HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



i93 



FOREST NOTES IN SAFFRAGAM, CEYLON. 



flpO lovers of nature, 

 Ceylon presents a 

 fine field of inquiry 

 in more than one 

 branch, for well 

 known as the 

 island is, still but 

 few have had suffi- 

 cient interest in it 

 to devote their at- 

 tention to matters 

 of a scientific cha- 

 racter, connected 

 with the island. 

 This is a matter 

 for regret, for it 

 cannot be said 

 that any part of 

 Ceylon is out of 

 the reach of the 

 naturalist, for the 

 country abounds in roads, and possesses no tribes 

 likely to resist the efforts of any who wish to 

 collect specimens for public, or private, collections. 

 Ceylon has also a museum of its own, which could 

 easily be made the centre of scientific investigation, 

 did the country possess a few more endowed with a 

 desire to study the rich fields of nature, open to all. 

 There is, however, a further stimulus wanting, and 

 that is a magazine or journal, in the pages of which 

 many valuable essays might be produced, thus placing 

 on record the observations of its correspondents, 

 instead of leaving their labours to be wasted and 

 forgotten. 



Much as is known of Ceylon, still we cannot so 

 much as boast of a geological survey of the island. 

 Geologists have at times visited the country, but have 

 made no systematic exploration ; and so far as the 

 public are interested, they have kept to themselves 

 everything out of the common that they may have 

 discovered. Of the botany of Ceylon, we are con- 

 siderably unenlightened, and I know of no handbook 

 on the subject, except a work by Dr. Thwaites 

 (" Enumeratio Plantarum Ceylanicre "), which though 

 valuable, is insufficient in detail. 

 No. 189. 



The fauna of the country has been treated by 

 various writers, but still we have no connected work 

 embracing it as a whole, unless in the scanty pages 

 of Dr. Kelaart's " Prodromus Faunae Ceylanicre," — 

 a work published in 1S52, and now, I believe, out of 

 print. From time to time, various works have 

 appeared on Ceylon ornithology, and perhaps in 

 this particular branch the country has been well 

 treated, by such well-known and erudite writers as 

 Layard, Blyth, Holdsworth, and Legge, the latter 

 having produced a most valuable work, the result of 

 careful and indefatigable labour, on this most beau- 

 tiful subject. Still, however, there is room for more, 

 as there are many subjects about which but little is as 

 yet known. But few of the coffee planters care to 

 devote their spare time to nature, while perhaps, if 

 they had an opportunity of recording their remarks 

 in some magazine devoted to nature, and published 

 in the country, many a buried observation might be 

 brought to light. 



In this paper, I shall only venture to bring forward 

 a few of my notes, so as not to press upon your 

 valuable space too heavily, while I trust my remarks 

 may attract the attention of those who are more com- 

 petent to write than I am ; and I hope that by "break- 

 ing the ice," so to speak, that the pages of Sciknce- 

 Gossip may receive contributions from more able 

 hands than my own, and on subjects that will be 

 greedily perused by those far away in merry, but 

 scientific, England. 



As will be seen by the heading of this paper, I 

 treat, or wish to treat, merely on " Forest Notes," 

 and such notes as could be gathered in half an hour's 

 stroll, and those confined to the district of Saffragam, 

 or more correctly Sabaragamua, to use the native 

 name. The district, or country as it might be 

 called in England, better known as Sabaragamua 

 north, is one that has come under the eye of a geo- 

 logist, Dr. Gygax by name, who considered that it 

 presented a striking likeness to the volcanic locality 

 of the Azores. Much cf the country has been 

 " chenaed," or cultivated and abandoned, by natives, 

 who are still scattered about throughout the district, 

 owning here and there a field of paddy (rice), or 

 occasionally a "shuck" coffee garden, which pos- 

 it 



