Eight Years' Wanderings in Ceylon

r Prosperity-Ruins of Cities-Pollanarua-The Great Dagoba-Architectural Relics-The Rock Temple-Destruction of Population-Neglected Capabilities-Sugges

ahrenheit, abounding with beautiful views of mountain and plain and of boundless panoramas in the vicinity. He will also have discovered that, in a

be excellent. Lord Torrington, who is well known as an agriculturist, was equally deceived. He was very confident in the opinion that "it only re

rality of the forest-land at Newera Ellia and the vi

t these lots usually lie on the banks of rivers which have been subjected to inundations, and they are not fair

on is shown in the failure of every agricultur

lights in a soil of quartz sand,

ason; sea air, a sandy soil and a dry su

strong soil invariably prove failures, and sugar, cotton, indi

d above water is the Peredinia estate, within four miles of Kandy. This, again, lies upon the bank of the Mahawelli river, and it has also the

am thoroughly convinced that no soil in Ceylon will produce a sample of fine, straw-colored, dry, bright, large-crystaled sugar. The finest sample ever produced of C

cotton and tobacco, but not for the sugar-cane. In such light and moist alluvial soil the latter will grow to a great size, and will yield a large quantity of juice in which the saccharometer may stand well; but

lé river," the "Koombookanaar," etc.; but even here the good soil is very limited, lying on either bank for only a quarter of a mile in width. In addition to this, the unhealthiness

a drop of rain or a cloud upon the sky. Every pool and tank is dried up; the rivers forsake their banks, and a trifling stream trickles over the sandy bed. Thus a

ould managers be found to brave the danger, one season of sickness and death among the co

of an inferior quality, and an experiment

xception of cinnamon and cocoa-nuts. Even the native gardens will not produce a tolerable sample

of "its fertile soil, and indigenous vegetable productions," etc., etc. Again: "Ceylon, though comparatively but little known, is pre-eminent in natural resources." All this serves to mislead the public opinion. Agricultural experiments in a tropical country in a little

im write a description of those subjects which he understands; but if he attempts to "make" a book, he mus

overed by dense thorny jungles? It is simply this-that the land is so desperately poor that it will only produce one crop, and thus an immense acreage is required for the support of a few inhabitants; thus, from ages pa

hey plant all that they require at the same time. Thus may be seen in a field of korrakan (a small grain

dian corn, betel, areca-nuts, pumpkins, onions, garlic, gingelly-oi

ee cinnamon and cocoa-nut oil, which are for the

r the supply of which Ceylon is mainly dependent upon importation. In the hitherto overrated general resources of Ceylon, the cultivation of rice has scarcely been deemed worthy of notice; the all-absorbi

the price and supply of rice in Ceylon become questions of similar importance to the price of corn in England. This dependence upon a foreign soil for the supply involves the necessary fluctuations in price caused

ude upon their waters, and the crocodile basks upon their shores; the thousands of acres which formerly produced rice for a dense population are now matted over by a thorny and impenetrable jungle. The wild buffalo, descendant from the ancient stock which tilled the ground of

s of the country, which produced sufficient food to support millions; while fo

the required extent being selected, the courses of neighboring or distant rivers were conducted into it, and the exit of the waters was prevented by great causeways, or dams, of solid masonry, which exte

llai, Padavellkiellom, and the Giant Tank. These are from fifteen to twenty-five miles in circumference; but in forme

pply. So careful were the inhabitants in husbanding those liquid resources upon which their very existence depended that even the surplus waters of one lake were not allowed to escape unheeded. Channels were cut, connecting a chain

rom the north to the south the island was thickly peopled, and the only portions which then

m a waving sea of green; the valleys teemed with wealth; no thorny jungles gave a barren terminable prospect, but the golden tints of ripening crops spread to the horizon. Temples stood upon the hill-tops;

s of "Anaradupoora," which cover two hundred and fifty-six square miles of ground, are all that remain of the noble city which stood within its walls in a square of sixteen miles. Some idea of the amount of population ma

poora" are the largest in extent, and the buildings appear to have been more lofty, the great dagoba having exceeded four hundred fee

foremost. This city appears to have been laid out with a degr

the approach to the city, the scene must have been beautiful in the extreme: the silvery lake, like a broad mirror, in the midst of a tropical park; the flowering trees shadowing its waters; the groves of tamarinds sheltering its many nooks and bays; the gorgeous blossoms of the pink lotus resting on its glassy surface; and the carpet-like glades of verdant pasturage, stretching far away upon the opposite shores, covered with countless elephants, tamed to complete obedience. Then on the right, below the massive granite steps which form the causeway, the water rushing from the sluice carries fertility among a thousand fields, and countless laborers and ca

the base the Dagoba rears its lofty summit. Two circular terraces, each of some twenty feet in height, rising one upon the other, with a width of fifty feet, and a diameter at the base of about two hundred and fifty, from the step-like platform upon which the Dagoba stands. These are ascended by broad flights of steps, each terrace forming a circular promenade around the Dagoba; the whole having the appearance of white marble, being covered with p

to eight similar chambers of about twelve feet square, in each of which is a small altar and carved golden idol. This Dagoba forms

