Makch i, 1888 ] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST'. 
JREMINISCENOliS OF A VISIT TO THE 
HILLS OF CEYLON. 
A VISIT TO MAB1AWATTE— THE CHINESE INVASION OF 
CEYLON— SINHALESE I.ABOIt ON TEA ESTATES — THE 
GAMPOLA VALLEY— Til B SECBTBT OF THE HIOH YIELD 
01 MAHIAWATTE — TIM1JEK 11ESEUVES. 
Colombo, Feb. 15th, 
As I had not visited the model tea estate of 
Mariawatte since I saw tho foundations of the big 
store being laid, 1 wrote to Mr. Jamieson that, if 
there was no objection, I would call en route to 
Kandy and Colombo. I was most cordially received, 
and curiously enough fchjs visit was the ocoasion of 
my first ride in a jini'iksha. a very nice specimen 
of whioh the Company have provided for the use of 
the Superintendent when visiting Gampola. Amongst 
the other advantages of Mariawatto not tho least 
is its position on each sioe ol a Government cart- 
road which winds for about J J miles through this 
long-strotching properly, now, with all tho additions 
recently made to the ancient royal lands of Sinna- 
pitiya and Weyangawatte, aggregating not much 
short of 1,000 acres. The use of a vehicle of 
Chinese origin* in this classic valley might be men- 
tioned as a very curious coincidence, if wc could 
feol oortain that Tennent was correct in identifying 
Gampola as tho scene of a battle between tho 
Chinese and the Sinhalese in whioh tho miter were 
signally defoated, their King being carried away 
captive by tho victors. The battle was, I believe, 
a historical event, although it is eithor not men- 
tioned or slurred over in tho Sinhalese records; but 
the late Maha Mudaliyar Louis De Zoysa showed that 
Tennent was misled as to the locality by the 
similarity of name of the real scene of the contest 
on the sea coast. But it needs no tradition of buttle 
between tho invading forces of Cathay and Sinhalese 
warriors defending their country and monarch 
against odds in numbers or unitary skill to impart 
intorost to this, porhaps the most beautiful, certainly 
tho most fully cultivated, of the upland valleys 
through which the Mahaweliganga flows on its 
oourse to the eastern shores of the island near 
Trmcomalee, after almost encircling the moun- 
tain capital, Maha Nuwara, en route. 
When I said the most fully cultivated, I 
referred to tho grand expanse of rice cultivation 
in tho Gampola valley, much of which is being 
reaped a month at least in advance of the 
seasonal period in consetpjeucc of the intense 
and long-continued drought. The crop, I am 
happy to believe, is good, and I was much inter- 
ested and pleased to learn from Mr. Jamieson, how 
great the benefits bestowed on the Kandy an small 
farmers and peasantry had been by another and 
very different culture, of which the dynasty and 
people of Sri Ganya-pura, " the stately [or sacred] 
city by tho river" of tho fourteenth century, when 
Ibu Batuta visited the court of " the estuary 
of rubies," little dreamed. In the interval-; 
of cultivating and reaping the produce of 
their own lands, the natives seek and find 
ready and remunerative employment on the 
" Maha-tu-watta," and Mr. Jamieson state!?, that, 
as a result of thus earning money, which is paid 
to them day by day, tho pooplo havo greatly ira 
proved in physiquo and comfort of surroundings. 
Similar rosultn uro accruing ovor wido and widely 
separated urea* in tho lowcountry of Ceylon as 
* Or, rather, JapsneM: though, unieed, I ooiieve, 
lb" vohiole w.u the iuventioj ot a L'urvpuan iniwiou- 
»r> IB J »p4D. 
79 
well as in the hilloountry, so that directly, as 
well in so many ways indirectly, European enter- 
prise and capital arc operating beneficially on 
" native interests " in Ceylon, a more than sufficient 
answer to the narrow-minded cavillers at railway 
extension as if tho benefits would be confined to 
Europeans. I have no hesitation myself in con- 
tending that it is the natives who have and who «U 
chielly benefit by every extension of this the most 
facile means of communication. The valley pj 
Gampola looks bright and beautiful when viewed 
from the comparatively high ground on which the 
railway runs, but to gec a full idea of the uicli 
rioo fields, the green tea plantations, the noblf 
river lined by graceful bamboos, the town and 
railway station and tho metalled highways and iron 
road, all framed in by hills rising to mountains, 
the lover of scenery ought to look down on the 
royal valley of the great river from the summit of 
Han lane Peak, or from a point of vantage on the 
remarkable rocky ridges which run from behind 
Kandy awayin o Deitota, Nilambe, and Hcwahcta. 
Even Indian planters who have seen the finest tea 
which grows in the fat alluvials of Brahmaputra or 
the richest soil of the Himalayas deposited for ageu 
over the Terai arc surprised that a spot in the 
valley of Gampola should produce such grand 
bushes and such results in annually harvested leaf. 
But more intense is the surprise of those who, 
like the writer, have seen coffee in this, perhaps, 
the first scene of its regular and extensive culture, 
in Ceylon pass from decadence into ruin, appuri otly 
from the exhaustion of fertile matter in the soil. 
Over the whole property as now extended, th. re 
ar , of course, varieties of soil, but the celebrated 
100 acres at the entrance from Gampola pos- ess 
a rich [rich for tea] soil, free and un f an in 
quality down to a dspth of 7 feet. To thi soil 
is regularly applied, — portions being operated on 
in alternate years,— manure collected fr m the 
neighbouring town, a gi>at heap of whioh I saw 
collected and carefully protected with a good cover- 
ing of earth until the convenient season for its 
application came round. The alti udc of Gan.i> la 
is under 1,000 feet, and I do not suppose that the 
highest portion of the gently undulating tea estate 
exceeds 2,000 feet above sea level. The height 
of Gampola railway station b- ing 1,573, the 100- 
acre field can be nowhere much ab.>ve 1,000. 
Here, therefore, we have all the conditions favour- 
able to exceptional yield : good soil, abundance 
of manure, a good " lay of land," a hot, moist 
forcing climate, and a good jat of tea. Accord- 
ingly, year by year, the original 100 acres have con- 
tinued to yield crops exceeding 1,000 lb. of male tea 
per acre (equivalent to 1.000 lb. of green leaf!, 
until figures fur the whole have been obtained in 
excess of 1,100 lb., a considerable portion giving 
over 1,200 lb. per acre! We are not aware that 
anything belter than this stands on recoid in tea 
cultivation? Of course, here, as elsewhere in the 
island, although we have no marked winter, the 
Hush is, in certain seasons and states rf the 
weather, specially abundant. There have been 
plucking* equal to ")0 and 100 lb. per diora, and 1 
think I understood Mr. Jamieson to «tate that on 
ono occasion, a 5-acre piece, the plucking of which 
had been from some circumstances decayed, actually 
gave at the rate of £00 lb. per ftore in one day 
Allowing for the fact that a proportion ot tin 
leaf was hard nnd had to be rejected, Buch 
gathering as this must be, I presume, iif.pn r. i. nto n 
1 had previously board ion lb. per aorq pd 
monsem described as mi exertional yield, 'I • 1 
appearance, as u whole. o( this splendid pioponi 
remindol mo of tin now which 1 madu, wbenrty 
tho li^ht uf u bright wvimmj ia Java, I la [n 
MM 
