THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[February 2 , 1891 . 
s4 
notice the record of our boating trip down the 
Kelani river to the Bridge of Boats. 
Before we start downwards from Hanwella, on our 
nicely platformed double-canoe, comfortably roofed, 
and prettily ornamented with the tender leaves of the 
coconut palm, with bunches of king coconuts and 
strings of kitul seeds, another of our party will recall 
some reminiscences of what was long the border 
post between the maritime posseesions of successive 
European powers and the mountain kingdom of 
Kandy: — 
“ Hanwella is not, so far as I know, mentioned by 
the Portuguese writers ; but they and the Dutch 
refer to the place under its alternative name of 
‘Gurubewula’ {? ‘ the great hilly eminence '), 
which is spelt ‘ Gtubebe ’ in Kibeiro’s map ; 
‘ Grouabely ’ in the map in Spilbergen ; 
• Grouably ’ in De I’lsle’s map in Le Grand ; 
‘ Gourbevile,’ ‘ Goerbevele ’ and ‘ Goerbeville ’ 
in Valentyn ; ‘Orwevel’ by Daalmans; and ‘Horren- 
webel ’ by Herport. The name ‘ Hanwella ’ does 
not undergo such transformations, the worst one 
being ‘ Anguellen ’ in Daalmans. The fullest 
description of Hanwella in the Du'ch period is 
given by Heydt, who accompanies his description 
with views of the fort from the east and the west 
(drawn in 1736) and a ground-plan. The fort was 
built of squared-stones, and bad two whole bastions 
facing landwards, two half-bastions facing east 
and west, and a horseshoe facing the river, 
while round it was a dry ditch. It was capable 
of mounting 32 cannon, but only half that number 
were actually mounted. The garrison consisted of 
only 30 to 50 men, who were sufficient, says Heydt, 
to withstand 60,000 or 60,000 natives, as the 
latter possessed no large field artillery. The fort 
was intended to guard the high road between 
Colombo and the Kandyan frontier, and also the 
waterway of the river. Inside the fort in Heydt’s 
time were a number of fine tamarind trees. The 
gateway was in the eastern side of the horseshoe. 
By the horseshoe on the edge of the river bank 
was a little summer-house. On the south western 
bastion was a belfry. The officer in command did 
not resite inside the fort but in a house outsid-*. 
While Malwana was to the Portuauese a pleasure 
retreat and sanatorium, to the Dutch Hanwella 
was a place of punishment for mutinous and 
disorderly soldiers, and was considered a penal 
settlement. A European student who was amongst 
those sent to this place left his opinion of it in some 
lines which Heydt quotes as follows : — 
la dit het Soboene Lmd ? leit Ai’atn hier begraven ? 
Is dit het Paradeys vaen Gottes Band geplant ? 
Kan hier ein ehrl 3 k Mensoh syn Dorst nog Hoenger 
laaven. 
Eu leven nog in weld ? 't gaat boven myn Ver»tand. 
En Patt- en Schlangen-Nest, voll Berg en tiepe 
Daalen, 
Blnd-Suygers sender Taal en Schagers die bet Geld 
Uyt SHCck en Betirsen hanlen, en wat nog hier is all 
Soot men ook wilt betaalen, Kreigt mens maar bev 
Gefall. 
Is dit het Paradeys, aoo ists van Gott vervlookt. 
Die meent verloost te syn, der Beed, Vast, en ver- 
sookt. 
This may be freely translated as follows: — 
Is this the lovely land ? does Adam’s corse here buried 
lie? 
Is this the Paradise of old planted by God’s own hand, 
Gan any honest man his thirst or hunger satisfy, 
And yet remain in health? That ’s more than I can 
understand. 
A nest of toads and snakes, and filled with hills and 
valleys d«ep. 
Bloodsuckers numberless, and taverners who filch the 
coin 
From out one’s puree ; and what one here considers 
all in all, 
I speak the truth, one only gets as chance may so befall. 
Is this the Paradise, then ’t is by God accurst, I say. 
Who wishes to be freed therefrom must fast, beseech, 
and pray.” 
Taking early tea before wo started from Hanwella, we 
carried our breakfast with us in the boat, the ai fresco 
meal being enjoyable, after we had feasted our eyes 
and hearts on the beauties of the river which has its 
origin on the Adam’s Peak ranges, and which along its 
whole course is bordered with varied and luxuriant 
verdure. The morning air was deliciously cool and 
as the sun became powerful; the heat was tempered 
by the north-east breezes, except on the few oc- 
casions when sharp bends in the course of the river 
placed masses of trees in front of us which interrupted 
the movement of the wind. The succession of long 
reaches, curves and frequent sandbanks gave interest 
to the early portion of our journey, and from first to 
last the river banks were densely lined with 
indigenous trees and coconut palms, if the distinc- 
tion is permissible. Prominent as an edging to the 
water was Hibiscus tiliaceus with its large heart- 
shaped leaves and yellow blossoms, the latter 
closely resembling those of the suriya {Thes- 
pesia populnea), with pandanws, largelilies, and numer- 
ous flowering creepers. We were interested in identi- 
fying (occasionally appealing to the boatmen for 
native names) the various trees on the banks, 
amongst which the rich purple-red foliage of the 
}mI was striking, as well as the scarlet tints of 
the leaves of Layerstroemia regina, the tplendid 
flowers of this tree having given place to 
seed spikes. But next to the bending coconut 
palms, the prevalent vegetat on was that of 
the graceful yellow stemmed feathery bambu, a 
plant which combines utility with beauty in 
an eminent degree. The framework of rafts 
is generally composed of bambus, and we saw some 
of these putting forth young shoots as they floated 
on the water. At night the bambus are the 
favourite haunts of thousands of fireflies which 
at intervals, as if by intel.igent direction or arrange- 
ment, hide and then flash out their brilliant phos- 
phoreecent light amidst the branches. Generally 
the bambus were in detached clumps, but occa- 
sionally they were in long rows, forming a 
series of the most exquisite gothic arches, as 
the bending branches of separate groups met 
above and crossed against the sky. Occasion- 
ally, at the multitudioouB ferries and bathing 
places, we got a glimpse inland, the expanse 
of an emerald gre n rice field reliev ing the 
monotony of the luxuriant tree vegetation. Scenes 
of ferrying, navigating by boats and rafts, fishing 
and bathing, wiih the flights of kingfishers, water- 
hens, and sandpipers imparted life to the river. 
But the very richness of tropical vegetation has its 
disadvantages, as from a river such as the 
Kelani, we see but little of what makes a voyage 
up the Khine, for instance, so interesting : 
towns and ruins, vineyards and orchards. 
Successive landings would be necessary, even 
to see spots with which interesting associations 
are connected : Kelani Buddhist temple for instance, 
the history of which, as a site at any rate, is said 
to go back some twenty centuries or more 
With a strange idea of morality, an ancient 
legend records that, as retribution, not for 
the sin of a Buddhist priest who was discovered 
m an intrigue with the Queen, but that of 
the monarch in putting the “ holy” man Jto 
death, the waves of the sea encroached on 
the land until 640 villages (470 of which were 
principally inhabited by divers for pearls) were 
overwhelmed, the distance between Kelani and 
