510 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Feb. 1, 1901. 
In Octob»r,. November and December tbere is the 
nocth-east mousoou whiuh causes raia all over the 
island, so that there are two rainy seasons a je ^r 
in the south-westeru parts of the island. During 
these months of the north-east Blonsoon the rain- 
fall at a time is so heavy in tlie north-west and 
east of toe island that there is relatively little 
profit to vegetation thereby, the country being 
completely tinder water for a few weeks and parched 
with drought for the remainder of the year, as 
Dr. Trimen, the late Director of Peradeniya Gar- 
dens, who died soiue two years ago, puts it.* 
Therefore one has, as Trimen says, to distinguish 
between a wet and dry Ceylon. The wet portion, 
which is specially regarded in cultivation, of any 
importance, is indeed the best known, but it only 
includes on an average a third part of the island, 
and the dry part. — generally adopted for the culti- 
vation of products of little value — the other two- 
third parts. By this alone it can at once be ex- 
plained how it is that Ceylon,- with an area of about 
one-half of that of Java, has only 3 million inhabi- 
tants against the 25 millions of Java. There can be 
also really no analogy between dry Ceylon arid the 
central and eastern parts of Java where a pro- 
nounced period of drought is felt. 
Not less great are the differences between the 
soil of the two islands. The entire country of 
Ceylon consists of ironstone, chiefly gneiss. The 
weathering product of this hard sort of rock 
has a peculiar copper or almost tile-red colour 
which o.-iused the ancient Sinhalese to call this 
island " Oopperland "f. Although here and there, 
rarely, hot springs are found in Ceylon, yet no- 
where is the brittle volcanic stones found — a stone 
which generally provides in Java a soil with such 
favourable physical qualities. Finally it appears to 
me, that — although in a much less degree than both 
the other factors — the violence of the winds in 
Ceylon as compared with tho-ie of Java, must be 
regarded. That these wmds must be often heavy 
there, is apparent, in view of the lay of the island 
from a glance at the chart. If one stands on the 
high cliffs from which Point de Galle derives its 
name (Oala in Sinhalese is hill or rock|j between 
that high-standing place and the distant unknown 
regions which surround the South Pole no more 
land is to be fot^hd. 
Although, especially on a brief visit, from the 
nature of the case, one does not at once perceive 
the influence of these violent winds on plantations, 
yet in this connection may be mentioned the large 
number of wind-breaks which they are obliged to 
plant in many places between the tea, for which 
purpose the grevillea rohusta is generally used. 
This influence, as it seems to me at least, is 
more apparent on the primitive vegetaliou of the 
hills. As I desire to avoid the reproach of being 
led by passing, and therefore false impressions 
made on me by this vegetation, let me again 
cite Trimen in his remarks on vegetation at the 
altitude of 5,000 ft. and above. With the exception 
of certain grassy tracts all the hills are 
forest-clad over their summits — so he says. " The 
climate is generally very wet, and the forest hag 
special characteri.stics. All the trees are evergreen, 
for the most part rather small, hard wooded and of 
very slow growth ; they stand close together and 
form a very dark Jungle" The dense iinder-growth 
is very largely made of grfgaiiou^ plants known 
by the Sinhalese under the name of nilu. These 
are a species of Strobilanthes. 
' H Trimen, " On the Flora of Ceylon; especially as 
•ifected by climate." Journal of Botany, Vol 24, 1886. 
t See the introduction to that splendid work of 
Messrs. Sarasin, Enfjehnisse, naturvnssenschafllichcr 
Forshungen anf C'eijlon, Wiesbaden 1893. 
\ Btit the Sinhalese name ia Gdlla, not Gala, and 
baa nothing to do witb rocks.— J3-/''. 
The hypothesis seems to me not too hazardous 
that the character of these Ceylon hill jungles, 
so different from similar high-lying virgin forests 
of most of our Javanese hills, must be attributed 
to, not only, the difference in the soil, but partly 
also to the fiequent heavy winds that rage there. 
Setting aside this hypothesis, it is a fact, that, 
on the hills, even of tlie most humid parts ol Ceylon 
no vegetation is to be met which can be compared 
with that on our Javanese hill-tops in moist dis- 
tricts at an elevation between 5,000 and 0,500 feet. This 
great t. tference in character strikes one forcibly, 
coming from here, especially on account of the 
dearth of the large number of huge high trunkn 
found in our, as regards humidity, similar hill 
forests. As a whole it lacks further the peculiar 
cachet of equational luxuriousness so very charac- 
teristic of most of cur hill-tops, at least of West Java. 
On the other hand, indeed, the same characteristic 
appears in the primitive forests of the low lands 
of the south-west wet Cej-lon. This appears 
clearly from the description of Trimen at p. 328 
{loc. cit.) of such jungle. 
On 24th June early in the morning we set oat 
on our journey to Peradeniya, nhich is 3i hours' 
journey by rail. Going to the Fort station, situated 
in the centre of the city, we made two observations, 
which may be incidentally set down here. The 
first is that Colombo creates a much pleasanter, 
one might say a homelier, impression than 
Penang or Singapore, because in both these, as i| 
were improvised cities, the original native popula. 
tion is supplanted by others, whilst in Colombo, 
as in our Dutch- Indian cities, they hold their 
own. The second is that the Chinese element is en- 
tirely absent, not, as it was told to us, because the 
Chinese are systematically kept out, but as traders 
they cannot cope with the specially cunning 
"Moormen," the descendants of the Arabs and 
natives. The absence of Chinese artizaus is not 
however explained by this reason. 
For the first three stations, Heneratgoda amongst 
them (of which hereafter), one continues in the 
fiat country. Only after 40 miles by rail the 
country begins to be hilly. Small hills appear 
covered with vegetation from top to bottom. After 
this one arrives in a more and more beautiful 
and grand mountain district, and one climbs over 
a mountain pass of about 1,700 feet in elevation to 
descend again to Peradeniya about 180 feet. Al- 
though very fine and often indeed impressive ttie 
character of this landscape is quite different from 
that along one line of hills in the Preanger- 
Eegenoies. Instead of the relatively great and broad 
foreground surrounded from behind by high vol- 
canoes with their peculiar shapes, not only are 
the shapes of the mountains and hills yonder 
different— fantastic and often cupola-shaped— but 
there is a Jack of much foreground generally when 
once one gets into the mountain districts, since 
the levelling process is so much more gradual than 
with us. The smallest hills are so many hard 
masses of gneiss which require ages and ages to 
experience ary deterioraton of consequence by the 
gradual weathering. It will strike anyone who 
knows the Sawahs of Java how much lower is the 
state of rice cultivation in Ceylon. The rice-fields 
seem to be badly cared for, in disorder and generally 
poor. The reason is chiefly because no nursery beds 
are used, but the grain is sown direct on the field. 
But in other respects there is by far not that 
trouble bestowed on rice-fields which our i.atives 
take over their Smcahs. The Ceylon Government 
has taken enough trouble for the improvement of rice 
culture, it has however not succeeded m overcoming the 
peculiar psychical bond that exists between 
husbandry and the conservative [proclivities in the 
Sinhalese husbandman. 
There is another matter, and that is to our eyes 
therelali/ely little bignifioance attached to the bamboo 
Almost exclusively one sees the yellow variety o 
