116 



SOUTHEEX AXD CENTRAL PEOVIXCES. [Part VIT. 



The great problem Avliich must occupy the attention of 

 those interested in the futm'e destiny of Point de Galle, 

 involves the means of rendering the harbour sufficiently 

 commodious and secure for the reception of the great and 

 increasing number of steam-vessels, wliich now make it 

 their resort. The masfnitude of the interests concerned 

 expands the question to imperial dimensions ; and if 

 Galle is to become the great civil arsenal of the East ; 

 the rendezvous for the packets and passenger ships 

 from India, Australia, and China ; as well as for the 

 merchantment wliich touch there for telegraphic orders 

 by wliich their further com^se is to be guided ; the 

 enlargement of the area of the harboiu% as well as 

 its protection from the swell of the monsoon, must 

 be speedily secured by the construction of the necessary 

 works. And, in the consideration of this, the further 

 question arises of the comparative advantages of Trinco- 

 mahe, and the practicability of adapting the umivalled 

 bay of the latter to all the requirements of commerce by 

 a system of railways connecting the eastern and western 

 coasts of Ceylon. 



Elsewhere I have alluded very briefly to the pheno- 

 mena of the tides aromid the island ^, and I have given 

 the particulars of the " estabhshment " at a few of the 

 ports most fi^equented by seamen. In noticing this sub- 

 ject in connection with Galle, there are two pecuharities 

 which cannot fail to excite attention ; the very shght 

 variation in altitude between liioh and low water at all 



meant by tliis name it is not now easy 

 to determine, but .-Elian intimates 

 that the dog-fly both inflicts a woimd 

 and emits a booming sound, in both 

 of which particulars it accords with 

 the mosquito (lib. iv. 51) ; and Piiilo- 

 JuD^us, in his Vita Jloais, lib. i. ch. 

 xxiii.^ descanting on the plague of 

 flies, and using the tenii of the 

 Septuagint, Kvi'ofivlcr, describes it as 

 combining the characteristic of "the 

 most impudent of all animals, the Hy 

 and the dog, exhibiting the courac'e 



and the cmmingof both, and fastening 

 on its victim with the noise and 

 rapidit}' of an arrow" — /ifr<i poi'O'v 

 KciHuTrtp fffXoQ. This seems to identify 

 the dog-fly of the Septuagint -n-ith 

 the description of the Psalmist, Ps. 

 lxx^•iii. 4o, and to vindicate the con- 

 jectm'o that the tormenting mosquito, 

 and not the harmless house-fly, was 

 commissioned by the Lord to himible 

 the obstinacy of the Ein-ptian tvi-ant. 

 1 Vol. I. Pt. I. ch.i.^p. 52. 



