42 



PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY. 



[PART I. 



the Gulf of Manaar ; the Kala-oya and the Kandalady, 

 which empty themselves into the Bay of Calpentyn; 

 the Maniek or Kattragam, and the Koombookgani, oppo- 

 site to the Little Bass rocks ; and the Naveloor, the 

 Chadawak, and Arookgam, south of Batticaloa. The 

 extent of country drained by these latter streams is little 

 short of thirteen thousand square miles. 



Very few of the rivers of Ceylon are navigable, and 

 these only by canoes and flat-bottomed paddy boats, 

 which ascend some of the largest for short distances, 

 till impeded by the rapids, occasioned by rocks at the 

 lowest range of the hills. In this way the Neivalle at 

 Matura can be ascended for about fifteen miles, as far as 

 Wellehara ; the Kalu-ganga can be traversed from Cal- 

 tura to Eatnapoora ; the Bentotte river for sixteen miles 

 to Pittagalla ; and the Kalany from Colombo to the foot 

 of the mountains near Ambogammoa. The Maha- 

 welh-ganga is navigable from Trincornalie to within a 

 short distance of Kandy 1 ; and many of the lesser 

 streams, the Kirinde and Wellaway in the south, and 

 the Kaymel, the Dedroo-oya, and the Aripo river on the 

 west of the island, are used for short distances by boats. 



All these streams are liable, during the fury of the 

 monsoons, to be surcharged with rain till they over- 

 flow then* banks, and spread in wide inundations over 

 the level country. On the subsidence of their waters, 

 the intense heat of the sun acting on the surface they 

 leave deserted, produces a noxious and fatal malaria. 

 Hence the rivers of Ceylon present the curious anomaly, 

 that whilst the tanks and reservoirs of the interior dif- 

 fuse a healthful coolness around, the running water of the 

 rivers is prolific of fevers ; and in some seasons so deadly 

 is the pestilence that the Malabar coolies, as well as the 

 native peasantry, betake themselves to precipitate flight. 2 



1 For an account of the capabilities 

 of the Mahawelli-ganga, as regards 

 navigation, see BROOKE'S Report, Roy. 

 Gem/. Journ. vol. iii. p. 223, and post. 

 Vol. II. p. 423. 



2 It has been remarked along the 

 Mahawelli-ganga, a few miles from 

 Kandy, that during the deadly season, 

 after the subsidence of the rains, the 

 jungle fever generally attacks one 



