February 1891.] 
THt tflOPICAL AQRIQULtUm^T. 
561 
was the 5a<a bamboo. The elegant areka palm is at 
home in this region and the drive is altogether a pretty 
one. The approach to Labugama is indicated by 
signs of lessened traffic in the shape of a 
green grass covering over the grey gneiss •‘metal," 
which latter might seem superfluous if the size 
of the spare pipes lying alongside the road at 
intervals did not remind us of the heavy weights 
the road had to bear and many have yet to bear, 
in case of damage to the water supply source by 
exceptional floods. Those who constructed the road 
for the purposes of the Waterworks could ecavcely 
have anticipated, even in thi ir wildest dreams, the 
convenience it will prove, if, as is believed, an eleph- 
ant kraal is arranged at Labugama in honour of the 
approaching visit of the heir to the imperial throne 
of Russia, The completion of this road will enable 
the Governor and his guests — the Tsarevitch and 
his suite and others, — to drive u interruptedly over 
the 234 miles from Queen’s House to the margin 
of the Lake. Then the boat will be ready for the 
mile of Lake, and the hors s which will be waiting 
at the southern end of the water will carry their 
riders by a well-cleared path, over the distance of 
IJ- mile to the intended scene of the "kraal,” into 
which the now freely roaming and peacefully 
feeding monarohs of our forests are to be driven 
for human delectation- — for the gratiflcation of 
that hunting instinct which clings so tenaciously 
to our nature, even in those highest in rank and 
most advanced in civilization. The resthouse and 
Mr. Gibson’s bungalow are likely to be utilized for 
the lodging of royal ies and vice royalties, while there 
will be, uf course, the usual temporary "Kraal Town” 
formed of oadjans, bamboos and similar materials. 
The kraal, if held, has every chance of being success- 
ful, for there are three herds of elephants, with 
which Mr. Gibson has established relaiions as 
amicable as those which now exist between the 
British lion and the Russian bear, and the benefit 
of his intimate knowledge of the haunts and habits 
of his friends of trunk raising and trumpeting fame 
cannot but be of great value to the leaders of the 
forthcoming “ Keddah,” as they call a “ C 'rral ” in 
India. The four-feet path formed round the 
margin of the Lake is, lor the present and with 
reference to the approaching kraal, closed to the 
public, and we saw a few coolies going over its 
course with reference, we undi rstood, to clearing 
it of all obstruction. To a Prince amongst whose 
future dominions the Caspian Sea is but one of 
many inland Lakes, the artificial lakelet of one 
mile long by about a quarter broad, in the Labugama 
valley, may seem but "a little one.” But sel- 
dom in his travels can the Tsarevitch behold 
a scene more lovely, more intensely brooded 
over, normally, by the genii of silence and 
solitude — silence and solitude which will of course 
give place to sounds of genial festivity, when the 
representative of British royalty entertains in wild- 
wood hospitality the heir of a monarch who, in a 
martial sense and the sense of owning a vast 
portion of the earth’s surface, is amongst the most 
puissant of “ Great Powers.” But it seemed to us, 
on the occasion of our visit, almost desecration to 
break the silence of hill and forest and fluid, all 
Bleeping around us as we glided in the hours before 
gloaming over the mirror.like surface of the im- 
pounded waters, not of the Wakoya alone, but of 
many other minor streams, distinguishable by the 
little “bays ” and the better grown groups of forest 
trees at their inlets into the Lake. We were 
interested to learn, however, that submerged by 
the waters over which we floated were the site of a 
former village and a few rice fields. A sm -11 tope 
of coconut palms on the shore of the Lake had 
been levelled by elephants for tbe sake of the 
grateful feed yielded by tho (eodei: tops of the 
'“rees. As we approached the northern end 
where the waters of the Wakoya lose them- 
Sfi ves lovingly in the bosom of the Lake, 
memory awoke associations which led me to 
exclaim : " Why, here is a bit of the Trossachs, and 
there” (as we skirted a beautiful islet, seven 
acres in area) “is Elhn’s Isle 1” Mr. Gibson replied 
“That is just what Mr. John Ferguson said, when 
he visited the Lake;” end then our good friend 
expatiated on the delight which Sir William 
Gregory expressed with the Lake and its framework 
of juogle clothed hills. Sir William having cuiti- 
vated a special taste for the beautiful, his judgment 
is of special value. He has seen all that Italy 
has to show, including what no one who has 
seen it can ever forget, the scene from Fiesole, 
outside Florence, bathed in tbe glories 
of a sum tier sunset ; but when I once ventured the 
opinion that we had scenery and sky effects in 
the mountains of Ceylon, which compared favour- 
ably with the beauties even of Italy, his response 
was: “Compare with Italy 1 Why, Ceylon has a beauty 
of its own with which that of Italy cannot be 
compired Even in climate portions of Ceylon 
far surpass Italy.” That was the testimony of a 
competent au hority who had travelled exten- 
sively and observed keenly, with an eye open to 
the beautiful in nature, and I can fancy the 
author of ‘‘Lake Gregory” finding consolation in the 
f lot that in the exquisitely lovely solitudes which 
surround the mountain mere of Labugama, no 
exigencies of a racecourse, as at Nuwara Eliya, 
will intervene, to convert what might have been a 
full and beautiful body of water into what is largely 
a series of ugly marshes. But lest I should fur- 
ther mar the tra- quibzing and peaceful influences 
of the silent and solemn beauty which reigns over 
the waters of Labugama and the hills and forests 
which guard it and are mirrored in its bosom 
let me hero make another pause, I cannot 
help recalling the terms of an epitaph 
I saw in Northern India : “ Be still ; she sleeps 1 ” 
The being who sleeps in this case is the spirit- 
creation of a poet, who described her as 
“ Lady of the Mere, 
Lone sitting by the shores of old Komanoe.” 
The ciroumstanoes and surroundings of the 
Colombo Water Supply Reservoir at Labugama, 
are of a specially favourable nature. The catch- 
ment area of nearly 2,400 acres is covered with 
dense jungle or forest and the streams which flow 
into the Lake from hills varying in height from 
600 to 1,500 feet above sea-level, run over boulder 
beds, so that the very minimum of earthy matter 
is carried into the reservoir, while twigs and 
branches are intercepted at the mouths of the 
Wakoya and the minor streams. The sluice 
arrangements, too, for letting out, at the 
bottom of the reservoir, flood waters and such 
solid matters as may have subsided, are very 
elficient, and Mr, Burnett pointed out, in his final and 
most able report, how they could be made still more so. 
The usual depth of water at tbe bund end of the 
Lake is 60 feet, and Colombo is supplied from 
the top portion, not lower down than 36 feet in 
any case and as a general rule from not more 
than 12 feet below the surface. Added to this 
coedition in favour of the purity of the water, it ia 
passed slowly twice through 560 feet of copper gauze 
strainers of 900 meshes to the square inch. With 
such precautions and the keeping a margin of 
from 30 to 50 feet round the Lake free of forest 
so that a grass sward forms over it, there is no 
occasion for filtering beds at Labugama. Indeed 
I Mr. B rnett showed, that, with doubled sluices 
and other expedients, the enormous quantities of 
flood and waste water wflioh are now disoharfied jnt^ 
