ELEPHANTS CAPTUREDCEYLON
AN ACCOUNT OE THE ISLAND
PHYSICAL, HISTOEICAL, AND TOPOG-BAPHICAL
NOTICES OF ITS NATUBAL HISTORY, ANTIQUITIES AND PRODUCTIONS
BY
SIR JAMES EMERSON TEMENT, K.C.S. LLD. &c.
ILIiTJSTEATEB BY MAPS, PLANS AKD DEAWI2TGS FOUBTH EDITION, THOBOtJGHIlT EEVISED
"VOLTOiE II,
LONDON
LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, AND ROBERTS I860CONTENTS
THE SECOND VOLUME.
PAET VI.
MODERN HISTORY.
CHAPTER I.
THE PORTUGUESE IN CEYLON.
Page Gloomy character of tlie policy of
Portugal in Ceylon ... 3 " War, trade, and religion" . . 3 Their history as written by themselves ......4
A.r . 1505.?Their first visit to Ceylon 5
They did not go for cinnamon ^note) 5 Political condition of Ceylon at the
time...... 5
Active commerce of the Moors . . 6
Chiefs of the Wanny .... 6
List of the petty principalities (note) 6
Low character of the Singhalese kings 7
Dependent on India for rice . . 7 A.D. 1505. ? Almevda accidentally
visits Galle '. " . . . ? . 7 His reception by the pretended king 8 A.D. 1517.?Portuguese come to Colombo ...... 8
Importance of Ceylon to their trade . 8 They commence to build a fort . 9 The Moors excite the king to resistance ...... 9
A.D. 1520. ? Fort of Colombo constructed ...... 10
Portuguese besieged in it . . .10 The beginning of a protracted war . 10 Effects of this war on the Singhalese ...... 10
Impotence of the kings of Cotta, . 11
The Kandyans organise resistance . 11
The Singhalese become soldiers . 12
And learn to manufacture arms (wote) 12 Genealogy of the kings of Ceylon (note) 13
The king killed by JMaya Dunnai . 13
A.D. 1534.?Bhuwaneka Bahu Til. . 13
Cotta besieged by Maya Dunnai . 14
A.D. 1538.?WarVenewed ... 14 A.IX 1541.? King's son christened at
Lisbon ...... 14
Franciscan Order established in
Ceylon ...»?. 15
Page
A. D. 1542. ? The king accidentally shot . ........ .15
The young king avows Christianity 16 Renewed war and cruelties of the
Portuguese . . , . .16 Coast towards Galle laid waste . 16
Raja Singha, son to Maya Dunnai 17 A.D. 1563.?He besieges Colombo 17
Cotta abandoned ... 17
Increase of proselytism . . 17
The king of Kandy (1547) invites
the Roman Catholic priests . 18
But attacks and expels them . 18
A.D. 1581.?Raja Singha I. crowned 18 Takes possession of Kandj'-, and the
king flies , . . . . . 19 Donna Catharina, daughter of the
fugitive king . . . . .19 A.D. 1586.?Raja Singha II. besieges
Colombo.....19
Cruelties of the siege . (note) 19 Destruction of the temple at Dondera
Head . '.....20
The siege raised, and death, of Raja
Singha II. . . , . . 21 The Portuguese take Kandy . . 21 Their general Kunappoo revolts . 21 And becomes king as " Wimala
Dharma".....22
Lopez de Souza and his army de-
stroved......23
A.D. 1594.?The atrocities of Azavedo 23 A.D. 1597. ?The King of Cotta dies, leaving the King of Portugal heir to his crown
Dignified conduct of the Singaale,
chiefs
24
25
Nature and extent of the Portuguese
possessians ..... 26
Their establishments and trade . . 26
Error corrected in Ribeyro . (note) 27
Colombo as it then existed.? Galie
and the other forts . . . * 28
Sketch of the history of Jaffna . . 28
Made tributary in 1&44 . . 20
A 3VI
CONTENTS OF
A.D. 1560.? Constantino of Braganza takes it......29
And destroys the " Sacred Tooth " . 29 Story of the false dalada ... SO A.D. 1604.?Jaffna again attacked . 30 A»D. 1617.?City sacked and finally
annexed by Portugal . . ,30 The Dutch appear in Ceylon . .31
CHAP. II.
THE DUTCH IN CEYLON.
