142 SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL PROVINCES. [Part Vll. 



land lake of Bolgodde is the resort of prodigious numbers 

 of wild fowl, wliicli breed in the luxuriant woods that 

 encircle it. Caltm^a was one of the most promising lo- 

 calities in which the cultivation of the sugar-cane was 

 attempted, but hitherto the success of the experiment 

 has not beeji such as to render it commercially remu- 

 nerative. 



From the great extent of the coco-nut groves which 

 surround it, Caltura is one of the principal places for the 

 distillation of arrack. The trees, during the process of 

 drawing the toddy, are frequented by the great bats 

 (ptero]ms\ called by the Europeans, " fl}ing foxes." ^ 

 They are attracted in numbers by the fermenting juice, 

 and drink from the earthen chahces which are suspended 

 to collect it. A friend of mine, who was at Caltura in 

 1852, had his attention fi^equently drawn to the unusual 

 noises occasioned in some of the topes by the revels of 

 these creatures. It assumed at the beginning the appear- 

 ance of an ordinary quarrel, but grew by degrees so 

 " fast and fniious," as to become manifestly a drunken 

 riot. The natives are well aware of this propensity of 

 the bats, and attributed these demonstrations to their 

 inebriety. 



At Pantura, after being ferried across the arm of the 

 lake, which here debouches on the sea, we found the 

 carriages of the governor, which his excellency had been 

 good enough to send to convey us to Colombo. The road 

 lay along a broad embankment of sand, which runs for 

 several miles between the sea and the lake of Pantura, 

 one of those estuaries described by the Ai'ab navigators 

 under the name of the " gohhs of Serendib," into which, 

 when the south-west monsoon was roUing a surf upon the 

 coast, their seamen were accust(~)med to withdraw tlieir 

 frail vessels and spend " two montlis or more in the shade 

 of forests and gardens, and in the enjoyment of a tem- 



' See Vol. I. rt. II. cli. i. p. 135. 



