CHAPTEE  II.
 

THE  ISLAND IN  1796,  1815,  AND  SEVENTY-EIGHT YEARS

                        LATER.



  Extent and topographical features—Condition of the island previous

     to, and after, seventy-eight years of British rule contrasted.



    HAVING now arrived at the British period, it may be

     well to give some idea of the. conditionof Ceylon and

its people in the early part of this century, and to compare

the same  with what is realised after British  government.

has been  established for  seventy-eight years throughout

the whole island.

  The position of  Ceylon as a " pearl-drop on  the  brow

of India,"  with which continent it is almost, connected

by  the island of Ramisseram and  the coral reef called

Adam's Bridge, is familiar to all who  have ever glanced

at a  map of Asia.   To that great continent it may be

said to be related  as Great Britain  is  to Europe, or

Madagascar _to  Africa.  In  extent it  comprises nearly

sixteen million acres, or 24,702  square miles, apart from

certain dependent  islands,  such as the  Maldives.   The

total area is  about five-sixths of that of Ireland, but is

equal to nearly thirty-seven times  the superficial extent

of the island of Mauritius, which sometimes contests with

Ceylon the  title of the  " Gem of the  Indian Ocean."

One-sixth of this  area, or about 4,000 square  miles, is

comprised in the  hilly and mountainous zone which is

situated  about the centre  of the south of the island,

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