Western | 21| 11|100,807| 96,386|100,828| 96,397 | 59.93 | |Southern | 238| 241|156,900|149,649|157,138|149,890 | 143.72 | |Eastern | 201| 143| 39,923| 35,531| 40,124| 35,674 | 16.08 | |Northern | 387| 362|153,062|148,678|153,449|149,040 | 55.85 | |Central | 468| 204|143,472|116,237|143,940|116,441 | 52.57 | | |2,608|2,207|887,573|805,587|890,181|807,794 | 69.73 | CHAP.

II.
CLIMATE .-- HEALTH AND DISEASE.
The climate of Ceylon, from its physical configuration and insular detachment, contrasts favourably with that of the great Indian peninsula.

Owing to the moderate dimensions of the island, the elevation of its mountains, the very short space during which the sun is passing over it[1] in his regression from or approach to the solstices, and its surrounding seas being nearly uniform in temperature, it is exempt from the extremes of heating and cooling to which the neighbouring continent of India is exposed.

From the same causes it is subjected more uniformly to the genial influences of the trade winds that blow over the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal.
[Footnote 1: In his approach to the northern solstice, the sun, having passed the equator on the 21st of March, reaches the south of Ceylon about the 5th of April, and ten days later is vertical over Point Pedro, the northern extremity of the island.

On his return he is again over Point Pedro about the 27th of August, and passes southward over Dondera Head about the 7th of September.] The island is seldom visited by hurricanes[1], or swept by typhoons, and the breeze, unlike the hot and arid winds of Coromandel and the Dekkan, is always more or less refreshing.