298 Notices respecting New Books. 
80° and 82° east longitude; that is, at the western entrance of 
the Bay of Bengal, and off the coast of Coromandel. It is al- 
most two-thirds of the size of Ireland, containing altogether a 
surface of 27,77 square miles, and a population of about 800,000 
souls, which is in the proportion of about thirty-eight only to a 
square mile. 
The character of the interior, as to surface, greatly varies: it 
may be divided into flat country, hilly, and mountainous; the 
latter district, in perpendicular elevation above the sea, varies 
from 800 to 3000, and even to 4 and 5000 feet. There are no 
lakes, not even a single stagnant pool among the mountains. 
Uniformity of formation is the most remarkable feature in the geo- 
logical character of Ceylon, the whole of which, with very few 
exceptions, consists of primitive rock, the prevailing species of 
which is granate or gneiss. 
The soil of the island is generally poor, but it abounds in ri- 
vers and springs ; the proportion of rain that falls in it is very 
great, exceeding three or four times what falls in England. In 
respect to heat or temperature, no tropical country is, perhaps, 
more favoured than Ceylon ; its hottest weather being temperate, 
in comparison with the summer heats of most parts of the con- 
tinent of India. Generally speaking, the climate is salubrious. 
The mineralogy of Ceylon is singular and curious; it is re- 
markable for its richness in gems, and its poverty in the useful 
metals. It is remarkable, too, for the number of rare minerals 
that it affords, and for the small variety of the ordinary species; 
being thus, in its mineralogical character, quite oriental, better 
fitted for show than utility—for pomp than profit*. The prin- 
cipal gems are the ruby, garnet, topaz, amethyst, sapphire, and 
rock crystal. 
Dr. Davy has bestowed little attention on the botany of Cey- 
lon, and treats very briefly of its animals (which do not differ 
from those on the adjoining continent of India); yet he has paid 
particular attention to the snakes of the island, which are neither 
so numerous nor so dangerous as they have been represented. 
Our author collected twenty different species of snakes, of which 
sixteen were harmless, Of those that are poisonous, the Pim- 
berah is the most remarkable. It is characterized by its great 
size, and by a couple of horny probosces, in form and curvature 
not unlike the spurs of the common fowl; the base of the spur 
is attached to a small bone, with a minute head, which is re- 
ceived into the glenoid cavity of a thin long bone, that terminates 
* The only metallic ores hitherto found in Ceylon are of iron and man- 
ganese. ' 
in 
