16 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



[Part I. 



of Pettigalle-Kanda, the rocks have been broken up in 

 such confusion as to resemble the effect of volcanic action 

 — huge masses overhang each other hke suddenly-cooled 

 lava ; and Dr. Gygax, a Swiss mineralogist, who was 

 employed by the Government in 1847 to examine and 

 report on the mineral resources of the district, stated, on 

 his return, that having seen the volcanoes of the Azores, 

 he found a " strange similarity at this spot to one of the 

 semi-craters round the trachytic ridge of Seticidadas, in 

 the island of St. Michael." ^ 



Gneiss. — The great geological feature of the island 

 is, however, the profusion of gneiss, and the various 

 new forms arising from its disintegration. In the 

 mountains, with the exception of occasional beds of 

 dolomite, no more recent formations overlie it ; from 

 the period of its first upheaval, the gneiss has undergone 

 no second submersion, and the soil which covers it in 

 these lofty altitudes is formed almost entirely by its 

 decay. 



In the lower ranges of the hills, gigantic portions of 

 gneiss rise conspicuously, so detached from the original 

 chain and so rounded by the action of the atmosphere, 

 aided by their concentric lameUation, that but for their 

 prodigious dimensions, they might be regarded as 

 boulders. Close under one of these cyhndrical masses. 



^ Beyond tlie very slightest sjonp- 

 toms of disturbance, earthquakes are 

 unknown in Ceylon : and although its 

 geology exhibits little evidence of 

 volcanic action (with the exception 

 of the basalt, which occasionally pre- 

 sents an appearance approaching to 

 that of lava), there are some other 

 incidents that seem to suggest the 

 vicinity of fire ; more particularly 

 the occuiTence of springs of high 

 temperature, one at BaduUa, one at 

 Kitool, near Bintenne, another near 

 Y^avi Ooto, in the Veddah country, 

 and a fourth at Cannea, near Trin- 

 comalie. I have heard of another 

 near the Patipal Aar, south of Bat- 

 ticaloa. The water in each is so pure 



and free from salts that the natives 

 make use of it for all domestic pur- 

 poses. Dr. Davy adverts to another 

 indication of volcanic agency in the 

 sudden and profound depth of the 

 noble harbour at Trincomalie, which 

 even close by the beach is said to 

 have been hitherto unfathomed. 



The Spaniards believed Ceylon to 

 be volcanic ; and Argensola, in his 

 Cmiqmsta de las 3Ialucas, Madrid, 

 1609, says it produced liquid bitumen 

 and sulplim*: — "Fuentes de betun 

 liquido,ybolcanes de perpetuas llamas 

 que arrojan entre las asperezas de la 

 montahalosas de a^ufre." — Lib. v. p. 

 184. It is needless to say that this is 

 altoo-ether imas-inai-v. 



