538 



THE NORTHERX FORESTS. 



[Part IX. 



" Alpli, the sacred river, ran 

 Tlirougli caverns measureless to man 

 Do'svn to a smiless sea." 



There certainly are numerous springs in the sands along 

 the shore at the point referred to ^, whose o]^eiiings are co- 

 vered by the tide at high water ; but whether a connection 

 exists between any one of them and the well of Potoor is 

 a problem still unsolved. 



At Potoor, one of the fine old churches erected by the 

 Portuguese abuts on the high road, and has recently been 

 restored, the Wesleyan ]\Iission having a successful station 

 in the vicinity. From thence into Jaffna the road passes 

 through a succession of fields so cleanly cultivated and 

 securely fenced, that a stranger might almost fancy a resem- 

 blance between it and a scene in England, — an illusion 

 wliich is not dispeUed on arri\-ing at the residence of Mi\ 

 Dyke, the Government agent of the province : a spacious 

 mansion in the midst of a park-hke demesne, studded 

 with forest-trees, and diversified with clumps of flowers 

 and groups of the choicest and rarest plants and shrubs of 

 Ceylon. 



In the court-yard to the rear is a spacious garden, 

 in Avliich Mr. Dyke has succeeded in cultivating the 

 black grape of Madeira, trained over a trellis, — the 

 want of winter rest for the plants being supphed by 

 baring the roots, and exposing them to the sun. The 

 vines give two crops in the year, — the principal one in 



^ This lefTond of a subten-anean 

 river ill Ceylon was earned westward 

 by the Ai'abian maiiners in the mid- 

 dle ages ; and it will be remembered 

 that Sindbad of the Sea, in his sixth 

 voyage, wherein he nan-ates his arri- 

 val in Serendib, describes hia ship- 

 wreck on the coast, " near a lofty 

 moimtain,'" underneath which a stream 

 was flowing inland. Embarking on 

 this, on a raft of aloes and sa,ndal- 

 wood, together with heaps of the 

 peai'ls, jacinths, and ambergi-is which 

 he collected on the beach, Sindbad 

 " proceeded to the place where the 



river entered," and in the midst of 

 profoimd darloiess, was carried luider 

 ground by the cun-ent, through a pas- 

 sage so naiTow and low, that " the 

 raft rubbed against the sides, and his 

 head against the roof." Emerging at 

 last into light, his " eyes beheld an 

 extensive tract, and a company of 

 people like Abyssinians, m-Iio had 

 come to irrigate their fields and so\^^l 

 lands," and wlio forthwith conducted 

 him to the presence of tlie King of 

 Serendib.— Lake's Arabian Xif/hfs, 

 vol. iii. 



