224 Remarks on the Flora of Ceylon. 



botanist, about seventy years before. It is true that during the last 

 few years the descriptions of several Ceylon plants have been published 

 in different scientific periodical publications, both by Indian and Eu- 

 ropean botanists, but although a botanical institution has been 

 maintained in the colony at the expense of Government for upwards 

 of the last thirty years, those who have superintended it have done 

 nothing almost either for their own credit or the honour of the 

 establishment. Since the publication of the little book of Linnaeus, 

 the only work which has been produced on Ceylon Botany is the 

 " Catalogue of Plants growing in Ceylon/' published in 1824, by Mr. 

 Moon, who was then Superintendent of the Botanical Gardens, — a 

 work which never was of much use, and which is now quite obsolete, as 

 being merely a catalogue, there are no characters by which to recog- 

 nise the species he has enumerated. As connected with these ob- 

 servations, I may remark, that I am at present engaged in preparing 

 a work which will contain descriptions of all the vegetable productions 

 indigenous to Ceylon, at least so far as I can obtain them, illustrated 

 with coloured figures of some of the more rare, beautiful, or useful 

 species. This, however, will be a labour of several years to come, as 

 I have still to explore different parts of the Island, the productions of 

 which are totally unknown. 



The vegetation of all countries has its general character deter- 

 mined by two great principal causes — physical aspect and climate. 

 The former having already been detailed in the geological sketch 

 of the Island, I shall here offer a few remarks on the latter. The 

 two monsoons which occupy the greater part of the year, materially 

 influence the climate. That from the south-west lasts generally 

 from April to September, while the north-east prevails from Novem- 

 ber to February, the intervening periods being subject to variable 

 winds and calms. The western side of the Island, which is exposed 

 to the south-west monsoon, has a humid and temperate climate, simi- 

 lar to that of the Malabar coast, while the eastern, which is open to 

 the north-east monsoon, has a hot and dry climate, similar to that of 

 the Coromandel coast. The seasons and climates of the south-west 

 and north-east portions of the Island are therefore very different. 

 While on one side of the Island the rains are falling in torrents, the 

 other is suffering from drought ; and it not unfrequently happens 



