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. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, we
drove over two draw-bridges and through two fortified gateways into
the town, which is far more pleasantly situated than Pointe de
Galle, on account of its nearer proximity to the beautiful mountain
ranges.
I only stopped a night here, and on the following morning again
resumed my journey in the mail to the town of Candy, which is
distant seventy-two miles.
