No. 9,-1856-8.] distbict or nuwabakalawiya. 



137 



The district on the whole is flat, not, indeed, flat in the same 

 sense as the land near Mannar, Jaffna, &©., is flat, but it is 

 not in any sense mountainous ; the general surface consists of 

 gentle undulations, and here and there isolated peaks or short 

 ranges of hills appear. These are most common in lines north- 

 east and south-west of Parabulia, and within twenty or thirty 

 miles of that place, elsewhere they are of rarer occurrence and 

 of less elevation. To the north, south, and south-west, of the 

 station, hills entirely disappear. The southern part of the 

 district forms in fact the extreme northern verge of the great 

 central mountain mass of Ceylon, and the isolated hills are 

 outliers thereof. 



The whole face of the country, except where occupied by 

 fields or tanks, is clothed by dense forest ; and a large tract 

 lying to the south, south-east, and south-west, of the station is 

 almost uninhabited. This arises in part from a want of water, 

 and in part, as has been remarked, from the policy of the ancient 

 rulers of the Island, who interposed this barrier between them- 

 selves and the marauders who were wont to infest the maritime 

 districts. There is yet another circumstance which probably 

 has not been without its influence : I refer to the intense dislike 

 which the villagers have, to contact with strangers. So 

 strongly does this feeling still exist, that we have even now to 

 take the greatest care not to bring roads too near to villages, 

 as in this case the people invariably abandon their dwellings, 

 and migrate to some neighbouring, but more secluded, spot. 



The prevalent rock is gneiss, the colour and structure of which 

 vary considerably in different localities. It is frequently 

 traversed by veins of quartz and felspar ; but no circumstance 

 of interest connected with these has attracted my notice. This 

 gneiss here, as elsewhere, has a tendency to exfoliate in layers 

 concentric to the present surfaces, the plates which thus scale 

 off are of all thicknesses, from two feet downwards. This 

 peculiarity renders it a matter of ease to split off tolerably regular 

 pillars and slabs, and there can be no doubt that this circumstance 

 has had a very considerable influence on the character of the 

 national or adopted architecture. 



