June i, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



87S 



disadvantages, however. Property entrusted to boatmen 

 is apt to be tampered with, sometimes eutirely disappear- 

 ing. Then, rivers, the Kelaui beyond most, arejapt to 

 *ilt up, impeding or absolutely stopping navigation 

 for lengthened periods. The tendency of the Kelani, 

 which is especially slow-flowing in its lower course, 

 to deposit silt and form sandbanks, has, we were 

 told, greatly increased in consequence of the large 

 clearances in recent years at its sources and along 

 its sides. To such an extent is this the case that I 

 was told of goods dispatched from Awisawella by 

 boat which had not been heard of in Colombo on the 

 eleventh day, the distance being not much over thirty 

 miles. To aid the increasing traffic, it would seem 

 that a dredger, always an expensive matter, must be 

 employed by the projeoted Steam Company, if it is 

 started, or by Government, who could recoup the 

 expense by charging tolls. A railway from Colombo up 

 the river valley must be relegated to the far future. 

 It could be made, no doubt, but it would probably 

 flood Colombo in the process, besides being itself 

 liable to be washed away or breached by the frequent 

 floods of the river, which rises in the near mountain 

 ranges. A branch railway, from some point of the 

 main line to the top of the valley, may also be 

 thought of and carried out in the future, but what 

 seems to be demanded at the present is such a pro- 

 gramme as the following : — 



1st. The keeping in good order of the road" from 

 Ginigathena Gap to Awisawella, and the portion of 

 the Batnapura road from the latter place to Colombo. 



2nd. The improvement of the navigation of the 

 Kelani river, between Yatiyantota and Colombo. 



3rd. The bridging of the two beautifully romantic 

 ferries of the Sitawaka and Kelani rivers. 



4th. The completion of the road which, starting 

 near Euwanwella, is to have its terminus in Dolos- 

 bage. We were able to trace the course of this road 

 from eminences in Mipitiakande and Dunedin and 

 again from the heights above Gang Warily in Dolos- 

 bage, to its terminus in the beautiful valley below, 

 and we cannot doubt the value of the work for native 

 as well as European interests. 



Native prosperity is now more than ever depend- 

 ent on European enterprize, in consequence of the 

 failure of coffee. Multitudes of Sinhalese are only 

 too glad -to obtain employment on tea estates. One 

 planter in Dolosbage told me he could turn out 

 1.0UO Sinhalese per diem, if he wished ; while a 

 gentleman in Kandy stated, that, wanting Sin- 

 halese labor tfor the conversion of an old coffee "totiim" 

 into a tea estate near Huuasgiriya, he authorized his 

 kangani to offer the usual wages of 33 cents. He was 

 told that he could obtain an ample supply of labor at 

 30 cents per diem. There are two peculiarities about 

 tea which distinguish it from its predecessors : — it offers 

 no scope for the ingenuity of light-fingered Sinhalese, 

 as picking green leaf will not pay, even if it could bo 

 well disposed of ; and a rainstorm, which so frequmtly, 

 especially in recent years, proved fatal to coffee blossom, 

 destroying the hope of fruit, has but slight influence 

 if any on tea flush. Apropos of European and native 

 interests, I may notice the recent discussion as to the 

 cultivation by Europeans of the arecanut palm. The 

 idea in the Kelani Valley is, evidently not new, for 

 some of the estate paths, for instance on Dunedin, are 

 lined with beautiful even rows of this most elegant 

 of palms. But, of all things, its products, unlike 

 thoso of the tea bush, woulcrsurely be liable to theft. 

 As far as native interests are concerned, I was struck 

 with two circumstances in being driven along the road 

 in the neighbourhood of Kuwanwella : the abundance of 

 thickly planted, luxuriant and fruitful grows of areca 

 palms and the well-to-co appearance of the natives. 

 The latter, it was easy to see, was the effect of the former. 

