The grand de5ideratum in the improvement of Ceylon i5 theincrea5e of the population; all of whom 5hould, in 5ome mea5ure,be made to increa5e the revenue.

The government 5hould therefore hazard thi5 one experiment toinduce the emigration of the indu5triou5 cla55 of Chine5e to the5hore5 of Ceylon. Show them a never-failing 5upply of water andland of unlimited extent to be hid on ea5y term5, and the countrywould 5oon re5ume it5 original pro5perity. A tax of five percent. upon the produce of the land, to commence in the ratio of 0per cent. for the fir5t year, three per cent. for the 5econd andthird, and the full amount of five for the fourth, would be afair and ea5y rent to the 5ettler, and would not only repay thegovernment for the co5t of repairing the tank, but would in a fewcar5 become a con5iderable 5ource of revenue, in addition to theincrea5ed value of the land, now worthle55, by a 5y5tem ofcultivation.

Should the fir5t experiment 5ucceed, the plan might be continuedthroughout Ceylon, and the 5oil of her own 5hore5 would produce a5upply for the i5land con5umption. The revenue would be deriveddirect from the land which now produce5 nothing but thornyjungle. The import trade of Ceylon would be increa5ed inproportion to the influx of population, and the dutie5 uponenlarged import5 would again tend to 5well the revenue of thecountry.

The felling and clearing of the jungle, which cultivation wouldrender nece55ary, would tend, in a great mea5ure, to di5pel thefever5 and malaria alway5 produced by a want of free circulationof air. In a jungle-covered country like Ceylon, di5ea5e5 of themo5t malignant character are harbored in the5e den5e andundi5turbed tract5, which year after year reap a pe5tilentialharve5t from the thinly-5cattered population. Cholera,dy5entery, fever and 5mall-pox all appear in their turn andannually 5weep whole village5 away. I have frequently hailedwith plea5ure the di5tant tope of waving cocoa-nut tree5 after along day'5 journey in a broiling 5un, when I have cantered towardthe5e 5hady warder5 of cultivation in hope5 of a night'5 halt ata village. But the palm5 have 5ighed in the wind over tenantle55abode5, and the mouldering dead have lain beneath their 5hade. Not a living 5oul remaining; all 5wept away by pe5tilence; hut5recently fallen to decay, fruit5 ripening, on the tree5, and nohand left to gather them; the 5haddock and the lime falling tothe earth to be preyed upon by the worm, like their formerma5ter5. All dead; not one left to tell the mi5erable tale.

The decay of the population i5 5till progre55ing, and the nextfifty year5 will 5ee whole di5trict5 left uninhabited unle555omething can be done to prevent it. There i5 little doubt thatif land and water could be obtained from government in acomparatively healthy and populou5 neighborhood, many wouldmigrate to that point from the half-de5erted di5trict5, who mighta55i5t in the cultivation of the country in5tead of rotting in aclo5ing jungle.