218 jouenal, e.a.s. (ceylon). [Vol. II., Pakt II. 



depositing the heavier particles held in suspension, we should 

 expect to find thicker layers of gravel on the valleys than on 

 the sides of hills. Such is not, however, the case : thick 

 beds of gravel are even found on the tops of the hills 

 several hundred feet above the present drainage of the 

 plains. Geologists have decided that the mountains of 

 Southern India were elevated to their present heights by 

 successive upheavals, and therefore it is not objectionable 

 to consider the higher lands of Ceylon to have also been 

 elevated by more than one upheaval. There is abundant 

 evidence too, besides the one just alluded to, to conclude 

 that Ceylon has been subjected to successive internal forces, 

 which will explain also the present configuration of the 

 mountain masses of Nuwara Eliya and the characters of 

 Nuwara Eliya and Horton plains. 



Hitherto no evidences of deluvial or glacial currents 

 have been found in Ceylon. The rounded blocks of granite 

 and gneiss seen on various parts of the Island are the 

 effects of a spontaneous concentric exfoliation which small 

 and large masses of these rocks are susceptible of. Major 

 Lushington has instanced this peculiar exfoliation in a 

 gigantic scale on the rock of Dambulla. Alluvial and 

 fluviatile deposits are seen in various parts of the Island, 

 but none perhaps so extensive as the fluviatile deposits of 

 Nuwara Eliya, which appear to extend from Horton Plains, 

 passing over Nuwara Eliya and progressing towards the 

 valleys of Maturata on one side and to Dimbula on the 

 other. Although these deposits are not of a diluvial nature, 

 still there is an importance attached to them, as they show 

 that at a former epoch the interior of Ceylon was traversed 

 by broader and more expansive sheets of water than any of 

 the rivers of the present day. It is doubtful, however, 

 whether this large lake or river which has deposited 

 its mud on the plains of Nuwara Eliya is dwindled down 



