236 GAMPOLA AND THE COFFEE REGIONS. [Part VII. 



value of the coffee exported lias risen from 107,000/. 

 in 1837 to 1,296,736/. in 1857 ; and whatever uncer- 

 tainty may be felt for the future, as to the probable 

 consumption of a production so immensely augmented, 

 it must be borne in mind that already markets are 

 opening in which the demand seems susceptible of al- 

 most infinite extension. France, last year, received 

 more than one-third of the coffee sent from Ceylon ; 

 a very considerable quantity is shipped annually to 

 Holland (a portion of it probably in transit to Belgium 

 and Germany) ; Australia is an increasing consumer ; 

 the United States take a yearly supply ; Singhalese 

 coffee has been sent to South America ; Calcutta and 

 Madras received it from Colombo, and even the Arabian 

 and Persian races have, in recent years, been transferring 

 their taste from the berry of Mocha, to that of Malabar 

 and Ceylon. 



Where circumstances enable the proprietor to be re- 

 sident on his own estate, and to superintend its opera- 

 tions and control its expenditure in person, few colonial 

 pursuits present attractions superior to these exhibited 

 by Ceylon, either as to actual enjoyment or reasonable 

 returns for investment. But where the capitahst is 

 helplessly reliant on the honour and services of a re- 

 presentative on his distant possessions ; under circum- 

 stances in which few have the resolution to resist 

 stimulants and the usual devices for diversifying mono- 

 tony and overcoming the ennui attendant on isolation 

 and sohtude ; property of this kind is accompanied by 

 inextricable risks and anxieties ; and the owner will be 

 often tempted to ascribe to bad faith or neglect, the 

 disappointments, outlay, and losses which are in reahty 

 attributable to ordinary vicissitudes rather than to the 

 infidelity of agents. 



Amongst the many public works by which Sir Henry 

 G. Ward has signahsed his government of Ceylon, one of 

 the most important is the suspension-bridge which he has 

 succeeded in tlu'owing across the Mahawelh-ganga at 



