General Geographical Description of Ceylon. 
55 
CHAPTER II. 
General Description of Ceylon— The Harbours — Monsoons — Climate 
—Rivers — Internal Comnuinications — Soil — General Divisions — 
British Dominions Trincomalee Malativoe — —Jafnapatam 
Man oar. 
Island of Ceylon lies between 5° 5V and f 53' north 
latitude; and between 79^^ 43' and 81° 56' east longitude. It is 
situated at the entrance of the bay of Bengal, by which it is 
bounded on the north. On the north-west it is separated from 
the Coromandel coast by the gulph of Manaar, a narrow strait 
full of shoals, and impassable by large ships. It is distant 
about sixty leagues from Cape Coinerin, the southern point 
of the peninsula of India, which divides the Coromandel and 
Malabar coasts. Its circumference is computed to be about 
nine hundred miles; and its length, from Point Pedro at the 
northern extremity to Donderhead at the southern, is about 
three hundred miles. Its breadth is very unequal, being in 
some parts only from forty to fifty miles, while in others it 
extends to sixty, seventy, and even one hundred. Towards 
the southern parts it is much broader than in the northern, 
and nearly resembles a ham in shape. The peninsula of Jaf- 
napatam has hence received from the Dutch the name of 
Ilamsheel, and Point Pedro they call Hamsheel Point. 
As you approach the island from the sea, it presents a 
fresher green to the eye, and has every way a more fertile 
