nd peaks towering from the highlands of
Ceylon.

The greater portion of the highland district may therefore be compared
to one vast mountain; hill piled upon hill, and peak rising over peak;
ravines of immense depth, forming innumerable conduits for the mountain
torrents. Then, at the elevation of Newera Ellia the heavings of the
land appear to have rested, and gentle undulations, diversified by
plains and forests, extend for some thirty miles. From these
comparatively level tracts and swampy plains the rivers of Ceylon
derive their source and the three loftiest peaks take their base;
Pedrotallagalla rising from the Newera Ellia Plain, "Totapella" and
Kirigallapotta from the Horton Plains.

The whole of the highland district is thus composed of a succession of
ledges of great extent at various elevations, commencing with the
highest, the Horton Plains, seven thousand feet above the sea.

Seven hundred feet below the Horton Plain, the Totapella Plains and
undulating forests continue at this elevation as far as Newera Ellia
for about twenty miles, thus forming the second ledge.

Six miles to the west of Newera Ellia, at a lower elevation of about
nine hundred feet, the district of Dimboola commences, and extends at
this elevation over a vast tract of forest-covered country, stretching
still farther to the west, and containing a small proportion of plain.

At about the same elevation, nine miles on the north of Newera Ellia,
we descend to the Elephant Plains; a beautiful tract of fine grass
country, but of small extent. This tract and that of Dimboola form the
third ledge.

Nine miles to the east of Newera Ellia, at a lower elevation of one
thousand five hundred feet, stretches the Ouva country, forming the
fourth ledge.

The features of this country are totally distinct from any other
portion of Ceylon. A magnificent view extends as far as the horizon,
of undulating open grassland, diversified by the rich crops of paddy
which are grown in each of the innumerable small valleys formed by the
undulations of the ground. Not a tree is to be seen except the low
brushwood which is scantily distributed upon its surface. We emerge
suddenly from the forest-covered mountains of Newera Ellia, and, from a
lofty point on the high road to Badulla, we look down upon the splendid
panorama stretched like a waving sea beneath our feet. The road upon
which we stand is scarped out of the mountain's side. The forest has
ceased