UPPEE RAMBODA. 
orange, until not a leaf was left on the coffee frees, 
Stili ill other parts of the country, tliey grew coffee, 
and made it pay^ got very fait- €’:‘ops, at a higher 
elevation than this, for instance in Maturata, Badullaj 
■and Hapu aie. also Dambagastalawa, in K'dmale, 
but at a high elevation it makes a great difference, 
as to whether it is an open patana country or a forest 
■one. One thing seems certain in present times ; yoi^ 
can plant coffee and get f.rir crops at a higher ele- 
vation than you could in thos'^ d ys. How is this I 
Is it because the climate is changed, rendered inildrr 
by the clearing away of so much forest ? It used 
to be a theo'-y, that the extension of coffee planta- 
tions would affect, in materially deer asing, the rain- 
fall. But, taking a Si Ties of years ^ this is not the case, 
for we find that, if in one or two given seasons the rain- 
fall slackens, and the numbtr of inches are less than 
an average, it is made up for, during some of the 
following seasons, in having more than an average, or 
a great excess, of rain. I do not think it is so much 
the rain that prejudicially affects coffee at a high 
■elevation, as the constant fog or mist. The plant baa 
no respite fiom constant moisture ; when the rain 
^ceases, the damp fog still continues.’'*’ Although 
we were ignorant of it in old times, the line 
of mist that used to bang on the Bamboda rangea 
towards evening, especidly during the lull between 
monsoons, pretty corredly points out the height at 
which the pr-'fitable cultivation of coffee ceases. From 
the top of Eton and Choisy, resting on the top of 
Ranghodde, it rounded about the m ddle of Pallegalla, 
leaving Kondegala entirely unseen in the fogs ; it then 
passed along through about the centre of Weddemulle, 
until it met the Ramboda rock, above Wavendon, 
passing on at the base of the rock, taking in the upper 
portion of Karagastalawa, and so round the forest above 
Helboda. Any one, especially a new arrival, livhig above 
this line of mist often for days, would get a pleasant sur- 
prise, on descending, to find himself suddenly out of 
the mist, into a clear atmosphere, possibly sunshine. 
Now it is quite probable that this line of mist wa® 
the boundary between two climates, or rather ‘‘strata” 
of air. In geology, on digzing into the earth, we 
* Tnere is almost chronic mi:>t at anuui; ft- in the 
Knuckles, and tliere the coffee tree peoduces leaves and 
blossoms, but scarcely any fruit. In Dimbula, mist can- 
not be said t > be long at any elevation, the ranges, ex- 
cept in absolutely rainy weather, being beautifully clear. 
In Hapiitale, there is, of course, the warmer and drier 
<5limate and shelter from the south-west monsoon. — 
Ei>. 
B 
