CHAP. I.] TALAWAS. 27 



respectively affected by the rains, the seasons of seed-time 

 and harvest vary considerably on different sides of the 

 island. 1 



In the north, where the influence of the monsoons 2 

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

 counteract their uncertainty, the rain is collected in 

 reservoirs, a wider discretion is left to the husband- 

 man in the ..choice of season for his operations. 3 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 light and sandy, but in the great central 

 districts of Neuera-kalawa and the Wanny, there 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 prodigious artificial works for irri- 

 gation, the ruins of which still form one of the wonders 

 of the island. Even after centuries of neglect, the beds of 

 many of these tanks cover areas of from ten to fifteen 

 miles in circumference. They are now generally broken 

 and decayed ; the waters which would fertilise 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 solitude and 

 malaria, whilst rice for the support of the non-agricultural 

 population 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 



1 The reaping of other descriptions 

 of grain besides rice occurs at various 

 , according to the 



locality. 



* See Vol. I. p. 6' 

 3 This peculiarity of the north of 



Ceylon was noticed by the Chinese | Koue Ki, p. 332. 



traveller FA HIAN, who visited the 

 island in the fourth century, and says 

 of the country around Anarajapoora : 

 " L'ensemencement des champs est 

 suivant la volont6 des gens; il n'y 

 a point de temps pour cela." Foe 



