!4(} 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[August i, 1883, 



less under the old diepeusation he was made to work 

 a certain nuiiiber of days in the year and tljiis 

 famine and scarcity were better provided agaiiit't. Wliat 

 is most apparent to a casual oljserver is the total 

 disregard for any permanent crop, something wliich 

 if pliuited once would be a stand-by for years, but 

 throughout my joui'nty from Biotenna to Wellaw.aya 

 there svas nothing of the kind or practically nothing. 

 It api)eared as though when the existiug coconut 

 trees werB (as they sooa will be) defunct that even a 

 Uururnba would be unprocurable. There is little 

 or no cfi'ort to supply the places of dying trees : 

 no maugofs of an eatable kind or other fruit trees 

 are to be met with. Is this may I ask in accordance 

 or at all consistent with the jails in our chief towns, 

 the pay of the officials, or even the elaborateness of 

 our Lunatic .\syluni ? Let those who pressed upon 

 the planting community the attenviated system of 

 medical aid where men are well-fed, housed and tended 

 just send the Hying contingent through these parts 

 and the Wanni and let them honestly state where 

 medical assistance is most needed, and it they say the 

 colTce districts, I will for ever hold my pence. 



From Bintenna we passed through many miles of 

 uncultivated country, finer soil and richer than those 

 paita of Soutliern India w^iere the palmyra grows, 

 but DO t'ffort at cultivation, save the everlasting chean- 

 aring. Fine stretches of grass and lightly wooded 

 country extended for miles ; death-like stillness 

 ell arotmd save the occasional harsh cry of tiie drongo ; 

 aven the game appeared to have been destroyed. 

 What a chirm would a sheep-bell liave been, even 

 a live animal of any description — yea an enemy ! 

 Nothing however appeared and we finally rested our 

 weary limbs in the exciting resthouse at Kaladi. 

 From this we went to Mahaoya, saw the hot springs 

 at IVtedawewa and heard ranch t.alk of a rogue elephant 

 which had killed one man, and frerjuently stops tlie 

 tappal runners. 



At Mahaoya a tank had been restored, irrigating some 

 very lich p.uldy fields, butthey were shamefully cultiv- 

 ated, so bad indeed that not more than half their produce 

 was paddy ; the remaii der were weeds and iluk. The 

 soil was rich and fine, hut the native as elsewhere appear- 

 ed untended and uncared-for, so unlike his sleek brother 

 of the towns. I was told, as he becomes educated, he 

 prefers clerk's work to agriculture — the clean white 

 cloths, the umbrella and the etleminate hands. I am not 

 sure that natives are far wrong, in an agricultural country 

 where everything appears to receive more encourage- 

 ment than agriculture itself. There are scholarships 

 and colleges capable of supplying doctors and proctors, 

 and all the paraphernalia that lives upon the food- 

 makers of tlie world, but no special inducement given 

 to those who form the backbone of i he land. Can Ceylon 

 employ all the material of this sort it produces ? If 

 not, surely it would be better to turn out a 

 few (if a more really useful hind. I can understand 

 why the native village boy prefers the clerk's occup- 

 ation to the (loi/ii/a'i. It requires less extraneous 

 thought and he takes a position v here, if he does 

 not work he will lose his situation, and he runs 

 like an eiigiue upon rails knowing nothing be- 

 yond. Any q lestiou upon the simplest thing 

 around, and the reply is "I don't know," with part- j 

 icular emphasis (truthfully though incorrectly) upon | 

 the " I." 'J'lic agriculturist is just the eame indi- 

 vidUiil as his town compatriot except that he wanders i 

 iintrammelled by an employer und boy like, is more 

 careless about his meals and often the victim to 

 fever. There was a time win n the .■•ystem of forced 

 labour existed and he was then obliged to work, and the 

 headmiin was responsible for his well-being. Now 

 no one i?j so he feasts in plenty, starves in so.ir- 

 city and then if fevers come when bin larder is short, 

 lie dits unknown and uncared-for as thousands ].)ave 



done the last few years in the Wanni. Whatever 

 my own opinions may be, it would be barbarous 

 to euggeet a return to the old p'e-British system; 

 immaculate though it be of harm, and good in this re- 

 spect — neither vicious nor sympathetic — all principle and 

 no practice — mere words without action. Such ie not 

 quite suited to the Eastern mind, or I read it wrongly. 

 Determined idleness can scarcely be brought to native 

 charge; a system has existed which shows great industry. 

 Heaps of bricks are lying about Mahaoya of great 

 antii[uiiy shewing that this neighbourhood was not 

 always what it -is now ; and surely with all our na- 

 tional conceit, we might endeavour to discover first 

 the main causes of the early prosperity and then of 

 its decay. 



One of the grandest sights I ever beheld was upon 

 the banks of the Mahaoya. The Moratuwa tree 

 (Ldyrrslriiinia Rp(jiiur) 1 had hitherto seen either singly 

 or in a group but never I think over 40 feet high; 

 there the whole western side of the river from 

 30 to 60 feet high, shone forth in the morning 

 sun a perfect blaze of purple from a background of dense 

 green. As far as the eye could reach this gorgeous 

 sight extended ; below amongst a bed of yellow sand 

 ran the river. 



FromMahaoya we returned to Kaladi (Palagamabyihe 

 Directory roadlist) andfrom thence to Ekeriyankunibura 

 (Aralupitiyaby thelist) where we noticed a grea* falling-otl 

 in the condition of the resihouses. I cannot pass by 

 without a good word for the Powers-that-lie iutheKastern 

 Province. The resthouses were clean and a porch of 

 inexpensive materials shaded the front of the house 

 from the mid-day glare. There were wells that would 

 have shamed even the Colombo Municipality, built 

 up fully 3 feet above the surface, and eo preventing 

 all polluted surface wash from draining into the drink- 

 ing water. Where a road went off a large stone 

 was erected stating the millege to Bintenua and to 

 Kandy. Upon entering the Central Province a great 

 change.' the resthouses were dirty, the wells danger- 

 ous looking, and my companion at Bibile found a 

 woman with sores upon her lej s standing in the 

 shallow well from wlience the drinkina water was 

 obtained. Altogether things wore unsatisfactory: pos- 

 sibly too much attention to the comforts and luxuries 

 of the more centralized parts. There is nothing to 

 be said in favour of Ekeryankumbura, nor do I think 

 Bibile any better. The climate was dry and the 

 pasturage appeared good on the load between these 

 places, the laud undulated, and here aa had been the 

 case throughout our trip, rocky hills rose some 

 abrupt, some scarped and wild from t'le undulating 

 plains forming bold featuies in the landscape; which 

 park-like spread out with its sprinkled trees among 

 gra?s glades and mana-filled ravines. Tavalam bullocks 

 passed by us or were picketed at tlie numerous stations 

 alnns; the route being quite as frecjuent as the heavily 

 laden carts taking coftee or briuiiing rice from Batticaloa. 

 Both were far more numerous than I anticipated and I 

 could only regret that so mnny thousands of acres 

 of valuable land should lie unsought, unknow-n and 

 uncared for, where every human being in the island, 

 from the highest to the poorest po; a would 

 be benefited by the advantages, its occupation would 

 entail. The magnificent road uniting Badulla and 

 Batticaloa wonhl become a thriving and populous 

 thoroughfare, and those old anciint biicks would take 

 useful forms again. 



W. F. L. 



CEVLON AND HER PLANTING INDUSTRY. 



(By a Java Proprietor.) 



\'.u,i'ADLE Practical Hints. 



Personally connected as I am with Ceylon and 



bound up iu the welfare of its planting interests 



