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



purest form of clay to be found in the Province, and is 

 identical with kaolin or Chinese clay. It is found in 

 abundance at Polgahawela, Alawwa, and Weuda, in the 

 Kurunegala District, and is commonly used in place of lime 

 for whitewashing the laths and rafters and ceilings of 

 houses. Lime does not adhere so firmly, and even when 

 carefully put on drops away in flakes after a time. Makul 

 sticks fast, and it is much easier to wash a roof or ceiling 

 with it than with chunam, which often drops into the eye 

 and causes much inconvenience. 



Potters' clay is an abundant substance, but there is a 

 great difference in the nature and quality of it, found in 

 various localities. 



Brick clay of a superior kind is met with at Malpitiya, 

 three miles from Kurunegala on the road to Polgahawela. 

 The brick fields here supplied a large proportion of the 

 bricks to the railway for the construction of bridges, 

 culverts, &c, and Mr. Waring, the Chief Resident Engineer 

 of Railways, considered the material as good as, if not 

 superior to, that supplied by the metropolis. As pointed out 

 by Mr. Cochran, the quality of brick clay may be regarded 

 as superior according as its composition approximates to 

 that of kaolin. 



A stratum of very brackish clay underlies nearly the 

 whole of the Puttalam District and part of the Demala 

 hatpattu. The brackish stratum was probably the bed of 

 a large lagoon, similar to the Puttalam lake. In the 

 Puttalam District it is near the surface, in the Demala pattu 

 it is at some depth. Fresh water is found only in the 

 generally shallow surface formations locally known as 

 villus; once the clay is pierced through the water is 

 brackish, which, however acceptable to deer, sheep, and 

 other animals, is not fit for human consumption. 



Mr. J. G. Drieberg, the District Engineer of Puttalam, 

 sent me in February, 1897, some specimens of this clay, and 

 wrote that it — 



