INTKODTTCTION. xvii 



Water-birds and " Waders" which affect the numerous tanks* in the heart of the jungle. The 

 most luxuriant vegetation in this part of the island is to be found on the banks of the rivers, 

 where the Koombook (Terminalia glabra) is one of the most characteristic trees. In the drier 

 parts the forest is sprinkled plentifully with the iron-wood (Mimusops indica), the fruit of 

 which is the favourite food of many birds. The open scrubby belt of land bordering the 

 N.W. coast, as also the island of Manaar and parts of the peninsula of Jaffna, are characterized 

 by a very different flora. Here almost every tree is of a thorny nature, and the low and almost 

 impenetrable masses of brushwood are filled with Euphorbia-trees {Euphorbia antiquorum), which 

 is the characteristic plant of the district. This region is the home of plain-loving birds, such as 

 Pyrrhulauda grisea, Merops viridis, Munia malabarica, and is the almost exclusive habitat of 

 Buchanga atra, Lanius caniceps, Turtur risorius, Ortygornis pondiceriana, and Cursorius cow- 

 mandelicus, which appear to have extended their range from the Carnatic hither and not passed 

 beyond the forests which hem in the district. Here, too, is the great haunt of the migratory 

 Waders, which swarm on the muddy flats between Jaffna and Manaar, and also congregate round 

 the salt lagoons of the N.E. coast. These latter are surrounded with heavy jungle, inhabited by 

 the same birds as further inland, but which stands back at some distance from their grass-begirt 

 shores, 



Southward of the region just considered we have on the west coast the damp, luxuriant, 

 typically Ceylonese region, cultivated with rice in some parts and in others clothed with tall forest, 

 of which the characteristic trees are the gigantic Hora (Dipterocarpus zeylonensis), the Doon 

 {Doona affinis and Doona congestiflora), the stately Keena(Catycophyllum tomentosum), and the lofty 

 Dawata {Carallia integerrima). This tract, which comprises the Western Province and " South- 

 western Hill-district," is intersected with ranges and groups of hills heavily timbered in some parts 



* Many of these large irrigation-works claim a place among the most gigantic monuments of ancient enterprise and 

 labour ; they literally astonish the traveller and fill his mind with wonder as he stands on the vast bunds and looks down 

 on the wild and lonely scene, pondering on the means and appliances which the engineers of those distant times must 

 have used to get the great stones in their places. "Whole valleys have been dammed up, and sometimes the strong floods 

 of three rivers thrown back and spread out into a great lake, the waters of which must have irrigated thousands of square 

 miles. The bund of the great Padewiya tank extends for 11 miles across a valley, and in olden times, before this 

 enormous embankment was broken down by the rush of mighty floods, the water was, as Emerson Tennent tells us, 

 thrown back for 15 miles along the valley. I regret to say I never visited this tank ; but I have seen other bunds of 

 great size, of which perhaps that which holds back the waters of Kanthelai tank is the finest. This tank, which has 

 been lately restored, was built by -King Maha Sin, a.d. 275 ; and the following details kindly furnished me by Mr. E. 

 Scott Barber, C.E., who repaired the bund, may not be uninteresting to my readers : — " When up to ' spill-level ' (22 feet), 

 the tank contains 3580 acres, and is 17 miles round. The bund is 60 feet high and 290 feet in width at the bottom ; it 

 is 6800 feet in length, and contains 19,121,296 cubic yards of matei-ial. It is ' pitched ' with large boulders from 

 bottom to 60 feet up the slope and from 3 to 4 courses deep. The outlet was by two culverts 4 feet by 2 feet, situated 

 at either end of the bund; the stones forming them average 1| to 2 tons in weight, and are ' tongued ' together in the 

 centre." The top of this mighty embankment was about 60 yards wide and covered with jungle and large trees. As it 

 was, it gave one the impression, when walking along it, of standing on a natural ridge or long low hill ! 



