NOTE ON MOUNTAIN PATANAS OR GRASS LANDS, 5$ 



NOTE ON THE SUPPOSED CAUSE OF THE 

 EXISTENCE OF MOUNTAIN PATANAS OR GRASS 

 LANDS OF THE MOUNTAIN ZONE OF CEYLON. 



The existence of patanas in the midst of forests in Ceylon 

 has never been satisfactorily explained, and the writer does 

 not attempt to explain the occurrence of the numberless 

 small patches of grass-land that are so frequently met with, 

 apparently without any sufficient cause, among the forests 

 of the Kandyan Province. He wishes merely to direct 

 attention to a fact which does not appear to have been 

 noticed, and which in this particular instance is a sufficient 

 cause for the existence of at least one considerable tract of 

 patana. In travelling from Pundalu-oya to Ramboda 

 there may be seen on the Tavalamteuua side of the valley 

 a long blackish band of rock broken up into very prominent 

 buttresses near Wavendon, but still distinctly traceable as 

 one formation. This band, which the writer estimated at 

 700 to 1,000 feet in thickness — though it may be much 

 more — slopes down from the upper portion of Helboda 

 estate towards Ramboda where it forms the lower half 

 of the second fall, and where also it disappears under the 

 gneiss in the immediate neighbourhood of the church. It 

 may also be noticed that there is a remarkable absence of 

 forest growth of any kind from the topmost part of this 

 band down almost to the river - whilst immediately above 

 most luxuriant forest has until recently prevailed. The 

 connection between the two facts is evident. The rock is so 

 poor in fertilizing matter that its debris cannot support a 

 forest vegetation, and the debris of other rock has not to 

 any extent been spread over its surface. On examining the 

 rock in question, it is found to be a semi-crystallized 



