BOTANY OF THE CEYLON PATANAS. 801 
delayed, that it seems desirable to publish the first part now, rather 
than wait until the whole is completed. 
My stay in the Island was unavoidably limited to a period of 
rather less than six months, the greater part of which was during 
the prevalence of the S.W. monsoon. 1 was, therefore, unable 
to observe the full effeet of the N.E. monsoon upon the patanas, 
which was the more unfortunate since this monsoon supplies 
the greater part of their annual rainfall, and the period of its 
duration is, therefore, that of the greatest vegetative activity of 
the district. The collection, of which a list is given at the end 
of this paper, is as nearly as possible representative of the plants 
which appear on the patanas during the S. W. monsoon and in 
the first six weeks of the N.E. monsoon. 
Topography. 
The patanas are grassy slopes and plains of considerable ex- 
tent, occurring in the central mountain-group at all elevations 
above 2000 feet. Their main development is to the east of a 
high ridge whieh traverses the central plateau of the Island. 
The mountains form a group near the centre of the Island, 
rising very abruptly from the low country to the east and south 
(see Map). The western boundary of the group is formed by 
an almost uninterrupted ridge which runs southward from the 
neighbourhood of Kandy (2000 ft.) to Adam’s Peak (7420 ft.). 
On the western side of this ridge, successive ranges of low 
hills extend almost to the coast. From Adam's Peak, the ridge 
takes an easterly direction through Kirigalpotta (7831 ft.), 
Horton Plains (7000 ft.), and Haputale (4400 ft.), forming the 
southern boundary of the plateau. From Haputale the trend 
becomes north-easterly to Namunukuli (6680 ft.), and then 
northerly to Kohane-Kande (4900 ft.). These ridges, forming 
the boundaries of the central plateau on the west, south, and 
east, have approximately the form of three sides of a square, 
about 50 miles in the side. On the north the hills are low 
and scattered (not indicated on the map), and among them are 
the main outlets of the streams which unite to form the Maha- 
weli-gunga *, which carries to the east coast almost the entire 
drainage of the plateau. 
* “ Mahaweli-ganga," “the great sand river," a name expressive of the 
large amount of detritus which its waters curry. 
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