is collected and even the
elephant's grinders are extracted from the skulls, and brought into
market.

An elephant's grinder averages seven pounds in weight, and is not worth
more than from a penny to three half-pence a pound; nevertheless they
are now brought to Galle in large quantities to be made into
knife-handles and sundry ornaments, to tempt the passengers of the
various steamers. If the native takes this trouble for so small a
recompense, there is every reason to suppose that the hides now wasted
would be brought into market and form a valuable export, were salt at
such a rate as would admit of their preparation.

The whole of the southern coast, especially in the neighborhood of the
salt lakes, abounds with fish. These are at present nearly undisturbed;
but I have little doubt that a reduction in the price of salt would
soon call forth the energies of the Moormen, who would establish
fisheries in the immediate neighborhood. This would be of great
importance to the interior of the country, as a road has been made
within the last few years direct from this locality to Badulla, distant
about eighty miles, and situated in the very heart of the most populous
district of Ceylon. This road, which forms a direct line of
communication from the port of Hambantotte to Newera Ellia, is now much
used for the transport of coffee from the Badulla estates, to which a
cheap supply of salt and fish would be a great desideratum.

The native is a clever fellow at fishing. Every little boy of ten
years old along the coast is an adept in throwing the casting net; and
I have often watched with amusement the scientific manner in which some
of these little fellows handle a fine fish on a single line; Isaak
Walton would have been proud of such pupils.

There is nothing like necessity for sharpening a man's intellect, and
the natives of the coast being a class of ichthyophagi, it may be
imagined that they excel in all the methods of capturing their favorite
food.

The sea, the rivers, and in fact every pool, teem with fish of
excellent quality, from the smallest to the largest kind, not
forgetting the most delicious prawns and crabs. Turtle likewise
abound, and are to be caught in great numbers in their season.

Notwithstanding the immense amount of fish in the various rivers, there
is no idea of fishing as a sport among the European population of
Ceylon. This I cannot account for, unless from the fear of fever,
which might b