March i, 1886.J THE TttOPlCAL AGRICULTtfRISt, 



619 



coke, paraffin or other imported fuel subetances 

 will be ill demand for consumption on the tea 

 estates of Ceylon. The buildings on the right are 

 the first sets of " cooly lines " or barracks. The 

 young cultivation is bounded by forest reserves on 

 "Lome"' and on " Avoca " hill (Dambagas- 

 talawa: the glade of the Damba tree. 5,140 feet alt- 

 itude) behind which lie the lovely Lindula " patanas," 

 — upland prairies. The mountain' ir. the back- 

 ground stretch from, on the left, Kotiyagala (the 

 Leopard Rock, 5,7^17 feet altitude, popularly known 

 as " the Duke's Nose," near which the magni- 

 ficient moimtain railway to Uva crosses the ridge 

 that separates the great planting district of Dikoya 

 from the still grander district of Dimbula, which 

 a few years ago showed the largest continuous ex- 

 panse of cultivated coffee, interpersed freely with 

 cinelionas, in the world and which is now rapidly 

 attaining the same eminence as a scene of kixuriant 

 tea culture) to Eilagala, which divides Amba- 

 gamnwa from Dimbnla on the right. 



VrEW FKOM " Knock Ferroi.," .1, 200 feet above 

 Sea-i.f.vel, II. — The two species of the fever plants 

 in the foreground can be easily distinguished: C. 

 siiccinihra by its large and corrugated leaves, while 

 the smaller and more acute-leaved C. orlicinaliis is 

 conspicuous in the right-hand corner. Both species 

 grew well for from four to seven years, at the 

 height indicated, although such an altitude is better 

 suited for the shrubby C. 0[lichialis, rich in quinine, 

 than for the larger and tree like C. siicrinihrn, 

 which flourishes specially from L.'iOO to 1,000 feet 

 and gives abundance of " druggists' bark , " rich in 

 cinchonine and other alkaloids better for tonic de- 

 coctions than as febrifuges, although they are vahi- 

 able remedies in fever cases also. In 187-t, cin- 

 chona was just becoming important as a cultivated 

 product in this island, which is now the chief 

 source of the world's supply of the bark that, a 

 generation ago, could only be obt.iined from tlie 

 home of the cinchonas on the Andean ranges in 

 America. Beyond the cinchonas in the pictures 

 is an expanse of young cofTee, amongst which and 

 the fallen timber are seen a couple of estate paths 

 and, to the right, a portion of what was intended to 

 be a cart-road. Abundance of paths and surface 

 drains, of gradients not worse, if possible, than 1 in 

 20 for the roads and 1 in 1.5 for the drains, are es- 

 sential to the proper working of an estate, while a 

 cart-road for manuring and other purposes is most 

 valuable. Conspicuous in a gap between Elbedda- 

 kanda on the left and the upturned-ship-like Talan- 

 kanda, is the topmost portion of the pyramidal cone 

 which renders the sacred " Adam's Peak" (Samanala 

 kanda of the Sinhalese so conspicuous. The height 

 of the summit, on which, in laminated gneiss, is 

 marked the so-called $ri-paila (sacred footstep of 

 Buddha) and to which thousands of pilgrims annually 

 resort, is 7, .152 feet. The sacred mountain is really 

 in the planting district of Maskeliya, and its duect 

 distance from the point of view is about twelve 

 miles. Elbedda and Talankanda, which hide the 

 base and flanking ranges of " the Peak" and wliich 

 divide Bogawantalawft and Dikoya from Dimbula, 

 are about 700 feet lower than the summit of " the 

 Peak," the altitude of Elbedda being no less than 

 6,637 feet. The mountain estate indeed, commandu 

 varied and magnificent views of fully fifty mountains 

 of 5,000 feet and upwards, inchiding the highest 

 elevations in the 11 ■nd, I'idurulalngahi H,2'.l.") feet; 

 Kirigalpotta 7,y3i. .cet; Totapala 7,74(i feet; Ac, 

 with the valleys and grass-lands between. 



