garden, 
in  Avliich  Mr.  Dyke  has  succeeded  in  cultivating  the 
black  grape  of  Madeira,  trained  over  a  trellis,  —  the 
want  of  winter  rest  for  the  plants  being  supphed  by 
baring  the  roots,  and  exposing  them  to  the  sun.  The 
vines  give  two  crops  in  the  year, — the  principal  one  in 


^  This  lefTond  of  a  subten-anean 
river  ill  Ceylon  was  earned  westward 
by  the  Ai'abian  maiiners  in  the  mid- 
dle ages  ;  and  it  will  be  remembered 
that  Sindbad  of  the  Sea,  in  his  sixth 
voyage,  wherein  he  nan-ates  his  arri- 
val in  Serendib,  describes  hia  ship- 
wreck on  the  coast,  "  near  a  lofty 
moimtain,'"  underneath  which  a  stream 
was  flowing  inland.  Embarking  on 
this,  on  a  raft  of  aloes  and  sa,ndal- 
wood,  together  with  heaps  of  the 
peai'ls,  jacinths,  and  ambergi-is  which 
he  collected  on  the  beach,  Sindbad 
"  proceeded  to  the  place  where  the 


river  entered,"  and  in  the  midst  of 
profoimd  darloiess,  was  carried  luider 
ground  by  the  cun-ent,  through  a  pas- 
sage so  naiTow  and  low,  that  "  the 
raft  rubbed  against  the  sides,  and  his 
head  against  the  roof."  Emerging  at 
last  into  light,  his  "  eyes  beheld  an 
extensive  tract,  and  a  company  of 
people  like  Abyssinians,  m-Iio  had 
come  to  irrigate  their  fields  and  so\^^l 
lands,"  and  wlio  forthwith  conducted 
him  to  the  presence  of  tlie  King  of 
Serendib.—  Lake's  Arabian  Xif/hfs, 
vol.  iii. 


ClIAP.    VI.] 


THE    TAMILS. 


539 


March,  and  the  second  in  September,  —  but  the  operation 
of  stripping  the  roots  is  only  resorted  to  once,  about  the 
time  of  pruning  in  July.^  The  fruit  fi'om  some  cuttings 
of  white  Muscat  vines,  obtained  from  Pondiclierry  by  Mr. 
Dyke  in  1840,  proved  to  be  identical  with  the  Jaffna 
grape,  the  Dutch  having  probably  brought  the  latter 
from  Kegapatam,  whence  it  liad  been  carried  from  Mus- 
cat. Of  late  years,  the  Tamils  at  Jaffna  have  begun  to 
cultivate  the  \'ine  ;  so  that  grapes  are  now  not  only,  pro- 
curable in  the  public  market,  but  are  also  occasionally  sent 
for  sale  to  Colombo. 

Jaffna  has  been  peopled  by  Tamils  for  at  least  two 
thousand  years,  the  original  settlement  being  of  date  co- 
eval with  the  earliest  Malabar  invasion  of  the  islanel, 
B.C.  204  ^,  and  their  chiefs  continued  to  assume  the  rank 


1  See  Vol.  I.  Pt.  I.  cli.  iii.  p.  89. 

^  Tlie  arrival  of  tlie  Tamils  and  the 
expulsion  of  the  Nagas  is  coninie- 
niorated  in  an  ancient  poem,  called 
the  Kylasa  Mala,  a  translation  of 
which  will  he  found  in  the-  Asiat-. 
Journ.  for  1827,  vol.  xxiv.  p.  58,  and 
the  substance  of  it  has  been  embodied 
in  a  sketch  of  the  ancient  history  of 
JaiRia,  by  Casie  Chittt,  in  the 
Journ.  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Co- 
lombo, 1847,  p.  09.  The  pui-jjoi-t  of 
the  legend  is,  that  a  princess  of  Tan- 

i'ore,  desirous  of  being  freed  fi'oni  a 
lorse's  head  with  which  she  had  the 
misfortune  to  be  born,  was  directed 
in  a  vision  to  batlie  in  the  well  of 
Keremale,  on  the  northern  shore  of 
Ceylon,  near  which  a  temple  still 
exists  that,  commemorative  of  lier 
cure,  bears  the  name  "  ^lahavitte- 
puram,"  and  an  annual  fosti\al  is 
perfonned  in  lier  honour.  The  legend 
runs,  that  one  of  her  followers,  a  min- 
strel or  "  Yalpanon,"  having  made 
his  way  to  the  Singhalese  Court,  the 
reigning  sovereign,  charmed  by  his 
powers,  conferred  on  him  the  territory 
of  the  peninsula,  which  tliereafter  took 
tlie  name  of  Yalpannaii,ov  Yaljxmna 
nadu,  by  whicli  it  is  still  known  to 
the    natives,    though    corrupted   \>y 


Europeans  into  ".Taffiia  and  Jaflha- 
patam.  This  occurrence  took  place 
a  century  before  the  Cliristian  era, 
and,  in  succession  to  the  lutanist, 
there  arose  a  dpiasty  of  IJajalis  of 
.Taflha,  who  held  their  court  at  Xal- 
loor,  .and  tlience  extended  their  con- 
quest OA-er  the  Wanny  and  Manaai*. 
It  is  even  possible  that  "  Kachias," 
the  ambassador  who  arrived  at  Rome 
in  the  reign  of  Claudius,  may  have 
represented,  not  the  Singhalese  mon- 
arch, but  the  Rajah  of  Jatlha.  De 
Couto  relates  that  about  the  year 
1574,  when  Joao  de  Melho  de  Sam- 
paio  was  Captain  of  ]Manaar,  there 
were  discovered,  under  the  founda- 
tion of  a  building,  an  iron  chain  of 
curious  workmanship,  and  coins  on 
which  the  letter  6'  wsxs  legible,  and 
on  the  reverse  the  letters  R.M.N.R., 
which    were    imderstood     to    mean 

Cl.VVDIUS     IjirEK.VTOR    RoMAXORrjf, 

and  were  supposed  to  \m\e  been 
brouglit  to  Ceylon  by  tlu'  freedman  of 
.Vnnius  Rlocamus,  who  was  the  first 
Roman  that  landed  on  the  island, 
"  e  cousa  he  possivel,  quefossem  e.«tcis 
moedas  das  que  alii  Icvou  o  Liberto 
do  Anio." — De  Couto,  dec.  v.  liv,  i, 
ch.  vii.  vol.  ii.  pt.  i.  p.  71, 


540 


THE    XORTIIERX    FORESTS. 


rPART  IX. 


and  title  of  independent  princes  down  to  the  seven- 
teenth century.  The  Rajavali  recounts  the  occasions 
on  wliich  they  carried  on  wars  with  the  Singhalese 
kings  of  the  island  ^ ;  —  and  their  authority  and  influence 
in  the  fourteenth  century  are  attested  by  the  protection 
which  the  Eaja  (whose  dominions  then  extended  as  far 
south  as  Chilaw)  afforded  to  Ibn  Batuta,  whom,  Avith 
his  companions,  he  permitted  to  visit  the  sacred  footstep 
on  the  summit  of  Adam's  Peak.- 

Elsewhere,  the  story  has  been  told  of  the  persecution 
of  the  native  converts  who  had  embraced  Christianity 
under  the  preaching  of  St.  Francis  Xavier,  about  the 
year  15-44,  and  of  the  wars  undertaken  by  the  Portu- 
guese to  avenge  them,  which  terminated,  a.d.  1617,  in 
the  conquest  of  their  country  and  its  final  annexation 
to  the  possessions  of  Portugal  in  Ceylon.^  In  their  turn, 
the  Portuguese  were  expelled  by  the  Dutch  m  1658  ;  but 
although  the  tenure  of  Jaffna  by  the  former  did  not 
much  exceed  forty  years,  the  exertions  which  they  made, 
during  that  brief  period,  to  establish  the  Eoman 
Catholic  rehgion  are  attested  by  the  number  of  churches 
they  built.  These  remain  to  the  present  day,  having 
served  in  turn  for  the  missionaries  of  three  nations, 
of  Portugal,  Holland,  and  England,  and  successively 
"v\dtnessed  the  celebration  of  the  rites  of  three  commu- 
nions, the  Eoman  Catholic,  the  Eeformed,  and  the  Epis- 
copahan.*  The  Portuguese  divided  the  peninsula  into 
parishes,  with  schools  and  a  mansion  for  the  priests  in 
each  ;  and  within  the  town  they  maintained  a  college  of 
Jesuits,  a  convent  of  Franciscans,  and  a  monastery  of  Do- 
minican Friars.'^ 


»  Rajavali,  p.  208. 

^  Ibx  Batuta,  Travels,  S^c,  Trans, 
by  Lee,  pp.  I8.S-I80. 

'  3  Faria  y  SorzA,  aoI.  iii.  ch.  xii. 
p.  259.  See  the  poi-tion  of  tlie  pre- 
sent work  relative  to  tlie  Portug-uese 
in  Ceylon,  Vol.  II.  Ft.  vi.  cli.  i.  p.  20. 

*  Views  of  the  most  important  of 
these   buildin<rs  as  thev  were  found 


by  the  Dutch,  ai'c  given  in  the  illus- 
ti-ations  to  the  ■work  of  Baxdjetjs  on 
Ceylon. 

'->  For  an  account  of  the  missionary 
proceedings  of  the  Portuguese  at 
Jaffiia,  see  Sir  .1.  Emeesox  Tkxxext's 
Hidorifof  ('hristianitii  in  Cci/h»,  ch.  i. 

p.  10.  ■  ■ 


CUAP.    VI.] 


JAFFNA. 


541 


On  the  occupation  of  Ceylon  by  the  Britisli,  the  prin- 
cipal European  inhabitants  emigrated  to  Bata\ia ;  yet, 
of  all  the  settlements  of  HoUand  in  the  island,  none 
is  still  so  thoroughly  Dutch  in  its  architecture  and 
aspect  as  the  town  of  Jaffna.  The  houses,  hke  those 
of  Colombo,  consist  of  a  single  story,  but  they  are  large 
and  commodious,  with  broad  verandahs,  lofty  ceihngs, 
and  spacious  apartments.  Every  building,  inside  and 
out,  is  as  clean  and  showy  as  whitewash,  fresh  paint, 
bright  red  tiles  and  brick  floors  can  make  them.  The 
majority  of  them  are  detached,  and  situated  in  en- 
closed gardens  filled  with  fruit-trees  and  flowering 
shrubs ;  and  I  am  told,  some  years  ago,  the  finest 
specimens  of  antique  carved  furniture  in  ebony  and 
calamander,  cabinets,  arm-chairs,  and  ponderous  sofas, 
■were  still  to  be  seen  in  these  ancient  dwellings  of  the 
former  rulers  of  the  island.  The  streets  of  the  town 
are  broad  and  regular,  and  are  planted,  as  usual,  ^vitli 
fines  of  Suria  trees,  for  the  sake  of  their  asiireeable  shade 
and  yeUow  flowers. 

The  fort,  which  was  entirely  reconstructed  by  the 
Dutch,  is  the  most  perfect  little  mihtary  work  in  Ceylon, 
— a  pentagon,  built  of  blocks  of  white  coral,  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  moat.  It  contains  several  excellent  build- 
ings, a  residence  for  the  Commandant,  and  an  old  chui'ch 
in  the  form  of  a  Greek  cross.  This,  by  the  capitulation 
of  1795,  was  specially  reserved  for  the  Presbyterian  Con- 
sistory, but  by  their  courtesy  is  at  present  used  for  the 
service  of  the  Church  of  England. ^ 

The  native  town  is  almost  exclusively  occiq)ied  by 
Tamils  and  Moors,  and  the  tradesmen  and  dealers  ex- 
hibit in  their  several  pursmts  no  less  inteUigence  and 
industry  than  characterise  the  rural  population.  They 
weave   a  substantial    cotton  cloth,   which   is    dyed   and 


*  y.VLEXTTN  describes  tlie  fortress 
of  Jcaftiiapatam  -with  great  particu- 
larity, its  bastions,  its  ravelin,  and 
"water  pass  ;  and  such  was  the  import- 
ance attached   to  it  by  the  Dutch^ 


that  he  says  the  gain-ison  maintained 
there  was  much  stronger  tlian  tliat  of 
]jatavia.- — Oudcn  Nicuic  Oo»f-I/idicn, 
ch.  ii.  p.  .'30. 


542 


THE    XOKTHERX    FORESTS. 


[Part  IX. 


ornamented  by  a  class  of  calico-painters,  the  descend- 
ants of  a  party  avIio  were  invited  to  settle  here  under 
the  Dutch  Government,  nearly  two  hundred  years  ago. 
The  goldsmiths  are  ingenious  and  excellent  workmen, 
and  produce  bangles,  chains,  and  rings,  whose  execution 
is  as  fine  as  their  designs  are  tasteful.  Nothing  is 
more  interesting  than  to  watch  one  of  these  primitive 
artists  at  liis  occupation,  seated  in  the  open  air,  with 
no  other  apparatus  that  a  few  clumsy  tools,  a  blow-pipe, 
and  a  chatty  full  of  sand  on  which  to  hght  his  charcoal- 
fire. 

The  crushing  of  the  coco-nut  for  the  expression  of  the 
oil  is  another  flomishing  branch  of  trade,  and  for  this 
purpose  the  natives  erect  their  creaking  miUs  under  the 
shade  of  the  groves  of  palm-trees  near  their  houses. 
These  consist  of  the  trunk  of  a  tree  hollowed  into  a 
mortar,  in  which  a  heavy  upright  pestle  is  worked  round 
by  a  bullock  yoked  to  a  transverse  beam. 


A    NATIVE    OIL    MILL. 


Jaffna  is  almost  the  only  place  in  Ceylon  of  wliich  it 
might  be  said  that  no  one  is  idle  or  unprofitably  em- 
ployed. The  bazaars  are  fuU  of  activity,  and  stocked 
with  a  greater  variety  of  fruits  and  vegetables  than  is 
to  be  seen  in  any  other  town  in  the  island.  Every  one 
appears  to  be  more  or  less  busy ;  and  at  tlie  season  of 
the  year  when  labour  is  not  in  demand  at  liome,  num- 
bers of  the  natives    2:0    off  to   trade   in    tlie   interior ; 


Chap.  VI.]       IXDUSTRIOUS   HABITS   OB^    THE  TAMILS.  543 

carrying    adventures  of    curry   stuffs,    betel-leaves,  and 
other  produce,  to  be  sold  in  the  villages  of  the  Wanny. 
Large  bodies  of  them  also  resort  annually  to  the  south, 
where  they  find  lucrative  employment  in  repaking  the 
village  tanks,  —  a  species  of  labour  in  which  they  are 
peculiarly   expert,   and   which   the    Singhalese   are   too 
indolent  or  too  litigious  to  perform  for  themselves.     If 
the   deserted    fields    and    sohtudes   of  the   Wanny   are 
ever  again  to  be  re-peopled  and  re-tilled,  I  am  inchned 
to  beheve  that  the  movement  for  that  purpose  will  come 
from  the  Tamils  of  Jaffna  ;  for,  looking  to  their  increasing 
intelhi2jence    and   wealth,    their    habits  of  industrv  and 
adaptation  to  an  agricultural  hfe,  I  can  have  little  doubt 
that,  as  population  increases,  and  the  arable  lands  of  the 
peninsula   become   occupied,  emigration   will   gradually 
be  directed  towards  the  south,  where,  w'ith  the  natural 
capabihties  of  the  soil  and  the  facilities  for  irrigation, 
one  half  of  the  exertion  and  toil  bestowed  on  the  reluc- 
tant sands  of  Jafiha  would  speedily  convert  the  wilder- 
ness into  a  garden.     Already  there  is  a  satisfaction,  ex- 
perienced in  no  other  portion  of  Ceylon,  in  visiting  their 
villao:es    and    farms,  and    in   witnessinsj  the  industrious 
habits  and  improved  processes  of  the  peasantry.      The 
whole  district  is  covered  with  a  net-work  of  roads,  and 
at    certain   situations  there    exist   what  are   maintained 
in  no  other  part  of  the  island  (except  at  Matura  in  the 
south),  regular  markets,  to  which  the  peasantry  resort 
from  a  distance,  and  bring  theu'  fruit,  vegetables,  and 
other   produce  for  sale.      These  markets  are  generally 
held  in  the  early  morning,  before  the  sun  pours  down 
his    fiercest  rays ;    and    in   driving  along  the   roads    at 
such  an  hoiu-,  tlie  active  and  busy  picture  which  they 
present  would  have  strongly  reminded  me  of  some  rural 
scenes    in   England,  had   it   not   been    for    the   dispro- 
portionate  share  of  the    labour   borne  by  the  women, 
who  always  seemed  to  carry  the  heaviest  burdens,  and 
to  take  the  most  toilsome  share  in  the  business  of  the 
day. 


544  THE    NORTHERX   FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

Even  amongst  the  more  civilised  portion  of  the  Ta- 
mils, there  is  no  characteristic  Avhicli  so  forcibly  as  this 
demonstrates  the  barbarism  of  their  customs,  and  the 
degraded  nature  of  their  domestic  relations.  Thouoh 
the  outward  demeanour  of  men  of  the  higher  castes 
and  of  ambitious  pretensions,  and  the  nature  of  their 
pubhc  pursuits,  may  draw  off  attention  from  their  homes 
and  their  personal  habits ;  still  thek  social  arrangements, 
and  the  economy  of  their  private  estabhshments,  when 
these  can  be  examined,  exhibit  a  picture  of  demoraUsation 
truly  deplorable. 

Notwithstanding  all  that  has  been  achieved  by  the 
successful  labours  of  the  Christian  missions  in  the  penin- 
sula \  the  private  hfe  of  such  of  the  lowest  classes  of  the 
people  as  are  still  uninfluenced  by  moral  instruction,  and 
untouched  by  civilisation,  is,  of  course,  still  more  de- 
praved and  disgusting.  Their  households  exhibit  none 
of  those  endearments  and  comforts  which  constitute  the 
charms  and  attractions  of  a  home.  Sensuality  and  gain 
are  the  two  passions  of  their  existence,  and  in  the  pursuit 
of  these  they  exhibit  a  hcentiousness  so  shocking,  and 
practices  so  inconceivably  vile,  as  woidd  scarcely  obtain 
credence  from  those  who  are  famihar  only  with  the  aspect 
and  usages  of  civihsed  hfe,  even  in  its  lowest  and  least 
attractive  forms. 

Amongst  the  Tamils  in  Ceylon,  as  amongst  the  na- 
tives on  the  coast  of  India,  the  behef  in  sorcery  is 
strongly  and  generally  entertained,  and  its  professors 
turn  the  practice  of  witchcraft  and  charms  to  lucrative 
account,  pandering  to  the  w^orst  passions  of  degraded 
humanity  by  the  secret  exercise  of  pretended  arts, 
and  the  performance  of  revolting  ceremonies.  In 
1849,  an  occurrence  of  this  Idnd  was  brouglit  offi- 
cially imder  my  notice,  involving  the  disclosure  of 
practices,  the  existence  of  which  amidst  a  dense  popu- 


^  For  an  accoimt  of  the  missions  I  labours,  see  Sir  J.    Emersox  Tex 


Jafliia,    and    especially     of    the   j   nent's    Hi  at  on/    of   Christ  ianifi/    in 
erican    missionaries     and    their  j    Ceylon,  ch,  iv.  pp.  1-38 — 17(>;  Sec. 


in 

American 


Chap.  VI.J  SUPERSTITIOUS   CEREMOXIES.  .:4.> 

latiou,  and  in  tlie  vicinity  of  the  chief  town  of  tlie 
province,  is  in  itself  an  exemphiication  of  tlie  mass  of 
barbarism  and  superstition  which  still  exists  amongst 
the  natives  of  Jaffna,  even  after  three  hundred  years 
of  European  government,  and  despite  the  labours 
and  acliievements  of  so  many  Christian  teachers  and 
ministers. 

In  December,  1848,  the  police  vidahn  of  Vannar- 
poonne,  in  the  suburbs  of  Jaffna,  came  to  the  magistrate 
in  much  mental  agitation  and  distress,  to  complain  that 
the  remains  of  his  son,  a  boy  of  about  eight  years  of  age, 
which  had  been  buried  the  day  before,  had  been  disin- 
terred during  the  night,  and  that  the  head  had  been 
severed  from  the  body  to  be  used  for  the  purposes  of 
witchcraft.  Suspicion  fell  on  a  native  doctor  of  the  vil- 
lage, who  was  extensively  consulted  as  an  adept  in  the 
occult  sciences ;  but  no  evidence  could  be  produced 
sufficient  to  connect  him  with  the  transaction.  The 
vidahn  stated  to  the  magistrate  that  a  general  belief 
existed  amongst  the  Tamils  in  the  fatal  effects  of  a  cere- 
mony, performed  with  the  skull  of  a  child,  with  the 
design  of  producing  the  death  of  an  individual  against 
whom  the  incantation  was  directed.  The  skull  of  a 
male  child,  and  particularly  of  a  first-born,  is  preferred, 
and  the  effects  are  regarded  as  more  certain  if  it 
be  killed  expressly  for  the  occasion ;  but  for  ordinary 
purposes,  the  head  of  one  who  had  died  a  natural  deatli 
is  presumed  to  be  sufficient.  The  form  of  the  ceremony 
is  to  draw  certahi  figures  and  cabahstic  signs  upon  the 
skull,  after  it  has  been  scraped  and  denuded  of  the  flesh ; 
adcUng  the  name  of  tliia*ndividual  upon  whom  the  charm 
is  to  take  effect.  A  paste  is  then  prepared,  composed  oi 
sand  from  the  footprints  of  the  intended  victim,  and 
a  portion  of  his  hair  moistened  with  his  sahva,  and  this, 
being  spread  u]^on  a  leaden  plate,  is  taken,  together  with 
the  skull  to  the  graveyard  of  the  village,  where  for  foi'ty 
nights  the  evil  spirits  are  invoked  to  destroy  the  person 
so   denounced.       The   universal   belief    of    the    natives 

VOL.    II.  NX 


54S  THE    XORTHEKX    FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

is,  that  as  the  ceremony  proceeds,  and  the  paste  dries  up 
on  tlie  leaden  plate,  the  sufferer  will  waste  away  and  de- 
cline, and  that  death,  as  an  inevitable  consequence,  must 
follow. 

In  this  instance  a  watch  was  kept  upon  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  suspected  doctor,  and  it  was  ascer- 
tained that  he  and  liis  family  were  engaged  in  the  most 
infamous  practices.  His  sons  were  his  assistants  in 
operations  sunilar  to  that  Avhich  has  been  described,  and 
in  the  preparation  of  philters  to  facihtate  seduction  and 
medicines  for  producing  abortion.  His  house  was  an 
asylum  for  unmarried  females  in  pregnancy,  where  their 
accouchements  were  assisted  by  women  retained  for 
their  knowledge  of  midwifery ;  and  the  skulls  of  the 
infants  were  apphed  as  occasion  required  for  the  com- 
position of  love  potions  and  the  performance  of  incant- 
ations. 

In  the  course  of  the  folloAving  moutli\  a  second  com- 
plaint against  the  same  inchvidual  was  brought  before 
the  magistrate  at  Jaffna,  to  the  effect  that  on  a  stated 
morning,  he  had  mmxlered  an  infant  in  order  to  possess 
himself  of  its  head,  and  that  at  the  moment  of  bringing 
the  charge,  a  second  child  was  concealed  in  his  dwelling, 
and  destined  for  a  similar  fate.  On  searching  the  house  the 
body  of  one  cliild  was  found  as  represented,  with  the  head 
recently  severed ;  and  after  considerable  search,  the  other 
httle  creature  was  discovered,  still  ahve,  under  some  bas- 
kets near  the  roof  of  an  inner  apartment.  The  doctor 
and  his  sons  had  been  seen  on  pre\dous  occasions  to  buiy 
something  in  the  garden  at  the  rear  of  the  building.  On 
this  being  dug  over,  the  remains  of  other  children  were 
discovered,  in  sufficient  numbers  to  attest  the  extent 
of  the  practice.  Unfortunately  the  criminal  was  him- 
self permitted  to  escape  ;  the  character  of  his  establish- 
ment, and  the  testimony  of   the  women  in  his   service 


1  8th  Jaiiuarv,  1840. 


CiiAP.  VT.J  A   TAMIL    DOCTOR.  547 

giving  some  colour  to  lii.s  assertion,  that  the  infants 
whose  remains  were  disinterred  had  died  a  natiural  death  ; 
whilst  he  was  able  to  offer  a  plausible  explanation 
for  the  mutilation  of  tlie  body  that  liad  been  found, 
by  declaring  that  it  was  devoured  by  a  Pariah  dog. 
His  papers  were  seized  by  the  magistrate,  among 
which  was  a  volume  of  receipts  for  compounding  ne- 
farious preparations  and  poisons  ; — and  along  with  these 
a  manuscript  book  containing  the  necessary  diagrams 
and  forms  of  invocation  to  "  Siva  the  Destroyer,"  for 
every  imaginable  purpose  — "  to  seduce  the  affections 
of  a  female — to  effect  a  separation  between  a  husband 
and  wife — -to  procure  abortion  —  to  possess  with  a 
devil  —  to  afflict  witli  sickness," — and  innumerable 
directions  "  for  procuring  the  death  of  an  enem3\" 
In  this  remarkable  treatise  on  domestic  medicine,  there 
was  not  one  single  receipt  for  the  cure  of  disease  amongst 
the  numerous  formulas  for  its  infliction ;  nor  one  in- 
struction for  effecting  a  harmless  or  benevolent  purjiose 
amidst  diagrams  and  directions  for  gratifjdng  the  de- 
praved passions,  and  encouraging  the  fiendish  designs  of 
tlie  author's  dupes. 

Thus  the  same  energy  of  character  in  whicli  tlie 
Tamils  of  Jaffna  constitutionally  excel  the  Singhalese 
and  Kandyans,  and  which  is  strildngly  exhibited  in  all 
their  ordinary  pursuits,  is  equally  perceptible  in  its 
vicious  as  in  its  moral  developments.  In  both  parti- 
culars the  two  races  that  are  most  nearly  assimilated 
in  Ceylon  are  the  Hindus  of  the  northern  province, 
and  the  active-minded  and  vigorous  Moors  of  the  south 
and  east;  —  next  to  these  are  the  mountaineers  of 
Kandy  and  Oovali ;  whilst  the  weakest  and  the  most 
cunning  are  the  natives  of  the  lowlands  and  the  mari- 
time districts.  The  statistics  of  crime  as  exlubited  by 
the  calendars  of  the  Supreme  Court  are  demonstrative 
of  these  local  peculiarities.  Amongst  the  Singhalese  of 
the  l(^w  country,  the  majority  of  the  crimes  cognisable 
by  the    higher  tribunals  are  generally  of   a   secondaiy 

N    N     2 


548 


THE   NORTHERN   FORESTS. 


[P.^ 


TX 


cliaracter,  and  tlie  instances  in  Avhicli  violence  to  tlie 
person  accompanies  offences  against  property  are  fewer 
than  in  other  parts  of  the  island.  The  proportion  of 
cases  so  aggravated  increases  in  the  southern  and  Kan- 
djan  provinces ;  and  crime  in  the  noith  consists  prin- 
cipally of  burglary,  frequently  accompanied  by  personal 
violence  and  characterised  by  daring  and  combination.' 


^  From  a  paper  on  the  state  of  crime 
in  Ceylon,  by  the  Hon.  Mr.  Justice 
STARKE,publishecl  in  the  Transactmif 


of  the    Ceylon  Asiatic  Socief I/,  vol.  i. 
p.  52. 


549 


CHAP.  \TI. 


THE    ISLANDS. — ADAll'S  BRIDGE   AJsB    THE    PEARL    FLSIIERY, 


As,  owing  to  tlie  shallows,  the  Government  steamer, — 
the  "  Seaforth,"  on  board  which  we  were  to  be  received 
at  Jaffna, —  was  unable  to  approach  nearer  than  the 
group  of  islands  that  he  off  the  western  point  of  the 
peninsida,  we  were  rowed  in  one  of  the  great  canoes 
called  bedlams,  or  vallanis  ^  through  the  channel  of 
Kayts^  under  the  miniatm^e  fort  of  Hammaniel^,  and 
embarked  off  the  island  of  Analativoe  or  Donna  Clara.^ 
We  brought  to,  an  hour  after  starting,  at  the  island 
of  Delft.  "  The  portion  of  Ceylon,"  says  Pliny,  "  which 
approaches  nearest  to  India  is  the  promontory  of  Colia- 
cum,  and  midway  between  it  and  the  mainland  is  the 
island  of  die  Sun ; "  ^ — assuming  the  Cohacum  of  Pliny 


^  The  ballams  are  usually  hollowed 
out  of  the  ti'iuik  of  the  Atuielij  or 
Atu/elica  tree  (artocarjytis  Jn'rsida  ?). 
These  canoes  are  genertilly  brought 
from  the  coast  of  India,  chiefly  from 
Mangalore  and  Calicut. 

^  Kayts,  or  Cays,  was  so  called 
from  the  Portuguese  temi  for  a  wharf, 
cais  or  caes,  this  being  the  utmost 
point  to  which  a  sea-going  vessel 
could  enter  the  shallows  on  approach- 
ing Jaffiia. 

^  Yalexttn  explains  this  term  by 
saying,  that  as  the  outline  of  Ceylon 
resembled  that  of  a  ham,  this  little 
island  occupied  the  position  of  its 
shank  or  h(H»l,  wheace  its  name, 
"  hamman-hk'l."  —  Oiid  en  Nieuw 
Oost-Indien,  ch.  i.  p.  18 ;  elsewhere, 
ch.  XV.  p.  217,  Valentyn  calls 
Ilammaniel  tlie  "  Water  Fort :"  upon 
this,    and    upon     the    land    fort    at 


KangesentoiTe,  the  Dutch  relied  as 
defences  against  the  passage  of  ships 
towards  Jaffiia. — Ibid.  ch.  ii.  p.  31. 

*  Donna  Clara,  who  ajipeai-s  to 
have  been  the  chief  owmer  of  this 
islet  in  the  time  of  the  Portuguese, 
was  renowned  for  her  extraordinary 
size ;  her  chair,  according  to  IJiiiEYRo, 
was  preserved  in  his  time  as  the  sole 
curiosity  of  the  island  ;  "  et  les  deux 
plus  gi'os  hommes  y  peuvent  tenir 
assis  tres  a  I'aise  et  tres  au  large." — 
Lib.  i.  ch.  XXV.  p.  190. 

^  Plixy,  X<d.  IlisL,  lib.  xvi.  ch. 
xxiv.  The  Coliacum  of  PuNY  is 
identical  with  the  KoX^ot  of  tlie 
Pcriplus,  the  KwXtonroi'  of  SxRABO, 
and  tlie  "  KwXirof  oe'ijt"  of  DioNYSirs 
Peiuegetes,  verse  1148;  see  also 
Vincent's  Perijilus,  S)-c.,  vol.  ii.  p. 
488,  502. 


550  THE    IS^ORTHERN    FOEESTS.  [Part  IX. 

to  be  Bamancoil  or  Eamiseram,  Delft  would  appear  to 
be  "  the  island  of  the  Sun."  Its  length  does  not  exceed 
seven  or  eight  miles,  and  a  tiny  lake,  formed  in  a 
depression  in  its  centre,  so  facihtates  vegetation  and  the 
growth  of  trees,  that  the  Portuguese,  wliilst  in  possession 
of  Manaar,  occupied  it  as  a  breeding  place  for  cattle  and 
horses,  and  hence  it  acquired  from  them  its  designa- 
tions of  the  "  Ilha  das  Vacas,"  and  "  Illia  dos  Cavallos."  * 
The  breed  of  the  latter,  which  had  been  originally- 
imported  from  Arabia,  was  kept  up  b}^  the  Dutch,  and 
afterwards  for  some  time  by  the  Enghsh,  the  horses 
behio-  allowed  the  free  ranse  of  the  island,  and  when 
reqiui'ed  were  caught  by  the  lasso,  in  the  use  of  which 
the  natives  had  probably  been  instructed  by  the  Por- 
tuguese.^ The  stud  was  discontinued  many  years  ago, 
the  buildings  constructed  for  it  have  since  gone  to  ruin, 
and  the  island  is  now  thickly  inhabited  and  partially 
brouo-ht  under  cidtivation. 

As  we  approached  the  Indian  side  of  the  channel  at 
sum'ise  on  the  following  morning,  we  landed  on  the 
island  of  Eamiseram,  to  visit  the  Great  Pagoda,  the  lofty 
towers  of  which  were  visible  long  before  we  were  able  to 
discern  the  low  sandy  beach  on  which  it  is  built.  This 
shrine,  which,  in  the  estimation  of  the  Brahmans,  has 
rendered  Eamiseram  one  of  the  most  sacred  spots  in  the 
luiiverse,  is  dedicated  to  Eama,  whose  uivasion  of  Ceylon 
from  this  point  is  commemorated  by  so  many  incidents 


1  RiBEYRO  says,  it  was  also  called  j  Tliis  tliey  contrive  to  thro-w  about 
by  the  Portuguese  the  '^  Ilha  das  j  one  of  his  hind  legs  whilst  he  is  in 
Cabras,"  because  of  the  multitude  of  fidl  gallop,  and  thus  make  sm'e  of 
goats  which  it  fed,  and  he  adds  that  him.  One  cannot  see  this  manoeu\Te 
it  supplied  the  finest  bezoar  stones  in  practised  without  the  gi-eatest  as- 
the  world.     (Lib.  i.  ch.  xxv.  p.  188.)  tonishment,  for  these  horse-catchers 

2  "  Tlie  horses  run  wild  on  the  ^  are  so  trained  that  they  never  fail, 
island  and  are  caught  by  driving  them  They  teach  their  children  this  art  (Ijv 
into  a  korahJ,  which  is  circidar  and  practising)  oiyi  man,  and  I  liave  tried 
fenced  with  round  stones — here,  one  j  them  on  myself.  I  had  only  to  say 
in  particular  being  pitched  on,  some  on  which  arm  or  foot  I  chose  to  have 
of  the  natives  set  after  him  witli  ropes  the  rope  thrown  while  I  was  numing 
nuide  into  a  noose,  eight  fatliom  long,  as  fa.st  as  I  was  able,  and  it  was 
and   the  thickness  of  a  nian"s  finger,  done." — Memoirs  of  Wolf,  p.  ll>7. 


CuAP.  VII.]  THE    GREAT   PAGODA.  551 

in  the  surrounding  region.  The  islet  on  wliich  it 
stands  is,  and  has  been  innneniorially,  exempted  from 
cidtivation ;  its  inhabitants  are  interdicted  from  all  se- 
cular pursuits  and  callings,  and  the  place  consecrated  to 
devotion,  solemnity,  and  repose.  The  temple  or  coil, 
with  its  majestic  towers,  its  vast  and  gloomy  colonnades, 
and  its  walls  encrusted  with  carved  work  and  statuary, 
exhibits  a  grand  exam})le  of  the  style  of  sucli  monu- 
ments in  Southern  India ;  though  inferior  in  dimensions 
to  those  of  Seringham,  Madm-a,  and  Tanjore.^ 

We  found  the  vicinity  of  the  Pagoda  surrounded  by 
thousands  of  pilgrims  from  all  parts  of  India ;  mingled 
with  whom  were  fakirs  of  the  most  hideous  aspect, 
exhibiting  their  hmbs  in  inconceivably  repulsive  at- 
titudes. Gaudy  vehicles,  covered  with  gilding  and 
velvet,  and  drawn  by  cream-colom-ed  oxen,  carried  ladies 
of  distinction,  who  had  crossed  in  pilgrimage  from  the 
opposite  coast,  and  beside  the  grand  porch  stood  the 
lofty  cars  of  the  idol,  structures  of  richly-carved  wood 
adorned  with  vermihon  and  gold.  At  the  great  en- 
trance of  the  temple,  we  were  received  by  the  officers, 
and  conducted  round  the  immense  quadrangle,  supported 
by  innumerable  columns.  Here  we  were  met  by  the 
band  of  nautcli  girls,  who  presented  us  Avith  flowers, 
and  performed  before  us  one  of  their  melancholy  and 
sj)U'itless  movements,  which  is  less  a  dance  than  a  series 
of  postures,  wherein  the  absence  of  grace  is  sought  to 
be  compensated  by  abrupt  gestures,  stamping  the  feet 
and  wringing  the  arms,  to  extract  an  inharmonious 
accompaniment  from  the  jingling  of  bangles  and 
anklets. 

On  leaving  the  temple,  we  rounded  the  western  point 
of  the  island,  and  entered  the  gidf  of  Manaar,  by  the 
Paumbam  Passage,  which  here  intersects  Adam's  Bridge. 


^  Detailed  descriptions  of  the 
Temple  of  Raniiseram,  and  its  estab- 
lislnnent  will  be  fonnd  in  Lord  Va- 
lioatia's   TrairU,  lijc,  vol.  i.  p.  o.SO, 


kv.  ;  and  in  Cordinkk's  Cei/loii,  (Sr., 
vol.  ii.  ch.  XV.  p.  12  ;  I'krcivai/s  C'e;/- 
/o»,  cSV.,  vol.  i.  p.  t<0. 


552  THE   NOETIIERN    FOEESTS.  [Part  IX. 

The  advantages  of  tliis  narrow  channel  are  so  striking, 
and  the  facihties  ah^eady  afforded  by  its  enlargement 
are  so  highly  appreciated,  that  surprise  is  excited  that 
a  work  of  such  imperial  importance  as  the  deepening 
of  this  channel  should  have  been  so  long  deferred,  and 
so  imperfectly  accomphshed,  when  at  last  undertaken. 
Such  is  the  circuit  that  a  vessel  is  obliged  to  make  in 
saihng  from  Bombay  to  Madi^as,  in  order  to  guard 
against  calms  on  the  hue,  and  to  weather  the  Maldives 
and  Ceylon,  that  practically  she  "  performs  a  voyage  of 
five  thousand  miles,  although  the  real  distance  by  sea 
does  not  exceed  fifteen  hundred.'''' '  The  barrier  that 
here  obstructs  the  communication  between  Palk's  Bay 
and  the  Gulf,  —  appropriately  called  the  "  dam,"  —  is 
about  a  mile  and  quarter  in  length.  The  rocks,  which 
are  Hat  upon  the  upper  surface,  have  been  so  curiously 
broken  up  and  intersected  by  the  action  of  the  waves, 
that   they   present   the    closest  possible   resemblance   to 


iGE,  AUAiil'd   BRIDGE. 


deliberate  arrangement,  and  "bear  e\'ery  appearance  of 
liaving  been  placed  there  by  art."  ^ 

Formerly,  the  fissure,  through  which  small  craft  alone 


'    Minute    of  the    GovERMorv    OF   |       '•  Cotton^  liejxtrt  on  the  Pdiinihtui) 
31.viiK.\s,  November,  1828.  |  Passor/e,  Septonibcr,  lX'22. 


Chap.  VIT.]  ADAM'S   BKIDGE.  553 

could  pass,  was  but  thirty-five  yards  wide,  witli  a  max- 
imum depth  of  httle  more  than  six  feet  of  water.  ^ 
Lately,  this  passage  has  been  so  enlarged  and  improved, 
that  vessels  di^awing  ten  feet  may  venture  through  it 
in  safety.  On  the  east  side,  the  white  houses  of  the 
village  of  Paumbam  hue  the  beach,  nestling  beneath 
groves  of  coco-nut  palms  and  arboi'escent  mimosas, 
and  on  the  west  the  low  hue  of  the  Indian  coast 
approaches  so  close,  that  the  passage  of  the  steamer 
disturbed  the  sea-birds  which  were  feeding  in  the  rij^ple 
of  the  waves  upon  the  shore. 

Turning  eastward  at  Paumbam,  on  our  Avay  towards 
Manaar  and  Aripo,  Ave  kept  as  close  as  the  shallows 
rendered  prudent,  to  the  long  hne  of  sandy  embank- 
ments, which  form  the  barrier  of  Adam's  Bridge.  The 
(composition  of  this  singular  reef  has  been  akeady 
alluded  to^,  and  recent  examinations  have  sliown  that, 
instead  of  being  a  remnant  of  the  original  rock,  by 
Avhich  Ceylon  is  supposed  to  have  been  once  connected 
with  the  Indian  continent,  it  is  in  realit}'  a  compara- 
tively recent  ridge  of  conglomerate  and  sandstone^, 
covered  with  alluvial  deposits,  carried  by  the  currents 
and  heaped  up  at  this  particular  point,  whilst  the 
gradual  rising  of  the  coast  has  contributed  to  give  the 
reef  its  present  altitude.'* 


^  BALD.T:rs  relates  the  improbable 
story,  tliat  in  10."»7  tifteen  Portuguese 
frigates,  ehased  by  the  Duteli  cruisers, 
escapeil  through  the  passage  of 
Paiuubaui  ;  a  circumstance  which  he 
accounts  for  by  the  still  more  un- 
likely conjecture,  that  the  natives  in 
charge  of  tlie  channel  had  the  power 
of  adjusting  the    depth  of  the  water 


which  last  has  more  the  appearance 
of  indurated  gravel  than  rock.*" — 
Major  Sim's  Repoti  mi  Adaiii'.t 
Ih-'uhje,  1828  ;  see  Capt.  Stewakt's 
llepoH  to  the  Governor  of  C'ci/loti, 
1887. 

*  The  Dutch,  although  they 
adopted  the  popular  themy  that 
Ceylon    had    been    separated    from 


by  "  either  bmng  in  or  removing  India  by  a  sudden  convulsion,  enter 
certain  stones  from  the  entrance." —  tained  doubts  of  the  primary  fm-ma 
1'.  700.  tiou  of  Adam's  Bridge,  and  ^'AhEX- 


-  See  Vol.  I.  Pt.  I.  ch.  i.  p.  1.5,  20. 

^  "It  appears  to  be  sandstone  of  a 
soft  description,  and  generally  in  an 
advanced  stage  of  decav.  It  is  hardest 
at  the  surface,    and  lic'conies   softer 


and    coarser    towards    llie    Itodnni.     218 


TYX  suggests  that  its  origin  is  refer- 
able to  the  deposit  of  sand  at  the 
point  where  the  currents  meet  at 
the  change  of  the  monsoons. — 0ml 
Nleuw    Oost-Indien,    ch.    xv.  p. 


554 


THE   NORTHERN   FORESTS. 


[Part  IX. 


From  its  frequent  disruption  by  the  sea,  and  the 
deposit  of  sand-drift  on  its  smface,  the  formation  to  the 
east,  between  Eamiseram  and  Manaar,  presents  less  of 
tlie  artificial  appearance  Avhich  is  exhibited  in  the  vici- 
nity of  Paunibam,  and  which  uo  doubt  sufficed  in 
ancient  times  to  establish  the  behef  that  it  was  in 
reahty  a  causeway  constructed  by  superhiunan  power. 
The  Hindus  ascribed  its  origin  to  Eania^,  and  amongst 
the  Mahometans,  the  behef  that  Adam  had  found  a 
retreat  in  Ceylon  on  his  expulsion  from  Paradise,  led 
to  the  conjectures  that  he  must  either  have  ahghted 
from  the  sky,  or  passed  by  this  singular  causeway. 


^  The  legend  of  tlie  building  of 
the  bridge  by  llama  for  tlie  passage 
of  his  army  to  the  conquest  of  Lanka, 
fonus  one  of  the  episodes  in  the 
Rumai/ana.  In  the  Culcidta  Reriew, 
No.  X.  p.  299,  a  translation  of  this 
passage  has  been  given,  and  the  mis- 
chievous character  of  Hanuman,  the 
monkey-god,  has  been  preserved  in 
the  tale  which  is  related,  to  the  effect 
that  his  jealousy  of  Nala,  who  was 
associated  with  him  in  forming  tlie 
Bridge,  led  him  to  obstruct  rather 
than  to  further  the  work.  The 
legend  is  told  as  follows :  Eama 
having  solicited  Nala  (one  of  the 
monkey  chiefs)  to  throw  a  bridge 
across  the  Strait,  the  latter  reh-ing 
on  the  power  imparted  to  him  by 
Brahma  "  of  causing  stones,  trees, 
and  rocks  to  float,"  imdertoolc  to 
complete  the  task  witliin  a  month, 
although  the  distance  from  Lanka  to 
the  mainland  was  tlieu  eight  hundred 
miles.  "He  first  caused  one  of  the 
liuge  forests  which  gi-ew  along  the 
shore  to  be  transplanted  and  placed 
upon  the  waters.  LIpon  this  bedding 
of  trees  he  placed  several  strata  of 
rocks,  and  made  the  breadth  of  the 
bridge  eighty  miles.  Tlie  first  day 
he  completed  the  work  to  a  length  of 
eight  miles,  beginning  from  the  north 
and  proceeding  s<iutlnv;ird.  While 
the  bridge  was  being  liuilt  the  deaf- 
ening noises  produced  by  the  nuillets, 
and  the  incessant  cries  of  '  A'ictory 
to  Kama,'  rent  the  air." 


Of  all  the  monkeys  none  so  exerted 
himself  in  bringing  rocks  as  Hauu- 
man,    until  becoming  enraged,    and 
regarding-  it  as  an  indignity  that  Nala 
should  receive  them  in  his  left  hand, 
Planuman    lifted  a   moimtain  under 
which  to    crush  him  ;    but  was  ap- 
peased by  the  interposition  of  Rama, 
who  explained   that    the   action    of 
Nala  was   the    ordinaiy  practice  of 
masons.     '^  AVlieii    the    bridge    ex- 
tended to  160  miles  in   length,  him- 
dreds  of  squirrels  came  to  the  sea-shore 
to  assist  in  the  work.     On  the  sliore 
they  rolled  their  bodies  among  heaps 
of  dust,  then,  going  up  to  the  bridge, 
they  shook    off  the    dust,  and  thus 
eflectually  filled  the  minute  crevices. 
TIanuman,  not  appreciating  the   ser- 
vices of  these  little   creatures,  flung 
numbers  of  them  into  the  sea,    AVitli 
tearful  eyes  they  came  to  Kama,  and 
said,  '  O    Lord,    we    are    giievously 
annoyed  by  Hauuman.'     Summoning 
Hanuman  into    his   presence,  Kama 
thus  addressed  him,  '  A\'hy  dost  thou 
dishonour  the  squirrels  ?     Let  every 
one  contribute  to  the  Avork  according 
to  his   ability.'     Planuman  blushed, 
and    the    benevolent    and    merciful 
Rama   stroked  the  squirrels  on  their 
backs.     Thus  did  Nala  in  the  space 
of  a  month    construct  a  bridge   ex- 
tending eight  hundred  miles  in  length 
and  eighty  in  breadth,  and  when  the 
work  was  finished  the  monkeys  cried 
out,  '  Alctoi'v   to  Rama,  ^'ictorv  to 
Rama.'  " 


Chap.  VII.]        CORAL    IXSECT. — PEARL    FISHERY.  555 

Valentyn  says,  that  the  iiaiiic  of  Adam's  Bridge  was 
first  conferred  on  it  hy  the  Portuguese  ^ ;  but  tliere  is 
existing  evidence  to  show  that  centuries  before  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  Portuguese  in  the  East,  the  Arabs  be- 
lieved that  Adam  had  passed  by  this  way  into  Ceylon.^ 

In  coasting  along  this  remarkable  shore,  the  extreme 
purity  of  the  water  enabled  us  to  see,  with  astonishing 
distinctness,  the  coral  groves  which  rise  in  the  clear 
blue  depths,  and  conceal  the  surface  of  the  sand  and 
rocks.  Tliek  branches,  when  severed,  are  exquisitely 
beautiful,  so  long  as  they  retain  the  faint  purple  halo 
that  plays  around  their  ivory  tips,  but  which  dis- 
appears after  a  very  short  exposure  to  the  au'^ ;  so 
rapidly  does  atmospheric  exposure  affect  them,  that 
immediately  after  withdrawing  them  from  the  water, 
we  almost  fail  to  recognise  the  lovely  objects  which  a 
moment  before  Avere  o-lowino;  in  the  still  recesses  below. 
The  cilia  and  bright  tentacula  of  the  pol}^3i  are  with- 
drawn and  concealed  the  instant  the  coral  is  disturbed, 
but  these,  when  expanded  in  the  water,  cover  the  suiface 
with  brilliant  tints,  intense  crimson  and  emerald  green. 
Feeding  amongst  them,  are  to  be  seen  nuchbranchiate 
moUusca  and  ajdi/sia  of  strange  forms ;  and  through  tlie 
branches  dart  small  fishes,  with  scales  that  ghsten  like 
enamelled  silver. 

