h and
width, beset by rocks and shoals. One of these, the Manaar Passage, is
only navigable by very small craft. The other, called the Paumben
Passage, lying between Rameswaram and the mainland, has been deepened at
considerable outlay, and is used by large vessels in passing from the
Malabar to the Coromandel coast, which were formerly compelled in doing
so to make the circuit of the island. The west and south coasts, which
are uniformly low, are fringed their entire length by coco-nut trees,
which grow to the water's edge in great luxuriance, and give the island
a most picturesque appearance. Along these shores there are numerous
inlets and backwaters of the sea, some of which are available as
harbours for small native craft. The east coast from Point de Galle to
Trincomalee is of an entirely opposite character, wanting the ample
vegetation of the other, and being at the same time of a bold
precipitous character. The largest ships may freely approach this side
of the island, provided they take care to avoid a few dangerous rocks,
whose localities, however, are well known to navigators.

Seen from a distance at sea this "utmost Indian isle" of the old
geographers wears a truly beautiful appearance. The remarkable elevation
known as "Adam's Peak," the most prominent, though not the loftiest, of
the hilly ranges of the interior, towers like a mountain monarch amongst
an assemblage of picturesque hills, and is a sure landmark for the
navigator when as yet the Colombo lighthouse is hidden from sight amid
the green groves of palms that seem to be springing from the waters of
the ocean. The low coast-line encircles the mountain zone of the
interior on the east, south and west, forming a belt which extends
inland to a varying distance of from 30 to 80 m.; but on the north the
whole breadth of the island from Kalpitiya to Batticaloa is an almost
unbroken plain, containing magnificent forests of great extent.

Mountains.

The mountain zone is towards the south of the island, and covers an area
of about 4212 sq. m. The uplifting force seems to have been exerted from
south-west to north-east, and although there is much confusion in many
of the intersecting ridges, and spurs of great size and extent are sent
off in many directions, the lower ranges manifest a remarkable tendency
to run in parallel ridges in a direction from south-east to north-west.
Towards the north the offsets of the mountain system radiate to short
dista