of Ceyhn. 57 
mountains, covered with thick forests, and full of almost impe- 
netrable jungles. The woods and mountains completely sur- 
round the dominions of the King of Candy, and seem destined 
by nature to defend him against those foreign enemies, whose 
superior skill and power have deprived him of the flat and 
open tracts on the sea-coast. The most lofty range of moun- 
tains divides the island nearly into two parts, and so com- 
pletely separates them from each other, that both the climate 
and seasons on either side are essentially different. These moun- 
tains also terminate completely the effect of the monsoons, 
which set in periodically from opposite sides of them; so that 
not only the opposite sea-coast, but the whole country in the 
interior, suffers very little from these storms. 
The monsoons in Ceylon are connected with those on the 
Coromandel and Malabar coasts, and very nearly correspond 
with them; but they set in much sooner on the western than 
the eastern side of the island. On the west side, where Colombo 
lies, the rains prevail in the months of May, June, and July, 
the season when they are felt on the Malabar coast. This monsoon 
is usually extremely violent, being accompanied with dreadful 
storms of thunder and lightning, together with vast torrents of 
rain, and violent south-west winds. ’ During its continuance, the 
northern parts of the island are very little affected, and are even 
generally dry. In the months of October and November, when 
the opposite monsoon sets in on the Coromandel coast, it is the 
north of Ceylon which is affected, and scarcely any impression 
of it is felt in the southern parts, with the exception of some 
partial rains. 
These monsoons pass slightly over the interior, and seldom 
occasion any considerable inconvenience. But this part of the 
I 
