However, I wandered over the neighboring plains and
jungles of Newera Ellia, and at length I stuck my walking-stick
into the ground where the gentle undulations of the country would
allow the use of the plough. Here, then, was to be the
settlement.
I had chosen the spot at the eastern extremity of the Newera
Ellia plain, on the verge of the sudden descent toward Badulla.
This position was two miles and a half from Newera Ellia, and was
far more agreeable and better adapted for a settlement, the land
being comparatively level and not shut in by mountains.
It was in the dreary month of October, when the south-west
monsoon howls in all its fury across the mountains; the mist
boiled up from the valleys and swept along the surface of the
plains, obscuring the view of everything, except the pattering
rain which descended without ceasing day or night. Every sound
was hushed, save that of the elements and the distant murmuring
roar of countless waterfalls; not a bird chirped, the dank white
lichens hung from the branches of the trees, and the wretchedness
of the place was beyond description.
I found it almost impossible to persuade the natives to work in
such weather; and it being absolutely necessary that cottages
should be built with the greatest expedition, I was obliged to
offer an exorbitant rate of wages.
