532 TPIE NORTIIERX FORESTS. [Part IX. 



in the service of the East India Company ; but as we ap- 

 proaclied the west, the country is amply provided with 

 metalled highways and bridges, and intersected in all di- 

 rections by parish-roads. Jaffna is in fact the only part 

 of Ceylon in which the native population seem clearly to 

 appreciate the value of roads, and are anxious to afford 

 every facihty, and contribute every assistance for their 

 construction. 



At Kodigammo we turned northward and passed 

 through Varany, on our way to Point Pedro, crossing the 

 great estuaiy of Sirrokally, and diiving through a district 

 from which the rice crops had recently been gathered, 

 and in which the cattle, instead of being left to forage for 

 themselves, as is the custom in the rest of the island, were 

 folded in shady pens and well-enclosed fields. 



The prevalence of this practice, and the care with 

 which fencing is universally attended to, is the best evi- 

 dence of the value set upon land by a dense population. 

 Their perception of the rights of property, and theii" de- 

 sire to maintain and respect them, are amply attested by 

 their many arrangements to restrain the trespass of cattle. 

 On the otlier liand, one of the most serious annoyances with 

 which the planters of the south have had to contend, both 

 on their coffee and sugar estates, arises from the notorious 

 indifference of the Kandyans and Singhalese in this parti- 

 cular, and their disregard of all precautions for securing 

 their buffaloes and bullocks by day or by night. 



In the immediate neighbourhood of Point Pedro 

 (and the description applies equally to the vicinity of 

 Jaffna and the western division of the peninsula in 

 general), the perfection of the village cultivation is 

 truly remarkable ; it is horticidture rather than agricul- 

 ture, and reminds one of the market-gardens of Ful- 

 ham and Chelsea more forcibly than anything I have 

 seen out of England. Almost every cottage has a gar- 

 den attached to it, wherein are grown fruit-trees and 

 flowers, the latter being used in great quantities for 



