CuAr. 1.] FOEEST TRAVELLING IN CEYLON. 409 



tinent of Lidia, in quest of employment in the coffee 

 plantations of the Central Province. In consequence of 

 the opening of these, it is to be hoped that the annual 

 current of immigration, instead of setting, as it has 

 hitherto done, along the hot sands and inhospitable 

 deserts of the western shore, may be tempted to pass 

 by the central hne of communication, where the faci- 

 hties for obtaining shade and water w^ill increase the 

 comforts of theu" march ; and the sight of vast tracts of 

 arable but now unoccupied land may eventually lead to 

 the permanent settlement in the island of some portion of 

 these migratory labourers. 



Another ckcumstance which wdll contribute to tlie 

 improvement of the northern section of the island, is the 

 attention recently dii'ected to the sea-borde as a suitable 

 locahty for the cultivation of the coco-nut. Within the 

 last twenty years, large plantations of these palms have 

 been formed at Batticaloa on the east, at Jaffna on the 

 north, and at Chilaw and Calpentyn on the west of the 

 great central forests ; and it is reasonable to expect that 

 the success of these will stimulate agriculture inland, 

 settlers being encouraged by the known fertihty of the 

 soil, and by the facihties for travel, provided by the roads 

 already in existence and to be extended hereafter by 

 means of those now in progress. 



I set out on my joiu-ney with the intention of crossing 

 the island from west to east, from Colombo to Batti- 

 caloa. To reach the latter ])lace, I did not avail myself 

 of the convenient but circuitous high road by Neuera- 

 ellia and Badulla ; but made arrangements for riding 

 across the island in a dkcct line from Kandy, by way of 

 Bintenne through the country of the Veddalis, in order 

 to become acquainted with the actual state of these w^ild 

 creatmres, and to enable myself to judge of the amount 

 of success which had attended the recent attempts to 

 introduce civihsation, and induce them to settle in vil- 

 lages and engage in agricultiu'e. From Batticaloa, I 

 [iroposed to turn northward to Trincomahe, and there, 



