I have heard of another near the Patipal Aar south of Batticaloa.

The water in each is so pure and free from salts that the natives make use of it for all domestic purposes.

Dr.Davy adverts to another indication of volcanic agency in the sudden and profound depth of the noble harbour at Trincomalie, which even close by the beach is said to have been hitherto unfathomed.
The Spaniards believed Ceylon to be volcanic; and ARGENSOLA, in his _Conquista de las Malucas_, Madrid, 1609, says it produced liquid bitumen and sulphur:--"Fuentes de betun liquido y bolcanes de perpetuas llamas que arrojan entre las asperezas de la montana losas de acufre."-- Lib.

v.p.184.It is needless to say that this is altogether imaginary.] _Gneiss_ .-- The great geological feature of the island is, however, the profusion of gneiss, and the various new forms arising from its disintegration.

In the mountains, with the exception of occasional beds of dolomite, no more recent formations overlie it; from the period of its first upheaval, the gneiss has undergone no second submersion, and the soil which covers it in these lofty altitudes is formed almost entirely by its decay.
In the lower ranges of the hills, gigantic portions of gneiss rise conspicuously, so detached from the original chain and so rounded by the action of the atmosphere, aided by their concentric lamellation, that but for their prodigious dimensions, they might be regarded as boulders.
Close under one of these cylindrical masses, 600 feet in height, and upwards of three miles in length, the town of Kornegalle, one of the ancient capitals of the island, has been built; and the great temple of Dambool, the most remarkable Buddhist edifice in Ceylon, is constructed under the hollow edge of another, its gilded roof being formed by the inverted arch of the natural stone.