DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3461#0223
208 CEYLON.
king's palace and the buildings connected with it are
now used as government offices, and the former 1 all of
audience has been converted into a court of justice. A
public library, erected on pillars built in a lake, is a
neat and commodious building well supplied with
books. In Kaiidy are numerous wiharas, temples,
for tins is the chief seat of Buddhism. The principal
temple contains the " most sacred relic of Buddha's
canine tooth," encased in a golden dagoba, set round
with jewels.
There are several other small towns and villages
scattered over the island, but they are thinly populated,
and are not of any material account.
In the mountainous part of the interior, fifty miles
south-east of Kandy, is the settlement of Nuwera Elia,
the city of light. For a few months in the year this
is a delightful place of resort. No rain falls in De-
cember, January, February, or March, the air is pure
and healthy, the thermometer ranges at night below
the freezing point, and in the daytime seldom rises
higher than sixty-six or sixty-eight degrees, Fahren-
heit. All kinds of European vegetables common in
gardens grow at Nuwera Elia, and thrive abun-
dantly. It is found to be an excellent station for
invalids. The plain of Nuwera Elia is about four
miles in length, and varies in breadth from half a mile
to a mile and a half. Roads have been made round
the plain, and neat wooden bridges have been thrown
across a small river that runs through the middle
of it.
The population of Ceylon amounts to a quarter of a
million, two-thirds of whom are Singhalese, or abo-
riginal inhabitants, professing the Buddhist religion,
in which no distinction of caste is recognised. In
general appearance they are good-looking; they have
bright black eyes and long black hair, which persons
of both sexes turn up behind and fasten in a knot,
king's palace and the buildings connected with it are
now used as government offices, and the former 1 all of
audience has been converted into a court of justice. A
public library, erected on pillars built in a lake, is a
neat and commodious building well supplied with
books. In Kaiidy are numerous wiharas, temples,
for tins is the chief seat of Buddhism. The principal
temple contains the " most sacred relic of Buddha's
canine tooth," encased in a golden dagoba, set round
with jewels.
There are several other small towns and villages
scattered over the island, but they are thinly populated,
and are not of any material account.
In the mountainous part of the interior, fifty miles
south-east of Kandy, is the settlement of Nuwera Elia,
the city of light. For a few months in the year this
is a delightful place of resort. No rain falls in De-
cember, January, February, or March, the air is pure
and healthy, the thermometer ranges at night below
the freezing point, and in the daytime seldom rises
higher than sixty-six or sixty-eight degrees, Fahren-
heit. All kinds of European vegetables common in
gardens grow at Nuwera Elia, and thrive abun-
dantly. It is found to be an excellent station for
invalids. The plain of Nuwera Elia is about four
miles in length, and varies in breadth from half a mile
to a mile and a half. Roads have been made round
the plain, and neat wooden bridges have been thrown
across a small river that runs through the middle
of it.
The population of Ceylon amounts to a quarter of a
million, two-thirds of whom are Singhalese, or abo-
riginal inhabitants, professing the Buddhist religion,
in which no distinction of caste is recognised. In
general appearance they are good-looking; they have
bright black eyes and long black hair, which persons
of both sexes turn up behind and fasten in a knot,