In this direction the principal buildings are the
Wolfendahl church, a massive Doric building of the Dutch (1749); the
splendid Roman Catholic cathedral of St Lucia (completed in 1904); and
St Thomas's College (1851), which follows the lines of an English public
school. Close to this last is the Anglican cathedral of Christ Church.
The Kotahena temple is the chief Buddhist temple in Colombo.

To the north-east of the Fort is the Lake, a ramifying sheet of fresh
water, which adds greatly to the beauty of the site of Colombo, its
banks being clothed with luxuriant foliage and flowers. The narrow
isthmus between this lake and the sea, south of the Fort, is called
Galle Face, and is occupied chiefly by promenades and recreation
grounds. The peninsula enclosed by two arms of the Lake is known as
Slave Island, having been the site of a slave's prison under the Dutch.
South-east of this is the principal residential quarter of Colombo, with
the circular Victoria Park as its centre. To the east of the park a
series of parallel roads, named after former British governors, are
lined with beautiful bungalows embowered in trees. This locality is
generally known as the Cinnamon Gardens, as it was formerly a Dutch
reserve for the cultivation of the cinnamon bush, many of which are
still growing here. In the park is the fine Colombo Museum, founded by
Sir William Gregory; and near the neighbouring Campbell Park are the
handsome buildings of a number of institutions, such as Wesley College,
and the General, Victoria Memorial Eye and other hospitals. South of
Victoria Park is the Havelock racecourse. Among educational
establishments not hitherto mentioned are the Royal College, the
principal government institution, the government technical college and
St Joseph's Roman Catholic college. Most of the town is lighted by gas,
and certain quarters with electric light, and electric tramways have
been laid over several miles of the city roads. The water-supply is
drawn from a hill region 30 m. distant.

Under British rule Colombo has shared in the prosperity brought to the
island by the successive industries of coffee and tea-planting. At the
height of the coffee-growing enterprise 20,000 men, women and children,
chiefly Sinhalese and Tamils, found employment in the large factories
and stores of the merchants scattered over the town, where the coffee
was cleaned, prepared, sorted and packed for shipment. Tea, on the
contrary, is prepared and p