38 Sri Lanka
One of the worlds most beautiful and exotic islands, Sri Lanka, (formerly Ceylon) lies just below the southern tip of India.
This pear-shaped bit of tropical paradise, about the size of Sicily, is a tourists delight offering British teahouses, rubber plantations, and gem mines.
Marco Polo wrote of his visit in 1292: I want you to understand that the island of Ceylon is, for its size, the finest island in the world, and from its streams comes rubies, sapphires, topazes, amethyst and garnet.
