26 



PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY. 



[Part I. 



jDresence of Avater, that no inference can be fairly drawn 

 as to the quahty of the soil from the abundance of its 

 harvest. 



The fields on which rice is grown in these mountains 

 form one of the most picturesque and beautiful objects 

 in the coimtry of the Kandyans. Selecting an angular 

 recess where two hills converge, they construct a series 

 of terraces, raised stage above stage, and retiring as 

 they ascend along the slope of the acchvity, up which 

 they are carried as high as tlie soil extends.^ Each 

 terrace is furnished with a low ledge in front, behind 

 which the requisite depth of water is retained during 

 the germination of the seed, and what is superfluous is 

 permitted to trickle down to the one below it. In order 

 to carry on this pecuhar cultivation the streams are led 

 alone the level of the hills, often from a distance of 

 many miles, wdth a skill and perseverance for which 

 the natives of these mountains have attained a great 

 renown. 



In the lowlands to the south, the soil partakes of 

 the character of the hiUs from whose detritus it is 

 to a great extent formed. In it rice is the chief 

 article produced, and for its cultivation the disinte- 

 grated laterite {cahook), when thoroughly h-rigated, is 

 sufiiciently adapted. The seed time in the southern 

 section of tlie island is dependent on the arrival of 

 the rains in November and May, and hence the moun- 

 tains and the maritime districts at their base enjoy 

 two harvests in each year — the Maha, which is sown 

 about July and August, and reaped in December and 

 January, and the Yalla^ which is sown in spring, and 

 reaped from the 15th of July to the 20th September. 

 But owing to the different description of seed sown in 

 particular localities, and the extent to which they are 



'' The conversion of tlie land into 

 these hanging- favms is kno^ai in Cey- 

 lon as " assnedamizing," a term bor- 



rowed from the Kandyan vernacular, 

 in which the word '^ assuedame " im- 

 plies the process above described. 



