Hambantotte Country. 137 



Pontane and Yalle. The whole of this country is al- 

 most uninhabited, and accordingly undisturbed. Yalle* 

 is the nearest town of importance, from which a good 

 road, lined on either side with cocoa-nut and bread-fruit 

 trees, extends as far as Tangalle, fifty miles. A few 

 miles beyond this village the wild country begins, and 

 Hambantotte is the next station, nearly ninety miles 

 from Yalle. The country around Hambantotte is abso- 

 lutely frightful — wide extending plains of white sand 

 and low scrubby bushes scattered here and there ; salt 

 lakes of great extent, and miserable plains of scanty 

 herbage, surrounded by dense thorny jungles. Not- 

 withstanding this, at some seasons the whole district is 

 alive with game. January and February are the best 

 months for elephants and buffaloes, and August and 

 September are the best seasons for deer, at which time 

 the whole country is burnt up with drought, and the 

 game is forced to the vicinity of Yalle river and the 

 neighboring pools. In the wet season this district is 

 nearly flooded, and forms a succession of dense marshes, 

 the malaria from which is extremely unhealthy. At this 

 time the grass is high, and the elephants are very nu- 

 merous. 



When I was in this part of the country the drought 

 was excessive ; the jungle was parched, and the leaves 

 dropped from the bushes under the influence of a burn- 

 ing sun. Not a cloud ever appeared upon the sky, but 

 a dazzling haze of intense heat spread over the scorched 

 plains. The smaller streams were completely dried up, 

 and the large rivers were reduced to small streams in 

 the midst of a bed of sand. 



The whole of this country is a succession of flat 

 sandy plains and low jungles contiguous to the sea-coast. 

 12* 



