LITERARY REGISTER SUPPLEMENT: 
AND CEYLON 
"NOTES AND QUERIES" 
fUnr'er this heading, in fntnre, we mean to pive a sm»\\ " Sapplement " with our Tropical Agrictdlurist, 
from quarter to quarter, accordiog as there is matter of auffioient value so to be preserved.] 
A DUTCH NATURALIST ON CEYLON: 
SPEECH BY PROF. DR. M. TREiTH. 
The Society for the promotion of natural science, 
meflic-ine ainl snrfjery hehl its annual cieiifiral 
iDfeling on 29th Ontober in tiie hall of tiie Univer- 
sity at Anisiei<.lam, wlien Prof. M. Trcuh of 
Bu'itenznrg at tiie invitation df the general council 
gave a chat on a journey made by him two years 
ago to i-he island of Ceylon. Fmm this address we 
take the folloAing. (tlie translation being nia^'e 
for the Cei/lon Ob ewer from the Indische 
Mercxirr of 4tli Nov. 1902:— 
" In Ceylon it can often blow fiercely, and it is 
probably due to this circumstance that in the 
higher mountain districts the plant growth of the 
island makes no luxuriant impression. In our 
Java one meets with higii trees on mountains 
5,000 feeb above sea level: Ceylon has on the 
mountains only underwood.* These mountains, 
which are found in the f-outh-western and soutbein 
portion of ilTe island dominate the whole nature 
of the island. Indeed, they as good as con,- 
fine the rainfall to their domain. As far as the 
mountains reach, therefore, Ceylon is moist and 
fertile. To the north and east of the nnuintains, 
■which pass very suddenly into low, hilly land, 
tlie soil is arid, infertile. One speaks, tlierefote, 
of 'wet 'and 'dry' Ceylon. And the transition 
is so striking, that -witiiin a qaartei -of-an-hour, 
travelling by railway through the mountains, one 
can pass f.om dripping rain and cold mist into 
scorching heat. Here and tliere the Hollander 
finds in Ceylon (he traces of the sojourn ot his 
forefathers. For nearly two centuries the 
Hollanders carried on trade in Ceylon, and for 150 
years the island was to be considered as entirely 
ruled by the E. I. Company. In 170G, Iiowever, 
England was so good ns to take possession of it; 
temp narily for tis ; and since then it has also in 
this respect demonstrated the fact that ' one must 
know how to give and to take,' in particular to 
understand and cultivate the last mentioned. 
[What about Biitain handingover Jnva, the richest 
island in the World to Holland?— Ed. L B.] 
" A peculiar factor in Ceylon society is tlie crow. 
Compared with the crows of Colombo the Nether- 
lands' crow is a parayon of modesty. The Colombo 
crow compels you either to keep every window 
closed, or to keep all movable property under lock 
» This is surely going too far— at 5,000, and even 
0,000 feet, the forests are very fat from being all 
undergrowth. — ED. L.R. 
and key. If one does not observe this precaution,, 
every portable ai'ticle will soon disappear fr(im the 
traveller's luggage. The cunning and boldness of 
the crows have led the inhabitants to entertain a 
certain superstition regarding them. Thus it is 
known, that once a crow carried off in succession 
the complete apparatus of a spectacle-maker. The 
collection was found again later ; the different 
shining objects were bound together with straws, 
intended for the adornir.eDt of the nest, in which a 
new progeny of crows was to be bom. Tlie crows 
are too slim for the Ceylon dogs— which moreover 
fill a very similar role to those of Constantinople. 
If one is sitting with a dainty morsel in front of 
him, a crow appears before his nose, at first only 
to keep watch until a comrade comes. The latter 
approaches the dog from behind and at a conve- 
nient opportunity pecks him in a sensitive portion 
of the body under the tail. The dog turns round 
angrily, and ciow number one whips off with the 
bone, which he consumes with his mate in the gutter 
of a roof, whilst the cheated dog may search in vain 
for it. The cows are protected by the Buddhist 
teaching, which forbids the killini; of anima s. In 
the time of the East India Company the killing of 
these birds Was forbidden, because it was known 
th it the crows iielped in distributing the seeds of 
the cinnamon. 
" The chief street of Colombo swarms with gem 
merchants who in their little slio) s carry on a trade 
with which even a Chinese has nob been able to con- 
tend. These shopkeepers, of mixed Arab and Indian 
blood, are probably the sharpesb dealers in the 
world. Tlieir presentee has only this advantage, 
that Ceylon is freed from the Chinese. Thei e was 
once a Chinese mereliant. Bub, as the man c mid not 
succeed, he hastened to become a Buddhist ])riest. 
"Although the Buddhist teaching prescribes, 
that one must kill no animal, it does not tbei efore 
appear to prevent the animal's life fioin being 
sometimes a torture. One knows that the S'ldia- 
lest, when he brings his turtle to market, turns 
the living aniiaal over, so that it lies on its shell 
and then in succession cuts off and sells the por- 
tions tliat appear most attractive to tlie buyers. 
Tlie miniature oxen also, that serve as draft beasts 
for little carts n;ust also pay tribute with great 
pain to the artistic sense of the Sinhalese : on the 
hide of this little beast the owner tattoos his name 
arabesques whole pictures. 
"The town of Colombo displays in its 
type of houses its Netherlands' origin, Tli« 
Dutch church both inside and outside has the 