A.D. 1580. ?Philip II. becomes King
of Portugal..... 32
And Holland declares its independence ...... 32
Histories of Baldseus and Yalentyn
('note} 32
Rise of the Butch mercantile marine 33 A.D. 1594.?The Dutch excluded from
Lisbon...... 34
And thus driven to send ships to India 34 A.D. 1595.?Houtnian sails round the Cape ..... . .34
Dutch East India Company formed
(note} 34 A.D. 1602,?First Dutch ship touches
Ceylon...... 35
Spilberg lands at Batticaloa . . 35 Traces of cinnamon at Batticaloa (note) 35 Titles of the King of Kandy . . 35 Spilberg received at Kandy . . 35 A.D. 1603.?Sibalt de Weert killed . 37 A.D. 1604.?Death of Wimala Dharnia 37 Senerat becomes king . . .37 Truce between Spain and Holland , 38 Marcellus de Boschouwer at Kandy . 38 His singular advancement . . 38 War renewed with Portuguese . . 39 A.D. 1615.?Boschouwer sent to Holland ...... 39
A. i . 1620.? Danish ships sent to
Ceylon ...... 39
A.D. 1030.?Destruction of Constan-
tine de Saa..... 40
A.D. 1632.?Death of King Senerat . 41 Eaja Singha II. king . . .41 Portuguese take Kandy, but are
routed...... 42
A.D. 1638. ?Admiral Westerwold's treaty . . . . . .42
A.D. 1630.? Trincomalie and Batticaloa taken..... 43
A.i . 1640. ? Negombo, Matura, and
Galle taken ..... 43 Commodore Koster murdered (note) 4S Raja Singfaa II. false to the Dutch . 44 A truce lor ten years with Portugal . 44 Intriguing policy of Raja Singha II. 44 Patient endurance of the Dutch . 44 Their desereditable policy . , .44 A.D, 1C55. ? The truce end:*, and Colombo taken..... 45
A,T . 1656.?Dutch quarrel with Raja
Singha...... 45
Alleged breach of the Westerwold
treaty...... -15
Page A.D. 1658.?Manaar and Jaffna taken
by the Dutch .... 46 Dutch now masters of Ceylon . . 46 Dutch and Portuguese policy contrasted ......47
Honour sacrificed to trade . . .47 Similar policy of the English East
India Company . . (note) 47 Despotic acts of Eaja Singha II. .48 He imprisons the Dutch ambassadors
(note) 48
Dutch presents to the king (note) 48 Raja Singha's passion for hawking
(note) 48 His forcible detention of foreigners
(note') 48
A.D. 1664.?Rebellion at Kandy (note} 49 The Dutch policy in Ceylon?peace . 50
Their trade.....50
Mode of procuring cinnamon . . 51 The cinnamon of Negombo the finest 51 Cinnamon trade not profitable . .51 Elephants and their export . . 52 Areca nuts, ? Persecution of the
Moors......52
Duties assessed according to religion 54 Other exports . . . .55
Coffee, its cultivation discouraged . 55 Salt monopoly . . . ... 56
Taxes, on land and other articles . 56 Pearls doubtful if profitable . .56 Power of native chiefs under the
Dutch.....56,57
Dutch did little for the natives . . 57 Religion and education subservient to policy . . . . . .58
Agriculture neglected . . .58 Dutch officials ill paid .and discontented ...... 58
Ceylon, in reality a military tenure , 59 Ceylon did not pay its own. expenses 59 Treason of Governor Vuyst, 1626 . 60 Rebellion under Governor Versluys . 60 A.D, 1672.?The French visit Ceylon 60 French ambassador's suite flogged . 60
A.D. 1687__Death of Raja Singba II, 61
Character of his successor . . 61 A.D. 1739___The Singhalese line extinct ...... 61
A.D. 1766.?The Dutch take Kandy . 61 Governors Imhoff and Falck . .61 Arrival of the English in Ceylon . 62
CHAP. III.
ENGLISH PERIOD.
First Englishman in Ceylon R. Fitch 63 {?sir John Mandeville never in Cevlon
(note) 63
England slow to enter the Indian trade . . . . . .64
Portugal claimed its monopoly . . 64
Declaration of Queen Elizabeth 1500 64 Dutch exclude strangers from Ceylon
(note} 64
The first English ship seen in Ceylon 64
Travellers during the Dutch period . 65 \Volf,Tavermer,Tnunberg, and SirT.
Herbert .... (note} 65THE SECOND VOLUME.
Vll
English look to Ceylon in 1664.
Passion of Kaja Singha II. to detain, strangers.....
Coincidence, of the captivity of the Theban in Palladius and Knox
(note) 65.
English embassy in 1763 .
Hugh Boyd's embassy in 1782 .
Trincomalie taken bythe English and French......
England attacks the Dutch in Ceylon, 1795......
Trincomalie taken ....
Colombo and the rest of the island taken, 1796.....
Disgraceful conduct of the Dutch Governor .... (note')
Policy of Portugal and Holland contrasted ......
Remains of Portuguese language and names .... (note)
Fate of the Dutch inhabitants of Cej-lon ......
Ceylon governed from Madras .
The result a rebellion
Ceylon governed from home
Mr. North the first Governor .
His private letters . . (note)
His policy ....
Difficulty of reconstructing the Courts of Law ......
Events at the Court of Kandy .
Story of the Adigar Pilame TalaVe" .
His treachery and intrigues
Questionable policy of Mr. North
Mr. North's defence of his own policy
Travels of Lord Valentia and Mr. Cordiner . . . (note)
Designs of the Adigar disclosed
The embassy of 1800 planned .
Mr. North's self-delusive defence
Failure of the embassy and its object
M. Joinville's account of it
Pa
,66
66 66
67
67 67
68 68 69 70
71 72 73 73
74 74 75
75 75
76
77
77 78 78 79 80 80
Page
Disastrous results of this policy . 81 Disturbances excited by the Adigar 81 The Duke of Wellington at Trincomalie as Colonel Wellesley (note) 81 Violence to British subjects . .81 Kandy taken by the British . . 81 Treaties with the new king and the
Adigar...... 82
The massacre of 1803 . . 83
Disturbances which followed . . 84
Insurrections in the low country . 84 Wonderful march of Captain Johnston, 1804 .... (note) 85
Measures of the Governor . . . 86 Mr. North's secret communications
with Kandy..... 86
Character of his administration . 86
The war of 1815, and its causes . 87
Savage character of the king . . 87
Death of Pilanie' Talawe ... 87 Eheylapola made Adigar . . .87
Awful murder of his family . . 88 The king of Kandy mutilates British
subjects...... 88
Kandy taken by the British in 1815 . 89 The king deposed and banished to
Vellore...... 90
Kandy ceded to the British Crown . 90
Rebellion of 1817, and its causes . 90
Discontent of the chiefs and priests 90 Outbreak of rebellion . . .91
Sufferings of the Kandyan people . 92
Low country Singhalese loyal . . 92 Fresh convention, 1818 . .92 Eeform of the Civil Government of
Kandy......