Manaar  appears  to  be  the  island  of  Epiodorus,  which, 
according  to  the  Periplus^  was  the  seat  of  the  pearl 
fishery.'*  At  the  present  day,  its  importance  has 
greatly  decHned.  The  Portuguese,  who  wrested  it 
from  the  Eaja  of  Jaffna,  in   1560^,  fortified   the  town 


'  Valentyit,  Oitd  en  Kietiw  Oost- 
Indien,  ch.  xv.  p.  235. 

^  See  a  pa8.^aiie  in  Kaswixi's 
Ajaih  el  Makhlouhat,  written  in  the 
tliirtceutli  century,  and  quoted  by 
Sir  W.  OuSELKY. —  Traveh,  ^-c,  vol. 
i.  p.  37. 

3  Pliny  says  that  the  soldiers  of 
Alexander   noticed   the   purple  halo 

which    plays  about  the  coral  in  the  \  ii.  cb.  xv.  vol.  ii.  p.  20G. 
Indian    seas  when    first    \\itlidra\vn 


from  tlie  water,  "  in  alto  quasdam 
arbusculas  colore  bubuli  conins 
raniosas  et  cacuminihui^  rubenfes." — 
Pliny,  Xaf.  Hid.,  lib.  xiii.  ch.  Ii. 

*  Peripliis,  ch.  lix.  See  Vincent, 
vol.  ii.  p.  489. 

^  De  Couto,  dec.  vii.  lib.  iii.  ch. 
V.  voL  iv.  pt.  i.  p.  210;  Valextyn, 
ch.  xii.  p.  147  ;  Fari  v  Y  Souza,  pt. 


556 


THE    NORTHERN    FORESTS. 


[Part  IX. 


for  the  protection  of  their  own  trade,  and  the  Dutch, 
Avdio  seized  it  in  1658,  were  so  conscious  of  its  value, 
strategetical  as  well  as  commercial,  that  they  designated 
it  "  the  key  of  Jaffnapatam,"  and  maintained  in  it  at 
all  times  an  effective  garrison,  mider  the  apprehension 
that  the  Portuguese,  if  they  ever  attempted  a  re-conquest 
of  Ceylon,  would  direct  their  first  efTorts  to  the  recovery 
of  Manaar.^ 

During  the  early  ages,  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
trade  between  the  east  and  w^est  of  India  was  carried 
through  the  narrow  channel  wliich  separates  Manaar 
from  Ceylon,  and  active  estabhshments  w^ere  formed, 
not  only  at  Mantotte  on  the  mainland,  but  in  the  httle 
island  itself,  to  be  used  for  unlading  and  reloading  such 
craft  as  it  was  necessary  to  hghten,  in  order  to  as- 
sist them  over  tlie  shoals.^  N^o  other  than  commercial 
motives  could  have  led  to  the  formation  of  populous 
towns  in  the  midst  of  arid  wastes,  around  which  fertile 
lands  extended  on  every  side,  and  hence  the  peophng 
of  Manaar,  whose  barren  sand-drifts,  though  mcapable 
of  producing  a  sufficient  quantity  of  grain  for  the  w^ants 
of  its  inhabitants,  were  adapted  to  the  growth  of  the 
palmjTa  and  the  coco-nut  palm. 

Manaar  also  pelds  in  abundance  the  ch(n"a-root^, 
which  was  once  exported  to  Europe  for  the  sake  of  its 
brilhant  red  dye ;  and  its  shores,  besides  producing  salt, 
afford  favourable  positions  for  the  fishery  of   clianks^, 


1  ^'De  sleutel  van  't  Eyk  van 
Jaffnapatam." — YALEyxTiir,  Oucl  en 
Nievxo  Oost-Indien,  ch.  xii.  p.  150. 

^  See  a  paper  by  Sir  Alexandeh 
Johnston,  containiii<r  particulars  of 
the  early  settlement  of  tlie  Mahome- 
tans in  Ceylon,  collected  from  the 
traditions  of  the  Moors  at  tin;  present 
day. — Trans.  Ray.  Asiat.  Soc,  vol.  i. 
p.  '5P,Sf  ;  Bektolacci,  p.  20. 

^  Iledi/otis  unihclhtta. 

*  CosjiAS  iNDicopLErsTES  evi- 
dently refers  to  chanks  when  he 
speaks  of  the  port  of  Marallo, 
jiaWovira  KoyXjovr,  and  AbOTTZETD 
calls  them  '•  schcnek, — mot  par  leqiiel 


on  designe  cette  grande  coqiiille  qui 
sert  de  tronipette  et  qui  est  tres-re- 
cherche." —  Voyof/es  Arabes,  ^'c,  torn, 
i.  p.  6.  Hence  as  early  as  the  sixth 
and  seventh  centuries,  the  vicinity  of 
Ceylon  was  fished  for  these  valuable 
shells.  See  Lassex,  Alterthumsknnde, 
vol.  i.  p.  194  5  Keinaud,  Mem.  sin- 
rinde,  p.  22!).  Tlie  fishery  of  chanks 
was  formerly  a  (iovernment  royalty, 
and  was  annually  farmed,  but  the 
monopoly  was  abandoned  some  years 
ago.  Bertolacci,  p.  20.3,  and  a 
writer  in  tlie  Asiatic  Journal  for 
1827,  p.  409,  both  mention  a  curious 
local    pecidiarity   observed    by    the 


CllAP.    VII.] 


THE    DUGOXG. 


557 


and  the  preparation  of  the  holothuria,  which  feed  on 
the  coral  polypi,  and  are  captured  to  be  dried  in  the  snn, 
and  ex])orted  to  China  under  the  name  of  '*  tripang"  and 
bicho  de  mar} 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  animals  on  the  coast  is 
the  dugong^,  a  phytophagous  cetacean,  numbers  of 
which  are  attracted  to  the  inlets,  from  the  bay  of  Cal- 
pentyn  to  Adam's  Bridge,  by  the  still  water  and  the 
abundance  of  marine  algie  in  these  parts  of  the  gulf. 
The  rude  approach  to  the  human  outline,  observed  in 
the  shape  of  the  head  of  this  creature,  and  the  attitude 


FEMALE    DDGONG    OF    CEYLON. 


fislierinen  in  the  natiu'al  hi.stoiy  of 
the  chank.  "All  sliells  found  to 
the  northward  ot  a  line  drawai  from  a 
point  about  niidwaj-  from  jNIanaar  to 
the  opposite  coast  (of  India)  are  of 
the  kind  called  pattji,  and  are  distin- 
g'uished  by  a  short  flat  head  ;  and  all 
those  found  to  the  southward  of  that 
line  are  of  the  kind  called  pnjcl,  and 
are  known  from  having-  a  lf)n<ier  and 
more  pointed  head  than  the  former. 
Nor  is  there  ever  an  in.stance  of 
deviation  from  this  singular  law  of 
nature.  The  Wallainpory,  or  "  right 
hand  clianks,"  are  found  of  both 
kinds. 

^  On  placing  one  of  these  curious 
creatures  in  a  basin  it  discharged  the 
contents  of  its  stomach  :  first,  streams 


of  water,  and  then  quantities  of  sand, 
small  stones,  and  comminuted  coral 
and  shells  imtil  it  was  reducetl  to  a 
flaccid  mass — again  inflating  itself  to 
its  original  size  by  re-imbibing  the 
water.  Mr.  Brodie,  in  a  valuable 
paper  on  the  districts  of  Chilaw  and 
J'utlam,  printed  in  the  Joitrn.  of  the 
Cci/loa  Branch  of  the  Asiufiv  Society, 
says  of  thetripangthatthe  holothurias 
are  picked  up  at  ebb  tide,  and  after 
being  embowelled  are  boiled  for  two 
hoiu-s  till  quite  soft,  and  then  dried 
in  the  sun.  The  price,  on  the  spot, 
is  about  three  shillings  and  ninep(>nce 
for  1000,  and  "this  quantity,"  he 
says,  "  can  be  easily  collected  by  two 
men  during  one  ebb  tide." 
^  HnUcorc  Diif/ioi;/. 


558 


THE   XORTIIERX    FORESTS. 


[Part  IX. 


of  the  mother  while  siiclding  her  young,  hokhiig  it  to 
her  breast  with  one  flipper,  while  swimming  with  the 
other,  holdino;  the  heads  of  both  above  water,  and  when 
distm-bed,  suddenly  diving  and  displaying  "her  lish-like 
tail,— these,  together  with  her  habitual  demonstrations  of 
strong  maternal  affection,  probabl)^  gave  rise  to  the  fable 
of  the  "  mermaid  ;"  and  thus  that  earhest  invention  of 
mytliical  physiology  may  be  traced  to  the  Ai'ab  seamen 
and  the  Greeks,  who  had  watched  the  movements  of  the 
dugong  in  the  waters  of  Manaar. 

Meii'asthenes  records  the  existence  of  a  creature  in  tlie 
ocean,  near  Taprobane,  with  the  aspect  of  a  Avoman'  ;  and 
jiEhan,  adopting  and  enlarging  on  his  information,  peo- 
ples the  seas  of  Ceylon  with  fishes  having  the  heads  of 
lions,  panthers,  and  rams,  and,  stranger  still,  cetaceans 
in  the  form  of  satyrs.  Statements  such  as  these  must 
have  had  their  origin  in  the  hairs,  which  are  set  round 
the  mouth  of  the  dugong,  somewhat  resembling  a  beard, 
which  ^han  and  Megasthenes  both  particularise,  from 
their  resemblance  to  the  hak  of  a  woman  ;  "  xai  yuvaixwv 
07r<7<v   svouciv   alfTTTsp   OLVTi   7ryoxaix(uv   a«av9ai    irpog    rif^rj- 

The  Portuguese  cherished  the  belief  in  the  mermaid, 
and  the  annalist  of  the  exploits  of  the  Jesuits  in  India, 
gravely  records  that  seven  of  these  monsters,  male  and 
female,  were  captured  at  Manaar  in  1560,  and  carried  to 
Goa,  where  they  were  dissected  by  Demas  Bosquez, 
physician  to  the  Viceroy,  and  "  their  internal  structure 
found  to  be  in  all  respects  conformable  to  the  human."  ^ 
One  which  was  killed  at  Mannar  and  sent  to  me  to 
Colombo*  in  1847,  measured  upwards  of  seven  feet  in 
length  ;  but  specimens  considerably  larger  have  been  taken 
at  Calpentyn,  and  their  flesh  is  represented  to  me  as  closely 
resembhns:  veal. 


'  Megasthenes,  Indica,  fragm.  lix. 
33. 

2  Mu\TX,  Nat.  IR<>f.,  lib.  xvi.  ch. 
xviii. 

^  Hist,  (le  hi  Compcifinie  de  Jesm, 
quoted  in  tlic  A.siat.  Jown.  vol.  xiv. 


p.    461 ;    and    in    Forbes'     Orient. 
Memoirs,  vol.  i.  p.  421. 

*  The  skeleton  is  now  in  the 
Museum  of  the  Natural  History 
Society  of  Belfast. 


ClIAF.    VIL] 


THE    BAOBAB   TRRK. 


559 


Tlie  fort  at  Manaar,  built  by  tlie  Portuguese  and 
strengthened  by  the  Dutch,  is  still  in  tolerable  repair,  and 
tlie  village  presents  an  aspect  of  industry  and  comfort. 
But  the  country  beyond  is  sterile  and  repidsive,  covered 
by  a  stunted  growth  of  umbrella  trees  and  buffalo  thorns. 
The  most  singular  objects  in  the  landscape  are  a  num- 
ber of  the  monstrous  baobab  trees  [Adansonia  cligi- 
■  tnta),  Avhose  importation  from  the  western  coast  of 
Africa  to  India  and  Ceylon  is  a  mystery  as  yet  im- 
solved.  The  popular  conjecture  is,  that  it  was  the 
work  of  the  Portuguese ;  but  the  age  of  the  trees,  as 
indicated  by  their  prodigious  dimensions,  is  altogether 
inconsistent  with  this  hypothesiSj^  and  their  introduc- 
tion is  probably  referable  to  the  same  early  mariners 
who  brought  the  coffee-tree  to  Ai'abia,  and  the  cinna- 
mon laurel  to  Malabar. 


BAOBAB    TREES    AT    MANAAP. 


The  huge  and  shapeless  mass  of  wood  in  these  sin- 
gular trees  resembles  a  bidb  rather  than  a  stem.  One 
of  the  largest,  at  Manaar,  measured  upwards  of  thirty 
feet  in  circmnference,  although  it  Avas  a  very  httle  more 
in  height. 

No  scene  in  Ceylon  presents  so  dreary  an  aspect  as 
the  long  sweep  of  desolate  shore  to  which,  from  time 
immemorial,    adventurers    have    resorted    from     the    ut- 


560  THE    XORTHERX    FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

most  ends  of  the  earth  in  search  of  the  precious  pearls 
for  which  this  giilf  is  renowned.  On  approaching  it 
tlie  percej^tible  landmark  is  a  building  erected  by  Lord 
Guildford,  as  a  temporary  residence  for  the  Governor, 
and  known  by  the  name  of  the  "  Doric,"  from  the  style 
of  its  architecture.  A  few  coco-nut  palms  appear  next 
above  the  low  sandy  beach,  and  presently  are  discovered 
the  scattered  houses  which  form  the  villages  of  Aripo  and 
Condatchy. 

Between  these  two  places,  or  rather  between  the  Kal- 
aar  and  Arrive  rivers,  the  shore  is  raised  to  a  height  of 
many  feet,  by  enormous  mounds  of  sheUs,  the  accumu- 
lations of  ages,  the  millions  of  oysters  ^,  robbed  of  their 
pearls,  having  been  year  after  year  flung  into  heaps,  that 
extend  for  a  distance  of  many  miles. 

During  the  progress  of  a  fishery,  this  singular  and 
dreary  expanse  becomes  suddenly  enlivened  by  the 
crowds  who  congregate  from  distant  parts  of  India ;  a 
town  is  improvised  by  the  construction  of  temporary 
dwelhngs,  huts  of  timber  and  cajans,  with  tents  of  palm 
leaves  or  canvas  ;  and  bazaars  spring  up,  to  feed  the  mul- 
titude on  land,  as  well  as  the  seamen  and  divers  in  the 
fleets  of  boats  that  cover  the  bay. 

My  visit  to  the  pearl  banks  was  made  in  company  with 
Capt.  Steuart,  the  official  inspector,  and  my  immediate 
object  was  to  inquire  into  the  causes  of  the  suspension  of 
the  fisheries,  and  to  ascertain  the  probabihty  of  reviving 
a  source  of  revenue,  the  gross  receipts  from  which  had 
failed  for  several  years  to  defray  the  cost  of  con- 
servancy. In  fact,  as  it  afterwards  proved,  the  pearl 
banks,  between  1837  and  1854,  were  an  annual  charge, 
instead  of  producing  an  annual  income,  to  the  colony. 
The  conjecture,  hastily  adopted,  to  account  for  the  dis- 
appearance of  mature  shells,  had  reference  to  mechanical 


1  It  is  almost  imnecessary  to  say  f  Avicula,    or  moro  oorrcctly,  Melea- 
tliat  the   shell  fish  which   iirochices  1  grina.     It  is  the  Mflcagrina  Mnn/a- 
the   true   Oriental   pearls   is  not  an  j  ritifera  of  Lamarck, 
oyster,    but   belongs    to    the    genus  I 


Chap.  VII.] 


THE    PEARL    FISHERY. 


561 


causes  ;  the  received  hypothesis  being  that  tlie  young 
broods  had  been  swept  off  their  accustomed  feeding 
grounds  owing  to  tlie  estabhslnnent  of  unusual  cur- 
rents, occasioned  by  deepening  the  narrow  passage  at 
Paumbam.  It  was  also  suggested,  that  a  previous 
Governor,  in  his  eagerness  to  replenish  the  colonial  trea- 
sury, had  so  "  scraped  "  and  impoverished  the  beds  as  to 
exterminate  the  oysters.  To  me,  neither  of  these  suppo- 
sitions appeared  worthy  of  acceptance  ;  for,  in  the  fre- 
quent disruptions  of  Adam's  Bridge,  there  was  ample 
evidence  that  the  currents  in  the  Gulf  of  Manaar  had 
been  changed  at  former  times  without  destroying  the 
pearls  ;  and,  moreover  the  oysters  had  disappeared  on 
many  former  occasions,  without  any  imputation  of  im- 
proper management  on  the  part  of  tlie  conservators,  and 
returned  after  much  longer  intervals  of  absence  than  that 
which  fell  under  my  own  notice,  and  which  was  then 
creating  serious  apprehension  in  the  colony. 

A  similar  interruption  had  been  experienced  between 
1820  and  1828  :  the  Dutch  had  had  no  fishing  for 
twenty-seven  years,  from  1768  tiU  1796,  and  they  had 
been  equally  unsuccessful  from  1732  till  1746.  The 
Arabs  were  well  acquainted  with  similar  vicissitudes,  and 
Albyrouni  (a  contemporary  of  Avicenna),  who  served 
under  Mahmoud  of  Ghaznee,  and  wrote  in  the  eleventh 
century,  says  that  the  pearl  fishery,  which  formerly 
existed  in  the  Gulf  of  Serendib,  had  become  exhausted  in 
his  time,  simultaneously  with  the  appearance  of  a  fisliery 
at  Sofala,  in  the  country  of  the  Zends,  where  pearls 
were  unknown  before  ;  and  says,  hence  arose  the  conjec- 
ture that  the  pearl  oyster  of  Serendib  had  migrated  to 
Sofala.^ 


^  "  1\  y  avait  autrefois  dan.s  lo 
Golfe  de  Serendyb,  iino  pechorio  de 
perles  qui  s'ost  epuisee  de  notre 
temps.  D'un  autre  cote  il  s'est 
fonne  une  pecherie  a  Sofala  dans  le 
pays  des  Zends,  lu  oii  il  n'en  existait 


pas  auparavant — on  dil  que  c'est  la 
pec-herie  de  Serendyb  qui  s'est  trans- 
portee  a  Sofala."  —  ALHYitoixi,  in 
Reinaud's  Frm/mens  Anihc^,  &v.y 
p.  125 ;  see  .also  Rkixaud's  Mimoire 
sitr  VlmJe,  p.  228. 


VOL.  II. 


0  0 


562  THE    NORTHERN    FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

It  appeared  to  me  that  the  explanation  of  the  phe- 
nomenon was  to  be  sought,  not  merely  in  external 
causes,  but  also  in  the  instincts  and  faculties  of  the 
animals  themselves ;  and,  on  my  r  eturn  to  Colombo, 
I  ventured  to  renew  a  recommendation,  which  had  been 
made  years  before,  that  a  scientific  inspector  should 
be  appointed  to  study  the  habits  and  the  natural  liistory 
of  the  pearl-oyster,  and  that  his  investigations  should 
be  facihtated  by  the  means  at  the  disposal  of  the  Govern- 
ment. 

Dr.  Kelaart  was  appointed  to  this  office,  by  Sir  H.  G. 
Ward,  in  1857,  and  already  his  researches  have  de- 
veloped results  of  great  interest.  In  opposition  to  the 
received  opinion  that  the  pearl-oyster  was  incapable  of 
voluntary  movement,  and  unable  of  itself  to  quit  the 
place  to  which  it  is  originally  attached  \  he  has  demon- 
strated, not  only  that  it  possesses  locomotive  powers, 
but  also  that  their  exercise  is  indispensable  to  its 
economy  when  obhged  to  search  for  food,  or  compelled 
to  escape  fi^om  local  impurities.  He  has  shown  that, 
for  this  purpose,  it  can  sever  its  byssus,  and  reform 
it  at  pleasure,  so  as  to  migrate  and  moor  itself  in 
favourable  situations.^  The  estabhshment  of  this  im- 
portant fact  may  tend  to  solve  the  mystery  of  thek 
occasional  disappearances  ;  and  if  coupled  with  the 
further  discovery  that  it  is  susceptible  of  translation 
from  place  to  place,  and  even  from  salt  to  brackish 
water,  it  seems  reasonable  to  expect  that  beds  may 
be  formed  with  advantage  in  positions  suitable  for 
its  growth  and  protection.  Thus,  hke  the  edible 
oyster  of  our  own  shores,  the  pearl-oj^ster  may  be 
brought  within  the  domain  of  pisciculture,  and  banks 
may  be  created  in  suitable  places,  just  as  the  southern 
shores  of  France  are  now  being  colonised  with  oysters, 


^  Stefart's  Pearl  Fishn-ies  of  I  ^  See  Dr.  Kelaart's  Ilepoi-t  on 
Cei/hti,  p.  27 ;  Cordiner's  Ceylon,  \  the  Pearl  Oyster  in  the  Ceylon  Ca- 
i^-c,  vol.  li.  p.  45.  I  lendar for  1858. — Appendix,^.  14. 


Chap.  VIL] 


THE    PEARL    FISHERY. 


563 


under  the  direction  of  M.  Coste.^  The  operation  of 
solving  the  sea  witli  pearl,  should  the  experiment 
succeed,  would  be  as  gorgeous  in  reahty,  as  it  is 
grand  in  conception  ;  and  the  wealth  of  Ceylon,  in  her 
"  treasiu-es  of  the  deep,"  might  eclipse  the  renown  of 
her  gems  when  she  merited  the  title  of  the  "Island  of 
Eubies." 

On  my  arrival  at  Aripo,  the  pearl-divers,  under  the 
orders  of  then-  Adapanaar,  put  to  sea,  and  commenced 
the  examination  of  the  banks.^  The  persons  engaged 
in  this  calhng  are  chiefly  Tamils  and  Moors,  who  are 
trained  for  the  service  by  diving  for  chanks.  The  pieces 
of  apparatus  employed  to  assist  the  diver  in  his  opera- 
tions are  exceedingly  simple  in  then'  character :  they 
consist  merely  of  a  stone,  about  thuty  pounds'  weight, 
to  accelerate  the  rapidity  of  his  descent,  this  is  sus- 
pended over  the  side  of  the  boat,  wdth  a  loop  attached 
to  it  for  receiving  the  foot ;  and  of  a  net-work  basket, 
which  he  takes  down  to  the  bottom  and  fills  with  the 
oysters  as  he  collects  them.  Massoudi,  one  of  the 
earhest  Arabian  geographers,  describing,  in  the  ninth 
century,  the  habits  of  the  pearl-divers  in  the  Persian 
Gulf,  says  that,  before  descending,  each  filled  liis  ears 
with  cotton  steeped  in  oil,  and  compressed  his  nostrils 
by  a   piece   of  tortoise-shell.^     This   practice    continues 


'  Rapport  dc  M.  CosTE,  Professor 
d'Embryogenie,  &c.,  Paris,  1858. 

^  Detailed  accounts  of  the  pearl 
fishery  of  Ceylon  and  the  conduct 
of  the  divers,  will  be  found  in  1'kk- 
cival's  Cei/lon,  ch.  iii.  ;  and  in 
CoRDiXEii's  Ceijhn,  vol.  ii.  ch.  xvi. 
There  is  also  a  valuable  paper  on  the 
same  subject  by  Mr.  Le  Beck,  in 
the  Asiatic  Rcscarihcs,  vol.  v.  p. 
9'.)3  ;  but  ])\  far  the  most  able  and 
intelligent  description  is  contained 
in  the  Account  of  the  Pearl  Fisheries 
of  Ceylon,  by  .Tajiks  Steuaut,  Esq., 
Inspector  of  the  Pearl  Banks,  4to. 
Colombo,  1843. 


3  Massoudi  says  that  the  Per.*ian 
divers,  as  they  could  not  breathe 
through  their  nostrils,  cleft  the  root 
of  the  ear  for  that  purpose  :  "  lis  se 
fendaient  la  racine  de  roreille  pour 
respirer ;  eu  etfet,  ils  ne  peuvent  se 
senir  pom-  cet  objet  des  narines,  vii 
qu'ils  se  les  boucheut  avec  des 
morceaux  d"ecailles  de  tortue  marine 
ou  bien  avec  des  morcoaiLx  de  come 
ayant  la  forme  d'un  fer  de  lance. 
En  meme  temps  ils  se  mettent  dans 
roreille  du  cot  on  trempt?  dans  de 
I'huilo."  — 3Ioroudj-al-l)zcheb,  ^-c, 
ItElNAUD,  3Icmoire  sur  rinde,  p.  228. 


o  o   2 


564 


THE   Is^ORTHEEX   FORESTS. 


[Part  IX. 


tliere  to  the  present  day  ^  ;  but  the  diver  of  Ceylon  re- 
jects all  such  expedients ;  he  inserts  his  foot  in  the 
"  sinking  stone "  and  inhales  a  full  breath  ;  presses  liis 
nostrils  with  his  left  hand ;  raises  his  body  as  high 
as  possible  above  water,  to  give  force  to  his  descent ; 
and,  hberating  the  stone  from  its  fastenings,  he  sinks 
rapidly  below  the  surface.  As  soon  as  he  has  reached 
the  bottom,  the  stone  is  di^awn  up,  and  the  diver, 
throwing  liimself  on  his  face,  commences  mth  alacrity 
to  fill  his  basket  with  oysters.  This,  on  a  concerted 
signal,  is  hauled  rapidly  to  the  sm^face ;  the  diver 
assisting  his  own  ascent  by  springing  on  the  rope  as 
it  rises. 

Improbable  tales  have  been  told  of  the  capacity  which 
these  men  acquire  of  remaming  for  prolonged  periods 
under  Avater.  The  divers  who  attended  on  this  occasion 
were  amongst  the  most  expert  on  the  coast,  yet  not 
one  of  them  was  able  to  complete  a  fidl  minute  below. 
Captain  Steuart,  who  filled  for  many  years  the  office 
of  Inspector  of  the  Pearl  Banks,  assured  me  that  he 
had  never  known  a  diver  to  continue  at  the  bottom 
longer  than  eighty-seven  seconds,  nor  to  attain  a  greater 
depth  than  thkteen  fathoms ;  and  on  ordinary  occasions 
they  seldom  exceeded  fifty-five  seconds  in  nine  fathom 
Avater.^ 

The  only  precaution  to  Avhicli  the  Ceylon  diver  de- 
votedly resorts,  is  the  mystic  ceremony  of  the  shark- 
charmer,  whose  exorcism  is  an  indispensable  prehmin- 
ary   to   every   fishery.       His   power   is   beheved   to   be 


^  Colonel  WiLSOX  says  they  com- 
press the  nose  ■v\-ith  horn,  anH  close 
the  ears  with  beeswax.  See  3Iemo- 
randitm  on  the  Pearl  fisheries  in 
Persian  Gulf. — Joiirn.  Geoqr.  Soc. 
183.3,  vol.  iii.  p.  283. 

"^  RiBEYUO  says  tliat  a  diver  could 
remain  below  whilst  two  credos  were 
being  repeated  :  "  II  s"y  tient  I'espace 
de  deux  credo^ — Lib.  i.  ch.  xxii.  p. 


169.  Percival  says  the  usual 
time  for  tbem  to  be  imder  water  was 
two  minutes,  but  that  some  divers 
stayed  four  or  Jive,  and  [one  six 
minutes. —  Ceylon,  p.  91 ;  Le  Beck 
says  that  in  1797  he  saw  a  Caftre 
boy  from  Karical,  remain  down  for 
the  space  of  seven  minutes. — Asiat, 
Pes.  vol.  V.  p.  402. 


Chap.  VII.]  THE    PEARL    FISHERY.  565 

hereditary ;  nor  is  it  supposed  that  the  vahie  of  his  incan- 
tations is  at  all  dependent  upon  the  rehgious  faith  pro- 
fessed by  the  operator,  for  the  present  head  of  the  family 
happens  to  be  a  Roman  Cathohc.  At  the  time  of  our 
visit  this  mysterious  functionary  was  ill  and  unable  to 
attend ;  but  lie  sent  an  accredited  substitute,  who  assured 
me  that  although  he  himself  was  ignorant  of  the  grand 
and  mystic  secret,  the  fact  of  his  presence,  as  a  represen- 
tative of  the  higher  authority,  would  be  recognised  and 
respected  by  the  sharks. 

Strange  to  say,  though  the  Gulf  of  Manaar  abounds 
with  these  hideous  creatures,  not  more  than  one  well 
authenticated  accident'  is  known  to  have  occiuTcd  from 
this  som^e  during  any  pearl  fisheiy  since  tlie  Britisli 
have  had  possession  of  Ceylon.  In  all  probabihty  the 
reason  is  that  the  sharks  are  alarmed  by  the  unusual 
number  of  boats,  the  multitude  of  divers,  the  noise  of 
the  crews,  the  incessant  phmging  of  the  sinking  stones, 
and  the  descent  and  ascent  of  the  baskets  fiUed  with 
shells.  The  dark  colour  of  tlie  divers  themselves  may 
also  be  a  protection,  whiter  skins  might  not  experience 
an  equal  impunity  ;  and  Massoudi  relates  that  the  divers 
of  the  Persian  Gulf  were  so  conscious  of  this  advantage  of 
colour,  that  they  were  accustomed  to  blacken  tlieir  hmbs, 
in  order  to  baffle  the  sea  monsters.- 

The  result  of  our  examination  of  the  pearl  banks,  on 
this  occasion,  was  such  as  to  discourage  the  hope  of  an 
early  fisheiy.  The  oysters  in  point  of  number  were 
abundant,  but  in  size  they  were  little  more  than  "  spat," 
the  largest  being  barely  a  fourth  of  an  ineli  in  diameter. 
As  at  least  seven  years  are  required  to  furnish  the  growth 
at  which  pearls  may  be  souglit  with  advantage,  tlie  inspec- 


^  Cohdiner's  Cetjlon,  vol.  ii.  p.  52. 

*  "  lis  s'enduisaient  les  pieds  et 
les  jainbes  d'uue  substance  noiratro, 
afin  de  faire  peiir  aux  monstr(\s  ina- 


rins,  que,  sans  cela,  soraiont  tontos 
dt-  If-s  devorer. " — MoroKdj-al- 1  )z('hcb ; 
Kkinaud,  Mem.  siir  I  Itidr.  p.  22H. 


5G6  THE    NORTHERN    FORESTS.  [Part  IX. 

tion  served  only  to  suggest  the  prospect  (which  has  since 
been  reahsed)  that  in  time  the  income  from  this  source 
miglit  be  expected  to  revive  ; — and,  forced  to  content  our- 
selves with  this  anticipation,  we  weighed  anchor  from 
Condatchy,  on  the  30th  March,  and  arrived  on  the  fol- 
lowing day  at  Colombo. 


PART   X. 


THE  RUINED  CITIES. 


o  o    4 


5G9 


CHAPTEE  L 

SIGIKI    AND    POLLANARRUA. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  it  is  nevertheless  true,  that 
Ceylon  found  no  sufficient  protection  in  its  remoteness 
from  the  turbulent  scenes  of  1848,  against  the  sporadic 
influence  of  the  revolutionary  miasma  that  overspread 
Europe  in  the  spring  of  that  year.  The  intelligence  that 
monarchy  had  been  overthrown,  and  a  repubhc  established 
in  France,  though  received  mth  indifference  by  the  Ta- 
mils in  the  French  settlement  of  Pondicherry,  was  eagerly 
employed  to  arouse  the  long  suppressed  wishes  of  the 
Kandyans  for  the  restoration  of  theu^  national  indepen- 
dence ' ;  at  a  time,  moreover,  when  a  variety  of  circum- 
stances concurred  to  fan  the  tendency  to  discontent.^ 
The  exertions  which,  notwithstanding  an  excess  of  outlay 
over  income,  were  successfidly  made  by  the  government 
of  Viscount  Torrington  to  improve  the  financial  system 
and  reheve  the  commerce  of  the  island  by  revising  the 
tariff,  had  entailed  the  duty  of  re-distributing  taxation,  so 
as  to  extend  some  share  of  the  burden  to  classes  which 
had  long  been  accustomed  to  almost  total  exemption  from 
fiscal  demands.  In  order  to  include  the  native  popidation, 
who  had  previously  contributed  httle  to  the  public  reve- 
nue, ordinances  were  passed  to  impose  a  small  tax  on 
shops,  on  fire-arms  and  dogs  ^,  and  to  requke  fi'om  each 
adult  male  six  days'  laboiu"  in  the  j'car  (or  three  shiUings 


'  Papers  relative  to  Ceylon,  pre- 
sented to  Parliament,  184U,  p.  154- 
157. 

*  Earl  Grey's  Cokmial  Poliv;/  of 
Lord  John  RusseWs  Adniiuistration. 
Vol.  ii.  p.  178,  &c. 

■^  Tilt}   tax  on   fire-arms   was  in- 


tended to  place  some  check  on  their 
possession  by  improper  persons,  and 
the  tax  on  dogs  was  designed  to 
diminish  their  numbers,  and  thus 
ol)viate  the  barbarous  expedient  of 
their  annual  slaughter  in  the  streets. 
See  Vol.  I.  Pt.  II.  ch.  i.  p.  145. 


570  THE    RUINED    CITIES.  [Part  X. 

as  its  equivalent  in  money),  to  be  applied  exclusively  to 
the  formation  of  roads  in  the  immediate  locahty  of  the 
contributors.  The  opportunity  was  tempting  to  represent 
the  new  taxes  as  a  national  grievance  ;  and  the  facihty  was 
increased  by  the  simidtaneous  issue  of  blank  forms  for 
collecting  the  agricultural  statistics  of  the  colony  to  be 
embodied  m  the  Annual  Eeport  to  the  Secretar}"  of  State. 
Tliese  were  represented  to  the  Kandyans,  by  some  of  the 
disaffected  cliiefs,  as  a  device  for  carrying  out  the  mtention 
of  the  Government  to  impose  an  onerous  tax  on  the  entire 
thirty  or  forty  articles  to  be  enumerated  in  the  retmiis ; 
and  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks  the  alarm  became  so 
general  that  tmnultuous  assemblages  forced  then-  way 
into  the  town  of  Kandy  to  demand  explanations  fi'om 
tlie  officials. 

Information  having  been  received  by  the  Government 
from  all  quarters  of  the  pains  that  had  been  taken  to 
misrepresent  their  intentions  and  to  disseminate  discontent, 
it  became  necessary  that  I  should  visit  the  disquieted 
districts,  and  by  personal  exposition  of  the  ordinances, 
disabuse  the  minds  of  the  native  population  of  the 
delusions  by  wliich  thek  credidity  had  been  imposed 
upon. 

In  the  discharge  of  this  duty,  I  met  the  people  in  pubhc 
assembhes  at  Kandy  and  in  the  principal  towns  and 
villages  throughout  the  central  provinces  of  the  island, 
traversing  it  northward  fi'om  MateUe  and  Dambool  to  the 
ancient  capitals  of  PoUanarrua  and  Anarajapoora,  and 
returning  by  the  west  coast,  through  Putlam  and  Chilaw, 
to  Colombo.  Thence  by  sea  I  made  tlie  ckcuit  of 
the  island,  stopping  at  every  town  on  the  coast,  from 
Galle  and  Matura  to  Hambangtotte,  Batticaloa,  Trinco- 
mahe,  and  Jaffna. 

As  regarded  its  effect  in  removing  the  delusions  by 
which  the  native  races  liad  been  misled,  my  journey 
was  signally  successful.  Tlie  Moors  around  the  sea 
coast,  the  Tamils  in  the  north,  and  the  peaceful  inhabi- 
tants of  the  great  central  forests,  rephed  to  my  addresses 


ClIAP.    I.] 


MATELLE. 


571 


by  expressions  of  their  entire  satisfaction,  and  after- 
wards attested  the  sincerity  of  their  assurances  by 
refusing  to  take  any  share  in  the  rebellious  movements 
that  eventually  broke  out ; — but  the  Kandyan  priests  and 
those  of  the  chiefs,  by  whom  the  obnoxious  taxes  had 
been  used  as  a  mere  pretext  for  arousing  their  followers, 
on  finding  theu^  de\dces  exposed,  abandoned  all  subter- 
fuge, avowed  their  impatience  of  British  rule,  and  took 
up  arms  to  restore  a  national  sovereignty.  The  means 
adopted  by  Lord  Torrington  to  meet  and  stifle  this  dan- 
gerous movement  are  too  recent  and  famihar  to  require 
recapitulation  ^  here  ;  and  the  circumstance  is  adverted  to 
merely  in  explanation  of  the  objects  of  the  tour  during 
which  I  visited  the  ruined  capitals  of  Ceylon. 

After  an  interview  with  the  people  in  the  great  hall 
of  the  Pavihon  at  Kandy,  on  the  11th  of  July,  1848,  1 
crossed  the  MahaweUi-ganga  at  the  ferry  of  Katugas- 
totte,  near  the  tree  which  marks  the  scene  of  the 
massacre  of  Major  Davie's  party  in  1803,  and  proceeded 
by  the  TrincomaHe  road  in  the  direction  of  Matelle. 
The  \dllage  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  is  inhabited 
by  the  Gahalayas,  a  race  less  degraded  in  blood,  but 
more  infamous  in  character  than  the  Eodiyas.  They 
acted  as  pubhc  executioners  during  the  reign  of  the 
Kandyan  kings,  and  being  thus  excluded  from  the 
social  pale  and  withdrawn  from  the  healthy  influences 
of  popular  opinion,  they  became  in  later  times  thieves 
and  marauders,  and  subsisted  to  a  great  extent  by  the 
plunder  of  travellers. 

For  seventeen  miles  the  highway  runs  generally 
within  sight  of  the  Pinga-oya,  a  tributary  of  the  Maha- 
welli-ganga,  and  as  it  approaches  Matelle  the  road  tra- 
verses luxuriant  forests,  now  partially  converted  into 
flourishing    plantations  of  coffee.     The  mountains  over 


^  Seo  EvTDKN^CE  taken  by  the  Select 
Committee  of  the  I£ouse  of  Commons 
on  the  Affairs  of  Ceijlon,  1850  and 


1851,  and  Papers  laid  before  Par- 
liament, 1849,  1851,  1852. 


572 


THE    RUINED    CITIES. 


[Part  X. 


which  these  are  spread  rise  to  the  aUitude  of  5000 
feet,  wooded  to  their  summits,  and  exhibiting  noble 
specimens  of  some  of  the  most  remarkable  trees  in 
Ceylon,  particularly  tahpat  palms  of  towering  height, 
and  iron-wood  trees,  with  crimson  tipped  fohage  and 
mounds  of  dehcate  flowers.  Nestled  in  a  valley  en- 
closed by  these  magnificent  liihs  hes  the  picturesque 
town  of  Matelle,  commanded  by  the  now  abandoned 
earthwork  of  Fort  Mac  Dowell. 

Although  no  architectural  antiquities  remain  to 
attest  its  former  importance,  Matelle,  the  Malia-talawa 
of  the  Singhalese  chronicles,  has  been  the  scene  of 
memorable  events  in  the  history  of  Ceylon.^  Ninety 
years  before  the  Christian  era,  it  was  one  of  the  resi- 
dences of  the  King  Walagam-bahu,  when  driven  from  his 
capital  by  the  Malabar  invaders,  and  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  a.  d.  1630,  it  was  formed  into  a  principahty,  and 
conferred  by  King  Senerat  on  the  son  of  liis  predeces- 
sor, Wimala  Dharma.^  Some  of  the  wealthiest  of  the 
Kandyan  chiefs  have  their  residences  in  its  vicinity^, 
and  to  the  present  day  traces  of  the  former  luxury  of 
the  district  are  to  be  discovered  in  the  occupations 
of  the  people.  They  excel  in  carving  ivory,  and  in 
chasing  the  elaborately  ornamented  knives  and  swords 
of  ceremony,  which  were  formerly  Avorn  at  the  Kandyan 
court ;  they  weave  dehcate  matting  for  covering  couches, 
and  they  paint,  with  a  lacquer  prepared  by  themselves, 
the  shafts  of  the  spears  and  wands  which  were  formerly 
carried  on  occasions  of  ceremony.^ 

About  two  miles  north  of  Matelle  the  road  passes 
within  sight  of  the  Alu  Wihara,  the  temple  in  which,  a 


^  JRaJaratnacari,  p.  4.3,  3Iahawanso 
(Upham's  Version),  vol.  i.  cli.  xxxiii. 
p. 210,  Turnotik's^;m/o?;(<',cSc.,p.  19. 

2  See  mifc,  Vol.  II.  Pt.  vi.  cli.  ii.  p. 
41.  The  fullest  account  ol'tliis  inter- 
esting district,  will  be  found  in  iNlajor 
FoRBEs's  Eleven  Years  in.  Cei/lo/i,  the 
author  having  held  for  some  years  an 
official  appointment  at  Matelle. 


'  Among  others,  the  patrimonial 
mansion  and  estates  of  the  tmhappy 
Elieylapola,  tlie  tragedy  in  whose 
familv  has  been  filreadv  related, 
Vol.  II.  I't.  VI.  ch.  iii.  p.  87. 

■*  For  the  preparation  of  this  lac- 
quer see  ante,  Vol.  I.  Pt.  iv.  ch.  vii. 
p.  401,  n. 


Chap.  I.] 


THE    ALU   WIHARA. 


573 


century  before  tlie  Christian  era,  scribes  employed  by 
the  Singhalese  king  reduced  to  writing  the  doctrines  of 
Buddlia,  which  had  been  pre^'iously  preserved  by  tradi- 
tion alone.  ^  The  scene  is  a  very  extraordinary  one ; — 
huge  masses  of  granitic  rock  have  been  precipitated 
from  the  crest  of  a  mountain,  and  on  these  other  inasses 
have  been  hurled,  which  in  then-  descent  have  sphntered 
those  beneath  into  gigantic  fragments.  In  the  fissm-es 
caused  by  these  convulsions  numbers  of  small  apartments 
were  formed  at  an  early  period,  only  two  of  whic]i  now 
remain.  The  principal  one  is  almost  concealed  beneath 
the  overhanging  brow  of  an  enormous  boulder  in  a  gloomy 
recess,  darkened  by  beethng  rocks,  and  shaded  by  the 
surrounding  forest. 


THE    ALU    WIHARA. 


We  passed  the  night  at  Nalande,  thirty  miles  north 
of  Kandy,  and  slept  in  the  small  Eoman  Cathohc  clnu-ch, 
which  was  prepared  for  (^lu^  reception  by  screening 
off  the  altar.     This  was  a  kind  of  accommodation  for 


1  See  aide,  Vol.  I.  Pt.  iii.  ch.  viii.  p.  375. 


574  THE    RUINED    CITIES.  [Part  X. 

which,  during  this  and  other  journeys  m  the  northern 
provinces,  we  were  more  than  once  indebted  to  the 
courtesy  of  the  priests. 

The  country  between  Matelle  and  Nalande  is  ex- 
tremely beautiful,  and  the  road  winds  between  wooded 
hills,  the  offsets  of  the  Kandyan  ranges,  which  here 
gradually  sink  into  the  level  of  the  great  northern 
plain.  These  are  traversed  by  numerous  streams, 
cliiefly  flowing  eastward  to  the  Amban-ganga,  and  in 
crossing,  or,  as  too  often  happens,  in  fording  them,  one 
is  forcibly  impressed  Avith  the  wisdom  of  the  course  re- 
commended by  Sir  Howard  Douglas,  to  be  pursued  in 
opening  up  an  eastern  country  with  highways, — to  build 
the  bridges  firsts  and  trust  to  the  future  for  the  formation 
of  roads. 

In  Ceylon,  for  nine-tenths  of  the  year,  the  groimd 
is  so  indurated  by  the  sun  tliat  it  may  be  made  tra- 
versable for  wheel  carriages  simply  by  leveUing  the 
surface ;  and  the  real  obstacle  to  movement  is  the 
depth  of  the  nullahs  hollowed  out  by  the  numerous 
riA'crs  when  swollen  by  the  rains.  Were  the  latter 
bridged  over  in  the  first  instance,  the  traffic  attracted 
would  ensure  the  eventual  construction  of  roads ;  but  in 
Ceylon,  where  the  opposite  practice  has  prevailed,  and 
roads  have  been  opened  in  all  directions,  without  bridges 
to  connect  them,  they  necessarily  fall  into  disuse,  and 
speedily  become  overgrown  with  jungle.  Those  who  have 
visited  Ceylon  ^vill  admit,  as  an  axiomatic  truth,  that  in 
such  a  country  bridges  are  more  important  than  roads ; 
whereas,  roads  without  bridges  are  comparatively  without 
value. 

To  the  right  of  our  hue  of  march,  between  Lenadora 
and  Dambool,  stretched  the  low  country  once  traversed 
by  the  celebrated  canal  of  Ellahara,  cut  by  Prakrama- 
bahu,  in  the  12th  centuiy',  by  which  tradition  asserts 
that   an   inland   navigation    was   maintained    from    this 


^  FoKBEs's  Eleven  Years  in  Ceylon,  vol.  ii.  p.  95. 


Chap.  I.] 


TEMPLE    OF   DAMBOOL. 


575 


portion  of  Matelle  to  the  sea ;  and  in  the  bark  of  a  tama- 
rind-tree of  patriarchal  age  and  gigantic  dimensions  the 
peasantry  point  to  marks  said  to  be  left  by  the  ropes  that 
were  used  in  ancient  times  to  moor  boats  at  tliis  point.  ^ 
This  remarkable  channel  served,  at  a  later  period,  to  con- 
duct the  waters  of  the  Amban-ganga  into  the  series  of 
enormous  tanks  at  Minery,  Kowdellai,  and  Kandelai ; 
and  these,  together  with  the  intervening  portions  of  low 
country,  flooded  by  the  intercepted  waters,  probably 
formed  the  submerged  expanse  which  was  known  as  the 
"  Sea  of  PrakraimV 

Long  before  reaching  Dambool,  the  enormous  rock  is 
descried,  underneath  which  the  temple  has  been  hol- 
lowed out,  which,  from  its  antiquity,  its  magnitude, 
and  the  richness  of  its  decorations,  is  by  far  the  most 
renowned  in  Ceylon.  The  rock  is  a  liuge  and  some- 
what cyhndrical  nioinid  of  gneiss,  upwards  of  five  hun- 
dred  feet   in   heiuht.  and   about   two   thousand   feet  in 


THE    ROCK    a:,Ii    Tl'MPI.K     UF    D_iiirOOL 


length.     It  lies   almost  insulated  on  the  otherwise  level 
plain,  and    unconcealed    by   any   verdiu-e   except  a  few 


'  Report  o/ Messrs.  Adams,  Churchill,  and  Bailey,  on  the  Elhihura  Canal 


576  THE   KUIXED   CITIES.  [Part  X. 

stunted  plants  in  siicli  crevices  as  retain  sufficient  moisture 
to  support  vegetation. 

The  cavern,  wliich  lias  been  converted  into  a  temple  of 
Buddha,  is  the  recess  formed  by  the  cylindiic  out- 
hne  of  the  rock,  enlarged  by  detaching  with  wedges 
fiu'ther  portions  from  the  overhanging  mass.  No 
attempt  has  been  made  to  impart  an  artificial  cha- 
racter to  the  interior  \  and  it  retains  the  rude  aspect 
of  a  cave,  extending  about  one  hundred  and  seventy 
feet  in  length  and  seventy  feet  broad,  with  a  height  of 
twenty  feet  in  front,  contracting  as  it  recedes  till  it  sinks 
into  the  level  of  tlie  floor.  It  contains  several  separate 
apartments  without  any  architectural  arrangement, 
being  merely  irregularities  in  the  natural  recess  some- 
what enlarged  by  human  labour.  There  is  no  effort  at 
external  decoration ;  the  chff  is  not  scarped  or  cut  into 
facades  and  columns,  as  at  Karli  and  Ellora  ;  and  the 
partitions  wliich  separate  the  internal  chambers  are  not 
pillars  or  colonnades,  as  in  the  caves  of  Elephanta  and 
Ajunta,  but  rude  walls  of  rock  left  untouched  by  the 
workman. 

The  ascent  is  by  a  steep  and  toilsome  path  across  the 
lower  mass  of  the  great  rock,  and  the  grand  gateway, 
profusely  adorned  with  carvings  in  stone '^,  and  disclosing 
within  a  sedent  figure  of  "  the  vanquisher,"  is  approached 
on  crossing  a  comt-yard,  wliich  encloses  a  Bo-tree  and 
some  coco-nut  palms. 

