Coeficiente de cortante basal

An article tracing the history of the Leembruggen family, from 1744 in Dutch times to 1934 in the British period, appeared in Volume XXIV 1934 of the DBU Journal. It is a typical history of many Dutch Burgher families for their ancestors would have had similar experiences:

70 PROUD & PREJUDICED

Henricus Leembruggen of Leyden came to Ceylon in 1744 as secretary to Governor van Gollenesse. During his thirty eight years he was Chief of the Cinnamon Department, Chief of Calpentyn (Kalpitiya), acting Dissave (Agent and Collector) in Colombo, and Dissave of Matara, where a rebellion resulted in his entire contingent of fifty being either killed in battle or subsequently killed after being taken prisoner, and [in] Leembruggen [being] taken hostage. After his release, he became Opperkoopman (chief merchant) at Coromandel [the south-east coast of India]. He had thirteen children and the last was Casparus Henricus, born in 1782, five months after his father's death.

Casparus was Magistrate at Matara, Pooneryn and finally Jaffna. He married in 1808 Maria Elizabeth Adelaide du Bois de Lassosay, daughter of Count du Bois de Lassosay, Captain in the Luxembourg Regiment. They had nine children.

The sixth child was Gerard Hendrik who was Inspector of Police at Jaffna and married Elizabeth Rieberg in 1844 and had ten children. Of their seven sons, five served the

Government. Robert became an Inspector of Schools, Garret became Superintendent of Surveys, Caspar became Deputy Fiscal at Galle, Wilmot was Assistant Colonial Surgeon, and John followed his father's career in the Police.The two youngest sons went overseas, Charles to the Federated Malay States where he was a surveyor, miner and big game hunter. Richard became a farmer and preacher and founded a family in Melbourne.

When Garret was a boy, the majority of Dutch Burghers in Jaffna lived in Main Street and the adjoining cross roads, which were seldom disturbed by wheeled traffic. Each house had its `stoep' or verandah, from where they could see the world go by and indulge in friendly gossip. When more quiet was wanted, the inner paved courtyard and garden, in many of which grape vines were cultivated, were favourite places of resort.

They must have had their share of picnics to Pooneryn, Mandativu and the islands and, as they grew older, they accompanied their uncle John in his hunting trips to the Wanni. These hunting trips...consisted in lying in ambush in a pit dug in proximity to a water hole or game path and 'blinded' with green leaves, etc. In this ambush the hunters would lie concealed and shoot bear and leopard, wild pig and deer as they came down the game path to the water hole. This form of shooting was not without risk...On return, laden with spoils of venison and peafowl, wild pig and partridge, there would be feasting and music while the skilful housewife ministered to their needs.

The day came when young Garret had to 'pack his swag' and make for Colombo to seek his fortune...He joined the Survey Department and showed a great aptitude and keenness for work. He married his second cousin, Evelyn de Waas. The life of a junior Surveyor was a wild and woolly one...most of the roads connecting the Northern and Eastern provinces to Colombo were jungle tracks crossing elephant infested wilderness, unbridged and without conveniences for man or beast. Garret used to relate how he made a forced march on foot through these jungles from Batticoloa to Jaffna to see his parents.

Major Skinner, the famous road builder, has given us some vivid pictures of life in the 1840s and 1850s. He wrote:

I have often had hard rough work, crossing flooded rivers and living on edible roots and plants, which the Sinhalese alone familiar with the forest could have selected, but my last two and a half months were the most trying from insufficiency of food. I had hoped to get some fowls from

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Ratnapura but my messenger returned with only five and three were dead on the journey from the cold and the wet. The remaining two... were the only animal food during the ten weeks... and I have thought often of the sustaining properties of boiled rice ever since.

Garret worked in that difficult district and one of his children was born in Ratnapura. In places the camp consisted of palm leaf fronds and half walls. If a bed was placed too close to the wall and the sleeper turned over too much... he found himself outside. This is one of the most wet and windy spots in Ceylon, full of virgin forest, snakes, elephants and leopards. In 1893 he cut his foot badly on a bamboo splinter while crossing a stream and blood poisoning set in. He was brought to Ratnapura and treated for six months by Dr Muller who almost despaired of his recovery. This accident had happened not long after, while passing a jungle shrine, he found some pieces of metal and took them away as a souvenir, although warned not to do so by his camp followers. The serious accident was attributed by them to the wrath of the tutelary gods. On another occasion, he looked down and found a cobra pecking at the sole of his boot. Such were the common incidents of a surveyor in those days. He became the first Ceylonese Superintendent of Surveys in 1902.

The accident to his foot in 1893 gave him trouble in later life. He had eleven children by his first wife, who died in 1922. Some years after her death he retired to Jaffna. In 1930 he married Eugenie Isabella Mary Vanderstraaten and went to live at Rozelle where the cool climate, peaceful surroundings and beautiful hills were very much to his taste. He had two serious illnesses there, but the devoted care of his wife, and [District Medical Officers] Dr Herbert Schokman at Watawala and Dr Eric Brohier at Dickoya, enabled him to shake off these ailments. His terminal illness began with an ordinary cold, followed by bronchitis and he was brought to Colombo where he died of heart failure within an hour of arrival (pp. 55-61).