INTRODUCTION. 
Ceylon has become of late an object of great interest to naturalists and sportsmen. Much 
has been written on this green island of the East and perhaps any information, that can be 
desired, is already to be found in the valuable works of Thwaites, Baker, Kelaart, Bennett, Forbes, 
Schmarda and especially in that of Sir James Emerson Tennent. 
A series of pretty views of Ceylon has also been published by Captain O’Brien, but the 
beauties of nature in our island, so well described by Tennent, have been by no means exhausted 
by the pencil. I have therefore endeavoured to contribute, in my- own way, more complete informa- 
tion on the same topic, than has hitherto appeared. 
From what I have seen of tropical scenery, I feel convinced, that its characteristic beauty 
is far less striking in extensive views, than in the smaller and more defined groups of the luxuriant 
products of the vegetable kingdom. 
In order to give a perfect idea of tropical vegetation in certain distinct zones and spots, rough 
and incorrect sketches are of little use. These must be at least correct in respect to the appearance 
of the principal features of vegetation in the landscape and must enable every one to recognise 
a tree or large plant, nearly with the same certainty in the drawing, as it would be possible in 
reality, on the very spot, where the artist had been sketching. On the other hand, perfect portraits 
of plants, like those in purely scientific books which enable the botanist to rocognise every species 
by analyzing the leaves etc., must not be expected here. 
The shortness of my stay in Ceylon (from November 1864 to February 1865) and the heavy 
rais in the mountains allowed me to take only a limited number of sketches and even these had 
been made without any previous intention to publish them. 
The views of coral-banks taken in a diving bell are as far as I know novelties. The only 
submarine views existing hitherto and bearing any claim to truthfulness, were my own sketches of 
the Red sea taken without the use of the diving bell, and published in the Journals of the Zoolo- 
gieal and Botanical Society of Vienna, in 1863 and in my little work on the coral-banks of the Red 
sea (Reise von Kairo nach Tor zu den Korallenbünken des Rothen Meeres. Wien 1863). 
І wished to illustrate by my views from the Indian Ocean the wonderful account which Darwin gives of 
the formation of coral-banks & islands in his most extraordinary geological works. I have tried there- 
fore to make these views as correct as possible, especially with regard to their characteristic features. 
The fish were sketched while alive, in their favourite positions, as their shape and colouring is gene- 
rally altered immediately after death. 
