268 GA]MPOLA AND THE COFFEE REGIONS. [Part Vn. 



serfs, and condemned to menial services in the rice-lands 

 and granaries. 



Perhaps there is not a scene in the world Avliich com- 

 bines snbliniity and beauty in a more extraordinary 

 degree tlian that which is presented at the Pass of Ella, 

 Avhere, through an opening in the chain of mountains, 

 the road from Badidla descends rapidly to the lowlands, 

 over wliich it is carried for upwards of seventy miles, 

 to Hambangtotte, on the south coast of the island. The 

 ride to Ella passes for ten or twelve miles along the 

 base of hills thickly wooded, except in those spots where 

 the forest has been cleared for planting coffee. The 

 \dew is therefore obstructed, and at one point appears 

 to terminate in an impassable glen; but on reaching 

 this the traveller is amazed at discovering a ravine 

 through wliich a torrent has forced its way, disclosing a 

 passage to the plains below, over which, for more than 

 sixty miles, the prospect extends, unbroken by a single 

 eminence, till, far in the distance, the eye discerns a hne 

 of light, which marks where the simbeams are flashmg 

 on the waters of the Indian ocean. 



