260 GAMPOLA AND THE COFFEE REGIONS. [Part YII. 



Neuera-ellia. The first visit of Europeans to tliis lofty 

 plateau was made by some English officers, who, in 1826, 

 penetrated so far in pursuit of elephants.^ Struck witli 

 its freshness and beauty, the}^ reported their discovery to 

 the Governor, and Sir Edward Barnes, alive to its impor- 

 tance as a sanitary retreat for the troops, took possession 

 of it instantly, and commenced the building of barracks, 

 and of a bungalow for his own accommodation. lie 

 directed the formation of a road ; and within two years 

 Neuera-ellia was opened (in 1829) as a convalescent 

 station. In the estimation of the European and the 

 invalid it is the Elysium of Ceylon. At this elevation, 

 and encircled by mountains (which on the northern side 

 rise 2000 feet higher still), in the midst of a grassy plain, 

 watered by crystal streams, and surrounded by hills 

 covered with luxuriant vegetation, stands the httle 

 hamlet ; the smoke ciuling above the thatch of its 

 white cottages in the midst of gardens of roses and mi- 

 gnonette ; and even of some European fruit-trees, that 

 charm with their foliage, though they rarely bring their 

 fruit to maturity. It is difficult to imagine a higher 

 enjoyment than to mount almost between sunrise and 

 sunset from the sultry calm of Colombo to the cool and 

 delicious breezes of this mountain plateau ; to leave the 

 flamino; noon and the sufFocatino' nin-hts of the coast, and 

 after a jom^ney of less than a hundred miles along 

 admu^able roads, and through scenery unsurpassed in its 

 loveliness and grandeur, to rest in an Enghsh cottage, 

 with a blazing wood fire, to sleep under blankets, and 

 awake in the morning to find thin ice on the water and 

 hoar-frost encrusting the herbage. 



The temperature of Neuera-ellia, according to Davy, 

 ranges from 30° to 81°, with a mean daily variance of 



' Xeiiera-ellia was of course pre- 

 viously known by the natives. It 

 liad been tlu; retreat of one of the 



and from the cirounistance of its 

 having tlins become an imperial resi- 

 dence, " nmvara," it obtained itspre- 



Kiindyan kings, who Hed tliitlier from sent appeUation Xmvara-elUa, the 

 the I'ortugnese about the vear KilO, ' " roval citv of liii'ht." 



