Page:The empire and the century.djvu/750

 SIR HENRY A. BLAKE, G.C.M.G.

, which contains the largest population of any single Government in our Colonial Empire, is an island in the Indian Ocean, lying south-east of the Madras Presidency, its northern extremity, which overlaps Cape Comorin by about two degrees, forming the Gulf of Manaar, at the northern point of which the island of Ceylon is separated from India by the Paumban Channel, the island of Ramasweram, and a series of sand-banks, intersected by shallow and shifting channels, which are named Adam's Bridge, as they practically bridge the twenty miles or so that separate the southeastern point of Ramasweram from Manaar Point. The extreme length of Ceylon is 266 miles; its greatest width 140½ miles; its area is 25,331⅝ square miles, or 16,212,480 acres. This area is about equal to that of Holland and Belgium. Although so close to the continent of Asia, it is asserted that the island has never been joined to India, as is shown by certain differences in the fauna and flora. The tiger is not known, but among the animals that roam through the great forests are found the elephant, cheetah, black bear, buffalo, boar, elk, and small deer. From time to time elephants are captured by means of elephant kraals, a system that involves the expenditure of considerable time and money in the preparation. A strong enclosure having been constructed, many hundreds of men are employed for some weeks in forming a cordon round the portion of the forest where herds of elephants are known to be. The men are supplied with torches, and work 707