Oct. 1, 1902.1 THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
217 
of the nature of a peinianentsavannah, the natural 
re-afforebtation of the greater part of which is iiu- 
possible under the present climatic conditions." 
The above descriptions, written years ago by 
Davy and Baker, apply equally well to the pre- 
sent condition of the country. I may say that 
its general appearance is very similar to the South 
Downs of England, more particularly their steep 
escarpments in the neighbourhood of the well- 
known Berkshire White Horse. In place, however, 
of the elastic turf which makes those downs the 
finest galloping ground in the world, the hills are 
covered with a short, coarse grass which frequently 
grows in clumps, whicii makes progression on 
horseback somewhat difficult. In the convolu- 
tions of the hills where the ground is marshy, 
small clumps of trees and jungle grow thickly, 
preserved by the wet from the summer grassfires. 
These marshes, unless the country is well-known, 
likewise impede the horseman, who is liable to 
be badly bogged if he endeavours to ride over 
them. In spite of these difficulties and drawbacks 
a flourishing pack of foxhounds (tlie Errebodde 
hunt) holds its annual meets on these downs, and 
many a good gallop is enjoyed by the sporting 
planters in pursuit of the wily 'Jack.' The hills 
are composed of gneiss, for the most part unstra- 
tified, but in many places convoluted and distorted. 
Above this is the mica-schist, occasionally garnet- 
iferous, iu many sections on the hill sides it lies 
beautifully stratified directly on tlie underlying 
gneiss ; in other places quartz is interposed, and 
its presence has no doubt given rise to speculation 
aa to its being auriferous. Bands of iron pyrites 
are not uncommon. The soil is composed of these 
disintegrated rocks with outcrops of gneiss. It is 
a Ittle difficult to say how far Government rights 
extend, for as far as I can gather no complete 
survey of the country has as yet been made. But 
the question of the destruction of crops by the 
movements of troops is one of no great moment 
as there is but little cultivation, and the few 
paddy fields in the folds of the hills are of limited 
extent, and can be easily avoided. 
1 am told by competent authority that the 
country cannot be surpassed for instructional pur- 
poses in scouting and outpost duties ; if anything 
it is too difficult, owing to the irregular and con- 
fused character of the ground. I am informed 
that many parts of the surrounding amphitheatre 
of hills, with their rocky, steep and frequently 
precipitous sides, closely resemble the kopjes of 
South Africa. As a country for infantry, both 
mounted and dismounted, it is unrivalled, but 
owing to the absence of roads and other drawbacks 
it is at present not suited for artillery. 
The climate is a decidedly good one, certainly 
for nine months out ot the twelve. From October 
to January the north-east monsoon brings very 
wet weather with violent thunder storms; towards 
the end of January the weather clear and be- 
comes fine and warm in the daytime and very cold 
at night, hoar frost being probably not unknown 
I on the patanas. The burst of the south-west mon- 
soon in May, which brings wet weather to the 
! Colombo side of the island, only produces a few 
' showers, but a persistent wind blows from this 
' direction until September and the gradual setting 
in of the other monsoon. From the middle of .Tune 
to the end of September men would take little 
' harm from bivouacking in the open air, as the nights 
are perfect and not too cold. The maximum shade 
temperature in summer is probably not more than 
eighty-four degreesi and the minimum fifty degrees, 
The rainfall is between fifty and sixty inches, * the 
far greater quantity falling in October, November 
and December. In such an ideal climate and 
situation, 4,000 feet above the level of the sea, at 
the present is the camp for the Boer prisoners at 
Diyatalawa in the Province of Uva. And in this 
camp some 6,000 men have lived a healthy bub 
monotonous life for tl-e last twelve months ; mono- 
tonous because 5,000 of them are prisoners, and 
the remainder British soldiers occupied in the 
deadly monotonous duty of looking after them. 
If Diyatalawa can justify itself as one of the 
healthiest stations in the East when its occupants 
are prisoners and jailors, how much more is it 
likely to justify it were it occupied by men in the 
full enjoyment of their liberty ? 
By the time these lines are in print it is possi- 
ble that the war will be over and the prisoners, 
or many of them, will be returning to their own 
country. 
What is to become of Diyatalawa camp, witli 
everything now ready for the occupation of some 
0,000 troops ? Will it be sold for old iron or be 
kept permanently aa a station for British troops? 
It would be a real boon if only the English regi- 
ment in the island was stationed here instead of 
being broken up into fragments at^Colombo, Kandy, 
Trincomalee and Nuwara Eliya, where the rout in 
duties of a garrison inevitably tend to mental stag- 
nation and peofessional deterioration. 
When dealing with the sanitation of an area, 
the most correct method of coming to a right con- 
clusion regarding it is by enquiring into the diseases 
of the native population, and discriminating be- 
tween the preventible diseases and those that are 
dependant on local conditions. This method 
should be followed in preference to that frequently 
adopted of judging of a locality by the health of 
those newly arrived In it. in this instance the 
latter method would be particularly fallacious, in- 
as much as of the two British regiments sta- 
tioned here, one came from the hardships of the 
investment of Ladysmith, and the other from the 
malarious district of Duni Dum, after long service 
in India. In spite of these drawbacks, the medical 
officer iu charge of the former of these regiments 
writes in most enthusiastic terms of the physique 
and healthiness of the men after they had tour 
months' experience of the place, i. e. after they 
had got rid of the diseases they had brought with 
them or contracted from the Boers. The latter 
regiment has been here for nearly nine months, 
and was in a very sickly condition on arrival. 
Some seventy men have been either invalided home 
or sent away for change, but how far their com- 
plaints were due to local causes or were legacies 
from Dum-Dum and elsewhere it is difficult to say, 
but India has probably most to answer for. With 
regard to malaria, which was rife in the regiment 
on arrival, it is noteworthy that an examination 
in August of 600 men, which included a draft of 
150 men direct from home, showed that only two 
men had an attack of malarial fever for the first 
time here. One of these was a man of the draft, 
It is interesting in this connection to note that 
only three speciments of the genus Anopheles 
have so far been captured here ; one by Mr. Green, 
the Government Entomologist, and two by myself. 
* Baudarawela three miles from Diyatalawa and 
with a similar climate has a rainfall of (il'SO inches ; 
40 81 of which falls in the north-east mousoon. It 
has 127 rainy days : average of twenty-five years, 
Compare Nuwara Eliya. 
