October i, 1889/J tME TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
231 
lapidaries, who also deal, buy from the villagers, 
cut and sell to dealers, as well as work for any- 
one by the piece in the usual way ; the value 
of the stone decides the price demanded for cut- 
ing and polishing, from 75o up to several rupees 
according to the polish to be put on &a. I wonder 
who is not a judge of precious stone at or near 
Ratnapura ? I must say I have never met him, 
neither have I found two men who could value 
a gem the same. They all differ in the valuation, 
some as muoh as B30 to R40 on a stone worth 
about JK100, so that no man can rely upon 
the valuation pronounced by anyone, and every- 
one must be careful if advised by the seller 
to go to Mr. So-and-so, for he is sure to 
have made an arrangement with him. So that 
one has to pay for their learning, sometimes 
pretty handsomely too. Those who are supposed 
to be in respectable positions cannot be trusted any 
more than the tamby dealer, resthousekeeper, or 
anyone else. Nothing but careful handling and ex- 
amining of the gem will disclose its real value, and 
none but those who have had experience, and have 
been bitten a few times, can value — any gem 
especially in the rough — I have even known the 
practical dealer done most terribly, as the follow- 
ing instance will show. A man well-known in 
Ratnapura bought a sapphire for R3.000 which he 
reckoned would fetch when cut into three 
pieces RIO, 000, as it was flawed through its whole 
length 3 inches by about 2 inches ; he anticipated 
being able to secure three beautiful pieces from 
the sides throwing away the centre. Well, when 
cut right through the middle trying to secure four 
instead of three good gems he discovered that the 
flaws extended to within the 16th part of an inch 
of the surface all round, and he cut and cut at 
the gem, till be sold it in disgust for R50, after 
trying every device imaginable to dispose of it at 
a fair price approaching what it cost him. Had 
he immersed the gem in water he might have dis- 
covered that the flaws extended to near the surface. 
Such are the fortunes of gem dealers. 
CULTIVATION IN THE MATARA DISTRICT. 
COCONUTS, CINNAMON, TEA, CITRONELLA, TEAK AND 
OTHER CULTIVATION. — THE KEKANADURE TANK. 
Under the guidance of the exceptionally intelligent 
Mohotti Mudaliyar Gunaratna, I had a drive towards 
Kekanadure, to visit the Government teak garden 
started by Mr. Elliott, to have a look at one 
of the many tanks connected with his name, 
and to inspect the Mudaliyar's own plantation of 
265 aores under cooonuts, cinnamon, tea, &o. 
It is evident that no Assistant Agent ever did 
so much for Matara district as did Mr. Elliott. 
He had the advantage of a good long continuous spell 
of residence — 1867- 1874— and the district in many 
respects was quite a different place before his coming 
and after his departure. This is especially true in 
respect of roads— with which the district is now 
wonderfully well covered — and irrigation. When 
the railway comes there will be no want of feeding 
roads to bring the produce of the interior to the 
wayside stations and terminus. 
Striking into the interior, through one continous 
scene of cultivation in one form or other — though with 
ample soope for improvement — the Mudaliyar pointed 
out at one turn, the site of the old estate of the Hon. 
G. Talbot when Assistant Agent at Matara. This 
was the limit of the road in his day. A rather 
steep inoline here is noted as the scono of the death 
of a former Seoretary of the Matara District Court : 
he having jumped out when his horse ran away, was 
piokedup dead, and the people ever since call the hill 
Sekaratarikanda.' I am struck with the fertile 
soil on all sides : anything can be grown on such 
land with care, and the people should be well off, 
but there is the usual indifference about making 
the most of their advantages and at times, 
there is far too much absolute idleness 
and improvidence. For instance, the Mudaliyar 
tells me that notwithstanding the crowded popu- 
lation on all sides, he has great difficulty in getting 
a sufficiency of labour to cultivate his estate ; in 
the jak fruit season, many of the people will do 
absolutely nothing so long as the jaks last ! On 
the other hand in the farther interior it is possible 
that working for headmen is not fairly remune- 
rated. At any rate the poverty in some parts is 
excessive, Mr. Kigby of the Wesleyan Mis- 
sion telling me that in some of their vernacular 
schools up towards the Morawak korale, he has found 
children who had not eaten rice for a week or 
more at a time, living chiefly on roots. The im- 
providence and indolence of long-engrained habit 
come in here though, very clearly ; for a very small 
amount of labour on the garden would ensure whole- 
some vegetables and 'roots' and fruits, as compared 
with the wild products now sought after when scarcity 
of food is experienced. A large surplus of the rice 
grown in Matara district is sold in the coast bazaars 
where it fetches a higher price than the imported 
Indian rice — both paying the same tax nominally of 
10 per cent. If, in connection with every Govern- 
ment and Grant-in-aid school, there could be a model 
villagers' garden, cultivated with the ordinary dis- 
trict vegetables and fruit trees by the scholars 
themselves under their teacher's direction, we might 
look for improvement gradually, were it only from 
the habit taught the boys themselves of keeping 
the ground clear of jungle and weeds. If every 
rural land-owner in the Matara district, only devoted 
an hour each morning to cutting down and rooting 
out noxious vegetation and so giving free play to 
his fruit trees and vegetables, how great would 
be the difference in the yield of food products. 
The magnificent teak-trees growing in and around 
Matara, planted 30, 40 and 50 years ago, show 
that the district is well suited to this tree. The 
plantation not far from Kekanadure does not how- 
ever strike one as very flourishing, though some 
of the trees are of considerable growth. I thought 
them rather closely planted, but the Mudaliyar 
assured me that an arboreal authority ruled they 
were, if anything, too widely apart. They certainly 
formed a perfect shade even at their present age, 
but perhaps lopping is all that is required. In 1879, 
Mr. Fisher when Assistant Agent, — a very worthy suc- 
cessor to Mr. Elliott, — took much interest in teak 
planting especially about the Hali-ela tank and he 
made some large proposals about planting 500 
acres along the Matara river where the tree was 
gradually spreading of itself, but it is not likely 
that Sir James Longden would care to be troubled 
with a novel and bold proposition of this kind. 
A fine young plantation of coconuts belonging to 
the Messrs. Schokman is first noted before arriving 
at Mudaliyar Gunaratna's valuable property. The 
latter has 200 acres under coconuts just beginning to 
come into bearing at 10 years old, so that although the 
soil is very good, the olimate is not a very forcing 
one for coconuts, at least as compared with the 
Madampe and Chilaw districts. Of cinnamon the 
Mudaliyar has a young olearing, only cut once or 
twice, of 40 acres. Last year he rented the crop- 
cutting for R400 and this season he has refused 
K650. Not much perhaps at R10 to R15 per 
acre ; but a very fair return considering 
the present price of the bark. The tea field 
is a young olearing of 12 acres only planted in 
May last year from Morawak Korale seed. The 
plants are getting on exceedingly well though, and 
