7 16 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[May i, 1895. 
Talankancle, the Duke's Nose, and Rilagalla 
was admired ; and the very pretty waterfalls 
on the river at the head of the Gorge as it 
emerges from the patanas and drops down 
framed by forests were watched with en- 
joyment. Some of the finest tree ferns in the 
island — one 60 feet high were discovered in 
the ravines running into this Dimlmla gorge, 
during the period of railway construction. 
AMBKWELA STATION 
looked as quiet and traificless as usual — a 
standing disgrace to the Government which 
established a station in the patana without a 
road to the district whose traffic it Mas in- 
tended to serve. But of this more anon. 
Farther, on, Pattipola or Summit Level— 
although with no station,— has really more 
life from being still Mr. WaringVi headquarters 
with some of the Railway stall', Chan has 
Ambewela. Very soon we rush through the 
dividing tunnel — which receives the S.-W. 
monsoon in the one end, and the N.-E. 
in the other — and every one is eager 
for the first view over the Uva amphitheatre : 
but, alas ! it is limited by |>alls of cloud, 
though glimpses are caught of the distartl 
ranges, and the rolling patanas in the fore- 
ground stand out brilliantly green, while 
" Happy Valley " true to its name, is, as 
always, marked by sunshine, even when the 
clouds are everywhere else round about it. Ar- 
rived at 
OHIYA, 
we had the climb to the forester's bungalow where 
there was a rest until the afternoon train brought 
the second detachment of our party including the 
Manager of Abbotsford with a party of coolies 
destined to prepare a building and forest lot on 
Horton Plains for certain ornamental plants. In 
the early afternoon, however, after some mar- 
vellous cloud effects over patana, forest, .and hill 
ranges — which would have delighted a Turner 
or a Buskin — the rain began to fall as it had 
done the day before, and so heavily that our 
Ohiya friends considered it would be very un- 
pleasant, if not risky, to attempt the trip that 
evening. The risk was of dense mist falling 
over the plains and so rendering the slight grassy 
pathway undistinguishable, while boggy holes, 
marshes and bad crossing-places over the stream 
are numerous. There arrived at the bungalow, 
however, in the midst of the rain, a little boy 
of 9 or 10 years, who bad walked from Haldum- 
mulla and was bent on going on that afternoon to 
his grandfather, the pensioned Madras Eurasian 
formerly of the P. W.D., who is now in charge 
of Horton Plains Resthouse. With this tiny 
youngster prepared to brave mists and bogs, it 
seemed absurd to hold back, and the rain having 
essened, our party made a start about 4 p.m. 
up the sheer ascent by the jungle path from 
Ohiya. 
THE CLIMB 
did not prove so formidable as was anticipated ; 
the murmur of waters accompanied us most of 
the way, but there was no trying crossing-place ; 
while the rain ceasing, the cloudy afternoon and 
shade of the moss and creeper-clad jungle 
made the ascent all the easier to the eight 
pedestrians (five being young ladies) ; and the 
dozen coolies made light of their burdens. Not- 
withstanding some little botanizing by the way, 
half-an-hour sufficed to see the jungle left be- 
hind and the Plains lying before us. 
Ohiya railway station being 5,833 feet above 
sea-level, and 
HOIiTOX PLAINS 
7,000 to 7,200 feet, the climb on this 
side to the edge of the plain is at least 
one of 1,200 feet; but it is accomplished 
in, we should say, not much more than a 
mile, certainly in H mile. On the other hand, 
the old route via the side of Totapol* in- 
volves a much longer journey, though more 
gradual rise; but it carries the traveller o\er a 
ridge some 200 to 3W feet above the plains 
before the descent into them u begun. All this is 
saved on the Ohiya side, as there is no range 
or ridge higher than the Plains U> be surmounted. 
Hut, while the climb occupied say three- 
fourths of an hour, the journey ov er the suc- 
cessive divisions of the patanas to the Best house 
took double that time and had we not been 
favoured with a line afternoon, the rain-clouds 
clearing away, our experience from the boggy 
character of many parts of the tra<k and the 
uncertain river-crossings, might have been very 
annoying. As it was, a few slips into marshy 
parts or hog-holes afforded just the little variety 
required to give point to the general enjoy- 
ment ; while as we wound round patana alter 
patana bordered by forest along the outward 
boundary or diversified by forest-dad rounded 
knolls of some extent, admiration for the beauty 
of the scene — lonely, hut lovely — could not but 
burst forth. Horton Plains are far more exten- 
sive and diversified than those of Nuwara Eliva, 
even if Moon and Barrack Plains be included 
in the latter. A length of 2A miles with a 
w idth of lJ mile ought to represent the extreme 
Hunts in the case of the latter; while Horton 
Plains must be over 5 by 3 miles in the tangent 
and widest parts respectively. Our journey by 
the Ohiya pathway carried us diagonally across 
one side of the plains towards the Rcftthonnc . 
Again and again were we reminded of the re- 
semblance of secluded valleys to portions of a 
nobleniaji's park in old England. Some of us 
were reminded of the grounds around Hat- 
field House and Panhanger. The grass had 
recently' been burnt oft, no doubt at the in- 
stance of sportsmen to benefit the elk (for vil- 
lagers' cattle never come so high) ami the ten- 
der green growth was just beginning to appear. 
We stopped again and again to admire clumps 
of a graceful feathery bamboo with a tiny stem, 
or grand bushes of berbery, glorious in yellow 
bloom, far richer than any in Nuwara Eliya, under 
shelter of the forest, and passing under some 
some of the forest-clad knolls, a clear though 
brief echo afforded amusement. At other points 
more especially near the stream in moist shel- 
tered nooks, interesting if not rare ferns were 
collected and a delicate moss peculiar to this 
region. The forest was not so rich in orchids 
as around Nuwara Eliya ; but the display 7 of 
lichens, lycopodiums and mosses generally, was 
far beyond anything seen lower down. But the 
greatest treat in this respect was reserved for next 
morning's wanderings towards the " world's end" 
and on the return journey up the side of Tota- 
pola, where old gnarled trees assuming fantas- 
tic shapes Avere found clad nearly from root to 
summit in the thickest of velvety mosses of the 
richest russet and yellow colours ! But we must 
not forestall. 
It was close on 6 p.m. when our party passed 
from their own narrow grassy track, to the 
junction of the well-defined bridle-paths leading 
to Nuwara Eliya and West Haputale respectively, 
a little below 
