Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/663

 POPULATION.

627

tribution to military expenditure amounts to 100,000/. annually. For public works, from 200,000/. to 250,000/. have been expended in recent years, and about 20,000/. for education.

To aid in the establishment of a line of railway, a public debt, to the amount of 800,000/., was raised in 1861-67, of which 100,000/. was paid off in 1868. There is a sinking fund provided for the final extinction of the debt, which amounted, at the end of 1869, to upwards of 200,000/. The railway, 75 miles in length, yields a profit of above 80,000/. per annum. — (Communication of the Governor to the Statesman's Year-book.)

Population.

The island of Ceylon was first settled in 1505 by the Portuguese, who established colonies in the west and south, which were taken from them early in the next century by the Dutch. In 1795-96, the British Government took possession of the foreign settlements in the island, which were annexed to the Presidency of Madras; but two years after, in 1798, Ceylon was erected into a separate colony. In 1815 war was declared against the native Go- vernment of the interior; the Kandyan King was taken prisoner, and the whole island fell under British rule.

The extreme length of the colony from north to south, that is, from Point Palmyra to Dondera Head, is 266 miles ; its greatest width 140^ miles from Colombo on the west coast, to Sangeman- kande on the east ; its area is 24,454 miles, or about 15,678,900 acres.

The following table gives the area and population of the six provinces of Ceylon, according to an official return of the year 1867 :—

Provinces

Area in square miles

Total population

Population |>er square mile

190-99 74 89 190-79

20-70

6926

62-32

Western .....

North-western

Southern ....

Eastern

Northern .... Central

Total Military ....

Total (including military).

3,345

2,805 1,927 4,545 6,1)62 5,770

638,801 210,079 367,670 97,089 419,862 359,592

24,454

2,093,183 3,594

85-59 •14

2,096,777

85-73

Of the total population here enumerated, 4,515 were British : 13,968 other whites of European descent, imd the rest coloured,

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