Connecticut western news., 1885-09-02
HOME OF THE ELEPHANT.
Interesting Description of the
 Island Of Ceylon.
A Mountainous Country with Steadily
 Increasing Population

A Mountainous Country with Steadily
 Increasing Population
 The island of Ceylon is 270 miles In length, 156 in breadth, and very mountainous near the center, there being mountains ranging between 5000 and 1000 feet high, ten of which are above the latter limit The high est is Pidurutalage, s,296 feet Large tracts of the island are still covered with dense jungle, in which many wild elephants are to be found; but the wanton slaughter of these useful ani- mals led the government to prohibit their destruction except under special permission. Of late there have been great progress and Improvements in the means of internal communication. There are good roadways, metaled and graveled, and now IFS miles of rail- way and 167 miles of canal, which have done much to promote the interests of the country. The population has been steadily increasing. and now it numbers 2,850OO0. There are Europeans, Flu ra sians, and Burghers, Sinhalese, Tamils, Moors and few Parsees, Afghans, Ma lays, and others. The Sinhalese inhabit the interior and parts ot the coast, and comprise nearly 100000 of the peo- pie, while the Tamils occupy the north ern portion of the island, and number about 100000. The Europeans are comparatively few in number, being under 5000; but of Eurasians and Burghers there are nearly 18,000. There are 180,000 Moormen, who are to be found in large numbers all over The different provinces The postal service throughout the island is in a very satisfactory state. Scarce town or village but boasts of a postofice, and ere long they are to have added to them the al[important savings bank, which does 30 much to influence thrift and economy. The island has many institutions for the sick and the diseased in body and mind, and in education the people are far in ad- vance of their northern neighbors. English is pretty generally spoken, and particularly among the domestic class. The products of the country are very varied, and consist of rice, cinnamon, cocoanut paints, tobacco, sugar-cane, and cotton, and latterly coffee, cinchona, india rubber, and tea have been added. The land is admira- ply adapted for the. growth of rice. The cultivation of cocoanuts has been gradually increasing, and, though a large quantity is exported, a large Tade is done in the coir fiber from the dusk and in expressed oil from the aut. The cultivation extends nearly all along the west part of the island. The great planting industry, however, Is now coffee and tea. For many years, during the occupation of the Dutch in 1740, the cultivation of cof- fee was confined to the low-lying country, but it was not until the oc- ;upation by the British, when commu- nication between the hill country and :he coast was made, that it began to flourish, and since then it has been gradually extending all over the cen tral and western provinces. The opening of the railway between Kan ly and Colombo did much to stimulate lhe industry by supplying cheap free labor and greater facilities for the market Large quantities of jungle were cleared and planted, and every .hing seemed to insure a permanent good investment, but an enemy ap- cared in the field who began his devastation and has continued steadi- y to diminish the productive power ever since till he has reduced the ex- ports to less than a fifth of what they were. The enemy is minute fungus on the leaf. It appeared in a remote corner of one of the young coffee dis tricts and spread with the greatest rapiditY all over the coffee gardens. The leaves assumed bright orange spot, and then they withered and de- cayed. The consequences of such a failure, following on the investment of a number of planters in the high districts, led to the most serious con sequences and ruin. These losses convinced many that the climate and character of the soil were admirably adapted for the cultivation of tea, and the result has been that thousands oi acres under coffee cultivation have now been changed to tea, and the jungle is being cleared for the exten. sion of the cultivation of the plant Gldsgoto Herald
 
 Tha Peasant md HIs nonkov