4!)0 THE XORTIIERX FORESTS. [Part IX. 



French, Dutch, and Spanish possessions in the East, 

 the insufficiency and defects of Point de Galle as a 

 harbour, are so evident, as to render it idle to institute 

 a compai'ative inquiry into the manifest advantages 

 offered by Trincomahe. Tlie unrivaUed position of the 

 hitter for commerce, fronting the Bay of Bengal, and 

 presenting a natural point of rendezvous and depar- 

 ture for all vessels trading to India and the East, marks 

 it out as having been destined for a great emporium, 

 to which the shipping of all nations will yet lind it their 

 interest to resort. 



To the natives great and lasting benefits would accrue 

 from the adoption of Trincomahe as the commercial 

 capital of Ceylon. Cultivation woidd be restored to 

 the now deserted districts of Tamankadua and the 

 Wanny; and an immediate impulse would be apphed 

 to increase labour and employment of e\'eiy kind. 

 Above all, such a step would secure to the planters the 

 advantage of having their produce shipped in a com- 

 modious harbour, where vessels can he and recei\e 

 their ladins^ alongside the wharves at all seasons of the 

 year ; instead of ha\'ing it carried in boats, as at pre- 

 sent, a distance of a mile or more in the open road- 

 stead of Colombo, to be put on board in the offing ; — 

 an operation that can only be performed with safety 

 during one period of the year, when the wind blows off 

 the shore ; and even then it is beset by accidents, often 

 involving the damage of the coffee by sea-water, or its 

 discolourment by damp. 



The measure for transferring the seat of government 

 and trade from Colombo to Trincomahe, Avill encounter 

 opposition from those already in possession of commei- 

 cial establishments on the western coast, who may 

 naturally hesitate to exchange ascertained facihties for 

 contingent advantages in another locidity. A grave 

 obstacle too is said to exist in the circumstance, that 

 the rains are usually ])revalent at Trincomahe at the 

 ])arlicular season when coirce reqiiires to be di'ied at 



