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Ceylon - an account of the island

Compiling exclusively to LankaWeb by Tilak S. Fernando, London

General Form

These recent formations present themselves in a still more striking form in the north of the island, the greater portion of which may be regarded as the conjoint production of the coral polypi, and the currents, which for the greater portion of the year set impetuously towards the south. Coming laden with alluvial matter collected along the coast of Coromandel, and meeting with obstacles south of Point Calimere, they have deposited their burthens on the coral reef round Point Pedro; and these gradually raised above the sea- level, and covered deeply by sand drifts, have formed the peninsula of Jaffna and the plains that trend westward till they unite with the narrow causeway of Adam’s Bridge - itself raised by the same agencies, and annually added to by the influence of the tides and monsoons.

On the north-west side of the Island, where the currents are checked by the obstruction of Adam’s Bridge and still water prevails in the Gulf of Manaar, these deposits have been profusely heaped, and the low sandy pains have been proportionally extended; whilst on the south and east, where the current sweeps unimpeded along the coast , the line of the shore is bold and occasionally rocky.

The explanation of the accretion and rising of the land is somewhat opposed to the popular belief that Ceylon was torn from the main land of India by a convulsion, during which the Gulf of Manaar and the narrow channel at Paumbam were formed by the submission of the adjacent land. The two theories might be reconciled by supposing the sinking to have occurred at an early period, and to have been followed by the uprising still in progress. But on a closer examination of the structure and direction of the mountain system of Ceylon, it exhibits no traces of submersion. It seems erroneous to regard it as a prolongation of the Indian chains ; it lies far to the east of the line formed by the Ghauts on either side of the peninsula, and any affinity which it exhibits is rather with the equatorial direction of the intersecting ranges of the Nilgherries and the Vindhya. In their geological elements there is, doubtless, a similarity between the southern extremity of India and the elevated portions of Ceylon; but there are also many important particulars in which their specific differences are irreconcilable with the con-jecture of previous continuity. In the north of the island there is a marked preponderance of aqueous strata, which are comparatively rare in the vicinity of Cape Comorin; and whilst the rocks of Ceylon are entirely destitute of organic remains; fossils, both terrestrial and pelagic, have been found in the Eastern Ghaut and sandstone, in some instances, overlie tile primary rocks which compose them. The rich and black soil to the south of the Nilgherries presents a strong contrast to tile red and sandy earth of the opposite coast ; and both in the flora and fauna of the island there are exceptional peculiarities which suggest a distinction between it and the Indian continent.

Mountain System

Towards, the north, on the contrary offsetting the mountain system, with the exception of these which stretch towards Trincomalee, radiate to short distance in various directions, and speedily sink to the level of the plain. Detached hill of great made are rare, the most celebrated being that of Mihintala, which overlooks the sacred city of Anarajapoora; and Sigiri is the only example in Ceylon of those solitary acclivites, which form so remarkable a feature in the table-land .

The following are the heights of a few of the most remarkable places:

Pedrotallagalle:		8280 English feet

Kirigalpotta:			7810 	English feet

Totapalla:			7720	English feet

Adam’s Peak			7420	English feet

Nammone-Koole Kanda:	6740	English feet

Plain of Neuera-elliya:		6210	English feet

The crust of the Ceylon mountains is of stratified crystalline rock, especially gneiss, with extensive veins of quartz, and through this the granite has been every where intruded, distorting the riven strata, and tilting them at all angles to the horizon. Hence at the abrupt terminations of some of the chains in the district of the Saffragam, plutonic rocks are seen mingled with the dislocated gneiss. Basalt makes its appearance both at Galle and Trincomalee. In one place of Pettigale-Kanda, the rocks have been broken up in such confusion as to resemble the effect of volcanic action - huge masses overhang each other like suddenly-cooled lava; and Dr. Gygax, a Swiss mineralogist , who was employed by the Government in 1847 to examine and report on the mineral resources of the district, stated on his return, that having seen the volcanoes of the Azores, he found a "strange similarity at this spot to one of the semi-craters round the trachytic ridge of Seticidadas in the is1and of St. Michael. ( Beyond the very slightest symptoms of disturbance, earthquakes are unknown in Ceylon).

Gneiss - The great geological feature of the island is, however, the profusion of gneiss, and the various new forms arising from its disintegration. In the mountains, with the exception of occasional beds of dolomite, no more recent formations overlie it ; from the period of its first upheaval, the gneiss has undergone no second submission, and the soil which covers it in these lofty altitudes is formed almost entirely by its decay.

In the lower ranges of the hills, gigantic portions of gneiss rise conspicuously, so detached from the original chain and so rounded by the action of the atmosphere, aided by their concentric lamellation,that but for their prodigious dimensions, they might be regarded as boulders. Close under one of these cylindrical masses, 600 feet in height, and upwards of three miles in length, the town of Kornegalle, one of the ancient capitals of the island, has been built; and the great temple of Dambool, the most remarkable Buddhist edifice in Ceylon, is constructed under the hollow edge of another, its gilded roof being formed by the inverted arch of the natural stone. In other localities also the Singhalese priests have taken frequent advantage of the tendency of the gneiss to assume these concentric and almost circular forms; and some of their most venerated temples are to be found under the shadow of the over-arching strata, to the imperishable nature of which they point as symbolical of the eternal duration of their faith.

