We beg leave to offer to your excellency the respectful expression of our attachment and esteem; our grateful acknowledgments for the uniform kindness we have enjoyed under your government, and our unfeigned and fervent wishes for your future health and happiness.

To which his Excellency the Governor was pleased to return the following answer.

GENTLEMEN,

I cannot express my sensations at this fresh mark of your kindness to me. It is to the cordial and zealous support and co-operation of every branch of his Majesty's service on this island that I principally owe any success which I may have had, in overcoming extraordinary calamities, and in securing the tranquillity and promoting the happiness of these settlements.-Their regard to my person, and good opinion of my conduct, have consoled my afflictions and embellished my prosperity; and this unanimous declaration of their sentiments, at the moment when my long and eventful government is about to terminate, must be at all times the most honourable testimony to my character, as it will be the most pleasing reflection of my heart.

Much as I am rejoiced at having obtained his Majesty's permission to return to my native country, and still more at

the very gracious terms in which that permission has been conveyed to me, I cannot leave, without a severe pang, connections so much endeared to me, by merit, by habit, and by mutual good will. The liveliness of my remembrance of you, gentlemen, cannot be increased by the splendid memorial which you have been pleased to offer me: but it will be cherished by me to the end of my life, and preserved as an additional pledge of that kindness which I so highly value and so gratefully feel.

St. Sebastians, 17th July, 1805.

On this occasion a piece of plate of the value of one thousand guineas was voted to Mr. North.

The Dutch inhabitants in Ceylon are about nine hundred in number, and, excepting a few families, are reduced to circumstances of great indigence: but by rigid and meritorious economy, and some of the lesser labours of industry, they maintain an appearance, in the eyes of the world, sometimes affluent and gay, always decent and respectable.

They are chiefly composed of officers (prisoners of war), with their families, and widows and daughters of deceased civil and military servants of the Dutch East-India company. The greater part of them are proprietors of houses, which they let, with considerable advantage, to the English inhabitants. If a poor family should only possess one good

house they retire into a smaller or less convenient one, and enjoy the benefit of the overplus of the rent, which they receive by relinquishing a more comfortable dwelling.

The Dutch inhabitants are allowed the undisturbed exercise of their religion: and the clergymen receive from government an allowance equal to one half of their former stipends. Their church council still possesses its authority: but the funds for charitable purposes have been removed from their management, and are now disposed of under the immediate direction of government.

One of the clergymen of the Dutch church, (Gerardus Philipsz) now resident at Columbo, is a native Cingalese, who was educated and ordained in Holland, and supports the character of a most respectable pastor.

All the private soldiers, capable of bearing arms, who fell into our hands on the capture of the island, were sent to Madras, where the greater part of them enlisted into his Majesty's service.

There is still a large body of inhabitants at Columbo and the other settlements in Ceylon, known by the name of Portuguese. They probably amount to the number of five thousand; they are, however, completely degenerated, and exhibit complexions of a blacker hue than any of the original natives. Yet they retain a considerable portion of the pride of their ancestors: wear the European dress: profess the religion of the church of Rome; and think them

selves far superior to the lower classes of the Cingalese. The greater part of them were admitted, by the Dutch, to all the privileges of citizens, under the denomination of burghers. A corruption of their original language is still spoken over all the sea coasts. It is very easily learned, and proves of great utility to a traveller, who has not time to study the more difficult dialects of the natives.

VOL. I.

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CHAPTER IV.

DISTINCTION

OF NATIVE INHABITANTS-BEDAHS-CINGALESE -THEIR CHARACTER CASTS-PERSONS-DRESS-VARIOUS CUSTOMS SPECIMENS OF LANGUAGES

DIANS-MALABARS-MALAYS.

ALBINOS - CAN

THE great body of the inhabitants of Ceylon is divided into three general classes, Cingalese, Candians, and Malabars. The first and second are descended from the aborigines of the island: the third are the offspring of colonies, which have emigrated from the Indian peninsula. Each class contains about five hundred thousand persons, making the whole population one million and a half. The Cingalese occupy the coasts of the southern half of the island, from Dondra-head to the confines of Batticalo on the east, and to the river of Chilauw on the west. The coasts farther north are occupied by Malabars. Both of these classes are subject to the British government. The Candians are entirely shut up in the heart of the country, and have never been subdued by any foreign power.