The Forests Vary In Appearance; Some Are Perfectly Free From Underwood, Being Composed Of Enormous Trees, Whose Branches Effectually Exclude The Rays Of The Sun; But They Generally Consist Of Large Trees, Which Tower Above A Thick, And For The Most Part Thorny, Underwood, Difficult To Penetrate.

The features of Ceylon scenery may, therefore, be divided as follows:-

Natural forest, extending over the greater portion. Thorny jungle, extending over a large portion.

Flat plains and thorny jungles, in the vicinity of the coast.

Open down country, extending over a small portion of the interior.

Open park country, extending over the greater portion of the Veddah district.

The mountains, forming the centre of the island.

The latter are mostly covered with forest, but they are beautifully varied by numberless open plains and hills of grass land at an altitude of from three to nearly nine thousand feet.

If Ceylon were an open country, there would be no large game, as there would be no shelter from the sun. In the beautiful open down country throughout the Ouva district there is no game larger than wild hogs, red-deer, mouse-deer, hares, and partridges. These animals shelter themselves in the low bushes, which generally consist of the wild guavas, and occupy the hollows between the undulations of the hills. The thorny jungles conceal a mass of game of all kinds, but in this retreat the animals are secure from attack. In the vicinity of the coast, among the `flat plains and thorny jungles,' there is always excellent shooting at particular seasons.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 144 of 343
Words from 38103 to 38362 of 91283