The  scene  presented  on  entering  is  very  striking, — 
the  Hglit  being  barely  sufficient  to  display  the  long 
lines  of  statues  of  Buddha  in  the  varied  attitudes  of 
exhortation  and  repose.     They  are  arranged  in  unusual 


^  A  detailed  account  of  the  Temple  ]  ^A  prnminent  object  among  the 

of Uambool  is  friven inFoBBEs's^/ewM  canings  at  Dambool,  and  on  othex' 

Years  in  Ceylon,  vol.  i.  ch.  xvi.  p.  Buddhist  monnments.  is  the  JlaJifira, 

.307,   and  one  more   recent   by   Mr.  a  monster  ■with  tlie  trunk  of  an  ele- 

Knigutox,    was   published    in    the  pliant,  the  feet  of  a  lion,  tlie  teeth  of 


Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of 
Bewfol  for  1847,  vol.  xvi.  pt.  i.  p. 
340; 


a  crocodile,  the  eyes  of  a  monkey,  and 
the  ears  of  a  pig. 


Chap.  I.]       ENTRANCE    TO    THE    TEMPLE    OF    DAMBOUL.  577 

profusion,  and  some  ai'e  of  extraordinary  magnitude, 
one  in  a  reclining  posture  being  upwards  of  forty  feet  in 
length. 


ENTRANCE  TO  THE  TEMPLE  OF  DAMBOOL. 


The  ceiling  of  this  gloomy  vault  is  concealed  with 
painted  clotlis,  and  the  walls  of  the  ]^rincipal  a])artment, 
the    Malia-i'MJa-dewMle,     ai'c     covered     witli    a    series    of 

VOL.  II.  r  I' 


578  THE    RUINED    CITIES.  [PartX. 

liiglil} -coloured  illustrations  of  scenes  in  the  history 
of  Buddhism,  such  as  the  landing  of  Wijayo,  the 
preaching  of  Mahindo,  and  the  combat  of  Dutugai- 
munu  and  Elala.  A  dagoba  of  graceful  proportions 
occupies  the  centre  of  the  hall,  and  the  drops  Avhich 
filter  through  a  crevice  in  the  overhanging  rock  are 
caught  in  a  holloAv  in  the  floor,  and  held  to  be  as  sacred 
as  the  waters  of  the  Ganges.  The  temple  contains  a 
strange  commixture  of  Brahmanical  and  Buddhist  wor- 
ship, and  in  all  the  apartments  the  statues  of  Hindu 
deities  range  with  those  of  the  great  apostle  of  the 
Singhalese  faith.  Here,  too,  national  gratitude  has 
erected  monuments  to  the  memory  of  Walagam-bahu, 
the  king  by  whom  the  temple  was  first  endowed  B.C. 
86  \  and  of  Kirti  Nissanga,  whose  mumficence  in  its 
restoration  and  embeUishment  after  its  destruction  by 
the  Malabars  in  the  twelfth  centmy^,  is  recorded  in 
an  inscription  on  the  rock  in  the  court-yard  of  the 
temple.^  From  the  splendour  which  it  then  attained, 
•the  temple  was  afterwards  known  as  Sivania-giri- 
guhaaya,  "  the  Cave  of  the  Golden  Rock,"  a  name  from 
which  we  may  infer  that  a  cave  among  the  Buddhists 
in  Ceylon,  as  among  their  co-rehgionists  in  Ava,  was 
not  only  the  protot}^3e  of  a  temple,  but  also  the  model, 
the  aspect  and  gloom  of  which  it  was  the  aim  of  such 
buildings  in  after  times  to  emulate.  Li  Burmah  many 
of  the  pagodas  are  hollowed  out  in  imitation  of  caverns, 
and  are  described  by  the  word  koo,  which  signifies  "  a 
cave."* 


•  Hajaratnacari,  p.  43.  \dt\i  plates  of  silver,  and  roofed  the 

"^  The    Rajavali    says   that    Kirti     buildings  with  tiles  of  gold." 


Nissanga  placed  72,000  statues  of 
Buddha  in  this  temple,  p.  255.  But 
this  is  an  oriental  pleonasm  as  the 
Mahau'cmso,  ch.  Ixxix.,  reduces  the 
number  to  seventy -three,  and  the 
Ha/arafnacari  to  thirty-three,  p.  02. 
The  Mahavnnso,  to  t^-pify  the  mimi- 
fieence  of  Kirti  Nissanga,  says  he 
"covered   the   walls   of  the   temple 


This  remarkable  inscription  is 
translated  at  length  in  the  Appendix 
to  TuRXOTm's  Epitome,  8fc.,  p.  95. 

*  "  Amongst  the  Buddhist  temples 
at  I'agan,  on  the  Irawaddi,  there  are 
several  so  named,  such  as  Shice-koo, 
"  the  golden  cave,"  Sembyo-koo,  "  the 
elephant  cave,"  &c.  Yfle's  Ava, 
p.  3(1 


Chap.  T.]  '       FORT    OF    HIGIRI.  579 

The  story  lias  been  already  tukP  of  the  parricide  king 
Kasyapa,  who,  in  the  fifth  centiirj^  obtained  the  throne 
of  Ceylon  by  the  murder  of  his  father  Dhatu  Sena, 
and  Avho  subsequently  retired  to  the  inaccessible  fort 
of  Sigiri.  This  extraordinary  natural  stronghold  is 
situated  in  the  heart  of  the  great  central  forest,  about 
fifteen  miles  north-east  of  Dambool.  At  Enamalua  we 
left  the  highway  to  wind  under  the  shade  of  the  thick 
woods,  by  narrow  tracks  and  jungle  paths,  until  we 
reached  the  beautiful  tank  above  Avhich  this  gigantic 
cyUndrical  rock  starts  upwards  to  a  height  prodigious 
in  comparison  with  the  size  of  its  section  at  any  point, 
the  area  of  its  upper  surface  being  very  Httle  more  than 
an  acre  in  extent.  Its  scarped  walls  are  nearly  perpen- 
dicular, and  in  some  places  they  overhang  then-  base. 
The  formation  of  this  singular  cHif  can  only  be  ascribed 
to  its  upheaval  by  a  subterranean  force,  so  circumscribed 
in  action  that  its  effects  Avere  confined  within  a  very 
few  yards,  yet  so  irresistible  as  to  have  shot  aloft  this 
prodigious  pencil  of  stone  to  the  height  of  nearly  four 
hundred  feet. 


FORTIFIED   ROCK  OF  SIGIRI. 


The  3Jahaica?iso  imniitely  describes  the  measures  taken 
by  Kasyapa,  after  the  assassination  of  the  king  his  father, 
whom  he  caused  to  be  "  built  up  in  a  wall,  embedding 


^  See  Vol.  I.,  Pt.  ur.  ch.  ix. ;  Muhmvaii.so,  ch.  xxxviii.  p.  "2^)9. 
p  p    2 


580 


THE    RUINED    CITIES. 


[Part  X. 


him  ill  it,  with  his  face  to  the  east,  and  phistering  the 
aperture  with  clay.^  Having  repaired  to  Sigiri,  a  place 
difficult  of  access  to  men,  and  clearing  it  all  round,  he 
surrounded  it  with  a  rampart.  He  built  there  habitations 
which  could  only  be  reached  by  flights  of  steps,  and 
these  he  ornamented  with  figures  of  hons,  Siha,  whence 
it  obtained  the  name  of  Siha-giri,  the  '  Lions'  Eock.' "  "^ 
There  are  still  the  remains  of  an  embankment,  wliich, 
as  tradition  tells,  once  enclosed  the  entire  area  of  the 
rock,  forming  a  deep  fosse  filled  with  water,  by  which 
the  fortress  was  protected.  Of  this  the  tank  ah'eady 
alluded  to  was  a  part.  It  swarms  with  crocodiles,  and  at 
the  time  of  my  \dsit  was  thickly  covered  with  the  Avhite 
and  red  flowers  of  the  lotus. 

To  render  this  extraordinary  retreat  secure,  Kasyapa 
carried  galleries  along  the  face  of  the  chfF,  partially  hollow- 
ing them  out  of  the  rock,  and  protected  them  in  fi'ont  by 
strong  curtain-walls  of  stone.  A  spring  still  trickles  down 
the  precipice,  the  existence  of  which  has  given  rise  to  the 
tradition  that  a  cistern  was  formed  at  the  top,  whose 
waters  overflow  after  the  torrents  of  the  monsoons,  but 
no  adventm'ous  cHmber  has  succeeded  in  testing  the  truth 
of  the  popular  behef.  The  palace  of  the  king  stood  on  a 
triangular  bastion,  facing  the  north-west,  and  protected 
on  two  sides  by  the  moat.  It  is  now  a  shapeless  mass  of 
debris  and  fallen  brickwork. 

Our  attein]:)ts  to  penetrate  the  ruined  galleries  were 
defeated  by  the  insufferable  heat  which  glowed  within 
the  waUs,  and  the  oppressive  smell  caused  by  the  bats 
that  inhabit  them  in  thousands.      Numbers    of  snakes 


*  Mahmcanso,  ch.  xxxviii. 

"^  A  writer  in  the  nvmiber  of 
Young  Cei/lon,  for  April,  1851, 
p.  77,  says  tliat  liavinjr  succeeded  in 
penetrating  the  great  gallery,  which 
innst  have  been  constructed  nearly 
fourteen  hundred  years  ago,  he  found 
it  "covered  with  a  thick  coat  of 
chunam,  as  white  and  as  bright  as  if 


it  were  only  a  month  old,  with  fresco 
paintings,  chiefly  of  lions,  whence  its 
name  Singha-gu-i  or  Sigiri.''  This 
serves  to  con-ect  an  eiTor  in  Forbks's 
Eleven  Years  in  Ceylon,  val.  ii.  p.  2, 
in  wliich  the  existence  of  the  lions  is 
disputed,  and  Sihhari  is  said  to  be  an 
ordinary  term  for  any  ''hill-fort." 


Chap.  I.]  DEVIL-DANCERS.  581 

were  also  discerned  amongst  the  mounds  of  ])rickwork 
over  wliich  we  were  obliged  to  clamber.  A  bear  which 
we  disturbed  retreated  into  one  of  the  caves,  many  of 
which  are  to  be  found  amongst  the  ruins ;  and  after 
a  toilsome  scramble  we  returned  to  bathe  and  breakfast 
in  the  cool  pansela  of  green  branches,  which  the  corale 
of  Enamalua,  the  chief  of  the  district,  had  constructed 
for  our  reception. 

Whilst  seated  here,  we  witnessed  the  extravagances 
of  two  professional  devil-dancers,  who  were  performing 
a  ceremony  in  front  of  a  httle  altar,  for  the  recovery  of 
a  patient  who  was  dying  close  by.  It  is  difficult  to 
imagine  anything  more  demoniac  than  the  aspect, 
movements,  and  noises  of  these  wild  creatures ;  their 
features  distorted  with  exertion  and  excitement;  and 
their  hair,  in  tangled  ropes,  tossed  in  all  directions,  as 
they  swung  rouiul  in  mad  contortions. 


DEVIL-DANCERS. 


A  few  miles  from  Sigiri,  we  crossed  a  low  ridge  of 
hills, — the  Hudu-Kanda,  the  summit  of  which  com- 
mands a  wonderfid  prospect  over  the  waving  expanse 
of  verdure  that  clothes  the  apparently  unbounded 
range  of  forest  stretching  to  the  verge  of  the  horizon. 
Far  to  the  east,  the  broad  stream  of  the  Maha-welli- 
ganga  is  discernible,  with  the  sunbeams  dancing  on  its 
waters ;  —  here  and  there  a  single  sohtary  peak  rises 
abruptly  above  the  tops  of  the  trees,  and  the  vast  ruins 
of  Pollanarrua,  with  its  enormous  dagobas,  each  a  inoun- 

r  p    3 


582 


TH?:    RUIXRI)    CITIES. 


[Fart  X. 


tain  of  brickwork,  are  as  consi)icuoiis  as  the  liills  tlieiu- 
selves  in  the  distance. 

Li  this  part  of  our  journey  liuman  habitations  Avere 
rare ;  and  where  they  existed  they  were  so  closely  con- 
cealed by  the  trees  that  the  whole  scene  appeared  a 
leafy  solitude.  The  only  road  within  miles  was  the  one 
we  had  left  at  Enamahia  ^ ;  and  it  is  characteristic  of 
the  people  of  this  region  that,  on  traversing  the  forest, 
they  calculate  their  march,  not  by  the  eye  or  by 
measures  of  chstance,  but  by  sounds.  Thus,  a  "  dog's 
cry"  indicates  a  quarter  of  a  mile ;  a  "  cocts  crow" 
something  more  ;  and  a  "  /wo,"  imphes  the  space  over 
Avhicli  a  man  can  be  heard  when  shouting  that  particu- 
lar monosyllable  at  the  pitch  of  his  voice.-  As  all  these 
tests  are  more  or   less  conjectural,   the  rephes  of  the 


'  A  cm'ious  circumstance  con- 
nected with  the  rebellion  which  was 
imminent  at  the  moment  when  I  was 
traversing  this  portion  of  Ceylon,  was 
reported  to  me  by  the  piincipal  civil 
officer,  in  whose  district  it  occmTed. 
Preparatory  to  the  maix-h  of  the 
Pretender  to  .Vnarajapoora,  the  mass 
of  the  population  were  observed  to 
tmn  out  and  address  themselves 
earnestly  to  clear  a  road  through  the 
forest,  to  the  north  of  Komegalle  in 
the  dii-ection  of  Dambool,  and  when 
inten'ogated,  they  replied  that  a  gi-eat 
personage  was  expected  to  an-iA-e  from 
India  to  be  crowned  at  the  temple. 
Does  not  this  recall  the  summons  of 
the  prophet,  "  Prepare  j/e  the  tea;/  of 
the  Lord,  make  Ilis  path  straif/ht,'^ 
Isaiah  iv.  4  ;  Matthew  iii.  3  ; — a  cry 
which  is  rendered  palpably  intelligi- 
ble when  traversing  a  "  wilderness  " 
such  as  this  ovcr-nm  with  jvmgle 
and  trees.  It  is  remarkable  that  a 
similar  expression  occurs  in  the 
Maluncanso,  ch.  xxv.,  in  describing 
the  march  of  Dutugaimimu  to  recover 
the  sacred  city  from  the  usm-per 
Elala,  when  "  havinff  had  a  road 
cleared  thruw/h  the  n-iMeme.ss,  he 
mounted  his  state  elephant  and  took 
the  field,"  p.  loO. 

-  This   seems   identical   with   the 


Scotch  expression  of  "  a  far  cry  to 
Loch  Awe."  It  is  a  cmious  coin- 
cidence that  the  Singhalese  concur 
with  the  most  ancient  people  of  the 
East,  the  Chalda?ans,  Arabs,  and 
Egyptians,  not  only  in  coimting  time 
by  periods  of  seven  days,  but  by  dis- 
tinguishing the  days  of  the  week  by 
the  planets  whose  names  ha^e  been 
coufeiTed  on  them.  Thus  Saturday 
by  the  Romans  and  all  modem 
Em-opean  nations  has  been  called 
from  Satiini ;  Sunday  fi'om  the  Sun  ; 
Monday  from  the  3Ioon ;  Tuesday 
from  Mars ;  AYednesday  fi'om  3Ier- 
citri/ ;  Thm'sday  from  Jupiter ;  and 
Fiiday  from  Venus.  Amongst  the 
Singhalese  the  names  are  as  follows : — 
Smiday  "  Irida,"  fi-oni  *'  iru "  the 
Smi,  and  da  a  contraction  of  dawasa 
a  day;  Monday,  "Sanduda"  from 
"  Ch(indu)/a,"  tlie  Moon ;  Tuesday, 
'^  Angaharuwada"  fi-om  Anr/aharuua, 
the  planet  Mars  ;  Wednesday  '•  J}ad- 
adada,"  from  "  Buda,"  the  planet 
MercuiT ;  Thursday  •'  Brahiispatinila  ' 
from  '*  Brahaspati,"  the  planet  Ju- 
piter ;  Friday,  "  Sicurada "  from 
"  Sikura  "  the  planet  Venus  ;  and 
Satm-day,  "Senasurada"  from  "  Sen- 
asura,'^  the  planet  Saturn.  For  this 
remark  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Mercer, 
late  of  the  f'evlon  Civil  Service. 


CuAP.  I.]  POLLANAREUA.  583 

natives  as  to  distances  in  Ceylon,  must  always  be  taken 
with  caution ;  for,  unlike  the  peasantry  of  Scotland, 
whose  energy  leads  them  to  disregard  toil  and  under- 
estimate the  ground  to  be  travelled,  a  Singhalese,  when 
asked  the  way  to  the  next  \illage,  generally  adds  to 
instead  of  diminishing  its  remoteness. 

On  the  15th  we  forded  the  Amban-ganga,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Cottawelle,  a  Singhalese  village  partly  in- 
habited by  Moors,  where  I  halted  for  the  day,  in  order 
to  hold  one  of  those  interviews  with  the  people  which, 
as  already  explained,  formed  the  special  object  of  my 
journey.^ 

The  following  morning,  recrossing  the  Amban-ganga, 
we  rode  through  the  forest  to  Topare,  as  Pollanarrua, 
the  mediaeval  capital  of  Ceylon,  is  now  called,  probably 
from  a  corruption  of  "Topa-weva,"  the  name  of  the 
beautiful  tank  on  the  margin  of  which  the  ruined  city 
stands.  Its  waters  have  long  shrunk  witliin  a  circum- 
scribed area,  and  the  grand  embankment  along  which 
we  rode  for  some. miles  now  encloses  a  broad  savannah, 
beyond  which,  towering  above  the  highest  trees,  we 
discern  the  lofty  dagobas  and  the  summit  of  the  great 
temple. 

No  scene  can  be  conceived  more  impressive  than 
this  beautiful  city  must  have  been  in  its  pristine  splen- 
dour: its  stately  buildings  stretching  along  the  shore 
of  the  lake,  their  gilded  cupolas  ^  rellected  on  its  still 
expanse  and  embowered  in  the  dense  fohage  of  the  sur- 
rounchng  forests.  At  the  present  day  it  is  by  far  the 
most  remarkable  assemblage  of  ruins  in  Cevlt^n,  not 
alone  from  the  number  and  dimensions,  but  from  tlie 
architectural  superiority,  of  its  buildings. 

Pollanarrua  was  a  place  of  importance  at  a  very  early 
period,  so  much  so  that  the  king,  Sri  Sangabo  III.,  without 


'  A  detailed  account  of  these  meet-  \       *  Tlie   Mahmmnso   says  that   the 

inos  ^^■ill  be  found  in  the  papers  laid  enonnous  domeof  the  IJankot  Dajroha 

before   Parliament,  on   tlie  altairs  of  was   covered   witli    ^ildiii^'-,   by    the 

Ceylon,  a.d.  1840,  p.  187.  i  Queen  of  Prakranm  Palm.  cli.  Ix.xii. 

1-  I-  4 


584  THE    RUINED    CITIES.  [Part  X. 

altogether  deserting  the  capital,  made  this  his  favourite 
residence,  and  died  here  a.  d.  718.^  It  had  similar 
attractions  for  his  successors,  and  Mahindo  I.,  towards 
the  close  of  the  eighth  centmy,  abandoned  Anarajapoora 
for  Pollanarrua,  where  he  erected  a  palace  and  numerous 
temples,  one  of  which  contained  a  statue  of  Buddha  in 
gold.  Owing  to  the  increasing  power  of  the  Malabars, 
the  seat  of  government  was  never  again  permanently 
restored  to  the  north.  Pollanarrua  itself  was  captured 
and  sacked  by  tliose  insatiable  marauders  hi  1023"^, 
and  remained  in  tlieir  hands  till  recovered  by  Wijayo 
Baliu,  the  ancestor  of  the  renowned  Praki'ama,  a.d. 
1071.  Here  Prakrama  was  crowned  in  1153,  and 
here  he  and  his  ancestors  lield  theu"  cornet  till  fresh 
disasters  at  the  hands  of  theu'  intestine  foes,  including 
the  plunder  of  Pollanarrua  a  second  time  ^,  compelled  the 
native  sovereigns  to  retire  finally  from  their  nortliern 
dominions,  and  forced  them  hi  the  fomteenth  centmy 
to  found  new  capitals  in  the  mountams  of  Eohuna. 

It  was  to  Prakrama  Balm  I.  that .  Pollanarrua  owed 
the  magnificence  which  is  attested  by  the  ruins  that 
survive  to  the  present  day,  and  it  is  questionable 
whether  any  of  the  existing  monuments  at  Topare  are 
of  a  date  anterior  to  his  accession.^ 

The  Mahawanso  tells  us  that,  in  his  time,  the  city 
extended  nine  gows  (or  about  thirty  miles)  in  length, 
by  four  in  breadth.^  He  smi'ounded  it  ^\dth  a  wall  and 
gates,  constructed  a  fort  within  tlie  enceinte,  built  a 
residence  for  the  royal  family,  erected  numerous  temples 
for  the  national  worship,  planted  gardens,  fomided 
hospitals  and  schools,  and  rendered  the  new  capital  in 
eveiy  essential  a  rival  worthy  of  the  old.  The  Eankot 
Dagoba,  whose  enormous  mound  of  masonry  still  towers 


1  TrKXorR's  Epitome,  &c.,  p.  .33.  ^  For  an  account  of  the  works  con- 

2  Rajcnali,  p.  256,  kc.  stnicted  by  Prakrama   I.  at   Polla- 
^  Pollanarnia  was  plundered  a  se-  nannia,  see  ante,  \o\.  I.  Pj.  ni.  ch.  xi. 

coud  time  by  the  Malabars,  a.d.  1204.  p.  408,  409. 

3Iahaicanso,  ch.  Ixxix.                            i  -^  MaJuiwanso,  ch.  Ixxii. 


Chap.  I.] 


PLAN   OP   POLLANARRUA. 


585 


SKETCH 


SHOWING   THE    liELATlVE   POSITION 


OP  A   PORTION    OF  THE   ANCIIiNT   CITY 


PI  LLARS.BRICKS 
&   RUINS 


POLLANARRUA. 


588  THE    KUINED    CITIES.  [Part  X. 

above  tlic  forest,  was  erected  by  his  queen,  and  the 
beautiful  hike,  on  whose  shores  these  surprising  edifices 
were  raised,  aUhough  formed  long  before  his  reign  ^, 
was  indebted  for  its  enlarged  dimensions  to  the  lavish 
munificence  of  Prakrama. 

The  remains  of  Topare  appear  to  have  been  unknown 
to  the  Portuguese  writers  on  Ceylon,  although  the 
Singhalese  have  a  tradition  that  the  injury  done  to 
some  of  the  monuments  was  occasioned  by  some  Portu- 
guese soldiers,  who  dug  there  in  search  of  treasure. 
Valentyn  and  the  other  Dutch  authors  are  equally  silent 
regarding  them,  and  although  Knox  dming  his  captivity 
traversed  the  country  in  which  the  ruins  are  situated, 
he  was  not  aware  of  their  existence.  A  British  officer 
on  his  march  from  Bintenne  to  Minery,  in  1817,  heard 
of  them  for  the  first  time  from  his  Singhalese  guides, 
and  in  1820,  Mi\  Pagan,  of  the  2nd  Ceylon  regiment, 
was  the  first  Enghshman  who  visited  and  described  the 
forgotten  city.^ 

Prom  the  village  of  Oodoovelli,  where  our  tents  had 
been  pitched  below  a  patriarchal  tamarind  tree,  old 
enough  to  have  witnessed  the  pomp  and  triumphs  of 
king  Prakrama,  a  walk  of  less  than  a  mile  along  the 
bend  of  the  lake  brought  us  to  the  ruins  of  the  palace. 
This  building  forms  a  square  with  a  large  entrance 
hall  in  front,  the  whole  raised  upon  a  terrace  of  cut 
stone.  The  material  is  brick  coated  with  chunam,  and 
richly  decorated,  not  only  around  the  doorways  and 
windows,  but  in  the  numerous  compartments  into  which 
the  exterior  is  divided  by  pilasters.  The  outer  walls 
have    suffered  little   fi^om  time,  but  are  spht  in  all  di- 


^  It  was  made  by  Upatissa  II., 
A.D.  400,  Bajaratnacari,  p.  74.  It 
appears  to  have  been  repaired  by 
Kinp-  Sena,  A.D.  8.38.  —  TraNotrK's 
Jipitome,  p.  35. 

'  Mr.  Fagan's  account  appeared 
in  the  Ceylon  Gazette,  for  OcIoIkt, 
Ist,  1820,  whence  it  was  copied  into 
the  Asiatic  Journal,  vol.  ix.  p.    1;!7, 


and  vol.  xvi.  p.  164.  Major  Forbes 
saw  and  described  the  place  in  18;n, 
Eleven  Years  in  Ceylon,  vol.  i.  p.  .391. 
For  the  g-round  plan  whicli  accom- 
panies this  chapter,  I  am  indebted  to 
Mr.  Hall,  of  the  Siirveyor-General's 
Department,  by  whom  it  was  pre- 
pared in  1849. 


ClIAP.  1.] 


THE  PALACE  OF  POLLANARRUA. 


587 


rectioiis  ])y  tlie  rending  force  of  the  fig  trees,  whose 
seeds  germinating  in  the  roof,  have  sent  dowii  their 
roots,  penetrating  the  masonry  and  streaming  over  tlie 
walls  and  terraces  as  if  the  wood  had  been  congealed 
from  a  state  of  fluidity.  The  roof,  which  consisted  of 
brickwork,  has  partially  fallen  in,  but  several  chambers 


THE   PALACE   AT  POLLANARRUA. 


are  still  entire.  From  exploring  these,  however,  we  were 
deterred  by  the  heat  and  the  intolerable  stench  of  the 
bats.  Its  superior  state  of  preservation  leads  to  the 
conjecture,  that  this  remarkable  structure  is  of  a  some- 
what later  date  than  the  reign  of  Prakrama  Bahu.  But 
in  addition  to  this  its  site  and  elevation  do  not  cor- 
respond with  the  description  in  the  Mahaicanso  of  the 
palace  erected  by  him.  It  stands  near  the  southern 
extremity  of  the  city,  and  cannot  be  said  to  consist  of 
more  than  one  story,  whereas  the  royal  residence  of 
Prakrama  was   in    the    centre   of  Pollanarrua,  and  was 


588 


THE  euini:d  cities. 


[Pakt  X. 


"  seven  stories  high,  and  contained  four  thousand  rooms, 
with  hundi'eds  of  stone  cohunns."  ^ 

The  present  edifice  was  probably  constructed  at  the 
close  of  the  tliirteenth  centiu-y,  when  the  city,  after  its 
destruction  by  the  Malabars,  was  restored  by  Wijayo 
Bahu  IV.^,  and  the  remains  of  the  original  palace 
are  to  be  sought  further  north,  in  the  direction  of 
the  Jayta-wana-rama,  where  groups  of  stone  pillars 
and  mounds  of  brickwork  and  debris  serve  to  indicate 
its  site.  This  is  rendered  the  more  hkely  by  the 
presence  on  the  spot  of  the  Sat-mahal-prasada,  whose 
name  perpetuates  the  memory  of  "  the  seven-storied 
house." 


:.rr"#^ff 


THE   SAT  MAHAL-PRASADA, 


In  front  of  this  extraordinaiy  building  lies  an 
enormous  carved  slab,  called  the  Gal-jyota,  or  "  Stone- 
book,"  from  its  resemblance  to  a  Singhalese  volume  of 
olas.  It  is  a  monohth  twenty-six  feet  in  length  by 
more  than  four  broad,  and  two  feet  tliick,  bearing 
an   inscription,   one    passage     of    which     records     that 


'  Mahairanso,  ch.  Ixxii. 


^  Mahanansu,  ch.  Ixxxvi.  Ixxx-s-iii. 


Chap.  1.] 


THE    ROUND    HOUSE    AT   TOPARE. 


58J 


"  this  engraved  stone  is  the  one  which  the  strong  men 
of  the  King  Nissanga  brouglit  from  the  mountain  of 
IVIihintaLa  at  Anarajapoora,"  a  distance  of  more  than 
eighty  miles. ^  The  edges  of  the  slab  are  richly  carved 
with  ornamental  borders  representing  rows  of  the  hanza, 
the  sacred  goose  of  the  Buddhists. 

A  fiuther  circumstance  which  seems  to  fix  the  posi- 
tion of  the  palace  of  Prakrama  at  this  spot  is,  that  in 
connection  with  it  the  king  is  said,  in  the  Mahawanso, 
to  have  built  many  "outer  halls  made  of  stone  of  an 
oval  form,  with  large  and  small  gates,  ghttering  walls 
and  staircases,"  ^  and  close  by  the  Sat-mahal-prasada 
there  is  a  biulding  which  corresponds  with  this  de- 
scription. 


THE   ROUND    HOUSE   AT   TOPARh 


This  curious  edifice,  which  stands  on  a  terrace 
and  appears  to  have  been  hypa^thral,  is  approached  on 
four  sides  by  staircases  and  gates.     The  walls  are  about 


'  A  translation  of  the  entire  of  this  I  given  in  the  Appendix  to  Tikxoi'k's 
remarkable  inscription,  which  was  en-     Epitome,  p.  94. 
sraved   about  the   year  1106  A. p.,  is  '       *  3Iahmranso,  ch.  Iwii. 


590 


THE    RUIXED    CITIES. 


[PartX. 


twenty  feet  high,  and  are  divided  into  compartments 
by  pilasters.  If  it  be  not  the  work  of  Prakrama,  it  is 
probably  that  of  Kitsen  Kisdas,  one  of  his  immediate 
successors,  who  usurped  the  throne  in  1187,  and  who, 
according  to  the  Bajavali,  "  built  the  Kiri-dagoba  at 
Pollanarrua,  a  house  for  the  dalada,  and  a  temple  of  a 
globular  form  for  the  same."  ^ 

Another  remarkable  building  in  the  same  group  is 
the  Dalada  Malaga wa,  the  depository  of  the  sacred 
tooth  during  its  enshrinement  at  Pollanarrua.  The 
temple  originally  destined  for  this  piu'pose  was  built  by 
Praki'ama  Bahu  ^,  "  at  a  yodun's  distance  from  the 
palace ; "  but  the  ruins,  as  they  present  themselves  at 
the  present  day,  so  closely  conform  to  the  description 
of  the  Dalada  temple,  as  recorded  in  the  inscription  on 
the  great  stone  at  the  Sat-makal-prasada,  as  to  leave  no 
doubt  that  this  is  the  identical  shrine  formed  by  Elrti 
Nissanga  about  the  year  a.d.  1198.  —  "It  had  a  covered 
terrace  around  it,  and  an  open  hall  decorated  with 
wreaths  and  festoons,  and  hkewise  gateways  and  waUs."  ^ 
How  nearly  this  corresponds  to  the  ground  plan  of  the 
ruin  may  be  seen  from  the  subjoined  survey. 


PLAN   OP  THE  DALADA  MALAGAWj?.. 


Proceeding  northward  along  the  great  street,  which, 


^  Hajavalu  p.  255. 

*  Ma/iftwmiso,  ch.  Ixxiii. 

^  Insfriptioii,  Sec.  See  Appendix 
to  TrRXom's  Epitome,  tS'c,  p.  94 ; 
see  also  HajurnttKicdri,  p.  92.    It  was 


restored  by  Wijayo  Balm  lY.  a.d. 
1279  {Muluni-anso,  ch.  Ixxxvii.),  and 
again  bv  Prakrama  Balm  III.  a.d. 
I.'n9  d'hi,}.  rli.  Ixxxviii.). 


Chap.  I.]  THE    RANKOT   DAGOBA.  591 

though  grass  grown  is  clearly  discernible  by  tlic  founda- 
tions of  the  houses  that  Une  it  on  either  side,  the  path 
leads  to  the  Eankot  Dagoba  \  a  sohd  mass  of  circular 
brickwork,  186  feet  in  diameter,  and  apparently  about 
two  hundred  feet  high. 


The  destruction  of  the  crust  of  chunani  with  wliich 
the  monument  was  originally  coated,  has  permitted  the 
lodgment  of  seeds,  and  the  trees  and  chmbing  plants 
with  which  it  is  now  covered  have  fractured  it  in  every 
direction,  and  must  eventually  consunnnate  its  destruc- 
tion. One  pecuharity  which  characterises  this  Dagoba, 
is  the  number  of  small  structures  resembhng  chapels, 
that  are  ranged  around  its  base,  and  Avhich,  with  their 
profusion  of  ornaments,  add  considerably  to  tlie  pic- 
turesque appearance  of  the  pile.  These,  from  some 
expressions  in  the  inscriptions  on  the  great  stone  tablet, 
would  appear  to  have  been  added  by  King  Kirti 
Mssanga. 

Still  advancing  along  the  main  street,  we  come  next 
to  an  immense  edifice  of  brick,  in  the  highest  style  of 
ornamented  southern  Indian  architecture.  This  is  the 
Jayta-wana-rama,  a  temple  of  great  dimensions,  built 
by  Prakrama  Rahu  I.,  after  the  model,  it  is  said,  of  one 
erected  by  Buddha  himself  at  Kapih-vastu,  the  place  of 


'  Called  likovrise  the  Ruan-irelle-sm/e,  or  "  place  of  o-oldoii  dust." 


o9-2  THE    RUINED    CITIES.  [Part  X. 

his  birth.'  The  exterior  is  profusely  decorated  with  ar- 
chitectiu'al  devices  m  chunam,  and  the  character  of  the 
whole,  so  imhke  that  of  the  Buddliist  buildings  in 
other  parts  of  the  island,  is  corroborative  of  the  state- 
ment in  the  Mahawanso,  that  Praki'ama  the  Great 
brought  artists  from  the  opposite  coast  of  India  to  con- 
struct the  buildings  at  Pollanarrua,  and  repair  those  of 
Anarajapoora.-  The  style  seems  to  belong  to  the  Sara- 
cenic period,  and  the  grand  entrance  to  the  temple  at 
the  eastern  end  is  flanked  by  two  polygonal  turrets, 
which  forcibly  recall  the  outhne  of  the  Kotub  ]\£nar  at 
Dellii.  The  porch  was  originally  guarded  on  either 
side  by  two  figures  in  alto-relievo,  only  one  of  which  re- 
mains, and  at  the  extremity  of  the  main  aisle,  is  reared 
a  gigantic  statue  of  Buddlia,  formed  of  brickwork  coated 
over  with  chunam.  It  is  partially  concealed  by  the 
debris  of  the  fallen  roof,  but  the  portion  uncovered 
measures  fifty-eight  feet  in  height  from  the  knees  to  the 
crown  of  the  head. 

I  had  reason  to  regret  that  the  destruction  of  the 
roof  of  this  extraordinaiy  temple,  and  my  want  of  pre- 
paration for  a  special  examination  of  that  portion  of  the 
ruins,  rendered  it  impossible  for  me  to  determine  a 
highly  interesting  point  in  reference  to  this  colossal 
statue.  Allusion  has  already  been  made  to  the  identity 
in  certain  particulars  observable  between  the  Buddhist 
temples  of  Ava  and  those  of  Ceylon.^  Amongst  the 
buikhngs  at  Paganmyo,  on  the  L'awaddi,  is  a  pagoda 
kno^vn  as  the  "  cave  of  Ananda,"  and  in  it  a  gilded 
figure  of  Buddha,  similar  in  attitude  to  that  in  the 
Jayta-wana-rama,  stands  in  a  vaulted  cell,  situated  at 
the  fiu'ther  extremity  of  a  darkened  aisle.  Into  the 
alcove  in  which  it  is  placed  the  only  hght  tliat  is  ad- 
mitted  streams   through   an   opening   so   situated  as  to 


'  Hajaratnacari,    p.     18;     Mahn-  ■  so'sT^HiKE^T'sIliston/of  Chrisfiani/!/ 

vciii.so,  eh.   Ixxvii. ;   Rnjavuli,  p.  252.  I  in  Ce;/I(»i,  p.  38. 
A  side-^new  of  tho  elevation  of  this  -  ^IdhairanRO,  rh.  Ixxv.,  Ixxvii. 

temple  will  be  found  in  Sir  .1.  K.mkr-  *  See  (lufi;  p.  o7S. 


Chap.  L] 


THE    .TAYTA-^VANA-RA^[A. 


593 


THE   JATTA-WANA-RAMA. 


VOL.  II. 


Q  Q 


594 


THE    RUINED    (CITIES. 


[Pakt  X. 


be  unseen  by  the  spectator  in  front,  and  thence  it  is 
poured  hke  a  halo  over  the  head  of  the  glorified  object 
below.  ^ 


1 


SECTION    OF    A   BUDDHIST  TEMPLE   IN   AVA. 


This  mode  of  illuminating  an  interior  is  common  in 
the  rock-cut  Basihcas  of  India,  in  which  "  one  undivided 
volume  of  light,  coming  through  a  single  opening  over 
head,  falls  directly  on  the  altar  or  other  principal  object, 
leaving  the  rest  of  the  structure  in  comparative  ob- 
scurity."^ The  similarity  of  position  and  the  identity 
of  attitude  between  the  two  statues  in  Ava  and  Ceylon, 
suggest  the  conjecture  that  the  figure  at  Pollanarrua, 
hke  that  at  Pagan-myo,  may  have  been  placed  in  the 
recess  which  it  occupies,  so  as  to  admit  of  being  lighted 
in  a  similar  manner  from  an  aperture  concealed  in  the 


^  Yule's  Embassy  to  Am,  p.  38. 

"^  Fergusson's  Handbook  of  Architecture,  vol.  i.  p.  27.  81.3. 


Chap.  I.]  THE    GAL-AVIIIARA    AT   TOPARE.  595 

roof;  and  it  will  be  an  interesting  inquiry,  for  some 
future  explorer  provided  with  the  necessary  facilities, 
to  determine,  by  a  minute  examination  of  the  walls, 
whether  they  may  not  have  been  so  constructed  as  to 
cast  a  mysterious  hght  on  the  gilded  idol  below. 

Standing  on  the  same  terrace  wdth  the  Jayta-wana- 
rama,  is  another  dagoba  somewhat  smaller  than  the 
Rankot.  From  the  snowy  whiteness  of  the  chunam 
with  which  the  latter  was  covered,  it  acquired  the  epi- 
thet of  "  Kiri,"  which  signifies  milk.  In  its  original 
purity  this  enormous  dome,  as  fair  as  marble  and  sur- 
mounted by  a  gilded  spire,  must  have  been  an  object 
of  beauty  amidst  the  scenery  which  surrounds  it.  It 
was  built  A.D.  1187^,  and  after  a  lapse  of  nearly  seven 
hundred  years,  the  tee  by  which  it  is  crowned  remains 
almost  uninjured,  and  the  outline  of  the  dagoba  is  still 
clearly  defined,  withstanding  the  disruptions  caused  by 
the  trees  which  have  rooted  themselves  in  its  fissures. 

In  close  proximity  to  these  sacred  monuments,  a 
group  of  stone  pillars  marks  the  spot,  at  which  the 
gam-sabaiva,  or  council  of  the  municipahty,  held  its 
meetings  to  administer  justice  in  disputes  between  the 
citizens.  This  ancient  institution,  identical  in  its  objects 
with  the  village  punchayets  of  Hindustan,  the  yspoucrla  of 
the  Greeks,  and  the  assembly  of  "  the  elders  in  the  gate  " 
among  the  Jews  and  the  Eomans,  still  exists  in  Ceylon, 
and  throughout  the  more  secluded  districts  arbitrates 
in  all  matters  affecting  property  and  morals,  excepting 
only  the  graver  offences  and  crimes,  of  which  cogni- 
sance is  taken  by  the  constituted  tribunals.- 

But  the  most  remarkable  of  all  the  antiquities  at 
Topare,  is  the  Gal-wihara,  a  rock  temple  hollowed  in 
the  face  of  a  chfi*  of  granitic  stone  which  overhangs  the 
level  plain  at  the  north  of  the  city.  So  far  as  I  am 
aware,  it  is  the  only  example  in  Ceylon  of  an  attempt  to 
fashion  an  architectural  design  out  of  the  rock  after  the 


'  Fq/avnU,  p.  254.  2  XC^t^^'s  (\,/hn.  ]i1.  ii.  cli 

Q   U  "2 


596 


THE    RUINED    CITIES. 


[Part  X. 


^3^'1M&  ^^#^,;  r 


Chap.  I.]  THE    GAL-WIHARA    AT   TOPAKE.  597 

manner  of  the  cave  temples  of  Ajmita  and  EUora.  Tiie 
temple  itself  is  a  little  cell,  with  entrances  between 
columns ;  and  an  altar  at  the  rear  on  which  is  a  sedent 
statue  of  Buddha,  admirably  carved,  all  forming  unde- 
tached  parts  of  the  living  rock.  Outside,  to  the  left,  is 
a  second  sedent  figure,  of  more  colossal  dimensions,  and 
still  more  richly  decorated ;  and  to  tlie  right  are  two 
statues  hkewise  of  Buddha,  in  the  usual  attitudes  of 
exhortation  and  repose.  The  length  of  the  reclining 
figure  to  the  right  is  forty-five  feet,  tlie  upright  one  is 
twenty-three,  and  the  sitting  statue  to  the  left  sixteen 
feet  from  the  pedestal  to  the  crown  of  the  head. 

Between  the  little  temple  and  the  upright  statue  tlie 
face  of  the  rock  has  been  sloped  and  levelled  to  receive 
a  verbose  inscription,  no  doubt  commemorative  of  the 
virtues  and  munificence  of  the  founder.  The  Maha- 
wanso  records  the  formation  of  this  rock  temple  by 
Prakrama  Bahu,  at  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century, 
and  describes  the  attitude  of  the  statues  "  in  a  sittinijj 
and  a  lying  posture,  wliich  he  caused  to  be  hewn  in  the 
same  stone."  ^  With  the  date  thus  authenticated,  one 
cannot  avoid  being  struck  by  the  fact  that  the  art  ex- 
hibited in  the  execution  of  these  sin"iilar  monuments 
of  Ceylon  was  far  in  advance  of  that  which  was  })re- 
valent  in  Em^ope  at  the  period  when  they  were  erected. 

The  objects  here  described  are  only  those  which  he 
in  one  direct  line,  and  in  the  comparatively  open  ground 
along  the  embankment  of  the  lake  ;  these,  however,  form 
but  a  hmited  portion  of  the  ruins  existing  at  Topare  ;  the 
jungle  for  a  considerable  distance  around  is  filled  with 
similar  remains,  mounds  of  brickwork,  carved  stones, 
broken  statues,  fallen  columns,  inscribed  slabs,  and  the 
walls  and  foundations  of  overthrown  buildino-s.  No- 
thing  so  lofty  as  the  great  dagobas,  or  so  grand  as  the 


^  JlciJuiiCdttso,  ch.  Ixxvii. 
Q  a   3 


598  THE    RUINED   CITIES.  [Paet  X. 

Jayta-waiia-rama  is  likely  to  have  escaped  observation, 
but  the  natives  declare  that  the  forest  abounds  with 
other  monuments  ;  and  one  offered  to  conduct  liie  to  a 
fort  a  few  miles  distant,  with  a  statue  of  a  king  on  the 
rampart.  Of  the  domestic  edifices  and  the  houses  of  the 
people,  not  a  vestige  remains,  except  a  few  wells,  and 
some  baths  fed  by  conduits  from  the  lake. 

We  rode  back  to  the  village  of  Oodoovelh  by  the 
gi'ass-grown  street  of  the  ancient  capital,  the  same 
along  which  the  Singhalese  chroniclers  relate  that  the 
Great  Praki'ama,  "  arraying  himself  ^\dth  royal  apparel, 
and  mounted  on  an  elephant,  with  a  golden  umbrella 
over  his  head,"  passed  in  the  pomp  of  his  mihtary 
triumphs  to  return  thanks  for  his  \ictories  at  the  shrine 
of  the  dalada.^ 

Close  by  the  great  tamarind  tree,  under  which  oin- 
tents  were  pitched,  was  a  tope  of  coco-nut  palms,  that 
proved  to  be  the  resort  of  an  innumerable  colony  of 
plumb-headed  paroquets.^  Our  arrival  having  taken 
place  in  the  forenoon,  whilst  the  bu'ds  were  all  away, 
we  were  not  at  first  aware  of  their  habits ;  but  about 
sunset  as  we  were  preparing  for  cUnner,  they  began  to 
come  back  in  great  numbers,  chattering,  screaming,  and 
romping  vnth.  delight,  as  they  reunited  after  their  day's 
excursion.  Every  minute  the  din  increased  as  the 
stragglers  came  in,  till  at  length  their  noise  faii'ly 
drowned  om'  voices  in  the  tents.  By  degrees  the 
racket  subsided,  and  as  soon  as  it  was  dark  the  whole 
multitude  sank  into  silence  and  repose.  But  at  dawning 
a  similar  scene  was  re-enacted,  one  sleepless  individual 
awoke  its  mate  and  commenced  a  rapid  patter  of  fehci- 
tations,  another  and  another  succeeded,  until  the  whole 
tribe  were  in  excitement,  moving  along  the  fronds  of 
the  palms,  shaldng  the  dew  from  tliek  plumage,  bowing, 
clamouring,    coquetting,    and    preening    then'    feathers. 


3Iahmcanso,  ch.  Ixxiii.  *  Pal<eoniis  Akxandri,  Liiin. 


Chap.  I.]  TOPARE. 


599 


At  length  the  first  detachment  took  its  departure  for 
the  forest,  others  followed  in  rapid  succession,  and  by 
the  time  the  sun  was  risen,  the  whole  of  the  noisy- 
community  had  dispersed,  and  we  were  free  to  turn 
again  to  sleep. 


Q  Q    4 


600  TIIK    KriXEl)    CITIES.  [Part  X. 


CHAP.  11. 

AIINERY A^AKUAPOOEA  —  AXD    THE    AVEST   COAST. 

A  day's  ride  under  the  shade  of  the  forest  brought  us 
from  Topare  to  tlie  beautiful  artificial  Lake  of  Minery, 
passmg  on  om-  Avay  the  tank  of  Girentalla,  wliich,  but 
for  the  vicuiity  of  the  "  inland  sea,"  by  whicli  it  is 
echpsed,  would  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  wonders  of 
the  island.  Universal  acclaim  pronounces  Minery,  and 
the  surrounding  scenery,  to  be  the  most  charming  sylvan 
spot  in  Ceylon.  The  reservoir  is  upwards  of  twenty 
miles  in  circumference  ;  but,  as  it  hes  embayed  at  the 
confluence  of  numerous  valleys,  separated  by  low  and 
wooded  steeps,  no  pouit  upon  its  margin  commands  a 
view  of  its  entu^e  expanse.  The  whole  scene,  the  hills, 
the  hanging  woods,  and  the  glassy  waters  of  the  lake, 
seemed  to  my  mind  hke  visions  of  Killarney,  warmed 
and  illumined  by  an  eastern  sun.  The  level  land,  where 
it  approached  the  lake,  waved  with  luxmiant  grass,  so 
high  that  it  almost  hid  the  horsemen ;  and  the  shallows 
were  so  profusely  covered  by  the  leaves  and  flowers  of  the 
lotus  as  to  conceal  the  still  water. 

We  rode  for  a  mile  along  the  great  embankment, 
which,  although  overgrown  with  lofty  trees,  remains 
nearly  perfect,  and  the  ancient  conduit  still  gives  issue 
to  the  pent-up  flood  that,  after  fertilising  a  considerable 
area,  flows  m  a  broad  stream  to  the  MahaweUi-oano-a. 

'  Co 

We  halted  for  the  night  in  a  rest-house,  near  the  resi- 
dence of  tlie  head  man  of  the  village,  close  by  a  little 
temple  consecrated  to  the  memory  of  the  inthvidual  by 
whom  the  tank  was  constructed. 

Tills  national  benefactor  was  no  other  than  the  apos- 


Chap.  II.]  LAKE    OF   MINKRY.  601 

tate  king,  Malia  Sen,  wlio,  ni  the  third  century  before 
Christ  \  temporarily  abjured  the  rehgion  of  Buddlia, 
persecuted  its  priests,  and  overthrew  its  temples  and 
statues.  But  having  subsequently  recanted  his  errors, 
he  sought  to  atone  for  his  sacrilege  by  restoring  the 
monuments  of  "  the  Vanquisher,"  and  conciliated  his 
outraged  subjects  by  the  construction  of  works  of  utility.^ 
Amongst  the  latter  was  the  Lake  of  Minery,  or  Jlinihin, 
whicli,  as  the  native  chronicles  say,  was  formed  by  the 
conjoint  labour  of  "  men  and  demons ; "  the  demons 
(or  Yakkos)  being  the  aborigines  of  the  district.^  It  is 
a  striking  illustration  of  the  grateful  remembrance  in 
which  the  people  still  hold  the  memory  of  the  king- 
by  whom  these  enormous  reservoii's  were  formed,  that 
they  not  only  forgot  his  apostasy,  but,  by  a  grateful 
apotheosis,  have  exalted  him  to  the  rank  of  a  god.  The 
small  chapel  near  which  we  rested  was  dedicated  to  the 
Mineria  Saivmy,  "  the  God  of  the  lake,"  and  contams, 
as  its  sole  relic,  a  bow  that  belonged  to  the  deified 
monarch. 

