108 
Village of Nigumha. 
the management of the works, and the care of supplying 
both its o^m subjects and the Candians. In order to keep a 
constant check on the latter, the Dutch were careful not to 
allow them too great a quantity at once ; and whatever 
remained at Putallom, after supplying the demands of each 
year, they destroyed, that it might not be seized upon by 
surorise. 
JL 
xl little farther southward lies Chiiou, a village where the 
Dutch have erected bouses for the entertainment of strangers. 
It stands on the banks of a broad river ; witli another at no 
great distance. The country around this place is particularly 
wild ; and perhaps there is no road in the island more dan- 
gerous to travel, from the multitude of wild beasts with which 
it is infested. To the southward of Chiiou elephants are nu- 
merous, and are hunted here with considerable success. 
From this place nothing worthy of observation occurs till 
we arrive at Nigumbo, a very pleasant village, within twenty- 
four miles of Columbo. The flat and open country, to which 
we are now come, presents a most beautiful prospect to the 
traveller. The fields are every where fertile, and clothed 
with a profusion of productions which ofter a charming 
variety to the eye. The pastures are of the greenest and 
richest kind ; and the fields are peculiarly well adapted to 
rice, from the constant supply of water ; as the whole is very 
easi!}^ inundated during the rainy season. The number of 
rivers which intersect, and shady hedges which surround these 
rich fields, joined to the beautiful topes or groves every where 
interspersed among them, at once contribute to their fertility, 
and give them the most luxurious appearance. 
Nigumbo is situated on the sea-coast in a most picturesque 
