No, 4.— 1848.] SINHALESE RURAL ECONOMY. 35 



scoops suspended to a triangle from one division of a the field to 

 another. In the lower levels, owing to the want of a general 

 system of drainage, the crops suffer greatly in very wet 

 seasons, the plant being frequently carried away, or injured, 

 from too long immersion in the water. Seasons of drought are 

 no less fatal to it. On the mountains the formation of paddy 

 fields is entirely artificial, and the whole system bears witness 

 to considerable skill and ingenuity on the part of the culti- 

 vators. Passing through some of the rocky ravines of this 

 picturesque country, one is surprised at the beautiful appear- 

 ance of cultivation, which has obviously been produced under 

 the greatest natural difficulties. When spots of this kind have 

 been selected, a very superior description of rice is frequently 

 produced, owing probably to the good natural soil so frequently 

 found amongst rocks, and also from the great distance 

 travelled over by the irrigating stream, more fertilizing 

 particles are brought down by it than by streams, which take 

 their rise in swampy ground and run but a short distance. The 

 European inhabitant of Colombo who should perchance visit 

 these romantic solitudes will find a relish and a nourishment 

 in the dish of new rice set before him, which he little expected 

 from that grain ; something which will remind him of those 

 exquisite compositions of wheaten flour, for which our country 

 house- wives at home are so famous. I have said that the 

 formation of paddy fields in the mountains is a work of much 

 ingenuity and skill ; it is also one which is always progressing 

 step by step. Terrace above terrace is added to the field every 

 season, until that which commenced in one little shelf, from 

 above which the rocky streams dashed below, now covers the 

 whole mountain gorge, with a bright harvest waving to the 

 breeze. 



The operations for preparing the ground for sowing the seed 

 cover much time, not in the steady occupations of industry, 

 but by the long intervals which occur between the several 