Laterite or "Cabook" - A peculiarity, which is one of the first to strike a stranger who lands at Galle or Colombo, is the bright red colour of the streets and roads, contrasting vividly with the verdure of the trees, and the ubiquity of the fine red dust which penetrates every crevice and imparts its own tint to every neglected article. Natives resident in these localities are easily recognisable elsewhere, by the general hue of their dress. This occasioned by the prevalence along the western coast of laterite, or, as the Singhalese call it, Cabook, a product of disintregated gneiss, which being subjected to detrition communicates its hue to the soil.

The transformation of gneiss into laterite in these localities has been attributed to the circumstance that those sections of the rock which undergo transition exhibit grains of magnetic iron ore partially disseminated through them; and the phenomenon of the conversion has been explained by recurrence not to the ordinary conception of mere weathering, which is probably inadequate, but to the theory of catalytic action, regard being had to the peculiarity of magnetic iron when viewed in its chemical formula. The oxide of iron thus produced communicates its colouring to the laterite, and in proportion as felspar and hornblende abound in the gneiss, the cabook assumes respectively a while or yellow hue. So ostensible is the series of mutations, that in ordinary excavations there is no difficulty in tracing a continuous connection without definite lines of demarcation between the soil and the laterite on the one hand, and the laterite and gneiss rock on the other.

The territory rocks which form such remarkable features in the geology of other countries are almost unknown in Ceylon; and the " clay-slate, silurian, old red sand-tone, carboniferous, new red sandstone, oolitic, and cretaceous systems" have not as yet been recognised in any part of the Island. Crystalline limestone in some places overlies the gneiss, and is worked for economical purposes in the mountain districts where it occurs.

Along the Western coast, from Point-de-Galle to Chilaw, brecca is found near snores, from the agglutination of corallines and shells mixed with sand, and the disintegrated particles of gneiss. These beds present an appearance very closely resembling a similar rock, in which human remains have been found imbedded, at the north-east of Guadalope, now in the British Museum. Incorporated with them there are minute fragments of sapphires, rubies, and tourmaline showing that the sand of which the breccia is composed has been washed down by the rivers from the mountain zone.

Northern Province - Coral Formation - But the principal scene of the most recent formations is the extreme north of the Island, with adjoining peninsula of Jaffna. Here the coral rocks abound far above high water mark, and extend across the island where the land has been gradually upraised, fromthe estern to the western shore. The fortifications of Jaffna were built by the Dutch, from blocks of breccia quarried far from the sea, and still exhibit, in their worn surface, the outline of the shells and corallines of which they mainly consist. The roads, in the absence of more solid substances, are metalled with the same material.

The general ideas of the aspect of Ceylon will be that nearly four parts of the island are undulating plains, slightly diversified by offsets from the mountain system which entirely covers the remaining fifth. Every district, from the depths of the valleys to the summits of the highest hills, is clothed with perennial foliage; and even the sand-drifts, to the ripple on the sea line, are carpeted with verdure, and sheltered from the sunbeams by the cool shadows of the palm groves.

Soil - But the soil, notwithstanding its wonderful display of spontaneous vegetation, is not responsive to systematic cultivation, and is but imperfectly adapted for maturing a constant succession of seeds and cereal crops. Hence arose the disappointment which beset the earliest adventurers who opened plantations of coffee in the hills, on discovering that after the first rapid development of the plants, delicacy and languor ensued, and that these were only to be corrected by re-turning to the earth, in the form of manures, those elements with which it had original]y been but sparingly supplied, and which were exhausted by first experiments in cultivation.

Patenas - The only spots hitherto found suitable for planting coffee, are those covered by the ancient forests of the mountain zone; and one of the most remarkable phenomena in the economic history of the island, is the fact that the grass lands on the same hills, closely ad-joining the forests and separated from them by no visible line save the growth of the trees, although they seem to be identical in the nature of the soil, have hitherto proved to be utterly insusceptible of reclama-tion or culture by the coffee planter. These verdant openings, to which the natives have given the name of patenas generally occur about the middle elevation of the hills, the summits and the hollows being covered with the customary growth of timber trees, which also fringe the edges of the mountain streams that trickle down these park-like openings. The forest approaches boldly to the very edge of a "patena," not disappearing gradually or sinking into a growth of underwood, but stopping abruptly and at once, the tallest trees forming a fence around the avoided spot, as if they enclosed an area of solid stone.

These sunny expanses vary in width from a few yards to many thousands of acres; in the lower ranges of the hills they are covered with tall lemon-grass, of which the oppressive perfume and coarse texture, when full grown, render it so distasteful to cattle, that they will only crop the delicate braid which springs after the surface has been annually burnt by the Kandyans.

