Chap. I.] 



TALAWAS. 



27 



respectively affected by tlie rains, the times of sowing 

 and harvest vary considerably on different sides of the 

 ishmd.^ 



Li the north, where the influence of the monsoons 

 is felt with less force and regularity, and where, to 

 counteract their uncertainty, the rain is collected in 

 reservoks, a wider discretion is left to the iiusband- , 

 man in the choice of season for his operations.^ Two 

 crops of grain, however, are the utmost that is taken from 

 the land, and in many instances only one. The soil near 

 the coast is hght and sandy, but in the great central 

 districts of Neuera-kalawa and the Wanny, tliere is 

 found in the midst of the forests a dark vegetable 

 mould, in which in former times rice was abundantly 

 grown by the aid of those prodigious artificial works 

 for irrigation which still form one of the wonders of 

 the island. Many of the tanks, though partially in 

 ruins, cover an area from ten to fifteen miles in circum- 

 ference. They are now generally broken and decayed ; 

 the waters which would fertihse a province are allowed 

 to waste themselves in the sands, and hundreds of 

 square miles capable of furnishing food for all the in- 

 habitants of Ceylon are abandoned to sohtude and malaria, 

 whilst rice for the support of the non-agricultural popu- 

 lation is annually imported from the opposite coast of 

 India. 



Talawas. — In these districts of the lowlands, espe- 

 cially on the eastern coast of the island, and in the 

 country watered by the Mahawelli-ganga and the other 

 great rivers which flow towards the Bay of Bengal and 

 the magnificent estuary of Trincomalie, there are open 

 glades which diversify the forest scenery somewhat 



^ The reaping of otlaer descriptions 

 of gTain besides rice occurs at yarioiis 

 periods of the year according to the 

 locality. 



- This peculiarity of the north of 

 Ceylon was noticed by the Cliinese 

 traveller Fa IIian, who visited tlie 



island in the fom-th century, and says 

 of the country around Anarajapoora : 

 " L'ensemencement des champs est 

 suivant la volonte des gens ; il n'y 

 a point de temps pour cela." — Foe 

 Koiw Ki, p. 332. 



