Chap. III.] DWELLINGS. 153 



governor caused a space to be cleared between the 

 cemetery and the walls, and this wise precaution was 

 afterwards maintained by the British commanders.^ 



With the exception of the mihtaiy officers, wdiose duties 

 require their presence within the fort, the English in ge- 

 neral have fixed their residences either in the emdi-ons, in 

 villas overlooking the bay ; in the cinnamon gardens ; or 

 under the cool shade of the coco-nut groves by the shore 

 in the hamlet of Colpetty. Tlie site of this beautifid 

 suburb is on the sandy embankment which forms the 

 natural bund of the lake of Colombo, one of the " gobbs 

 of Serendib," formed by an ancient arm of the Kalany- 

 ganga, which at one period must have had its opening 

 to the sea, at the point now occupied by the Galle- 

 face.^ Outside the waUs, every building of import- 

 ance is modern, as the Dutch, o^ving to the precarious 

 nature of their relations mth the people of Kandy, were 

 carefid not to erect their dwelhngs beyond the guns of 

 the fortress. In the suburbs the better houses seldom 

 rise to a second story, but the area wdiicli each of them 

 covers is large. Their broad verandahs are supported 

 on columns ; their apartments are lofty, and cooled by 

 Indian punkahs ; then' floors are tiled, and the doors and 

 window^s formed of Venetian jalousies^, opening to the 

 ground for the sake of freshness and au\ The only 

 inconvenience arising from the latter arrangement is 

 the rather too free entrance afforded to reptiles, snakes*, 



^ ToMBE, Voyage aux Indes, t. ii. 

 p. 184. 



" The Galle-face has still such at- 

 tractions for the marine ciiistacea 

 that it is infested by myriads of the 

 little crabs {ocijpodc), which employ 

 themselves in hollowing out deep 

 burrows seriously injurious to the 

 safety of the horsemen who make it 

 their promenade. From these holes the 

 crabs emerge each with an armful of 

 sand, scatter it in a circle by a jerk, 

 look round on all sides, and InuTy 

 down for another burthen. 



^ On the arrival of flie English, in 



1796, they foimd the Dutch houses 

 at Colombo suilocatingly hot, in con- 

 sequence of the windows being all 

 closed with (/lass. Cokdixer, p. 32. 

 The substitution of lattice-work was 

 a recent improvement. 



* Tlie Ceylon boa (python reticu- 

 J(diis) is fomid of great size in the 

 cinnamon gardens. A specimen was 

 brought to me nineteen feet long, 

 which some coolies had secured by 

 fastening it to a bamboo, in which 

 condition they carried it into the 

 Fort. It had swallowed one of the 

 small meminna deer. 