The natives in the same lofty localities find no deficient returns in the crops of rice, which they raise in the ravines and hollows, into which the earth from above has been washed by the periodical rains; but rice cultivation is so entirely dependent on the presence of water, that no inference can be fairly drawn as to the quality of the soil from the abundance of the harvest.

Metals - The plutonic rocks of Ceylon are but slightly metalliferous, and hitherto their veins and deposits have been but imperfectly examined. The first successful survey attempted by the Government was undertaken during the administration of Viscount Torrrington, who, in 1847, commissioned Dr. Gygax to proceed to the hill district south of Adam’s Peak and furnish a report on its products. His investigations extended from Ratnapora, in a south-eastward direction, to the mountains which overhang Bintenne, but the results obtained did not greatly enlarge the knowledge previously possessed. He established the existence of tin in the alluvium along the base of the mountains to the eastward toward Edelgashena; but to circumstanced, owing to the stream of the Wellaway, that without lowering the level of the river, the metal could not be extracted with advantage. The position in which it occurs is similar to that in which tin ore presents itself in Saxony; and along with it, the Singhalese, when searching for gems, discover garnets, corundum, white topazes, zireon, and tourmaline.

Gold is found in minute particles at Gettyhedra, and in the beds of the Maha Oya and other rivers flowing towards the west. But the quantity hitherto discovered has been too trivial to reward the search. The early inhabitants of the island were not ignorant of its presence; but its occurrence on a memorable occasion, as well as that of silver and copper, is recorded in the Mahawanso as a miraculous manifestation, which signalised the founding of one of the most renowned shrines at the ancient capital.

Niclel and cobalt appear in small quantities in Saffragam and the latter, together with rutile ( an oxide of titanium) . Tellurium, another rare and valuable metal, hitherto found only in Transylvania and the Ural, has likewise been discovered in these mountains.

Manganese is abundant, and iron occurs in the form of magnetic iron ore, titanite, chroimate, yellow hydrate, per-oxide and iron pyrites. In most of these, however, the metal is scanty, and the ores of little comparative value, except for the extraction of manganese and chrome. " But there is another description of iron ore ," says Dr. Gygax, in his official report to the Ceylon Government, which is found in vast abundance, brown and compact, generally in the state of carbonate, though still blended with a little chrome, and often molybdena. It occurs in large masses and veins, one of which extends for a distance of fifteen miles ; from it millions of tons may be extracted, and when found adjacent to fuel and water-carriage, it might be worked to a profit. The quality of the iron ore found in Ceylon is singularly fine; it is easily smelted, and so pure when reduced as to resemble -silver. The rough ore produces from thirty to seventy five per cent., and on an average fully fifty. The iron wrought from it requires no puddling, and, converted into steel, it cuts like a diamond. The metal could be laid down in Colombo at £6 per ton, even supposing the ore to be brought thither for smelting, and prepared with English coal ;- anthracite being found upon the spot, it could be used in the proportion of three to one of the British coal ; and the cost correspondingly reduced."

Nitre has been known to exist in Ceylon, where the localities in which it occurs are similar to those in Brazil. In Saffragam alone there are upwards of sixty caverns known to the natives, from which it may be extracted, and other exist in various parts of the island, where the abundance of wood to assist in its lixiviation would render that process easy and profitable. Yet so sparingly has this been hitherto attempted, that even for purposes of refrigeration , crude saltpetre is still imported from India.

Gems - But the chief interest which attaches to the mountains and rocks of this region, arises from the fact that they contain those mines of precious stones from time immemorial have conferred renown in Ceylon . The ancients celebrated the gems as well as the pearls of " Taprobane;" the tales of mariners returning from their eastern expeditions supplied to the story-tellers of the Arabian Nights their fables of the jewels of " Serendib; " and the travellers of the Middle Ages, on coming back to Europe, told of the "sapphires , topazes, amethysts, garnets, and other costly stones" of Ceylon, and of the ruby which belonged to the king of the Island, " a span in length, without a flaw, and brilliant beyond description.

To be continued....

[1]An Account of the Island of Ceylon by Capt. R. PERC1VAL. 4to. London, 1805.

[2]A Description of Ceylon, by the Rev. James Cordiner A.M. 2 vols. 4to London 18907.C,. Biset,

[3]Voyages and Travels to India, Ceylon, and the Red Sea, by Lord Vicount Valentia. 3 vols. 4to London, 1809.

[4]A View of the Agricultural, Commercial and Financial Interests of Ceylon , by A. Bertolacci Esq. London 1817.

[5]A History of Ceylon from the earliest period to the Year MDCCXV, by Philalethes, A.M. 4 to Lond. 1817. The author is believed to have been the Rev. G. Bissett.

[6]Henry Marshall, F.R.S.E went to Ceylon as assistant surgeon of the 89th regiment, in 1806, and from 1816 till 1821 was the senior medical officer of the Kandyan provinces.

[7]An Account of the Interior of Ceylon by John Davy, M.D. 4to.London 1821

[8]VALENTYN, in his great work on the Dutch possessions in India.

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