Till  within  the  last  few  years,  Minery  abounded  in 
wild  animals  to  such  an  extent,  that  it  became  one  of 
the  favourite  resorts  of  elephant  hunters  and  of  sports- 
men in  search  of  buffaloes  and  deer  ;  but  the  increased 
number  of  guns  in  the  hands  of  the  natives,  the  annual 
burning  of  the  tail  grass  by  the  peasantry,  and,  above  all, 
the  slaughter  committed  by  the  Moors,  who  dry  the  deer 
flesh  on  stages  in  the  sun,  ])reparatory  to  carrying  it  to 
the  Kandyan  hills,  have  reduced  the  quantities  of  game 
to  such  an  extent  that  the  spot  is  now  rarely  traversed  by 
Em^opeans. 

As  the  object  of  my  journey  rendered  it  essential  that 
I  should  visit  the  numerous  villages  in  the  heart  of  the 
island  before  proceeding  north  to  Anarajapoora,  I 
tiurned  westward  on  leavmg  IVIinery,  crossed  the  great 


1  See  ante,  Vol.  I.  Pt.  iii.  ch.  vi. 
p.  365  ;  and  ch.  viii.  Ih.  p.  381 ,  &f. 
^  Malmwanso,  cb.  xxxv.  p.  234. 


*  Rajaratnacari,   p.  00 ;   RaJavaU, 
p.  237. 


602 


THE    RUINED    CITIES. 


[Part  X. 


eastern  road  at  Haboorenna,  skirted  the  mysterious 
mountain  of  Eittagalla,  which,  from  its  having  been  in 
ancient  times  a  retreat  of  tlie  aboriginal  Yakkos,  is  still 
believed  by  the  peasantry  to  be  the  abode  of  "  demons,"  ^ 
and  reached  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  city  of  Vigitapoora, 
near  the  vast  Kalaweva  tank,  tlie  most  stupendous  work 
of  the  kind  in  Ceylon. 

The  tank  of  KalaAveva,  or  Kalawapi,  was  formed  by 
King  Dhatu  Sena  about  the  year  460,  by  drawing  an 
embankment  across  the  Kala-oya,  which,  flowing  from  the 
vicinity  of  the  great  temple  of  Dambool,  reaches  the  sea 
at  Calpentyn. 

Dhatu  Sena  was  the  monarch  before  alluded  to,  whose 
son,  Mogallana,  caused  him  to  be  bound  "  in  chains  and 
built  up  in  a  wall"  —  a  retributive  fate  which,  accord- 
ing to  the  Mahawmiso,  the  king  drew  down  upon  himself 
because,  when  forming  the  Kalawapi  tank,  he  buried 
a  priest  under  the  embankment,  who  was  too  pro- 
foundly absorbed  in  meditation  to  provide  for  his  own 
safety.^ 

The  work  was  conceived  on  the  grandest  imaginable 
scale.  The  area  submerged  was  more  than  forty  miles  in 
circumference,  the  waters  of  the  river  being  thrown  back 
by  the  embankment,  till  they  overflowed  the  low  lands 
round  the  rock,  which  overhangs  the  temple  of  Dambool, 
at  a  distance  of  twenty  miles  from  Kalaweva.  In  the 
opposite  direction  a  canal  more  than  sixty  miles  in  length 
communicated  with  Anarajapoora. 

The  returning  bund  of  the  tank  is  twelve  miles  long, 
and  the  spill-water,  formed  of  hammered  granite,  is 
aptly  described  by  Turnour  as  "  one  of  the  most  stu- 
pendous monmnents  of  misapplied  human  labour  in  the 
island."  ^  This  misapplication  was  exliibited  by  the  in- 
efficiency of  the  work,  for  the  superfluous  waters,  instead 


^  For  an  explanation  of  these 
convertible  terms,  see  Vol.  I.  Pt.  in. 
ch.  ii.  p.  330. 


2  Mahawanso,  ch.  xxxviii.  p.  262. 
See  ante,  Vol.  I.  Pt.  III.  ch.  ix.  p.  391, 
2  Note  to  the  diahawanso,  p.  11. 


Chap.  II.]  THE    GOOECENDA   TREE.  603 

of  escaping  by  tlie  intended  overfall,  burst  the  enor- 
mous enbankment,  and  the  tank  was  destroyed.  This 
took  place  at  a  period  so  remote,  that  the  area  of  the 
original  lake  now  forms  part  of  the  forest,  and  venerable 
trees,  whose  dimensions  attest  their  age,  cover  the  long 
ridge  of  the  embankment. 

Vigita-poora  having  been  the  residence  of  a  king  five 
hundred  years  before  the  Christian  era,  was  a  fortress 
and  a  city  when  Anarajapoora  was  still  a  village.^  One 
of  the  episodes  in  the  Mahaivanso  describes  its  siege  by 
Dutugaimunu,  B.C.  204,  when  it  was  surrounded  by  a 
"triple  battlement,  and  entered  by  a  gate  of  n-on."^  So 
late  as  the  twelfth  century,  the  city  was  rebuilt  and  its 
monuments  restored  by  Pi-akrama  Bahu  I. ;  but  such 
has  been  the  rapid  decay,  incident  to  the  chmate,  and 
consequent  on  the  desertion  of  the  place,  through  fear 
of  the  malaria  diffused  by  the  bursting  of  the  great  tank, 
that  hardly  a  vestige  now  remains  except  the  founda- 
tions of  the  fort,  a  dagoba  evidently  built  of  bricks  taken 
from  the  city  wall,  a  few  stone  troughs  and  cliiseled 
pillars,  and  the  mounds  of  earth  that  serve  to  mark  the 
site  of  the  ancient  buildings. 

Whilst  riding  near  the  fort,  oiu-  attention  was  sud- 
denly attracted  by  an  intolerable  stench  proceeding 
from  the  timber  of  a  tree  which  was  being  felled  by  a 
party  of  natives.  These,  equally  with  ourselves,  seemed 
overcome  by  the  abominable  smell  emitted  by  the 
tree,  wliich  is  known  by  the  Singhalese  as  the  goorcenda 
— a  name  expressive  of  this  offensive  quahty  of  its 
wood.  A  gentleman  long  engaged  in  the  department 
of  the  Sm'veyor-general,  assm-es  me,  that  such  is  the 
loathing  and  sickness  produced  by  its  fcetid  odoiu-,  that 
when  woodmen  are  engaged  in  feUing  a  boundary,  the 
simple  word  goorcenda !  passed  along  the  line  to  indicate 
that  one  of  these  odious  trees  requires  to  be  removed, 


*  It  was  the  capital  of  Panduwaasa,  B.C.  504. — Mahawunso,  di.  viii.  p.  55. 

*  Mahmvanso,  cli.  xxv.  p.  152. 


604 


Tin";    KUIXED   CITIES. 


[Part  X. 

and  all  who 


suffices  to  place  the  party  on  the  alert ; 
can,  effect  their  escape  from  the  vicinity.^ 

A  few  years  prior  to  my  tour  through  this  part  of 
Ceylon,  a  gentleman  who  accompanied  me  on  the  pre- 
sent journey  chanced  to  follow  the  track  of  a  herd  of 


COLOSSAL  STATUF,  AT   THK   AUKANA  WIHAKA. 

Avild  elephants   near   the   tank    of  Kalaweva,    when   he 
suddenly  found  himself   in  front  of  a  gigantic  statue  in 


1  The  Gooroenda  did  not  escape 
tlie  keen  obson'ation  of  Thunberp;, 
when  he  visited  Ceylon  in  A.D.  1770, 
but  the  specimens  brought  to  him 
contained  neither  flowers  nor  fruit, 
and  hence  he  couhl  only  decide  that 
it  was  not  the  StircuUa  fcctidd,  nor 
the  Ancu/yris  faiida.  —  Thtjnberg's 
Travels,' \o\.    iv.    pp.    2.'>4-5.      The 


Gooroenda  is  not  the  only  tree  so 
shunned  ;  Dr.  Gakdner  described  in 
the  Calcutta  Journal  of  Natural 
Hist,  (vol.  vii.  p.  2)  a  new  genus 
of  plants  which  he  found  in  Ceylon, 
antl  called  Dysoduhwinm.  from  the 
offensive  smell  of  all  the  species  com- 
prised in  it. 


Chap.  TI.] 


MIHINTAT^. 


G05 


the  forest,  whose  existence  had  been  previously  unknown 
to  Europeans.  He  led  us  to  the  sjjot,  and  our  sur])rise 
was  extreme  on  beholding  a  figin-e  of  Buddha,  nearly 
fifty  feet  in  height,  carved  from  the  face  of  a  granite  chff, 
and  so  detached  that  only  two  slender  ties  had  been  left 
unhewn  ot  the  back  to  support  the  colossus  by  maintain- 
ing its  attachment  with  living  stone. 

The  scene  was  most  remarkable.  As  usual,  ad- 
vantage had  been  taken  of  a  group  of  enormous  rocks, 
to  form  temples  and  panselas  in  the  fissin-es  between, 
and  prodigious  laboiu:  had  been  expended  in  hewing 
steps,  hollowing  niches,  and  excavating  baths.  There 
had  formerly  been  a  pandal  to  shelter  the  statue,  and 
holes  still  remain  in  the  rock  which  had  served  for 
the  insertion  of  the  columns  that  supported  it.  Tlie 
place  was  deserted  and  silent.  Close  by  dwelt  one 
solitaiy  priest,  with  no  attendant  save  a  neopliyte,  his 
pupil ;  he  told  us  that  the  statue  had  been  made  by 
order  of  Prakrama  Bahu  \  and  that  the  temple  in  its 
prosperity  was  called  Ncpgampaha  Estane,  but  since 
it  fell  into  ruins,  it  has  been  known  as  the  Aukana 
Wihara. 

Turning  northward  from  the  temple,  a  long  ride 
through  the  forest  brought  us  to  the  foot  of  the  sacred 
hill  of  Mihintala,  which  overlooks  the  ancient  capital 
Anarajapoora. 

Mihintala  is  undoubtedly  the  most  ancient  scene  of 
mountain  worsliip  in  Ceylon.  Venerated  by  the  Sin- 
ghalese ere  Gotama  impressed  his  foot-print  on  the  summit 
of  Adam's  Peak  ^,  its  liigliest  point  was  known  in  the 
sacred   legends   as   the  ChfF  of  Ambatthalo,    on    which 


^  At  Sessaeroowe  Kando  Wihara, 
on  the  southern  verge  of  tlie  Seven 
Corles,  there  is  a  statue  which,  in 
size,  attitude,  and  other  particulars, 
bears  a  close  resemblance  to  that 
described  above.  Some  of  equally 
colossal  dimensions  are  described  by 
]iUCIL\N.\N,  ill  his  Acvnntd  (if  Ml/surt; 


one  in  the  open  air  at  a  .Tain  temple 
in  Canara,  and  one  of  (Totania  Kaja, 
at  C'arculla,  38  feet  high.  \ol  "iii. 
p.  «;5,  410. 

-  3Iahavianso,  ch.  xiii.  p.  77  ; 
FoitUKs"  Eleveti  Years  iti  Ce)/lon, 
\-ol.  i.  p.  .384. 


606  THE   RUIXED    CITIES.  [Part  X. 

Maliindo  alighted  when  arriving  in  Ceylon  to  estabhsh 
the  rehgion  of  Buddha.  It  was  to  a  spot  near  the  sum- 
mit that  the  king  was  allured,  while  following  a  devo 
under  the  form  of  an  elk,  when  he  encountered  the  great 
apostle  and  became  his  first  convert  ^  ;  here  it  was  that 
Maliindo  died^,  and  on  this  holy  hill,  his  disciples,  in 
remembrance  of  his  \irtues,  bestowed  the  name  of  their 
divine  teacher.^ 

The  mountain^  is  one  of  a  few  insulated  elevations, 
which  here  rise  suddenly  from  the  plain  ;  its  height  is 
upwards  of  a  thousand  feet,  its  slopes  are  densely 
covered  with  wood,  and  its  summit  is  crowned  by  huge 
rocks  of  riven  granite.  Sigiri  is  a  hill  scarped  into  a  for- 
tress ;  Miliintala,  a  mountain  carved  into  a  temple.  The 
ascent  is  on  the  northern  side,  and  the  southern  face, 
which  is  almost  precipitous,  commands  a  magnificent 
view  which  reaches  across  the  island  from  sea  to  sea. 
A  flight  of  steps,  more  than  a  thousand  in  number^, 
partly  hewn  out  of  the  rock,  but  generally  formed  of 
slabs  of  granite  fifteen  feet  wide,  leads  from  the  base  to 
the  highest  peak  of  the  mountain. 

On  a  small  plateau  near  the  top,  the  dwelhngs  of  the 
priests  and  the  principal  buildings  are  grouped  round 
the  Ambustella  dagoba,  which  marks  the  spot  whereon 
occurred  the  interview  between  Mahinda  and  his  royal 
convert  Devenipiatissa.  Unhke  the  generality  of  such 
monuments,  the  Ambustella  is  built  of  stone  instead 
of  brick  ;    on  a  terrace  encircled  by  octagonal  pillars, 


*  3Iahaimnso,  cli.  xiv.  p.  79. 

^  B.C.  2(}(),  Maliawanso,  ch.  xx.  p. 
124. 

3  It  liad  previously  been  called 
"Missa"  {Mdhawanso,  ch.  xii.  p.  77), 
and  "  Missako  "  {Ibid.  ch.  xvii.  p.  10(5 ); 
and  after  Maliindo  had  deposited 
there  the  numerous  relics  of  Buddha 
sent  to  Ceylon  by  Asoca,  luitil  build- 
ings coidd  be  erected  to  receive  them 
at  the  capital,  he  changed  its  name 
to  Chctujo  (Ibid.)  ;  Chetiya-giri,  be- 
ing the  capital  of  a  kingdom,  the 
sovereign  of  which  was  a  kinsman  of 


his  own  (Ibid.  ch.  xiii.  p.  76).  It 
was  afterwards  called  "  So/oma.sfane,'" 
or  the  Place  of  the  Sixteen  Relics ; 
and  finally,  Mihintala.  Fa  Hian,  the 
Chinese  Buddhist;  calls  it  Po-thi, — 
Foe  Koiie  Ki,  ch.  xxxviii.  p.  .3.3.5,  and 
IIiorExTirsAXG,  Mo-hi-in-to-lo.  (See 
I'eJeriua  Ihiddhistcs,  toni.  ii.  p.  140.) 

*  The  priests  told  me  the  steps 
numbered  eif/hteen  hundred  mid 
forhj,  and  that  they  liad  been  formed 
by  King  Maha  Dailiya  ^lana,  who 
reigned  A. I).  8.  —  See  TrrRNorR's 
Epitome,  p.  10. 


Chap.  II.] 


THE   AMBUSTELLA   DAGOBA. 


607 


the  capitals  of  which  are    ornamented   by   camngs  of 
the  sacred  goose."     Close  beside   it  is  a  broken  statue 


MIHINTALA. 


of  the  pious  monarch.  The  cells  are  still  remaining 
which,  according  to  the  Mahawanso,  Devenipiatissa 
caused  to  be  hollowed  in  the  rock^,  and  near  them  is 
the  Nagasandhi  tank  made  for  the  priesthood  by  King 
Aggrabodhi,  a.  d.  589.^  Thence  the  last  flight  of  steps 
leads  to  the  siuumit  of  Ambatthalo  crowned  by  the 
Etwihara  dagoba,  a  semicircular  pile  of  brick  work  one 
hundred  feet  high,  wdiich  enshrines  a  single  hair  from 
the  forehead  of  Buddha.  This  remarkable  structure 
has  stood  for  upwards  of  eighteen  centuries.  It  was 
built   by    Baatiya    Eaja    about    the    first   year    of    the 


*  For  the  honours  paid  to  the 
goose,  see  Vol.  I.  Pt.  iv.  ch.  vii.  p. 
485. 


*  Mahnwanso,    ch.   xii.     p. 
Rqjavali,  p.  184. 

'  MahuwanAo.  ch.  xlii. 


10.'3: 


008 


THE    RUINED    CITIES. 


[Part  X. 


Chap.  II.]  THE    RUINED    CITY.  609 

Christian  era,  and  the  Mahawanso  relates  that,  on  its 
completion,  the  king  caused  it  to  be  enveloped  in  a 
jewelled  covering  ornamented  with  pearls,  and  spread  a 
foot  carpet  from  Mihintala  to  Anarajapoora,  that  pilgrims 
might  proceed  all  the  way  with  unwashed  feet.^  The 
rock  in  many  places  bears  inscriptions  recording  the 
mmiificence  of  the  sovereigns  of  Ceylon,  and  the  ground 
is  strewn  with  the  fragments  of  broken  carved-work  and 
the  debris  of  ruined  buildings.  On  the  face  of  the  cliff 
a  ledge  of  granite  artificially  levelled  is  pointed  out  as 
"the  bed  of  Mahindo,"  from  which  a  view  of  extraor- 
dinary beauty  extends  over  an  expanse  of  fohage  that 
stretches  to  the  versre  of  the  horizon.  Towerino;  above 
this  ocean  of  verdure  are  the  gigantic  dagobas  of  Anara- 
japoora, whose  artificial  lakes  he  glittering  in  the  sun- 
beams below ;  and,  dim  in  the  distance,  can  be  descried 
the  sacred  rock  of  Dambool,  and  the  mysterious  suminit 
of  the  Eitta-galla  mountain. 

The  road  leading  from  the  base  of  Mihintala  to  Anara- 
japoora, a  distance  of  nearly  eight  miles,  is  marked  by 
as  many  traces  of  antiquity  as  the  Appian  Way  between 
Aricia  and  Eome.  It  passes  between  moiddering  walls, 
by  mounds  where  the  grass  imperfectly  conceals  the 
ruins  beneath,  and  by  fragments  of  fallen  columns  that 
mark  the  sites  of  perished  monuments.  It  was  the  Via 
Sacra  of  the  Buddhist  hierarchy,  along  which  they  con- 
ducted processions  led  by  their  sovereigns  from  the  tem- 
ple at  the  capitol  to  the  peak  of  Ambatthalo.^  Though 
now  overgrown  with  jungle  and  forest  trees,  it  was 
traversed  by  chariots  two  thousand  years  ago,  when  the 
pious  king  Devenipiatissa  sent  his  carriage  to  bring 
Mahindo  to  the  sacred  city.^ 

Passing  by  the  noble  tank  of  Neuera-weva,  and  havuig 
forded  the  Malwatte-oya  (the  Kadamba   of  the  Maha- 


*  Mahmcanso,  ch.  xxxiv.  p.  21.3. 
^  Mahaioanso,  ch.   xxxvii.  p.  240. 
These  processions  are  mmutely  de- 


scribed by  Fa  IIiax,  loe  Koue  Ki, 
ch.  xxxviii.  p.  335. 

^  Mahmcanso,  ch.  xiv.  2>.  80. 


VOL.  II.  K    R 


PLAN    OF    A    PORTION    OF    THE    SACRED    CITY    OF 

ANARAJAPOORA, 

FROM  A  SURVEY  MADE  BY  MAJOR  SKINNER,  DEPUTY-ASSISTANT  QUARTERMASTER-GENERAL  1832. 


The  Tomb  of  King  Batiya  Tissa.  I 

Place  for  Burning  the  Bodies  of  the  Kin^s. 
Place  of  Lamentation  for  the  Royal  Family. 
The  Assembly  Hall  of  the  Priests. 
Pansila  of  the  present  High  Priest,  \ 

The  Peacock  Palace.  I 

The  Carved  Doorstep  of  the  Maha  Wihara.  ' 

A  Pillar  to  mark  the  spot  where  Elala  was  en-  ' 
countered  by  Dutugaimunu.  I 

Tamera  polona,  a  small  tank  for  absolution. 
Excavation  7  ft,  in  depth,  with  an  apartment  for 

Devotees  visiting  the  Temple. 
Stone  Pillar  believed  to  possess  the  power  of  restor- 
ing reason  to  the  insane. 
A  Bathing  Tank  faced  with  stone. 
Carved  Stone  removed  by  Dutugaimunu,  from  the 
centre  of  the  area  now  covered  by  the  Ruauwelli 
Dagoba. 
A  Well  110  ft.  deep  and  188    in  circumference, 

descended  by  concentric  stages  of  stone. 
Slab  to  denote  the  spot  whereDutugaimunu  reclined 
to  contemplate  the  Dagoba,  on  the  eve  of  his, 
death,    ^^faha>ranso^  ch.  xxxiii.)  | 

Stone  Bath  of  Dutugaimunu.  i 

Tomb  of  Dutugaimunu.  I 

Statue  of  King  Baatiya  Tissa.  ] 

The  Stone  said  to  cover  the  entrance  to  the  subter- 
ranean passage  leading  to  the  interior  of  the 
Ruanwelli  Dagoba.  1 

Pooda-hiri-wena,  the  Serpents'  Pit. 
Ruins  of  the  SailiyaChetiyn,  a  small  but  very  sacred  [ 
Dagoba,  built  B.C.  89.  (Mahawanso,  ch.  xxxiii.)- 
,  Bed  of  a  Stream,  the  Halpane  EUa,  with  remains  ] 

of  an  embankment  on  either  side. 
,  Semicircular  carved  stone. 
,   Elephant  Trough  of  Dutugaimunu. 
,  Tomb  of  Sangha-mitta. 
Residence  of  the  Chief  of  the  District.  , 

Ruins  of  the  Palace,  Stone  Canoe,  Columns  &c.     i 


Mahavellanam-Vediii,  the  great  \  — ^:ii5- 
East  and  AVest  Street  J ^ 


CiiAi-.  11.]  AXAKAJAl'UORA.  Gil 

icamo),  we  rode  through  the  thick  forest,  whieli  covers 
everything  witli  an  impervious  shade,  except  Avhere  the 
piety  of  pilgrims  and  devotees  has  caused  a  space  to  be 
cleared  round  the  principal  monuments.  Here  the  au*  is 
heavy  and  unwholesome,  vegetation  is  rank,  and  malaria 
broods  over  the  waters,  as  they  escape  from  the  broken 
tanks  ;  one  of  which,  the  Abhaya-weva,  is  the  oldest  in 
Ceylon.  1  The  soHtary  city  has  shrunk  into  a  few  scat- 
tered huts  that  scarcely  merit  the  designation  of  a  vil- 
lage.^ The  liumble  dwelUng  of  a  government  officer, 
the  pansila  of  the  officiating  priests,  a  wretched  bazaar, 
and  the  houses  of  the  native  headmen,  are  all  that  now 
remains  of  the  metropolis  of  Anuradha,  the  "  Anuro- 
grammum  Eegium "  of  Ptolemy,  the  sacred  capital  of 
"  the  kingdom  of  Lions,"  on  whose  splendours  the 
Chinese  travellers  of  the  early  ages  expatiated  with  re- 
ligious fervoiu'.^  The  present  aspect  of  the  place  fur- 
nishes proofs  that  these  encomiums  were  not  unmerited, 
and  shows  that  the  whole  area,  extending  for  some 
miles  in  every  dh-ection,  must  have  been  covered  wdth 
buildings  of  singular  magnificence,  surrounded  by  groves 
of  odoriferous  trees.  It  recalls  the  description  of  the 
palace  of  Kubla  Khan, 

"  Wliere  twice  five  miles  of  fertile  ground, 
With  walls  and  towers,  were  girded  round  ; 


'  This  tank,  called  also  the  Java-   |  Jonm.  of  the  Amtt.  Soc.  of  Biwjal  for 
weva,     was     constructed     B.C.    505.      1847,  vol.  xati.  pt.  i.  p.  213. 
Mahmoanso,  ch.  x.  p.  Go.      See  aide,  |       ^  Fa   IIi.vn,   Foe    Koue    Ki,    ch. 
rt.  III.  ch.  ii.  p.  328.  |  xxxviii.  p.  333.  The  antiquity  claimed 

^  For  an  account  of  the  ancient  j  forAnarajapoorabythejR^yV//Y//«rtcrt/7, 
city,  as  described  in  the  Singhalese  exceeds  that  a.ssigned  to  it  by  the 
Clironicles,  see  ^'ol.  I.  Pt.  iv.  ch.  vii.  3Iahaivamo,  the  former  asserting  that 
p.  493.     Capt.  CiiAPMAN,  Roy.  Art.      it  existed  as  a  city  before  the  advent 


F.R.S.,  published  in  1832,  Some  Re- 
marks on  tJie  Anrient  City  of  Anara- 
japoora  in  the  Transact,  of  the  Roy. 
Asiat.    Soe.    vol.   iii.   p.  463,  and  in 


of  the  first  Buddha  to  Ceylon  (p.  2). 
Forbes  infers,  from  the  absence  of 
anj-thing  in  the  site  and  the  soil  to 
recommend  it  for  selection  as  a  town, 


1852   he    communicated    a    further  ;  that    the    place    must     have    been 

paper  on  the  same  subject,  which  has  \  chosen  on  superstitious  g:i-ounds  at  a 

been    printed    in    the    Asiat.    Soc.  time  when  ^lihintala  was  the  scene 

Journal,  vol.  xiii.  p.  104.      There  is  of  hill-worship,  prior  to   the  intro- 

also    an   interesting-  accoimt   of  the  duction  of  Buddhism. — Elenn  Years 

Ruins,    by   Mr.  Knighton,    in   the  in  Ceylon,  vol.  i.  ch.  x.  p.  207. 

R    R  2 


612 


THE    RUINED    CITIES. 


[Part  X. 


And  there  were  gardens  bright  -with  sinuous  rills, 
Where  blossomed  many  an  incense-bearing  tree^ 

And  forests,  ancient  as  the  hills, 
Enfolding  sunny  spots  of  gi-eenerj\"  ^ 

On  readiino;  the  o-rass-orown  street  which  intersected 
the  city  from  north  to  soiitli,  tlie  first  object  that  strikes 
the  eye  is  the  vast  collection  of  stone  columns,  each 
twelve  feet  in  height,  that  mark  the  site  of  the  Maha- 


KCIN3  OF  THE  BRAZEK  PAT. AGE. 


loica-paya,  the  "Brazen  Palace"  of  Dutugaimmiu^ ; 
which,  according  to  the  Mahawanso,  was  supported  by 
"  sixteen  hundred  pillars  of  rock."  ^ 

These  pillars  retain  the  marks  of  the  wedges  by 
Avhich  they  were  spht  off  in  the  quarry,  and  are  so 
rough  and  undressed,  that  they  suggest  the  idea  of 
having  been  formerly  coated  with  chunam ;  a  conjecture 
which  is  supported  by  those  passages  in  the  Mahaicanso 
which  describe  the  beauty  and  decorations  of  the  original 
buildings.*  ^_^  


^    COLEKIDGE. 

2  See  an  account  of  this  building. 
Vol.  I.  Pt.  ni.  ch.  V.  p.  356. 
2  Mahaivanso,  ch.  xxxvi. 


*  MaJiawanso,  ch.  xxvii.  p.  103. 
The  Hojavali,  p.  222,  implies  that 
they  were  covered  with  copper.^ —  See 
ante,  Vol.  I.  Pt.  iv.  ch.  vii.  p.  482. 


Chap.  TI.]  THE    SACRED    BO-TREK.  613 

In  close  proximity  to  the  Brazen  Palace  are  numerous 
places  of  interest ;  such  as  the  tomb  of  King  Batiya  Tissa, 
the  only  person  permitted  by  the  priests  to  enter  the  sub- 
terranean chamber  beneath  the  Euanwelh  dagoba^ ; — the 
spot  on  which  the  bodies  of  the  kings  were  consumed ;  — 
the  "Place  of  Lamentation"  for  the  royal  family;  —  the 
"  Eangse-malle-chetiya,"  an  assembly-hall  for  the  priests  ; 
and  the  "  Palace  of  the  Peacock,"  built  in  the  first  centuiy 
of  the  Christian  era.^ 

But  that  which  renders  the  fallen  city  illustrious 
even  in  ruins,  is  the  possession  of  the  Jaya  Sri  Maha 
Bodin-Wohanse,  "the  Victorious,  Illustrious,  Supreme 
Lord,  the  Sacred  Bo-Tree,"  the  planting  of  which 
forms  the  grandest  episode  in  the  sacred  annals  of 
Ceylon.^ 

The  Bo-tree  of  Anarajapoora  is,  in  aU  probabihty,  the 
oldest  historical  tree  in  the  world.  It  was  planted  288 
years  before  Christ,  and  hence  it  is  now  2147  years  old. 
Ages  varying  from  one  to  five  thousand  years  have  been 
assigned  to  the  baobabs  of  Senegal,  the  eucahjptus  of  Tas- 
mania, the  dragon-tree  of  Orotava,  the  Wellingtonia  of 
CaHfornia,  and  the  chesnut  of  Mount  Etna.*  But  all  these 
estimates  are  matters  of  conjecture,  and  such  calculations, 
however  ingenious,  must  be  purely  inferential ;  whereas 
the  age  of  the  Bo-tree  is  matter  of  record^  its  conservancy 
has  been  an  object  of  solicitude  to  successive  dynasties. 


'  Malmimnso,  ch.  xxxiv.  p.  212. 

^  Rqjaratnacari,  p.  73. 

^  Mahawanso,  ch.  xviii.  xix.  ;  Ra- 
jaratnacari,  p.  34;  Rqjavali,  p.  184. 
For  an  account  of  the  anival  of  the 
Bo-tree  from  Map-adlia,  and  its 
phmtinp:  at  Anarajapoora,  see  ante, 
Vol.  I.  Pt.  III.  ell.  iii.  p.  341. 

*  De  Canbolle  has  propounded 
the  theory  that  trees  do  not  die  of 
old  a</c  in  the  proper  sense  of  the 
term,  and  that  if  uninjured  exter- 
nally there  is  no  necessary  limit  to 
the  duration  of  tree  life.  "  On  doit 
d'ailleurs  envisao-er  un  arhre  comme 


im  etre  multiple,  compost  d'autant 
d'individus  qu'il  y  a  des  bourgeons  ; 
a  peu  pres  comme  une  masse  de 
pol\'j)es  est  formee  par  une  infinite 
d'individus  aggiomeros.  D'apresces 
considerations  on  a  conclu  avec 
raison,  que  I'lige  auquel  peuvent 
parvenir  les  arbres  est  ilUmite,  et 
qu'ils  ne  perissent  que  par  la  rupture 
des  branches  qui  entraine  la  carie 
du  tr<)n(%  ou  par  d'autres  causes  tout 
a  fait  accidentelles.  L'observation," 
&c.  liihl.  Univ.  de  Getu-rc,  toni. 
xlvi.  p.  .304. 


R   R    3 


614 


THE    RUINED    CITIES. 


[Part  X. 


and  the  Story  of  its  \icissitudes  has  been  presened  in  a 
series  of  continuous  chronicles  amongst  the  most  authentic 
that  liave  been  lianded  down  by  mankind.^ 


THE  SACRED   BO  TREE. 


Compared  \\ith  it  the  Oak  of  EllersHe  is  but  a  saphng ; 
and  tlie  Conqueror's  Oak  in  Windsor  F(3rest,  barely  num- 
bers half  its  years.     The  yew-trees  of  Fountains  Abbey  are 


*  A  chronological  series  of  liis- 
torical  passages  in  Avhich  the  pro- 
lonffed  existence  of  the  sacred  trt><> 


has  been  recorded,  will  be  found  in 
a  unto  np]i(>nded  to  this  chapter. 


Chap.  II.]  THE   SACRED    BO-TREE.  615 

believed  to  liave  floiii'ished  there  twelve  hundred  years  ago ; 
the  olives  in  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane  were  full  grown 
when  the  Saracens  were  expelled  from  Jerusalem ;  and 
the  cypress  of  Soma,  in  Lombardy,  is  said  to  have  been 
a  tree  in  the  time  of  Jiihus  Csesar  ;  yet,  the  Bo-tree 
is  older  than  the  oldest  of  these  by  a  centuiy,  and  would 
almost  seem  to  verify  the  prophecy  pronounced  when 
it  was  planted,  that  it  w^ould  "  flourish  and  be  green  for 
ever." 

The  degree  of  sanctity  with  which  this  extraordinaiy 
tree  has  been  invested  in  the  imagination  of  the  Budd- 
hists, may  be  compared  to  the  feehng  of  veneration  with 
which  Christians  would  regard  the  attested  wood  of  the 
cross.  To  it  ^  kings  liave  even  dedicated  their  dominions, 
in  testimony  of  their  behef  that  it  is  a  branch  of  the  iden- 
tical fig-tree  under  which  Gotama  Buddha  rechned  at 
Uruwelaya^,  when  he  underwent  liis  apotheosis.  When 
the  king  of  Magadha,  in  comphance  mth  the  request  of 
the  sovereign  of  Ceylon,  was  wiUing  to  send  him  a  por- 
tion of  that  sanctified  tree  to  be  planted  at  Anarajapoora, 
he  was  deterred  by  the  reflection  that  "  it  ccuinot  be  meet 
to  lop  it  icith  any  iceapon ; "  but,  under  the  instruction  of 
the  high  priest,  using  vermihon  in  a  golden  pencil,  he 
made  a  streak  on  the  branch,  w^hich,  '"''severing  itselj\ 
hovered  over  the  mouth  of  a  vase  filled  with  scented 
soil,"  into  which  it  struck  its  roots  and  descended.''' 
Taking  the  legend  as  a  sacred  law,  the  Buddhist  priests 
to  the  present  day  object  rehgiously  to  "  lop  it  witli  any 
weapon,"  and  are  contented  to  collect  any  leaves  which, 
severing  themselves^  may  chance  to  fall  to  the  ground. 
These  are  regarded  as  treasures  by  the  pilgrims,  wlio 
carry  them  away  to  the  remotest  parts  of  the  island.  It 
is  even  suspected,  that  ratlier  than  strip  the  branches,  the 
importunities   of    an   impatient   devotee    are   somolimes 


'  Mahmcanw,  eh.  xvii.  xix.  j       '  Ihld.  i-li.  xviii.  p.  1  I;'. 

'  Ihifl  ell.  i.  (n.c.  5;\). ) 


u   K    4 


r)lG  THE    RUIXED    CITIES.  [Part  X. 

silenced  by  the  pious  fraud  of  substituting  the  fohagc 
of  some  other  fig  for  that  of  the  exalted  Bo-tree.  I  ex- 
pressed a  wish  to  have  a  few  leaves  of  the  genuine  plant, 
and  the  native  officer  undertook  to  bring  them  to  me  at 
night.  The  other  bo-trees  which  are  found  in  the  vicinity 
of  every  temple  in  Ceylon,  are  said  to  be  all  derived  from 
the  parent  tree  at  Anarajapoora,  but  they  have  been  pro- 
pagated by  seeds  ;  the  priesthood  adhering  in  this  respect 
to  the  precedent  recorded  in  the  Mahaivanso,  when  Ma- 
hindo  himself,  "  taking  up  a  fruit  as  it  fell,  gave  it  to  the 
king  to  plant."  ^ 

Nor  is  this  superstitious  anxiety  a  feehng  of  recent 
growth.  It  can  be  traced  to  the  remotest  periods  of 
Buddhism ;  and  the  same  homage  which  is  paid  to  the 
tree  at  the  present  day  was  wont  to  be  manifested  two 
thousand  years  ago.  Age  after  age  the  sacred  aiuials 
record  the  works  which  successive  sovereigns  erected 
for  the  preservation  of  the  Bo-tree  :  the  walls  which  they 
built  around  it,  the  car\dngs  with  which  they  adorned 
them,  and  the  stone  steps  wliich  they  constructed  to  lead 
to  the  sacred  enclosure.  The  latter  were  raised  by  a 
king,  A.D.  182^ ;  and  in  223,  a  stone  ledge  was  added  to 
the  enclosing  wall.^  Century  after  century,  repairs  or 
additions  to  the  buildings  are  recorded  in  the  Singhalese 
annals.  King  Abhaya,  A.D.  240,  placed  "  a  cornice  on  the 
parapet,  a  porch  at  the  southern  entrance,  four  hexagonal 
pillars  of  stone  at  the  corners,  and  a  statue  of  Buddlia  at 
each  entrance."^  BQs  successor,  Mahassen,  caused  "two 
statues  of  bronze  to  be  cast  and  erected  in  the  hall  of  the 
great  Bo-tree  ;"  ^  and  mention  is  made  in  the  sacred  annals, 
nearly  two  thousand  years  later,  of  the  celebration  of  a 
festival,  which,  "  from  the  period  when  the  supreme  Bo- 
tree  was  planted,  the  rulers  of  Lanka  held  qyqvj  twelfth 
year,  for  the  purpose  of  watering  it.''^ 


Mahawanso,  ch.  xix. 
Ibid.  ch.  XXX VI. 
]l)irh  ch.  xxxvi. 


"  Uml.  ch.  xxxvi. 
*  Ibid.  ch.  xxxvii. 
'^  Ibid.  ch.  xxxviii. 


Chap.  II.]  THE    SACRED    BO-TREE.  617 

In  the  fifth  centiiiy,  Fa  Hian  found  the  Eo-tree  in 
vigorous  health,  and  its  guardians  displaying  toAvards 
it  the  same  vigilant  tenderness  which  they  exhibit  at 
the  present  day  :  "  quand  I'arbre  fnt  haut  d'environ  vingt 
tchang  il  pencha  du  cote  du  sud-est.  Le  roi,  craignant 
qu'il  ne  tombat,  le  fit  etayer  par  huit  ou  neuf  pihers,  qui 
formerent  une  enceinte  en  le  soutenant  .  .  .  Les  religieux 
de  la  Eaison  (Buddhists),  ont  I'habitude  de  I'honorer  sans 
relache."^ 

The  author  of  the  Mahawanso^  who  wrote  between 
the  years  459  and  478  a.d.,  after  relating  the  ceremo- 
nial which  had  been  observed  nearly  eight  hundi^ed  years 
before  at  the  planting  of  the  venerated  tree  by  Mahindo, 
concludes  by  sajdng  :  "  Thus  this  monarch  of  the  forest, 
endowed  with  miraculous  powers,  has  stood  for  ages  in 
the  dehghtful  Maha-mego  garden  in  Lanka,  promoting 
the  spiritual  welfare  of  its  inhabitants  and  the  propagation 
of  true  rehgion."  ^ 

In  A.D.  804,  the  reigning  king  "  caused  a  hall  to  be 
built  in  honour  of  and  near  to  the  Bo-tree,  at  Anuradha- 
poora-neuera ; "  ^  and  in  a.d.  1153,  Prakrama-Bahu 
"  made  a  house  around  Jaya-maha  Bodhin-Wohanse, 
i.  e.  the  Bo-tree."  *  It  wiU  be  observed  that  throughout 
these  notices  (and  they  are  but  a  few  out  of  a  multi- 
tude) the  object  of  veneration  is  always  alluded  to  as 
"  the"  Bo-tree,  no  doubt  having  ever  been  suggested  as 
to  its  identity ;  and  the  Eajavali,  a  still  later  authority 
than  those  already  quoted,  spealdng  of  Wijayo-Bahu 
(who  recovered  the  southern  di\dsion  of  Ceylon  from  the 
Malabars,  a.d.  1240),  says  he  was  a  "  descendant  of  the 
family  who  had  brought  the  Bo-tree  yet  existing  to 
Ceylon."  5 

Eegarded  with  so  much  idolatry,  tended  with  atten- 
tion so  unremitting,  resorted  to  from  all  lands  in 
which  the  name  of  Buddha  is  held  in  veneration,  and 


'  Fa   IIian,    Foe   Koue   Ki,    oli.    I       ^  Rajaratnacari,  p.  79. 
xxxviii.  "•  IbicL  p.  89. 

"^  Mahawanao,  ch.  xix.  |       ^  Rajavali,  p.  257. 


f,18  THE    RUINED    CITIES.  [Part  X. 

its  vicissitudes  recorded  in  tlie  sacred  history  of  an 
island  the  inhabitants  of  which  considered  themselves 
blessed  by  the  possession  of  so  heavenly  a  treasure ;  the 
conjectiu-e  (had  it  ever  been  hazarded)  that  the  original 
tree  might  have  died  and  its  place  been  supphed  by  one 
secretly  substituted,  may  fairly  be  regarded  as  an 
hypotlietical  impossibihty.  Such  an  event  as  the  death 
of  the  great  Bo-tree  of  Anarajapoora  would  have  spread 
consternation,  not  only  throughout  Ceylon,  but  over 
Siam  and  China.  It  would  have  been  regarded  as  a 
visitation  too  portentous  to  be  contemplated  with  equa- 
nimity, and  recorded  mth  a  becomuig  sense  of  the 
calamity,  in  the  annals  of  every  Buddhist  nation  in 
Asia. 

It  is  strange,  too,  that  amidst  the  intestine  con\i.dsions 
which  so  often  expelled  the  native  Singhalese  sovereigns 
and  seated  the  Malabar  conquerors  in  their  capital, 
when  dagobas  and  temples  of  Buddha-worship  suffered 
spohation,  and  the  most  precious  rehcs  were  carried 
away  as  warhke  trophies,  the  Bo-tree  was  uniformly 
spared  by  the  conquerors  and  permitted  to  flourish 
unmolested.  Had  it  been  otherwise,  the  Singhalese 
chroniclers  woidd  not  have  failed  to  arouse  the  indigna- 
tion of  the  faithfid  by  denouncing  an  insult  offered  by 
Brahmanical  rivals  to  the  most  sacred  adjunct  of  the 
Buddhist  rehgion.  But  so  far  from  this  being  the  case 
not  a  single  uistance  is  on  record  of  indignity  offered  to 
the  tree  ;  whilst  the  sacred  historians  recount  with  befit- 
ting emotion  the  spoliation  of  wiliaras  and  tlie  overthrow 
of  temples. 

At  the  present  day  the  aspect  of  the  tree  suggests  the 
idea  of  extreme  antiquity ;  the  branches,  which  have 
rambled  at  their  will  far  beyond  the  outline  of  its 
enclosm^e,  the  rude  piUars  of  masonry  that  have  been 
carried  out  to  support  them,  the  retaining  walls  which 
shore  up  the  parent  stem,  the  time-worn  steps  by 
which  the  place  is  approached,  and  the  grotesque  carv- 
ings that  decorate  the  stonework  and  friezes ;  all  impart 


CliAP.  II.] 


CARVED    STOXE    AT   AXARAJAPOORA. 


619 


the  conviction  that  tlie  tree  which  they  encompass  has 
been  watched  over  with  abiding  sohcitude  and  regarded 
Avitli  an  excess  of  veneration  that  could  never  attach  to 
an  object  of  dubious  authenticity. 

The  marvellous  tree  is  situated  in  an  enclosure  ap- 
proached through  the  porch  of  the  temple,  the  priests  of 
Avhich  are  cliarged  with  its  presentation.  The  principal 
buikhng  is  modern  and  plain,  but  amongst  the  materials 
of  which  it  is  built  are  some  antique  carvings  of  singular 
excellence.     The  most  remarkable  of  these  is  a  semicir- 


CARVED  STONE  AT  ANAEIAJAPOOR' 


cular  slab,  which  now  forms  a  doorstep  to  the  principal 
entrance,  and  surpasses,  both  in  the  design  and  execution 
of  the  devices  by  which  it  is  decorated,  any  similar  relic 
that  I  have  seen  in  Ceylon. 

Its  ornaments  consist  of  concentric  fillets,  the  three 
innermost  of  which  represent  the  lotus  in  its  various 
stages  of  bud,  leaf,  and  flower  ;  that  in  the  centre  is  a 
row  of  the  liaiiza  or  sacred  goose\  and  on  the  outer  one 
is  a  procession  of  the  horse,  the  elephant,  the  lion,  and 
Brahmanee  ox. 

In  the  vicinity  of  the  Bo-tree  is  the  spot  i-endei'ed 
memorable  by  the  death-struggle  and  tomb  of  the  cliival- 


^  See  ante,  Vol.  T.  Pt.  iv.  eh.  vii. 


620 


THE    RUINED    CITIES. 


[Part  X. 


rous  Elala,  whose  defeat  by  Dutugaimunu  has  been  else- 
where described.^  A  soHtary  column  stands  on  the  scene 
of  the  conflict,  a  grassy  mound  covers  the  remnants  of  a 
dagoba  erected  by  the  conqueror  to  commemorate  his 
victory,  and  in  the  shade  of  the  adjoining  forest  is  con- 
cealed the  tomb  of  the  fallen  chief,  from  respect  for 
whom  it  was  the  custom  of  the  kings  "  on  reaching  this 
quarter  of  the  city  to  silence  their  musical  bands  ;"  '^  and 
so  profound  is  the  veneration  of  the  Singhalese  for  the 
memory  of  Elala,  that  even  to  the  present  day  the  place 
is  regarded  with  awe,  and  shown  to  strangers  ^vith  myste- 
rious reluctance. 

Close  by  are  the  remains  of  one  of  the  most  ancient 
dagobas,  the  Mirisiwettye,  or  as  it  is  called  in  the  Maha- 
wanso,  the  '•'' Marichawatti^'''  built  by  Dutugaimunu  to 
commemorate  the  recovery  of  his  kingdom  B.C.  161.^  It 
is  now  a  mere  barrow  of  earth  overrun  mth  jungle. 

Eeturning  by  the  Brazen  Palace,  and  passing  along 
the  great  northern  street,  the  Euanwelle,  the  Dagoba 
of  the  "  Golden  Dust,"  by  far  the  most  celebrated  in 
Ceylon,  is  descried  above  the  trees  to  the  left.  This 
enormous  pile,  the  descriptions  of  which  occupy  so 
large  a  space  in  the  Mahawanso,  was  begun  by  Dutu- 
gaimunu one  hundred  and  sixty  years  before  the  Chris- 
tian era,  and  completed  by  his  successor,  after  having 
occupied  almost  twenty  years  in  its  erection.*  Its 
original  outhne  was  destroyed  by  the  Malabars  a.d. 
1214^,  but  it  is  still  a  httle  mountain  of  masonry,  up- 
wards of  one  hmidred  and  fifty  feet  liigh^,  overgrown 
with  jungle  and  trees.  The  terrace  which  sustains  it  is 
comparatively  perfect,  and  from  its  sides  protrude  the 


'  See  ante,  Vol.  I.  Pt.  ni.  cli.  v.  p. 
353. 

2  Mahmcanso,  oh.  xxv.  p.  1 55  ;  see 
also  ante,  Vol.  I.  Pt.  iii.  cli.  v.  p. 
.353. 

^  Mahmcanso,  cli.  xxvi.  p.  159 ; 
Rajavali,  p.  222. 

*  Mahauianso,  ch.  xxxiii.  p.  200. 


'"'  Ihid.  Ixxix. 

G  In  1830  the  height  was  189  feet, 
but  it  is  now  less  than  150  feet.  A 
comparative  view  of  tlie  dimensions 
of  the  principal  dagobas  at  Anaraja- 
poora,  may  be  obtained  from  the  fol- 
lowing diagram :  — 


Chap.  II.] 


DAGOBAS  AT  ANARAJAPOORA. 


621 


heads  of  elephants,  whose  concealed  bodies  appear  to  be 
supporting  the  structure.  Around  it  the  pious  care  of 
the  Buddliists  has  preserved  numerous  memorials  of  its 
fomider ;  an  octagonal  inscribed  cohnnn,  wliich  the 
legends  say  once  stood  in  the  centre  of  the  space  now 
occupied  by  the  great  dagoba^  ;  a  slab  which  marks  the 
spot  where  Dutugaimunu  died-,  and  a  stone  with  carved 
pilasters  which  covers  his  tomb.  On  the  south  side  of 
the  terrace  is  a  statue  of  King  Batiya  Tissa,  who  reigned 
at  the  dawning  of  the  Christian  era ;  and  in  front  is  the 
entrance  to  the  subterranean  passage  by  which  it  is  pre- 
tended that  the  priest  conducted  him  privately  to  view 
the  interior  of  the  dagoba.^ 

Eastward  from  the  Euanwelle  dagoba  is  that  known 
as  the  Abhayagiri,  erected  by  Walagam  Bahu  to  comme- 
morate the  recovery  of  his  throne  after  the  expulsion  of 
the  Malabars,  B.C.  87.*  Wlien  entire,  it  was  the  most 
stupendous  in  Ceylon,  ha\ing  been  originaUy  four  hun- 
dred and  five  feet  liigh  from  the  ground  to  the  summit 
of  the  spke.  After  a  lapse  of  nearly  two  thousand  years, 
and  after  undergoing  frequent  reductions    and   restora- 


ThOparama. 
Built  B.C.  307. 


