Ditto to Godowns in the town Ditto from the Inner Harbour to Godowns on the Beach Ditto to Godowns in the town Rds. Fs. P. 4 6 0 200 9 0 2 9 0 2 9 0 Weighing rice, gram, or wheat, on the beach.............................. ....... ..... Unloading Sundries, as under: 2 60 PROVISIONS AND Refreshments.-There are several watering-places. The ships that take their water in Back Bay, fill it in the fort, where a wooden pier is built to facilitate the landing; and those who lie in the harbour, must fill it at the well in the town, where they will have a quarter of a mile to roll their casks. Refreshments for present use may be got here, but in small quantities, and not more than sufficient to supply two men of war. The only provisions to be had are beef, buffaloes, hogs, and a few fowls; little or no vegetables, and those very dear. JAFFNAPATAM.-The fort and town are situated in latitude 9° 44' N., and longitude 80° 15′ E. The former is a regular pentagon, with five bastions, furnished with broad ditches and an extensive glacis. It appears to be the most modern, and is by far the neatest and best constructed fortress in Ceylon, extremely clean, and in a good state of repair. One side runs parallel to the strait which separates the peninsula of Jaffna from the rest of Ceylon; the other sides are environed by an open and wellcultivated plain. A large square occupies the centre of the fort, the interior of which is a plot of grass, enclosed with neat rails, and bounded by streets of excellent houses, shaded by majestic trees. About half a mile to the E. stands the pettah, or outward town, containing several thousand inhabitants. All the streets are of a proper breadth, one half of them running parallel to each other, and the other half intersecting them at right angles. The houses are neat and clean, and the outer walls completely white. The principal street runs through the centre of the town. All the native inhabitants are included under the description of Malabars. About one half of them are Hindoos; the other half are nominal Christians, with a small proportion of Mahometans. Most of the Dutch families who formerly resided at Trincomalee, have removed to this place, which affords them cheaper living, and more agreeable retirement. The country is fruitful; a constant bustle pervades the daily markets, and a regular trade with the opposite coast of India affords many opportunities of improving a small fortune. This is the only district of Ceylon, the revenue of which exceeds its expences. ARTICLES PROCURABLE ON THE ISLAND OF CEYLON, WITH CALAMINDER WOOD, (Caloumidirie, Cingalese,) is the name given to a beautiful wood, that takes a polish as smooth as a looking-glass; it is so hard, that the common edge-tools cannot work it, and must be rasped and almost ground into shape. The heart or woody part of the tree is extremely handsome, with whitish or pale yellow, and black or brown veins, streaks, or waves; in the root these waves are closer and darker. The nearer it is taken from the root, the more it is esteemed, as higher up in the trees the veins are thinner and paler. CINNAMON. The cinnamon tree, Laurus Cinnamomum, (Darchini, Hind., Darasita, San.) is a species of laurel. The trees in their uncultivated state grow to the height of 20 to 30 feet; the trunk is about three feet in circumference, and puts out a great number of large spreading horizontal branches clothed with thick foliage. The roots are fibrous, hard and tough, covered with an odoriferous bark; on the outside of a greyish brown, and on the inside of a reddish hue. They strike about three feet The pearls are then drilled. The large ones are generally drilled first, in order to bring in the hand to work with more ease on the smaller size, and an expert workman in the course of a day will perforate 300 small, or 600 large pearls. They are then washed in salt and water, to prevent the stains which would otherwise be occasioned by the perforating instrument. The next branch of the business is the arranging the pearls on strings; this is considered the most difficult operation in the profession of the pearl merchant, and is one in which very few excel. The pearls of the largest size, being most costly, and esteemed as emblems of greatness, find a ready sale among the rich natives of the Nizam's dominions, Guzerat, and the other parts of India. The finest annee pearls, from the size of the sieve No. 30, to that of No. 80, which make most beautiful necklaces, are sent to Europe. A handsome necklace of pearls smaller than a large pea, costs from £170 to £300; but one about the size of a pepper-corn, may be procured for £15: the former pearls sell at a guinea each, and the latter at eighteen pence. When the pearls dwindle to the size of small shot, they are sold at a very trifling price. The smaller sorts are sent to the markets of Hydrabad, Poona, and Guzerat; in which last-mentioned place, pearls of a yellow tinge are preferred to those of a pure white, being considered as having arrived at greater maturity, less liable to fade, and retaining their lustre to a longer period. The refuse and lower orders of all the pearls turn to good account in the China market, where those of superior value cannot be so readily sold. Pearls are sometimes met with of various colours, of an exquisite silverlike brightness, transparent, semi-transparent, opaque, brown, and black. Pearls from the fishery of Ceylon are more esteemed in England than from any other part of the world, being of a more regular form, and of a finer silvery white than the Persian pearl. They should be chosen round, of a bright lustre, free from stains, foulness, and roughness. They are sometimes brought to Europe undrilled, but are not of so much value as when drilled and strung; and the pearls should be as near as possible of an equal quality throughout each string. The finest, and what is called the true shape of