120 SOUTHERN" AXD CENTRAL PROVINCES. [Part VII. 



CHAP. n. 



GALLE TO COLOMBO. AD.\il'S PE.\K. 



At sunrise on tlie 30tli November, as the morning gun 

 was firing, we passed under the fort-gate, and crossed 

 the drawbridge of Galle, en route for Colombo ; ha\ing 

 secm^ed for our party the two primitive vehicles which 

 carry the govermnent mails, and which then performed 

 the jom^ney in less than twelve hom^s^ ; crossing the 

 broad estuaries of three rivers in ferry boats, the Gindiu-a, 

 the Bentotte, and the Kalu-ganga ; besides an arm of the 

 Pantura-lake. 



When the British took possession of Ceylon, and for 

 many years afterwards, no road deserving the name 

 was in existence, to unite these important positions.^ 

 Travellers were borne along the shore in palankins, by 

 paths under the trees ; troops on the march dragged 

 their guns with infinite toil over the sand ; and stores, 

 supphes and ammunition were carried on men's shoulders 

 through the jungle. Since then, not only has a highway 

 unsurpassed in construction been completed to Colombo, 

 but continued through the mountains to the central 

 capital at Kandy, and thence higher still to Neuera-eUia, 

 at an elevation of six thousand feet above the sea. 

 Nor is tliis aU : every town of importance in the island 



1 Since then all these rivers have starting on a tour round the island ; 

 been bridged. one himch-ed and sLxty palankin 



2 Percival, p. 145. An idea of ! bearers, four hundred coolies to cany 

 the toil of travelling this road in the j the baggage, two elephants, six 

 year 1<S00 may be collected from the horses, and fifty lascars to take care 

 iauniber of attendants which the Go- of the tents. — Cokdixer, ch. vi. p. 

 veruor was forced to take on his 1G8. 

 journey from Colombo to Galle when 