MlKlSlWKTTIYA. 

Built  u.c.  IGl. 


Abhavagiki. 

Built  B.C.  87. 
Heiglit,  Kaitius,  180  ft. 
To  the  Spire,      2-14  ft. 


RUANWELLE. 

Built  B.C.  137. 
Height  ill  1830,  IS'J  ft. 


Javtawanarama. 

Built  A.D.  '275. 
Height,  Radius,  1>*0  ft. 
To  the  Spire,     24'J  It. 


r^ 


Ul^V^ 


Lanka  Ramaya. 
Built  A.D.  276. 


COMPAHATIVE  DIMENSIONS  OF  THE  aEVEBAL  DAGOBAS  Al    ANAEAJAIOORA. 


'  Malunvanso,  cli.  xxix.  p.  109. 
"^  Ih'id.  cli.  xxxii. 

^  Ihid.  cli.  xxiv.    See  a  notice  of 
this  traditiou  in  the  chapter  on  Sin- 


glialose  literature,  Vol.  I.  Pt.  iv.  ch.  x. 
■»  Mahaicanm,  ch.  xxxiii.  p.  200 ; 
Rajaratnncari,  p.  41 ;    see  ante,  \o\. 
I.  Pt.  HI.  ch.  iv.  p.  a4G. 


(522  THE    RUINED    CITIES.  [Part  X. 

tions,  it  is  still  upwards  of  two  Iniiidred  and  forty  feet  iu 
lieiglit.  Like  the  Eiuiuwelle,  it  U)o  is  densely  covered 
with  trees  which  have  taken  root  in  the  clefts  of  the 
masomy,  and  huge  heaps  of  displaced  bricks  he  in  decay 
around  its  base.  The  word  ahhayagiri  means  hterally 
"  the  mountain  of  safety" — the  origin  of  the  epithet  is 
inicertain,  but  it  presents  a  curious  coincidence  A\^tli  the 
term,  by  wliich,  according  to  Diodorus  Siculus,  the  people 
of  Samothrace  designated  tlie  mounds  erected  by  them  to 
commemmorate  their  preservation  from  the  Cyantean 
deluge  —  "  opoi  rr^g  G^ayrrfC^ioLgy^ 

Near  the  intersection  of  the  two  great  streets  of  tlie 
city  stands  the  Thuparama,  the  most  venerated  of  all 
the  dagobas  in  Ceylon,  having  been  constructed  by 
King  Devenipiatissa  to  enslirine  the  collar-bone  of 
Buddha^,  three  centuries  before  the  Christian  era.  So 
sacred  was  this  dagoba  held  to  be,  that  Upatissa,  a.d.  400, 
caused  a  case  to  be  made  for  it  of  "  metal  ornamented 
Avithgold;"^  and  Avithin  this  last  twenty  years  a  pious 
priest  at  Anarajapoora  collected  funds  fi-om  the  devout 
for  clearing  it  of  the  plants  by  wliich  it  had  been  pre- 
viously overrun  and  covering  it  with  a  coating  of  cliunam. 
Its  outhne  is  pecuhar,  being  flattened  at  the  top  and  so 
hollowed  at  tlie  sides  as  to  give  it  the  configuration  of  a 
bell.'*  Its  height  is  about  seventy  feet  from  tlie  ground, 
and  the  terrace  on  which  it  is  placed  is  sini'omided  by 
rows  of  monolithic  pillars,  each  twenty-six  feet  high,  with 
richly  decorated  capitals. 

When  the  dalada  was  brought  from  India,  in  the 
fomth  ceiitmy^,  it  was  placed  for  secm^ity  in  a  building 
at  the  foot  of  the  Thuparama  dagoba,  and  here  it  was 
shortly  afterwards  seen  by  Fa  Hiax.^     The  ruins  of  this 


1  Diodorus  SicuLrs,  lib.  v.  c.  47. 
Fa  TIian  {rives  to  the  Abhayagiri 
the  Chines  ename  Won'  Wei,  which 
liEiirsAT  renders  "  la  immtafine  sans 
craintcy — Foe  Koue  Ki,  ch.  xxxviii. 

2  3Iahairanso,  ch.  xvii.  p.  108, 


published  lithojrraph,  by  Prinsop,  is 
given  in  the  Handbook  of  Architec- 
ture, by  Fkugussox,  wlio  pronovmces 
it  to  be  "  older  than  any  nidnunient 
now  existing  on  the  continent  of 
India,"  vol.  i.  p.  41. 


3  Ihi(J.  ch.  xxx^ii.  p.  250.  ^   Mafutnanxo,  ch.  xxxvii.  p.  241. 

*  See  diagTam,  p.   621,  note.     A         *  Foe  Koue  Ki,  ch.  xxxviii. 
view  of  this   dagoba,    from  an  nn-  i 


Chap.  II.] 


THE   JAYTA-WANA-EAMA   DAGOBA. 


(323 


edifice  still  remain,  and  in  front  of  tlicni  is  a  semicircular 
stone,  similar  in  design  to  that  at  the  entrance  to  the 
great  Wihara,  but  inferior  in  execution.  Another  re- 
markable object  in  the  same  vicinity  is  a  block  of  granite, 
upwai'ds  of  ten  feet  in  length,  hollowed  into  a  cistern, 
whicli  tradition  has  described  as  the  trough  of  Dutugai- 
munu's  elephant. 

Beyond  the  Thuparama  stands  the  Lanka-ramaya,  a 
dagoba  of  the  third  centiuy,  which  is  still  in  tolerable 
preservation  ;  and  further  to  the  north  is  the  Jayta-wana- 
rama^,  erected  by  Maha  Sen,  a.d.  330.  It  still  rises  to 
the  height  of  two  hundred  and  forty-nine  feet,  and  is 
clothed  to  tlie  siniimit  with  trees  of  the  largest  size. 


THE    JATTA-WANARAMA    DAGOBA. 


The  sohd  mass  of  masonry  in  this  vast  mound  is  pro- 
digious. Its  diameter  is  three  hundred  and  sixty  feet, 
and  its  present  height  (including  the  pedestal  and  spire) 
two  hundred  and  forty-nine  feet ;  so  that  the  contents  of 
the  semicircular  dome  of  brickwork  and  the  platform  of 
stone,  seven  hundred  and  twenty  feet  square  and  fifteen 
feet  high,  exceed  twenty  millions  of  cubical  feet. 

Even  with  the  facilities  ^vhich  modern  invention  sup- 

'  Called  Jeta-tvanno,  in  the  Mahawanso. 


6-24  THE    RUINED   CITIES.  [Part  X. 

plies  for  economising  labour,  the  building  of  such  a 
mass  would  at  present  occupy  five  hundred  bricklayers 
from  six  to  seven  years,  and  would  involve  an  expendi- 
tiu-e  of  at  least  a  million  sterhng.  The  materials  are 
sufficient  to  raise  eight  thousand  houses  each  with  twenty 
feet  frontage,  and  these  would  form  thirty  streets  half- 
a-mile  in  length.  They  would  construct  a  town  the  size 
of  Ipswich  or  Coventry ;  they  would  fine  an  ordinary 
railway  tunnel  twenty  miles  long,  or  form  a  wall  one  foot 
in  thickness  and  ten  feet  in  height,  reaching  from  London 
to  Edinburgh. 

Such  are  the  dagobas  of  Anarajapoora,  structures  whose 
stupendous  dimensions  and  the  waste  and  misapphcation 
of  labour  lavished  on  them  are  hardly  outdone  even 
in  the  instance  of  the  Pyramids  of  Egypt.  In  the  in- 
fancy of  art,  the  origin  of  these  "high  places"  may  pos- 
sibly have  been  the  ambition  to  expand  the  earthen 
mound  which  covered  the  ashes  of  the  dead  into  the 
dimensions  of  the  eternal  hills,  the  earhest  altars  for 
adoration  and  sacrifice.  And  in  their  present  condition, 
ahke  defiant  of  decay  and  triumphant  over  time,  they 
are  invested  with  singidar  interest  as  monuments  of  an 
age  before  the  people  of  the  East  had  learned  to  hollow 
caves  in  rocks,  or  elevate  temples  on  the  sohd  earth. 

For  miles  round  Anarajapoora  the  sm'face  of  the 
country  is  covered  with  remnants  and  fragments  of  the 
ancient  city ;  in  some  places  the  soil  is  red  with  the  dust 
of  crumbling  bricks ;  broken  statues  of  bulls  and  ele- 
phants, stone  sarcophagi  and  pedestals,  ornamented  with 
grotesque  human  figures,  he  hidden  in  the  jungle  ;  but  the 
most  surprising  of  all  is  the  multitude  of  columns,  "  the 
world  of  hewn  stone  pillars,"  which  excited  the  astonish- 
ment of  Knox  when  effecting  his  escape  from  captivity.^ 

The  number  of  wild  animals  in  the  sm-rounding 
district  is  quite  extraordinary.  Elephants  are  seen 
close  to  the  ruins,  bufflxloes  luxuriate  in  the  damp 
sedge,  crocodiles  abound   in   the   tanks,   herds  of  deer 


'  Helation,  ^c,  pt.  iv.  ch.  ii.  p.  165. 


Chap.  II.] 


CAUSEWAY  AT  TAIKUM. 


625 


browse  in  the  glades,  bears  and  jackals '  skulk  amongst 
fallen  columns,  and  innumerable  birds,  especially  pea- 
fowl, jungle-cocks,  and  paroquets  break  the  still  soh- 
tude  by  theii'  incessant  calls. 

Before  leaving  for  Aripo,  the  priests  of  the  great 
temple  waited  upon  me  bringing  with  them  a  youth, 
the  hneal  representative  of  an  ancestor  wlio  accom- 
panied the  Bo-tree  in  its  voyage  from  Magadlia  to 
Ceylon  B.C.  289.  The  chiefship  of  the  district  has 
been  ever  since  in  the  same  family,  and  the  boy,  who 
bears  the  title  of  Sm^iya-Kumara-Singha,  "  Prince  of 
the  Lion  and  the  Sun,"  can  boast  an  unbroken  descent, 
compared  with  whose  antiquity  the  most  renowned 
peerages  of  Europe  are  but  creations  of  yesterday. 

From  Anarajapoora,  I  returned  to  the  west  coast, 
following  the  Hne  of  the  Malwatte-oya  ^  the  ancient 
Kadamba,  which  flows  into  the  Gulf  of  Manaar,  north 
of  Aripo.  Within  a  few  miles  of  the  coast  oiu'  party 
passed,  at  Taikum,  the  immense  causeway  of  cut 
granite,  two  hundred  and  fifty  yards  in  length,  and 
upwards  of  fifteen  feet  high,  by  wliich  it  was  attempted 
to  divert  the  waters  of  the  river  into  the  canal,  that  was 
designed  to  supply  the  Giants'  Tank.^  None  of  the  great 
rescrvoii's  of  Ceylon  have  attracted  so  much  attention 
as  this  stupendous  work.  The  retaining  bund  of  the 
reservoir,  which  is  three  hundred  feet  broad  at  the 
base,  can  be  traced  for   more   than  fifteen  miles,   and. 


^  It  is  a  curious  coincidence  tli.it 
the  belief  in  the  alleged  alliance 
between  the  lion  and  the  jackal, 
which  seems  to  prevail  in  every 
country  where  the  ibruier  exists,  has 
extended  to  Ceylon,  where  the  lion 
is  not  found  ;  and  is  to  be  traced  in 
one  of  their  sacred  books  of  the 
greatest  antiqmty.  In  the  Guna 
Jataka,  one  of  those  legendaiy 
records  which  describes  the  trans- 
migrations of  Buddha,  and  which 
probably  is  coeval  with  the  Christian 
era,  he  is  introduced  mider  the  form 


of  a  lion,  wliich  having  failed  in 
seizing  a  deer,  is  carried  by  the  force 
of  the  spring  into  a  marsh,  fi-om 
which  he  is  miable  to  escape  tiU  the 
arrival  of  a  jackal,  which  "  making 
a  channel  for  the  water  to  come  from 
the  lake  to  the  feet  of  the  lion,  thus 
softened  the  mud  and  relieved  the 
fomier  from  his  confinement." — 
IIakdt's  Bwldhism,  ch.  v.  p.  113. 

2  Literally  tlie  "River  of  the 
Gai-den  of  Flowers." 

^  The  modem  name  of  the  tank  is 
"  Kafiwarrc." 


VOL.  II. 


S  S 


6-26 


THE    RUINED    CITIES. 


[Part  X. 


as  the  country  is  level,  the  area  which  its  waters  were 
intended  to  cover  would  have  been  nearly  equal  to  that 
of  the  lake  of  Geneva.  At  the  present  day  the  bed  of 
the  tank  is  the  site  of  ten  populous  \dUages,  and  of 
eight  wliich  are  now  deserted.^  Its  restoration  was 
successively  an  object  of  sohcitude  to  the  Dutch  and 
British  Governments,  and  siu'veys  were  ordered  at 
various  times  to  determine  the  expediency  of  recon- 
structing it.^  Its  history  has  always  been  a  subject  of 
unsatisfied  inquiry,  as  the  national  chronicles  contain 
no  record  of  its  founder.  A  recent  discoveiy  has,  how- 
ever, served  to  damp  ahke  historical  and  utihtarian 
speculations;  for  it  has  been  ascertained  that,  o^ving  to 
an  error  in  the  original  levels,  the  canal  fi^om  the  river, 
instead  of  feeding  the  tank,  retiu-ned  its  unavailing 
waters  to  the  channel  of  the  Malwatte  river.  Hence  the 
costly  embankment  was  an  utter  waste  of  laboui%  and  the 
Singhalese  historians,  disheartened  by  the  failure  of  the 
attempt,  appeared  to  have  made  no  record  of  the  persons 
or  the  period  at  wdiich  the  abortive  enterprise  was  im- 
dertaken.^ 

Along  this  shore  of  the  island,  the'  country  is  sultry 
in  chmate  and  cheary  in  aspect.  The  trees  are  chiefly 
stunted  acacias,  the  "mustard  tree"  of  Scriptm^e,  (Salva- 
dora  Persica),  and  the  wood-apple  [Feronia  elejyhantum), 
Avith  a  copious  undergrowth  of  the  buffalo  thorn  % 
whose  formidable  spines  exceed  in  diameter  the  branches 
from  wdiich  they  spring.  Deer  are  abundant  near  the 
open  glades,  and   the  rivers   and  tanks  hterally  swarm 


^  "\^'ben  the  tank  -was  surveyed  bv 
the  Dutch  in  1791,  there  were  ticenft/- 
four  villages  within  the  area  of  the 
bed. 

^  Tivii'SXSD's  3Iemoir  on  Ceylon^ 
Asiat.  Joiini.,  vol.  xi.  p.  557.  The 
Dutch  had  the  tank  purveved  in 
1739  and  in  1791.  The  British 
GoveiTinient  caused  it  to  he  ex- 
amined with  a  view  to  restoration  in 
1807,  and  again  in  1812. 


3  See  mite,  Vol.  I.  Pt.  it.  ch.  vi.  p. 

468.  The  people  of  the  district  told 
the  Dutch  Govei-nor,  Inihoff,  who 
visited  the  Giant's  Tank  in  1789,  that 
it  had  been  commenced  /o?/r  hundred 
vears  before  by  a  king  who  died 
l)efore  completintr  it.  (Ceylon  Mis- 
cellany.  Cotta,  184.3,  p.  4.) 
*  Acacia  latromon. 


CiiAr.  II.] 


PUTIAM. 


C'27 


with  crocodiles.  The  country  around  Aripo  is  still 
cultivated  by  industrious  Tamils,  descendants  of  a  race 
who  had  estabhshed  themselves  there  at  a  time  when 
the  Dutch  had  a  garrison  at  Aripo  for  the  protection  of 
the  pearl  banks.  Such  was  the  abundance  of  provisions 
at  that  time,  that  Valentyn  says  an  ox  could  be  piu'- 
chased  for  half  a  rix-doUar.^ 

For  coolness  as  well  as  convenience,  the  road  from 
Aripo  to  Putlam  keeps  close  to  the  sea  as  far  as  Kud- 
ramahe,  a  head-land  whose  name,  "the  mountain  of  the 
horse,"  assists  to  identify  it  Avith  the  Hippurus  or  Ilip- 
poros  at  which  (according  to  Phny)  the  freedman  of 
Annius  Plocamus  landed,  whose  visit  to  Ceylon  led  to 
the  embassy  despatched  from  the  sovereign  to  the 
Emperor  Claudius.^ 

The  most  interesting  object  in  Putlam  at  the  time  of 
my  visit  was  a  Baobab  tree^  that  stood  near  the  Moor- 
ish bm^ying-ground,  and  although  but  seventy  feet  high, 
was  then  forty-six  feet  in  circumference.  A  very  few 
years  afterwards  it  was  overthrown  and  destroyed,  during 
the  deepening  of  a  well  situated  close  to  its  roots. 

Putlam*  was  probably  the  place  at  which  Wijayo  dis- 
embarked with  his  followers  to  undertake  the  conquest 
of  Ceylon  ;  and  in  1839,  the  ruins  of  Tamana-Neuera, 
the  city  where  he  estabhshed  his  residence'^,  were  dis- 
covered in  the  forest  about  ten  miles  from  the  sea.  It 
was  the  '■'-  Battala"  at  which  Il^n  Batuta  landed  in  1327." 


^  Oud  em  Nieuto  Oost-Inclien,  ch.  i. 
p.  28. 

^  Flint,  lib.  vi.  c.  xxii.  Kudramaltl 
still  retains  traces  of  its  having-  been 
a  place  of  importance  at  a  very  re- 
mote period.  Its  association  with  the 
horse  may  possibly  be  referable  to  a 
Hindu  origin,  the  horse  being  the 
emblem  of  one  of  the  great  rivers 
fabled  to  flow  from  the  sacred  lake 
of  Anotattho,  in  the  mj'thical  region 
of  the  IlimaLaya.  Tlie  lioi-se  figures 
amongst  the  ancient  stone  carA'ings 
at  Anarajapoora,  along  with  the 
elephant  and  the  cow,  and  the  legend 


of  the  hoi-se  is  associated  with  Malia- 
vitta-puram  in  the  peninsula  of 
Jaffna. 

^  Adansonia  dujiiata. 

^  Putlam  was  called  by  the  Portu- 
guese, P(»ialoon. 

^  Jiajaratnacari,  p.  27 ;  Rajavali, 
p.  168 ;  3IuJi(iwcmso,  ch.  vii.  p.  47. 
An  account  of  the  ruins  of  Taniana 
Neuera  wa.s  communicated  by  Casie 
Chittt  to  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society 
in  1841,  and  published  in  their 
Journal,  vol.  vi.  p.  242. 

6  See  ante,  Vo\  I,  Pt.  v.  clu  ii. 
p.  330. 


s  s  2 


G28 


THE    RUINED    CITIES. 


[Part  X 


Then,  as  now,  the  main  source  of  emplopnent  for  the 
population  was  derived  from  the  salt-works,  which  still 
constitute  the  principal  wealth  of  the  place.  ^ 

A  great  estuary,  or  ^'- gohh"  separates  Putlam  from 
the  peninsula  of  Calpentyn,  the  population  of  which, 
chiefly  Tamils  and  Moors,  are  amongst  the  most  in- 
dustrious in  Ceylon.  The  soil  is  admirably  suited 
for  the  groAvth  of  the  coco-nut  palm,  of  which  large 
plantations  have  been  formed  in  recent  years,  and  con- 
siderable quantities  are  annually  exported  of  a  hchen 
[Rocella  fuciformis  of  Achaiius),  which  yields  the  red 
orchil  dye.  Though  too  shallow  for  shipping,  the  bay 
is  actively  traversed  by  dhoneys  and  ballams ;  and  a 
canal  formed  by  the  Dutch,  maintains  the  commimica- 
tion  with  Colombo. 

The  bay  of  Calpentjai  has  always  been  remarkable  for 
an  extraordinary  abundance  of  fish^;  and  there  is  a 
considerable  trade  in  that  article  salt  and  dried  ;  as  well 
as  in  sharks'  fins  and  trepang  for  exportation  to  China. 
The  shore  also  produces  an  esculent  fucus,  nearly  alhed 
to  CJiondrus  crisjyus ;  and  known  as  "  Calpent}Ti  moss." 
The  turtle,  which  are  caught  here  in  staked  enclosirres 
called  sars,  are  the  finest  in  Ceylon ;  but  the  fishermen 
express  their  dread  of  the  sea-snakes^  which  infest  the 


1  /Vn  interesting  paper  on  the 
Manufacture  of  Salt  at  Putlam,  by 
A.  O.  Bkodie,  Esq.,  will  be  found  in 
the  Jotmi.  of  the  Ceylon  Branch  of 
the  Asiat.  Soc,  for  1847,  vol.  ii.  p. 
99. 

"  Valen TYN  says,  "  If  there  is  any 
place  on  the  sui-face  of  the  globe  in 
which  iish  is  more  abundant  than 
another,  it  is  Calpentyn."  —  Oud  en 
Nicuw  Oost-Indien,  ch.  xv.  p.  222. 

3  ILjdrus  Major'?  Shaw.  In  tlie 
course  of  an  attempt  which  was  re- 
cently made  to  place  a  lighthouse  on 
the  great  rocks  off  the  soutliern  coast 
of  Ceylon,  known  by  seamen  as  the 
Basses,  or  Ba.vos,  the  worlcmen  who 
first  landetl  found  that  portion  of  the 
surface  liable  to  be  covered  by  the 
tides,  honey-combed,  and  sunk  into 


deep  holes  filled  with  water,  in  which 
were  abundance  of  fishes  and  mol- 
luscs. Some  of  these  cavities  con- 
tained also  sea  snakes  fi-om  four  to  five 
feet  long,  which  were  described  as  hav- 
ing the  head  "  hooded  like  the  Cobra 
de  Capello,  and  of  a  light  grey  colour, 
slightly  speckled.  They  coiled  them- 
selves like  serpents  on  land,  and 
darted  at  poles  thrust  in  among 
them.  The  Singhalese  who  accom- 
panied the  pai'ty,  said  that  they  not 
only  bit  venomously,  but  crushed  the 
limb  of  any  intruder  in  their  coils." 
The  Basses  are  believed  to  be  the 
remnants  of  tlie  island  of  Giri,  swal- 
lowed up  by  the  sea.  —  Mahaxcanso, 
ch.  i.  p.  4  ;  see  antCy  Vol.  I.  Pt.  I.  ch.  i. 
p.  7.  They  may  possibly  be  the 
Basses  of  Ptolemy  s  nuip. 


Chap.  II.] 


CALPENTYN. 


CHI  LAW. 


629 


shallows,  and  whose  bite  they  beheve  to  be  fatal.  Shells  ^ 
are  so  abundant  on  the  shore  of  the  bay  that  they  serve 
to  supply  the  district  with  hme.  The  capabihties  of 
Calpentyn  were  so  highly  appreciated  by  the  Dutch  that, 
on  wresting  the  peninsula  from  the  Portuguese,  they 
constructed  a  fort,  the  buildings  of  which  are  in  tolerable 
repair,  and  introduced  the  vine,  which  still  flourishes  in 
the  peninsula." 

Calpentyn  has  of  late  years  attained  celebrity  from  a 
statue  of  St.  Ann,  which  is  said  to  work  miracles,  and 
to  whose  shrine  pilgrims  resort  in  thousands,  not  Eoman 
Catholics  alone  but  Mahometans  and  Hindus,  who, 
without  absolute  faith  in  St.  Ann,  think  it  polite  to  be 
respectful  to  her  representative,  whom  they  address  as 
Hanna  Bihi. 

Cliilaw,  the  Salabham  of  the  Tamils  and  the  Salawat 
through  which  Ibn  Batuta  passed  on  his  way  to  Adam's 
Peak,  is  a  place  of  no  great  antiquity.  It  w^as  wrested 
fi'om  the  king  of  Ceylon  by  the  Tamils  in  the  fourteenth 
century^,  and  though  nominally  recovered,  it  was  never 
virtually  restored,  having  been  occupied  in  turn  by  the 
Moors,  the  Portuguese,  and  Dutch,  from  the  last  of  Avliom 
it  was  taken  by  the  Enghsh  in  1796.^ 

From  Chilaw  to  Negombo  the  road  passes  through 
almost    continuous    coco-nut    plantations;    and    in    the 


^  Owing  to  the  profusion  of  dead 
shells,  the  shore  at  Calpent^Ti  is  so 
fi-equeuted  by  heniiit-crabs,  that  on 
approaching  their  haunts  the  beach 
seems  all  in  motion  as  they  hasten  to 
conceal  themselves,  hiuTjdng  to  and 
fi"0,  and  clashing  their  shells  together 
in  their  precipitancy  and  confusion. 

^  Valentyu,  0ml  en  Kicmv  Ood- 
Indien,  ch.  xv.  p.  223. 

3  RajavaU,  p.  264. 

*  The  forest  to  the  east  of  Chilaw 
contains,  wdthin  a  radius  of  twenty 
or  thirty  miles,  the  ruins  of  a  num- 
ber of  ancient  cities  ;  amongst  otlicrs, 
Dambedenia,  near  the  Kaymel 
river,    which    was    the    capital    of 


Wijayo  Bahu  III,  a.b.  1235;  and 
Yapahoo,  north  of  the  Uodroo  Ova, 
where  the  Court  was  held  from  A.D. 
1301,  till  its  removal  to  Kornegalle 
a  few  years  later.  Tlie  only  remains 
of  the  former  are  some  finely  chi- 
selled columns  amongst  momids  of 
gi-ass-grown  iiibbish  and  liidden 
brickwork.  At  Yapahoo  there  are 
extensive  ruins,  a  dooi-way  fourteen 
feet  high,  supported  by  gi-anite  pillars 
caiT^nng  an  ornamental  frieze,  and  a 
window  admitting  the  light  through 
apertures  perforated  in  a  richly 
carved  entablature,  the  tracery  on 
which  contains  figures  of  the  lion 
and  the  sacred  g-oose. 


s  s  3 


GOO 


THE   RUIXED   CITIES. 


[Part  X. 


shade  of  the  pahns  one  hears  the  creaking  of  the  pri- 
mitive mills,  which,  from  time  immemorial,  have  been 
used  by  the  natives  for  expressing  the  oil.  Under  a 
large  banyan-tree  on  the  side  of  the  highway,  near  the 
village  of  Madampe,  is  an  altar  to  Tannavilla  Abhaya, 
a  chief  who,  in  the  fourteenth  centiu-y,  ruled  over  the 
district,  under  the  title  of  king  of  Madampe.  He  died 
by  his  own  hand ;  but,  in  gratitude  for  his  ser\dces,  his 
subjects  celebrated  his  apotheosis,  and  the  people  now 
worship  him  as  the  tutelary  deity  of  the  place. 

JSTegombo,  although,  according  to  Burnouf,  its  name, 
Naga-houli,  would  imply  that  it  was  the  "land  of  the 
serpent  worshippers"  (Nagasy,  was  a  place  of  no  im- 
portance till  the  Portuguese  took  possession  of  it  as  a 
sanitary  station,  and  erected  a  small  enclosure  defended 
by  five  guns,  under  the  command  of  a  captain,  Avith  a 
few  soldiers  and  a  chaplain.^  The  Dutch,  struck  with 
the  commercial  value  of  the  district,  and  its  adaptability 
for  the  growth  of  cinnamon,  converted  the  stockade 
into  a  fortress  with  four  batteries,  for  the  protection 
of  the  Chahas  in  their  employment.^  The  residt  justified 
their  foresight,  and  Valentyn  pronounces  that  the  cinnamon 
grown  at  Negombo  was  "the  best  in  the  known  world,  as 
well  as  the  most  abundant."  ^ 

The  encomium  was  not  misplaced  ;  and,  so  long  as 
the  finest  quahties  of  the  spice  were  in  demand,  the 
specimens  grown  at  Kaderani  commanded  the  highest 
prices.  Of  late  years,  however,  the  enterprise  has  been 
less  remunerative,  and  the  cultivation  of  coco-nuts  has 
superseded  that  of  cinnamon.  The  town  still  retains 
its  external  aspect  of  importance;  the  fort,  though  no 
longer  garrisoned,  is   in  effective  repair,   and  the  wln'te 


^  Journal  Asiatiqiie,  torn.  \m.  p. 
134.  The  ordinary  derivation  of 
Negonibo  is,  however,  Mi-tjamoa, 
the  "  viUage  of  bees." 

2  IIaafnee,  Voyages,  S^-c,  torn.  i. 
p.  8()8 ;  RlREYEO,  p.  i,  ch.  xii. 


*  Valentyn,  Oml  en  Nieim  Oost- 
Ind'ien,  ch.  xiii.  p.  20. 

^  Ihkl,  p.  1G6.  See  ante,  Vol.  I. 
rt.  V.  ch.  ii. 


Chaf.  II.]  RETURN   TO   COLOMBO.  631 

villas  of  the  Dutch  biu^ghers  give  it  an  aspect  of  cheerful- 
ness and  prosperity. 

At  JSTegombo  I  was  met  by  an  orderly  from  the 
Governor,  with  an  express,  to  apprise  me  that  a  re- 
belhon  had  broken  out  in  the  central  provinces,  and  that 
a  king  having  been  crowned  in  the  temple  of  Dambool 
was  then  on  his  march  towards  Kandy,  Avdth  an  armed 
force  of  adlierents.  My  horses  were  instantly  ordered, 
and  early  in  the  morning  of  the  3 0th  of  July,  1848,  I 
returned  to  Colombo. 


s  s  4 


C32 


NOTE  TO  CHAPTEE  II. 

THE   SACRED    BO-TREE. 

The  follomng  passages  serving  to  indicate  the  prolonged 
existence  of  the  Bo-tree  planted  by  Devenipiatissa,  B.C.  288, 
and  to  identify  it  with  the  tree  still  existing  at  Anarajapoora, 
are  extracted  from  the  several  historical  works  which  treat  of 
Ceylon. 

B.C.  288.  The  tree  was  planted  by  Devenipiatissa.  {3faha- 
luanso,  ch.  xix.  p.  121.) 

B.C.  161.  The  King  Dutugaimimu  "caused  a  splendid  and 
magnificent  festival  of  offerings  to  the  Bo-tree  to 
be  celebrated."     {Mahaiuanso,  ch.  xxvi.  p.  165.) 

B.C.  136.  The  King  Batiyatissa  I.,  "in  honour  of  the  pre- 
eminent Bo-tree,  celebrated  annually,  without  in- 
termission, the  solemn  festival  of  watering  it." 
{Mahaiuanso,  ch.  xxxiv.  p.  212. 

A. D.  62.  "The  King  Waahsaba  kept  up  an  illumination  of 
one  thousand  lamps  at  the  Chetiyo  mountain  at 
the  Thuparama,  at  the  Mahathupo,  and  at  the  Bo- 
tree."  {Mahaiuanso,  ch.  xxxv.  p.  221.)  "He 
also  caused  exquisite  statues  to  be  formed  of  the 
four  Buddhas  of  their  exact  stature,  and  built 
an  edifice  to  contain  them  near  the  delightful  Bo- 
tree."     {Ibid,) 

A. T).  179.  "The  next  king  was  called  Koohoona  Raja,  wlio 
caused  a  stone  stair  to  be  erected  on  the  four 
sides  of  the  consecrated  Bo-gaha  tree."  {Raja- 
ratnacari,  p.  60  ;  Mahawanso,  ch.  xxxvi.  p.  226.) 

A.  D.  201.  King  Waira  Tissa  "  caused  to  be  formed  two  halls, 
one  at  the  INIalia  wihara,  and  another  on  the  south- 
east side  of  the  Bo-tree,  and  two  metallic  images, 
for  them."  {Mahaivanso,  ch.  xxxvi.  p.  226  ;  Ra- 
jaratnacari,  p.  60.) 


THE    SACRED    BO-TREE.  C33 

A.D.  223.  King  Abha  Sen  "  built  a  stone  ledge  around  the  Bo- 
tree."  {Mahawanso,  ch.  xxxvi.  p.  228.)  "  Such 
was  his  zeal  for  the  true  religion,  that  he  caused 
a  pavement  of  marble  to  be  made  around  the  Bo- 
gaha-tree."     {RajaratnacaH,  p.  61.) 

A.D.  231.  "On  the  demise  of  Abha  Sri  Naaga,  the  son  of 
his  brother  reigned  two  years  in  Lanka.  This 
monarch  repaired  the  wall  around  the  great  Bo- 
tree."     {Mahawanso,  ch.  xxxvi.  p.  228.) 

A.D.  240.  King  Grothaabhaya,  "at  the  place  of  the  Bo-gaha, 
caused  to  be  erected  three  houses  of  stone,  in 
each  of  which  he  placed  a  figure  of  Buddha  sit- 
ting." {Rajaratnacari,  p.  65.)  "At  the  great  Bo- 
tree  he  added  a  stone  ledge  or  cornice  to  its 
parapet  wall,  a  porch  at  its  southern  entrance, 
and  at  its  four  corners  he  placed  hexagonal  stone 
pillars.  Having  had  three  stone  images  of  Bud- 
dha made,  he  placed  them  at  the  three  entrances, 
as  well  as  a  stone  altar  at  the  southern  entrance." 
(^Mahaivanso,  ch.  xxxvi.  p.  232.) 

A.D.  253.  "On  the  demise  of  his  father,  Detoo  Tissa  suc- 
ceeded to  the  monarchy.  He  built  three  portal 
arches  at  the  great  Bo-tree."  {MaJtaiuanso,  ch. 
xxxvi.  p.  233.) 

A.D.  275.  Even  the  schismatic  Maha  Sen  respected  the  sanc- 
tity of  the  Bo-tree,  and  during  his  period  of  hos- 
tility to  the  priesthood,  he  "built  a  hall  for  the 
reception  of  an  image  of  Buddha  at  tlie  Bo-tree, 
and  a  delightful  edifice  for  relics,  as  well  as  a  qua- 
drangular hall."  {Mahawanso,  ch.  xxxvii.  p.  235.) 
And  at  a  subsequent  period,  after  his  reconcilia- 
tion to  the  church,  "  the  Raja,  having  had  two 
brazen  images  cast,  placed  them  in  the  hall  of  the 
great  Bo-tree."     {Ibid.,  p.  236.) 

A.D.  301.  His  son  Sri  Meghawarna,  having  prepared  a  statue 
of  Mahindo  to  be  placed  on  jNIihintala,  conve3'ed 
it  in  a  solemn  procession  through  the  city  of 
Anarajapoora,  "  and  kept  it  for  three  months 
in  the  precincts  of  the  Bo-tree."  {Mahaiuanso,  ch. 
xxxvii.  p.  241.) 

A.D.  329.  The  same  king  "celebrated  a  festival  at  the  Bo- 
tree  in  the  twenty-eighth  yeai-  of  his  reign."  (Ibid., 
p.  242.) 


634  NOTE    TO    CIIAPTEE  II. 

A.D.  414.  Fa  Hian,  the  Chinese  traveller,  saw  the  Bo-tree  at 
Anarajapoora,  and  calls  it  "  I'arbre  Pet-to."  His 
narrative  leaves  little  doubt  as  to  its  being  iden- 
tical wdth  the  tree  whose  planting  is  commemo- 
rated in  the  Mahatvanso.  Fa  Hian  describes  its 
inclination  to  one  side,  and  the  erection  of  pillars 
to  support  its  branches  :  —  "  Les  anciens  rois  de 
ce  pays  envoyerent  dans  '  le  royaume  du  Milieu ' 
chercher  des  graines  de  I'arbre  Pei-to.  On  les 
planta  a  cote  de  la  salle  de  Foe.  Quand  I'arbre 
fut  haut  d'environ  vingt  tchang,  il  pencha  du  cote 
du  sud-est.  Le  roi  craignant  qu'il  ne  tombat,  le 
fit  etayer  par  liuit  ou  neuf  piliers  qui  formerent 
une  enceinte  en  le  soutenant.  L'arbre  au  milieu 
de  la  place  oii  il  s'ajjpuyait,  poussa  une  branche 
qui  perpa  un  pilier,  descendit  a  terre  et  prit  ra- 
cine.  Sa  grandeur  est  environ  de  quatre  lueL 
Ces  piliers,  quoiqu'ils  soient  fendus  par  le  milieu, 
et  tout  dejectes,  ne  sont  cependant  pas  enleves  par 
les  hommes.  Au-dessous  de  I'arbre  on  a  eleve 
une  chapelle  dans  laquelle  est  une  statue  assise. 
Les  religieux  de  la  Eaison  ont  I'habitude  de  I'ho- 
norer  sans  relache.''  —  (Fa  Hian,  Foe  koue  ki, 
cxxxviii.  p.  332.) 

A.D.  459.  The  King  Dhaatu  Sena,  "  employing  his  army  therein, 
restored  the  Maha-wihara  as  well  as  the  edifice  of 
the  Bo-tree."  {Mahawanso,  ch.  xxxviii.  p.  256.) 
"He  celebrated  a  festival  for  the  pm-pose  of 
watering  the  supreme  Bo-tree :  from  the  period 
the  tree  had  been  planted,  the  rulers  in  Lanka 
had  held  such  a  festival  every  twelfth  year." 
(Ihicl,  p.  257.) 

A.D.  459  Mahanamo,  the  author  of  this  portion  of  the  Maha- 
—478.  ivanso,  who  wrote  between  the  years  459  a.d. 

and  478  a.d.,  says,  after  describing  the  ceremony 
of  planting  it :  *'  Thus  this  monarch  of  the  forest 
endowed  with  miraculous  powers  has  stood  for 
ages  in  the  delightful  Mahamego  garden  in 
Lanka,  promoting  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the 
inhabitants,  and  the  propagation  of  true  religion." 
{Mahawanso,  ch.  xix.  p.  121.) 

A.D.  534.     Silaakaali  Eaja  "  made  daily  offerings  to  the  Bo-tree, 


THE   SACKED   BO-TREE.  G35 

and   placed   an   altar   before  it."     {Mahawanso, 
ch.  xli.     Turnour's  MS.  Transl.) 

A.D.  567.  The  King  Kitsri-Magha  "  covered  the  edifice  of  the 
Bo-tree  with  sheets  of  lead."  {Mahcnvanso,  ch.  xH. 
Turnour's  MS.  Transl.) 

A.D.  586.  Maha-Naga  "constructed  a  parapet  wall  round  the 
Bo-tree,  and  covered  it  with  a  golden  edifice." 
{Mahatvanso,  ch.  xli.    Turnour's  MS.  Transl.) 

A.D.  815.  King  Kuda  Daapula  Eaja  "  caused  to  be  built  a 
house  in  honour  of  and  near  to  the  Bo-tree  at 
Anuradhe-pura-Nuwara ;  he  caused  to  be  made 
a  figure  of  Buddha  in  gold,  and  was  a  favourable 
king  to  the  religion  of  Buddha."  {Rajaratna- 
cari,  p.  79,  Turnour's  Epitome,  p.  33  ;  Maha- 
U'anso,  ch.  xlix.) 

A.D.  1153.  King  Prakrama  Bahu  "repaired  all  the  decayed 
palaces  of  the  city,  cleared  away  the  jungle,  and 
made  a  house  around  the  Jaya  maha  Bodin  wo- 
hanse,  i.  e.  the  Bo-tree."  {RajaratnacaH,  p.  89 ; 
Rajavali,  p.  253  ;  Mahmvanso,  ch.  Ixiv.) 

A.D.  1240.  The  author  of  the  portion  of  the  Rajavali  which 
records  the  reign  of  Wijayo  Bahu,  speaking  of  the 
exhaustion  of  the  solar  race  and  the  accession  of 
those  kings  of  mingled  blood  who  followed  them, 
describes  them  as  the  "  descendants  of  the  family 
who  had  brought  to  Ce3don  the  Bo-tree  still  exist- 
ingy     {Rajavali,  p.  257.) 

A.D.  1675.  According  to  a  pretended  prophecy,  the  city  of 
Sitawacca,  destroyed  by  the  Portuguese  in  the 
wars  with  Maaya  Dunnai,  was  to  be  rebuilt  "when- 
ever the  Bo-tree  of  Anarajapoora  should  lose  one 
of  its  branches  ;"  and  in  1674,  when  it  was  learned 
that  a  branch  of  the  famous  tree  had  been  struck 
by  lightning,  the  Dutch  took  advantage  of  the 
popular  feeling  to  restore  some  of  the  buildings. 
(Valentyn,  ch.  XV.  p.  230.) 

A.D.  1724.  Valentyn,  who  wrote  his  great  work  on  Ceylon 
about  the  close  of  the  17th  century  (he  went  to 
India  in  A.D.  1686),  says,  in  speaking  of  the 
Bo-tree,  "which  tree  is  still  to  be  seen  at  the 
Great  Pagoda,"  at  Anarajapoora.  (Valenty'N, 
ch.  iv.) 


636  NOTE   TO   CHAPTER  II. 

A.D.  1739.  King  Raja  Singha,  who  built  his  palace  at  Han- 
giiranketti  near  Kandy,  caused  it  to  be  inscribed 
on  a  rock,  that  he  had  "  dedicated  lands  in  the 
Wanny  to  the  sacred  Bo-tree."  (Foebes's  Eleven 
Years  in  Ceylon,  vol.  ii.  p.  119.) 


INDEX. 


INDEX. 


Abhayagiri  dao;oba,  i.  347  n. 

Aborigines    of     Ceylon,    probably    from     the 

Dekkan,  i.  328. 

erroneously  said  to  be  from  China,  i.  327  n. 

evidence  in  their  language,  1.  328. 

evidence  in  their  superstitions,  i.  330. 

Yakkos  demon  worshippers,  i.  331. 

Nagas  serpent  worshippers,  i.  331. 

their  treatment  by  Wijayo,  i.  369. 

their  forced  labour,  i.  369. 

they  retire  into  the  forests,  i.  372. 

progenitors  of  the  modern  Veddahs,  i.  373. 

Aboulfeda,  i.  9. 

Abouzeyd,  the  geographer,  i.  46,  582. 

his  account  of  Ceylon,  i.  584,  586. 

describes  the  Gobbs  of  Ceylon,  i.  47  «. 

Abu  Abdallah  institutes  the  pilgrimage  to  Adam's 

Peak,  i.  583,  584  n;  ii.  136. 
Acalephm^  \-2A().    5ee  Kadiata. 
Acherontia  Sathanas,  i.  264. 
Adam's  Bridge,  its  geologic  formation,  i.  13?;.; 

ii.  553. 

Hindu  legend  of  Rama,  ii.  554. 

Adam's  Peak,  described  by  the  Chinese,  i.  609  n. 
traditions  respecting  Alexander  the  Great, 

i.  604. 

pilgrimage  instituted,  i.  584  m. 

scenery  of  the  mountain,  ii.  123,  133. 

• remnant  of  nature-worship,  ii.  133  rt. 

worshipped  by  numerous  races,  ib. 

Sri-pada,  the  sacred  footstep,  ib. 

various  traditions,  ii.  133. 

footstep  of  St.  Thomas,  ib.  n. 

of  Buddha  and  Adam,  ib.,  ii.  134. 

its  extreme  antiquity,  ii.  134. 

its  Gnostic  origin,  ii.  137. 

the  iron  chains  and  their  legend,  ii.  139. 

elephants  on  the  summit,  ii.  139  n. 

Administrative  reform  for  Ceylon,  ii.  172. 

Adularia.    See  Gems. 

jElian,  description  of  Ceylon,  i.  553  n. 

of  Ceylon  tortoises,  i.  190. 

of  the  elephant,  ii.  278,  380,  402. 

jEolian  harp,  i.  470. 

iEstivation,  i.  220.    See  Fishes. 

Agathemerus'  error  as  to  the  size  of  Ceylon,  i.  9, 

562. 
Agriculture,  its  introduction  inti  Ceylon,  i.  338. 

unknown  before  Wijavo's  arrival,  i.  429. 

■     teachers  of  practice  and  science  of  irrisra- 

tion,  i.  430,  431  n. 


Agriculture,  unwise  British  policy  in  regard  to, 

ii.  170,  171  n. 
'A\afiav5au6y,  i.  545  n. 
Albateny,  Arabian  geographer,  i.  594. 
Albyrouni,  Arabian  geographer,  i.  1  n,  47  n. 

describes  the  Veddahs,  i.  593. 

the  hair  of  the  Singhalese,  ii.  107. 

Alexander  the  Great,  companions  of,  bring  the 

earliest  accounts  of  Ceylon  to  Europe,  i.  549. 
Almeida,  Manoel  de,  on  burying  fishes,  i.  219  »i. 
Alia-Parte,  Major  Skinner's  survey  of,  i.  383  n. 
Almeyda,  Don  Francesco,  visits  Galle,  ii.  7. 
Al-rahoun,  Arab  name  for  Adam's  Peak,  ii.  136. 
Altitudes  of  mountains,  i.  15. 
Alu  Wihara,  i.  375;  ii.  573. 
Ahvis,    J.   de,  translation    of  Sidath   Sangara, 
Introd.  xxxvi. 

observations  on  cinnamon,  i.  602,  603  n. 

on    Singhalese   knowledge    of    lightnjng, 

i.  509  n. 
Ambatteyos,  ii.  269. 
Ambepusse,  ii.  183. 
Ambrosius,  St.,  mentions  Ceylnn   in  his  tract 

"  De  Moribus  Brachmanorum,'  i.  562 »». 
Amethysts.    See  Gems. 
Ammianus  Marcellinus,  i.  557  re. 
Anabas,  i.  216. 

Daldorf 's  account  of,  doubted,  i.  216. 

accidents  from,  i.  217/*. 

Analitivoe,  ii.  549. 
Anarajapoora  built,  i.  338. 

exaggerations  as  to  its  size,  i.  383. 

its  condition  in  the  fifth  century,  i.  493. 

its  present  state,  ii.  610. 

Brazen  Palace,  ii.  611. 

Bo-tree,  ii.  612. 

tomb  of  Elala,  ii.  619. 

dagobas,  ii.  620. 

wild  animals,  ii.  623. 

Andrews,    ]\Ir.,    liis    disastrous  government    of 

Ceylon,  ii.  172. 
'ArSpotrrdxoj',  i.  569. 

Angelbeck,  Van,  mystery  concerning,  iu  68  n. 
Angling  bad  in  Ceylon,  i.  208  n,  210. 

accidents,  i.  217. 

Animal  life  in  the  forest,  i.  251. 
AnneUda,  leeches,  i.  301. 

land- leech,  its  varieties,  i.  302.  ib.  n. 

its  teeth  and  eyes,  ib.  n. 

its  tormenting  bite,  i.  303. 

list  of,  i.  308. 


640 


INDEX. 


Anthelia,  the  phenomenon  described,  i.  72. 

probable  orighr  of  the  "glory"  iu  sacred 

paintings,  ib. 
Ant-lion,  i.  252.    See  Insects. 
Ants,  i.  258;  ii.  511.    See  Insects. 

red,  ib. 

white.    See  Termites. 

their  faculty  in  discovering  food,  ii.  370  ?«. 

Anthracite,  i.  30,  31. 

Anula,  the  infamous  queen,  i.  377. 

Anuradopoora,  i.  560  n.     See  Anarajapoora. 

Anurogrammum,  i.  338.   See  Anarajapoora. 

Aqua  marina.    See  Gems. 

Arabs,  early  settlement  of,  i.  579. 

• story  to  illustrate,  i.  580. 

Arabian  geographers,  their  character,  i.  581. 
Arabian  Nights'  Entertainment,  stories  derived 

from  Ceylon,  i.  6,  443,  596;  ii.  400,  538  w. 
Arabs  and  Persians  possess  Singhalese  trade  in 

time  of  Cosmas,  i.  563. 
Arachnidce,  spiders,  i.  294. 

. extraordinary  webs,  ib. 

olios  taprobanius,  i.  295. 

