Ceylon

se-lon', a large Asiatic island. It is a crown colony of the British Empire. Area, 25,332 square miles. It lies in the Indian Ocean. It is really a continuation of the peninsula of Hindustan, with which it is connected by a scantily covered, rocky reef, called Adam's Bridge. The island possesses an ancient civilization, whose annals reach backward twenty-four centuries. Its ancient capital covered 256 square miles, and was inclosed by a wall 64 miles in length. It was the center of an ancient cult of Buddha. A sacred botree was here. The Portuguese colonized Ceylon in 1517. In 1658 Ceylon was wrested from them by the Dutch. In 1802 it was ceded by Holland to England.

The coast is level and fertile, the interior, mountainous, and rises to a height of 8,000 feet. A well built highway encircles the entire island. Travel is interrupted, however, by swollen streams during seasons of inundation. Although the rainfall is enormous, 89 to 217 inches yearly, the rains are confined to the short period of monsoons. At other seasons the drought is severe and prolonged. Enormous storage reservoirs and extensive irrigating systems are necessary to save the crops. There are no less than 5,000 reservoirs now in use. Some were built 500 years before the birth of Christ. One modern dam is 11 miles long and cost over $6,000,000. Another embankment is from 40 to 90 feet high for a distance of 24 miles.

As might be expected from its latitude the climate of Ceylon is hot. The jungles are malarious. A list of the island animals includes the elephant, now protected by government, bears, buffaloes, monkeys, swine, deer, leopards, jackals, porcupines, flying squirrels, bats, the mongoose, and rats innumerable; of game birds, pheasants, peacocks, partridges, pigeons, and snipe are found. The coasts swarm with crocodiles, serpents, and other reptiles. Rice, tea, coffee, cinnamon, and cocoanuts are raised in abundance. The mountains yield various metals, including nickel, cobalt, copper, tin, coal, platinum, iron, and plumbago. There are over 3,000 gem quarries. Naturally enough, the bulk of the trade is with England. The great London warehouses receive cargoes of Ceylon tea, cocoanut oil, gems, cinnamon, plumbago, rubber, cacao, tobacco, spices, and coffee. They send back cotton cloth, tools, and machinery. The business amounts to from $30,000,000 to $50,000,000 a year.

The population in 1908 was about 4,000,000, 16,000 of whom were Europeans. The pearl fisheries are mentioned elsewhere. Colombo is the capital.

See Java; Pearls; Irrigation