Chap. I.] 



OXEN. 



53 



the interior, carrying light loads as pack-oxen in what 

 is called a " tavalam" — a term which, substituting bul- 

 locks for camels, is equivalent to a " caravan." 1 The 

 class of persons engaged in this traffic in Ceylon resem- 

 ble in their occupations the "Banjarees" of Hindustan, 

 who bring down to the coast corn, cotton, and oil, and 

 take back to the interior cloths and iron and copper 

 utensils. In the unopened parts of the island, and 

 especially in the eastern provinces, this primitive prac- 

 tice still continues. When travelling in these districts 

 I have often encountered long files of pack-bullocks 

 toiling along the mountain paths, their bells tinkling 

 musically as they moved ; or halting during the noonday 

 heat beside some stream in the forests, their burdens 

 piled in heaps near the drivers, who had lighted their 

 cooking fires, whilst the bullocks were permitted to 

 bathe and browse. 



The persons engaged in this wandering trade are 

 chiefly Moors, and the business carried on by them 

 consists in bringing up salt from the government depots 

 on the coast to be bartered with the Kandyans in the 

 hills for " native coffee," which is grown in small quan- 

 tities round every house, but without systematic culti- 

 vation. This they carry down to the maritime towns, 

 and the proceeds are invested in cotton cloths and brass 

 utensils, dried fish, and other commodities, with which 

 the tavalams supply the secluded villages of the in- 

 terior. 



1 Attempts have been made to nection with the fact of the camel 

 domesticate the camel in Ceylon ; living in perfect health in climates 

 but, I am told, they died of nlcers equally, if not more, exposed to 

 in the feet, attributed to the too rain. I apprehend that sufficient 

 great moisture of the roads at justice has not been done to the 

 certain seasons. This explanation experiment, 

 seem s insufficient if taken in con- 



E 3 