Mygale  fasciata,  ib. 

erroneously  called  "  tarentula,"  ib. 

anecdote  of,  i.  296. 

ticks,  tlieir  multitude,  ib. 

mites,  i.  297. 

tronibidium  tinctorum,  ib. 

list  of,  i.  307. 

Arachy,   of  singular  bravery,  his   horrid    Atte, 

ii.  20  n. 
Archers,  i.  499. 
Architecture,  i.  478. 

no  remains  of  domestic,  ib. 

stones  split  by  ^yedging,  i.  479. 

a  column  from  Anarajapoora,  ib. 

•  bricks,  good,  i.  480. 

monasteries  and  wiharas,  i.  481. 

dagobas,  enormous  dimensions,  i.  480. 

temples  and  their  decorations,  i.  488. 

cave  temples,   i.  489. 

public  buildings,  hospitals,  shops,  i.  493. 

of  Anarajapoora,  i.  494. 

Areca  Palm,  i.  112.    See  Betel. 

its  nuts  chewed  with  betel,  ib. 

its  wood  used  for  pingoes,  i.  114. 

Argensola,  error  as  to  bitumen  in  Ceylon,  i.  16  «. 
'ApyeWia,  i.  569. 
Ariosto,  "  perfumed  breezes,"  i.  4  ti. 
Aripo,  the  shore,  ii.  559,  625. 
Aristotle,  account  of  fishes  migrating  overiaiid, 
i.  227,  550. 

knees  of  the  elephant,  ii.  292. 

Armandi,on  the  use  of  elephants  in  war,  ii.  380  n. 
Arms,  i.  499. 

skill  of  the  Singhalese  in  making,  ii.  12. 

Army  and  Navy,  ancient,  i.  498. 

Arnetivoe,  ii.  476. 

Arrian.     See  Periplus. 

Articulata,  list  of,  i.  307. 

Ashref,  Persian  writer,  i.  605  7i;  ii.  139  «. 

Asoca,  edicts  of,  i.  367. 

Assoedamising,  i.  26  n.    See  Rice-lands. 


Astronomy  and  astrology,  i.  503. 

Athenasus,  anecdotes  of  fishes  on  dry  land,  i.  228. 

Aukana  Wihara,  i.  477;  ii.  606. 

Azavedo,  Jerome  de,  his  butcheries,  ii.  23. 

Badulla,  the  town,  ii.  266. 

hot  spring,  i.  16n.;  ii.  266. 

Bailey,  Mr.,  his  minute  on  irrigation,  i.  430. 

Baldaius,  his  work  on  Ceylon,  ii.  22,  32,  42, 

his  tamarind  tree,  ii.  535. 

Ballam,  a  canoe,  ii.  549. 

Bamboo,  rendered  musical,  i.  88  ». 

Bana,  i.  325.    See  Buddha. 

Bandicoot  rat,  i.  150. 

Bandies  bullock,  ii.  180. 

Banyan  tree.     See  Figs. 

Baobab  trees,  ii.  559,^627. 

Barbezieux,  on  the  Elephant,  ii.  296. 

Barbosa,  his  travels  in  Ceylon,  i.  616. 

Barnes,  Sir  Edward,  his  public  works,  ii.  95, 
120,  186,226,  228,  230. 

Barnsley,  Corporal,  his  wonderful  escape,  ii.  83  ?i. 

Burros,  De,  Historical  work  on  Ceylon,  Introd. 
xxix.;  ii.  5. 

Bars  at  rivers.    See  Gobb. 

Barthema,  on  Cinnamon,  i.  600. 

his  travels  in  Ceylon,  i.  639. 

Basaltic  rocks,  i.  15. 

Basses,  the  ancient  Giridipo  Islands  submerged, 
i.  7«.;  ii.  628  w. 

Bathing,  its  importance,  i.  80 «. 

Bats.    See  Mammalia. 

their  parasite  (Nycteribia),  i.  161. 

Batticaloa,  ii.  454. 

scenery,  ii.  455. 

coco-nuts,  ii.  456. 

Dutch  fort,  ii.  465. 

musical  fish,  ii.  469. 

Bears,  i.  137.    See  Mammalia. 

charm  to  protect  from,  i.  139». 

Bees,  i.  257.     See  Insects. 

Beetles,  i.  247.     See  Insects. 

instincts  of  the  scavenger  beetle,  ib. 

Beladori,  story  from,  i.  580. 

Belligam,  ii.  112. 

Bells  in  Ceylon  in  second  century  B.C.,  ii.  140  n. 

Bennett's  account  of  Ceylon,  1845,  Introd.  xsvi, 

work  on  its  Ichthyology,  i.  202. 

Bentotte,  ii.  129. 

oysters  at,  ib. 

Bertulacci,  A.,  his  \\  ork  on  Ceylon,  1817,  Introd. 
xxiv. 

his  error  as  to  Mantotte,  i.  587. 

on  form  of  chank  shell,  ii.  557  n. 

Betel,  the  habit  of  chewing  based  on  utility, 
i.  112. 

its  medicinal  uses,  i.  113. 

mode  in  which  it  is  taken,  ib. 

antiquity  of  the  custom,  i.  114,  439. 

mentioned  by   Massoudi  in  Xth  century, 

i.  114. 

mentioned  by  Ibn  Batuta  in  1332,  ib. 

Bhuwaneka  VII.  places  his  son  under  the  pro- 
lection  of  Portugal,  ii.  14. 


INDEX. 


641 


Bbuwaneka  VII.,  coronation  of  the  child  at  Lis- 
bon, ii.  15. 

Bintenne,  road  to,  from  Kandj,  ii.  415. 

ancient  city,  ii.  419. 

dagoba,  ii.  421. 

Birds  of  Ceylon,  i.  1G3. 

tlieir  number  and  character,  ib. 

few  songsters,  i.  1 64. 

pea-fowl,  i.  165. 

eagles  and  hawks,  i.  166. 

owls,  devil  bird,  i.  167- 

swallows,  i.  167. 

edible  birds'  nests,  ib. 

•  kingfisher,  sun  birds,  i.  1  68. 

bulbul,  tailor  bird,  weaver  bird,  i.  169. 

crows,  anecdotes  of,  i.  1 70.  A 

parroquets,  i.  172. 

pigeons,  i.  173. 

jungle -fowl,  i.  174. 

grallm,  flamingoes,  i.  175. 

list  of  Ceylon  birds,  i.  177. 

Birds'  nests,  edii)le,  i.  167. 

BicrdSfs,  ii.  439  n. 

Bisse,  Sir  Edward,  edits  Ambrose  Tract,  i.  563  ra. 

Bissett,  the  Rev.  G.,  probable  author  of  "  I'liila- 
lethes'  History  of  Ceylon,  IS17  " hitrod.  xxiv. 

Bitumen,  error  of  Argensola,  i.  16«. 

Boats,  i,  401. 

Bochart,  correct  as  to  Ceylon  being  Taprobane, 
i.  lOw. 

Bolinus,  i.  605  n. 

Bonduc,  siliceous  seeds  of,  i.  105. 

Books,  written  on  palm-leaves,  i.  513. 

Buschouwer,  Marcellus  de,  his  story,  ii.  38. 

Botanic  Garden,  ii.  207.     See  Peradenia. 

• value  of,  ii.  208. 

Botany,  i.  83.     See  Vegetation. 

plants  of  sand  formation,!.  48-52. 

rarity  of  deciduous  trees,  i.  56  n. 

flora  of  the  island  of  a  Malayan  type,  i.  83. 

its  extent,  ib.  n. 

authors  who  have  treated  of  the  botany  of 

Ceylon,  i.  84,  85  n. 

■ Ceylon  flora  diflerent  from  that  of  India, 

i.  84. 

plants  flourishing  on  the  coast,  i.  83. 

hill  plants,  i.  89. 

European    fruit-trees    changed    to    ever- 
greens, i.  89. 

Mr.  Dyke's  experiment  on  the  vine,  ib. 

flowering  trees,  i.  93. 

Banyan  tree,  i.  95,  97. 

marriage  of  fig-tree  and  palm,  i.  96. 

climbing  plants  and  epiphytes,  i.  102-106. 

ground  creepers,  i.  106,  107. 

thorny  plants,  i.  107. 

water  plants,  i.  122. 

ancient,  i.  505. 

Bo-tree,  the  sacred,  i.  97,  342. 

planted  288   n.c,  i.  341  ;  ii.  611. 

its  extreme  age,  ii.  614. 

evidences  of  its  identity,  ii.  631. 

Bow.    See  Archers. 

Boyd,  Hugh,  his  embassy  to  Ceylon,  ii.  67. 
VOL,    II.  T 


Brahmanism,  speculations  as  to  its  superior  au- 

ticjuity,  i.  523,  525,  ib.  n. 

triumphs  over  Buddhism,  i.  525. 

compared  with  Buddhism,  i.  529,  531. 

Brazen  Palace,  built,  i.  355,  483  n. 

its  vicissitudes,  i.  356. 

its  present  condition,  ii.  611. 

Breccia,  gems  embedded  in,  i.  19. 
Breezes.     See  Spicy  Breezes. 
Bridges,  rare  at  the  present  day,  i.  43. 

none  in  early  ages,  i.  466. 

should    be    made  before   roads,   ii.    122; 

ii.  574. 
British  subject,  first,  who  visited  Ceylon,  ii.  36. 

ship,  first  seen  in  Ceylon,  ii.  64. 

attack  the  Dutch,  ii.  67. 

take  the  island,  ii.  67,  68. 

rebellion  and  massacre  of  1803,  ii.  83. 

war  of  1815,  and  its  causes,  ii.  87. 

take  Kandy,  ii.  89. 

rebellion  of  1817,  and  its  causes,  ii.  90. 

conduct  of  chiefs  and  priests,  ib. 

frequent  attempts  at  rebellion  since,  ii.  93. 

open  up  Kandyan  country  by  roads,  ii.  94. 

administration  since  1820,  ii.  95. 

effect  of  British  rule   upon  the  people,  ii. 

96. 

attempt  at  rebellion  in  1848,  ii.  569. 

cause,  the  fiscal  policy  of  Viscount  Tor- 

rington,  ii.  570. 
impolicy  of  import  tax  upon  food,  and  cul- 
tivation tax  upon  grain,  ii.  1 70  ii. 
Brooke,  Mr.    ascends  the  Slahawelli-ganga,    ii. 

425. 
Brown,  Sir  Thomas,  Vulgar  Errors,  ii.  292. 
Brownrigg,  General,  his  government,  ii.  93. 
Buddha,  the  theory  of  a,  i.  325. 

bana,  the  "  word,"  ib. 

dharma,  "faith,"  ib. 

Gotama  Buddha,  his  life,  i.  326. 

he  visits  Ceylon,  i.  327. 

said  to  have  been  a  negro,  i.  475  n. 

why   worshipped  and  reverenced,  i.  528, 

529. 
as  a  deification  of  human  intellect,  i.  530. 

hence  caste  disregarded,  ib. 

fatalism   exists  in   his   doctrines,  i.   532, 

533. 

doctrine  of  metempsychosis,  ib. 

came  as  a  friend  and  adviser  of  man,  i. 

533. 
moral  and  social  effects  of  his  worship,  i. 

533  539. 
Buddha  rays,  the  phenomenon  described,  i.  74. 
Buddhism,  its  vast  extension,  i.  326  n. 

its  introduction  into  Ceylon,  i.  327. 

its  establishment  by  Mahindo,  i.  339. 

its  influence  on  civilisation,  i.  360,  525- 

527. 

cultivation,  i.  365. 

horticulture,  i.  367. 

iriigation,  i.  365. 

its  possessions,  i.  366. 

its  priests  are  allowed  rnjalariya,  i.  365. 


642 


IXDEX. 


"Buddhism,  its  records  reduced  to  writing,  i.  375. 

the  early  schisms,  i.  377. 

its  toleration  of  heresy,  i.  378. 

its  persecution  of  schism,  ib. 

its  corruption  by  Brahmanisni,!.  380. 

multitudes  of  its  priesthood,  i.  384. 

restored  by  Prakrama  Balm,  i.  406. 

influence  of  Nestorian  Christianity  upon, 

i.  518n. 

Hebrews  of  Dekkan  upon.  ib. 

coincidences  of,  with  Scripture,  i.  519  n. 

its  antiquity,  i.  523. 

doubts  whether  it  preceded  Brahmanism, 

ib. 

authorities,  ib.  n. 

extent  of  its  dominion,  i.  524. 

various    speculations   as   to    Buddha,    i. 

525  n. 

traced  to  a  Jewish  source,  ib. 

its  deadening  influence  on  Singhalese  cha- 
racter, i.  526. 

under  many  shapes,  i.  527. 

attempts  the  experiment  of  an  atheistic 

viorality,  i.  528. 

compared  with  Brahmanism,  i.  529. 

does  not  recognise  caste,  i.  530. 

points  of  agreement  with  Brahmanism,  i. 

531. 

believes  in   the  existence  of  '" lohas"  or 

heavens,  i.  531. 

its  theory  of  fatalism,  i.  532,  533. 

theoretic  beauty  of  its  moral  code,  i.  534, 

535. 

a  school  of  philosophy,  i.  536. 

innovations  in  its  ritual,  with  their  causes, 

i.  537. 

destitute  of  vitality,  ib. 

Singhalese  ignorant  of  its  tenets,  i.  538. 

less  ancient  than  demon-worship,  i.  539. 

extremely  tolerant,  i.  543. 

its  effect,  in  conjunction  with  demon-wor- 
ship, in  resisting  the  progress  of  Chris- 
tianity, i.  544  546. 
Buddhist  priests,    known  as  the   "  Clergy   of 
Reason"  i.  543  n. 

priesthood,  their  present  status,  ii.  196. 

Buddhist  temple  described,  ii.  144. 
Buffalo,  i.  154.     Sec  Mammalia. 

sporting  buffaloes,  i.  155. 

. albino  buffalo,  ib. 

Buffalo,  peculiar  structure  of  its  foot,  i.  156. 
Buffon,  on  the  elephant,  ii.  384. 
Bugs,  i.  267.    See  Insects  and  Coffee-bug. 
Buist,  Dr.,  account  of  fish  fallen  from  clouds, 

i.  226. 
Bulbul,  i.  168,  180.     ^ee  Birds. 
Buliini,  their  vitality,  i.  222. 
Buller,  C.  Reginald,  Introd.  xxxv. 
Bullia,  curious  property  of,  ii.  497. 
Bullocks  for  draught,  ii.  181. 
Burghers,  their  conduct  on  the  British  conquest, 

ii.  70. 
Burnouf,  M.  E.,  his  MSS.  on  Ceylon,    hilrod. 
xxsvi.  :  their  character,  ii.  70. 


Burnouf,  M.   E.,  his   unfinished  map,  i.  318, 

330  «. 
Buttei-flies,  i.  260.     See  Insects. 

migration  of,  i.  247. 

Buttressed  trees,  i.  91. 

Cabinet  woods,  i.  117. 
Cabook.     See  Laterite. 
Cadooa.     See  Gems. 
Cfficilia.     See  Reptiles. 
Cagots  and  Caqueux,  ii.  190. 
Calamander  Wood,  i.  118.     See  Trees. 
Calomel,  Singhalese  preparation  of,  i.  479  n. 
Calpentyn,  ii.  627. 
Caltura,  ii.  139. 

iCamels,  attempt  to  domesticate,  ii.  181  n. 
Cameron,  Dr.,  on  the  climate  of  Ceylon,  Introd. 

XXX. 

Camoens  on  the  waterspout,  i.  72  n. 

describes  the  Portuguese  monuments,  ii.  8«. 

cinnamon,  ii.  10  «. 

Adam's  Peak,  ii.  122. 

Candite.     See  Spinel. 

Candolle,  De,  longevity  of  trees,  ii.  613  n. 

Cannea,  hot  spring,  i.  16  n.  ;  ii.  496. 

Canoes,  double,  i.  327n  ;  ii.  103. 

Capper,  John,  on  Cinnamon,  ii.  163. 

Capuas,  i.  541. 

Carawilla.     See  Reptiles,  i.  191. 

Carolina,  "  Spicy  breezes  "  off  the  shore,  \.  An. 

Carpenter  bee,  i.  258.     See  Insects. 

Carriages,  i.  494. 

Carving  in  stone,  i.  483. 

Cashmir,  intercourse  with,  i.  431  n. ;  447. 

.  atmospheric  phenomena,  i.  73  n. 

Cassie  Chitty,  possible  identity  of"  Rachi.a"  and 

Arachia,  i.  5,  32  n. 

note  in  reference  to  the  Moors,  i.  631  n. 

Tamil  arrival  in  Ceylon,  ii.  539  n. 

Cassia,  ii.  163. 

Castaneda,  history,  ii.  4,  429. 

Caste,  i.  425  ;  ii.  157  n. 

its  malignant  influences,  ii.  157. 

Catharina  Donna,  Queen  of  Kandy,  ii.  19,  21. 

marries  Wimala  Dliarina,  ii.  23. 

marries  Senerat,  ii.  37. 

her  death,  ii.  39. 

Catina-dhwana.     See  Priests. 

Cat's-eye.     See  Gems. 

Caves,  the  earliest  temples,  i.  347.   See  Temple. 

Cellarius,  i.  10  ra. 

Centipede,  i.  298.     See  Myriapoda  and  Scolo- 

pendraj. 
Ceratoj)hora,  i.  184. 
Cerithia,  ii.  455. 

probably  musical,  ii.  470. 

Cermatia,  i.  297.     5ee  Myriapoda. 
Cetacea,  i.  1 58. 

described  by  Megasthenes  and  yElian,  i. 

553  ». 
Ceylon,    a    subject    for    writers  in    all    ages, 

Introd.  xsiii. 
want   of  a  work    on    its    pre.sent    state, 

lb.  xxiv.  xsv. 


INDEX. 


643 


Ceylon,  Englisli  authors  in  this  century,  Introd. 

xxiv. 

change  in  its  condition  since  1795,  Ih.  ib. 

disappearance  of  Portuguese  and  Dutch 

records,  Ib.  xxvii. 
physical  and    natural    history  neglected, 

Ib.  ib. 

its  vegetation,  Ib.  xxxi. 

its  fauna  neglected,  Ib.  ib. 

beauty  of  the  island,  i.  1. 

early  reports  as  to  its  fertility,  i.  1  n. 

■ ■  its  picturesque  outline,  i.  2. 

general  geological  character,  i.  3. 

forests  and  mountain  scenery,  i.  4. 

— —  geographical  position,  i.  5. 

early  errors  as  to  its  magnitude,  i.  5  w,  8,  9. 

errors  as  to  its  identity,  i.  10?*. 

general  geographiciil  form,  j.  12. 

mountain  system,  i.  14. 

geological  character,  i.  13 — 18. 

coral  formation,  i.  19,  20. 

metallic  products,  i.  28 — 31. 

gems,  i.  32—39,  566. 

rivers,  i.  41,  42. 

sand-foiTnation,  i.  43 — 52. 

non-existence  of  lakes  in  Ceylon,  i.  44. 

gobb-formation  due  to  this  cause,  together 

with  the  effects  of  currents,  i.  45,  46. 

harbours  and  population,  i.  52,  53. 

error  in  supposing  Ceylon   to   have  been 

originally  a  portion  of  the  Indian  conti- 

tinent,  i.  7,   13,  85,   160,  183  «,  205, 

270. 

various  ancient  naines  of,  i.  549  n.,  580  n. 

Chalia  caste,  ii.  123. 

Chameleon,  i.  184.     See  Reptiles. 

Chandragupta,  Sandracottus,  i.  317. 

Chank  shell,  Turbinella  rapa,  i.  20  ;  ii.  556. 

Cheetah.     See  Leopard. 

Chironectes,  i.  207  ii.     See  Fishes. 

Chelijer,  ii.  I55,ib.n. 

Cliena  cultivation,  ii.  463. 

Chilaw,  origin  of  the  name,  i.  440  «.;  ii.  628. 

China,  early  embassies  to  Ceylon,  i.  386,  607, 

6-20. 
Chinese,   their    knowledge  of  Ceylon,   Introd. 

xxxvi.,  i.  607. 

their  conquest  of  it,  i.  416. 

embassies  to  Ceylon,  i.  607,  620. 

authors  on  Ceylon,  i.  608  n. 

description  of  the  island,  i.  594  n,  604. 

conquest  of  Ceylon,  i.  622,  624  n. 

traces  of  the  Chinese  in  Ceylon,  i.  625. 

modern  Chinese  account  of  the  island,  i. 

626. 
Ching  Ho,  his  expedition  to  Ceylon,  i.  416,  622. 
Chola,  ancient  Indian  kingdom,  i.  395. 
Cholera,  i.  81.     See  Health. 
Chosroes  Nuschirvan,  i.  579. 
Choultrie.     See  liest-house. 
Choya  root.     See  Iledt/otis  vmbellata. 
its  growth  at  Jlanaar,  ii.  55,  580. 


Christianity  in  Ceylon,  history,  Introd.  xxix. 

Christianity,  difficulties  of  introducing  into 
Ceylon  —  arising  from  indifference  of  peojdc, 
i.  530;  from  conjunction  of  Buddhism  and 
demon-vforship,  i.  542  ;  from  sectarian  dif- 
ferences of  the  successive  missionary  churches, 
i.  545;  from  Buddhist  aversion  to  take  away 
life,  i.  545  n. 

Chronicles,  ancient,  of  Ceylon,  their  value, /«<»W. 
xxxv.  i.  31 1. 

formerly  undervalued,  i.  311. 

their  value,  established  by  Tumour,i.  312 

the  Mahawanso  translated,  i.  313. 

Chules  torches,  ii.  416. 

Chunam,  i.  483. 

Cicada,  i.  265.     See  In.^ects. 

Cinnamon,  propagated  by  birds,  i.  87. 

doubt  whether  it  be  indigenous  to  Cevlon, 

i.  599. 

obtained  originally  from  Africa,  ib. 

mentioned  by  Di  Conti  and  Ibn  Batuta, 

ii.  5  n, 
not    mentioned    by    Chinese    historians, 

j.  599  «.,  617. 
not  spoken   of    by   any    early  writer  on 

Ceylon,  i.  600  n. 

not  tlie  first  object  of  thePortuguese,  ii.  bn. 

Dutch  trade  in  cinnamon,  ii.  51. 

the  Makabadde  organised,  ii.  51. 

rise  and  decline  of  the  trade,  ii.  161. 

process  of  cultivating  cinnamon,  ii.  162. 

Cinnamon  gardens,  their  decay,  ii.  161. 
Cinnamon   land,   i.  600  n.      See  Ilegio  Cinna- 

momifera. 
Cinnamon  stone.     See  Geins. 
Cities,  ancient,  i.  493. 

successive  capitals,  i.  .382,  400,  413,  415. 

•  Chinese  account  of,  i.  617. 

Civet.  See  Genet te. 
Civil  justice,  i.  500. 
Civil  Service,  ii.  174. 

the  reform  by  Lord  Derby,  ii.  175. 

Claudius,  the  Emperor,  embiissy  from  Cevlon, 

i.  386. 
Climate  of  Ceylon  equable  and  healthy,  i.  54. 

its  variation  in  each  montli  of  the  year,  ib. 

the  along-shore  wind,  i.  57. 

different  climates  on  east  and  west  coasts, 

i.  67. 

of  Kandy,  ib. 

of  Jaffna,  i.  71. 

of  Trincomalie,  i.  71. 

its  effect  on  invalids,  i.  79. 

Cobalt,  i.  29. 

Cobra  de  Capello,  anecdotes  of,  i.  192,  197. 

a  white  cobra,  i.  192. 

tame  cubra,  i.  193  n. 

cobra  crossing  the  sea,  ib. 

curiiius  belief  as  to  the  cobra,  i.  194. 

Cobra-tel,  poi.son,  i.  183  «. 

Coca  used  as  a  stimulant  in  Peru,  i.  114. 

Coccus,  many  species,  ii.  245  n. 

o 


644 


INDEX. 


Coco-nut  palm,  fondness  for  the  sea,  i.  51. 

belief  that  it  only  grows    near   human 

dwellings,  i.  119. 
doubts  as  to  the  period  of  its  introduction, 

i.  436. 
earliest   notice   of  in  the  Mahawanso,  i. 

436  w. 

described  by  JElian,  i.  563. 

ship  built  and  freighted  with  it,  ii.  109. 

abundance  in  Ceylon,  ii.  125. 

its  value  and  uses,  i.  109  n.  \  ii.  125. 

plantations  at  Batticaloa,  ii.  456. 

—  plantations  at  Jaffna,  ii.  458,  528. 

mode  of  cultivating,  ii.  529. 

Coco-nut  beetle,  i.  250. 

Codex  Alexandrinus.     See  Septuagint. 
Coffee,  introduced  from  Arabia,  ii.  55,  224. 

cultivated  by  the  Dutch,  ii.  55,  225. 

by  Sir  Edward  Barnes,  ii.  226. 

progress  of  the  speculation,  ii.  227. 

the  mania  in  1844,  ii.  228. 

the  crisis  of  1845,  ii.  229. 

recovery  in  1847,  ii.  250. 

difficulty  regarding  labour,  ii.  231. 

accidents  from  rats,  &c.,  ii.  232,  243. 

the  coffee  bug,  ib. 

— —  statistics  of  coffee  planting,  ii.  233. 
prospects  for  the  future,  ii.  235. 

Coff'ee  bug,  ii.  243.     -See  Coffee. 

Coffee  plantations,  list  of,  ii.  238. 

Coffee  rat,  i.  149. 

Coin  of  Lillawattie,  i.  412. 

Coins,  Singhalese,  i.  461,  462,  ib.  n. 

Roman,  discovery  of,  in  Ceylon,  ii.  539  n. 

Coir,  derivation  of  the  term,  ii.  175. 

Colombo,  climate,  rain,  &c.,  i.  68. 

occupied  by  the  Portuguese,  a.d.  1517, 

ii.  5. 

fortified  by  them,  ii.  8,  10. 

. besieged  by  the  Singhalese,  ii.  10. 

. siege  by  Eaja  Singha,  ii.  19.  [27. 

. its  condition    under    the    Portuguese,  ii. 

captured  by  the  Britisli,  ii.  68. 

modern  town,  its  fortifications,  ii.  151. 

the  Pettah,  ii.  151. 

origin  of  the  word  Colombo,  ii.  152. 

suburbs  of  Colpetty,  ii.  153. 

European  houses,  ii.  153. 

reptiles  troublesome  in,  ii.  153. 

plague  of  insects  and  files,  ii.  154,  155. 

classes  of  the  population,  ii.  157. 

English  society,  ii.  158. 

cost  of  living,  ii.  158. 

Colpetty,  ii.  153.     See  Colombo. 

Coniboy,  derivation  of  the  word,  i.  612;  ii.  107. 

Commerce,   early    trade  entirely    in    hands    of 
strangers,  i.  440. 

indifference  to,  still  prevailing,  i.  441,  592. 

foreign  mentioned  B.C.  204,  i.  444. 

internal  traffic,  i.  445,  490,  ib.  n. 

early  imports,  horses,  silk,  &c.,  i.  446,  570. 

early  cxjiorts,  cliiefly  gems,  i.  445. 


Commerce,  Edrisi's  account  of,  in  12th  century, 

i.  448,  ib.  n. 

exports  of  elephants,  i.  570. 

Galle,  the  seat  of  ancient,  i.  584. 

habits  of  Veddabs  in  barter,  &c.,  i.  593. 

early  with  China,  ib. 

Colombo  the  present  seat  of,  ii.  165. 

reasons  for  choosing  Trincomalie,  ii.  166, 

487 — 491. 

objections  to,  ii.  490,  491. 

Conchology.     See  Shells. 

Conti,  Nicolo  di,  on  cinnamon,  i.  600  n. 

his  travels,  i.  637  ;  ii.  6. 

first  European  who  mentions  cinnamon, 

i.  638. 
ConvohTilus,  goat's-foot,  ii.  146. 
Cooley,  W.  D.,  Introd.  xxxvi. 

on  the  errors  of  Ptolemy,  i.  559  n. 

his   notices    of    the    Cinnamon    Region, 

i.  601  n. 
Coolness  of  fruit,  i.  120. 

how  produced,  i.  121,  122. 

Cooroowe,  elephant  catchers,  ii.  382. 
Coral  formations,  i.  19;  ii.  554. 

principally  at  Jaffna  and  on  W.  coast,  ib. 

wells  in  the  coral  rock,  i.  20. 

well  of  Potoor,  ib. 

well  of  Tillipalli,  ib. 

doubts  as  to  Darwin's  theory  of  wells  in 

coral,  i.  21  n. 

wells  of  Jaffna  generally,  ib. 

probably  filled  by  filtration  from  the  sea, 

ib. 

red,  ii.  659. 

Cordiner's  account  of  Ceylon,  1817,  /n<ro(^.xxiv. ; 

ii.  77,  79,  83,  86  n. 
Corral  for  taking  elephants,  ii.  443. 
Corsali  on  cinnamon,  i.  600  «. 
Cosgodde,  anecdote  of,  ii.  129. 
Cosmas  Indicopleustes,  his  account  of  Ceylon, 

i.  562,  566. 

identifies  Ceylon  as  Taprobane,  i.  10?;. 

his    reference    to   chanks  at  Slarallo,  ii. 

129  M.,  580  n. 
Costumes  of  Galle,  ii.  105. 

Singhalese,  ii.  105. 

Cotta,  a  modern  capital,  ii.  11. 

dismantled,  ii.  17. 

Cottiar  fortified  by  the  Dutch,  ii.  38. 

depressed  stiite,  ii.  477. 

Cotton  cloths  from  China,  i.  612. 

tree-cotton.     See  Imbul. 

cultivated  in  Ceylon,  ii.  55. 

Couto,  de,  work  on  Ceylon,  Introd.  xxix. ;  ii.  4. 

Cow-plant,  error  regarding,  i.  101m. 

Crabs.     See  Crustacea. 

Cripps,  G.  H.,    Ceylon  Civil  Service,    Introd. 

XXXV.;  ii.390. 
Crocodiles,  i.  186.     &e  Reptiles. 
habit  of  the  crocodile  to  bury  itself  in  the 

mud,  i.  187. 
its  flesh  eaten,  i.  187  n. 


INDEX. 


645 


Crocodiles,  tbeir  vitality,  i.  188. 

one  killed  at  Batticaloa,  ii.  467. 

one  tickled,  ii.  515. 

Crown  lands,  their  rajjid  sale,  ii.  228  n. 
Crowther,  description  of  Galle-pada-hulla  pass, 

ii.  422  n. 
Crows,  i.  170.     See  Birds. 
Crustacea,  calling  crabs,  i.  300. 

Sand  crabs,  (ocypode),  i.  300;  ii.  153  n. 

Painted  crabs,  i.  301. 

Paddling  crabs,  ih. 

Henriit  crabs,  ib. 

Pea  crabs,  ib. 

List  of  Ceylon  Crustacea,  i.  307. 

Cruelty  to  animals,  turtle,  &c.,  i.  177. 
Cruzado,  value  of,  ii.  29  n. 
Cte.sias  speaks  of  the  spicy  breezes  of  India,  i.  4n. 
Cuba,  "  spicy  breezes"  off  the  shore,  i.  4  n. 

explained  by  Poeppig,  «'&. 

Cutchavelly,  petrified  crustacea,  i.  14  n.\  ii.  497. 
Cufic  inscription  at  Colombo,  ii.  132. 
Currents,  their  direction  round  Ceylon,  i.  43. 
Curry,  not  a  Portuguese  word,  i.  77;  ii.  437  n. 
Cuvier  on  the  elephant,  ii.  284,  320. 

Dadambo  thorn,  i.  107. 

Dagana,  probably  equivalent  to  dagoba,  ii.  113ra. 

Dagoba,  a  relic  shrine,  i.  344. 

their  enormous  size  in  Ceylon,  ib. 

their  form  and  structure,  i.  346,  480. 

the  Thuparama,  the  first,  i.  347. 

. mode  of  building  a  dagoba,  i.  480. 

the  Alu-wihara,  ii.  573. 

the  Rankot,  ii.  590. 

Jayta-wana-rama,  ii.  591. 

Kiri,  ii.  594. 

Ambustella  and  Et-wihara,  ii.  608. 

. ^lirisiwettye,  ii.  619. 

■ Ruanwelle',  ii.  620. 

Abhayagiri,  ii.  621. 

Thuparama,  ii.  622. 

Dalada,  "  the  sacred  tooth,"  i.  384. 

its  history  and  arrival  in  Ceylon,  i.  388. 

■ removed  to  Kandy,  i.  414. 

captured  by  the  Portuguese,  ii.  29. 

destroyed  at  Goa,  ii.  197. 

the  present  tooth  spurious,  ii.  198. 

story  of  the  deception,  ii.  199,  211. 

the  modern  shrine,  ii.  201. 

the  Malagawa,  ii.  589,  622. 

Daldorf's  account  of  climbing  fish,  i.  26. 

his  story  doubted,  ib. 

Damask  weaving,  ii.  458. 

Dambool,  the  Great  Temple,  ii.  575. 

Damilos,  i.  394.     See  Tamils. 

Daniel,  the  prophet,  regarded  as  identical  with 

Buddha,  i.  525  n. 
Darwin,  his    theory  of  coral   wells    examined, 

i.  21  n.,  22  «.,  23  n. 
Davie,  Major,  massacre  of  his  troops,  ii.  83. 
Davis,  Sir  John,  states  that  the  Chinese  Budd- 

liists  worship  the  Queen  of  Heaven,  i.  530  n. 


Davy,  Dr.  John,  account  of  the  interior  of  Cey- 
lon, 1821,  Introd.  xxiv. 

describes  the  reptiles  of  Ceylon,  Ib.  xxsii. 

sketch  of  geologj-  of  Ceylon,  i.  18  n. 

stimulates  study  of  natural  histor)',  i.  127. 

describes  the  murder  of  Eheylapola's  fa- 
mily, ii.  87,  88. 

remarks    on  poison    of    Ceylon   scorpion, 

ii.  205  n. 

description  of  ceremonial  at  sacred  foot- 
step, ii.  224  n. 

on  the  obsequies  of  kings,  ii.  197  n. 

Dawson,  Captain,  his  monument,  ii.  187. 

Day  in  the  jungle,  ii.  250. 

Dederoo  Ova.     See  Rivers. 

Deer,  i.  156. 

Ceylon  elk,  ib. 

milk-white,  i.  157  n. 

Delft,  the  Island  of  the  Sun,  ii.  549. 

Demon-worshipjitsoriginand  antiquity  ,1.538,539. 

its  nature  and  rites,  i.  540-542. 

effect  of,  conjoined  to  Buddhism,  in  resist- 
ing Christianity,  i.  542-546. 

De  Quincey,  ii.  222. 

Devil-bird,  i.  167.     See  Owls. 

Devil-dance,  ii.  580. 

Dewales,  Hindu,  i.  380. 

in  connexion  with  Buddhist  temples, ii.  145. 

Dhatu  Sena  murdered  by  his  son,  i.  389. 

Diamond  not  found  in  Ceylon,  i.  39. 

Dias,  Don  Solomon,  ii.  182. 

Dicuil  on  the  elephant,  ii.  294. 

Dinner,  a  Singhalese,  ii.  161. 

Diodorus  Siculus.     See  Jambulus. 

the  "spicy  breezes"  of  India,  i.  4tt. 

ventriloquism,  ii.  185. 

Dionysius  Periegetes,  i.  570. 

Distillation,  i.  439. 

Dogs,  i.  35. 

Don,  the  title  sold  cheap,  ii.  71,  ib.  n. 

Dondera  Temple,  ii.   113. 

its  destruction,  ii.  114. 

Donna  Clara  Island,  ii.  549. 

Donne  on  the  elephant,  ii.  296. 

Dragon-flies,  i.  252.     See  Insects. 

Dress  as  it  affects  health,  i.  8 1 . 

so  as  to  avoid  damp,  i.  81  n. 

Druids,  Lucan's  reference  to,  i.  533,  »j. 

Dugong,  i.  159. 

abundant  at  Manaar,  ii.  557 

origin  of   the  fable  of   the   niennaid,    i. 

552  M. ;  ii.   557. 

Durian,  i.  100. 

Dutch  arrive  in  Ceylon,  a.d.  1617,  ii.  32. 

the  Dutch  East  India  Company,  ii.  33  & 

34  n. 

the  first  Dutch  ship  at  Batticaloa,  ii.  34. 

visit  Kandy,  ii.  35. 

expel  the  Portuguese,  ii.  44,45. 

at  war  with  Raja  Singha  II.,  ii.  45. 

their  discreditable  policy,  ii.  46,  51,  59,  69. 

• •  sacrifice  honour  to  trade,  ii.  47 


T    T    3 


646 


KNDEX. 


Dutch  consult  Eaja  Singha's  passiun  for  ba^Yk- 

inj;,  ii.  48  n. 

mode  of  procuring  cinnamon,  ii.  51. 

their  trade,  ii.  52. 

hatred  of  tiie  Jloors,  ii.  53. 

assess  import  dues  according  to  religion, 

ii.  54. 

discourage  cultivation  of  coffee,  ii.  55,  56. 

make    education    subservient    to    trade, 

ii.  58. 

officials  ill  paid  and  discontented,  ih. 

their  administrative  failure,  ib. 

lose  money  by  Ceylon,  ii.  59. 

take  Kandy,  ii.  61. 

exclude  strangers,  ii.  64  w. 

are  attacked  by  English,  ii.  67. 

lose  Triucomalie,  ih. 

permanent  effects  of  their  policy,  ii.  69. 

liave  bequeathed  a  system  of  Koman  Dutch 

law,  ih.  n. 

descendants,  their  present  condition,  ii.  71. 

records   captured   by   the   British,    1796, 

Introd.  xsvii.  xxviii. 

since  lost,  Ih.  xxvii. 

may  be  replaced  from  duplicates  in  Hol- 
land, Ib.  xxviii. 
Dutugaimunu,  his  victory  over  Elala,  i.  352. 

his  public  works  at  Anarajapoora,  i.  355. 

his  death,  i.  358. 

dynasty,  great  and  lower.     See  Suluwanse 

and  JIahawanse. 
Dysentery,  i.  81.     See  Health. 
Dyspepsia.     See  Health. 

Eagles,  i.  166,  180.     See  Birds. 
Earthquakes   almost    unknown,    i.    16  n.     See 
Volcanic  Evidences. 

Spanish  errors,  i.  1 6  w. 

East  India  Company,  early  policy,  ii.  47. 
their   government  of    Ceylon   disastrous, 

ii.  71. 
Eastlake,    Sir    Charles    L.,    on    Early  Italian 

Painters,  i.  475. 
Ebony,  i.  117.     See  Trees. 

forests  of,  ii.  493. 

Edrisi,  the   Arabian   geographer,    his  error  as 

to  the  size  of  Ceylon,  i.  9,  448  n. 

describes  the  Gohhs  of  Ceylon,  i.  47  n. 

the  trade  between  Ceylon  and  Cashmir, 

i.  478,  598. 
Education,  ancient,  i.  501. 
knowledge  confined  to  priests  and  kings, 

i.  325,  501. 

under  Dutch,  ii.  70  n. 

"  Edward  Bonaventure,"  the  first  British  ship  in 

Ceylon,  ii.  64. 
Egypt,  its  intercourse  with  Ceylon,  i.  554. 
Eheylapola,  his  story,  ii.  87. 

friglitful  execution  of  his  family,  ii.  88. 

Elala,  his  usurpation  and  character,  i.  352. 
Electricity.     See  Lightning. 
Elejliant,  i.  159. 


Elephant,  elephants  on  Adam's  Peak,  ii.  139  ?i. 

killed  a  Caffre,  ii.  259. 

numbers  in  Ceylon,  ii.  272,  273. 

E\e(pas,  derivation  of  the  word,  ii.  272. 

antiquity  of  the  trade  in,  ii.  272  n. 

numbers  diminishing,  ii.  273. 

tusks  and  their  uses,  ii.  274. 

disposition  gentle,  ii.  275. 

accidents  from,  ii.  275. 

antipathy  to  other  animals,  ii.  276. 

jealousy  of  each  other,  ii.  276. 

mode  of  attacking  man,  ii.  280. 

anecdote  of  a  tame  elephant,  ii.  282. 

African    elephant    differs    from    that    of 

Ceylon,  ii.  283,  378  ?». 

skin,  ii.  28.5. 

white  elephant,  ii.  285. 

love  of  shade,  ii.  287. 

water,  not  heat,  essential  to  them,  ii.  287. 

sight  limited — smell  acute,  ib.  288. 

anatomy  of  the  brain,  ii.  288. 

sounds  uttered  by,  ii.  289. 

exaggeration  as  to  size,  ii.  290  n.     ' 

stealthy  motions,  ii.  291. 

error  as  to  the  elephant's  want  of  joints, 

ii.  292. 

mode  of  lying  down,  ii.  298. 

ability  to  climb  acclivities,  ii.  299. 

mode  of  descending  a  mountain,  ii.  301  n. 

a  herd  is  a  family,  ii.  301. 

attachment  to  young,  ii.  302. 

a  rogue,  what,  ii.  304,  327. 

character  of  the  rogues,  ii.  303. 

habits  of  the  herd, "ii.  305. 

anecdote  of,  ii.  307. 

wells  sunk  by,  ii.  310,  311. 

receptacle  in  the  stomach,  ii.  310. 

stomach,  anatomy  of,  ii.  312. 

food  of  the  elephant,  ii.  317. 

dread  of  fences,  ii.  318. 

their  caution  exaggerated,  ii.  319. 

sagacity   in   freedom    over-estimated,    ii. 

320. 

leave  the  forests  during  thunder,  ii.  321. 

cunning,  feign  death,  ii.  321. 

sporting,  numbers  shot,  ii.  323. 

butchery  by  expert  shots,  ii.  324. 

fatal  spots  in  the  head,  ii.  325. 

attitudes  of  the  head,  ii.  328. 

love  of  retirement,  ii.  329. 

elephant- trackers,  ii.  329,  337,  338.  '' 

herd  charging,  ii.  330. 

carcase  useless,  ii.  332. 

remarkable  recovery  froma  wound,  ii.  333. 

See  Lieut.  Frctz. 

mode  of  taking  in  India,  ii.  336,  342. 

height  meai:urc;i  by  the  circumference  of 

the  foot,  ii.  337  n. 
mode  of  shipnin;?;  elephants  at  Manaar,  ii. 

340. 
mode  of  shipping  elephants  at  Galle,  in 

1701,  ii.  340  «. 


LNDEX. 


647 


^=: 


Elephant,  a  corral  (kraal)  dcscribml,  ii.  335,  443. 

corral,  its  construction,  ii.  347. 

■ corral,  driving  in  the  elephants,  ii  350. 

the  capture,  ii.  353. 

mode  of  securing,  ii.  355. 

the  "  cooroowe,"  or  noosers,  ii.  357. 

captives,  their  resistance  and  demeanour, 

ii.  360. 

their  contortions,  ii.  363. 

conduct  of  the  tame  elephants,  ii.  365. 

a  young  one,  ii.  377. 

conduct  in  captivity,  ii.  379. 
•  mode  of  training,  ii.  380. 
superiority  of  Ceylon,  a  fallacy,  ii.  379. 

their  employment  in  ancient  warfare,  ii. 

381  n. 

elephant  driver's  crook  (hendoi)),  ii.  382. 

their  cry,  urre  !  ii.  391  n. 

diseases  in  captivity,  ii.  384,  394. 

sudden  death,  ii.  386. 

capacity  for  labour,  ii.  387. 

• strength  exaggerated,  ii.  388. 

attachment  to  keeper,  ii.  390. 

musical  ear,  ii.  391. 

patience  in  sickness,  ii.  392. 

mortality,  ii.  393. 

cost  of  keeping,  ii.  396. 

birth  in  captivity,  ii.  397. 

age,  ii.  398. 

dead  elephant  never  found,  ii.  399. 

Sindbad's  story,  ii.  400. 

passage  fromvElian  regarding  the,  ii.  402. 

description  of  elephants  swimming,  ii.  417. 

Elejihants  at  Trincomalie,  ii.  493. 

Eiejihants  in  the  Wanny,  how  caught,  ii.  511. 

EIei)hant  Pass,  why  so  called,  ii.  517. 

Elie  House,  Colombo,  ii.  166. 

Elk,  i.  157.     See  Deer  ;  Mammalia. 

Ella,  magnificent  pass,  ii.  268. 

Eilahara  canal,  i.  465  ;  ii.  574.  See  Sea  of 
I'rakrama. 

Elphinstone,  Mountstuart,  references  to  his  opi- 
nions on  Brahmanism  and  Buddhism,  i.  523  «,, 
527  «.,  528  n. 

Elu,  written  Singhalese,  i.  513,  520. 

Embassies,  to  Claudius  and  Julian,  i.  386. 

to  China,  i.  618,  620,  625. 

Engineering,  early,  i   464. 

principle  of  arch  unknown,  i.  467. 

military  engineering  unknown,  i.  465. 

defective  construction  of  tanks  and  sluices, 

i.  467. 

art  of,  lost,  i.  468. 

English  period.     See  British. 

Eraoor,  ii.  472. 

Eratosthenes,  error  as  to  the  size  of  Ceylon,  i.  8. 

Ei-i/thrina  Indica,  the  Coral  tree,  its  flowers,  i.  92. 

Esenbach,  Necs  von,  on  Cinnamon,  i.  600  n., 
ii.  162. 

]]stuaries.     See  Gobbs. 

Euphorbia,  i.  101.     See  Trees. 

Evil  Eye,  superstition  of,  ii.  176. 

T    T    4 


Exercise.     See  Health. 

Expenditure  of  the  colony,  ii.  172. 

Exposure  to  the  sun,  imprudence  of,  i.  79. 

Exports  of  Ceylon  in  early  ages,  i.  445. 

Ezion-geber,  i.  102. 

Eabricius'  Codex  Pseudepigr.  Vet.  Test.,  i.  527«. 

Fa    Hian,  visits  Ceylon,  a.  d.  413,  i.  27  n.  ; 

i.  387,  619. 

his  descinption  of  it,  i.  388. 

shipping  in  the  Indian  seas,  i.  588. 

anecdote  in  his  story,  i.  388  n. 

his   evidence    as    to    the    prevalence    of 

Buddhism  in  fourth  century,  i.  524  n. 

on  the  Buddhist  sect  Lao  Tseu,  i.  543  7i. 

Fairholme,  Mr.,  Introd.  xxxv. 
Falck,  his  treaty,  ii.  61. 
Faraday,  Professor,  Introd.  sxxiv. 

analysis  of  the  "  serpent  stone,"  i.  199, 

Faria  y  Souza,  ii.  4  n. 

speaks  of  Singhalese  fire-locks,  ii.  12  n. 

mentions  Camoens  coming  to  Ceylon,  ii. 

16  n. 

infamy  of  Portuguese,  ii.  24  ». 

Farm  stock,  i.  435. 

Fata  Morgana,  ii.  498. 

Fauna     of    Ceylon,     not    common     to    India, 

Introd.  xxxi.  xxxii. 
peculiar    and    independent,     Ih.    xxxii. 

xxxiii.  ;  i.  7  «. 

lists  of  tlie  italics  explained,  Ih.  xxxiii. 

have  received  insufficient  attention,!.  127. 

first  study  due  to  Dr.  Davy,  ib. 

subsequent,  due    to    Templeton,    Layard, 

and  Kelaart,  ib.,  i.  128. 
Ferguson,  A.  M.,  Esq.,  statistics  of  coffee,  ii.  230. 
W.,  his    knowledge    of  Ceylon    botany, 

Introd.  xxxi. 
his  Essay  on  the  Palmyra  Palm,  ii.  5,  20, 

519  n. 
Feudal  service  in  Ceylon,  ii.  459. 
Fig-trees,  parasitic,  i.  95. 

Banyan  tree,  ib. 

destruction  of  the  supporting  tree,  i.  96. 

origin  of  Milton's  verses  on  the  Banyan, 

i.  96  n. 

figs  destructive  to  buildings,  i.  97. 

the  Bo-tree,  i.  97;  ii.  342,  611. 

extraordinary  roots,  i.  98,  99  w. 

Fire  flies,  ii.  114. 

Fishes  of  Ceylon,  little  known,  i.  205. 

seir  fibh,  and  others  for  table,  ih. 

abundance  of  perch,  soles,  and  sardines,  i. 

