Ceylon
an island and British possession at the south end of Hindustan in the Indian Ocean. The area is 25,481 square miles. It is about 376 miles long by 139 miles wide. The estimated population in 1918 was 4,632,400. The Mal dive Islands are really a part of the Ceylon government, although the people have the choice of ele electing a sultan of their own. Their population is about 7,000. The principal cities with their population in 1911 were: Columbo, 211,- 274; Gallee, 39,960; Jaffna, 40,411; Kandy, 29,451.
Topography. The island is pearshaped the small end to the N. There are few important indentations. At Trincomalee on the N. E. coast, there is one of the finest natural harbors in the world. Point de Galle on the S. coast is CEYLON CEYLON regular place of call for the vessels of various lines. A safe and commodious etc. The pearl-fisheries of Ceylon are harbor has been provided for Colombo, the capital, on the W. coast. The N. and N. W. coasts are flat and monotohous, those on the S. and E. bold, rocky, and picturesque, with exuberant vegetation. The mountainous regions are confined to the center of the S. and broader part of the island. Their average height Is about 2,000 feet, but several summits are upward of 7,000 and one over 8,000 feet high, the culminating point being Pidurutallagalla, 8,296 feet. Adam's Peak, reaching 7,420 feet, is the most remarkable from its conical form, the distance from which it is visible from the sea, and from the legend that thence Buddha ascended to heaven, leaving in evidence a gigantic footprint. The footprint.
The evidence a rivers, though numerous, especially in the S. and S. W., are merely mountain streams, navigable only by canoes, and that but for a short distance from their mouths. The most important, the Mahawelli-ganga, which rises near Adam's Peak, and falls into the sea by a number of branches near Trincomalee, has a course of 134 miles, and drains upward of 4,000 square miles. There are a few pretty extensive lagoon in the island yielding large quantities of salt, but no lakes worth noticing.
Climate and Productions. In respect to climate, it is found that where the jungle has been cleared away, and the land drained and cultivated, the country is perfectly healthy; but where low wooded tracts and flat marshy lands abound it is malarial and insalubrious. Most of the animals found on the opposite continent are native to this island, excepting the tiger. Elephants are numerous, especially in the N. and E. provinces, and licenses for their capture and exportation are issued by government. The wild life of the island includes bears, buffaloes, leopards, hyenas, jackals, monkeys, wild hogs, several species of deer, porcupines, armadilloes, mungooses, the pangolin or scaly ant-eater, the loris or Ceylon sloth, flying-foxes, crocodiles, numerous snakes, partly poisonous, and a great variety of birds of brilliant plumage. In the luxuriance of its vegetable productions Ceylon rivals the islands of the Indian Archipelago, and in some respects bears a strong resemblance to them. Its most valuable products are coffee, tea, rice, cinnamon (which is found almost exclusively in the S. W.), and the cocoa-nut and Palmyra-palm.
Attention has been directed latterly to the cultivation of cinchona, cacao, and silk. The chief mineral products are iron, plumbago or graphite, and a variety of gems, including sapphires, rubies, famous.
Commerce and Finance. The principal productions are cocoa-nuts, which in 1917 represented an acreage of 904,674; rice, 702,165; tea tea, 508,779; rubber, 251,- 500; cocoa, 41,280; cinnamon, 39,930; grains other than rice, 133,028. 133,028.
The chief minerals are plumbago and mica, the former of which has an average annual production of 30,000 tons.
The total foreign trade of Ceylon in 1918 reached $126,218,222. Of this amount $57,657,242 represents imports and $68,560,980 exports.
