Upon these spots of elevated ground most of the dwellings were situated, commanding a view of the plain, with the river winding through its centre.

The mountains were clothed from the base to the summit with dense forests, containing excellent timber for building purposes.

Good building-stone was procurable everywhere; limestone at a distance of five miles.
The whole of the adjacent country was a repetition Of the Newera Ellia plain with slight variations, comprising a vast extent of alternate swampy plains and dense forests.
Why should this place lie idle?
Why should this great tract of country in such a lovely climate be untenanted and uncultivated?
How often I have stood upon the hills and asked myself this question when gazing over the wide extent of undulating forest and plain! How often I have thought of the thousands of starving wretches at home, who here might earn a comfortable livelihood! and I have scanned the vast tract of country, and in my imagination I have cleared the dark forests and substituted waving crops of corn, and peopled a hundred ideal cottages with a thriving peasantry.
Why should not the highlands Of Ceylon, with an Italian climate, be rescued from their state of barrenness?
Why should not the plains be drained, the forests felled, and cultivation take the place of the rank pasturage, and supplies be produced to make Ceylon independent of other countries?
Why should not schools be established, a comfortable hotel be erected, a church be built?
In fact, why should Newera Ellia, with its wonderful climate, so easily attainable, be neglected in a country like Ceylon, proverbial for its unhealthiness?
These were my ideas when I first visited Newera Ellia, before I had much experience in either people or things connected with the island.
My twelve months' tour in Ceylon being completed, I returned to England delighted with what I had seen of Ceylon in general, but, above all, with my short visit to Newera Ellia, malgre its barrenness and want of comfort, caused rather by the neglect of man than by the lack of resources in the locality..