XXV 
THE SAM BUR 
3i i 
example, the Horton Plains. The following 
description, extracted from Eight Years in 
Ceylon , will afford more detailed information 
than I could bestow from memory: — “ The 
principal mountains in Ceylon are Pedrotallagalla, 
8300 feet; Kirigallapotta, 7900; Totapella, 8000; 
and Adam’s Peak, 7700; but although their 
altitude is so considerable, they do not give the 
idea of grandeur which such an altitude would 
convey. They do not rise abruptly from a level 
base, but they are merely the loftiest of a 
thousand peaks towering from the highlands of 
Ceylon. 
“The greater portion of the highland district may 
therefore be compared to one vast mountain; 
hill piled upon hill, and peak rising over peak, 
ravines of immense depth forming innumerable 
conduits for the mountain torrents. Then at the 
elevation of Newera Ellia the heavings of the 
land appear to have rested, and gentle undulations, 
diversified by plains and forests, extend for some 
30 miles. 
“From these comparatively level tracts and 
swampy plains, the rivers of Ceylon derive their 
source, and the three loftiest peaks take their base ; 
Pedrotallagalla rising from the Newera Ellia Plain, 
Totapella and Kirigallapotta from the Horton 
Plains. 
“The whole of the highland district is thus 
composed of a succession of ledges of great extent 
at various elevations, commencing with the 