206. 

explanation  of  Odoric's  statement,  ib. 

sardines,  said  to  be  poisonous,  i.  206. 

shark,  and  sawfish,  i.  207. 

chironectes  of  iElian,  ih.  n. 

fresh-waterfishes,  their  peculiarities,!. 208. 

fre.-.h-water,  little  known,  i.  208  ;  reasop, 

ih.  n. 

their  reappearance  after  the  dry  season, 

i.  209. 


648 


INDEX. 


Fishes,  similar  mysterious  re-appearances  else- 
wlieie,  i.  210  n. 

method  of  taking  them  by  hand,  i.  210. 

a  tish  decoy,  i.  211  «. 

fish  faUing  from  clouds,  i.  21 1 ,  212  ?j,  226. 

buried  alive  in  mud,  i.  212,  218,  220. 

Mr.  Yarrell's  theory  controverted,  i.  213. 

travelling  overland,  i.  214,  227. 

instances  in  Guiana  and  Siam,  ih. 

faculty  of  all  migratory  fish  for  discover- 
ing water,  i.  214  n. 

fishes  on  dry  land  in  Ceylon,  i.  215. 

fish  ascending  trees,  i.  215,  216. 

excerpt  from  letter  by  l»Ir.  Morris,  ib.  n. 

Anabas  scandens,  i.  216. 

DalJorfs  ststeinent,  anticipated  by  Abou- 

zeyd,  i.  217  n. 

accidents  when  fishing,  ib. 

burying    fishes    and    travelling    fish,     i. 

218—221. 

occurrence  of  similar  fish    in  Abyssinia 

and  elsewhere,  i.  218,  2 19  «,  221  n. 

statement  of  the  patriarch  Mendes,i.  219?J. 

knowledge  of  habits  of  Melania  employed 

judicially  by  E.  L.  Layard,  i,  221  n. 

illustrations    of  asstivating  fish  and  ani- 
mals, i.  221—223. 

ffistivating  shell-fish  andvyater-beetles,  J6.?«. 

fish  in  hot  water,  i.  224,  ib.  n. 

list  of  Ceylon  fishes,  i.  224,  225. 

Professor  Huxley's   memorandum   on  the 

fishes  of  Ceylon,  i.  229—231. 

Dr.  Gray's  memorandum,  i.  231,  232. 

—^  migration  of  fishes  known  to  the  Greeks 
and  Romans,  i.  226. 

musical  fish,  ii.  468 — 471,  470  n. 

fish  tax  instituted,  ii.  56. 

abolished,  ii.  131. 

singular  result,  ii.  148. 

Fisher  caste,  ii.  129,  131. 

readiness    to    embrace    Christianity,    ii. 

131  n. 

Fitch,  Ralph,  the  first  Englishman  who  visited 
Ceylon,  ii.  63. 

Fitz  Roy,  Admiral,  Introd.  xxxiv. 

his  theory  of  wells  in  coral,  i.  23  n. 

on  rain  in  the  Galapagos,  i.  67  n. 

' his  theory  of  tides  in  the  Indian  seas,  ii. 

116. 

Flamingoes,  i.  1 73.     See  Birds. 

Fleas,  i.  267.     See  Insects. 

Flies,  their  instinct  in  discovering  carrion,   ii. 
370,  ib.  n. 

mosquitoes,  the  plague  of,  ii.  115  n. 

Flora  of  Ceylon.     See  Botany. 

Flowers,  their  use  in  Buddhist  rites,  i.  366. 

Flowering  trees.     See  Trees. 

Flying  Fox,  i.  135, 136.     See  Mammalia. 

drinking  toddy,  ii.  142. 

Foe  Koue  ki.     See  Fa  Hian. 

Food,  its  quantity  as  affecting  health,  i.  76. 

best  taken  after  sunset,  ib. 


Footstep,  the  Sucred,  on  Adam's  Peak,  i.  571; 
ii.  133. 

■ the  footstep  of  Satan,  ib.  n. 

Forbes',  ISIajor,  now  Colonel,  Eleven  Years  in 
Ceylon,  1840,  Introd.  xxv.;  ii.  85  ra. 

Forced  labour.     See  Raja-kariya. 

Forest,  method  of  felling,  i.  104. 

solitude  and  rarity  of  animals,  ii.  413. 

Fortifications  in  early  ages,  i.  465. 

Fra  J'lrdanus  on  cinnamon,  i.  600. 

his  travels  in  India,  i.  637  n. 

Eraser,  General,  his  map  of  Ceylon,  i.  II  re. 

difficulties  to  be  surmounted  in  construct- 
ing it,  ib. 

aided  by  Major  Skinner  and  Captain  Gall- 

wey,  ib. 

his  estate  at  Rangbodde,  ii.  259. 

Frederic,  Cajsar,  his  account  of  Ceylon,  i.  642  n. 

French  visitCeylon  and  seize Trincomalie,  ii.60. 

ambassador  seized  and  his  suite  flogged, 

ib.  n. 

attempts  on  Trincomalie,  ii.  485. 

Fretz,  Lieut.,  singular  wound,  ii.  333. 

Frogs,  i.  202  ;  ii.  155.     See  Reptiles. 

Frtiit  wholesome  in  Ceylon,  i.  77. 

its  varieties,  ib. 

inferior  from  want  of  care,  i.  77. 

European  fruits  in  Ceylon,  i.  89. 

power  of  trees  to  produce  coolness,  i.  121. 

Fruit  trees,  often  devoted  to  demons,  i.  540  n. 

Furniture,  ancient,  i.  496. 


Gahaliyas,  a  degraded  race,  ii.  571. 

Galkisse,  its  temple,  ii.  144. 

Gallas,  origin  of  the  tribe,  i.  327,  626  ;  ii.  105  n. 

confounded  with  galliis,  ii.  1 05  n. 

Galle-baak,  derivation  of,  ii.  152. 
Galle,  Point  de,  its  harbour,  i.  52. 

its  climate,  i.  67. 

the  great   emporium  of  ancient  trade,  i. 

586,  588. 
the  Kalah  of  the  earlier  geographers,  i.  589, 

591. 
the  Tarshish   of  the  Phoenicians,  i.  590; 

ii.  100. 

■ the  emporium  of  the  Chinese,  i.  610. 

insecurity  of  the  harbour,  i.  52  n.\  ii.  116. 

rain  at,  i.  67  m. 

first  seen  by  the  Portuguese,  ii.  7. 

its  state  under  them,  ii.  28. 

beauty  of  the  scenery,  ii.  99. 

its  antiquity  as  an  emporium,  ib. 

canoes,  double,  ii.  103. 

fortification,  ii.  104. 

Queen's  House,  ii.  105. 

people  of  many  nations  at,  li.  106. 

its  trade,  ii.  108, 109. 

Suria  trees  and  their  caterpillars,  ii.  1 10. 

the  native  town,  ii.  111. 

drive  in  the  suburbs,  ib. 

tides  at  Galle,  ii.  115. 


1 


IXDEX. 


649 


Galle-face,  at  Colombo,  ii.  146. 

^-^  derivation  of,  ii.  146  n. 

Galle-pada-huUa,  ii.  422. ,ib.  n. 

Gallwey,  Capt.  P.  P.,  Introd.  xxxv. 

aids  General  Fraser  in  his  map  of  Ceylon, 

i.  lira. 
Game,  beautiful  scene,  ii.  513. 
Gampola,  made  the  capital,  i.  416. 

its  present  state,  ii.  224. 

the  old  ferry,  ii.  23.5. 

Gamut,  i.  472. 
Gautalawa.     See  Kandelai. 
Gaou,  a  measure  of  distance,  i.  567. 
Gardens,  i.  435.     See  Flowers  and  Fruit, 
Gardner,    Dr.,   as  a   botanist    and    naturalist, 
Introd.  xxxii. 

sketch  of  geulo^y  of  Ceylon,  i.  17  «. 

his  researches  into  its  botany,  i.  84,  85. 

error  as  to  the  iron-wood  tree,  i.  94. 

described    the  genus   Dysodidendron,    ii. 

604  n. 
Garnet.     See  Gems. 
Garshasp-Nameh,  i.  590. 
Gasteracantha,  i.  225.     See  Arachnida. 
TauSia,  i.  567  n. 
Gaur,  i.  151.     See  Mammalia. 
Gems,  renown  of  those  of  Ceylon,  i.  32. 

early  export  of,  i.  448. 

celebrated  ruby,  a  "span  long,"  i.  568  ; 

ii.  591. 

localities  in  whicli  gems  are  found,  i.  33. 

SafFragam,  the  principal  source,  ib. 

mode  of  searching  for  gems  in  the  Nellan, 

i.  34. 

its  imperfectness,  i.  35. 

rubies,  i.  36. 

spinel,  ih. 

sapphire,  i.  37. 

topaz,  ib. 

garnets,  ib. 

cinnamon-stone,  ib. 

cat's  -eye,  ib. 

amethyst,  i.  38. 

"Matura  diamonds,"  i.  38. 

no  diamonds  in  Ceylon,  ib. 

zircon,  ib. 

aqua  marina,  ib. 

adularia,  moonstone,  ib. 

no  emerald  found  in  Ceylon,  ib. 

cut  by  lapidaries  at  Galle,  i.  39. 

export  of,  from  Ceylon,  ib. 

attached  to  dagobas,  i.  508  n. 

Gem-seeking,  formerly  a  royal  monopoly,  ib. 

Gem-tinders,  their  character,  ib. 

Gemma  Frisius,  i.  10. 

Genoese  in  east,  i.  635. 

Gennette,  i.  144. 

Geology  of  Ceylon,  errors  as  to,  Introd.  xxx. 

previous  accounts,  i.  18  ra. 

traditions  of  ancient  submersion,  i.  7«.,  13. 

Ceylon  has  a  fauna  distinct  from  India, !'6. 

original  form  of  the  island,  circular,  i.  12. 


Geology,  mountain  zone,  the  oldest  portion,  ib. 

recent  formations  of  the  north,  ib. 

coral  rocks,  i.  13. 

Adam's  Bridge  the  result  of  currents,  ib. 

tertiary    rocks    almost    entirely    absent, 

i.  19. 

coral  formation,  ib. 

nature  of  soil,  i.  14,  24. 

metals  found,  i.  28. 

gems,  i.  33. 

quartz,  i.  33  «. 

sand  formations,  i.  43. 

absence  of  lakes,  i.  44. 

absence  of  volcanic  action,  i.  16  «. 

west  coast  of  Ceylon  rising,  i.  20. 

not  a  fragment  of  India.  See  Ceylon. 

reasons  for  this  conclusion,  i.  7.  ib.  n,  14, 

84,  159;  ii.  553. 

of  Jaffna,  ii.  518. 

Geometry,  ancient,  i.  505. 
Giants'  tank,  a  failure,  i.  468. 

its  present  condition,  ii.  624. 

Gibbon,  error  as  to  Trincomalie,  i.  586. 

error  as  to  Salmasius,  i.  10  n. 

Greek  fire,  i.  588  n. 

Chinese  embassies,  i.  619. 

Giridipo  island.     See  Basses. 

Glass,  i.  454, 

Ghriosa  superba,  its  beauty,  i.  49. 

Glow-worm,  its  great  size  in  Ceylon,  ii.  256,  ih.  n. 

Gneiss,  i.  15,  16. 

its  uses  in  temples,  i.  17  n. 

rubies  found  in  it,  ib. 

Gnostics.     See  Adam's  Peak. 

MS.  of  the  "  Pistis  Sophia,"  i.  135. 

Goats  at  Jaffna,  i.  77;  ii.  531. 

"  Gobb,"  an  estuary  formed  by  currents,  i.  43; 

586  n. 

origin  of  the  term,  i.  46  n. 

Ptolemy  distinguishes  them  from  bays,  ih. 

described    by  Abou-zeyd,   Edrisi,  &c.,  i. 

47  n. 

on  west  coast  of  Ceylon,  ii.  143. 

on  the  east  coast,  ii.  455. 

Gogerly,  the  Rev.  Mr.,  Introd.  xxxvi. 

on  origin  of  Buddhism,  i.  523  n. 

Gok-Vandeema,  the  ceremony,  i.  540  n. 

Gold,  rare  in  Ceylon,  i.  29. 

Gooroenda  tree,  ii.  602. 

Goose.     See  Hansa. 

Gosselin's  ancient  map  of  Ceylon,  i.  561. 

Gotama  Buddha,  i.  325,  326.     See  Buddha, 

Government,  ancient  form  of,  i.  497. 

governor  and  his  councils,  ii.  167. 

sources  of  revenue,  ii.  168 — 171. 

expenditure  on  establishments,  ii.  172. 

reforms  of  Karl  of  Derby,  ii.  174. 

the  pearl  fishery,  ii.  169.  560. 

Granite  and  granitic  rocks,  i.  15. 
Grant,  Dr.,  ii.  471. 

Gray,  Dr.  J.  E.,  Brit.  Mus.,  Introd.  xxslv. 
notice  of  Ceylon  fishes,  i.  229. 


6.>0 


INDEX. 


"Great  Dynasty,"  i.  374.    -See  Mahawaiise,  its 

extinction. 
Greek  fire,  i.  588  n. 

Greeks,  early  knowledge  of  Ceylon,  i.  549. 
Giintlier,  on  Ceylon  reptiles,  i.  182. 

Hail  occurs,  snow  wanting,  i.  69. 

difference  in  this  respect  from   India,   i. 

69  n. 

its  rationale,  i.  70. 

Hair,  mode  of  dressing,  i.  560;  ii.  106. 

mentioned  by  Agathemerus,  ii.  106. 

Hambangtotte,  i.  45;  ii.  112. 

Hammaniel,  ii.  549. 

Hamza  of  Ispahan,  i.  565. 

Hanley,  Sylvanus,  on  the  shells  of  Ceylon,  i. 233. 

Hansa,  the  sacred  goose,  i.  485. 

universality  of  worship,  ib. 

Harbours,  the  principal  in  Ceylon,  i.  53. 
Hardy,  the  Rev.  Spence,  Inirod.  xx.  xsxvi. 

his  works,  i.  325  «.,  546  n. 

statement  in  reference  to  calomel,  i.  456  n. 

description  of  an  archer,  i.  479  n. 

has  prepared  a  list  of  Singhalese  books, 

i.  515  n. 

remarks  about  cinnamon,  i.  602  n. 

alleged  alliance    between   lion  and  jackal 

(from  the  Guna  Jiitaka),  ii.  625  7i. 
Harvests,  two  in  each  year,  i.  26. 
Hastisilpe,  a  work  on  elephants,  ii.  281     ,284. 
Hawking,  i.  166,  180. 
Hawks.     See  Birds. 
Hawks  of  Raja  Singha,  ii.  48. 
Health  in  the  vicinity  of  rivers  bad,  i.  43. 

general  effect  of  climate  upon,  i.  74,  75. 

malaria,  i.  75. 

fevers,  ib.  n. 

proper  foods  and  precautions,  i.  76. 

hypothesis    as    to    prohibition    of    pork 

amongst  Egyptians,  &c.,  ib.  n. 

proper  dress  to  secure,  i.  81. 

precautions  for  maintaining,  i.  80. 

in  Ceylon  as  compared  with  India,  i.  81. 

Heat,  not  unhealthy,  i.  74. 

Hebrews    of  the    Dekkan,    influence    of.    upon 

Buddhism,  i.  518  n. 
Hebrew  Scriptures,    coincidences   with,  in   Pali 

Sacred  Books,  i.  519  w,  520  n. 
Hedijvtis  umbellata,  i.  49.     See  Choya-root. 
Helix  haemastonia,  its  colouring,  ii.  112. 
Hendoo,  crook  for  driving  elephants,  ii.  382  m. 
Herbert,  Sir  Thomas,  Travels  in  Ceylon,  ii.  65  w. 
Herman,  P.,  his  error  as  to  the  GymncBma  luc- 

tiferum,  i.  101  n. 
Herpestes,  i.  145,  ib.  n. 
Jlesperidm,  i.  264. 
Iliccode,  ii.  127. 
Hiouen   Tbsang,   his    description    of  the    Rak- 

shasis,  i.  334. 
his  account  of  Ceylon,  629  A  d.,  i.  372, 

399. 
Hippalus  discovers  the  monsoons,  i.  554. 


Eohtlmria,  ii.  557,   627  n.     See  Sea-slug  and 

Trepang. 
Honeysuckle -ornament,  its  antiquity,  i.  491. 
Hook-money,  i.  463. 
Hooker,    Dr.  J.  D.,  on    Ceylon  botany,  Introd. 

xsxi. 

his  notices  of  Ceylon  flora,  i.  85. 

error  as  to  nests  of  white  ants,  i.  254  n. 

on  "  ticks  "  in  Nepal,  i.  296  n. 

on  colonial  botanical  knowledge,  ii.  210  n. 

Hornbill,  Bnceros,  i.  164. 
Horra-bora  tank,  ii.  431. 
Horses  imported  from  Persia,  i.  447. 

and  carriages,  i.  495,  496  n. 

Horton,  Sir  Robert,  ii.  423. 

Hot  springs.     See  Volcanic  Evidences. 

Hubert,  Saint,  legend,  i.  341. 

Humboldt,  i.  25  m.;  ii.  439  «.,  525  n. 

Hunter,  Dr.  John,  his  theory  of  a3stivation,  i.  221. 

Hurricanes,  i.  54  n. 

Huxley,  Prof.,  Inti-od.  xxxiv. 

his  mem.oranJum  on  the  fishes  of  Ceylon, 

i.  229. 
Hyacinth,  meaning  of  the  term,  i.  568  n. 
Hydraulic  machinery,  i.  464. 


Janthina,  ii.  516. 

Jbnm  and  Ibha,  ivory,  ii.  102;    Inirod.  3rd  ed. 

Ibn  Batuta's  account  of  Ceylon,  i.  601. 

describes  Adam's  Peak,  i.  605. 

Ichneumon.     See  JIungoos. 

leu,  the  Primal  Man.     See  Gnostics. 

Iguana,  i.  182.     See  Reptiles. 

Images  and  statues  of  Buddha,  a  late  innova- 
tion, i.  347. 

of  Buddha,  art  conventional,  i.  475. 

jade  stone,  sent  to  China,  i.  618,  ib.  n. 

of  King    Dliarmapala  sent  to  Lisbon,  i. 

557  n  ;  ii.  14. 

Imbul,  the  tree-cotton.     See  Trees. 

Imhoff,  Baron,  ii.  56  n.  59,  62. 

Imports  early  into  Ceylon,  i.  447. 

India  ancient  map,  i.  330. 

India-rubber  tree,  i.  93. 

Indian  trade  prior  to  Cape  route,  i.  634. 

Inferobranchiata,  i.  235. 

Infusoria,  Red,  in  the  Ceylon  seas,  i.  53. 

Insects  of  Ceylon,  i.  247. 

their  profusion  and  beauty,  ib. 

hitherto  imperfectly  described,  i.  248. 

Beetles,  scavengers,  i.  249. 

coco-nut  beetle,  tortoise  beetle,  i.  250. 

the  soothsayer,  leaf-insect,  i.  251. 

stick-insect,  dragon-flies,  ant-lion,  i.  252. 

white  ant,  termites,  i.  253,  257. 

mason-wasp,  i.  257. 

wasps,  bees,  wasps'  nest,  ib.  n. 

carpenter  bee,  ants,  red  ant,  i.  258 — 262. 

value  of  scavenger  ants  to  conchologists, 

i.  259. 

dimiya  or  red  ant,  260,  261. 


liS^DEX. 


651 


Insects,  introduced  to  destroy  coffee-bug,  i.  260, 

butterflies,  i.  260.  ^      [261. 

hjcenidce,  hesperidcs,  i.  264. 

acherontia  sathanas,  ih. 

itiotlis,  sillc-worm,  i.  265. 

oiketicns,  i.  266. 

pterophorus,  cicada,  bugs,  i.  267. 

fleas,  mosquitoes,  the  latter  often  of  great 

size,  i.  268,  ih.  n. 

of  Ceylon,  mem.  of  Mr.  Walker  on,  i,  269. 

list  of  Ceylon  insects,  i.  274. 

lonians  in  India,  i.  .516.  n. 

Jpomma  pes  capri  on  the  sand  banks,  i.  88. 

its  splendid  profusion  at  Colombo,  ii.  146. 

Iron-tree,  messua  ferrea,  i.  95.     See  Trees. 
Iron,  its  abundance,  i.  30. 

Iron-sand,  ii.  497.  [Tanks. 

Irrigation,  its  introduction,   i.    338,    430.     See 

mentioned  in  Genesis  X.  25,  i.  431  n. 

taught  by  the  Hindus,  i.  430  7i. 

its  vast  importance  in  Ceylon,  i.  432. 

decline  of  the  art,  i.  468. 

projects  for  restoring  the  tanks,  ii.  432. 

lulus,  i.  299. 

Ivory,  annual  consumption,  ii.  273. 

Jackal,  its  hom,  i.  145. 

Jack-wood.     See  Jak. 

Jaffna,  its  early  history,  ii.  539. 

conqueied  by  tiie  Portuguese,  ii.  28. 

geology  of  the  peninsula,  ii.  518. 

coco-nut  plantation,  ii.  530. 

rice  cultivation,  ii.  531. 

■ Tamil  husbandry,  ii.  533. 

irrigation  and  wells,  ii.  534. 

old  Portuguese  churches,  ii.  540. 

industry  of  the  people,  ii.  541. 

markets,  ii.  543. 

crimes,  ii.  544,  547. 

sorcery,  ii.  544. 

Jaggernath,  traces  of  Buddhism  in  the  worship 

of,  i.  524  7J. 
Jaggery  palm.     See  Kitool. 
Jains,  or  Jainas,  what  they  were,  i.  527  n. 
Jak  tree,  i.  116;  mentioned  by  Pliny,  ii.  Ill  n. 
Jambulus,  his  account  of  Ceylon,  i.  555  n. 

ventriloquism,  ii.  185  n. 

Jatakas,  i.  515. 

Jaula,  kingdom  of,  ii.  6  n. 

Jews  of  Cochin,  i.  396,  518. 

Jolm  of  Ilesse,  on  Cinnamon,  i.  600  7i. ;  ii.  163  n, 

Johnson,  Sir  Alexander,  i.  316  k. 

Johnston,  Captain,  his  gallant  conduct,  ii.  85. 

Joinvilie,  on  the  parasite  of  the  bat,  i.  161  n. 

Jones,  Sir  William,  identifies  Sandracottus  and 

Chandragupta,  i.  317,  475  7t. 
Josephus,  Introd.  3rd  ed. 
Jugglers,  ii.  184. 
Julien,  M.  Stanislas,  Introd.  xxsvii  ;  i.  386  n, 

608,  624  n. 
Jungle   fowl,   i.   173,  181     {see   Birds);    made 

blind  by  the  Nilloo,  i.  90  n. 


Kaasyapa  murders  his  father,  i.  389. 
Kabragoya,  i.  183.     See  Iguana. 
Kadaganava  Pass,  ii.  95,  186. 
Kalali.     See  Galle. 
Kalaweva  tank,  i.'391,  468;  ii.  602. 
Kalany,  ii.  68  n,  230  n. 

Temple,  ii.  179. 

Kala-oya,  ii.  602. 

Kalidas,  a  poet,  i.  386,  ib.  n. 

Kandelai,  ii.  484. 

Kandy,  road  opened,  ii.  95. 

captured  by  KajaSinghal.,  1582  A.D.,ii.l8. 

restored  to  Donna  Catharina,  ii.  19. 

taken  by  the  British,  1803,  ii.  81. 

its  final  conquest,  1815,  ii.  89. 

aspect  of  the  modern  town,  ii.  193,  203. 

palace,  ii.  194. 

temples,  ii.  196. 

Kandyan  chiefs'  costume,  ii.  205. 

their  dwellings,  ii.  428. 

peasantry,  ii.  22 1 . 

Kannea,  hot  springs,  ii.  496.     See  Cannea. 

Kant  thought  Taprobane  was  Madagascar,!.  11. 

Kaolin,  i.  31. 

Kapi,  apes,  ii.  102;  Introd.  3rd  ed. 

Karmathic  inscription,  i.  585  n. 

Kattadias,  native  devil-priests,  i.  541. 

Kayts,  ii.  549. 

Kazwini,  Arabian  geographer,  i.  598. 

his  account  of  Ceylon  irade,  i.  599. 

his  error  as  to  the  diamond,  i.  39. 

Keddah,  ii.  342. 

Kelaart,  Dr.,  Work  on  the  Zoology  of  Ceylon. 
Introd.  xxsiv. 

on  the  nudibranehiata,  &e  ,  i.  235. 

examination  of  the  Eadiata,  i.  244. 

discoveries  as  to  the  pearl  oyster,  ii.  562. 

"  Kelingoo,"  ii.  525. 
Kingfisher,  i.  168.     See  Birds. 
Kings  of  Ceylon,  list  of,  i.  320. 

facility  of  deposing,  i.  360  n. 

practically  elective,  i.  361  n. 

the  frequency  of  depositions,  ib. 

influence  of  the  priests,  i.  362. 

Kinnis,  Dr.,  cultivates  zoology,  i.  127. 

Kiri-anguna,  i.l01«.    See  GymnKUia  lactiferum. 

Kiri-mattie.     See  Kaolin. 

Kiriiide  river.     See  Rivers. 

Kite,  on  Egyptian  sculpture,  i.   167  ». 

Kitool,  in  Bintenne,  hot  ."pring,  i.  16». 

the  Jaggery  palm,  i.  112. 

Kittenstein  Von,  Letter  from   Raja  Singha   to, 

48  m. 
Kitto,  error  as  to  locus  of  Ararat,  i.  551  n. 
Knife-grinder.     See  Cicada. 
Knox,  R.,  account  of  Ceylon  fauna,  Introd.  xxxii. 

narrative   of    his    captivity    in    Kandy, 

Introd.  xxxii.;  ii.  65?;. 

his  tamarind  tree,  ii.  487. 

his  description  of  tlie  Wanderoo,  i.  129. 

natives  fishing,  i.  210. 

Koetjar.     See  Cottiar. 


652 


INDEX. 


Kokelai  lake,  ii.  499. 

KoAavSiocpovTa,  boats  of  the  Periplus,  i.  587. 
Koster,  Commodore,  killed,  ii.  43  n. 
Kox^tovs,  ii.  129. 
Koodramalie,  ii.  626. 
Koorangamone,  ii;  42.3. 
Koorinde  ova,  ii.  417. 
Kooroogal-ganga  (river),  ii.  423. 
Kooroogal-gamma  (village),  ii.  424- 
Kornegalle,  i.  415;  ii.  345. 
Kottiar.     See  Cottiar. 
Kraal,  ii.  443.     See  Corral. 
Kubla  Khan,  i.  635. 
Kumbook  tree,  i.  99. 
Kwoixvla,  i.  455:  ii.  115  ». 
Kusinara,  scene  of  cremation  of  Gotama's   re- 
mains, ii.  198. 
Kustia  Eaja,  his  statue,  i.  436;  ii.  112. 
Kuweni,  i.  338. 


Lacquer  made  at  Matelle,  i.  491. 

Ladies,     ^ee  Health. 

Lakes,  none  natural  in  Ceylon,  i.  44. 

Lanka,  '•  the  resplendent,"  Hindu  name  for 
Ceylon,  i.  549. 

the  meridian  of  Lanka,  i.  6. 

Hindu  notion  of  the  extent  of  Lanka,  ib. 

Buddhist  ideas  of  its  magnitude,  ib. 

Reinaud's  Essay  on  Lanka,  ib.,  n. 

Sir  W.  Jones's  Exposition,  ib.  n. 

• Portuguese  ideas  regarding,  i.  7  n. 

conquest  of  Lanka  by  Rama.  i.  315. 

Lapidaries,  i.  39;  ii.  108,     See  Gems. 

Laplace,  his  opinion  of  Trincomalie,  ii.  486  n. 

Laterite,  or  Cabook,  disintegrated  gneiss,  pre- 
valent near  Galle,  i.  17. 

its  red  dust,  ib. 

process  of   the  conversion  of  gneiss  into 

laterite,  i.  18. 

Layard,  E.  A.,  his  knowledge  of  Ceylon  zoology, 
Introd.  xxxii.  xxxiv. 

his  collections  of  Ceylon  birds,  i.  1 63. 

notice  of  insects,  i.  296. 

Leaf  insect,  i.  251.     See  Insects. 

Lecanium  Coffees,  ii.  243. 

Lee,  table  of  Dutch  annual  deficit,  ii.  59  n. 

Leeches,  i.  301.     See  Annelidce. 

land  leech,  i.  302. 

• medicinal  leech,  i.  305. 

cattle  leech,  i.  306. 

Lepisma,  the  fish  insect,  ii.  135. 

Leway,  ii.  114.     5ee  Salt. 

Lightning  and  thunder,  i.  57,  60. 

remarked   by  seamen   of  middle  ages,  i. 

60  n. 

accidents  from,  i.  61. 

ancient  attempts  to  conduct,  i.  506. 

• conductors  mentioned  in  the  Mahawanso, 

137  B.C..  i.  507. 

examination   of    pa,ssage    in    Mahawanso 

relating  to,  i.  508,  509.  t6.  n. 


Lightning  and  thunder,  conclusion,  i.  510. 

Limestone,  i.  19. 

Literature,  ancient  Singhalese,  i.  512. 

Livy,  account  of  fishes  on  dry  land,  i.  229. 

Lizards,  i.  182.     See  Reptiles. 

Loadstone  mountain,  i.  443. 

Lockhart,  Mr.,  of  Shanghae,  Introd.  sxxvi. 

Logic,  i.  502. 

Logole-oya,  river,  ii.  418. 

Lor  is,  i.  133.     See  MammaUa. 

Lotus,  the  edible,  i.  123. 

Lucan,  description  of  the  ichneumon,  i.  147. 

metempsychosis,  i.  533  n. 

Lycenidoe,  i.  264. 

Maya  Dunnai,  his  wars  with  the  Portuguese, 
ii.  13. 

war  renewed  a.d.  1541,  ii.  15. 

his  death,  ii.  19. 

MacDowell.  General,  ii.  80. 

Mac  Vicar,  Dr.,  i.  57  n. 

Madagascar    confounded    with  Ceylon,  i.    1  n. 

327  re.  ;    ii.  104. 
Madrepore  used  for  lime,  i.  19  «. 
MafFeus,  ii.  5. 
Maghada,  i.  317. 

.Maliabadde,  ii.  51.     See  Cinnamon. 
JIahawanso,  its  value  historically,  i.  314. 

its  author,  i.  389. 

its  tika  discovered,  i.  314. 

its  contents  and  authenticity,  i.  315. 

as  a  commentary  on  Indian  chronology,  1. 

317. 

scriptural  coincidences,  i.  519. 

JIaha  oya,  ii.  416. 

JIaha-lowa-paya.     See  Brazen  Palace. 

Malia  Moodliar  de  Sarem,   note  on  cinnamon,  i. 

602,  603  n. 
Maha-Rawana-rewula.    See  Spinifes  squaiTosus. 
Maha  Sen,  his  apostacy,  i.  371. 
Mahawanse,  the  Great  Dynasty,  i.  374. 
Mahawelli-ganga,  i.  41. 

its  torrents,  ii.  220. 

its    capability    for    navigation,     ii.  423, 

425. 

Brooke's  report  on,  ii.  424. 

Mahindo  establishes  Buddhism  in  Ceylon,  i.  341. 

scene  of  his  death,  ii.  602,  606. 

his  "  bed,"  ii.  609. 

Mahometan  power,  its  rise,  i.  579. 
Mahometans,  flight  of  to  Ceylon,  i.  585  n. 

inscription  commemorating,  ib. 

early,  in  India,  i.  640. 

go  as  pilgrims  to  Adam's  Peak,  i.  586  n. 

gain  complete  command  of  trade,  i.  632. 

Malabars,  their  first  appearance  in  Ceylon,  i.  353 ; 
ii.  539  n. 

Sena  and  Gutika,  ib. 

Elala,  his  story,  i.  353,  395. 

domination  of  the  Malabars  in  Ceylon, i.  395. 

its  origin,  i.  395. 

i\it:\rjirst  invasion,  ib. 


INDEX. 


G53 


Malabars,   their  second   and   third  invasions, 
i.  396. 

the  consequences  of  theirascendency,i.400. 

finally  overrun  Ceylon,  i.  417. 

Malaria,  i.  75. 

Malcolm,  Lt.,  ascended  Adam's  Peak  in  18i7, 

ii.  141. 
Maldive  sailors,  their  charts,  i.  636  n. 

ambassadors,  ii.  174. 

Malwane,  king  of,    a   title    of  the    Portuguese 

governors,  ii.  27. 
Mammalia,  i.  127. 

Monkeys,  i.  128. 

Rilawa,  i.  129. 

Wanderoo,  ib. 

error  as  to  the  Ceylon  Wanderoo,  ib.  n. 

Wanderoo,   mode  of  flight   among   trees, 

i.  131. 

monkeys  never  found  dead,  i.  133. 

• Loris,  ib. 

Bat,  flying  fox,  i.  135—137,  136  n. 

parasite  of  the  bat,  Nycteribia,  i.  161. 

attracted  by  toddy  to  the  coco-nut  palms, 

i.  136. 

horse-shoe  bat,  i.  136. 

bears,  dreaded  in  Ceylon,  i.  137. 

leopards,  i.  139. 

attracted  by  the  odour  of  small  pox,  i.  140. 

anecdote  of  a  leopard,  i.  142. 

lesser  felines,  i.  148. 

dogs,  Pariah,  ib. 

jackal,  i.  145. 

the  jackaVs  horn,  ib. 

Mungoos,  ib. 

assaults  of  Mungoos  on  the  serpent,  i.  146. 

squin-els,  i.  148. 

the  flying  squirrel,  ib. 

rats,  the  rat  snake,  i.  149. 

coffee  rat,  ib. 

bandicoot,  i.  150. 

porcupine,  ib. 

pengolin,  i.  151. 

the  gaur,  i.  152. 

■ the  ox,  ib. 

anecdote  of,  ib. 

the  buffalo,  i.  154. 

shooting  buffaloes,  i.  155. 

peculiarity  of  the  buffalo's  foot,  i.  156. 

deer,  Ceylon  elk,  i.  157. 

elephant,  i.  158. 

whale  and  dugong,  ib. 

peculiarities  of  Ceylon  mammalia,  ib. 

list  of  Ceylon,  i.  159. 

Manaar,  gulf,  described  by  Pliny,  i.  557. 

island,  ii.  555. 

choya  root,  ii.  556. 

Mandeville,  Sir  John,  travels,  ii.  63 w. 
Manganese,  i.  30. 
Mangosteen,  i.  83;  i.  120. 
Mantotte,  errors  as  to,  i.  587. 
Manufactures,  coir  and  cordage,  i.  450. 
weaving,  bleaching,  and  dyeing,  i.  451. 


JIanufactures,  handicrafts  despised,  i.  452. 

pottery,  glass,  wood-carving,  i.  453,  454. 

sugar,  i.  455. 

mineral  paints,  ib.  if  n. 

calomel,  i.  456  n. 

Map  of  Ceylon  with  Sanskrit  and  Pali  names, 
i.  318. 

on  Ptolemy's  data,  i.  560  n. 

by  Gosselin,  i.  561. 

by  Ribeyro,  ii.  5  n. 

Maps,   ancient,   their   errors    as  to   Ceylun,    L 
10  «. 

modern,  their  defects,  i.  1 1  k. 

General  Eraser's  superior  to  all,  ib. 

Marcianus  Heracleota,  error  as  to  Ceylon,  i.  9  ». ; 

i.  562. 
Marco  Polo  on  cinnamon,  i.  600  n. 
Marco  Polo,  his  life  and  travels,  i.  635. 

his  account  of  Ceylon,  i.  636. 

Marking  ink,  vegetable,  ii.  161  n. 

Marshall,    H.,    historical    sketch    of    Ceylon, 

Introd.  xxiv  ;  ii.  83  n.  9 1  n. 
Massacre  of  Major  Davie's  troops,  ii.  83. 
Massoudi,  the  Arabian  geographer,  his  error  as 
to  the  size  of  Ceylon,  i.  9. 

his  account  of  the  island,  i.  565,  595. 

on  elephants  in  war,  ii.  38 1  n. 

Matelle,  lacquer  made  at,  i.  491  n. 

town  and  scenery,  ii.  572. 

Ma-Touan-Lin,  his  encyclopaidia,  i.  380  n. 
Matura,  the  fort,  ii.  112. 

learning  of  its  priests,  ii.  113. 

Matura  diamond.     See  Gems. 

Maupied,  his  conjectures    about  Buddhism,   L 

525  n. 
has    correctly   described  Buddhism  as   a 

refined  atheism,  i.  528  n. 
Masimilianus     Transylvanus,     geographer,    i. 

10  w. 
Maya,  the  southern  division  of  Ceylon,  i.  337. 
Meadows  of  gold,  i.  565.     See  Massoudi. 
Measures  of  distance,  ii.  582. 
Medicine,  ancient,  i.  504. 

edicts  of  Asoca,  ib. 

kings  skilled  in,  i.  505. 

Megasthenes,    i.    552,  quoted   by    iEliaii,    i. 

553  w. 
Megisba,  a  lake  mentioned  by  Pliny,  i.  557. 
Melania,  its  habit  of  burying  itself,  i.  221. 
Mt'llo  Carvalhoe.     See  Pombal. 
Mendis,  Adrian,  his  list  of  timber  trees,  i.  115. 
Mercator,  geographer,  i.  10. 
Mercer,  Mr.,  on  Singhalese  names  for  davs,  ii. 

582  n. 
Mermaid,  ii.  557.     See  Dugong. 
Mera^i,  i.  569. 
Metals,  Dr.  Gygax's  survey,  i.  29. 

gold,  nickel,  and  cobalt,  ib. 

rutile,  wolfram,  and  tellurium,  ib. 

manganese  and  iron,  i.  30. 

Singhalese  method  of  smelting  iron,  i.  30. 

anthnicite,  i.  30,  31. 


654 


INDEX. 


Metals,  plumbago,  molybdena,  kaolin,  and  nitre, 

i.  31. 

general  view,  i.  32  n. 

working  in,  i.  457,  458. 

jewellery  and  gems,  i.  459. 

coins,  i.  460 —  463. 

Meuron,  Colonel  de,  contrasts  efifects  of  Dutch 

and  Portuguese  religious  policy,  ii.  70  n. 

is  dispatched  to  Ceylon  from  Madras,  ii.  73. 

his  advice  as  to  raising  revenue,  ii.  74. 

Jlichel,  quotation  from  his  "  Outcast  Races,"  ii. 

192  n. 
Migastliene  Dissave,  ii.  67. 
Wihintala  mountain,  so  called,  i.  14  ;  ii.  605. 

inscriptions  on,  i.  428. 

ascent  to,  ii.  606. 

its  ancient  names,  ii.  606  n. 

dagoba,  ii.  608. 

Willipeds,  Julus,  i.  299. 
Milton,  Sabasan  odours,  i.  4. 

original  of  his  lines  on  the  Banyan,  i.  96  n. 

Mineralogy  imperfectly  known,  i.  31. 

Dr.Gygax's  reports,  i.  30,  31. 

his  hst  of  Ceylon  minerals,  i.  32  n. 

Minei-y,  the  tank,  formed,  i.  365  ;  ii.  600. 

its  size  and  beauty,  ii.  601. 

Mirage,  ii.  500. 

Moeletivoe,  ii.  515. 

Mohl.  Jl.  Jules,  Introd.  ssxvi. 

Molybdena,  i.  31. 

Mongol  empire,  rise  of,  i.  635. 

Monkeys,  i.  128. 

never  found  dead,  i.  133. 

Monkey,  a  white,  ii.  184  n. 

Monsoons  discovered  by  Hippalus,  i.  554. 

phenomena  at  their  changes,  i.  57. 

south-west  monsoon  in  ^lay,  i.  58. 

north-east  monsoon  in  November,  i.  63. 

Moonstones.     iSee  Gems. 

Moor,  Mr.,  East  India  Museum,  Introd.  xxxiv. 

Moormen.     See  Moors. 

Moors,  origin  of  the  race  so  called,  i.  629. 

a  name  given  by  the  Portuguese,  i.  630. 

Sir  A.  Johnson's  account  of,  ib. 

the  earhest  settlements,  ib. 

described  by  JIarco  Polo,  i.  632. 

ancestral  traders,  ib. 

hostilities  of,  with  Portuguese,  i.  633. 

might  have  been  rulers  of  Ceylon,  ib. 

hated  by  the  Portuguese,  ii.  9. 

persecuted  by  the  Dutch,  ii.  53. 

the  Moorish  population  of  Galle,  ii.  108. 

Tavalam  drivers,  ii.  182. 

Morottu,  ii.  143. 

Morris,    Wm.,    Esq.,     Ceylon    Civil    Service, 

Introd.  XXXV.;  i.  215  «. ;  ii.  399  n. 
Illoses  of  Chorene,  i.  571;  ii.  106?;. 
Mosquitoes,  their  cunning,  i.  268;  ii.  114. 

probably  the  plague  of  flies,  ii.  115n. 

Moths.     See  Insects. 
Mount  Lavinia,  ii.  144. 
Mountain  "  without  fear,"  ii.  624. 


Mountains,  altitudes,  i.  15. 

mountain  zone,  i.  14. 

grotesque  formation,  ib. 

Miiller,  Max,  i.  523,  526,  527. 
JIungoo,  its  varieties,  i.  146. 

its  conflict  witli  the  serpent,  ib, 

its  supposed  antidote,  i.  147. 

Munster,  Sebastian,  i.  10. 

Murchison,  Sir  Roderick  Impey,  Introd.  sxsi. 

l^Iurutu.     See  Trees. 

Music,  i.  470. 

cultivation  of,  left  .<it  present  to  one  of  the 

lowest  castes,  ib.  n. 
bamboo     used   to     produce     natural,     i. 

89  n. 

Singhalese  gamut,  i.  471. 

Musical  fish,  ii.  469. 

JIustard    tree    of    Scripture.       See    Salvadora 

Persica. 
Jlygale  spider,  at  Gampola,  ii.  225. 

said  to  kill  birds,  ii.  226. 

Myriapoda,  Cermatia,  i   297. 
hst  of,  i.  307. 


Nagadipo,  i.  331. 

Xagas,  i.  330.      See  Aborigines. 

Nalande,  ii.  573. 

Names  of  persons  and  places,  no  standard  for 
spelling,  Introd.  xxxix. 

Names,  ancient,  of  Ceylon,  i.  549. 

Naphtha.      See  Greek  Fire. 

'NapyiWia,  i.  567. 

Narri-coombo,      See  Jackal's  Horn 

Natoor  river,  ii.  473. 

Natural  histoiy  neglected  in  Ceylon,  i.  127. 

Navokeiry,  curious  well,  i.  21  n. 

Navy,  ancient,  i.  499. 

Negombo,  its  cinnamon  the  finest,  ii.  51. 

town  and  environs,  ii.  629. 

"  Nellan."     See  Gems. 

Nestorian  Christians,  their  influence  on  Bud- 
dhism, 518  w. 

Neuera-ellia,  its  scenery,  209. 

its  climate,  ii.  259.      5ee  Health. 

as  a  sanatarium,  ii.  262. 

its  soil  and  production,  ii.  264. 

Neuera-Kalawa.     See  the  Wanny. 

Nickel,  i.  29. 

Nietner,  on  Ceylon  insects,  i.  259. 

Nillavelli,  salt-works,  ii.  493,  495. 

Nilloo,  i.  90,  143;  curious  eflcct  on  Jungle 
fowl,  ib. 

Nimmo,  Mr.,  Catalogue  of  Bombay  Plants, i.  95  n. 

description  of  bark  substitute    fur  sacks, 

i.  95. 

Nirwana,  i.  325,  529,  ib.  n. 

Nitre,  i.  31. 

North,  Hon.  Mr.,  equivocal  policy,  Introd.  xxsvi. 
ii.  75,  79. 

Niulibranchiata,  i.  235. 

Nyctei-ibia,  parasite  of  the  bat,  i    101. 


IXDEX. 


Go5 


Odoric    of    Portenau,    liis    remedy    for    leech 
bites,  i.  303  n. 

his  account  of  Ceylon,  i.  636. 

of  its  fishes,  i.  206. 

Odyssey,  a  parallel  passage  in   the  Mahawanso, 
i.  333. 

notice  of  sewn  boats,  i.  442. 

Oil-bird,  i.  180. 

Oil-mill,  ii.  542. 

Oil-painting  invented  in  Ceylon,  i,  491. 

Oiketicus,  i.  266.      See  Insects.  [513. 

Olas  for  writing,  made  of  talipat  leaves,  i.  110, 

mode  of  preparing,  ii.  527. 

method  of  writing  with  a  stile,  i.  513. 

made  from  palmyra  leaves,  ii.  527. 

Onesicritus,  his  error  as  to  the  size  of  Ceylon, 

i.  8,  552. 
Ooma-oya,  ii.  417. 
Oovah  and  its  productions,  ii.  264. 
Ophiusa,  i.  331. 
Ovchkls,  saccolabium  ffuttatum,  i.  102. 

the  white  pigeon  flower,  i.  103. 

the  Raja  Wanny,  ancectochylus  setaceus, 

i.  103. 
Ornament,  i.  491.     See  Honeysuckle. 
Ortelius,  i.  10. 
Ouseley,  Sir  Wm.,  i.  590. 

on  cinnamon,  i.  600  n. 

Owen,  Professor,  Introd.  xxxv. 

Owls,  i.  167.     See  Birds. 

Oxen,  their  uses  and  diseases,  i.  153. 

anecdote  of  a  cow  and  a  leopard,  ih. 

white,    eight   feet    high,   seen    by    Wolf, 

ii.  181  n. 
Oysters  at  Bentotte,  ii.  129. 
immense,  at  Cuttiar,  ii.  479. 


Paddi,  rice  in  the  husk,  i.  338  n. 
Padivil  tank,  ii.  503. 

its  origin,  ii.  507. 

P.iinting,  its  mannerism,  i.  471. 

similarity    of    Singhalese    to    Egyptian, 

i.  476,  ib.  n. 

similar  trammels  on  art  in  modern  Greece, 

ib.  n. 

knowledge  of  vermilion,  cScc.  i.  456,  ib.  n. 

claim  of   Singhalese    to  invention    of  oil 

painting,  i.  490. 

of  temples,  i.  492,  ib.  n. 

Palaces,  i.  482. 
lilaKaKTiiiDvv^ijv,  i.  562  n. 
Paleness,  its  causes,  i.  78. 
Pali,  language,  i.  512. 

books  all  written  inverse,!.  515. 

Pittakas  and  Jatakas,  ib.,  516. 

histories,  and  the  Mahawanso,  i.  517. 

scriptural  coincidences,  i.  518  n. 

Palladius,  account   of   Ceylon,    i.  563,  593  n; 

fable  of  the  loadstone   mountain,   i.   449  ; 

ii.  66  n. 
Palm-cat,  i.  144. 


Palms.     See  Trees. 

Palmyra,  its  uses,  i.  111. 

its  cultivation  at  Jaffna,  ii.  519. 

legend  of,  ii.  520. 

its  toddy,  ii.  524. 

its  fruit,  ii.  525. 

its  timber,  ii.  526. 

its  leaves,  ii.  527. 

Pandya,  ancient  Indian  kingdom,  i.  396. 

Panetjen-kerny,  ii.  474. 

Pangragamme,  ii.  418. 

Panickeas,  elephant  catchers,  ii.  336. 

of  Eraoor,  ii.  472. 

Pansiya-panas-jataka-pota,  i.  515. 

Pantura,  ii.  142. 

Para  was,  ii.  129.     See  Fishers. 

Pardessus,  i.  554  n. 

Pariah  dogs,  i.  144. 

Paris,  Matthew',  on  the  elephant,  ii.  295. 

Parroquets,  their  habits,  i    172;    ii.  598. 

Pass  Beschuter,  ii.  517. 

Pass  Pyl,  ii.  517. 

Patenas,  i.  24. 

Paths,  scriptural  custom,  ii.  582. 

Patipal-aar,  hot  spring,  i.  16  n. 

Patterson,  R.,  Esq.,  Introd.  xxxiv. 

Paumbam  Passage,  ii.  552. 

Pea-fowl,  i.  165.     See  Birds. 

Pearls,  their  varieties,  i.  446. 

monopoly  of  the  fishery,  ii.  162. 

at  Tamblegam,  ii.  491. 

Pearl  fishery  at  Aripo,  ii.  560. 

frequent  disappearances,  ii.  561. 

Pearl  divers,  ii.  563. 

PedaUum  murex,  its  effect  on  milk,  ii.  159  n. 

