MAP OF CEYLON.
(Vol. vii., p. 65.)
Your correspondent Ajax asks information of me as to the best, or even a tolerable, map of Ceylon. I am not surprised at the inquiry, as no satisfactory map of that island exists to my knowledge. It may illustrate this assertion to mention, that in 1849 I travelled through the vast and interesting district of Neura Kalawa, to the north of the Kandyan range; and I carried with me the map of "India and Ceylon," then published, and since reprinted in 1852, by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. In that map the country I was passing through appears as a large blank, with the words "Unknown mountainous region." But I found it abounding in prosperous villages, and tracts of land cultivated both for rice and dry grain. So far from being "unknown," its forests have a numerous though scattered population; and as to its being "mountainous," there is scarcely a hill in the entire "region." There is a meagre map of Ceylon, drawn by George Atkinson, who was civil engineer and surveyor-general of the colony, and published by Wylde in 1836. It is more correct than others, but sadly deficient in information.
Mr. Arrowsmith, of Soho Square, published in 1845 an admirable map of what is called the Kandy Zone, being the central province of the island, prepared by the Deputy Quarter-Master-General, Colonel Frazer; assisted by Captain Gallwey and Major Skinner, of the Ceylon Civil Service. Col. Frazer has since placed in Mr. Arrowsmith's hands a map of the entire island: it has not yet appeared; but when published it will be found to be as nearly perfect in its details as any map can be.
In reply to the inquiry of Ajax as to the publication of my own work on the history and
topography of Ceylon, it is still in hand; but the pressure of official and parliamentary duties has sadly retarded its preparation for the press.
J. Emerson Tennent.
66. Warwick Square, Belgravia.