549 



CHAP. \TI. 



THE ISLANDS. — ADAll'S BRIDGE AJsB THE PEARL FLSIIERY, 



As, owing to tlie shallows, the Government steamer, — 

 the " Seaforth," on board which we were to be received 

 at Jaffna, — was unable to approach nearer than the 

 group of islands that he off the western point of the 

 peninsida, we were rowed in one of the great canoes 

 called bedlams, or vallanis ^ through the channel of 

 Kayts^ under the miniatm^e fort of Hammaniel^, and 

 embarked off the island of Analativoe or Donna Clara.^ 

 We brought to, an hour after starting, at the island 

 of Delft. " The portion of Ceylon," says Pliny, " which 

 approaches nearest to India is the promontory of Colia- 

 cum, and midway between it and the mainland is the 

 island of die Sun ; " ^ — assuming the Cohacum of Pliny 



^ The ballams are usually hollowed 

 out of the ti'iuik of the Atuielij or 

 Atu/elica tree (artocarjytis Jn'rsida ?). 

 These canoes are genertilly brought 

 from the coast of India, chiefly from 

 Mangalore and Calicut. 



^ Kayts, or Cays, was so called 

 from the Portuguese temi for a wharf, 

 cais or caes, this being the utmost 

 point to which a sea-going vessel 

 could enter the shallows on approach- 

 ing Jaffiia. 



^ Yalexttn explains this term by 

 saying, that as the outline of Ceylon 

 resembled that of a ham, this little 

 island occupied the position of its 

 shank or h(H»l, wheace its name, 

 " hamman-hk'l." — Oiid en Nieuw 

 Oost-Indien, ch. i. p. 18 ; elsewhere, 

 ch. XV. p. 217, Valentyn calls 

 Ilammaniel tlie " Water Fort :" upon 

 this, and upon the land fort at 



KangesentoiTe, the Dutch relied as 

 defences against the passage of ships 

 towards Jaffiia. — Ibid. ch. ii. p. 31. 



* Donna Clara, who ajipeai-s to 

 have been the chief owmer of this 

 islet in the time of the Portuguese, 

 was renowned for her extraordinary 

 size ; her chair, according to IJiiiEYRo, 

 was preserved in his time as the sole 

 curiosity of the island ; " et les deux 

 plus gi'os hommes y peuvent tenir 

 assis tres a I'aise et tres au large." — 

 Lib. i. ch. XXV. p. 190. 



^ Plixy, X<d. IlisL, lib. xvi. ch. 

 xxiv. The Coliacum of PuNY is 

 identical with the KoX^ot of tlie 

 Pcriplus, the KwXtonroi' of SxRABO, 

 and tlie " KwXirof oe'ijt" of DioNYSirs 

 Peiuegetes, verse 1148; see also 

 Vincent's Perijilus, S)-c., vol. ii. p. 

 488, 502. 



