Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History Part 6

As a general rule, the rarer gems are less costly in Europe than in Colombo. In London and Paris the quant.i.ties brought from all parts of the world are sufficient to establish something like a market value; but, in Ceylon, the supply is so uncertain that the price is always regulated at the moment by the rank and wealth of the purchaser. Strange to say, too, there is often an unwillingness even amongst the Moorish dealers to sell the rarest and finest specimens; those who are wealthy being anxious to retain them, and few but stones of secondary value are offered for sale. Besides, the Rajahs and native Princes of India, amongst whom the pa.s.sion for jewels is universal, are known to give such extravagant prices that the best are always sent to them from Ceylon.

From the Custom House returns it is impossible to form any calculation as to the value of the precious stones exported from the island. A portion only appears, even of those sent to England, the remainder being carried away by private parties. Of the total number found, one-fourth is probably purchased by the natives themselves, more than one-half is sent to the Continent of India, and the remainder represents the export to Europe. Computed in this way, the quant.i.ty of precious stones found in the island may be estimated at 10,000_l_. per annum.

RIVERS.--From the mountainous configuration of the country and the abundance of the rains, the rivers are large and numerous in the south of the island--ten of considerable magnitude flowing into the sea on the west coast, between Point-de-Galle and Manaar, and a still greater number, though inferior in volume, on the east. In the low country, where the heat is intense and evaporation proportionate, they derive little of their supply from springs; and the pa.s.sing showers which fall scarcely more than replace the moisture drawn by the sun from the parched and thirsty soil.

Hence in the plains there are comparatively few rivulets or running streams; the rivers there flow in almost solitary lines to the sea; and the beds of their minor affluents serve only to conduct to them the torrents which descend at the change of each monsoon, their channels at other times being exhausted and dry. But in their course through the hills, and the broken ground at their base, they are supplied by numerous feeders, which convey to them the frequent showers that fall in high alt.i.tudes. Hence their tracks are through some of the n.o.blest scenery in the world; rus.h.i.+ng through ravines and glens, and falling over precipitous rocks in the depths of wooded valleys, they exhibit a succession of rapids, cataracts, and torrents, unsurpa.s.sed in magnificence and beauty. On reaching the plains, the boldness of their march and the graceful outline of their sweep are indicative of the little obstruction opposed by the sandy and porous soil through which they flow. Throughout their entire course dense forests shade their banks, and, as they approach the sea, tamarisks and over-arching mangroves mark where their waters mingle with the tide.

Of all the Ceylon rivers, the most important by far is the Mahawelli-ganga--the Ganges of Ptolemy--which, rising in the south near Adam's Peak, traverses more than one-third of the mountain zone[1], drains upwards of four thousand square miles, and flows into the sea by a number of branches, near the n.o.ble harbour of Trincomalie. The following table gives a comparative view of the magnitude of the rivers that rise in the hills, and of the extent of the low country traversed by each of them:--

Square Miles Square Miles Length of Embouchure. drained in drained in the Course of Mountain low Country, the main Zone. about Stream.

Mahawelii-ganga near Trincomalie 1782 2300 134 Kirinde at Mahagan 34 300 62 Wellawey near Hambangtotte 263 500 69 Neivalle at Matura 64 200 42 (Three Rivers) near Tangalle 56 200 Gindura near Galle 180 200 59 Kalu-oya at Caltura 841 300 72 Kalany Colombo 692 200 84 The Kaymel or Mahaoya near Negombo 253 200 68 Dederoo-oya near Chilaw 38 700 70 ---------------------------- 4212 5100

[Footnote 1: See _ante_, p. 12, for a definition of what const.i.tutes the "mountain zone" of Ceylon.]

In addition to these, there are a number of large rivers which belong entirely to the plains in the northern and south-eastern portions of the island, the princ.i.p.al of which are the Arive and the Moderegam, which flow into the Gulf of Manaar; the Kala-oya and the Kanda-lady, which empty themselves into the Bay of Calpentyn; the Maniek or Kattragam, and the Koombookgam, opposite to the Little Ba.s.s rocks and the Naveloor, the Chadawak, and Arookgam, south of Batticaloa. The extent of country drained by these latter streams is little short of thirteen thousand square miles.

