374 
THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
elusion. After the remarks which have occasionally been 
interspersed, it would be needless to recapitulate the ad- 
vantages to be derived from it to this country. As a 
field for commercial enterprise, as a general depot for 
stores and troops, and as a centre of communication with 
our other East India possessions, there can no other station 
be pointed out to equal it in that quarter of the world. 
The measures already taken by Government sufficiently in- 
dicate that those in power are well aware of the impor- 
tance of the acquisition. By perseverance in a wise and 
moderate policy there is every reason to hope that the na- 
tives will speedily be brought to co-operate in our plan of 
improvements ; and that the period is not far distant when we 
shall look upon Ceylon as not inferior in value to any of 
our foreign possessions. 
The Journal of the Embassy to Candy may serve to 
throw some light on the situation of the interior ; and 
as I am anxious to give my readers as accurate an idea as 
possible of every thing regarding the island, I have sub- 
joined a description of the different roads which pass through 
it, as they were ascertained by a survey very lately made 
by the Post-master General of Ceylon. 
