8th February 1998

A Treacherous Deal

A hunter caught a Partridge and was about to kill him when the bird implored him to spare him saying "Allow me to live, I will help you catch many partridges in place of me. To this the man replied "All the more reason why I would rather kill you; for you expect to betray your friends and acquaintances." (Aesop's Fable)

Indika Sanjeewanee Fernando,

Minu/Japalawatta Central College,

Minuwangoda.

Flowers

Some are red Some are green Some are pink Some are blue Various flowers Various colours Like a world with Various people.

Dushya Nishadi Silva,
Sujatha Balika Vidyalaya,
Matara.

By Uncle D.C.R

With the Independence celebrations still on, it's a good time to remember our patriots who have been honoured through stamps. Let's first take a brief look at history. The maritime provinces of Ceylon came under the control of the Portuguese in the early part of the 16th century (1505). They were displaced by the Dutch in the middle of the 17th century and the British took over these provinces in 1796. However, the hill country or the Kandyan Kingdom preserved its independence with the people successful resisting all foreign attempts to conquer them. The Kandyan Kindom finally came under British control on 1815. It was not conquered but surrendered largely due to internal dissensions. The Kandyan convention was signed on 2nd March 1815 by the Kandyan chiefs and the British Governor. Among the chiefs who signed it was Keppetipola Dissawe. Soon the chiefs and the Kandyan people regretted their action when they realised that they had bartered away their independence and endangered many of their treasured rights and customs. Feeling strongly about their action, Keppetipola Dissawe took upon himself the task of saving the country's honour and prestige and winning her freedom from foreign domination. He raised the flag of rebellion in the Uva Province (he held the post of Dissawe of Uva at the time ) igniting a spontaneous and un-cordinated, yet powerful, series of insurrections against the British. Known as the Great Rebellion of 1817, Keppetipola symbolised the staunch and sturdy Kandyan patriotism. He was captured at Parawahagama, Nuwara-Kalaviya by Lieut. William O' Neil on 28th October 1818 and court martialled. A month later, on 26th November, he was beheaded at Bogambara. He faced a brave death. His skull was removed by Dr Henry Marshall to England where it was kept until it was brought back and interred in the tomb at Maha Maluwa Kandy on 26th November 1954. Sixteen years later (1970) a 25 cent stamp was released to commemorate his 152nd death anniversary. Protecting the Tooth Relic Among the Buddhist clergy supporting the rebellion was Wariyapola Sri Sumangala Thero(1761-1831) who had been appointed by King Sri Wickreme Rajasinghe to conduct the ritual services of the Sacred Tooth Relic. Just before the Kandyan Convention was signed by the Sinhala chiefs and the British Governor, he performed the heroic act of pulling down the British flag when it was hoisted by a British soldier at the Maha Maluwa, trampling it and hoisting the Lion flag. The common acceptance at the time was that the custodian of the Tooth Relic alone possessed the right to govern the country. When the rebellion occured, in order to nullify the British authority on to the Kandyan Kingdom, he took away the Tooth Relic and hid it in the jungles of Dambulla. He was caught by the British on 2nd November 1819 and was charged for removing the Tooth Relic. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to Jaffna jail but was released due to old age on 13 April 1821. A year later he passed away. A 60 cent commemorative stamp was isssued on 2nd March 1985. Veera Puran Appu Leading a popular uprising in 1848 against the British in Matale and proclaiming himself king of Kandy was Weerahennedige Francisco Fernando, a youth from Moratuwa who had shifted to the hills and changed his name to 'Puran Appu'. He was captured with 40 other rebels, charged for treason, court martialled and executed at Bogambara on 8th August, 1848. "He was a brave man. An hour before his death, he held up his hand and said'If there had been half a dozen such men as me to lead, there would not have been a white man living in the Kandyan Provinces". Veera Puran Appu's bravery is borne by this observation made by Viscount Torrington, the British Governor at the time in a letter to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in London. The 15 cent stamp was issued on 8th August 1978 to mark his 130th death anniversary. Page 19

Life in the beginning......

Life first evolved in the sea, and the body flu- ids of many animals today differ little from sea water. For many millions of years, living things existed only in the sea.

Early invertebrates

Even today, many groups of animals do not have a backbone. They are called invertebrates. Many strange types of invertebrate animals lived in the sea between 400 and 500 million years ago. Right on the bottom there lived corals. Corals were like sea anemones, with a ring of tentacles which bore tiny poisonous cells so that they could kill smaller sea creatures for food. They made a hard limestone cup to protect their soft bodies and each year grew larger by adding a new, bigger ring to the top.

Sea-scorpions were the largest invertebrates that have ever lived. One type was two metres long and used its powerful pincers to crack open the shells of the early fish and snails. It could swim, or walk along on the bottom of the sea.

Sea-lilies were common, too. They were not plants, but were related to sea-urchins and starfish. They had long stalks, and flexible arms with sticky tentacles for catching their food.

The history of plant life

Early plants were small. They lived in the water and were like the slimy algae you find on the seashore or in ponds. Life on land is more difficult for both plants and animals; they need a special covering of waterproof cells or they dry up. Plants have a special system of cells to transport water from the roots to the rest of the plant and, if they are to grow tall, they need hard, woody cells to support their stem or trunk. The first land plants evolved at the end of the Silurian Period, over 400 million years ago.

The coal forests

About 300 million years ago, thick forests grew in North America and Europe. At the bottom of the many swamps and lagoons, dead leaves and plants made thick layers which became compressed. Often the sea flooded the forests, leaving a thick covering of sand and mud over the layers of dead plants which gradually turned into hard coal. Occasionally you can see impressions in the coal of leaves or bones of amphibians and fish.

Several million years later, the first conifer trees evolved. Fir and pine trees are conifers. They have seeds which are borne on cones, and do not have any flowers. Another group of plants called the Bennettitales had big, palm-like leaves. For most of the long reign of the dinosaurs all these plants were the main source of food for herbivores (plant-eating animals).

The beginnings of flowers

Most of the early plants relied on the wind to carry the pollen from one plant to another, to fertilize the ovules. But, about 100 million years ago, a new and important group of plants evolved - the flowering plants. Their beautiful flowers are really only a means of attracting insects to the plant. The flowers also contain sweet nectar, which provides food for the insect.

As it goes from flower to flower, the insect carries pollen from plant to plant and fertilizes its ovules. Unlike other plants the seeds of the flowering plants are enclosed and protected. These new adaptations helped the flowering plants to spread quickly all through the world.

The old seed ferns and Bennettitales became extinct, and the ancient types of conifer became much rarer.

Some flowering plants today do not have coloured flowers and the wind carries their pollen. Most plants, even trees and grasses, are types of flowering plant.

New food from new plants

The flowering plants provided many new types of food. Many new varieties of insect evolved to feed on their nectar and fruit. These insects in turn were food for new types of birds and for bats, which evolved to hunt them in the air. Some of the dinosaurs probably fed on the leaves and fruit of the early flowering plants. So did the little early mammals, which climbed about in the trees. Grass is a type of flowering plant that has adapted to live on the dry plains, and many types of mammal evolved to feed on the grass and to run quickly on the hard, dry ground.

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