Very few of the rivers of Ceylon are navigable, and these only by canoes and flat-bottomed paddy boats, which ascend some of the largest for short distances, till impeded by the rapids, occasioned by rocks in the lowest range of the hills. In this way the Niwalle at Matura can be ascended for about fifteen miles, as far as Wellehara; the Kalu-ganga can be traversed from Caltura to Ratnapoora; the Bentotte river for sixteen miles to Pittagalla; and the Kalany from Colombo to the foot of the mountains near Ambogammoa. The Mahawelli-ganga is navigable from Trincomalie to within a short distance of Kanda[1]; and many of the lesser streams, the Kirinde and Wellawey in the south, and the Kaymel, the Dedroo-oya, and the Aripo river on the west of the island, are used for short distances by boats.

[Footnote 1: For an account of the capabilities of the Mahawelli-ganga, as regards navigation, see BROOKE'S _Report, Roy. Geog. Journ._ vol.

iii. p. 223. and _post_, Vol. II. p. 423.]

All these streams are liable, during the fury of the monsoons, to be surcharged with rain till they overflow their banks, and spread in wide inundations over the level country. On the subsidence of these waters, the intense heat of the sun acting on the surface they leave deserted, produces a noxious and fatal malaria. Hence the rivers of Ceylon present the curious anomaly, that whilst the tanks and reservoirs of the interior diffuse a healthful coolness around, the running water of the rivers is prolific of fevers; and in some seasons so deadly is the pestilence that the Malabar coolies, as well as the native peasantry, betake themselves to precipitate flight.[1]

[Footnote 1: It has been remarked along the Mahawelli-ganga, a few miles from Kandy, that during the deadly season, after the subsidence of the rains, the jungle fever generally attacks one face of the hills through which it winds, leading the opposite side entirely exempted, as if the poisonous vapour, being carried by the current of air, affected only those aspects against which it directly impinged.]

Few of the larger rivers have been bridged, except those which intersect the great high roads from Point-de-Galle to Colombo, and thence to Kandy. Near the sea this has been effected by timber platforms, sustained by piles sufficiently strong to withstand the force of the floods at the change of each monsoon. A bridge of boats connects each side of the Kalany, and on reaching the Mahawelli-ganga at Peradenia, one of the most picturesque structures on the island is a n.o.ble bridge of a single arch, 205 feet in span, chiefly constructed of satin-wood, and thrown across the river by General Fraser in 1832.

On reaching the margin of the sea, an appearance is presented by the outline of the coast, near the embouchures of the princ.i.p.al rivers, which is very remarkable. It is common to both sides of the island, though it has attained its greatest development on the east. In order to comprehend its formation, it is necessary to observe that Ceylon lies in the course of the ocean currents in the Bay of Bengal, which run north or south according to the prevalence of the monsoon, and with greater or less velocity in proportion to its force at particular periods.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CURRENT IN THE NE MONSOON.]

In the beginning and during the strength of the northeast monsoon the current sets strongly along the coast of Coromandel to the southward, a portion of it frequently entering Palks Bay to the north of Ceylon; but the main stream keeping invariably to the east of the island, runs with a velocity of from one and a half to two miles an hour, and after pa.s.sing the Great Ba.s.s, it keeps its course seaward. At other times, after the monsoon has spent its violence, the current is weak, and follows the line of the land to the westward as far as Point-de-Galle, or even to Colombo.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CURRENT IN THE S.W. MONSOON]

In the south-west monsoon the current changes its direction; and, although it flows steadily to the northward, its action is very irregular and unequal till it readies the Coromandel coast, after pa.s.sing Ceylon. This is accounted for by the obstruction opposed by the headlands of Ceylon, which so intercept the stream that the current, which might otherwise set into the Gulf of Manaar, takes a south-easterly direction by Galle and Donedra Head.[1]

[Footnote 1: For an account of the currents of Ceylon, see HORSBURGH's _Directions for Sailing to and from the East Indies, &c._; vol i. p.