Frequent attempts at rebellion since. Kandyan country opened by roads . " The Kaduganawa Pass surmounted
Civil administration since 1820.
Coffee cultivation in. Kandy, and its
effect......
92 93
94 95 95
PART VIL SOUTHERN" AND CENTEAL PROVINCES.
CHAPTER I.
POINT 1 B GAU.B.
Beauty of it» scenery ... 99
Probably the ancient Tarshish . . 100
Double canoes.....103
Mentioned by Pliny .... 104
The Fort . *.....105
Error of the Portuguese and Dutch
in confounding Galle and gattua
(note') 105 The Queen's House . . . .105
Its gardens.....105
The people of many nations at Galle. 105 Antiquity of-the mode of dressing
the hair......106
Genera! effeminacy ? . . .107
The country ..... 107
Dress of Singhalese females . . 107 Moorish dealers in gems . . . 108 Tortoise-shell . . . (note) 108 Carved ebony ...... 108,
The trade of the port?cliiefly limited
to the products of the coco-nut palm 109 Local prosperity depends on shipping 109 The Suria trees and their caterpillars ....., 110
The Native town .... Ill
The gardens.....Ill
The jak tree described by Pliny (note") III Hdix hema&tama . . , .112 Belligam ...... 112
Statue of the £^mtia Ruja. . .113 Matura . (note 113
A 4Vlll
CONTENTS OF
Page
Dondera and its temples . . .US Tangalk and Hambangtotte . .114
Fireflies ???? }f2 A dinner at Galle . . (note) 115 Mosquitoes the "plague of Egypt
(wote) llo
The harbour of Galle . » - U6 Theory of the tides around Ceylon
117?^-1U
120 121 122 122 123 123 124 124 125
125
CHAP. IL
GALLE TO COLOMBO.
Galle and Colombo mail The roads of Ceylon . Beauty of the Galle road View of Adam's Peak Houses of the villagers The Chalias and their origin The coco-nut palm . Its prodigious numbers at Galle Its " hundred uses " . "Won't grow out of sound of the human voice.....
Extent of coco-nut cultivation (note) 125
Coco de mer.....126
Curry spoken of by Ibn Batuta (note) 126
fficcode......127
" Coir," origin of the word (note) 127 Amblangodde, coral . . . .127 Cosgodde, anecdote . . . .128 Bentotte, oysters . . . .129 The Fisher caste ' . » . .129
The fish-tax.....ISO
Adam's Peak-.....132
Worship of the sun -. . . .132 Various traditions . , v .133
-----the Footstep of St. Thomas (note) 133
------of Buddha. . . (note) 133
-----of Adam (Mahometan) . .134
The Gnostics authors of last . .135 The first Mahometan pilgrims . . 136 The route to the summit . . .137 The Iron Chains . . . , 138 Elephants visit the summit (note) 139 The Footstep . . . . .140
The View......141
The descent to Caltura by water , 142 Caltura . .. . . k . 142
Pantura......143
Canals . . . . .143
MoroHu .... 143
Mount Lavinia . * 144
Galkisse?the temple * -. 145
Approach to Colombo The Galle Face . Queen's House . Note on the fish-tax .
146 . 146 . 147 148,149
CHAP. III.
COLOMBO*
Town, modern . . . . 151
The "Jons JSxtremum" of Ptolemy . 151 Origin of the name " Colombo " . 152 The Colombo Lake or " Gobb ". .153 Country houses in the suburbs » . 153
Page
Annoyances from reptiles . ? .153 Destruction of books by insects ?, 154
The fish insect.....154
The plague of flies . . . .155 Various races inhabiting Colombo . 156 The Dutch descendants . . .156 Caste, and its malignant influence . 157 European society at Colombo . .158 Expense of living .... 159 Curious effects of the Pinguicula vul-
garis .... (note) 159 Fruit at Colombo . . . .160 Shops in the Native Town . .160 Interior of a Native house. . .160 The soap-nut and the marking-nut .... (note) 160 Houses of the chiefs . . . .161 Dinner with Maha-Moodliar . . 161 The Cinnamon Gardens . . .161 Decline of the trade in cinnamon , 161 Its present state .... 163 Dangerous harbour and roadstead . 165 Elie house and gardens . . .166
CHAP. IV.
THE CEYLON GOVERNMENT, REVENUE, AND ESTABLISHMENTS.
THE COUNTRY FROM COLOMBO TO KANDY.
The governor and his councils . .167 Sources of public revenue . (note) 168 The pearl fishery . . . .169
The monopoly of salt and arrack . 169 Unwise tax upon rice . . .169 Its demoralizing effects . (note) 170 Tolls on bridges and ferries . .171 Expenditure on establishments (note) 172 The Civil Service and its efficiency . 172 Causes of its former decline (note) 173 Reforms of the Earl of Derby . .174 The Maldwe ambassador . . .175 The weather at Colombo, in March . 176 The superstition of " the evil eye " . 176 Cruelty to animals .... 177
Turtle sold alive piece-meal . .177 Ancient temple of Kalany . . 178 Sita-wacca and Kuan well £ (note) 179 The road from Colombo to Kandy . 179 The bullocks of Ceylon . . .180 "Tavalams" . " . . . .181
Camels tried to be domesticated (note) 181 Veangodde . . . . . .182
Don Solomon Dias . . . .182
Ambepusse. . . . . .183
White monkeys . . (note) 184 The Kandyan*peasantry . . .184
A juggler"......185
Diodorus Siculus' account of the Singhalese jugglers . . (note) 185 The Kaduganawa Pass . . . ] 86 The Rodiyas ? their inhuman degradation . . . . . .187
The Cagots of the Pyrenees . . 191 Entrance to Kandy.....192THE SECOND VOLUME.