View or thk Gbe.vt Wkstei:n Moi'nt.vix, 7,261 keei 

 ABOVE Sea-level. — This truly grand mountain mass, 

 which is only sUghtly inferior to Adam's Peak in 

 altitade and is, in some respects, pettaapa superior 



to it in scenic effect, is a prominent object, however 

 its profiles and aspects may change, from every point 

 in the vast district, or series of districts called Dim- 

 bula. The mountain, in its mass, is more isolated 

 and therefore more calculated to convey the sense of 

 magnitude than is the graceful pyramidal " Peak." 

 The pride taken by all dwellers in Dimbula in their 

 special mountain, which is about 5 miles west from 

 Nuwara Eliya, separating the district in which it \^ 

 situated from Pundaluoya and Kamboda. will bo 

 acknowledged to be natural and justifiable. But thu 

 last thought that occurred to us or any one else m 

 Dimbula, in 1875, was that in 1885, the breast of 

 the ancient mountain would be scored by the iron 

 road, along which daily trains should run. These 

 are now accomplished facts, happily for those who 

 arc engaged in the task of retrieving by the cult- 

 ivation of tea, fortunes wrecked in the disaster 

 which soon after 1875, began fatally to affect coffee. 

 The view in this photograph was taken from a point 

 above and behind the bungalow and the out offices, 

 including stables, cow shed and poultry house at 

 tlie foot of the grass-planted ravine, where now a 

 lakelet exists. Paths radiating from " the old 

 bungalow" (4,800 feet above sea-level) and portions 

 of the cart road, break the monotony of the new 

 cultivation, while ornamental trees in the neighbour- 

 hood of the bungalow give promise of the wonderful 

 growth subsequently attained. 



LoOKIXr. rP THE EiVER AXn the JlorNTAIN-OOROE 



THRoufin WHICH IT RUNS. — This view, taken from a 

 point below the bungalow, but about 300 feet above 

 the bed of the stream, will give a vivid idea of 

 the wild appearance of this portion of the estate, 

 before the sides of the hills and the felled forest 

 became cloth edj with coffee, cinchona, tea and 

 ornamental .trees. A great rock, •' Melrose Abbey," 

 is scarcely distinguishable in the dark shade of 

 this picture. The path shown and which passed 

 from tlie bungalow under the rock to the ford on 

 tlie river, is now largely superseded by a splendid 

 cart-road and a path starting from the fine iron 

 lattice bridge which spans the stream. 



The Waterfall, " Coba Linn," in " Maooif.'s 

 (rRovr." — This is a most beautiful and romantic 

 scene of which only glimpses are afforded in the 

 pliotograph, in consequence of the density of tlio 

 shade of a long belt of forest which was left, 

 projecting into the estate, to protect a fine mountain 

 stream. This stream falls 200 feet or moie from 

 the point indicated, in successive leaps into the 

 sheltered valley, the scene of the eaily nurseries 

 described in Nos. 2, and 3. In the valley it is 

 joined by several other streams, on wliich also 

 cascades occur and the united body of water forma 

 ultimately "The Falls of Contin" (whence water 

 power is conveyed to the coffee store), before it 

 enters our river, the Dimbuldanda-oya at 4,000 feet 

 above sea-level, while the point at which it fell 

 into the estate, about a quarter-o£-a-niile up, was 

 fully 5,300. Ho abundant are waiertalls on thi.s 

 mountain estate, tliat its/Iamil name is Aiiiri iiitt<(iii, 

 the waterfall or cascade garden. 



LOOKINO Ur THE KlVEK TO THE LATTICE FoOT- 



BiiiuoE. — The river is the Dinibuldanda Uya, (the 

 Dimbul tree stream) which crosses the estate and 

 which is now, at the upper limit nf the property 

 spanned by a fine carriage-road iron-bridge. Tlio 

 Dinibuldanda meets the Nanuoya from Nuwara 

 Kliya, face to face, a few miles below, at liadella, 

 one of the very few spots in Dimbula fiat enough 

 to be used as a ground for cricket and other sports. 

 The scene at our Dimbula "meeting of the waters," 

 in all save poetical associations, transcends the 

 famous meeting in the vale of Avyca. 



