258 MEMOIR OF BR. HARVEY. 



with pinnate leaves six or seven feet long, tlie young ones pink 

 or crimson, changing to pale glossy green. We passed through 

 the village of Gampola, a coffee centre, in a basin surrounded 

 by hills covered with coffee plantations. From this village the 

 road rises for ten miles in inclined planes up the sides of the 

 hills, in one continued but gradual ascent, the plants changing 

 with the elevation. 



Ferns now abound, and tall lemon-scented grass, its flowering 

 stems six or eight feet high overhanging the road. Brug- 

 mansia arborea is a common hedge-weed, and very trouble- 

 some. Gloriosa superba was common, in splendid blossom ; how 

 unlike the pale-faced apology that graced my conversazione. 

 Here its colours are crimson, orange, and gold, in their strongest 

 tints, and its blossoms peer out of the roadside brambles. 



As we advanced on our way flowers abounded more and more. 

 Every wet rock was gay with purple or white balsams, of which 

 there are many beautiful kinds. The Didymocarpus is a very 

 pretty little plant, and the Klugia a great beauty, with racemes 

 of brilliant cobalt flowers. We passed several large waterfalls, 

 any one of them sufficient to make the fortune of a Swiss 

 valley. Here they only obtain a casual notice. 



As we proceeded, the general aspect of the view ceased to be 

 tropical, and reminded me more of Devonshire scenery. The 

 next two days we spent in the jungle, and botanised, making 

 Pallagalla our head-quarters, but we found little of much value. 

 We saw noble tree-ferns, twenty to thirty feet high, and 

 thousands of smaller ones carpeting and festooning every spot 

 in the thick dark jungle. Rain setting in, we encamped for a 

 day and night at another coffee-planter's, where we were 

 hospitably entertained. His plantations extend to 1000 acres, 

 including different places. Here the rjlantations are bordered 

 with rose hedges. It being Sunday, we met several planters at 

 Mr. E.'s house ; their talk not very edifying. Next day we 

 started for a walk of seven miles to the house of another 

 planter ; our coolies, ten or twelve in train, carrying our luggage 

 and plants. We ascended a steep mountain pass, through dense 

 jungle, where were plenty of laud leeches, and, as I stopped to 

 pick some off my gaiters, I said, "Well, they are not much 

 trouble after all," when looking at my wrist, there was a great 

 leech sucking his fill ; this was the only bite I got. I must 