IX
CHAP. V.
KANDY ? PAKEDENIA.
Page General aspect of Kandy . . - 194
Its antiquities.....194
Its ancient history . . . .194 The public buildings and Temple of
the Tooth.....195
The streets and native houses . . 196 The palace . . . . - I96
The temples.....197
Status of the Buddhist priesthood . 197 The Pera-hara . . . (note) 198 The Sacred Tooth and its story. .198 Fraud practised on the king of Pegu 200 The Tooth, and its shrine . . . 202 The lake and scenery of Kandy . 203 Yisit of a leopard . . . - 203
Snakes......203
Scorpions ....?? 204 Wine grown at Kandy. A.D. 1602
(note-) 206 Costume of the chiefs . . .206
Peradenia......207
Cultivation of sugar .... 207 The Botanic Garden . . . .209 Unreasoning complaints against 209, 210 Duties of a botanic officer . . .211 Story of the Tooth . . (note) 213
CHAP. YI.
GAMPOLA AND THE COFFEE DISTRICTS.
The bridge of Peradenia . . .222 Torrents of the Mahawelli-ganga . 222 Country from Kandy to Gampola . 222 Character of the Kandyans . . 223 Their affection for kindred . . 224 Gampola and its antiquities . . 224 Huge spiders?the Mygale . . 225 Origin of coffee-planting in Ceylon . 226 Introduced by the Arabs . . . 226 Discouraged by the Dutch . . 227 Coffee found at Kandy in 1815 . . 227 Cultivated by the natives . . . 227 Systematic culture introduced by Sir
"Edward Barnes . . ." .228 Encouraging circumstances in 1826 . 228 Increased consumption of coffee in
Europe . . . . (note) 228 Failure of the supply from the West
Indies......228
Rapid success of the experiment . 229 Rapid sale of crown lands . (note) 230 Imprudence of the early planters . 231 Attractions of a forest life . . .231 The mania at its height in 1845 . 231 The crisis of 1846 . . . .232
Pape
Sacrifice of estates .... 232 Gradual recovery of the enterprise . 232 Subsequent improvements in culture 233 Difficulties of the speculation . . 233 Difficulty of obtaining labour . . 233 Dangers from winds, vermin, and
insects......234
Ravages of the " coffee bug " . . 234 Rats . . . . . . .234
Future prospect of the planter . . 235 Present extent tinder cultivation . 235 Valuable tables of Mr. Ferguson . 235 The future and probable extension . 236 The anxieties of absent planters . 236 Old Gampola ferry .... 237
Table of coffee estates . . . 238 Note on the coffee bug ? . . 244
CHAP. VII.
FUSILAWA AND NEUERA-ELLIA.
Road from Gampola to Pusilawa . 249
Gamboge trees, &c.....249
Patenas......249
Sounds heard clearly on the hills . 250 Mode of felling forests . . . 250
Pusilawa......250
The estate of Mr. Worms . .250 Beauty of a coffee plantation . . 251 Tea grown at Pusilawa . . .251 Objects of natural history . . 252 Habits of animals at various hours
of the day.....252
The early butterflies and birds . 253 Songsters and bees. " . . 253
Noon arid the effects of heat on the animals . ... . . 254
Evening and its characteristics . 255
Night......257
Rangbodde. . . . . 257 General Eraser's estate . . . 258 Gregarious spiders .... 258 Effects of cold on the Singhalese . 259 The Caffre corps . . . .259 One of them killed by an elephant .....259
Neuera-ellia and its discovery . . 260 Its climate and vegetation . . 261 Effects on health . . . .262 The benefits to invalids . . . 263 Farming at Neuera-ellia . , 264
Gem-finding.....264
Oovah,?its fertility . . . . 265
Itsproductions,~coffee estates 266-268
J3adu!la,?tQwii described . . . 266
The hot well.....268
Outcasts and degraded races . .268 Magnificent view at the pass of Ella......268CONTENTS OF
PAET VIII. THE ELEPHANT.
Page . 271
i)271
. 272 273 274 275 277 279 280
281
282
283
284 285
286
CHAPTER I.
STRUCTUKE.
Vast numbers in Ceylon Derivation of the word " elephant"
Mischief done by them to crops
Ivory scarce in fceylon
Conjectures as to the absence of tusks
Elephant a harmless animal
Alleged antipathies to other animals
Fights one with another .
His foot his chief weapon .
Use of the tusks in a wild state doubtful .. .....
Anecdote of sagacity at Kandy .
Difference between African and Indian species.....
Native ideas of perfection in an elephant ......
Blotches on the skin ....
White elephants not unknown in Ceylon .......
CHAP. II.
HABITS.
