May r, 1895.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
717 
THE HORTON PLAINS RESTHOUSE, 
there being further bridle-paths leading oft' South- 
wards to Bilhooloya and Westwards to Dnnbula 
or via the Bopatalawas to Dikoya. The present 
Resthouse is very different to the old one in 
which we lay during a night in January 1877 with 
the wind whistling through the rafters and the cold 
rarified air forhidding sleep. That building— a 
chimney alone marks the spot— -was placed on 
the top of a bare knoll overlooking a fine reach 
of the river and with reference entirely to scenic 
effect. Its far more commodious and comfort- 
able successor lias been placed inside the forest 
on a lower but neighbouring knoll, so as to 
secure all the shelter possible from the fierce 
storms of wind and rain which each monsoon 
sends sweeping across Horton Plains. The site, 
with this purpose in view, is exceedingly well 
chosen. Like its predecessor, it is placed nearer 
to the Bilhooloya than the Nuwara Eliya end 
of the Plains and for this reason, perhaps, 
among others, namely that this region is in the 
Sabaragamuwa, rather than the Central, Pro- 
vince, is " administered " from Ratnapura — some 
50 to 60 miles off— rather than from Nuwara 
Eliya 18 miles distant. It is time 
THIS ANOMALY 
was rectified. We can remember when a great 
part of the Dikoya and all the Maskeliya plant- 
ins districts were included in the Western 
(there was then no Sabaragamuwa) Province ; 
and it was only in Governor Sir Charles Mac- 
Carthy's time that the boundary was altered at 
the instance of t lie late Messrs. Worms who, 
having purchased the block of forestland now 
known as Norwood plantation, declared that 
they would not accept the title-deeds and survey 
from Government unless the place was described 
as in the Central Province! "Who cares to buy 
coffee land in the Western Province ?" was the indig- 
nant query of Mr; Gabriel Worms, which led the 
Government to alter the boundary to the Adam's 
Peak and Bogawantalawa ridges. It is an object 
of the smallest possible consequence, financially, 
to either the Central or Sabaragamuwa Provinces 
in which of them Horton Plains be included ; 
but as a mere matter of administrative as well 
as public convenience, it is far more sensible to 
add the district to the Nuwara Eliya Agency. 
We came upcountry on the present occasion fortified 
with Mr. Le Mesurier's admirable Manual of the 
Nuwara Eliya district and Mr. Herbert White's 
interesting compilation for Uva; but in neither 
as a matter of course (and yet to our disappoint- 
ment) is there the slightest reference to the 
Horton Plains, although as a matter of course 
what is said about the Nuwara Eliya vegetation 
and flora by Mr. Nock, about the fauna, gen- 
lbgy, &c., te specially applicable to the higher 
re»no'n. Meantime, when is Mr. Ware or bis 
Assistant Mr. Freeman; to fulfil the responsibilities 
of their position by issuing a 
MANUAL FOB SAHAUAUAMUWA 
including Eortoi) Plains? 
Jirmions " nos moutons — which reminds ua thai 
visitors arc nut as a. mailer df course, i" depend 
on the 
HORTON PLAINS RiEST HOUSE 
for provisions, or even bedding : although in the 
case of individual travellers their require nts, 
especially in the "season" (January "to April or 
May) can no doubt be met. The proper plan 
is, however, to send notice on by eooly a day 
or two in advance; or safer still, where there 
is a party, to carry ample provision for both 
the outer and inner man. This having been done 
in our case, with due notice in advance and a 
request for fires, the evening spent in the Rest- 
house was a specially comfortable one for the 
party of eight, there being altogether two com- 
modious and two small bedrooms, apart from a 
large room with several couches and independent 
of the dining room. The P.W.D. pensioner, old 
Mr. May (originally from Madras) in charge of the 
resthousc is helped by his son, and they do their best 
for visitors, and seem fairly well-satisfied with 
their lot, although it must be a dreary as well 
as lonely one from June round almost to De- 
cember, save for the occasional visit of a hunt 
irig party of planters. "'For 28 days at a 
time," said the younger man, "we have never 
seen the sun" — that is during the burst of the 
South-west monsoon when for weeks there is 
almost unceasing rain and a fierce breeze inter- 
spersed with thunder and lightning. 
To watch 
THE SUN RISE 
over the Eastern range and gradually lighten up 
the plains, dissipating the mists in the valleys 
w hich gracefully curled upwards and disappeared, 
was one of our greatest treats on the present 
visit. No doubt there were scores of elk and 
other jungle denizens out on the patenas during 
the night ; but at the first streak of dawn they 
retire out of sight and we saw nothing more 
notable than a jungle hen. The early morning 
revealed the beauties of 
THE GARDEN 
laid out in front and at the sides of the rest- 
house and well-stocked with attractive flowers 
as well as ornamental trees, very much due, 
we believe, to the public spirit of Mr. T. Fari' 
of Bogawantalawa. One of our party recently 
returned from home, declared that such splendid 
hydrangeas were not to Vie seen anywhere else 
in Ceylon or even in the old country ; these 
and white foxgloves especially attracted the 
ladies, as well as the irises, carnations, roses, 
ivyclad trees and the porch covered with pas- 
sion fruit, tactonia and roses. Aloes of several 
descriptions and some flourishing clumps of New 
Zealand tiax (Phormium tcnax) were noted, and 
the line 
BLACK SOIL 
of the garden appears to be typical of Horton Plains 
generally, ami was considered by Dr. Gardner 
in 1847 as far superior to the Nuwara Eliya 
soil. On the other hand what is to be done iu 
a region where 110 sun is visible for a month 
at a time — where for seven or eight months of 
the year at least, residence is practically pro- 
hibited and any kind of outdoor cultivation wo 
suppose impossible? 
A morning walk of two miles to 
" THE WORLD'S END," 
crossing the river by a bridge below the rest' 
house and in front of ;> cataract ami pool, iu 
which trout ought to rejoice (1,000 alexins 
were put in by Messrs. Young and Bawkes 
a week later) and along the patanas into the 
jungle, was very enjoyable. Begonias, mosses 
and a few orchids were gathered, and 
then we emerged from the forest on 
to a grassy knoll from which the Southern 
Province lay stretched out to the horizon which 
rested, apparently, on the seabordcr. The day 
was too cloudy to reveal the far distance ; 
