Coolie Sanitation. 79 



kept in the manager's bungalow in readiness for 

 such cases. 



The following experience will show what may 

 be done by attention to the simple principles of 

 sanitation, in even the most malarious localities. 

 It was about the year 1860, that I went down to 

 undertake the management of an estate in the 

 Cornegalle district, some 14 miles from Kandy. 

 The district bore an unenviable character for fever- 

 ishness, and when I arrived on the plantation my 

 first impressions were anything but reassuring. 

 My predecessor, who met me to deliver over charge, 

 was a Eurasian who had had some direct interest 

 in the property, but the other proprietors being 

 dissatisfied with his management had bought him 

 out. The " lay " or formation of the land was 

 peculiar, the lower part forming a sort of uneven 

 basin, and the remainder running up the sides of 

 a steep narrow valley or gorge. At, or near the 

 lowest part of the property, all the buildings, in- 

 cluding the coolie lines and bungalow, had been 

 erected, the elevation here not being more than 

 400 or 500 feet above the sea, while the saddle or 

 brow at the head of the valley rose some 1500 feet 

 higher. The coffee had been so much neglected 

 that large patches had disappeared entirely in the 

 encroaching growth of jungle, and that which 

 remained had grown into a perfectly wild condition, 



