the District of Noowerakalaiciya . 171 



wood, and in which there is a multitude of neglected tanks, 

 the place is certainly no sanitarium, but still I think that 

 during nine months of the year, it is fully as healthy as most 

 stations. The unhealthy season lasts from the beginning of 

 December till the end of February, and during this portion 

 of the year the establishments are allowed to remove else- 

 where. As the jungle around the station becomes cleared 

 away, and as the place becomes more healthy, the furlough 

 allowed is gradually circumscribed, and in the course of a 

 few years, there will probably be no occasion for an annual 

 interruption of public business. The fever of Nooweraka- 

 lawiya is distinguished less by the violence of sudden isolated 

 attacks, than by its insidiousness and long continuance. One 

 is never very ill, but neither is one ever very well ; one feels 

 a general listlessness, a sensibility to the effects of draughts, 

 which gradually debilitates one to a lamentable extent. 



It is a common remark of the people, that droughts are 

 much more common now than they used to be twenty or 

 thirty years ago, and this is (justly, as I believe,) attributed 

 to the great extension of the chena system, whereby pools, 

 springs, and marshes are dried, and large surfaces exposed to 

 the burning rays of the sun. I regret to say, that my manifold 

 engagements, and frequent absence from the station, have pre- 

 vented me from making any regular meteorologic observations. 



Antiquities. 



Noo w erakalawiy a has a degree of local celebrity, from 

 having, during many years, been the residence of the Singha- 

 lese Rajas. 



We learn from the Maha Wanse, that prince Wijeya 

 established himself at Tambapanny or Tambaadawiya, near 



