8280 ft. Nammune kulle, 6740 „ Kirrigal potta, . 7810 „ Plain of Neueraellia, .
Totapella,. . . 7720 „ 6210 „ Like the Peninsula of India, it has a belt of low land of varying breadth, consisting of tertiary strata, running round its coast. Numerous lagoons exist on the east coast, at Nilla veeli, Baticaloa, etc. Adam's Bridge, between Ceylon and Rarnnad, consists of several ledges of conglomerate and sandstone, hard at the surface, and growing coarse and soft as it descends, till it rests on a bank of sand, apparently accumulated by the influence of the currents at the change of the monsoons. The Mahavelli Ganga river has its source near Adam's Peak, and, after a course of 200 miles, enters the Bay of Bengal at Trincomalee. The Kalani Ganga and Kalu Ganga are on the western coast, and 'the Walaway Ganga on the south-east. A rich and well-watered plain runs between Colombo and Gal]e, covered with cocoanut, bread-fruit, and jack-fruit trees.
The census of 1871 showed the total population to be 2,406,000, in the proportion of 1,286,000 males and 1,120,000 females. Pure Singhalese, 1,670,000; Tamils, about 542,000; Moormen (of Arab descent), 160,000; these three classes making up 2,372,000, leaving only 34,000 for all other races. Malays (Mahomedans by religion as well as the Moormen) make up 6800; all other pure Asiatic or African races—including Afghan, Armenian, Bengali, Burmese, Kafir, Chinese, Mahratta, Parsee, Rajput, Sikh—comprise a few thousands more ; and European descendants of the Dutch, Portuguese, English, .etc., make up not more than 10,000; while pure Europeans, includ ing English, Scotch, Irish, and a few Germans, French, etc., number, exclusive of the military, about 4500.
The numbers of the religious denominations of the inhabitants of Ceylon may be thus stated : Buddhist, 1,520,575; Saivite, 564,414; Roman Catholic, 182,613 ; Mahomedan, 171,542 ; Epis copal Protestant, 24,756 ; Wesleyan, 6071 ; Presbyterian, 3101 ; Baptist, 1478. Of the entire population, one in 723 is insane, one in 160 is deaf and dumb, and one in 357 is blind.
The Tamils of Ceylon belong to the same race as the Tamils of Southern India, and have been on the island for centuries, chiefly in the N.E.
portion of the island ; and the two towns to which they chiefly resort are Jaffna and Trincomalee. Their main occupation is agricultural. Tamil coolie labourers come over in large numbers from the continent during the coffee season.
The Singhalese proper range themselves under the heads of Kandians, low-country Singhalese, and Rhodia. The Kandians inhabit the hill country, and are a hardy, robust race, never till recently intermingling with their low-country brethren. Their language is made up of three component parts,—Elu (or Singhalese pure), the Pali, and the Sanskrit. They possess an extensive literature, and their religion is Buddhism. The low-country Singhalese are Buddhists, Roman Catholics, or Protestants. Among the Kandians, and them only, a form of polyandry is prevalent, and the wife has the possession of all brothers. The children call the eldest brother father. A man can bring in another, not a relation, to have joint marital rights with himself ; indeed, the first husband can so introduce as many as thewife will consent to receive as husbands. In Kandy, in the Beena marriage, the husband goes to reside in the wife's house, and the woman sharer the family inheritance with her brothers. The husband, in this marriage, can be dismissed summarily by the family of the wife. In the Deega, a more respect able form of marriage, the wife ;eaves her own house for that of her husband, forfeits all claim on the property of her parents, but acquires some claim on that of her husband, and the wife cannot obtain divorce, unless with the full consent of the husband. Divorces are constantly sought for by women on trivial pretences. A child born within nine months of the divorce, must be maintained by the husband. Sirr (Ceylon) says the principal castes are four, viz. the Surya Vansa or Royal race, which has two divisions, viz. Goe Wansa, cultivators, the most numerous in the island, and to it belong the nobles, chiefs, priests, and nearly all the government servants, and (2) the Nille Makareya, or shepherds, form the second division of the Surya.