54 



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



occurs aloDg the shores of the sea and of creeks. In some 

 places a retentive clay exists, and is used in the manufacture 

 of bricks and tiles. 



Peaty Deposits. 



The only carbonaceous formations, apart from plumbago^ 

 which is dealt with under the head of " Minerals," are the 

 peaty deposits in the Kurunegala District. 



The tanks in the Kurunegala District, chiefly those at 

 Kurunegala, Wenaruwewa, and Tittawela, are covered with 

 floating masses of vegetation of varying sizes and from 2 to 

 6 ft. in thickness, which are interesting from a geological 

 point of view. It is believed that this is the only provincial 

 division in the Island in which they occur. A large portion 

 of the surface, nearly a fourth of the Kurunegala tank, 

 which is about 104 acres in extent, is covered with this 

 floating vegetation, about 6 ft. in depth in some places and 

 of greater depth in other places, possibly identical with 

 what is known in Ireland as the "old widow's tow." This 

 mass is a veritable eyesore, and completely takes away from 

 the effect, both from a picturesque as well as a sanitary 

 point of view, of what has not been inappropriately termed 

 " the lungs of the town." Various schemes have been, at 

 different times proposed and tried for getting rid of this 

 mass and many attempts made to remove it, but with very 

 little success. 



The floating mass may be divided into three parts. The 

 first is a compact mass, and supports a growth of tank vege- 

 tation. The second consists of fibrous roots only, and forms 

 the connecting link between the crust or the first part and 

 the third, which is composed of slushy matter, the vege- 

 table substance being more decomposed, to which it is 

 attached. There is water between this part and the bottom 

 of the tank, with which it is apparently unconnected. The 

 crust is composed of fibrous roots, stems, and partly decayed 

 leaves of grasses and sedges and a variety of aquatic plants. 

 When cut vertically the peat appears stratified with each 

 year's growth, and is evidently the result of many years' 



