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Maritime
Lanka |
'1 Jan 2002
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| Last modified: '1 Jan 2002 |
Governor
Rumpf visited Galle in the summer of 1717, and in his diary is this watercolour
drawing of the watering place, annotated
as follows¹:
Map of the sand-bay below the mountains of Roemasselcande, under the jurisdiction of the village Oenawattoena, situated east of the town of Gale, on the other side of the bay, about three-quarter mile across the water, where the drinking water for ships is obtained, namely:
The Reservoir to collect the water that is required; because of damage with time, the necessary repairwork has been done to it...
ABCDEFG was of old made from piled-up rocks, from the bottom upward to ground level. Part ABC of it is erected anew,... likewise CD...
HIKL [in red, at the seaward outlet of the reservoir] is a square compartment newly built of bricks and on level with the ground, to replace the pentagonal figure, which was made of rocks [still visible in the picture, underneath the new construction]. On it the wooden gutter MN will come to collect the water from the pump.
O. pump; P. two pillars, on top of which the pump handle will be placed; q.r. a board to stand on while pumping;
N.S. are two gutter basins; in between them is a closed brickwork gutter. From there it continues as an open gutter until T, with at the end a gutter of black stone T.S., which juts out over the jetty; below it comes the wooden gutter on the jetty, TV; & W. the jetty; X.Y. a lot of rocks put there to free the jetty from lashings of the sea.
Z. a shed on six pillars, covered with tiles.
No.6. a talipot shelter for the lascarin-guardsmen.
7. 8. & 9. are three water courses running down the mountain to the sea. To collect the water in the reservoii two dams have been newly constructed, no.10. and 11.; in the latter an opening no.13. is left to drain the surplus into the sea.
12. the flat ground, rising upwards from here to the mountain, a part of which, around the reservoir, is much cleared of overgrown bushes.Gale, 29th April Anno 1720. -
L. Stevensz
Inscriptions on the drawing are: 'The part of the mountain that has been cleared', 'red earth', and 'the reservoir'.
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