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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XL 



of Batecalou* So great is the variety of maize, grain, and 

 vegetables, that in many places there are two or three har- 

 vests in the year from only one sowing, and whilst these 

 are growing there are always others ripe and ready to be 

 reaped. 



The minerals and rocks produce an infinite number of 

 rubies, sapphires, cats-eyes, emeralds, and other varieties of 

 precious stones. 



The sea, which is full of dainty fish, and washes ashore 

 large pieces of amber, is one of the three great pearl fisheries 

 in the East. 



The air, notwithstanding the Torrid zone, is so pure, 

 healthy, and delightful, that disease of any malignant and 

 contagious type is scarcely known ; so that the Island is a 

 perfect garden, always fresh and peaceful to the sight, 

 irrigated perennially by many rivers — seventeen in number 

 are the principal ones. The four parent streams have their 

 rsources in the summit of Adam's Peak, flowing downwards in 

 numerous streams through the various kingdoms they bathe, 

 as at Malvana, Calature, Candia, and Mature, stopping up 

 their current by dams in tanks, of which there are many, 

 serving to irrigate the dry low lands. These risers are usually 

 navigable, and form in many places safe harbours capable of 

 holding boats and even large vessels, so that the transport of 

 goods and merchandise can be carried on by water instead of 

 by land, which is swampy and full of creeks, without the 

 necessity of dykes, as in Flanders, They are full of reptiles, 

 some very poisonous, and huge crocodiles, strong enough to 

 have been known to drag down two bullocks tied together: 

 this makes the fords very dangerous. The small streams 

 even are full of leeches, which are most troublesome. But 

 mother nature has supplied the natives of Ceylon with equal 

 providence with a herb which, when chewed, preserves from 

 the effects of, and cures the most, deadly wounds. They call 



* Bate — perhaps Sii o i. bat, " boiled rice." Tlie derivation assigned 

 to Batticaloa is. of course, fanciful. — B., Hon. Sec. 



