410 THE XORTIIERX FORESTS. [Pakt IX. 



leaving tlic coast, to strike inland for the purpose of 

 visiting the great tank of Padivil, one of the most stu- 

 pendous in Ceylon. Thence I arranged to return east- 

 ward to the sea at Moeletivoe ; to proceed to the penin- 

 sula of Jaffna, and finally to reach the Gulf of Manaar in 

 time to be received on board the Government steamship, 

 when on her way to the annual inspection of the Pearl 

 Banks, in the Bay of Condatchy ; and thus to return by 

 sea to Colombo. 



The arrangement of provisions for such a journey, 

 forms one of the leading difficulties in all expeditions 

 through this region of Ceylon. From time immemorial, 

 the natives of the central and northern provinces, and 

 especially the inhabitants of the ancient Kandyan king- 

 dom, have been averse to trade, and indisposed either 

 to labour for hire, or to exchange the produce of their 

 lands for money. In fact, till a very recent period, 

 money Avas almost unknown in these parts of the island ; 

 and the policy of the chiefs was inimical ahke to the 

 active industry which is creative of property, and to the 

 process of barter which would lead to the accumulation 

 of wealth ; — either would have subverted the system of 

 dependence, whereby the tillers of the soil were rendered 

 subservient to thek cliiefs ; and both were, therefore, 

 as far as possible discouraged amongst all who were 

 amenable to their sway. In general, the soil is the ex- 

 clusive property of the headmen, and those who cidti- 

 vate it, in place of papng rent to its proprietors, receive 

 fi^oni them payment in kind. Thus, throughout the 

 hill country, the chiefs may be said to retain sole pos- 

 session of nearly all tlie grain that is grown ; Avith it 

 they remunerate their labom^ers, maintain their house- 

 holds, and, by issuing food from their baronial gra- 

 naries in times of famine, rivet more closely the 

 dependency of their people. The ambition of a chief 

 is not to amass property, but to acqime land : and 

 land is prized not for produce, as represented by its 

 value in money, but in proportion to the number of re- 



