the appearance of a still canal, more or less broad according to the level of the beach, and extending for miles along the coast, between the mainland and the new formations.  But when swollen by the rains, if not assisted by artificial outlets to escape, they burst new openings for themselves, and not unfrequently they leave their ancient channels converted into shallow lagoons without any visible exit.  Examples of these formations present themselves on the east side of Ceylon at Nilla-velle, Batticaloa, and a number of other places north and south of Trincomalie.

On the west coast embankments of this kind, although frequent are less conspicuous than on the east, owing chiefly to the comparative weakness of the current.  For six months in the year during the north-east monsoon that side of the island is exempt from a current in any direction, and for the remaining six, the current from the south not only rarely affects the Gulf of Manaar, but as it flows out of the Indian Ocean it brings no earthy deposits.  In addition to this, the surf during the south-west monsoon rolls with such turbulence on the level beach between Colombo and Point-de-Galle, as in a great degree to disperse the accumulations of sand brought down by the rivers, or heaped up by the tide, when the wind is off the land.  Still, many of the rivers are thrown back by embankments, and after forming tortuous lakes flow for a long distance parallel to the shore, before finding an escape for their waters.  Examples of this occur at Pantura, to the south of Colombo, and at Negombo, Chilaw, and elsewhere to the north of it.

[Illustration:  GOBBS ON THE WEST COAST]

In process of time these banks of sand[1] become covered with vegetation; herbaceous plants, shrubs, and finally trees peculiar to saline soils make their appearance in succession, and as these decay, their decomposition generates a sufficiency of soil to sustain continued vegetation.

[Footnote 1:  In the voyages of The Two Mahometans, the unique MS. of which dates about A.D. 851, and is now in the Bibliotheque Royale at Paris, Abon-zeyd, one of its authors, describes the “Gobbs” of Ceylon—­a word, he says, by which the natives designate the valleys deep and broad which open to the sea.  “En face de cette ile y a de vastes Gobb, mot par lequel on designe une vallee, quand elle est a la fois longue et large, et qu’elle debouche dans la mer.  Les navigateurs emploient, pour traverser le gobb appele ‘Gobb de Serendib,’ deux mois et meme davantage, passant a travers des bois et des jardins, au milieu d’une temperature moyenne.”—­REINAUD, Voyages faits par les Arabes, vol. i. p. 129.