Description
The author reveals that he was suggested by J.S. Drieberg, Office Asst, to the Government Agent, Western Province, to prepare a Gazetteer of the Jaffna Peninsula which it is believed will be useful to strangers desiring information of the hitherto isolated country to be opened up by the Railway. Accordingly he has prepared this little handbook which is issued to the public on the occasion of the opening of the Railway to through traffic. This little handbook is presented to the public not only as a Gazetteer of the Jaffna Peninsula, as was suggested by his esteemed friend Mr Drieberg who was in our midst for a considerable period as a successful and popular Magistrate, but also as a Souvenir of the opening of the Jaffna Railway for which we are deeply indebted to our late Governor, Sir Joseph West Ridgeway, who will be regarded for all time as the greatest benefactor of the Jaffna people. The book has 15 chapters that notice a distinct aspect of Jaffna, some of the aspects being geography, history, races and creeds, Tamil language and literature, education, journalism, agriculture, trade, things of interest, towns and villages, local customs and games, etc. this work is a reprint of the 1905 edition. The book is very useful for common readers.
