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The town of Pdmban is situated on the western extremity 

 of the island, and lies to the west and south-west of the light- 

 house, built on the top of a sand-hill, at the foot of which is 

 a good example of sand-rock, i.e., a mass of fine sand, which 

 has become compacted by the action of wind and spray, so as 

 to form a stratified friable rock exposed amid the surrounding 

 loose blown sand. With the exception of the Port officer's 

 house and a few others, the houses consist principally of huts 

 made of cajan leaves. The native population is mainly 

 made up of boatmen and fishermen, some of whom find 

 employment in carrying coolies over to Ceylon, and others 

 in ferrying the pilgrims from the mainland to the island. 

 There are also a large number of coolies, who are engaged 

 in hauling vessels through the Pass when the wind is 

 adverse. 



Pdmban boasts of a ruined fort built by the Dutch 

 during the Dutch occupation of the island, over which I was 

 taken by a native guide, who pointed out as objects of interest 

 some stone cannon-balls, battered dredge-buckets of modern 

 construction, and some barrels of fuse lying mouldering from 

 age in what he termed a conjee (rice) house, a damp, ill- 

 ventilated building, wherein, at some period at which the 

 Public Works Department was engaged on works in the 

 island, the recalcitrant sapper used to be placed in confine- 

 ment on a sedative conjee and water diet. 



As regards the food-supply at Pdmban, beef and mutton 

 are not easily procurable, goat, long-legged and emaciated, 

 being the principal animal supplied. Fowls and native 

 vegetables can always be obtained in the bazdr. The local 



