THE PHYSICAL FEATURES 



coasts, wherever there is swamp or lagoon, abound in water- 

 fowl of all sorts. 



A railway connecting Colombo and Jaffna is now in 

 course of construction (1904), and runs through the very 

 middle of the province parallel to the great north road. 

 This road is metalled and in good order as a rule. A 

 metalled or gravelled road runs from Mankulam to the 

 Agency station of Mullaitivu on the east coast, and another 

 gravelled road runs from Madawachi, in North Central 

 Province, to Manaar, on the west coast ; a fairly good 

 gravel road runs from Vavoniya to Parayanalankulam on 

 the Manaar road ; and another fairly good road starts 

 at Kallalunkan Puliankulam on the north road and runs 

 to Mullaitivu. Apart from the above roads all others 

 are mere tracks, some very sandy, others mere earth 

 tracts, all more or less impassable for carts except in 

 dry weather. Some good but not plentiful shooting of 

 all sorts may be had at Tunukkai, a village 12 or 13 miles 

 west of Mankulam, at the junction of the north and 

 Mullaitivu roads, but the road from Mankulam is very 

 bad, and bearers would be difficult to procure. 



Fair sport may also be obtained by taking the track 

 running due south from Tunukkai, via Mundumurippu, 

 to Puvarasankulam on the Vavoniya - Parayanalankulam 

 road, but the travelling again is awful for a cart. There 

 is some fine forest in the southern parts of the province, 

 and I have found the little red deer very plentiful in the 

 forests along the Puliankulam-Mullaitivu road. Pigeons 

 and jungle fowl may be met with all over the province, 

 and pea fowl are fairly plentiful comparatively near the 

 coasts. I do not, however, recommend visitors to this 

 part of Ceylon it is essentially a place where sport can 

 only be got by a man who knows every inch of it. There 



77 



