454 THE NORTHERN FORESTS. [Paet IX 



CHAP. IV. 



BATTICALOA. — COCO-NUT PLANTATIONS. — STRANGE CUSTOMS. 

 THE " MUSICAL FISH." THE SALT LAKES. 



A REMARKABLE peculiarity characterises the division of 

 the island in which the fort of Batticaloa is situated, 

 and, in fact, nearly the whole eastern section of Ceylon. 

 The coast and in-lying country, for two hundred miles 

 from north to south, and from ten to tliirty miles inland, 

 is a flat alluvial plain, sandy but verdant, in the im- 

 mediate vicinity of the shore, and covered with jungle 

 and forest as it recedes towards the interior. Across 

 this a number of rivers of greater or less magnitude 

 flow into the sea, some branching from the MahaweUi- 

 ganga, and others issuing from the tanks and broken 

 reservou"s in the depths of the forest. Owing to 

 the permeable and unresisting natm^e of the soil, 

 these streams have repeatedly changed their course, 

 when swollen by the tropical rains, or obstructed by 

 the falhng in of their banks ; and as the level natm^c 

 of the country permits their abandoned channels to 

 retain water, these have become still lakes commu- 

 nicating with the original river, and thus a network 

 of na\dgable canals has been spread over the entire 

 surface of the district. Their banks are covered with 

 mangroves, growing to the lieight of fifty feet, and 

 the water ebbs and flows beneath their roots, which 

 rise in innumerable arches above its surface. When 

 the tide is low and the sands uncovered, quantities 

 of shellfish pecuhar to brackish water are found 

 collected under the mangrove roots, or crawhng over 

 the damp slopes ; and in particular two varieties of 



