COLOMBO, Ceylon, the capital, seaport on the southwest coast, near the mouth of the Kelani River, and about 70 miles southwest of Kandy, the principal place on the island. It is a handsome town, and a portion of it, com prising most of the best houses, is within the walls of its very extensive fort, which occupies a projecting point of land and embraces a cir cumference of nearly one and a fourth miles. The houses of the Europeans outside the town are very beautifully situated, especially those near the sea. There are several bazaars or mar ket-places. The public buildings comprise the government offices, government house, hall of the Supreme Court, the valuable museum, etc. Some of the noted buildings are an old Dutch church, Presbyterian, Anglican and Roman Catholic churches, hotels, orphan asylum, mili tary hospital and barracics, the town-hall, the railway station, the Colombo Royal College, Saint Thomas' College and Wesley Coller. The Moors have two handsome mosques with minarets; the Hindus also have their temples, rudely sculptured. Water is brought from a distance of 30 miles to the town and there are extensive gas-works. The harbor was for
merly- capable of receiving small vessels only, and large ships had to cast anchor upward of a mile from the shore, exposed to the southwest monsoon; but brealcwaters now give complete shelter and Colombo is the regular calling sta tion for the large steamers bound for Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, the Straits, China, Australia, etc. It is the chief port of Ceylon, its exports and imports including the great bulk of the goods sent from and brought to the island. Colombo is one of the most important coaling stations for British and foreign steamers on the Australian. and East Asiatic routes. It is connected by. rail with Kandy, Galle and the north of the island. It is the seat of a United States consulate. The natives are mostly ar tisans and laborers, while the Europeans are either owners of large plantations or merchants. It was occupied by the Portuguese in 1517 and named in honor of Christopher Columbus. It was taken by the Dutch in 1656 and by the British in 1796. Pop. 213,396.