DE BUTTS' RAMBLES IN CEYLON.

LIEUTENANT DE Burrs arrived at Ceylon in 1836, and quitted it in 1839. During the period of his sojourn he visited the different military stations, and traversed the island in various directions, either on public service or for private objects ; attending to the field-sports, observing the features of the country and the habits of the people, and paying some attention to Cingalese history and antiquities. The results of his experience he has generally embodied in a series of chapters on specific subjects, although he now and then gives a personal narrative of his journies.

Mr. DE Burrs seems to be unacquainted with the elaborate work of Major FORBES, called Eleven Years in Ceylon, and hence attaches a novelty to some of the topics of his own book which they do not exactly possess. Rambles in Ceylon, however, is not devoid of value. Plain and unpretending in style, Mr. DE BUTTS conveys a clear enough idea of the subjects be handles ; and his little volume will induce many to read about Ceylon, who might shrink from the more bulky and elaborate work of FORBES. This knowledge is now desirable, as the island for various rea- sons is rising into importance, and likely to attract considerable attention. Whenever steam-navigation is extended to the three Pre- sidencies instead of being limited to Bombay, Ceylon, from its con- venient situation, will become the focus to and from which the Cal- cutta and Madras lines will be directed, and no slight amount of land- speculation, not to say jobbing, will take place, to the great benefit of individuals, if able public servants do not take care of the public interests. The island is highly favoured by nature ; possessing, compared with India, various good harbours, and in Trincomalee one of the finest in the world. Besides its cinnamon and its pearl- fishery, (which last, however, is perhaps no very great source of national wealth, and only stimulates to a sort of gambling industry,) Ceylon in a limited space has three distinct climates with their different productions. To some distance from the coast, is a belt of low land capable of yielding the various productions of the Tropics : when the country begins to rise, the region yields the intermediate articles which require a warmth greater than tempe- rate but cannot thrive in excessive heats—as coffee : higher still, the mountain-plains produce the fruits and plants of England ; and at Newera Ellis, the invalid, or the person exhausted by the heat of the lower country, enjoys the vigour-giving air of a European -climate. Between the more important stations there are good roads ; and, wonder of wonders, a stage-coach !—the first, we ap- prehend, that has run in Asia.

THE RANDY COACH.

Between Colombo and Kandy, as before observed, a coach has for some years been established. To invalids recommended to exchange the sultry air of the low country for the more bracing climate of the Kandian provinces, the ad- vantages of such a rapid, and at the same time agreeable means of communi- cation, are incalculable. The journey is in this manner performed in twelve hours ; one of which is allowed for breakfasting, bathing, &c , at the halfway. house. Dfik-travelling is not only more expensive, but slower, than the pro- gress of the Ceylon coaches. I know not bow these matters are arranged in India, where palanquins, and everything connected with them, have attained the acme of perfection ; but in Ceylon the expense of journeying &lir by palanquins would greatly surpass that of the coaches; and the time required for this trip would be about twenty hours. Thus the proprietors of the coaches that run from Colombo to Kandy and Point de Galle, are well aware that their demand, though somewhat exorbitant, must, in the absence of cheaper and more expeditious means of conveyance, be complied with. At five a. m. these coaches start from Colombo to their respective destinations, and thus accomplish a third of the journey in the cool of the morning. The halfway-house is reached about eleven a. m.; when the passengers alight, bathe, and breakfast. For these agreeable occupations an hour is allowed ; which is not more than necessary for the due performance of Oriental ablutions and the satisfactory discussion of an Anglo-Indian dejeuner. After quitting this hotel, or rest-house, you begin to ascend the lower range of the Kandian hills ; and the country, which has hitherto retained a flat or slightly undulating ap-

pearance, becomes at every step more romantic and wild.• • •

There are few if any objects in Ceylon which more forcibly recall England and English associations to the mind of the AnglosCiugalese, than the road between Colombo and Mahahaine, the halfway-hotel on the Kandy road. After passing the latter station, it traverses an Alpine region, the features of which are strikingly dissimilar to the fair level aspect of England ; but in the lower country, the extensive green fields and gently undulating surface of the ground, when viewed in conjunction with the avenue-like road, bear a strong resem- blance to the scenes of home.

It is in the near vicinity of Kandy that the elevation of that place above Colombo is principally obtained. After winding through the minor passes at the foot of the hills, some of which are extremely beautiful, the road commences to ascend the grand pass of Cadaganava. The length of the road from the foot to the summit of the pass is somewhat more than three miles. About a quarter of a mile from Captain Dawson's monument, which stands near the head of the mountain-gorge, may be enjoyed a magnificent view of the country stretching towards Colombo. Far as the eye can reach, the road, winding through the wilderness of jungle, is distinguishable; and this indication of the presence of civilized man affords a striking contrast to the wildness of the mountain-scenery around. The more you gaze on the wild landscape, the more you feel inclined to appreciate at its true value the enterprise and labour necessary for the formation of a carriage-road through these 'deserts idle," and to rejoice that a monument commemorative of the abilities and exertions of its constructor marks the scene of their display.

Connected with the subject of the Ceylon roads, are two curious instances of the effect of science in bridging and tunnelling, upon the minds of less-instructed Kandians—the race occupying the in- terior country, which has only been conquered of late years.

