PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



[Part I. 



pearl upon the brow of India ; " the Chinese knew 

 it as the "island of jewels ; " the Greeks as the "land 

 of the hyacinth and the ruby ; " the Mahometans, in the 

 intensity of their delight, assigned it to the exiled 

 parents of mankind as a new elysium to console them 

 for the loss of Paradise ; and the early navigators of 

 Europe, as they returned dazzled with its gems, and 

 laden with its costly spices, propagated the fable that 

 far to seaward the very breeze that blew from it was 

 redolent of perfume.^ In later and less imaginative 

 times, Ceylon has still maintained the renown of its 

 attractions, and exhibits in all its varied charms " the 

 highest conceivable development of Indian nature." ^ 



Picturesque Outline. — The nucleus of its mountain 

 masses consists of gneissic, granitic, and other crystaUine 



wliicli is their elephant honoured hy 

 a naturall acknowledgement of ex- 

 cellence of all other elephants in the 

 world). These all have conspired 

 and joined in common league to pre- 

 sent vnto Zeilan the chiefe of worldly 

 treasures and pleasures, "wdth a long 

 and healthfull life in the inhabitants 

 to enjoye them. No marvell, then, 

 if sense and sensualitie haue heere 

 stumbled on a paradise." 



' The fable of the " spicy breezes " 

 said to blow fi-om Arabia and India, 

 is as old as Ctesias ; and is eagerly 

 repeated by Pliny, lib. xii. c. 42. 

 The Greeks borrowed the tale from 

 the Hindus, who believe tJiat the 

 Chandana or sandal-wood imparts 

 its odours to the winds ; and their 

 poets speak of the INIalayan as the 

 westerns did of the Sabfean breezes. 

 But the allusion to such perfumed 

 winds was a trope common to all the 

 discoverers of iniknown lands : the 

 companions of Columbus ascribed 

 them to the region of the Antilles; 

 and VeiTazani and Sir Walter Ra- 

 leigh scented tliein oft" the coast of 

 Carolina. Milton borrowed from 

 Diodorus Siculus, lib. iii. c. 46, the 

 statement that 



" Far off at sea north-east winds blow 

 .Sabaean odours from the spicy shore 

 Of Araby the Blest." 



(P. Z,. iv. 163.) 



Ariosto employs the same imagina- 

 tive embellishment to describe the 

 charms of Cj'prus : 



" Serpillo e persa e rose e gipli e croco 

 Spargon dall' odnrifero terreno 

 Tanta suavita, ch' in mar sentire 

 La fa ogni vento che <ia terra spire.'' 



{Orl. Fur.yi\\n. |:i8.) 



That some aromatic smell is percep- 

 tible far to seaward, in the \-icinity of 

 certain tropical countries, is unques- 

 tionable ; and in the instance of Cuba, 

 an odour like that of violets, which ia 

 discernible two or three miles from 

 land, when the wind is off the shore, 

 has been traced by Poeppig to a spe- 

 cies of Tetracera, a climbing plant 

 which difluses its odour dm-ing the 

 night. But in the case of Ceylon, if 

 the existence of such a pei-fume be not 

 altogether imaginaiy, the fact has 

 been falsified by identifying the al- 

 leged fragi'ance with cinnamon ; the 

 truth being that the cinnamon laiu'el, 

 imless it be crushed, exhales no aroma 

 whatever ; and the peculiar odom* of 

 the spice is only perceptible after the 

 bark has been separated and dried. 



^ Lassen, Indische AUerthuins- 

 hunde, vol. i. p. 198. 



