Live Stock. 414 



were several fields in the town irrigated by these little tanks which have now been 

 abandoned. These fields for the most part are lying fallow. Guinea grass and 

 water grass of the variety found in the lowcouutry in the Western Province would 

 I think grow luxuriantly here. 



Now I leave the town and pass on to the outlying pattus. Of these 

 Tamblegampattu which is irrigated by that historical tank Kandalai, and which is 

 practically the granary of this district is the most neglected so far as pasturage is 

 concerned. The fields in Tamblegam proper, as you are all aware, are not ploughed 

 but trampled and sown with paddy. The fields are rich clayey soil, and the task of 

 puddling and trampling is arduous even to the hardy brutes, the buffaloes. All the 

 available lands in the inner circle of> cultivable land at Tamblegam have been sold 

 and brought under cultivation. No more land is available in the neighbourhood for 

 cattle to move obout or for pasturing. After the day's hard work is over the cultiva- 

 tors tether the buffaloes and feed them with some bundles of straw. The capri- 

 cious beasts, accustomed as they are to greater freedom and leading as they do an 

 amphibious life, sometimes get loose and vacate their temporary abode in search of 

 pastures new and pits full of water. These they could only have at a distance of 

 some miles from the scene of their labours. There they stray about and sometimes 

 fall unwilling victims to the rapacious appetite of Kinia Malays. 



An atrocious case came before the Police Court of Trincomalie some years 

 ago in which two Malays were charged with the theft of a pair of buffaloes, which 

 had been left loose after the field work was over. The evidence disclosed that the 

 animals were stealthily removed while on their distant journey to the pasture land. 

 They were tied to a tree and the best part of their flesh cut and removed by the 

 accused who left the animals alive to rot and die in agony. The case was a true one, 

 but the accused I am sorry to say were acquitted for want of sufficient evidence. 

 This is perhaps one of many such cases, and numerous instances might be cited to 

 show the danger to which cattle belonging to the Tamils of Tamblegam are exposed 

 to for want of pasture lands at a reasonable distance from their fields. 



" Kalipanchan " though situated some miles from the fields served as pasture 

 land for cattle during the sowing season. This, I understand, has been recently sold, 

 thus depriving the cultivators of the only place of pasturage. 



" Poththanae " situated further from this land is fit for pasturage. I under- 

 stand applications have been made for the sale of this block. I trust that this Asso- 

 ciation will approach Government and apply for a suitable land near the fields for 

 pasturage. 



The mortality amongst cattle during the cultivation season at Tamblegam is 

 heavy, and this is attributed to hard Avork and inadequate supply of fodder for 

 cattle. 



Most of the cultivators at Tamblegam get the cattle for trampling from 

 Kattiar and Kattuculum pattu. The cattle owners for the most part get the cattle 

 hire in advance and also obtain a promissory note securing the value of cattle lent. 

 They are alive to the precarious nature of the transaction and take good care in the 

 event of loss of cattle to make the granters pay without offering any dilatory 

 pleas. Actions on- such promissory notes are not rare in our Courts. 



Kinia is another village of importance. In it are grouped the rich fields of 

 Kandal Kadu, the undeveloped tracts of " Thenary " and the recently opened 

 " Santhapanikan." 



So far as pasture land is concerned, Kinia is almost in as difficult a position 

 as Tamblegam. I suggest that Government be requested to make a suitable reser- 

 vation of land in the vicinity of Gangai to serve as pasture land for cattle. 



