37 



and virgin vegetation on every side, it is a most attractive place 

 for a botanist to visit, and the niounlain garden at Hakgala is 

 only six miles away. 



Mountains rise on all sides of the Hat valley in which Nuwara 

 Eliya is situated. Most of these reach an altitude of 7,000 feet 

 or more, and at the north side of the town stands Pidurutalagala, 

 commonly called Pedro by the English, about 8,300 feet high 

 and the highest mountain in Ceylon. This is an old settlement 





Young Rhododendron arboreutn in the patana. A mature tree appears 

 at the left. Ceylon. 



Fig. 34. 



and some tea estates were planted before the altitude restriction 

 went into effect, so that the sides of some of these mountains 

 are now planted with tea. Most of them, however, are still 

 covered with the virgin mossy forest. 



Entering the mossy forest on the sides of Pedro, one finds that 

 the interior is very different from its charming exterior. The 

 trees are low, not over 30 feet high, and crooked with gnarly 

 branches. The leaves are small, stiff and leathery, and mostly 

 clustered at the ends of the branches. Trunks and branches 

 alike are overgrown with mosses. The undergrowth is remark- 

 ably dense and in some places the forest is well-nigh impenetrable. 

 We were able to recognize but few of the herbaceous species, 



