The bottom
was formed of the trunk of an extremely narrow tree, slightly
hollowed out, and the sides of the planks are kept in their places
by side and cross supports. These craft rose hardly a foot and a
half out of the water, and their greatest breadth did not average
quite a foot. There was a small piece of plank laid across as a
seat, but the rower was obliged to cross his knees from want of room
to sit with them apart.
The road, as I before mentioned, lay for the most part through
forests of cocoa-trees, where the soil was very sandy and completely
free from creepers and underwood; but near trees that did not bear
fruit, the soil was rich, and both that and the trees covered with
creepers in wild luxuriance. There were very few orchids.
We crossed four rivers, the Tindurch, Bentock, Cattura, and Pandura,
two by means of boats, two by handsome wooden bridges.
The cinnamon plantations commenced about ten miles from Colombo; and
on this side of the town are all the country-houses of the
Europeans. They are very simple, shaded with cocoa-trees and
surrounded with stone walls.
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