TOPOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON THE JAFFNA ISLANDS. 9 



Roman Catholic cliurcli on the opposite side, is the site of the old 

 Djatch or Portuguese church, now a heap of ruins. There is besides 

 a small quadrangular building almost entirely surrounded by a 

 banyan tree, which may have been the base of a tower. 



There is a tank near the dispensary with a bo and a kumbuk tree 

 {Terminalia glabra) of a good size, which is said to be the only 

 kumbuk tree in the island. The shores of the island at the landing 

 place, which is called Puhyadi (" place of the tamarind tree "), arc 

 green with ellu* and mondi-sami. 



The dispensary is situated at a place called Perumkadu, "the 

 great jungle." There is no jungle there now, but paddy fields and 

 gardens. Next door to it is the American Mission church with 

 masonry walls, a belfry of the American Mission pattern which 

 consists of three spikes on top of a piece of rectangular wall, and a 

 roof of palmyra leaves. 



The population of Punkudutivu at the last three censuses was 

 1881, 3,499 ; 1891, 4,098 ; 1901, 5,201, so that it has increased by 

 nearly 50 per cent, in twenty years. 



Analaitivu. 



December 8. — Embarked for Analaitivu at 9.30 a.m. We skirted 

 Punkudutivu as far as Marutadi (" place of the kumbuk tree ") 

 point, and then sailed across to Analaitivu, which was reached at 

 1.30 P.M. Here I stayed in the Hindu school, about three-quarters 

 of a mile from the landing place in this island, which is called 

 Nadavutirutti. The distance by sea from Punkudutivu to the 

 landing place on the south-east side must be about 4 miles. 



Analaitivu is a very fertile island, where a good deal of tobacco 

 is cultivated. Tlie fences, as in Punkudutivu, are all of the thorny 

 kilavai {Balsomodendrum berryi), and therefore have a very neat 

 appearance, as in fact the whole place has. The village has quite 

 the aspect of the more prosperous villages in tlie peninsula, e.g., 

 in Valikamam West or Vadamaradchi West, and the soil seems to 

 be similar to the soil in the former division ; a good deal of rubble 

 stone has to be dug out of the fields. 



Its length is about 2| miles and breadth 1^ mile. It is intersected 

 by two roads, one running lengthwise and the other across the 

 island. I passed a tank in the north-west corner of the island 

 called Vadalikulam, which the people say is fed by springs : also 

 an abandoned stone-built keni near the cross roads, which is said to 

 contain brackish water. 



Between Punkudutivu and Nayinativu there is a small island 

 close to tlie former called Kurikaddu van , which means " place where 

 the signals are shown " (the word is personified). This is because 

 " people who wanted to go to Nayinativu used to show signals here 

 to the people of this island that they wanted a boat." 



* Scfiamum, indie um 



8-07 



