xxv THE SAMBUR 417 



8300 feet ; Kirigallapotta, 7900 ; Totapella, 8000 ; and Adam's 

 Peak, 7700; but although their altitude is so considerable, they 

 do not give the idea of grandeur which such an altitude would 

 convey. They do not rise abruptly from a level base, but they are 

 merely the loftiest of a thousand peaks towering from the highlands 

 of Ceylon. 



" The greater portion of the highland district may therefore be 

 compared to one vast mountain; hill piled upon hill, and peak 

 rising over peak, ravines of immense depth forming innumerable 

 conduits for the mountain torrents. Then at the elevation of 

 Newera Ellia the heavings of the land appear to have rested, and 

 gentle undulations, diversified by plains and forests, extend for some 

 30 miles. 



" From these comparatively level tracts and swampy plains, the 

 rivers of Ceylon derive their source, and the three loftiest peaks 

 take their base ; Pedrotallagalla rising from the Newera Ellia Plain, 

 Totapella and Kirigallapotta from the Hortori Plains. 



" The whole of the highland district is thus composed of a suc- 

 cession of ledges of great extent at various elevations, commencing 

 with the highest, the Horton Plains, 7000 feet above the sea. 



" Seven hundred feet below the Horton Plains, the Totapella 

 Plains and forest continue at this elevation as far as Newera Ellia 

 for about 20 miles, thus forming the second ledge. 



" Six miles to the west of Newera Ellia, at a lower level of 

 about 900 feet, the district of Dimboola commences, and extends 

 at this elevation over a vast tract of forest -covered country, 

 stretching still farther to the west, and containing a small pro- 

 portion of plain. 



" At about the same elevation, 9 miles north of Newera Ellia, 

 we descend to the Elephant Plains, a beautiful tract of fine grass 

 country, but of small extent. This tract and that of Dimboola 

 form the third ledge. 



" Nine miles to the east of Newera Ellia, at a lower elevation 

 of 1500 feet, stretches the Ouva country, forming the fourth ledge. 



" The features of this country are totally distinct from any other 

 portion of Ceylon. A magnificent view extends as far as the 

 horizon, of undulating, open grass land, diversified by the rich crops 

 of paddy which are grown in each of the innumerable small valleys 

 formed by the undulations of the ground. Not a tree is to be seen, 

 except the low brushwood which is scantily distributed upon the 

 surface. 



"We emerge suddenly from the forest -covered mountains of 

 Newera Ellia, and, from a lofty point in the high road to Budulla, 



2 E 