the pearl, is a perfect round; but if pearls of a considerable size are of the shape of a pear, as is not unfrequently the case, they are not less valued, as they serve for earrings and other ornaments; their colour should be a pure white, and that not a dead and lifeless, but a clear and brilliant one; they must be perfectly free from foulness, and their surface must be naturally smooth and glossy. Pearls that are rough on the surface, spotted, or dull in colour, irregular in their shape, and not perfectly round, should be rejected. It is also an imperfection when they have large drilled holes, or are rubbed flat about the edges of their holes by long use. As no allowance is made for tassels, care should be taken that as little silk, &c. are in them as possible. Of the smallest size, or seed pearl, the most diminutive is of more value than the middle size, provided it runs smooth, round, and of a fine silvery lustre. This kind being sold by the ounce, care should be taken that the tassels are very slight, as an allowance of £5 per cent. only is made in England, though the silk, &c. are generally much heavier. CEYLON STONES.-Stones of various kinds are found on Ceylon, but the greater part of them are of a very inferior quality. The Moors carry on a considerable trade in them. All such stones as are transparent, and sufficiently hard to take a polish by grinding, are called precious stones. They are known by the following names: RUBY.-The ruby is more or less ripe, which, according to the Indian expression, means more or less high-coloured. The ruby is for the most part blood red; the deeper red the colour, the larger the stone, and the clearer it is, without any flaw, so much greater is its value; however, they are seldom found here of any considerable size: for the most part, they are small, frequently of the size of particles of gravel, grains of barley, &c. The higher the colour, the clearer and more transparent they are. AMETHYSTS.-These stones are sometimes found of a large size, but generally very small; the larger their dimensions, the paler and less coloured they are, and therefore less valued and esteemed. The small are of the deepest colour, but notwithstanding of no great value. The dearest and most valuable are those which are high-coloured, without flaws, and of some tolerable size. ROBALS are dark-coloured stones, darker than the ruby, and not so hard. They are found mostly in small pieces, are cut for setting in rings, and are frequently exposed to sale for rubies. HYACINTHS are small yellowish brown, or reddish stones, which, as well as robals, are frequently offered for sale under the denomination of rubies. CINNAMON STONE in some measure resembles the oil drawn from the best and finest cinnamon; it is not, however, always alike, but more or less pale, or of a deep orange colour. These stones are seldom found of any considerable size in a perfect state; but in general, even the small ones, cracked longways and across, which destroys their clearness, and renders them unfit for cutting. into the earth, and spread to a considerable distance. Many of them smell strongly of camphire, which is sometimes extracted from them. The blossoms grow on slender foot-stalks, of a pale yellow colour, from the axilla of the leaves, and the extremity of the branches. They are numerous clusters of small white flowers, having a brownish tinge in the centre, about the same size as the lilac, which it resembles. The flower is monopetalous, stellated into six points, has nine stamina, and one stile. It produces a fruit of the form of an acorn, in taste resembling the olive, and when dry, it becomes a thin shell, containing an oval kernel about the size of the seed of an apple. The smell of the blossom is not strong, but extremely pleasant, resembling a mixture of the rose and lilac. The fruit, when boiled in water, yields an oil which floats at the top, and answers for burning in lamps. When allowed to congeal, it becomes of a solid substance like wax, and is formed into candles. The smell of it is much more agreeable than that of coco-nut oil; but it is only used for these purposes in the interior of the island. The appearance of this tree strongly resembles that of the Laurus Cassia, and the bark of the old wood possesses the same qualities. The cinnamon of Ceylon, however, is greatly improved by cultivation; and that which is most highly prized, is stripped from shoots of young trees. The trees which are planted for the purpose of obtaining cinnamon, shoot out a great number of branches apparently from the same root, and are not permitted to rise above the height of ten feet. Those sprouts which are cut down to be barked, are of the thickness of a common walking-stick, and yield an incomparably fine cinnamon bark; and from these shoots come the sticks, which in appearance resemble those from the hazel-tree, but of which the bark has a cinnamon smell when rubbed. Cinnamon is barked in the woods at two different seasons of the year: the first is termed the grand harvest, and lasts from April to August; the second is the small harvest, and lasts from November to January. The barking is performed in the following manner:-A good cinnamon-tree is looked out for, and chosen by the leaves, and other characteristics. Those branches which are three years old, are lopped off with a common crooked pruning knife, from which the outside pellicle of the bark is scraped off; the twigs are then ripped up long ways with the point of a knife, and the bark gradually loosened till it can be entirely taken off. The smaller tubes or quills of it are inserted into the larger, and thus spread out to dry, when the bark rolls itself up still closer together, and is then tied into bundles, and finally carried off: each bundle is then bound round with rattans, and packed up, after having previously undergone an examination by tasting and chewing, |