[CHAPTER XXI.]
SCENERY AT NEWERA-ELLIA.—ASCENT OF ADAM'S PEAK.
A TROPICAL FERN.
Here is the letter referred to in the last chapter:
"We have had a delightful experience since we left Kandy, and should have been very sorry to miss the journey to Newera-Ellia. The road winds in a zigzag among the hills, and sometimes we could look down hundreds of feet upon the torrents that foamed along through the valleys. For several miles the route follows the Mahavilla-Ganga, which is the largest river in Ceylon, and goes into the sea near Trincomalee; wherever the road crosses the river it does so on a substantial bridge, and at one place there is a suspension-bridge so high up that it made us dizzy to look over the side.
"They tell us that twenty years ago the country was prettier than it now is, because the hills were then covered with dense forests of tropical trees and ferns, which have been cleared off to make room for coffee plantations. There is one charming valley called Kotmalee, which has a range of mountains on the south-east side, some of them several thousand feet high, and the Mahavilla-Ganga winds through it, sometimes presenting a smooth surface, and again broken into foam by the rapidity of its current over the rocks. At the end of the valley the mountains rise quite sharply, and we had a hard climb of fifteen miles to get from there to Newera-Ellia. The road ascends one foot in every fourteen, and you can readily understand that the horses had no easy work to drag the wagon up this steep incline.