Peleg,  Gen.  x.  25.     See  Irrigation,  i.  431  n. 

Pelicans,  ii.  474,  503. 

Penela  tree,  its  nuts  used  for  soap,  ii.  161. 

Pengolin,  i.  150. 

Pepper,  cultivated  by  the  Dutch,  i.  88. 

first  sought  by  Portuguese,  ii.  6  n. 

Peradenia,  cultivation  of  sugar,  ii.  205,  206. 

botanic  garden,  ii.  209. 

duties  of  botanic  officer,  i.  210. 

bridge  at,  ii.  220. 

Perahara,  the,  ii.  197. 

Percival's  Ceylon,  Introd.  xxiv. 

Periplus,  the,  attributed  to  Arrian,  i.  9. 

its  error  as  to  the  .size  of  Ceylun,  ib. 

its  account  of  Ceylon,  i.  561. 

boats  of  Ceylon  described,  i.  587. 

describes  the  Moors,  i.  630. 

Persians  visit  Ceylon,  i.  579. 

Petrifactions,  i.  14  m. 

Pettah,  shops  in,  ii.  160.     See  Colombo. 

Pettigalle-kanda,  volcanic  appearance,  i.  16. 
See  Volcanic  Evidences. 

Philalethes  (Rev.  G.  Bissett?)  History  of  Cey- 
lon, 1817,  Introd.  xsiv. 

Phile,  account  of  cinnamon,  i.  601. 

oftheelephant.ii.  294,  297,  310,335,  400. 

Phmnix  paludosa,  i.  85. 


656 


INDEX. 


Phoenicians,  their  knowledge  of  Ceylon,  i.  550, 

571.     5ee  Tarshish  ;  Sanchoniathon. 
Physical  geography,  i.  1. 
Piagalla,  temple  at,  i.  17  n. 
Pigeons,  i.  173.     See  Birds. 

Lady  Torrington's  pigeon,  i.  174,  181. 

Pihiti,  the  northern  division  of  Ceylon,  i.  337, 

383. 
Pilame  Taliwe',  ii.  76. 

his  treachery,  ii.  81. 

his  death,  ii.  87. 

Pingo,  i.  114,  497.     See  Areca. 

Pinguicula  vulgaris,  its  economic  use,  ii.  1 59  n. 

Pinkerton's  Voyages  and  Travels,  ii.  47  w. 

'H  niiTT?;  2 '(^J2,  ii.  135. 

Pittakatayan,  i.  515;  ii.  561. 

Planaria,  i.  245,     See  Radiata. 

Pliny,  speaks  of  the  "  spicy  breezes"  of  India, 

i.  4,  497. 

■ error  as  to  the  size  of  Ceylon,  i.  9. 

his  account  of  Ceylon,  i.  555. 

of  the  Veddahs,  i.  558,  595,  ib.  n. 

Plumbago,  i.  31. 

Poeliantivo,  the  island  of  tamarinds,  ii.  456. 

Poeppig,  on  the  perfumed  winds  off  Cuba,  i.  4. 

Poggio  Bracciolini,  i.  638. 

Point  de  Galle.    See  Galle. 

Point  Pedro,  ii.  535. 

Pollanan-ua,  origin  of  the  city,  i.  400  ii,  409; 

ii.  583. 

made  the  capital,  i.  414. 

beauty  of  the  site  and  ruins,  ii.  583. 

plan  of,  ii.  585. 

palace,  ii.  587. 

great  stone  slab,  ii.  588. 

various  buildings,  ii.  589. 

dagobas,  ii.  591. 

Jayta-wana-rama,  ii.  592. 

its  roof,  ii.  593. 

Gal-wihara,  ii.  595. 

Polyandry,  its  origin  and  prevalence,  ii.  429. 
inferentially   reprobated    in    ilahawanso, 

ii.  430. 

winked  at  by  Buddhist  priests,  ib. 

existed  in  ancient  Britain,  ii.  429  n. 

Polybius'  account  of  fishes  on  dry  land,  i.  228. 
Pombal,  Marquis   de,  his  collection  of   Portu- 
guese despatches  to  India,  Introd.  xxviii. 
"  Poonatoo,"  ii.  525. 
Population  of  Ceylon,  ancient,  i.  421,422. 

means  of  preserving,  i.  423. 

causes  of  dispersion,  i.  424. 

its  decay,  ib.  iL  434. 

means  of  restoring,  ii.  435. 

in  1858,  i.  53. 

Porcacchi  Isolario,  i.  9  «.,  633. 

Porcupine,  i.  150. 

Portuguese,  their  evil  policy  in  India,  ii.  3. 

discovery  ship,  ib. 

their  historians,  ii.  4. 

appear  in  Ceylon  a.d.  1505,  i.  418,  625, 

633;  ii.  5,  7. 


Portuguese,  did  not  go  for  cinnamon,  ii.  5. 

map  of  Ceylon,  ib.  n. 

vie  in  trade  with  the  Moors,  i.  633;  ii.  9. 

resistance  against,  excited  by  the  Moors, 

ii.  9. 

fortify  Colombo,  ii.  10. 

teach  the   Singhalese   the  art  of  war,  ii. 

11,  12. 

gain  nominal  allegiance  of  king,  ii.  14. 

establish  Franciscan  order  in  Ceylon,  ii.  1 5. 

succeed  to  the  dominions  of  the  king,  ii.  25. 

their  cruelties,  ii.  19  n,  23. 

•  receive    allegiance    of   Singhalese   chiefs, 

ii.  25. 

the  nature  of  their  trade,  ii.  26. 

destroy  the  sacred  tooth,  ii.  29. 

sack  and  finally  annex  Jaffna,  ii.  30. 

expelled  by  the  Dutch,  ii.  42. 

Portuguese  words  still  in  use,  ii.  70  n. 
Potoor,  extraordinary  well,  i.  21,  ib.  n;  ii.  536. 
Prakrama  Bahu,  his  reign,  i.  404. 

his  character  and  conquests,  i.  405. 

his  cities  and  public  works,  i.  407. 

his  foreign  expeditions,  i.  410. 

Prasii,  i.  313. 

Pridham,  C,  his  work  on  Ceylon,  1849,  Introd. 

xxxii.  11. 
Priests,  Buddhist,  their  numbers,  i.  349. 

their  vows  and  poverty,  i.  350. 

their  robes,  i.  351. 

Catina  dhwana,  ib.  n. 

their  influence  over  the  crown,  i.  362. 

their  first  endowment  with  lands,  i.  303. 

forbiddtn, — men  in  general  advised  not — 

to  take  away  life,  i.  544  n. 
Prinsep,  J.,  on  fish  falling  from  clouds,  i.  312. 
his  labours  in  conjunction  with  Tumour, 

i.  312«. 
Pseudo-Callisthenes.     See  Palladius. 
Pterophorus.     See  Insects,  i.  267. 
Ptolemies.     See  Egypt. 
Ptolemy,  distinguishes  the  Gobbs  (estuaries)  of 

Ceylon  from  the  Bays,  i.  47  n.,  559  /i. 

his  account  of  Ceylon,  i.  .^59. 

his  map  of  the  island,  i.  559  n.,  560  n. 

a  new  map  on  his  data,  i.  561. 

Purchas,  his  pilgrimage,  describes  Ceylon,  i.  1  n. 
Pusilawa,  ii.  249,  257. 

tea  grown  at,  ii.  251. 

morning  in  the  forest,  ii.  253. 

noon  in  the  forest,  ii.  254. 

evening  and  night,  ii.  255 — 257. 

Puswael,  gigantic  pod,  i.  105. 
Putlam,  ii.  627. 
Python,  swimming,  i.  194. 
its  great  size,  i.  196. 


Quails  which  fed  the  Isr.ielites.     See  Salu. 
Quartz,  rose-coloured,  i.  33. 
Queens  of  Ceylon,  i.  377. 
Quicksilver  found  in  Ceylon,  i.  29  «. 


INDEX. 


657 


Eachias,  embassy  to  Claudius,  i.  556. 
BaduUa,  star-fish,  i.  244. 

sea-slugs,  holothuria,  i.  243. 

parasitic  worms,  ib. 

pJanaria,  ib. 

acalephcB,  i.  246. 

Eailroads  in  Ceylon,  ii.  176  n. 
Eain,  its  volume  in  Ceylon,  i.  60,  63. 

curious  instance  of,  at  Pusilawa,  i.  6. 

annual  fall  of,  in  Ceylon,  i.  64. 

as  compared  with  India,  i.  65. 

at  Colombo,  i.  63  n. 

at  Kandy,  i.  66. 

at  Galle,  i.  67  n. 

Eaja-kariya,   its  origin,  i.  366,  369,  427.     See 
Aborigines. 

right  of  priests  to,  i.  365. 

Eaja-ratta.     See  Pihiti. 

Eajaratnacari,  i.  521. 

Eaja  Singha  I.,  wars  with  Portuguese,,  ii.  17. 

besieges  Colombo,  ii.  19. 

dies,  ii.  21,  22. 

Eaja  Singha  II.,  his    arrogance   and    titles,    ii. 

45  11, 49. 

at  war  with  the  Dutch,  ii.  60. 

E.aja-Singha  (Wickrema),  treachery  of  his  adi- 

gar,  ii.  76. 

his  savage  character,  ii.  87. 

his  awful  barbarities,  ii.  88. 

is  deposed  and  banished,  ii.  90. 

Eaja-tarangini,  a  history  of  Cashmir,  i.  315  7i  ; 

447  11. 
Bajavah,  i.  521. 

Eajawanny,  i.  103.     See  Orchids. 
Bakshasis,  i.  334. 
Eakshyos,  i.  340. 

Ealeigfa,  SirW.,  spicy  breezes  of  the  Antilles,  i.  4w. 
Eamayana,  i.  313. 
Bambodde.     See  Eangbodde. 
Eambutan,  fruit  of,  i.  120  ;  ii.  115. 

origin  of  the  name,  ii.  115  w. 

Eamiseram,  the  island,  its  wells,  i.  21  n. 

the  Coliacum  of  Pliny,  ii.  549. 

the  temple,  ii.  550. 

Eamusio,  error  as  to  Sumatra,  i.  10. 
Eangbodde,  ii.  259. 

General  Eraser's  estate,  ib. 

gregarious  spiders  at,  ii.  260. 

Eatan,  i.  106. 
Eat-snake,  i.  149. 

domesticated,  i.  193. 

Eaynal,  Abbe',  ii.  8  n. 
Rebellion  of  1848,  its  causes,  ii.  569. 
Records,    Portuguese  and  Dutch,  lost,  Introd. 
xxvii 

spoken  of  by  Valentyn,  1663,  ib. 

Eegio  Cinnamomifera  of  Africa,  i.  8,  9. 
Reinaud :  — 

ancient  shippins;  of  India,  i.  588. 

describes  the  Veddalis,  i.  593. 

on  the  elephant,  ii.  381  n. 

Kemusat,  i.  528  n. 

VOL.  II.  U 


Reptiles    of    Ceylon  described   by  Dr.   Davy, 
Introd.  xsxii. 

lizards,  iguana,  i.  182. 

cobra-tel,  poison,  i.  183  n. 

blood  suckers,  i.  183. 

chameleon,  i.  184. 

ceratophora,  i.  185. 

gecko,  anecdotes  of,  ib. 

crocodile,  anecdotes  of,  i.  186. 

tortoises,  i.  188. 

parasites  of  the  tortoise,  i.  189. 

turtle,  said  to  be  poisonous,  ib. 

hawk's-bill  turtle,  ib. 

cruel  mode  of  taking  tortoise-shell,  i.  190. 

snakes,  few  poisonous,  i.  191. 

cobra  de  capello,  i.  192. 

nropellis,  i.  195. 

ccecilia,  i.  201. 

frogs,  i.  202. 

tree  frogs,  ib. 

list  of  Ceylon  reptiles,  i.  203. 

troublesome  at  Colombo,  ii.  153. 

at  Kandy,  ii.  202. 

Eest-houses,  i.  493,  ib.  n. 
Eevenue,  ancient  sources  of,  i.  497. 

modern  sources  of,  ii.  162. 

Eevolutions,    ready    submission   of  the   people 

after,  i.  360  n,  423. 
Rhododendron,  i.  90,  92. 
Eibeyro,  his  life,  i.  80  n. ;  ii.  4,  43  n. 

recent  publication   of  his  original  MS., 

ii.  5  n. 

curious  map,  ib. 

error  as  to  areca,  ii.  27  n. 

describes  dignified  conduct  of  Singhalese 

chiefs,  ii.  25. 

statement  as  to  Raja  Singha,  ii.  46  n. 

Eice,  when  first  cultivated,  i.  138  n.,  437. 
Rice-lands,  formed  into  terraces,  i.  26,  435. 

process  of  "  assoedamising"  \.  26  n.,  435. 

different  modes  of  cultivation  in  the  south, 

and  in  the  north  of  Ceylon,  i.  27. 

tax  on,  objectionable,  ii.  169,  170  n. 

rice  cultivation  at  Jafi'na,  ii.  531. 

Rilawa  monkey,  i.  129. 
Eivadencyra,  ii.  5. 
Rivers  of  Ceylon,  i.  40. 

course  and  drainage  of  the  principal,  i.  41. 

smaller  rivers,  i.  42. 

navigable  rivers,  ib. 

lands  near,  unhealthy,  i.  43. 

few  rivers  bridged,  ib. 

Roads  opened  to  Kandy,  ii.  95. 

extent  of,  in  Ceylon,  ii.  120. 

Robertson,  Hist.  India,  i.  579. 

Robes,  priests'.     See  Priests. 

Robin,  the  Indian,  i.  163. 

Rocks  of  Ceylon,  chiefly  primitive,  i,  15. 

tertiary,  very  rare,  i.  19. 

Rodiyas,  an  infamous  race,  ii.  187. 

their  origin  and  habits,  ii.  188. 

"  A  Rogue,"  ii.  304.     See  Klephant. 

u 


658 


INDEX. 


Kohana.     -See  Eoliuna. 

Kohuna,  the  southern  division  of  Ct-ylon,  i.  337, 

583. 
Romano,  San.     See  Eivadeneyra,  ii.  5. 
Poi/xeu,  i.  566  n. 

Rousette.     See  Flying  Fox,  i.  35. 
Ruanwelle,  origin  of  the  name,  i.  29  7i. 

fort  at,  ii    179  n. 

dagoba,  built  at  Anarajapoora,  i.  355. 

Rubies,     See  Gems. 

in  the  rock  at  Piagalla,  i.  17  k. 

Ruby,  the  great,  story  of,  i.  544  ;  ii.  591. 
Russell,  Governor,  letter  from  to  Great  Mogul, 

ii.  47  n. 
Rumphius,  fallacy  about  coco-nut  aud  palmyra, 

ii.  521  71. 
Rut  lie.     See  Titanium. 

Saa,  Constantine  de,  his  destruction,  ii.  40. 
Saa,  Rodrigues  de,  his  history,  ii.  10  n.,  41  n. 
Saars,  his  work  on  Ceylon,  ii.  43  n. 
Saint-Hilaire,  i.  528,  529,  534  7i. 
Salmasius,  correct  as  to  Ceylon,  i.  10. 
Salu  not  quails,  but  red  geese,  ii.  487  n. 
Salt,  as  a  source  of  revenue,  ii.  169. 

salt  works  at  Nillavelli,  ii.  493. 

Salvadora  Persica,  the  mustard  tree  of  Scripture, 

i.  50.,  ib.  n.,  i.  87. 
Samaritan  Pentateuch,  error  as  to,  L  551  n. 
Sanchouiathon,  pretended  account  of  Ceylon,  i. 

571-577. 
Sand-bars.     See  Gobb. 

suitable  for  growing  the  coco-nut  palm,  i.51. 

mode  of  their  formation,  i.  45. 

process  of  vegetation  on,  L  48. 

trees  which  grow  on  them,  i.  50. 

Sandal  wood,  no  longer  found  in  Ceylon,  i.  614  «. 

Sandracottus  Chandi-agupta,  i.  317. 

Saunas,  i.  513. 

Sanskrit  works,  chiefly  on  science  and  medicine, 

i.  519. 
Santarem,  Vicomte  de,  Mappes-Mondes,  i.  9  7i. 
Sapphire.     See  Gems. 

Saram,  Ernest  de,  the  Maha-Moodliar,  IiUrod. 
xxxvi. 

a  dinner  at  bis  house,  ii.  161. 

Sardines,  said  to  be  poisonous,  i.  205. 

Saw  fish.     See  Fishes,  i.  205. 

Scaliger,  Julius,  i.  10. 

Schomburgk,  Sir  R.,  observations  on   fish   in 

Guiana,  i.  214  n. 
Scolopendrm,  centipede,  i.  298. 
Scoreoby,  on  anthelia,  i   73. 
Scorpions  at  Kandy,  ii.  205. 
Sculpture,  its  mannerism,  i.  475. 

characteristics  of  Singhalese'statues,  i.  476. 

coloured  statues,  i.  477. 

built  statues,  ih. 

statues  sent  to  China,  i.  624,  630. 

Sea  slugs,  Jwlothuria,  i.  245. 

abundant  at  Manaar,  ii.  557. 

and  at  Calpeutyn,  ii.  628. 


Sea  snakes,  ii.  627  «. 

Sea  of  Praki-ama.     See  Ellahura  Canal,  i.  4C5 ; 

ii.  574. 
Seeds,  remarkable,  i.  99.     See  Trees. 
Seir-fish,  i.  205. 
Sena  and  Gutika.     See  Malabars. 

Seneca,  account  of  fishes  on  dry  land,  i.  229. 

Septuagint,  error  in  MS.  of,  i.  sxi. 

"  Serendib,"  as  described  in  the  "Arabian  Nights 
Entertainment,"  i.  6,  550,  552  n. 

error  as  to  Samaritan  Pentateuch,  i.  551. 

Serpents,  i.  191.     /See  Reptiles. 

Serpent- worship.     5ee  Aborigines,  i.  330. 

Serpents  at  Kandy,  ii.  203. 

Setvaiia   viediija   leaves   used  instead  of  sand- 
paper, ii.  109  n. 

Shakspeare  on  the  elephant,  ii.  297. 

Shark  charmer,  ii.  565. 

Shells  of  Ceylon,  i.  233. 

Mr.  Hanley's  Memorandum,  ib. 

uncertainty  as  to  species,  i.  234. 

shell  dealers  in  Ceylon,  ii.  474. 

list  of  Ceylon  shells,  i.  235. 

Shipbuilders,  Tamil,  at  Valvettetorre,  ii.  535. 

Shipping,  no  Singhalese,  i.  441. 

boats  and  craft,  imitated  from  India,  i.  442 . 

ships  sewn  together,  ib. 

ships  with  two  prows,  i.  444. 

shipwrecks,  ib. 

Siam,  intercourse  with,  i.  628. 

Sidath    Sangara,    translated     by    De     Alwis, 
Inti-od.  xxxvi. 

Sidi  All  Chelebi,  i.  47  «.,  60. 

Sigiri  fortified  by  Kaasyapa,  i.  14,  389,  603. 

Silkworm,  i.  265.     5ee  Insects. 

Silk,  mentioned  byCosmasIndicopleustes.i.  569»i. 

cultivated  by  the  Dutch,  i.  265  n. 

Sindbad's  account  of  Ceylon,  i.  596,  597 ;  ii.  400, 
538  71. 

Singhalese,  their  delicacy  of  foi-m,  ii.  107. 

their  readiness  to  conform  to  more   than 

one  religion,  i.  530  n. 

Singhalese  costume,  ii.  107. 

Singhalese  history,  sources  of,  i.  311. 

the  Mahawanso,  i.  314. 

Tumour's  epitome,  i.  316. 

proofs  of  Mahawanso's  authenticity,  i.  317. 

list  of  Singhalese  sovereigns,  i.  320. 

illustrates  Buddhism,  i.  325,  326  n. 

story  of  Wijayo,  i.  329. 

Wijayo's  p  )licy,  i.  336. 

Ceylon  dinded  into  three  distiicts,  i.  337. 

village  system   established,  aud  agricul- 
ture and  irrigation  introduced,  i.  337-8. 

rapid  j)rogress  of  the  island,  i.  339. 

esUibd^hment  of  Buddhism,  ib. 

planting  of  the  sacred  Bo  Tree,  i.  341. 

growth  and  progress  of  Buddhism,  i.  347. 

influence  upon  civilisation,  i.  360-8. 

early  settlers  agriculturists,  i.  352. 

policy  of  employing  foreign  mercenaries, 

i.  353,  395. 


INDEX. 


659 


Singhalese  history,  episode  of  Ebla  and  Dutu- 

gaimunu,  i.  353,  395. 

huilding  of  Kuanwelle'  dagoba,  i.  355. 

habits  and  fate  of  aborigines,  i.  369 — 373. 

Iklalabar  wars  and  invasions,  i.  374,  396, 

397,  401-3. 

schisms  and  heresies,  i.  377. 

state  of  Ceylon,  a.d.  275,  i.  380. 

feebleness  of  "  Sulu-wanse  "  dynasty, i.  385. 

stoiy  of  the  sacred  tooth,  i.  388. 

story  of  Kaasyapa,  i.  389. 

influence  of  Malabars  firmly  established, 

i.  398. 

policy  of  Singhalese,  i.  402. 

glorious  reign  of  Prakrama,  i.  405. 

his  wars  and  conquests,  i.  409. 

Malabars  at  Jaffna,  i.  413. 

extending  ruin  of  Ceylon,  i.  414. 

successive  removals  of  seat  of  government, 

i.  400,  413,  415. 

ascendency  of  Malabars,  i.  415. 

Ceylon  tributary  to  China,  i.  417. 

arrival  of  Portuguese,  i.  418. 

Singhalese  language,  i.  328. 

affinity  to  languages  of  the  Dekkan,  ib. 

relation  towards  Sanskrit  and  Pali,  i.  329. 

its  affinities  with  Elu,  ii.  514. 

admits  of  every  kind  of  rhythm,  i.  521. 

Singhalese  literature,  i.  520. 

its  low  tine,  ib. 

exempt  from  licentiousness,  i.  521. 

literature,  sacred  poems,   L  521. 

■ general,  ib. 

Sister's  line,  succession  in,  ii.  459. 
Sitawacca,  ruins  of,  ii.  179  n. 
Skinner, Major,Ceylon  Civil  Service,/n<rcKf.xxxir. 
aids  General  Fraser  in  his  Map  of  Ceylon, 

i.  1 1  w. 
his  account  of  the  extent  of  Anarajapoora, 

i.  383  ra. 

his  collection  of  Ceylon  fishes,  i.  209. 

roads  made  by  him,  ii.  120. 

anecdote  of  elephant,  ii.  307. 

appointed  Auditor-General,  ii.  122  n. 

Slavery,  its  origin  and  state,  i.  426,  ib.  n. 

its  aboHtion,  ib. 

Snake-tree,  i.  98. 

Snakes,  i.  191.     S&e  Eeptiles. 

reluctance  of  the  Buddhists  to  kill  a  snake, 

i.  195. 

at  Kandy,  ii.  519. 

water  snakes,  i.  96  ;  ii.  627  n. 

snakes  domesticated,  i.  193. 

accidents  from,  i.  196  h. 

Snake-stone,  its  alleged  virtues,  i.  197. 

anecdotes  of  its  use,  i.  198. 

analysis  of,  by  Professor  Faraday,  i.  199. 

Snow,  unknown  in  Ceylon,  i.  69. 
Soil  of  Ceylon,  i.  24. 
Solinus,  on  the  elephant,  ii.  294. 
Solomon,  his  fleets  visit  Ceylon,  1.  555  n.    See 
Tarshish. 


Somnauth,  the  temple  originally  a  Buddhiit 
foundation,  i.  524  n. 

Sonnees,  the  iloors  of  C«ylon  were,  not  Sheahs, 
631  n. 

Sonneratia  acida,  its  uses,  i.  85. 

Sousa  d'Arronches,  his  atrocities,  ii.  20. 

destroys  the  temple  at  Dondera,  ib. 

Sovereigns  of  Ceylon,  list  of,  i.  320. 

Soyza,  Jeronis  de,  his  character,  ii.  144. 

Spectre  butterfly,  i.  263. 

Spicy  breezes  of  Ceylon,  a  fable,  i.  4. 

Ctesias  mentions  them,  ib.n. 

but  the  origin  of  the  belief  is  Hindu,  ib. 

Milton   repeats   the    story    of    "  Sabaan 

odours,"  ib. 

Diodorus  Siculus  speaks  of  them,  ib. 

Ariosto  alludes  to  them,  ib. 

the  source  of  the  perfumes  discerned  on 

other  coasts,  ib. 

Spiders,  i.  294.     See  Arachnida. 

at  Gampola,  ii.  223. 

at  Pusilawa,  ii.  256. 

Spilberg,  Dutch  Admiral,  at  Kandy,  ii.  35. 

Spinel.     See  Gems. 

Spinifex  squaT~rosus,  its  growth  on  the  sands, 
i.  49. 

Squirrel,  i.  148. 

the  Flying  Squirrel,  i.  ib. 

Sri-pada.     See  Adam's  Peak. 

Star-fish,  i.  244.     See  Radiata. 

Statues.     See  Images. 

Stefano  Girolamo  di  Sciulo,  his  horses,  i.  639. 

Sterculia  foetida,  its  seeds,  i.  100. 

its  stench,  ib.,  not  the  gooraanda,  ii.  604,  «. 

Stevelly,  Professor,  i.  70. 

Stewart,  W.,  on  gem  finding,  i.  35. 

Stick  insect,  i.  252.     -See  Insects. 

Stonehenge,  conjectured  in  1807  to  be  a  Bud- 
dhist ruin,  i.  525  «. 

Strabo,  his  error  as  to  the  size  of  Ceylon,  i.  8, 
550. 

boats  with  two  prows,  ii.  104  n. 

St)-ychnos  potatorum,  i.  101;  ii.  411. 

Submersion  of  parts  of  Ceylon  by  the  sea,  i.  7  w. 

Succession,  strange  law  of,  ii.  459,  ib.  n. 

Sugar,  lands  for  growing,  i.  28. 

Sugar  plantation  at  Veangodde,  formed  by  Sir 
E.  Barnes,  ii.  208  n. 

Sulphur,  error  of  Argensola,  i.  16  »». 

Suluwanse,     See  Mahawanso,  i.  315. 

its  character,  i.  381. 

kings  of  the  Suluwanse,  i.  3S5. 

Sumatra  confounded  with  Ceylon,  i.  10. 

error  of  Gibbon  as  to  Salmasius' opinion, (6.  n. 

opinion  of  Cosmas  Indicopleustes,  ib. 

error   in    the  Catalan   map,   a.d.    1375, 

&c.,  ib. 

names    of  early    geographers    who    were 

astray  on  this  point,  ib. 

names  of  those  who  were  correct,  ib. 

doubt  dissipated  by  DeUsle,  ib. 

Sun  bird,  i.  168.     See  Birds. 


660 


INDEX. 


Sunstroke  rare,  i.  78. 

Superstitions  and  popular  notions: — 

Hindu,  as  to  shade  of  tamarind,  i.  1 19  ?(. 

Singhalese  idi-a  of  its  coolness,  ib. 

Singhalese    folk-lore    regarding  bears,    i. 

139  n. 

leopards,  i.  140. 

■ mungoos,  i.  146,  147. 

kabra-goya,  i.  183. 

cobra-de-capello,  i.  194. 

use  of  snake-stones,  i.  197-9. 

sand-stone  island,  i.  443. 

elephants'  burial-place,  ii.  399 , 

400. 

caste  of  Veddabs,  ii.  442. 

as  to  poison  of  "sfr?/c^KOS,"i. 101. 

of  the  evil  eye,  i.  540  w.;ii.  176. 

as  to  Goeo-nut  not  growing  out 

of  sound  of  the  human  voice, 

ii.  125. 

as  to  Adam's  Peak,  ii.  129-131. 

as  to  the  existence  of  a  subter- 
ranean river,   ii.   536,  ib.   n, 

537  n. 
as  to  a  deliverer  coming  from 

India,  ii.  582  n. 
Suria  trees,  common  in  Ceylon,  i.  117. 

at  Galle  and  Colombo,  ii.  110. 

caterpillars  on,  ib. 

Surveys,  Dutch,  of  Ceylon   Introd.  xxviii.  n. 
Sutras,  i.  521. 

Swallows,  i.  167.     See  Birds. 
Swine's  flesh,  why  prohibited,  i.  76  n. 
Sykes,   Colonel,  his  opinion  as   to  the  sacred 
tooth,  i.  524  n. 

has    denied   that  Buddhism   is  atheistic, 

i.  528  «. 
Syi'ens,  described  by  Iliouen  Thsang,  i.  334. 


Tabari,  Arabian  geographer,  i.  595  n. 
Tailor- bird,  i.  168.     See  Birds. 
Talawas,  what,  i.  27. 

near  Bintenne,  ii.  452. 

Talipat  palm,  its  uses,  i.  109. 

books  made  of  its  leaves,  i.  110. 

Tamana  trees,  i.  17  w. 

Tamarind  trees,  i.  119.     (S'ee  Trees. 

belief  that  the  leaves  are  cool,  ib.  n. 

Tamba-panni,  origin  of  this  name  for  Ceylon,  i. 
17  n.,  549. 

name  occurs  also  in  South  India,  ib. 

origin  of  the  name,  i.  17,  368. 

Tamblegam,  lake  of,  ii.  491. 

pearls,  ib. 

Tamil  villages,  ii.  513. 

their  husbandry,  ii.  514,  533. 

Tamils.     See  Malabars. 

Tanks,  their  origin,  i.  27,  364.    See  Irrigation. 

their  construction  and  numbers,  i.  365. 

their  dedication  to  temples,  ib. 

the  first  tank  in  Cevlon,  i.  338,  431. 


Tanks  project  for  restoring  them,  ii.  432. 

•  facilities  offered  for  restoration  of  tank  at 

Horrabora,  ii.  436. 
Tapestry,  origin  of  modern,  ii.  462,  ib.,  n. 
Taprobane,  Greek  name  for  Ceylon,  i.  8,  549, 
562. 

believed  by  Kant  to  be  Madagascar,  i.  11  n. 

derived  from  Tamba-panni,  which  see. 

Tarentula,  MygaJe  fasciata,  i.  295. 

fight  with  a  cockroach,  i.  296. 

numerous  at  Gampola,  ii.  223. 

Tarshish,  i.  554  «.,  592  ;  ii.  99.     See  Galle. 
Tartar  Princes,  their  rise,  i.  635. 
Tavalam,  a  caravan  of  bullocks,  ii.  181. 
Tavernier,  eiTor  as  to  Ceylon  elephants,  ii.  388. 

visited  Galle  in  1648,  ii.  65  m. 

Tea-plant,  cultivated  at  Pusilawa,  i.  89  ;  ii.  249. 
Teak-tree,  i.  116. 
Tectibranchiata,  i.  235. 
Tellurium,  i.  29. 

Templeton,  Dr.,  B.A.,  his  knowledge  of  Ceylon 
Introd.  ssx. 

his  valuable  aid  in  the  present  work,  ib. 

his  papers  on  Sonneratia  acida,  i.  86  n. 

his  cultivation  of  Zoology,  i.  127. 

notice  of  Ceylon  Monkeys,  i.  131. 

Temperature  of  Ceylon,  i.  68. 

of  Kandy,  i.  68  n. 

in  the  mountains,  i.  69. 

Temperature  of  fruit,  how  produced,  i.  121 

Temples,  their  form,  i.  489.     See  Wiharas. 

Rock  temples,  i,  489. 

description  of  a  modern  temple,  ii.  145. 

Temple  lands,  their  origin,  i.  363. 

Termites,  white  ants,  their  ravages,  i.  253. 

whence  comes  their  moisture,  ib.  n. 

Tetracera  at  Cuba,  i.  4  n. 

Tettan-cotta  seeds,  i.  101;  ii.  411. 

Thaun,  Philip  de,  on  the  elephant,  ii.  297. 

Theban  scholar,  informant  of  Palladius,  i.  562  n. 

Theban  scholar,  his   story   and   statements,    i. 
563  n. 

saw  the  Besadse,  i.  593  w. 

coincidence  of  his  and  Knox's  statements, 

ii.  65  n. 

describes  the  Vcddahs,  ii.  438  n. 

Theobaldus'  Bestiaries,  ii.  295. 

Theophrastus'  account  of  fishes  on  dry  land,  i. 
227,  228. 

Thorn  fortifications,  i.  107,  466,  ib.  n. 

Thorn  gates,  ib. 

Thorny  trees,  i.  107. 

Thunberg,  account  of  the  snake-stone,  i.  201. 
remark  about  the  goorcenda,  ii.  604  n. 

travelled  from  Maturu  to  Colombo  in  1 770, 

ii.  65  n. 

Thunder,  i.  57. 

Thwaites,  Mr.,  Director  of  the  Botanic  Gardens 
at  Ceylon,  i.  84. 

his   researches   into  the   botany   of    the 

island,  i.  85. 
his  Enumeratio  Plantarum  Zeylanica,i.  85. 


INDEX. 


661 


Thwaites,  Mr.,  on  Cinnamon,  i.  COO  n.,  ii.  34  n. 

on  the  Pteropus,  i.  136  n. 

Thysianura,  i.  306. 

Ticks,  i.  296. 

Tic-polonga,  i.  191.     See  Reptiles. 

Tides  of  Ceylon,  i.  52,  53. 

peculiarities      of, — Admiral      FitzRoy's 

theory,  ii.  116,  117. 
Tiger  at  Trincomalie,  ii.  492  n. 
Tika,  i.  314.     See  Maliawaiiso. 
Timber,  bad  on  the  hills,  i.  91,  115. 

its  rapid  destruction  by  ants  and  larvae,  ih. 

Timber  trees,  i.  99.     See  Trees. 

neglected  state  of   the  tiuiber  forests,  i. 

ii5. 

memoirs  on  timber  trees,  by  A.  Mendis,  ib. 

Timber  cutters,  their  mode  of  life,  ii.  493. 

Titanium,  i.  29. 

Titles  of  the  Kings  of  Kandy,  ii.  34. 

Titles,  Portuguese,  sold,  ii.  7 1. 

Toad,  i.  202. 

Tobacco,  ii.  534. 

Tohfut-ul-Mujahideen,  i.  630  w.,  ii.  4. 

Tokei.     See  Tukeyim. 

Toleration,  uniform  in  Ceylon,  i.  585  n. 

Tom-toms,  i.  470. 

Tooth,  the  sacred.     See  Dalada, 

story  of,  ii.  197. 

its  shrine,  ii.  200. 

fraud  practised  on  King  of  Pegu,  ii.  197, 

21  In. 
Topas.     See  Gems. 
Topoor,  ii.  476. 
Torches.     See  Chules. 
Torrington,    Viscount,    orders   a   mineralogical 

survey,  i.  28. 

his  tax  on  dogs,  i.  145. 

reduces  the  export  duty  on  cinnamon,  ii. 

reforms  the  tariff,  ii.  168.  [164. 

his  financial  policy,  ii.  569. 

Tortoises,  i.  188,  190. 

Tortoise-shell,  cruel  mode  of  taking,  i.  190. 

skill  in  working,  ii.  108. 

Tourmaline.     See  Gems. 

Trade  never  followed  by  the  Singhalese,  i.  440. 

Ceylon  an  emporium  for  foreigners,  ib. 

some  trade  in  the  interior,  i.  445. 

state  of  trade  in  the  sixth  century,  i.  564. 

described  by  Cosmas  Indicopl.  i.  569. 

its  course  altered  by  the  Cape  route,  i.  633. 

Tradition  as  to  earliest  settlers  being  Chinese,  i. 

327  n. 
Travancore,  tobacco  exported  from,  ii.  534. 
Travelling  in  the  forest,  difficulties  of,  ii.  407, 47 1 . 

preparations  for,  ii.  412. 

pleasures  of,  ii.  414. 

Trees,  witii  buttresses,  i.  91.     See  Botany  and 

Vegetation. 

Flowering  trees,  i.  92. 

the  Coral  tree,  ib. 

the  Murutu,  ib. 

the  Asoca,  ib. 


Trees,  the  Imbul,  i.  93. 

the  Iron  tree,  i.  94. 

the  Upas,  ib. 

Figs,  Banyan  tree,  i.  95. 

Bo-tree,  i.  96. 

India-rubber  tree,  i.  98. 

timber  trees,  Kumbuk,  i.  99. 

trees  with  remarkable  seeds,  ib. 

the  Ceylon  Durian,  i.  100. 

StercuUa  Jcetida,  its  stench,  ib. 

Moodilla,  ib. 

Strychnos,  nux-vomica,  i.  101. 

its  poison  seeds  eaten,  ib. 

Euphorbia,  ib. 

error  of    Hermann    as  to  the  Gymnema 

lactiferum,  ib.  n. 

climbing  plants  and  orchids,  i.  102. 

square-stemmed  vine,  i.  103. 

gigantic  climbers,  i.  104. 

the  Maha-pus-wael  and  its  pods,  i.  105. 

the  Rasa-Kindu,  its  surprising  vitality,  i. 

106. 

ground  creepers,  ratan,  i.  1 06. 

the  Waywel,  bridge  of,  i.  107. 

Thorny  trees,  caryota  horrida,  ib. 

Acacias,  i.  108. 

Buffalo  thorn,  ib, 

Palms,  i.  109. 

Coco-nut,  ib.,  119. 

Talapat,  ib. 

Palmyra,  i.  110. 

its  uses,  ib. 

Jaggery  palm,  Kitool,  i.  112. 

Areca  palm,  i.  112. 

Timber  trees,  rare,  i.  115. 

the  Del,  i.  116. 

Teak,  ib. 

Suria  tree,  i.  117. 

Cabinet  woods,  ib. 

Ebony,  ib. 

Cadooberia,  ib. 

Calamander,  i.  118. 

Xedun  wood,  ib. 

Tamarind  tree,  i.  119. 

Fruit  trees,  Jak,  ib. 

Limes,  oranges,  ib. 

Trees,  sacred,  antiquity  of,  i.  341. 
Tree-frogs,  i.  202. 

Trepang,  ii.  557,  627  n.     See  Sea  Slug. 
Trincomalie,  volcanic  traces  at,  i.  16- 

its  climate,  i.  70,  71. 

French  attempts  upon,  ii.  67,  485. 

its  bay  and  scenery,  ii.  482. 

fortification,  ii.  483. 

ancient  legend,  ii.  483. 

temple  destroyed,  ii.  484.  [ib.  ii. 

monument  to  Francina  Van  Eeede,  ii.  485, 

neglect  of,  ii.  486. 

importance  of,  as  a  position,  ii.  486. 

superiority  as  a  port,  ii.  487. 

Tritonia  arhorescens.     See  JIusical  Fish. 
letter  on,  ii.  480. 


VOL.  II. 


X  X 


66^ 


INDEX. 


Tromhidium  t'mctorum,  i.  297. 
Tukeyim,  Pea-fowl,  i.  xsi. ;  ii.  102. 
Turbinella  rapa,  i.  21,  446.     See  Chank. 
Turnour,  George,  his  life  and  labours,  i.  312  n. 

his  Epitome  of  the  History  of  Ceylon,  i. 

317. 

his  unpublished  MSS.,  Introd.  xsxv. 

Turtle,  i.  188.     See  Reptiles. 

barbarous  treatment  of,  ii.  177. 

Tusks.     (See  Elephant;  Ivory.    • 

fallacy  that  they  are  shed,  ii.  274. 

weight  of,  ii.  275. 

their  uses,  ii.  276. 

Two  Mahometans,  Voyages  of.     /See  Abouzeyd. 
T^av^avcL,  i.  569. 

Ulcerations,  i.  82.     See  Health. 
Upas  tree,  i.  94.     See  Trees. 

its  use  for  making  sacks,  i.  95. 

Upham's  versions  of  the  Singhalese  Chronicles, 
1.31 7  ?». 

incorrect  and  imperfect,  ih. 

Uropellis,  i.  195. 

Urre'!  cry  of  the  elephant  drivers,  ii.  391  n. 

Utricidaria,  curious  property  of,  i.  124. 

Valentia,  Viscount,  his  account  of  Ceylon,  1809, 

Introd.  xxiv. ;  ii.  32  n. 

on  Dutch  trade,  ii.  56  n. 

Valentyn,  his  work  on  the  Dutch  possessions  in 

India,  Introd.  xxvii. ;  ii.  33  n. 

Colombo  ordered  to  be  dismantled,  ii.  5  n. 

Azavedo's  atrocities,  ii.  23,  ih.  n. 

states  that  cinnamon  grew  at  Batticaloa 

in  1675,  ii.  34  n. 
gives   titles  of  Portuguese  governors,  ii. 

34,  35  n.  [37  n. 

extenuates  Wimala  Dharma's  conduct,  ii. 

describes  Koster's  conduct,  ii.  43  n. 

speaks  of  bribes  being  sent  to  Kandyan 

king,  ii.  44,  48  n. 
——  mentions  treatment  of  Moors,  ii.  53  n. 
his  hypothesis  regarding  Manaar   pearls, 

ii.  56  n. 

reference  to  French  ambassador,  ii.  60  n. 

speaks  of  Dutch  policy,  ii.  70 ». 

account  of  ruins  of  Sitawacca,  ii.  179  ». 

Valle,  Pietro  de  la,  i.  561. 

Valvette-torre,  ii.  535. 

Vanattey  Palam,  ancient  bridge,  ii.  474. 

Varthema.     See  Barthema. 

Veangodde,  house  of  the  Moodliar,  ii.  182. 

Veddahs.     See  Aborigines,  i.  373. 

mode  of  drawing  the  bow,  i.  499  ?J. 

Veddahs,  remnant  of  the  aborigines,  i.  592 ;    ii. 

428. 

evidences  of   this  furnished  by  Knox,  i. 

by  Valentyn  and  Rilieyro,  ib.  [593. 

by  Albyrouni,  ib. 

by  Fa  Hian  and  by  Pliny,  i.  584. 

by  the  early  Chinese  authors,  ib.  n. 

by  Palladius,  ii.  439. 


Veddahs,  their  present  condition,  ii.  437. 

Rock  Veddahs,  ii.  440.    ; 

Village  Veddahs,  ii.  443. 

Coast  Veddahs,  ii.  444. 

death  of  a  Veddah,  ii.  445  n. 

efforts  to  civilise  them,  ii.  447. 

their  practice  with  the  bow,  ii.  449. 

their  mode  of  kindling  a  fire,  ii.  451. 

Vegetation  of  Ceylon,  its  beauty,  as  seen  from 

tlie  sea,  i.  5.    See  Botany. 

its  variety  and  colours,  ih.,  56. 

flora  of  Ceylon  of  a  Malayan  type,  i.  83. 

of  the  sea-borde,  i.  85. 

■  of  the  sea-shore,  i.  87. 

of  the  plains,  ib. 

of  the  western  coast,  ib. 

of  the  mountains,  i.  90. 

See  Trees. 

Venetians  in  the  East,  i.  635.  [i.  643. 

irritation  of,  at  change  of  course  of  trade, 

Venloos  Bay,  ii.  473. 

Ventriloquism,  ii.  185  n. 

Verge!  river,  ii.  425,  475. 

Vermilion,  i.  455. 

Versluys,  rebellion  under  Governor,  ii.  60 

Vigittapoora,  early  importance  and  present  state, 

ii.  602-604. 

habitat  of  tiie  goorcenda,  ib. 

Village  system,  its  organisation,  i.  89,  434;  ii. 

460-462,  538. 

its  antiquity,  i.  337. 

Villengelavelly,  Veddahs  at,  ii.  447. 
Vincent,  note  on  cinnamon,  i.  600  n. 

note  on  the  word  "  gaou,"  i.  567  n. 

Vine,  artificial  winter  for,  i.  89. 
Vippam-madoo,  ii.  446. 
Volcanic  evidences,  rare,  i.  15. 

at  Trincomalie,  i.  16  w. 

hot  springs  at  Badulla,  ib.n. 

Volcanic  error  of  Argensola,  ib. 

Vossius,  Isaac,  i.  10  n. 

Vuyst,  Commodore,  his  treason,  ii.  60. 

Wagenfeld,  i.  571 ;  ii.l33  w.    5ee  Sanchoniatlion. 

Walker,  F.,  list  of  Ceylon  insects,  i.  269,  274. 

Wanderoo  monkey,  i.  128. 

Wang  Tao  Chung,  Introd.  xxxvii. 

Wanninchees,  ii.  474. 

Wanny,  its  present  state,  ii.  408. 

its  last  queen,  ii.  476. 

its  former  history,  ii.  508. 

mode  of  taking  elephants,  ii.  510. 

Ward,  Sir  Henry  G.,  his  public  services,  ii.  237, 


Wasps,  wasps' nest,  i.  257. 

mason- wasp,  i.  257  «. 

Water,  method  of  pumping,  i.  101. 
Water-spouts,  frequent,  i.  72. 

Camoens'  inference,  ib.  n. 

Water-snakes,  i.  197. 

Weaver-bird,  i.  169. 

Week-days  of  the  Singhalese,  ii.  582  n, 

Weert,  Sibalt  de,  his  death,  ii.  37. 


[432. 


LVDEX. 


663 


Wellaw^,  residence  of  a  chief,  ii.427. 
Wellington,  Duke  of,  at  Trincomalie,  ii.  81  w. 
Wells.     See  Coral,  Potoor,  &c. 
Westerwold's  treaty,  ii.  42. 

alleged  breach  of,  ii.  43. 

Westwood,  obsenalions  on  coffee-bug,  ii.  245  n. 

• reference  to  the  pliigue  of  flies,  ii.  115  n. 

Whales,  i.  159.     See  Cetacea. 

White,  Adam,  Esq.,  Brit.  Mus.,  Introd.  xxxiv. 

White,  extract  from  Nat.  Hist,  of  Selborne,  ii. 

303  «. 
White  ants,  i.  253.     -See  Termites. 
White  cloth,  the  honour  of,  ii.  461. 
Wliiting,  Mr.jCeylon  Civil  Service, /n<ro(^.  xxxiv. 
Wiharas,  originally  caves,  i.  347,  481. 

the  earliest  houses  for  priests,  i.  348. 

the  temjile,  properly  so  called,  i.  349. 

Wijayo  lands  in  Ceylon,  B.C.  543,  i.  330  ;  and 

forms  a  kingdom  there,  ih.,  i.  336. 
Wijayo,  his  landing  described,  as  in  the  Odyssey, 
i.  332. 

his  death  and  successors,  i.  336. 

Wilson,  Prof.  H.  H.,  on  Curry,  i.  437  n. 
Wimala  Dharma,  his  titles,  ii.  34. 

kills  Sibalt  de  Weert,  ii.  37. 

• death  of,  ib. 

Winds,  the  "along-shore  wind,"  i.  57. 
Wine  imported  in  early  ages,  i.  448. 

formerly  grown  in  Ceylon,  ii.  36. 

Witt's  theory  of  filtration,  i.  21«. 

Woden,  conjectured  to  be  identical  with  Buddha, 

i.  525  n. 


Wolf,  Jo.  Christian,  travels  in  Ceylon,  ii.  65  », 
71  n,  291,  304  n. 

his  account  of  lassoing  horses  in  a  kr.ial, 

ii.  550  n. 
Wolfram,  i.  29. 

Wood-carrying  moth,  i.  266.     See  Insects. 
Worm.     See  Silk-worm. 
Worms,  parasite,  i.  245.     See  Radiata. 
Worms,  Messrs.,  their  ser\'ices  to  the  colony,  ii. 

248. 
Wright,  Thomas,  Esq.,  F  S.A.,  ii.  293  n. 
Wylie,  M.,  of  Shanghae,  Introd.  xxxvi. 
Wytulian  heresy,  i.  377—380. 

Yakkas  and  demons,  i.  540-542. 
Yakkos,  i.  330.     See  Aborigines. 
Yakshyos,  i.  539,  540. 
Yalle.     See  Jaula. 
Yapahoo,  the  capital,  i.  414. 
Yarrell's  theory  of  buried  fish,  i.  213. 
Yavi-Ootoo,  hot  spring,  i.  16«. 
Yons,  probably  lonians,  i.  517. 

Zabedj,  JIaharaja  of,  i.  589. 

conquers  Ceylon,  L  590. 

Zircon.     See  Gems. 

Zone,  the  mountain,  i.  12. 

Zoology  neglected  in  Ceylon,  i  127.    See  Natural 

History. 
partial    extent    to    which   it    has    been 

cultivated,  i.  128. 


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