516, 536, 580; KEITH JOHNSTON's _Physical Atlas_, plate xiii. p. 50.]

There being no lakes in Ceylon[1], in the still waters of which the rivers might clear themselves of the earthy matter swept along in their rapid course from the hills, they arrive at the beach laden with sand and alluvium, and at their junction with the ocean being met transversely by the gulf-streams, the sand and soil with which they are laden, instead of being carried out to sea, are heaped up in bars along the sh.o.r.es, and these, being augmented by similar deposits held in suspension by the currents, soon extend to north, and south, and force the rivers to flow behind them in search of a new outlet.

[Footnote 1: Pliny alludes to a lake in Ceylon of vast dimensions, but it is clear that his informants must have spoken of one of the huge tanks for the purpose of irrigation. Some of the _Mappe-mondes_ of the Middle Ages place a lake in the middle of the island, with a city inhabited by astrologers; but they have merely reproduced the error of earlier geographers. (SANTAREM, _Cosmog_. tom. iii. p. 336.)]

These formations once commenced, their growth proceeds with rapidity, more especially on the east side of the island; as the southern current in skirting the Coromandel coast brings with it quant.i.ties of sand, which it deposits, in tranquil weather, and this being carried by the wind is piled in heaps from Point Pedro to Hambangtotte. Hence at the latter point hills are formed of such height and dimensions, that it is often necessary to remove buildings out of their line of encroachment.[1]

[Footnote 1: This is occasioned by the waste of the banks further north during the violence of the N. E. monsoon; and the sand, being carried south by the current, is intercepted by the headland at Hambangtotte and thrown up these hills as described.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: "GOBBS" ON THE EAST COAST]

At the mouths of the rivers the bars thus created generally follow the direction of the current, and the material deposited being dried and partially consolidated in the intervals between the tides, long embankments are gradually raised, behind which the rivers flow for considerable distances before entering the sea. Occasionally these embouchures become closed by the acc.u.mulations without, and the pent-up water a.s.sumes the appearance of a still ca.n.a.l, more or less broad according to the level of the beach, and extending for miles along the coast, between the mainland and the new formations. But when swollen by the rains, if not a.s.sisted by artificial outlets to escape, they burst new openings for themselves, and not unfrequently they leave their ancient channels converted into shallow lagoons without any visible exit. Examples of these formations present themselves on the east side of Ceylon at Nilla-velle, Batticaloa, and a number of other places north and south of Trincomalie.

On the west coast embankments of this kind, although frequent are less conspicuous than on the east, owing chiefly to the comparative weakness of the current. For six months in the year during the north-east monsoon that side of the island is exempt from a current in any direction, and for the remaining six, the current from the south not only rarely affects the Gulf of Manaar, but as it flows out of the Indian Ocean it brings no earthy deposits. In addition to this, the surf during the south-west monsoon rolls with such turbulence on the level beach between Colombo and Point-de-Galle, as in a great degree to disperse the acc.u.mulations of sand brought down by the rivers, or heaped up by the tide, when the wind is off the land. Still, many of the rivers are thrown back by embankments, and after forming tortuous lakes flow for a long distance parallel to the sh.o.r.e, before finding an escape for their waters. Examples of this occur at Pantura, to the south of Colombo, and at Negombo, Chilaw, and elsewhere to the north of it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GOBBS ON THE WEST COAST]

In process of time these banks of sand[1] become covered with vegetation; herbaceous plants, shrubs, and finally trees peculiar to saline soils make their appearance in succession, and as these decay, their decomposition generates a sufficiency of soil to sustain continued vegetation.

