nge of the Himasgaria
mountains. In 1840 a small plantation was, for the first time, formed.
In 1846 there were fifty estates, then averaging, each, 200 acres of
planted land, and yielding an average crop of 80,000 cwt. of coffee.
Every acre is now purchased in that locality, and in large tracts, or
there would have been twice the number of estates in cultivation. In
1848, the Galgawatte estate, situate in this range, at an elevation of
4,000 feet, containing 246 acres, of which 72 were planted, was
purchased by Mr. R.D. Gerard, for L1,600.

The quantity of land which had been brought under cultivation with
coffee in this island in the ten years previous to the last reduction
of duty in 1844, was, in round numbers, 25,000 acres; but so rapid was
the subsequent increase, that in the succeeding three years, that
extent of land was doubled; so that, in 1847, there were upwards of
60,000 acres of land under cultivation with coffee, giving employment
to 40,000 immigrant coolies from the continent of India, and upwards
of two millions of capital were invested in the cultivation of this
staple.

The quantity of land under culture with coffee by Europeans, was about
55,000 acres in 1851. Allowing 20,000 acres to produce the quantity of
native coffee exported, and 5,000 for that consumed in the island, the
total extent of coffee cultivation in Ceylon, European and native,
will be 80,000 acres.

The produce exported in 1849 was 373,593 cwt., while in the year 1836,
when attention was first directed to this island as a coffee-producing
country, the crop was not more than 60,330 cwt. Large profits were
made by the first planters, more capital was introduced, until,
between the years 1840 and 1842, the influx of capitalists, to
undertake this species of cultivation, completely changed the face of
the colony, and enlarged its trade, and the produce of coffee in
sixteen years has increased sixfold.

The general culture resembles the practice in Java. Of the Ceylon
coffee, that grown about Ramboddi fetches the highest price, from the
superiority of the make, shape, and boldness of the berry. The weight
per bushel, clean, averages 56 lbs.; 571/2 lbs. is about the greatest
weight of Ceylon coffee. The lowest in the scale of Ceylon plantation
coffee is the Doombera, which averages 541/2 lbs., clear, per bushel.
The following have been the prices of good ordinary Ceylon coffee in
the port of London for the last eight years in the mont