Water, but not heat, essential to elephants ...... 287
Sight limited ..... 287
Smell acute ..... 288
Caution . ..... 288
Hearing, good ..... 289
Cries of the elephant . . . .289
Trumpeting . . . . . 289
Booming noise . . . . . 290
Height, exaggerated .... 290
Facility of stealthy motion . .291 Ancient delusion as to the joints of the leg ...... 292
Its exposure by Sir Thomas Browne . 293 Its perpetuation by poets and others 294 Position of the elephant in sleep . 297 An elephant killed on its feet . . 298 Mode of lying down . . . .299
Its gait a shuffle . . . .299
Power of climbing mountains . . 800 Facilitated by the joint of the knee . 300 Mode of descending declivities . .301 A " herd " is a family. . . .301
Attachment to their voung . . 302 Suckled indifferentlyby the females . 303 A " rogue *' elephant .... 304
Their cunning and vice . . . 305 Injuries done by them . . . 305 The leader of a herd a tusker . . 306 Bathing and nocturnal gambols, de-
scription of a scene by Maj or Skinner 306 Method of swimming . . . 310 Internal anatomy imperfectly known 311
Faculty of storing water . . 311 Peculiarity of the stomach 312-316 The food of the elephant , . 317 Sagacity in search of it , 317,318 Unexplained dread of fences 318, 319 His spirit of curiosity and inquisitive-ness . . * . . . .320 Estimate of sagacity .... 320 Singular conduct of a herd during thunder ...... 321
CHAP. HI.
ELEPHANT SHOOTING.
Yast numbers shot in Ceylon . . 323 Fatal spots at which to aim . . 324 Revolting details of elephant killing
in Africa . . . (note) 324 Attitudes when surprised . . . 328 Peculiar movements when reposing . 328 Habits when attacked . , . 329 Sagacity of native trackers . . 330 Courage and agility in escape * .331 Worthlessness of the carcass . . 332 Singular recovery from a wound(«ote) 333
CHAP. IV.
AN ELEPHANT CORRAI*
Method of capture by noosing . . 335 Panickeas?their courage and address 336 Their sagacity in following the elephant ...... 337
Mode of capture by the noose . . 338 Mode of taming. . . . .339
Method of leading the elephants to
the coast.....340
Process of embarking them at Ma-
naar......341
Method of capturing a whole herd . 341 The " keddah " in Bengal described . 342 Process of enclosing a herd . . 34,3 Process of capture in Ceylon . . 343 An elephant corral and its construction ......344
An elephant hunt in Ceylon. 1847 . 344 The town and district of Kornegalle 345 The rock of Aetagalla . . .345 Forced labour of the corral in former
times......347
Now given voluntarily . . . 34$ Form of the enclosure . .. . 349 Method of securing a wild herd . 350 Scene when, driving them into the corral . « . . ? ? .351
A failure......352
An elephant drove by night . . 353 Singular scene in the corral . .354 Excitement of the tame elephants . 354THE SECOND VOLUME.
Xl
CHAP. V.
THE CAPTIVES.
Page
A night scene . . . . 355 Morning in the corral . . . 356 Preparations for securing1 the captives ......357
The " cooroowe," or noosers . . 357 The tame decoys . . . 357 !First captive tied up . . . . 358 Singular conduct of the wild elephants ......359
Purious attempts of the herd to
escape......360
Courageous conduct of the natives . 360 Yariety of disposition exhibited by
the herd......363
Extraordinary contortions of the captives ......363
Water withdrawn from the stomach . 365 Instinct of the decoys . . . 365 Conduct of the noosers . . . 367 The young ones and their actions . 368 Noosing a " rogue," and his death . 369 Instinct of flies in search of carrion
(note) 370
Strange scene.....371
A second herd captured . . . 372 Their treatment of a solitary elephant......373
A magnificent female elephant. . 373 Her extraordinary attitudes . . 373 Taking the captives out of the corral 376 Their subsequent treatment and training.......376
Grandeur of the scene . . . 376 Story of young pet elephant . . 377
CHAP. VI.
CONDUCT IN" CAPTIVITY.
Page Alleged superiority of the Indian to
the African elephant?not true . 378 Ditto of Ceylon elephant to Indian . 379 Process of training in Ceylon . . 382 Allowed to bathe . . . .383 Difference of disposition . . . 384: Sudden death of " broken heart" . 385 First employment treading clay . 886 Drawing a waggon .... 386 Dragging timber . . . . 387 Sagacity in labour .... 387 Mode of raising stones . . . 387 Strength in throwing down trees
exaggerated.....388
Piling timber.....389
Not uniform in habits of work . . 889 Lazy if not watched . . . .390 Obedience to keeper from affection
not fear......390
Change of keeper?story of child 390-391 Ear for sounds and music . . . 391 Hurra! .... (note) 391
Docility......392
Working elephants, delicate . . 393 Deaths in government stud . . 394
Diseases......395
Question of the value of labour of an
elephant.....395
Food in captivity, and cost . .395 Breed in captivity .... 397
Age.......398
No dead elephants found . . . 399 Sindbad's story..... 400 Passage from /Elian . . . .401
PAET IX.
THE NOBTHBRN FORESTS.
CHAPTER I.
FOREST TRAVELLING IN CEYLON.
The ancient province of Pihiti . . 407
Little known to Europeans . . 407
Coco-nut plantations oil the coast . 409
Difficulty of travellers regarding provisions .... . . 410
Their dependence on game . .4.11
Water . . . .. . .411
Method of purifying it by a nut . 411
Koiids and forest-paths . . . 412
Solitude of the forest. . . .413
Scarcity of animals in its depths . 413
Mode of crossing rivers . . » 413
Arrangement of'a day's march . . 414
CHAP. II.
