Augtist 17, 1882] 



NATURE 



\77 



far as concerned the horses of their own ' Royal Mail 

 Coach.' 



"The general character of the landscape varies very 

 little during the whole long stretch of seventy miles 

 between Colombo and Galle, but for all that the eye never 

 tires. The constant charm of the cocoa woods, and the 

 endless variety of the groups of palms prevent any sense 

 of monotony. The glow of the tropical sun is tempered 

 by a cool sea breeze, and by the shade of the palms. It 

 is true, that their feathery foliage does not afford so thick 

 and refreshing a shade as that of our northern forest 

 trees ; but very often the slender stems of the palms are 

 covered with a lovely tangle of climbing pepper-wort, and 

 other creepers, which hang in graceful festoons of thick 

 foliage from crown to crown, many of them with blossoms 

 of brilliant hue, such as the flaming gioriosa supcrba, 

 the rose-red Bougainvillea and gay-coloured papilion- 

 aceous plants of different kinds. Here and there among 

 the palms stand other trees, such as the noble mango, 

 and the bread-fruit tree, with its thick dark green crown 

 of leaves. The pillar-like stem of the graceful papaya 

 tree (Carica papaya), is beautifully inlaid and adorned 

 with a regular diadem of broad, hand-shaped leaves. 

 Different kinds of jasmine, of orange and lemon trees are 

 thickly covered with fragrant white blossoms. And nest- 

 ling among the trees are the neat white or brown huts 

 with their picturesque surroundings ; one would seem to 

 be driving through one long continuous village of palm 

 gardens if one did not occasionally come upon a denser 

 region of forest or upon a real village with its closer row 

 of houses and country bazaar or market place. The road 

 turns frequently towards the sea, and sometimes actually 

 skirts the rocky coast. Here tracts of soft level sand 

 alternate with rocky hillocks picturesquely clothed with 

 the curious pandanus or screw pine. The cylindrical 

 stem of this tree, seldom more than from twenty to 

 forty feet in height, is bent and twisted, and its 

 branches are forked or extended at right angles like a 

 chandelier. Every branch bears at its extremity a thick 

 bunch of large sword-shaped leaves (like the Daacaenas 

 and the Yucca). Some of the leaves are sea-green, others 

 of a darker shade, all gracefully curved and with a spiral 

 twist at their base, which gives the branch very much the 

 appearance of a screw. At the base of the whole bunch 

 of leaves hang white clusters of blossom with a marvellous 

 perfume, or large red fruit very like the Anana. But the 

 tree is chiefly remarkable for its numerous delicate air- 

 roots, which are given off from the stem and ramify down- 

 wards in many directions ; when they reach the groundthey 

 take root and serve to support the weak stem. It looks 

 as if the tree were walking on stilts, as it rises above the 

 lower brushwood, pushing its way between the cleft rocks 

 of the shore, or creeping along the ground at their base. 

 The white sand composing the level tracts of the shore is 

 diversified with dark, rocky headlands and animated by 

 brisk little sand crabs so nimble in flight as to have earned 

 the classic name of Ocypode. Numerous hermit crabs too, 

 (Pagurus) wander with a more leisurely pace among their 

 swift-footed cousins, and bear with much dignity the snail 

 shells which protect their soft and sensitive hind-quarters. 

 Here and there sand-pipers, herons, plovers, and other 

 shore birds, are busily employed in catching fish, in 

 formidable competition with the Singhalese fishermen. 

 The latter pursue their calling, some singly, others in 

 companies, in which case they go out in several canoes 

 with enormous nets which they all draw to shore to- 

 gether. (The members of the fisher caste are all 

 Christians, having renounced their Buddhist faith in order 

 to be able to take the life of the fish without deadly sin.) 

 The single fishermen catch their prey by preference in 

 the foaming surf. It is amusing to see the naked brown 

 figures, with only a broad-brimmed straw hat to protect 

 them from sunstroke, spring boldly into the waves and 

 catch the fish in a little hand net. They appear as much 



in their element in the cool sea water, as do their little 

 children who sport in troops along the shore and swim 

 to perfection at six or eight years old." Among the 

 beauties of this most beautiful journey, Prof. Haec'siel 

 further enumerates the river Deltas, of which there are 

 many on this part of the coast, their dark forest of 

 mangrove trees giving the landscape a deeper tone ; and 

 also the extensive lagoons which (especially between 

 Colombo and Caltura) connect the rivers of the coast with 

 each other. The Dutch took so much delight in these 

 watery roads as reminiscences of their fatherland, that 

 they formed them into a regular canal system to the 

 neglect of the land roads. Numerous little trading boats 

 sailed along the lagoons from place to place and formed 

 their principal means of communication. But since the 

 English have constructed their present excellent roads, 

 the water traffic has almost ceased. 



"The lagoons, with the thick bamboo and palm wools 

 of their shores, with the lovely little islands, and rocky 

 groups mirrored in their bosom, afford to the traveller a 

 succession of enchanting pictures, especially where groups. 

 of slender cocoa palms tower over the dark green 

 woodland masses, forming as Humboldt says : ' a forest 

 above the forest.' The long range of hills in the blue 

 distance forms a suitable background, higher mountain 

 summits beyond rising here and there, and the stately 

 dome of Adam's Peak towering over all." 



NOTES 

 Just three weeks after tbe sad death of Prof. Balfour, science 

 has sustained another great k»s in the death of Mr. \V. Stanley 

 Jev his. lie was drowned in the sea between St. Leonard's and 

 Bexhill, on Sunday morning, while bathing. He and his wife 

 and family had been staying at Cliff-house, Galley-hill, for the 

 last five weeks. Mr. Jevons was only in his forty-seventh year. 

 Further details we must reserve for next week. 



The death is announced of Prof. Leith Adams, M.A., of 

 the Queen's College, Cork. Entering the Army in 1848 as 

 assistant surgeon, he became Surgeon-Major in 1861. His 

 report on the Maltese cholera epidemic of 1865, and his devo- 

 tion to the sick, received warm praise. He ultimately retired 

 from the army in 1873 with the rank of Deputy Surgeon- 

 General, and was app minted Professor of Zoology in the College 

 of Science in Dublin, holding the chair till 1878, when he 

 became Professor of Natural History in the Queen's College 

 Cork. He was made a Fellow of the Geological Society in 

 1870, of the Royal in 1872, an LL.D. of Aberdeen in 1881, and 

 a D.C.S. of the Queen's University a few weeks before his 

 death. His chief works are the " Wanderings of a Naturalist 

 in India," the "Western Himalayas and Cashmere" (1S67), 

 "Notes of a Naturalist in the Nile Valley and Malta " (1870), 

 " Field and Forest Rambles, w ith Notes and Observations on, 

 the Natural History of Eastern Canada" (1873), and his 

 "Monograph on the British Fossil Elephants" (1S77). 



A scheme for obtaining in a more effectual manner than 

 hitherto a complete Annual Record of published scientific work 

 is to be brought before the British Association this year by Prof. 

 Sollas, of University College, Bristol. It requires (l) that each 

 nation furnish a record of its own work, and of that only ; (2) 

 that each nation receive the records of every other nation in 

 exchange for its own. Each nation would then merely have to 

 classify and translate the records. For the working out of the 

 scheme (a) National Committees, and (b) an International Ccn- 

 gress would be required. The Committees, each consisting of a 

 number of sections, would have, as functions, to produce the 

 national records, to receive and transmit exchanges, to arrange 

 for translation--, and to superintend the combination of the sepa- 



