151 



CHAR III. 



COLOMBO. 



Colombo, as a to^vii, presents little to attract a stranger. 

 It possesses neitlier the romance of antiquity nor the in- 

 terest of novelty. The rocky headland near Avhich it 

 stands, was the " Cape of Jupiter," the " Jovis Ex- 

 tremum" of Ptolemy \ remarkable only as one of the 

 great landmarks by whicli the early navigators in their 

 coasting voyages dii^ected their course towards the " Pro- 

 montory of Birds, "^ which marked the entrance to the 

 harbour of Galle. 



The modern fortifications are Dutch ; said to have 

 been constructed after a plan of Cohorn, and so designed 

 as to turn to the utmost advantao;e the natural strenccth 

 of the position, lying as it does between the lake at one 

 side, and the rocks, which form the harbour, on the 

 other. The works include " foiu- bastions on the land 

 side, with counter-scarps and ravehns, and seven bat- 

 teries towards the sea, adapted to the rock line of the 

 coast." ^ The modern buildings within the Fort are a 

 clumsy apphcation of European architecture to tropical 

 requirements ; outside the walls are the modest dwell- 

 ings of the Dutch and Portuguese Eur-Asians, and tlie 

 houses of the Singhalese, Tamils, Moors, and Malays, con- 

 structed of white-washed mud, and either covered witli 

 red tiles or tliatched with tlie plaited fronds of the coco- 

 nut palm. 



The only ancient quarter is the pettah or "Black 

 town," inhabited by the native races, and extending 



* Aioc uKpov. The coincidence of 

 Colombo with the Jovis Extremum 

 of Ptolemy has been already com- 

 mented on^see Vol. I. Ft. v. ch. i. p.53o. 



^ "Opvuoi' uKpov, '^ Avium Promon- 

 torium," Ptol. 



^ From the App. to Pridham's 

 Ceyhn, p. 873. 



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