BJNTEKNE ? THE MAHAWELIJ-GANG A ? THE ANCIENT TANKS.
Scenery of the Mahawelli-ganga . 415
Chalybeate streams . 416
Gonnegamme and the Maha-oya . 416 Singhalese torches .... 417 The Cinnamon Eiver . . . 417
The Coma-ova.....417
Elephants swimming . . .418 Effects of rain on the rivers . .418 Pangragamme. . . , . .418 Bintenne and its antiquities . 419-420 The ** Maagrammum " of Ptolemy . 420 Its ancient dagoba .... 421
The town......421
The Mahawelli-ganga . . . 422 Exploration of its capabilities for navigation......423
Effects of its diversion into the Vergel 424 Mr. Broohes's ascent of the river . 42-i Possibility of rendering it navigable 428 The residence of a chief . . . 427
His family.....428
Polyandry and its origin . . . 428 Its prevalence in India ? . . 429 And among1 the ancient Britons (note) 429 The ruined tank of Horra-bora, . 430Xll
CONTENTS OF
Possibility of restoring the ruined tanks ....
Its national importance
Unrivalled magnitude of the ancient works for irrigation in Ceylon
Why necessary in the north and not in the south of the island
Causes of the destruction of the ancient tanks .
Difficulties of restoring them
Sentiments of the native population
Facilities afforded by the tank at Horra-bora.....
^ Page
432 432
. 433
434 435
CHAP. III.
THE VEDDAHS.
The Veddah country. . . .437 Origin of the tribe . . . .438 A remnant of the aborigines of Ceylon .......438
Historical evidences . . . . 438
Srnilar races in India . (note) 4-38 Veddahs described by Palladius A.D. 400 . . . . . . 438
Veddahs are "archers" . . .439 Their food. . . . . .439
I. The Rock Veddahs . . .440
Their organisation and habits . 440
Their language . . . . 440 Their marriage rites . . .441
No religion .... 441
Their clevil-worship . . . 441
No burial of the dead . . . 442
Legend as to their high caste . 442
II. The Village Veddahs . . . 443 Their customs .... 443
III. The Coast Veddahs . . .444 Numbers of the Veddahs in Ceylon ......444
Their general character . . 444 Attempts of Government to reclaim them . .. . .445 Success as regards the Rock Veddahs .....446
Settlement of Village Veddahs . 447 Settlement of Coast Veddahs . 448 General results .... 448 A Veddah dance . ? , 449 Mode of kindling fire . . .451 Country between Bintenne and
Batticaloa . . . . 452 The road from Badulla . , 452
CHAP. IV.
BATTICALOA. ? "THE MUSICAL FISH/' ? THE SALT COUNTRY.
Singular features of the east coast-Scenery of [he rivers . . . The island of Poeliantivo . . . The great sand formation . Coco-nut plantations of Batticaloa Extraordinary size of the nuts . The Moors ofBatticaloa . Damask manufacture of Arrapatoo
454 455 456 456 456 457 458 458
Page
Singular law of succession . . . 458 Its Indian origin .... 459 Feudal system in Ceylon . . .459 The " village system "... 4GO The " honour of the White Cloth " . 4G1 Chena cultivation .... 463 The Fort of Batticaloa . , . 465 Its history and present state . . 465
Kingfishers.....466
Capture of a crocodile . . » 467 The " Musical Pish "... 468 Similar sounds in other seas . . 469 Organs of hearing in fishes . .469 Sounds uttered by the Tritonia arbo~
rescens......470
The salt-marshes . . . 472,473 Eraoor and the " Elephant-catchers" 472 The Natoor River . . . .473 Scenery of Venloos Bay . . . 473
Shells......474
The palace of the Vanichee . . 474 The salt lake of Panetjen-Kerny . 474 The Vergel River . . . .475 Its dangerous inundations. . . 475 Arnetivoe, *' the Island of Elephants" 476 Night-scene at Topoor . . . 477 Cottiar . . . . . 478
Former history of the place and its
trade ...... 478
Knox's tamarind tree . . . 478 Extraordinary oysters . . . 479 Bay of Trincomalie . . . .479
Note.?Tritonia arborescens . . 480
CHAP. V.
TRINCOMALIE?THE EBONY FORESTS ? THE S/LT-FOKMATIONS? THE GREAT TANK OF PADIVIL.
The bay and harbour of Trincomalie 482 The fortifications .... 483 Legend of " the Saamy Rock " . . 483 The "temple of a thousand columns" 484 Destroyed by the Portuguese . . 484 Curious ceremony .... 485 Francina Van Reede .... 485 French attempts on Trincomalie . 485 The importance of the position . . 486 Its present neglect .... 486 Surrounding country depopulated . 487 The town and bazaars . . . 487 Trincomalie as the capital of Ceylon. 488 Reasons for its adoption . . . 488 Tamblegam Lake .... 491
Its pearl's......491
Elephants and monkeys » . . 492 A tiger . . . . (note) 492 The ebony forests .... 493 Life of the foresters .... 493 Nillavdli and the salt works . . 495 Hot springs of Kannea ' , . .496
Iron-sand...... 497
Climbing fish.....498
The lake of KoMai . . . .4-99 The mirage . . . . .500 Night travelling in the forest . . 501 The great tank of J?udivil , .502THE SECOND VOLUME.
