Page:EB1911 - Volume 05.djvu/814

 known as the Causses from the sunny region of Languedoc, where the olive, vine and mulberry flourish. Northwards the contrast between the two slopes is less striking.

The Cévennes proper are formed by a folded belt of Palaeozoic rocks which lies along the south-east border of the central plateau of France. Concealed in part by later deposits, this ancient mountain chain extends from Castelnaudary to the neighbourhood of Valence, where it sinks suddenly beneath the Tertiary and recent deposits of the valley of the Rhone. It is in the Montagne Noire rather than in the Cévennes proper that the structure of the chain has been most fully investigated. All the geological systems from the Cambrian to the Carboniferous are included in the folded belt, and J. Bergeron has shown that the gneiss and schist which form so much of the chain consist, in part at least, of metamorphosed Cambrian beds. The direction of the folds is about N. 60° E., and the structure is complicated by overthrusting on an extensive scale. The overthrust came from the south-east, and the Palaeozoic beds were crushed and crumpled against the ancient massif of the central plateau. The principal folding took place at the close of the Carboniferous period, and was contemporaneous with that of the old Hercynian chain of Belgium, &c. The Permian and later beds lie unconformably upon the denuded folds, and in the space between the Montagne Noire and the Cévennes proper the folded belt is buried beneath the horizontal Jurassic strata of the Causses. Although the chain was completed in Palaeozoic times, a second folding took place along its south-east margin at the close of the Eocene period. The Secondary and Tertiary beds of the Languedoc were crushed against the central plateau and were frequently overfolded. But by this time the ancient Palaeozoic chain had become a part of the unyielding massif, and the folding did not extend beyond its foot.

As the division between the basins of the Loire and the Garonne to the west and those of the Saône and Rhone to the east, the Cévennes send many affluents to those rivers. In the south the Orb, the Hérault and the Vidourle are independent rivers flowing to the Golfe du Lion; farther north, the Gard—formed by the union of several streams named Gardon—the Cèze and the Ardèche flow to the Rhone. The Vivarais mountains and the northern Cévennes approach the right banks of the Rhone and Saône closely, and on that side send their waters by way of short torrents to those rivers; on the west side the streams are tributaries of the Loire, which rises at the foot of Mont Mézenc. A short distance to the south on the same side are the sources of the Allier and Lot. The waters of the north-western slope of the southern Cévennes drain into the Tarn either directly or by way of the Aveyron, which rises in the outlying chain of the Lévezou, and, in the extreme south, the Agout. The Tarn itself rises on the southern slope of the Mont Lozère.

In the Lozère group and the southern Cévennes generally, good pasturage is found, and huge flocks spend the summer there. Silkworm-rearing and the cultivation of peaches, chestnuts and other fruits are also carried on. In the Vivarais cattle are reared, while on the slopes of the Beaujolais excellent wines are grown.

The chief historical event in the history of the Cévennes is the revolt of the Camisards in the early years of the 18th century (see ).

 CEYLON, a large island and British colony in the Indian Ocean, separated on the N.W. from India by the Gulf of Manaar and Palk Strait. It lies between 5° 55′ and 9° 51′ N. and between 79° 41′ and 81° 54′ E. Its extreme length from north to south is 271½ m.; its greatest width is 137½ m.; and its area amounts to 25,481 sq. m., or about five-sixths of that of Ireland. In its general outline the island resembles a pear, the apex of which points towards the north.

The coast is beset on the N.W. with numberless sandbanks, rocks and shoals, and may be said to be almost connected with India by the island of Rameswaram and Adam’s Bridge, a succession of bold rocks reaching almost across the gulf at its narrowest point. Between the island and the opposite coast there exist two open channels of varying depth and width, beset by rocks and shoals. One of these, the Manaar Passage, is only navigable by very small craft. The other, called the Paumben Passage, lying between Rameswaram and the mainland, has been deepened at considerable outlay, and is used by large vessels in passing from the Malabar to the Coromandel coast, which were formerly compelled in doing so to make the circuit of the island. The west and south coasts, which are uniformly low, are fringed their entire length by coco-nut trees, which grow to the water’s edge in great luxuriance, and give the island a most picturesque appearance. Along these shores there are numerous inlets and backwaters of the sea, some of which are available as harbours for small native craft. The east coast from Point de Galle to Trincomalee is of an entirely opposite character, wanting the ample vegetation of the other, and being at the same time of a bold precipitous character. The largest ships may freely approach this side of the island, provided they take care to avoid a few dangerous rocks, whose localities, however, are well known to navigators.

Seen from a distance at sea this “utmost Indian isle” of the old geographers wears a truly beautiful appearance. The remarkable elevation known as “Adam’s Peak,” the most prominent, though not the loftiest, of the hilly ranges of the interior, towers like a mountain monarch amongst an assemblage of picturesque hills, and is a sure landmark for the navigator when as yet the Colombo lighthouse is hidden from sight amid the green groves of palms that seem to be springing from the waters of the ocean. The low coast-line encircles the mountain zone of the interior on the east, south and west, forming a belt which extends inland to a varying distance of from 30 to 80 m.; but on the north the whole breadth of the island from Kalpitiya to Batticaloa is an almost unbroken plain, containing magnificent forests of great extent.

The mountain zone is towards the south of the island, and covers an area of about 4212 sq. m. The uplifting force seems to have been exerted from south-west to north-east, and although there is much confusion in many of the intersecting ridges, and spurs of great size and extent are sent off in many directions, the lower ranges manifest a remarkable tendency to run in parallel ridges in a direction from south-east to north-west. Towards the north the offsets of the mountain system radiate to short distances and speedily sink to the level of the plain. Detached hills are rare; the most celebrated of these are Mihintale (anc. Missïaka), which overlooks the sacred city of Anuradhapura, and Sigiri. The latter is the only example in Ceylon of those solitary acclivities which form so remarkable a feature in the tableland of the Deccan—which, starting abruptly from the plain, with scarped and perpendicular sides, are frequently converted into strongholds accessible only by precipitous pathways or by steps hewn in the solid rock.

For a long period Adam’s Peak was supposed to be the highest mountain in Ceylon, but actual survey makes it only 7353 ft. above sea-level. This elevation is chiefly remarkable as the resort of pilgrims from all parts of the East. The hollow in the lofty rock that crowns the summit is said by the Brahmans to be the footstep of Siva, by the Buddhists of Buddha, by the Mahommedans of Adam, whilst the Portuguese Christians were divided between the conflicting claims of St Thomas and the eunuch of Candace, queen of Ethiopia. The footstep is covered by a handsome roof, and is guarded by the priests of a rich monastery half-way up the mountain, who maintain a shrine on the summit of the peak. The highest mountains in Ceylon are Pidurutalagala, 8296 ft. in altitude; Kirigalpota, 7836 ft.; and Totapelakanda, 7746 ft.

The summits of the highest ridges are clothed with verdure, and along their base, in the beautiful valleys which intersect them in every direction, the slopes were formerly covered with forests of gigantic and valuable trees, which, however, have disappeared under the axe of the planter, who felled and burnt the timber on all the finest slopes at an elevation of 2000 to 4500 ft., and converted the hillsides into highly cultivated coffee and afterwards tea estates. 