[Footnote 1: In the voyages of _The Two Mahometans_, the unique MS. of which dates about A.D. 851, and is now in the Bibliotheque Royale at Paris, Abon-zeyd, one of its authors, describes the "Gobbs" of Ceylon--a word, he says, by which the natives designate the valleys deep and broad which open to the sea. "En face de cette ile y a de vastes _Gobb_, mot par lequel on designe une vallee, quand elle est a la fois longue et large, et qu'elle debouche dans la mer. Les navigateurs emploient, pour traverser le _gobb_ appele 'Gobb de Serendib,' deux mois et meme davantage, pa.s.sant a travers des bois et des jardins, au milieu d'une temperature moyenne."--REINAUD, _Voyages faits par les Arabes_, vol. i.

p. 129.

A misapprehension of this pa.s.sage has been admitted into the English version of the _Voyages of the two Mahometans_ which is published in PINKERTON'S _Collections of Voyages and Travels_, vol. iii.; the translator having treated gobb as a term applicable to valleys in general. "Ceylon," he says, "contains valleys of great length, which extend to the sea, and here travellers repair for two months or more, in which one is called Gobb Serendib, allured by the beauty of the scenery, chequered with groves and plains, water and meadows, and blessed by a balmy air. The valley opens to the sea, and is transcendently pleasant."--PINKERTON'S _Voyages_, vol. vii. p. 218.

But a pa.s.sage in Edrisi, while it agrees with the terms of Abou-zeyd, explains at the same time that these gobbs were not valleys converted into gardens, to which the seamen resorted for pleasure to spend two or three months, but the embouchures of rivers flowing between banks, covered with gardens and forests, into which mariners were accustomed to conduct their vessels for more secure navigation, and in which they were subjected to detention for the period stated. The pa.s.sage is as follows in Jaubert's translation of Edrisi, tom. i. p. 73:--"Cette ile (Serendib) depend des terres de l'Inde; ainsi que les vallees (in orig.

aghbab) par lesquelles se dechargent les rivieres, et qu'on nomme 'Vallees de Serendib.' Les navires y mouillent, et les navigateurs y pa.s.sent un mois ou deux dans l'abondance et dans les plaisirs."

It is observable that Ptolemy, in enumerating the ports and harbours of Ceylon, maintains a distinction between the ordinary bays, [Greek: kolpos], of which he specifies two corresponding to those of Colombo and Trincomalie, and the shallower indentations, [Greek: limen], of which he enumerates five, the positions of which go far to identify them with the remarkable estuaries or _gobbs_, on the eastern and western coast between Batticaloa and Calpentyn.

To the present day these latter gulfs are navigable for small craft. On the eastern side of the island one of them forms the harbour of Batticaloa, and on the western those of Chilaw and Negombo are bays of this cla.s.s. Through the latter a continuous navigation has been completed by means of short connecting ca.n.a.ls, and a traffic is maintained during the south-west monsoon, from Caltura to the north of Chilaw, a distance of upwards of eighty miles, by means of craft which navigate these shallow channels.

These narrow pa.s.sages conform in every particular to the description given by Abou-zeyd and Edrisi: they run through a succession of woods and gardens; and as a leading wind is indispensable for their navigation, the period named by the Arabian geographers for their pa.s.sage is perhaps not excessive during calms or adverse winds.

An article on the meaning of the word gobb will be found in the _Journal Asiatique_ for September, 1844; but it does not exhibit clearly the very peculiar features of these openings. It is contained in an extract from the work on India of ALBYROUNI, a contemporary of Avicenna, who was born in the valley of the Indus.--"Un golfe (gobb) est comme une encoignure et un detour que fait la mer en penetrant dans le continens: les navires n'y sont pas sans peril particulierement a l'egard du flux et reflux."--_Extrait de l'ouvrage d'_ ALBYROUNI _sur l'Inde; Fragmens Arabes et Persans, relatifs a l'Inde, recueilles par_ M. REINAUD; _Journ. Asiat., Septembre et Octobre_, 1844, p. 261. In the Turkish nautical work of SIDI ALI CHELEBI, the _Mohit_, written about A.D. 1550, which contains directions for sailors navigating the eastern seas, the author alludes to the _gobbha's_ on the coast of Arracan; and conscious that the term was local not likely to be understood beyond those countries, he adds that "gobbha" means "_a gulf full of shallows, shoals, and breakers_." See translation by VON HAMMER, _Journ. Asiat.

