No. 48.— 1897.] GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. 



53 



was found 42 ft. below ground level in a consolidated stratum. The 

 pieces sent you were cut out with a penknife, so tough is the material. 

 A cross-section of the surface, as it appeared in the rock-cutting, 

 presented a smooth surface with a varying tint. The effect was 

 pretty in the extreme. The rock was dug at Wannattivillu, 12 miles 

 from Puttalam on the North road to Mannar. The soil above the 

 clay as sent is ordinary black clay, anything but tenacious, and 

 presenting a remarkable contrast to the former. The different layers 

 are sharply denned. The rock itself is situated on the upper high 

 water level of a villu. Villus are (as no doubt you are aware) natural 

 depressions, generally circular, with mildly shelving banks and fringed 

 with tall forest trees. A bit out of my district, in a place called 

 Kokari, there is a succession of villus — quite a chain of them, five in 

 number. The first villu is an enormous sheet of water, and saltish. 

 Tradition says that there is an underground channel connecting it 

 with the sea. The next villu is called " nalla-tanni-kulam," and the 

 water is pure and sweet. 



Casie Chitty, writing of "Quiparawa, a small lake on the 

 east side of Kattakadoo," in the Puttalam District, says : — 



The bottom is a blue clay, and a person once jumping into it, and 

 coming out covered with this mud up to the knees, obtained for it 

 the name of " Blue Boots" by which it is now universally known 

 among Europeans.* 



Soil. 



The soil of this Province may be generally described as 

 consisting of the results of " the disintegration of the gneiss, 

 detritus from the hills, alluvium carried down the rivers, 

 and marine deposits gradually collected on the shore." 



The greater portion of the soil of the maritime districts 

 of Chilaw and Puttalam is a silicious sand, in which the 

 principal ingredients are quartz in the shape of sand or 

 gravel, decomposed felspar in the shape of clay, with more 

 or less oxide of iron. Dr. Davy found this soil to consist 

 of 98*5 silicious sand. Here and there are to be found 

 interspersed black paddy-field earth, potters' clay, or recent 

 marl. Where granite rocks exist a reddish loam occurs, 

 and on the margin of rivers and lakes a rich black mould, 

 well adapted for paddy cultivation, is met with. Deep silt 



" Ceylon Gazetteer," p. 199. 