Xlll
Page
Singular scene.....503
The embankment and sluices . 504, 505 Extraordinary view . . . .506 Wild animals . - . . . .506 Obscure origin of the tank . .507 The Wanny and its history . . 508 An attack by ants . . . .512 Singular tameness of game . . 512 Houses of the Tamil peasantry. . 513 Adventure with a crocodile . . 514 The fort of Moeletivoe . . .515 Crocodiles......516
CHAP. YI.
THE PENINSULA OF JAFFNA.?THE PALMYRA PALM.?THE TAMILS.
The " Elephant Pass" . . .517 Pass Beschuter . . . (note) 517 Geologic formation of Jaffna . .518 The palmyra palm . . . .519 Marriage of the palmyra and the
banyan......520
Tamil poem on the palmyra . .521 Fallacy of Rumphius . (note") 521 Economic uses of the palmyra . . 522 Animals frequenting the tree . . 523 Method of collecting the juice . .524 Manufacture of palmyra sugar . . 524
The ripe fruit.....525
"Poonatoo".....525
The "kelingoo" .... 525 Timber of the palmyra . . . 526 The leaves and their uses . . . 527
" Olas "......527
Coco-nut plantations of Jaffna . . 528
Mode of culture.....528
Destruction by beetles . . . 530 Other fruit trees of Jaffna . . .531 Ingenious system of cultivation . 531 Cattle and their peculiarities . .531 Wells and irrigation ? 533
Tobacco......534
Point Pedro.....535
The tamarind tree of JGaldaeus . . 535
Page
Costume of the Tamil females . . 536 The extraordinary -well of Potoor . 536 Jaffna?the suburbs . . . 536, 537 Cultivation of the vine . . . 538 The Tamils?their origin in Ce}rlon . 539 Their rise and former power (note) 539 Their subjugation by Portugal. . 540 The town and fort of Jaffna . . 541 Arts and employments of the people. 542 Oil crushing ..... 542 The vices of the Tamils . . .544 Their superstitions .... 545 An extraordinary murder . . . 545 Comparative state of crime in Ceylon 547
CHAP. VII. ADAM'S BRIDGE AND THE ISLANDS.?
THE PEARL FISHERY, Kayts, Hammaniel, and Donna Clara
(note) 549
Delft, "the Island of the Sun ". . 550 The breed of horses in Delft . . 550 The use of the " lasso " . (note) 550 Ramiseram?the great temple . 550, 551 The Paumbam Passage . . . 552
Adam's Bridge.....553
The legend of its formation (note) 554 The coral groves . .. . . 555
Manaar.....,556
Its ancient importance . . . 556
Choya root.....556
Chank shells . . . (note) 556 The " tripang," or bicho de mar. . 556
TheDugong.....557
Origin of the fable of the Mermaid . 557 The baobab trees at Manaar . .559 The pearl fishery . . . .560 The beach at Aripo .... 560 Enormous accumulations of shells . 560 Disappearances of the pearl oyster . 561 Investigations of Dr. Kelaart . . 562 The pearl divers and their customs . 563 Exaggerated stories of their powers . 564
Shark charmers.....564
Return to Colombo .... 565
PART X. THE BUINED CITIES.
CHAPTER I.
SIGIRI AND PQLLANARRUA.
Symptoms of rebellion and the causes 5G9
Author's visits to the north in consequence .....570
The village of the Gahalayas . .571 Scenery around Matelle . . . 572 Jlfatelle and its antiquity . . . 272 Ornamental arts of its inhabitants . 572 The Alu Wihara . . . .573 Country to Xalande .... 574
Mistakes relative to bridges in Ceylon o74 The Sea of Prakrama . ." .575 Dambool?the rock .... 575 The temple .... 576, 577 The parricide king .... 579 Sigiri?the rock fortress . , . 579 The ruins , . . . . 580
Devil-dancers.....581
Extraordinary view .... 581 Curious custom of antiquity . (note) 582 Distances measured by sounds . . 582 Singhalese names for days of the week . (note) 582XIV
CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
Page
Cottawelle.....583
ToparS or Pollanarrua . . . 583 Extreme beauty of the site . .583 Importance of the city, anciently . 584 Its vicissitudes ..... 584 Its extent and buildings . . . 584: The ruins unknown to the Portuguese
and Dutch.....586
Their discovery in 1817 . . .586
The palace......587
The " seven storied-house " . . 588 The great stone tablet . . 588
The "round-house" . . . 589
The Dalada Malagawa . . 590
The Rankot Dagoba. . .591
The Jayta-wana-rama . 592, 593
Singular mode of lighting the statue 594 The Kiri Dagoba . . 594
The Gal-wahira . . 595,596
Its colossal statues . . .597
Great extent of the ruins . .597
A colony of parroquets . . 599
CHAP. II.
THE TANK OF MTNEEY.?ANARAJAPOOKA, AND THE WEST COAST.
