TI1E ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
337 
luts here concentrated both the beauty and the riches of 
the island. Nothing can be more delightful to the eye 
than the prospect which stretches around Columbo. The 
low cinnamon trees which cover the plain allow the view 
to reach the groves of evergreens, interspersed with tall 
slumps, and bounded every where with extensive ranges of 
cocoa-nut and other large trees. The whole is diversified 
with small lakes and green marshes, skirted all around with 
rice and pasture fields. In one part the inter-twining cinna- 
mon trees appear completely to clothe the face of the plain ; 
in another, the openings made by the intersecting footpaths 
just serve to shew that the thick underwood has been 
penetrated. One large road, which goes out at the west 
gate of the fort, and returns by the gate on the south, 
makes a winding circuit of seven miles among the woods. 
It is here that the officers and gentlemen belonging to the 
garrison of Columbo take their morning ride, and enjoy 
one of the finest scenes in nature. 
The soil best adapted for the growth of the cinnamon is a 
loose white sand. Such is the soil of the cinnamon gardens 
around Columbo, as well as in many parts around Nigumbo 
and Caltura, where this spice is found of the same superior 
quality. What is gathered at Matura and Point de Galle 
differs very little from this, especially in those parts near the 
sea, which are most favourable to the growth of cinnamon. 
The quantity found in the other parts of the island is so 
trifling, as hardly to deserve notice. Of late years, little is 
X x 
