bo and
Trincomalie, and the shallower indentations, [Greek: limen], of which he
enumerates five, the positions of which go far to identify them with the
remarkable estuaries or _gobbs_, on the eastern and western coast
between Batticaloa and Calpentyn.

To the present day these latter gulfs are navigable for small craft. On
the eastern side of the island one of them forms the harbour of
Batticaloa, and on the western those of Chilaw and Negombo are bays of
this class. Through the latter a continuous navigation has been
completed by means of short connecting canals, and a traffic is
maintained during the south-west monsoon, from Caltura to the north of
Chilaw, a distance of upwards of eighty miles, by means of craft which
navigate these shallow channels.

These narrow passages conform in every particular to the description
given by Abou-zeyd and Edrisi: they run through a succession of woods
and gardens; and as a leading wind is indispensable for their
navigation, the period named by the Arabian geographers for their
passage is perhaps not excessive during calms or adverse winds.

An article on the meaning of the word gobb will be found in the _Journal
Asiatique_ for September, 1844; but it does not exhibit clearly the very
peculiar features of these openings. It is contained in an extract from
the work on India of ALBYROUNI, a contemporary of Avicenna, who was born
in the valley of the Indus.--"Un golfe (gobb) est comme une encoignure
et un detour que fait la mer en penetrant dans le continens: les navires
n'y sont pas sans peril particulierement a l'egard du flux et
reflux."--_Extrait de l'ouvrage d'_ ALBYROUNI _sur l'Inde; Fragmens
Arabes et Persans, relatifs a l'Inde, recueilles par_ M. REINAUD;
_Journ. Asiat., Septembre et Octobre_, 1844, p. 261. In the Turkish
nautical work of SIDI ALI CHELEBI, the _Mohit_, written about A.D. 1550,
which contains directions for sailors navigating the eastern seas, the
author alludes to the _gobbha's_ on the coast of Arracan; and conscious
that the term was local not likely to be understood beyond those
countries, he adds that "gobbha" means "_a gulf full of shallows,
shoals, and breakers_." See translation by VON HAMMER, _Journ. Asiat.
Soc. Beng._ v. 466.]

The process of this conversion may be seen in all its stages at various
points along the coast of Ceylon.

The margin of land nearest to the water is first taken possession of by
a series of littoral plants, which apparent