IS 



PHYSICAL GEOGEAPUY. 



[PART I. 



The transformation of gneiss into laterite in these 

 localities has been attributed to the circumstance, that 

 those sections of the rock which undergo transition 

 exhibit grains of magnetic iron ore partially dissemi- 

 nated through them; and the phenomenon of the con- 

 version has been explained by recurrence not to the 

 ordinary conception of mere weathering, which is prob- 

 ably inadequate, but to the theory of catalytic action, 

 regard being had to the peculiarity of magnetic iron 

 when viewed in its chemical formula. 1 The oxide of 

 iron thus produced communicates its colouring to the 

 laterite, and in proportion as felspar and hornblende 

 abound in the gneiss, the cabook assumes respectively 

 a white or yellow hue. So ostensible is the series of 

 mutations, that in ordinary excavations there is no 

 difficulty in tracing a continuous connection without 

 definite lines of demarcation between the soil and the 

 laterite on the one hand, and the laterite and gneiss rock 

 on the other. 2 



hands pressed to the ground, whence 

 the name of Tamba-pannyo, ' copper- 

 palmed,' from the colour of the soil. 

 From this circumstance that wilder- 

 ness obtained the name of Tamba- 

 panni ; and from the same cause also 

 this renowned land became celebrated 

 under that name." TURNOUT'S Ma- 

 hawanso, ch. vi. p. 50. From Tamba- 

 panni came the Greek name for Cey- 

 lon, Taprobane. Mr. DE ALWIS has 

 corrected an error in this passage 

 of Mr. Tumour's translation ; the 

 word in the original, which he took 

 for Tamba-panniyo, or "copper- 

 palmed," being in reality tamba- 

 vanna,or "copper-coloured. Colonel 

 Forbes questions the accuracy of this 

 derivation, and attributes the name 

 to the tamana trees ; from the abun- 

 dance of which he says many villages 

 in Ceylon, as well as a district in 

 southern India, have been similarly 

 called. (Eleven Years in Ceylon, 

 vol. i. p. 10.^) I have not succeeded 

 in discovering what tree is desig- 

 nated by this name, nor does it occur 



in Mood's List of Ceylon Plants. On 

 the southern coast of India a river, 

 which flows from the ghats to the 

 sea, passing Tinnevelly, is called 

 Tambapanni. Tambapanni, as the 

 designation of Ceylon, occurs in the 

 inscription on the rock of Girnar in 

 Guzerat, deciphered by Prinsep, con- 

 taining an edict by Asoka relative to 

 the medical administration of India 

 for the relief both of man and beast. 

 (Asiat. Soc. Journ. Seng. vol. vii. 

 p. 158.) 



1 From a paper read to the Roysil 

 Physical Society of Edinburgh by 

 the Rev. J. G. MACVICAB, D.D. 



2 From a paper on the Geology of 

 Ceylon, by Dr. Gardner, in the Ap- 

 pendix to Lee's translation of Ri- 

 BEYBO'S History of Ceylon, p. 206. 

 The earliest and one of the ablest 

 essays on the geological system and 

 mineralogy of Ceylon will be found 

 in DAVY'S Account oftJie Interior of 

 Ceylon, London, 1821. It has, how- 

 ever, been corrected and enlarged by 

 recent investigators. 