 Aa wo ascended towards Kitulgala, the areca palm 



disappeared, and, according to a fellow-traveller with 

 whom I foregathered, their place, as subserving native 

 interests, was taken by arrack shops planted at dis- 

 tances of only three miles apart ! This must surely 

 have been a traveller's tale. The three estates I visited 

 near the boantifully situated and neatly kept station 

 of Awisawella were Avisawella, Elston and Penrith, 

 each of more than 1,000 acres in extent, so that there 

 is, on these, plenty room for expansion. We also visited 

 and were hospitably received on Spring Vale and 

 Brazeunose, while Mipitiakande and Dunedin were the 

 centres of our observations for two most pleasant (if 

 hot) days, Mr. Morrison insisting on our planting a 

 couple of tea bushes before saying farewell to his hospit- 

 able and flourishing domain. More or less closely we 

 saw many other estates and groups of estates. Of the 

 beauty, grandeur, fertdity and hopeful promise for the 

 future of the Kelani Valley, we have carried away the 

 most vivid impressions, and it will give us pleasure if, 

 besides best good wishes, we can contribute to the 

 success of the Tea Enterprize here as elsewhere in the 

 island. 



We seemed to say farewell to the combined fert- 

 lhty, loveliness and grandeur of the Kelani Valley 

 in our last, but, like the hero of a very different scene, 

 we "oft say good-bye, but seem loth to depart." 

 Certainly, I ought not to forget, amongst the estates 

 visited, that of the genial and hospitable Mr. James 

 Gibson where, amongst other interesting cultures, we 

 saw what we suppose is the finest specimen in Ceylon 

 of the scandent rubber plant, LandolpKia. Neither 

 can I forget how my progress upwards from Mipiti- 

 kande to Kitulgala and beyond had so much ad- 

 ditional interest imparted to it by the presence of 

 a lady artist, with the enviable faculty of transferring 

 to her portfolio the " counterfeit presentments " of 

 scenes of beauty and grandeur amidst which I should 

 have liked to linger as she and her husband did, 

 when between Kitulgala and Ginigathena, the series 

 of parallel ranges separated by the straight stretches 

 of the Maskeliya and Kahelgamuwa gangas and the 

 Dikoya {dik oya, the long river) which flow as they 

 have flowed for ages, since the mountain waters first 

 tore their way through the rocky ramparts behind 

 which they had been so long pent up. During the 

 journey, the reminiscences of which I am now ie- 

 calling, I have from so many points of vantage lux- 

 uriated in scenery where the beautiful, the romantic 

 and the grandly magnificent were combined, that I 

 should hesitate greatly to give the preference to any. 

 one of the many views of the mountain zone I en. 

 joyed. But certainly as a view of and into the 

 mountain ranges from the comparatively lowcountry, 

 I do not suppose that in all Ceylon any combination 

 of scenic attractiveness can Burpass the look up the 

 course of the Maskeliyaand other long-stretching rivers 

 to the neighbourhood of the sacred Peak and its 

 surrounding guard of wooded mountain masses and 

 rocky cliffs, streams flowing and torrents dashing 

 over their sides, silvery waterfalls being conspicuous 

 accessories of the scenery. Having been nearly half 

 a century iu Ceylon, without having travelled through 

 the rich and varied scenery between Awisawella and 

 Ginigathena, I can now only say that I feel glad of the 

 new joy imparted to my life by the contemplation of so 

 much of the glories of tropical nature. Awisawella 

 itself, with its old fort, is an exceedingly pretty 

 and interesting station, and as to the twin fords over 

 the Kelani and Sitawaka rivers, a little beyond what 

 will probably be known as "Tea Town," they present 

 Bcenes so romantic that one ceases to wonder that 

 here Hindu legend placed the temporary dwelling 

 place of the Oriental Helen, whose adventures in con° 

 nection with those of her deified husband form the 

 chief theme of the great Indian epic, the Ramayana 

 But river-fords, or ghauts aa they are called in 