"At Paradinia, a village four miles from Kandy, the Colombo road meets the river Mahavilaganga ; across which a single-arched bridge has been thrown by Colonel Fraser, the Deputy Quartermaster-General to the forces in Ceylon. The breadth of the stream is here somewhat contracted, and, by the aid of projecting buttresses, the span of the arch has been reduced to two hun- dred and five feet The bridge is entirely built of the beautiful satin, a wood almost peculiar to the forests of Ceylon, where it grows in abundance. The arch is composed of four treble ribs, the interval between which is five feet. Every beam used in the construction of the bridge is so inserted as to admit of removal without endangering the safety of the fabric. This is of the utmost value in a Tropical chme, where wood is found to decay much more rapidly than in lower temperatures. "The Kandians, relying on their ancient tales and legends, had formed an opinion that the bridging of the "Great River," which the word Mahavila- ganga imports, was impracticable. With this persuasion, they were in the habit of daily assembling to gaze on the gradual progress of the work, and laugh to scorn the vain and impotent labours of the pate-faces; but when, to their amazement, the bridge was found to stand without the supporting fram e- work, their admiration knew no bounds, and they looked with fear and wonder on the Europeans, who had brought to a successful termination an undertaking considered by them beyond the power of man. The upholders of the ancient Kandian dynasty have, however, little cause to congratulate themselves on the construction of a bridge which, although eminently useful to them in their civil occupations, is at the same time a military communication that greatly tends to secure the permanent domination of the English over their romantic

and, until of late, independent country." • "On each of the passes by which Kandy is approached, scenery but little inferior to that of the Doombera Plains meets the eye. The road by one of these passes runs through a tunnel five hundred and forty feet in length ; which gave the finishing-blow to the ideas previously conceived by the Kandians con- cerning the duration of their independence. An ancient legend informed them, that their country would never be subdued until the invaders bored a hole through one of the mountains that encircle the Kandian capital. This feat having, by the construction of the Koniegalle tunnel, been achieved, they at length believe that it is their khismet (destiny) to submit to foreign domi- nation."

Parts of Ceylon, though not exposed to the excessive droughts of New South Wales, are yet subject to alternate floods and dry wea- ther. The labours of the ancient inhabitants of the island to remedy this inconvenience were of a gigantic kind ; and though works of this description cannot at present be undertaker' in Australia, on account of the value of labour, yet the flood-walls of the ancient Cingalese may furnish useful hints to those colonists when the nature of the ground permits the construction of a dam at less expense.

ARTIFICIAL LAKES IN CEYLON.

The Candelay Lake is situate within thirty miles of Trincomalee, in an extensive and broad valley, around which the ground gradually ascends towards the distant hills that envelop it. In the centre of the valley, a long causeway, principally made of masses of rock, has been constructed to retain the waters that from every side pour into the space enclosed within the circumjacent hills and the artificial dam thus formed. During the rainy season, when the lake attains its greatest elevation, the area of ground over which the inundation extends, may he computed at fifteen square miles. This work of art, and others of nearly equally gigantic proportions in the island, sufficiently indicate that at some remote period. Ceylon was a densely-populated country, and under a government sufficiently enlightened to appreciate, and firm to enforce the execution of an undertaking which, to men ignorant of mechanical powers, must have been an Herculean operation ; for, such is the capricious nature of the mountain-streams in this Tropical island, where heavy rain frequently falls without intermission for many successive days, that no common barrier would suffice to resist the great and sudden pressure that must be sustained on such occasions. Aware of this peculiarity in the character of their rivers; the Cingalese built the retaining-wall that supports the waters of the lake of Candelay with such solidity and massiveness as to defy the utmost fury of the mountain-torrents. Nearly the whole of its extent is formed with vast hewn masses of rock, to move which by sheer physical force must have required the united labour of thousands.

In more favoured lands, the object to be gained would by no means compen- sate for the toil and time requisite for the damming of a valley by a causeway two miles in extent; but in Ceylon, Nature, although bountiful in all other respects, is alternately lavish and chary of the element whereon the labours of agriculture mainly depend. In the Eastern provinces, incessant rains are succeeded by long-continued droughts during which the fiery rays of the sun suck up the innumerable rills that in the wet season spread over the face of the country. The largest rivers in this part of the island then subside into petty rivulets; and there being no natural lakes or large sheets of water, the necessity of supplying the want of these by the labours of art becomes apparent. Hence the Cingalese have, from the earliest periods, been attentive to the formation of artificial reservoirs, wherever they could be advanta,geously constructed; and the lakes of Candelay, Minere, Bawaly, and many others of less note, attest the energy and perseverance of the ancient islanders in such constructions.

There are a good many particulars respecting the coffee-cultiva- tion, which is rapidly advancing, and becoming, or rather has become, the staple of the island : but these particulars are spread over too large a space, and consist of too many detailed statistics to be abridged or extracted. Those who feel interested in the subject may consult Mr. DE Burrs's unpretending little volume ; where they

will also find full descriptions of the principal stations, with some sensible remarks on civil and military affairs in relation to Ceylon,

a good many sketches of the country and its people, together with anecdotes of natural history, and some scattered notices of its his. tory and antiquities, part absolutely new, and all of it novel to those unacquainted with the works of FORBES and DAVY.