A medical history of prisoners of war in Ceylon 1900-1903 / by Allan Perry.

  • Perry, Allan.
Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A medical history of prisoners of war in Ceylon 1900-1903 / by Allan Perry. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ( ) The valley of Diyatalawa extends over a large area, and is surrounded by ranges of hills which almost enclose it; those on the south and west act as a bar to the rains of the south- west monsoon, and it is easily demonstrated during that season of the year, on approaching Diyatalawa by train, that on the Colombo side of a tunnel which pierces this range the rain is falling with torrential violence, but there is bright sunshine on the Diyatalawa side. The valley consists of rolling downs, with small low hills covered with a coarse kind of grass with intervening gullies and ravines. There is very little flat land and there are practically no trees. The camp is dominated by the barracks for the military guard, which are built on ground with a slightly higher elevation. The climate of Diyatalawa is one of the best in Ceylon. There is only one rainy season, viz., during the north-east monsoon. October, November, and December are the wet- test months ; the driest months are from May to September. The rainfall registered during the year 1901 was 54’09 inches, during 1902 77’9 inches ; the amount of sunshine per day is from five and a half to nine and a half hours. The mean temperature of the air is 70° F., and the mean degree of humidity is about sixty-seven per cent, of saturation. In May, 1900, the work of constructing the necessary buildings for a camp was begun. The Royal Engineers erected the buildings for the military guard, and the Director of Public Works for the Colony the huts for the prisoners and camp officials. In less than four months all the buildings necessary to accommodate 2,500 prisoners with hospitals, quarters for officials, and subordinates, and the military guard, were completed, and in that short space of time a waste had been made into a town with a water service, electric light, a post and telegraph office, wire shoots, and an aerial tramway for the easy transport of fuel and goods, and various shops with everything necessary to supply the wants of the inhabitants. Later on, as our successes in