the city, terminating in four great gates or entrances to the town-north, south, east and west. Continuing along the main street from the great Dagoba for about a mile, we face another Dagoba of s

to the opposite entrance-gate, is the rock temple, w

nd the leopard crouch in the porches of the temples; the owl roosts in the casements of the palaces; the jackal roams among the ruins in vain; there is not a bone left for him to gnaw of the multitudes which have passed away. There is their handwriting upon the temple wall, upon the granite slab which has mocked at Time; but there is no man to decipher it. There are the gigantic idols before whom millions have bowed; there is the same vacant stare upon their features of rock which gazed upon the multitudes of yore; but they no longer

and rank grass and lichens have for the most part covered its surface, giving it the appearance rather of a huge mound of earth than of an ancient building. A portion of the palace is also standing, and, although for the most part blocked up with ruins, there is

ently intended as a bath; and everything denotes the former comfort and arrangement of a first-class establishment. There are innumerable relics, all interesting and worthy of individual attention, throughout the ruins over a surface of man

, doubtless, being partly a natural cavern, has been enlarged to the present size by the chisel; and the entrance, which may have been originally a small hole, has been shaped into an arched doorway. The interior is not mo

n the old Pali language, which has never been translated. Upon the left of one plain is a kind of sunken area hewn out of the rock, in which sits a colossal figure of Buddha, about twenty feet in height. On the right of the other plane is a figure

lly that in the reclining posture, in which the impression of the head upon the pillow is so well e

years. The comparatively recent date of its destruction renders its obscurity the more mysterious, as there is no mention made of its annihilation in any of the Cingalese re

and Malabars, who had invaded the northern districts of Ceylon; and as in modern warfare the great art consists in cutting off the enemy's supplies, so in those days the first and most decisive blow to be inflicted was the cutting off the "wa

I have myself seen the lake of Minneria, which is twenty-two miles in circumfer

the already tottering houses, and decay would proceed with a rapidity unknown in a cooler clime. As the seed germinates in a few hours in a tropical country, so with equal haste the body of both vegetable and animal decays when life is extinct. A perpetual and hurrying change is visible in all things. A few showers, and the surface of the earth is teeming with verdure; a few days of drought, and the seeds already formed are falling to the earth, springing in their turn to li

of man, so, when his hand is wanting, a few short weeks bury them beneath an overwhelming mass of thorns. In one year a jungle will conceal all sign

xtent than in Ceylon: "thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee." This is indeed exemplified when a few months neglect of once-cultivated lan

nitude to destroy the works of man. At some remote period a bird has dropped the seed of the banian tree (ficus Indicus) upon the decaying summit of a dagoba. This, germinating has struck its root downward through the brickwork, and, by the gradual and insinuating progress of its growth

suffered to lie dormant since the disappearance of her ancient population; and

y twenty-six miles from Trincomalee on the highroad to Kandy. This tank, when the dam and sluices were

is the increase of the population; all of whom shou

uld soon resume its original prosperity. A tax of five per cent. upon the produce of the land, to commence in the ratio of 0 per cent. for the first year, three per cent. for the second and third, and the full amount of five for the fourth, would be a fair an

sland consumption. The revenue would be derived direct from the land which now produces nothing but thorny jungle. The import trade of Ceylon would

hinly-scattered population. Cholera, dysentery, fever and small-pox all appear in their turn and annually sweep whole villages away. I have frequently hailed with pleasure the distant tope of waving cocoa-nut trees after a long day's journey in a broiling sun, when I have cantered toward these shady warders of cultivation in hopes of a night's halt at a village. But the palms have sighed in t

revent it. There is little doubt that if land and water could be obtained from government in a comparatively healthy and populous neighborhood, many w

illage, paves the road for a similar visita

n of air is impeded and disease again halves the population. In each successive year the wretched inhabitants are thinned out, and disease becomes the more certain as the jungle continues to advance. At length the miserable few are no longer sufficient to cultivate the rice-lands; th

a day's ride of twenty miles, I have passed the remains of as many as t

ly recent, as the wild elephants generally overturn them in a few years after the disappearance of

times of pestilence the first impulse among the natives is to fly from the neighborhood, but at present there is no place of refuge. It is, therefore, a matter of certainty that th

extensive population, and large grazing-grounds for the su

ee;" and, as "many hands make light work," the cultivation proceeds with great rapidity. Thus a large population can bring into tillag

en down and destroyed by elephants; the filling up of the water-courses from the same cause; the nocturnal attacks upon the crops by elephants and hogs; the devastating atta

he watchers scare the wild beasts from the crops. Hundreds of children are daily screaming from their high perches to scare away the birds. Rattles worked by long lines extend in every direction, unceasingly p

air of a principal tank, they would gather around its margin. The thorny jungles would soon disappear from the surface of the

perfect level, or series of levels, to be irrigated. Thus a hill-side must be terraced out into a succession of platforms

being drawn by two buffaloes, stirs up the soil to a depth of eighteen inches. This finished, the water is again laid on until the mud becomes so soft that a man will sink knee-deep. In this

he water is now again laid on, and continued at intervals until within a fortnight of the grain becoming ripe. It is then run off; the ground hardens, the ripe

he bottoms of the valleys to the very summits of the hills: and the labor required in their formation must be immense, is they are frequently six feet one ab