hose spiritual wants there are said to be three hundred Hindu temples
in this northern province. The peninsula presents one uniform level,
and is unbroken by a single hill, scarcely varied, in fact, by an
undulation of more than a very few feet. This dead level renders the
country unfit for rice culture, as it prevents the advantageous flow
of an artificial supply of water. By much labor this difficulty is
partially overcome, and considerable rice is grown in various parts of
the district, but much more is imported. The best sheep in Ceylon are
raised in this part of the island; they have long hair in place of
wool, and to the uninitiated seem more like goats than sheep.

The Dutch left the impress of their residence here in the
characteristic style of the architecture,--low, substantial,
broad-spread stone buildings, which still remain. These homes are
detached, and surrounded by garden plots containing thrifty fruit
trees and charming flowers, supplemented by graceful creeping and
flowering vines upon the dark gray old walls of the dwellings. The
streets of the town are wide and regular, shaded by an abundance of
handsome tulip-trees. There are at least forty thousand people living
in and immediately around Jaffna. It has a certain oriental look,
especially in the quarters where the native bazaars are situated,
thronged by copper-colored men and women. This region is well wooded,
the predominating tree being the palmyra palm.

The dry grains, such as millet and the like, are much cultivated in
the north, while at the south the entire farming population seem to
devote their energy to the raising of rice. The soil throughout the
Jaffna peninsula is very light, requiring much careful culture in
order to produce satisfactory results. It was long before the
necessity of using fertilizers upon the soil was realized in this
region, but when the plan was once adopted and its importance thus
demonstrated, it was henceforth employed systematically. In the
neighborhood of populous centres in the island, north and south, the
natives milk their cows to supply a certain demand confined to
Europeans mostly, but do not themselves use milk to any great extent.
The calves have the benefit of this abstinence on the part of the
farmers. It is the same in China, where the people at large never use
milk. In this Jaffna district, goats' milk is made into excellent
cheese.

All along the shore in this neighborhood the bottom of the sea is