Soc. Beng._ v. 466.]

The process of this conversion may be seen in all its stages at various points along the coast of Ceylon.

The margin of land nearest to the water is first taken possession of by a series of littoral plants, which apparently require a large quant.i.ty of salt to sustain their vegetation. These at times are intermixed with others, which, though found further inland, yet flourish in perfection on the sh.o.r.e. On the northern and north-western coasts the gla.s.s worts[1] and salt worts[2] are the first to appear on the newly raised banks, and being provided with penetrating roots, a breakwater is thus early secured, and the drier sand above becomes occupied with creeping plants which in their turn afford shelter to a third and erect cla.s.s.

[Footnote 1: Salicornia Indica.]

[Footnote 2: Salsola Indica.]

The Goat's-foot Ipomoea[1], which appears to encircle the world, abounds on these sh.o.r.es, covering the surface to the water's edge with its proc.u.mbent branches, which sending down roots from every joint serve to give the bank its first firmness, whilst the profusion of its purple-coloured flowers contrasts strikingly with its dark green foliage.

[Footnote 1: Ipomoea pes-caprae]

Along with the Ipomoea grow two species of beans[1] each endowed with a peculiar facility for reproduction, thus consolidating the sands into which they strike; and the moodu-gaeta-kola[2] (literally the "jointed seash.o.r.e plant,") with pink flowers and thick succulent leaves.

[Footnote 1: The Mooduawara (_Canavalia obtusifolia_), whose flowers have the fragrance of the sweet pea, and _Dolichos luteus_.]

[Footnote 2: Hydrophylax maritima.]

Another plant which performs an important function in the fertilisation of these arid formations, is the _Spinifex squarrosus_, the "water pink," as it is sometimes called by Europeans. The seeds of this plant are contained in a circular head, composed of a series of spine-like divisions, which radiate from the stalk in all directions, making the diameter of the whole about eight to nine inches. When the seeds are mature, and ready for dispersion, these heads become detached from the plant, and are carried by the wind with great velocity along the sands, over the surface of which they are impelled on their elastic spines. One of these b.a.l.l.s may be followed by the eye for miles as it hurries along the level sh.o.r.e, dropping its seeds as it rolls, which speedily germinate and strike root where they fall. The globular heads are so buoyant as to float lightly on the water, and the uppermost spines acting as sails, they are thus carried across narrow estuaries to continue the process of embanking on newly-formed sand bars. Such an organisation irresistibly suggests the wonderful means ordained by Providence to spread this valuable plant along the barren beach to which no seed-devouring bird ever resorts; and even the un.o.bservant natives, struck by its singular utility in resisting the encroachments of the sea, have recorded their admiration by conferring on it the name of _Maha-Rawana roewula_,--"the great beard of Rawana or Rama."

The banks being thus ingeniously protected from the action of the air above, and of the water at their base, other herbaceous plants soon cover them in quick succession, and give the entire surface the first aspect of vegetation. A little retired above high water are to be found a species of _Aristolochia_[1], the Sayan[2], or _Choya_, the roots of which are the Indian Madder (in which, under the Dutch Government, some tribes in the Wanny paid their tribute); the gorgeous _Gloriosa superba_, the beautiful _Vistnu-karandi_[3] with its profusion of blue flowers, which remind one of the English "Forget-me-not," and the thickly-matted verdure of the _Hiramana-doetta_[4], so well adapted for imparting consistency to the soil. In the next stage low shrubs make their appearance, their seeds being drifted by the waves and wind, and taking ready root wherever they happen to rest. The foremost of these are the Scaevolas[5] and Screw Pines[6], which grow luxuriantly within the actual wash of the tide, while behind them rises a dense growth of peculiar plants, each distinguished by the Singhalese by the prefix of "Moodu," to indicate its partiality for the sea.[7]