February 2, 1891.] THE TROPJOAL AGRICULTURIST. 565 
the sea-ooast being reduced by about 25 miles. 
The probability seems to be that some geological 
catastrophe is shadowed forth in the legend. At 
present the belief is that Ceylon is gradually being 
upraised in about the proportion that the mountain 
tops are lowered by disintegration from tropioal 
heat and rainfall. One of the associations connected 
with the Kelani is that Bhuwaneha Bahu VII., 
King of Cotta, who about the middle of the sixteenth 
century allied himself with the Portuguese, 
was accidentally shot by a gentleman of that nation 
on the banks of the river. Half a century ago the 
Kelani Valley in the neighbourhood of Planwella 
was a favourite resort of elephant hunters, and 
I have a vivid recollection of poor young WaUett, 
of the Roads Department, son of Major Wallett, 
being killed by one of those animals, and the 
immediate vengeance taken, at considerable risk to 
their own lives, by Capt. Payne Galway and other 
friends of the victim. 
But the main object of our trip down the river 
was to visit Malwana, the very name of which is 
redolent of flowers and sweetness. We were subse- 
quently glad that the boatmen, instead of landing us 
n the mouth of the fossa (the wana, or artificial 
water channel) of 'he ancient fort, took us furlhfi- 
down. We were thus compelled to make a long 
circuit, through villages, bazaars and fields, 
which gave us new impressions of what purely 
native life and conditions are. We did not 
traverse roads other than the native paths 
which, in all probability, are unaltered, save 
in being worn by the feet of succeeding 
generations, since the days when the Lusitanian 
Dorns had here their palatial country residences, 
in connection with the fort on the river bank, 
the contour of which we were able to trace 
amidst the jungle which has overgrown alike moats 
and walls and what looked like a corner battery, 
looking up the river. Proceeding along the jungle 
paths we were surprised to find that they led us into 
quite a populous village with a well supplied and 
lively bazaar. Two well-built mosques and the 
appearance of well-to-do “Moormen” in the 
bazaars showed the predominanco of the 
Muhammadan element in this busy and beautiful 
place. Amongst our party was the author of 
“ Inge Va;” and by the medium of a peculiar 
dialect of Tamil, sometimes hard to understand, 
a leading Moorman boutique-keeper gave us, through 
our companion of Dravidian tongue tendencies, 
a good deal of information as to the site and 
traditions of Malwana. “ It has that name,” 
he said, “ but the people now all call it Wdlgama.” 
In taking a circuit to the fort we passed through ex- 
ceedingly fertile, rich-soiled fields of grass, and grain, 
with patches of vegetables and groves of fruit trees. 
The crossing of the Malwana-ela by trees laid from 
Bide to side with a very shaky bambu hand rail 
tried the nerves of some of us ; but when an hour 
and a half had been spent in interesting explora- 
tions, we all felt that w'e should not have 
missed this glimpse into rural and village life on the 
banks of the “Pleasant” river and so near Colombo, 
on any account. And this although no inscriptions, 
ancient or modern, rewarded our search. We heard 
of and examined fine slabs of stone in the verandah 
of a mosque and that of a superior Moorish house, 
but there was no vestige of lettering on them, 
and they had been taken not from the European 
fort we had come to see, but from the more 
conspicuous ruins of a native one on a height 
lower down, tho river of the existenoo of which we 
had no previous idea. An intelligent Moorman, 
who acted as our guide, told us it was known as 
“ Hadi uaiula,” and that tradition connected it 
with a Tamil Rajah who onco roigued hero, It 
7i 
is surely curious that the Portuguese and Dutch 
writers who have described Malwana take no 
notice of the more ancient fort which probably 
was fairly intact in the Portuguese period. If any 
reader is in possession of information regard- 
ing the alleged Tamil fort or can point us to 
any references to it in the literature of Ceylon, 
we shall feel indebted for the courtesy. 
Near the Tamil fort and the Moorish residence 
already referred to, were some evidently very 
aged trees, jaks and bilimbis especially, — of un- 
usual size and gnarled to a degree- There was 
one lady in our party, and she was invited into 
the Muhammadam abode, placed on a chair and 
intently stared at by the women and children, 
the one disappointment being that she could not 
speak Tamil. Before leaving this interesting place 
we ascended a great boulder which juts out into the 
river and commands an extensive view, including 
the vast sandbank already mentioned as lying in 
the Kelani, between Kaduwela and Malwana. 
The historical references to this fertile and 
really beautiful place we leave our companion 
who is specially well read in such lore to sum- 
marize : — 
“ Malwana was chosen by the Portuguese more as 
a country-seat for the Governors of Colombo and 
a sanatorium for the troops than as a military 
post. Sa e Menezes says:— 
‘ Tho Governors held their court in Malmuana 
[Maivana], three leagues from Oolumbo, in sumptuous 
Palaces, which they called Rosapani: here three times 
in each year came to visit them the principal Zingalas 
of the Island, who brought with them large presents, as 
a sign of their friendship and allegiance.’ 
Ribeiro says : — 
Maivana, was situated on the bank of the river, 
about three leagues from Colombo; moreover, it 
covers a small area with a square redoubt, without 
any flank. In it resided a Captain, Ensign and Sergeant, 
and tlie soldiers who went there from the hospital 
became convalescent and returned to their c-ampa, It 
had a church, a chaplain, a storehouse for provision 
and ammunition. ( 
To this Le Grand adds 
‘ Malwana never was reckoned a fortress ; it is only 
a country ssat at which tho Captains-General usually 
resided : they had a handsome palaoe there called 
Ji osa-pani ; and as the air was believed to be purer 
there than anywhere else in the whole land, those 
who were convalescent were sent there to recover 
their strength.' 
The Captain-General of Colombo, according to 
Ribeiro, assumed the title of ‘ King of Malwana.’ 
In the curious map in Spilbergen is entered ‘ Malle- 
uano,’ and in the itinerary in the same work the 
name is given as ‘Malevano.’ Baldaeus does not 
mention Malwana; but he gives the place in his 
map, which also has ‘lassepane.’ Heydt in his 
map of the Colombo disawani gives ‘ Maluvane ’ 
as a fort, but puts ‘ Rassepanne ’ a long way off 
westwards. Fraser’s great map gives ‘Rassapane’ 
a little north-east of Malwana. The Portuguese 
‘palaces’ seem to have disappeared soon after 
the Dutch conquest; for when Dr. Daalmans (who 
calls the place ‘ Malluanen ’) accompanied Gov- 
ernor Pijl thither in 1G87 they were entertained 
in a hut covered with white cloth. “ In 173G 
a detachment of troops, 82 strong, sent by 
the Dutch to put down a revolt among the 
Chaliyas of the Siyano Korale, was driven from 
Attanagalla by a large body of lowcountry Sinhaleso 
and Kandyans, with a loss of two field-pieces beside 
ammunition and baggage, and forced to retire to 
Malwana. Tho small fort that had been thrown 
up here was, however, attacked by the Disawa of 
the Four and Seven Korales at the head of somo 
thousands of men, and was utterly demolished, the 
guard of lasooreens perishing in the llamcs. This 
