CA Analyses of Books, [Jan; 



$7 miles, and its greatest width about 53. It is not easy to 

 describe with accuracy the boundaries and extent of the hilly 

 division. The features of each of the three divisions of the 

 interior are necessarily peculiar : grandeur is the characteristic 

 of the mountainous, beauty of the hilly, and sameness of the 

 lowland country, which a covering of luxuriant vegetation, with 

 few exceptions, spread over the whole, does not tend to dimi- 

 nish. In few countries do mountains exhibit greater variety of 

 forms and directions. They most frequently occur connected 

 in chains, and terminating in rounded or peaked summits. I do 

 not recollect a single instance of a solitary insulated mountain. 

 Their sides are always steep, and occasionally precipitous and 

 n»cky. In some parts, the chains of mountain observe a paral- 

 lelism in their course ; in other parts, even neighbouring moun- 

 tains do not correspond with any regularity in their direction. 



By some inquirers it is supposed that a correspondence may 

 be traced between the proportional heights of the mountains, and 

 the depths of the adjoining valleys. As a general rule, such a; 

 supposition is not applicable to Ceylon. The curious circum- 

 stance of there being no lakes, not even a single stagnant pool 

 among the mountains, is alone almost sufficient to show the 

 fallacy of the preceding conclusion. 



In the highlands of Scotland, where the loftiest mountain is 

 2000 feet lower than Adam's Peak, there are many lakes 

 exceeding in depth 600 feet, and it is hardly credible to suppose 

 that lakes of proportional depth ever existed in Ceylon that have 

 since been filled up by the detritus of rocks, httle, if at all, more 

 liable to decay and be disintegrated than the rocks of the moun- 

 tains of Scotland. 



Geology and Mineralogy of Ceylon. — In Ceylon, nothing is to 

 be observed of that order and succession of rocks that occur in 

 Saxony and in England, and in many other parts of Europe. 

 Uniformity of formation is the most remarkable feature in the geo- 

 logical character of the island. As far as my information extends, 

 the whole of Ceylon with very few exceptions consists of primi- 

 tive rock. Another remarkable geological circumstance is, that 

 though the varieties of primitive rock are extremely numerous, 

 and indeed almost infinite, the species are very few, and seldom 

 well defined. The most prevailing species is granite, or gneiss ; 

 the more limited are quartz rock, hornblende rock, and dolomite 

 rock, and a few others, which may ])e considered, perhaps, with 

 advantage under the head of imbedded minerals. 



The varieties of granite and gneiss are innumerable, passing 

 from one to another, and occasionally changing their character 

 altogether, and assuming appearances, for which, in small 

 masses, it would be extremely diflScult to find appropriate names. 

 Regular granite is not of very common occurrence. One of the 

 best instances I know of it, is in the neighbourhood of Point de 

 Galle, where it is of a grey colour, and fine-grained. Graphic 



