a dignified representative of our oommeroial interests wherever we have a
consul.
Ceylon has been long known to Europe. The first aooounts were received
from two of the commanders of the fleet dispatched by Alexander the Great
from the Indus to the Persian Gulf. A description of the island may be
found recorded by ancient authors; both Pliny and Ptolomeus have left
aooounts of its character and condition. I t is supposed that the Persians
had formed a Christian establishment on the coast before the sixth century;
and in the thirteenth, the oelebrated traveller, Marco Polo, visited Ceylon,
of which he has left a glowing description, having been so much struck with
its beauty and richness, that in his enthusiasm he has termed it the finest
island in the world. Sir John Mandeville, the English traveller, also visited
it Borne fifty years later.
The Portuguese, however, were the first among the Europeans to establish
intimate relations with Ceylon. When they found their way to India,
by the Cape of Good Hope, they were welcomed by the king, whose dominions
at the time were a prey to intestine war. The Europeans, taking
advantage of the civil dissensions which prevailed, and offering themselves
as mediators, succeeded in establishing a foothold in the country, which they
took oare to maintain. In 1520, the Portuguese strongly fortified themselves
at Colombo, and held a controlling influence over the natives, until
they were dispossessed by the latter, aided by the Dutch, who, in their turn,
changed their relation of friends to that of masters of the people. The war
with the Portuguese lasted more than twenty years, and they were not finally
expelled the island until 1656. The various fortified positions at Batticolo,
Point de Galle, Negombo, and Colombo, fell into the hands of the Dutch,
who thus controlled the maritime provinces.
During the European wars at the end of the eighteenth oentury, the
French got possession of Trincomalee, but they were ejected by the British,
who, in their turn, were forced to yield it up to the former possessors, and it
finally was restored to the Dutch, who continued to hold it, together with
the sea coast, until they were wrested from them, in 1796, by the British,
who were formally acknowledged as the possessors by the treaty of Amiens.
English history records that the whole island, by the invitation of the natives,
was taken possession of, in 1815, by the British crown, under the
sovereignty of which Ceylon still remains. I t is difficult to say who, of the
successive masters of the poor Cingalese, have been the most cruel and
oppressive, and, in fact, it is feared that but little can be said in palliation
of the fraud and perfidy of either of them.
In olden time, before its occupation by the Europeans, Ceylon was one
of the richest and most productive of the kingdoms of the east. The natives,
at a very early period, showed great skill in the development of the resources
of the island, and increased the fertility of the soil by ingenious modes of
artificial irrigation; and numerous vestiges of imposing works, constructed
for this purpose, remain to this day.
The climate of Ceylon is very much influenced by the monsoons. The
northeast prevails from November to February, and the southwest from April
to September; but there are certain local causes which influence these winds
and modify their temperature. There is a great difference between the climate
of the northern and southern portions of the island, and a ourious effeot
hence results; for not seldom on one side of a mountain the rain is falling
abundantly, while on the other it is so dry that the herbage is parched
and withered; and thus, while the inhabitants of the former are doing their
utmost to protect their lands from the flood, those of the latter are striving
to obviate the consequences of the drought, by availing themselves of the
soant reservoirs of water which may have been left from previous rains.
The island is comparatively healthy, as is indicated by the rate of mortality,
which, being less than three per cent., shows a remarkable salubrity
for an eastern country. As the clearing of the jungles and the draining of
the marshes proceed, a still higher degree of health may be reasonably expected.
Ceylon did not appear as flourishing a colony as the Mauritius, though it
possesses superior geographical advantages. Lying, as it does, as a sort of
outpost to the principal possessions of the English in the east, and offering,
in its port of Galle, a point for the distribution of intelligence throughout
India and China, it is much resorted to.
With all its natural advantages, however, the island at present is far less
flourishing than might have been expected. The exports are limited in comparison
with the acknowledged fertility of the island, to the productive power
of which there would hardly seem to be any limit. Labor may be obtained,
too, for twelve cents a day, and yet the agricultural interests are not as
promising, as, under such favorable circumstances, they should be. The
natives, too, are said not to be wanting in industry, but their needs are so
few, living, as they do, upon fish, rice, and cocoa-nuts, that they are never
forced by necessity to labor hard for their subsistence.
Of the productions of the island, the cocoa-nut is probably the most
valuable to the natives. Everywhere in Ceylon, as far as the eye can reach,
extensive plantations of this tree are to be seen, and the numerous roads
throughout the island are bordered with it. The weary and heated traveller
finds not only protection from the sun in its shade, but refreshment from the
milk of the fruit, which is both agreeable to the taste and wholesome. The
cocoa-nut palm has a great variety of uses. The green fruit, with its delicate
albuminous meat and its refreshing milk, is a favorite article of food.
When ripe, the kernel of the nut is dried, forming what the natives term
oopperal, and an oil of great value is expressed from it, while the residuum
forms an excellent oil-cake for the fattening of animals. Even the husk of