December 10, 1887. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
233 
VANDA SPATHULATA IN 
CEYLON. 
The following account of Vanda spathulata, recently 
sent to me by a friend in Ceylon, will, perhaps, be of 
interest to some of your readers. I cannot help thinking 
that if this Orchid could be successfully grown, it 
would no longer be considered as of no value, and as 
unworthy of culture.— S. Courtauld, Booking Place, 
Braintree, December 3rd, 1887. 
It is only within the last two years or so that my 
attention has been directed to Orchids. Since then, I 
have noticed Vanda 
spathulata growing 
and flowering pro¬ 
fusely in two local¬ 
ities in Ceylon—viz., 
at Batticaloa, on the 
east coast, and at 
Kurunegala, inland, 
westward of the 
central mountainous 
region. It seems to 
flower willingly in 
dry places, exposed 
to the fiercest glare of 
the sun. Kurunegala 
is a little town some 
sixty miles or so in¬ 
land from Colombo, 
with its “ Kacheri,” 
Government Agent’s 
Residence, Rest- 
house, Hospital, 
Court-house, Bazaar, 
and the usual com¬ 
ponents of a Ceylon 
provincial town, 
nestled together near 
the base of a huge 
hill of gneiss, called 
the “Ibba-gal” 
(Tortoise-rock), which 
towers, sheer precip¬ 
itous on its nearest 
side, several hundred 
feet over the town. 
Kurunegala itself is 
not much above sea- 
level, but there are 
hills about, vast 
masses of gneiss, 
clothed mostly with 
shaggy jungle. Dr. 
Johnson would have 
admitted them to be, 
at least, “consider¬ 
able protuberances.” 
These shaggy, rugged 
masses seem to start 
abruptly from the 
surrounding level 
country, and, close to 
Kurunegala, they 
break into vast acre¬ 
ages of bare gneiss. 
Towards the north¬ 
west two huge hog¬ 
backs of bare rock 
converge towards the 
town ; and, with the 
aid of a connecting 
band or embankment, 
enclose a “tank” or 
irrigation lake. East¬ 
ward of this rises the 
Ibba-gal, covered with thick forest on all its faces, except 
those which front the town, over which it towers in hun¬ 
dreds of feet of sheer, perpendicular precipice. A little 
beyond, northwards, a sort of gully in the Ibba-gal 
slopes downwards in a practicable incline, over which you 
may walk over several hundred feet of bare smooth rock, 
to a landing place on these mighty mountain stairs, where 
nestles, amid overhanging jungles, a small “ Vihare,” 
or Buddhist temple, with a few Cocoa-nut and Talipot 
Palms, and a little garden patch. From this, again, 
a steep winding zig-zag path climbs up through the 
jungle, works round the head of the gulley, and 
emerges at a point not far below the summit of the 
whole mountain mass. It is here that Vanda spathu¬ 
lata finds a congenial home. Kurunegala is considered 
one of the hottest places in the island. It is a common 
saying that there is only the substance of a sheet of 
brown-paper between it and another place. 
I have not myself found Kurunegala oppressive, 
except in the immediate neighbourhood of its great 
sheets of bare rock ; these, I suppose, irradiate during 
the night heat acquired through the day. Dry heat is 
far less oppressive than moist, and Kurunegala, though 
not so dry as the east coast, is far more so than some 
parts of the island—than Galle, for instance, or the 
Ratnapurra district, which latter is the home of the 
Dendrobium McCarthire, called by the Sinhalese the 
“ Wesak-mal,” or Mayflower, because it flowers about 
the month “Wesak.” The road up to the “Vihare ”is 
steep and rough, but not at all slippery ; the bare 
soles of countless people passing up and down have 
whitened a track, visible, when you scan the hill, from 
the distance of a mile or so—a kind of milky way 
leading over the rock surface. In one or two of the 
steeper parts rude shallow steps are cut, and so rough 
that the bare-footed Sinhalese seem able to walk at any 
angle. The track leads up by the side of the jungle, 
and at the edge grow bushes of the “Temple flower,” 
which is largely used for floral offerings and also 
decoration. The large waxy blossoms, ivory-white, 
with yellow in the centre, lie sprinkled over the rock 
beneath the bushes, exhaling a heavy and cloying 
perfume. Close to the temple is a little pool full of 
small turtles; but I do not know whether the name 
“ Ibba-gal ” is derived from the presence of these 
creatures, or from some fancied resemblance to a turtle 
or tortoise. Passingthe “Vihare,” and climbing up the 
stony path which leads through the jungle, now and 
again we get a glimpse of the country far below, sheets 
of Paddy-land, bright green with young crops, or brown 
in stubble ; or, perhaps, in course of tillage, flooded 
with water and mud. 
At last the path debouches on to the rock near the 
summit, bare and scorching, but at this height a re¬ 
freshing breeze plays around. Step a few yards 
westward, and the rock slopes away, rounding gradually 
to sheer precipice. 
Far below lie fields, 
forest, rocks, and a 
red-brown strip lead¬ 
ing away into infinity 
—this is the high 
road connecting Kur¬ 
unegala with Put- 
talam, a town north 
of Colombo. That 
microscopic cater¬ 
pillar crawling slowly 
along the road is a 
string of salt carts 
bringing salt from 
the Puttalam salt 
pans. Here and there 
are tufts of feathery 
grass as high as your 
head; and stunted 
shrubs of Euphorbia 
grow wherever a little 
humus has accumu¬ 
lated in a hollorv in 
the rock; and prob¬ 
ably the first thing 
to meet our eyes on 
stepping into the 
blaze of daylight from 
the jungle path, will 
be a yellow-flowered 
spike of V. spathu¬ 
lata. "Wherever a 
clump of Euphorbia 
has found a home 
upon this face of the 
Ibba-gal, there will 
the Orchid be, clutch¬ 
ing and sprawling 
over the shrub, and 
uplifting its spike of 
yellow flowers to the 
fierce blaze of the 
tropical sun. 11 grows 
in tangled spreading 
masses, and you can¬ 
not detach any large 
portion without 
bringing away part of 
the growth to which 
it clings. A little 
low'er down the 
Euphorbia becomes 
more plentiful, and 
the yellow Orchid 
blooms all around 
almost remind one of 
a furze patch at home. 
Some way down the 
slope of this face we 
come to an ancient 
dry stone wall, which 
must, I should 
think, have been 
built for some defensive purpose, as its situation 
forbids the supposition that it can have served as an 
agricultural or pastoral enclosure. Nor far off, in a 
retired cleft of the rock, darkly shrouded with an over¬ 
hanging jungle, is a lonely tarn. As we tread along 
the bare rock it sounds hollow' in places, and here and 
there has shelled off in thick flakes. The face on 
which V. spathulata grows slopes westwards. I have 
never found any of it here, save on this one face, 
although I searched Euphorbia bushes growing else¬ 
where in the neighbourhood. Before quitting the 
Ibba-gal, I may mention what is, to me, an inexplicable 
curiosity near the very highest point of the rock, and 
that is a circular pot-hole, some 2 ft. or 3 ft. in 
diameter, such as is seen in a rocky torrent bed, 
resembling, as far as I could see, an ordinary torrent 
The Geos Coliiar House in the Tweed Vineyard at Clovenfords. 
