514 THE NORTHERN FORESTS. [Paut IX. 



wliitencd and trim. On this platform stands the house, 

 a low cottage, with a projecting roof, covered with palm 

 leaves, and about the door are grouped the owners of 

 the dwelling, and their httle naked children, mth glossy- 

 black hair, graceful hmbs decorated with armlets, anklets, 

 and rings. 



The pm-suits of this people are exclusively agricul- 

 tm'al, and their gardens are kept in the nicest order, 

 thickty planted with jak-trees, mangoes, coco-nuts, orange, 

 limes, and all the fruit-trees of the South. Here, too, 

 the beautifid palmyra palm, which abounds over the 

 north of the island, begins to appear, and its plaited stem 

 is often wreathed with a plentifid growth of the pepper 

 \TLne, from which the Tamils collect a remunerative crop. 

 Eound the dwelhng-houses we saw a variety of vegetables, 

 httle if at all cultivated by the Singhalese ; amongst the 

 rest a small but very dehcious melon, which was trained 

 on a treUis in the courtyards. 



The first appearance of the Tamils and of their agricul- 

 tural economy was calculated to convey a most favour- 

 able impression of their industry and capabihties, and this 

 was fully borne out when I came to see the cultivation 

 on a large scale which they carry on most successfully 

 throuo;hout the whole Peninsula of Jaffna. 



About sunrise on the morning on wliicli we approached 

 the old fort of Moeletivoe, whilst riding over the sandy 

 plain by which it is surrounded, we came suddenly upon 

 a crocodile asleep under some bushes of the Bufiido- 

 thorn, several hundred yards from the water. The terror 

 of the poor wretch was extreme, when he awoke and 

 found himself discovered and completely surrounded. 

 He was a hideous creature, upwards of ten feet long, 

 and evidently of prodigious strength, had he been in 

 a condition to ex(jrt it, but consternation completely para- 

 lysed him. He started to his feet and turned round 

 in a chcle hissing and clanking his bony jaws, with his 

 ugly green eye intently fixed upon us. On being struck 

 he lay perfectly quiet and apparently dead. Presently 