The public debt in 1917 was about $27,000,000, the yearly revenue $23,500,- 000, and expenditure $21,300,000. The railway mileage open for traffic in 1918 was 714. There were 524 postoffices and telegraph wires with a length of 6,953 miles. The clearances of shipping in 1917 were 6,153,778 tons. The exports comprise coffee, tea, plumbago, areca-nuts, cocoa-nut oil, fiber and kernels (copra), cinnamon, cinchona, cacao, etc. The principal articles of import are manufactured goods, chiefly from Great Britain, as cotton manufactures, apparel and haberdashery, iron and steel manufactures, machinery, etc.; from other countries, dried fish, rice, wheat, sugar, tea, cowries, etc. The island is provided with a system of excellent roads, and the railways have a length of about 200 miles. The chief industry is agriculture; manufactures (coir-matting, baskets, cotton cloth, etc.) are unimportant. The Ceylon currency consists of rupees and cents. The weights and measures are those of Great Britain.
Government. - Ceylon is one of the British crown colonies, the government being conducted by a governor and two councils, executive and legislative, of both of which the governor is president.
The chief sources of revenue are the customs duties, railway receipts, landrents and sales, licenses, and salt-farms. People. Buddhism prevails in the interior, and generally among the Singhalese of the sea-coasts. The Singhalese have a colloquial language peculiar to themselves, but their classic and sacred writings are either in Pali or Sanskrit.
The Hindu religion (Brahmanism) prevails among the Tamils or population of Indian extraction, which forms a large proportion of the inhabitants of the N. and N. E. districts. The Tamils speak their own Tamil tongue. The inhabitants are divided in accordance with religions as follows: Buddhists, 2,791,120; Hindus, 1,580,450; Mohammedans, 319,965; Christians, 451,584. Schools under the CÉZANNE jurisdiction of the government are 871, with an attendance of about 113,000.
The Singhalese possess a native chronicle, the Mahawanso, which records the history of the island from 543 B. c. onward, under a long series of kings reigning most frequently at the ancient capital Anuradhapura, the earliest of these being leader of an invading host from India. Buddhism was introduced 307 B. C.
History. The capital, Anuradhapura, as its ruins still testify, was a place of great extent and magnificence. The island was not known to Europeans till the time of Alexander the Great, and their knowledge of it was long vague and meager. By the time of Pliny it had become better known, and he gained much additional information from Ceylonese envoys that were sent to Rome. In the Middle Ages the country was much troubled by invasions of the Malabars, and for a time it was even tributary to China. It had greatly declined in prosperity when visited by Eurovisited by by Europeans, the first of whom was Marco Polo in the end of the 13th century. At its most flourishing period its population was probably 10 times as great as at present. Little, however, was known in Europe regarding the island until 1505, when the Portuguese established a regular intercourse with it, and latterly made themselves masters of it. When they arrived the Malabars were in session of the N., the Moors or Arabs held all the seaports, the rest was under petty kings and chiefs. The Portuguese, who were cruel and oppressive rulers, were subsequently expelled by the Dutch in 1658, after a 20 years' struggle. The Dutch in turn were driven from the island by the British in 1796, though a part of the island remained independent under native princes. The King of Kandy, nominally the sovereign of the island, was deposed in 1815 on account of his cruelties, and the island was then finally annexed by Britain, though a rebellion had to be put down in 1817. CÉZANNE, PAUL, a French painter; born at Aix-en-Provence in 1839. He was wealthy, being the son of a banker.
He came under the influence of the Impressionists and exhibited with them from 1874 to 1877; but the ridicule of the public and differences that rose between him and some leaders of the Impressionist school caused him to retire to Aix in 1879, where he spent the remainder of his life. There he devoted himself to a profound study of the old masters, and sought to combine what was best in their methods and ideas with the CHADWICK excellences of the more modern school.
In that effort he developed a remarkable style that brought him into eminence.
His treatment of form and color has long led him to be regarded as one of the greatest of creative artists. Among his best known works are "L'Estaque,” "The Card Players," "Still Life," and "The Bouquet." He died at Aix in 1906.
CHABLAIS (sha-bla), a district of France, in Savoy, S. of the Lake of Geneva. In the 11th century Chablais passed from the possession of the House of Burgundy to that of Savoy, and was finally ceded to France with the rest of Savoy in 1860.
CHAD.
See TCHAD.