Ceylon
and its Capabilities : An Account of its Natural Resources, Indigenous
Productions, and Commercial Facilities/J.W. Bennett. Reprint. New Delhi,
Asian Educational Services, 1998, lxxxiv, 428 p., plain and coloured illus.,
$61. ISBN 81-206-1168-3.
Contents: 1. Geography of Ceylon and its dependencies. 2. Slavery. 3. Facilities of irrigation. 4. Fiscal division of the island. 5. Local revenue first improved during Sir George Murray’s administration of the colonies. 6. Judicial division of the island. 7. Ecclesiastical establishment. 8. Introduction of Cinnamou into Europe. 9. Culture of Indigo entirely neglected. 10. Palms of Ceylon. 11. Areka Palm (Areca Catechu). 12. Digression. 13. Singhalese proverbs. 14. Exaggerated stories and Singhalese catalogue of snakes. 15. Indigenous vegetables, valuable in themselves, but their culture altogether neglected. 16. Vegetable productions of Ceylon continued. 17. Extreme opinions as regards the fruits of the island. 18. Indigenous fruits continued. 19. Western province. 20. Fishing boats. 21. Fresh-water fishes. 22. Negombo an admirable site for grazing farms, for supplying Colombo, and shipping, with butcher’s meat and stock. 23. Putlam. 24. Northern province. 25. The Kallaar River. 26. Route to Bangalle. 27. Climate favorable to the growth of silk. 28. Garrison of Jaffna. 29. Malacology of the island. 30. Suggested extension of the culture of the Cassada. 31. Sailing directions. 32. Route southward continued. 33. Yellow Grosbeak. 34. Hell upon earth. 35. Mahagamme. 36. Character of the Wesleyan mission. 37. Qualifications for the superintendent of a fish factory. 38. Suggested introduction of the camel. 39. River Wallewe. 40. Prospective advantages for an Indigo Factory Company over those of the abandoned scheme. 41. Minerals. 42. Antiquities. 43. Sailing directions continued. 44. Maldivian process for increasing the size of coco-nut timber, similar to that of the Chinese for dwarfing, and of the Singhalese for propagating trees. 45. Galle jewellers. 46. Hiccode. 47. Rapidity of the Kalu-Ganga. 48. Route to Colombo. 49. Routes to the Central Province. 50. Route continued. 51. Sequel to the possession of Kandy. 52. Extraordinary facts respecting the military resources of Kandy, when Major Davie capitulated, in 1803. Appendix.