The artificial lake of Minery 600
Its beauty .... 600
A temple to its founder . 601
Abundance of wild animals 601
The Rittagalla Mountain . 602
The great tank of Kalaweva 602
Its prodigious dimensions . 602
The ruins of Vigita-poora. 603
An. abominable tree . ? 603
Colossal statue . . . 604
The sacred mountain of Mihintala 605
Its historical associations . . 605
Its ancient names . . (note) 606
Enormous flights of stone steps . 607
The Et-wihara Dagoba . . .607 The Ambustella Dagoba . « .608 Magnificent view . . . .609 The road from Mihintala to Anaraja-
poora......GOD
The ancient tanks . . . .609 Plan of the city . . . .610 Ancient history of Anarajapoora .611 The ruins of the Brazen Palace . 612 Other antiquities .... 612 The Sacred Bo-tree .... 613 The oldest historical tree in the world 614
Proofs of this.....615
The singular veneration shown to it. 616 Its present condition. . . .618 Finely carved stone slab . . .619 The tomb of Elala . . . .619 The Mirisiwettye Dagoba . .620 The Ruanwelle Dagoba . . . 620 Dimensions of the dagobas (note} 621 Other monuments .... 621 The Abhayagiri Dagoba . . . 621 Its extraordinary size , ? . 621 The Thuparama Dagoba . . . 622 The Dalada Maligawa . . . . 622 The Jayta-wana-rama Dagoba . . 623 Its iramenue cubical contents . . 623 Wild animals near the ruins . . 624 Fable of the jackal . , (note) 625 The Giants' Tank .... 626 Its present condition and history . 626 The country on the west coast . .626 JKoodramalle . 627
Putlam and its baobab-tree . . 627 Calpentyn and its " Gobb " . . 628 Sea-snakes there and at the Basses
(note) 628
Chilaw......629
Euins of Dambedenia and Yapahoo
(note) 629
ISTegombo......680
Evidences of the identity of the Bo-tree .... (note) 631ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE SECOND VOLUME.
MAPS.
Page
A Map of Ceylon.......By ARROWSMTTII . . to face I
A Portuguese Map of Ceylon in A.D. 1658 . From KJBKYRO .... 5 The Coffee Districts of Ceylon . . . . By ARROWSMITH . . to face 234
PLANS AND CHARTS.
Plan of the Temple, &c. on Adam's Peak . By MR. W. FERGUSON . . . 140 " Gobbs" on the West Coast . . . ARROWSJVIITH .... 143
Section of a Well made by an Elephant.........311
Grround Plan and Fence of a Corral..........349
" Gobbs" on the East Coast . . . ARROWSMITH .... 456
Plan of the City of Pollanarraa . . . MR. W. G. HALL . . .585 Plan of the Dalada Malagawa at Topare . . MR. W. G. HALL . . .590
Temple in Ava.......YULE'S Ava, &c. . . . , 594
Plan of the Ruins at Anarajapoora . . . By MAJOR SKINNER . . . 610 Diagram of the Dagobas at Anarajapoora . MAJOR SKLNJSER . . . 621
WOOD ENGRAVINGS.
Elephants captured in a Corral . . .By MR. J. WOLF . . Frontispiece Portuguese Discovery Ship .... LA PLACE .... 3
Portrait of Raja Singha II. ... . From KNOX.....49
General Macdowall and Pilame' Talawe . . JOINVILLE MSS.....80
Double Canoe of Galle.....By MRS. BRUNKER . . .103
A Singhalese, with his Hair Combs . . . MRS. BRUNKER . . . 106
Coco de Mer..............126
Summit of Adam's Peak.....MR. FAIRHOLME . . . 140
Portico of the old Queen's House, Colombo . MR. A. NICHOLL . . . 147
View of Colombo......MR. FAIRHOLME . , » 150
Elie House.......MR. A. NICHOLL . . .166
Portrait of Don Solomon Dias .... From a Photograph . . .182 The Rest-house at Ambepusse . . . .By MR. A. NICHOLL . . . 183 The Kaduganawa Pass ..... MB. A. XICIIOLL . . 3 86
Rodiya Girls.......PRINCE SOLTYKOFF . . .190
Temple of the Sacred Tooth, at Kandy . . MR. A. NICHOLL . . .195
The Sacred Tooth......From COLONEL FORBES . .201
Shrine of the Sacred Tooth . . . .By MR. A. NICHOLL . . . 202
View of Kandy......MR. FAIRHOLME . . .204
Group of Kandyan Chiefs .... From a Photograph . . . 206
The old Gampola Ferry . . . . .By MR. FAIRHOLME . . . 237
General Fraser's Coffee Estate .... MR. FAIRHOLME . . . 258
View of Badulla ...... MR. FAIRHOLME . . . 2C6
Brain of the Elephant ..... PROFESSOR HARRISON . . 288ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE SECOND VOLUME.
Page Clavicle of the Horse and the Elephant . . By SIE CHARLES BELL . . . 2U9
Elephant descending a Declivity..........301
Elephant's Stomach......Sin EVERARD HOME . . 813
Trachea of an Elephant ..... PROFESSOR HARRISON . .315
A Captive Elephant......MR. J. WOLF . . . .359
Contortions of a Captive.....MR. J. WOLF . . . .300
Rage of a Captive Elephant .... MR. J. WOLF .... 3G3 Conduct of tame Elephants .... MR. J. WOLF .... 375 Elephant on Greek and Roman Coins . . ARMANDI .... 378
Medal of Numidia......ARMANDI .... 382
Modern Hendoo.............382
Cerithium palustre; said to be the Musical Shell
of Batticaloa..............4G8
Trincomalie.......MR. EAIRIIOLME . . . 4S2
A Coco-nut Oil Mill......MR. A. NICHOLL . . . 542
Panmbam. Passage......M. H. SYLVAT .... 552
Female Dugong......MR. J. WOLF .... 557
Baobab Trees at Manaar.....MR. FAIRHOLME . . . 559
The Alu Wihara......MR. A. NICHOLL . . . 573
Ptock of Dambool......MR. KNIGHTON . . . 575
Entrance to the Temple of Dambool. . . MR. A. NICHOLL . . .577
Rock of .Sigiri.......MR. A. NICHOLL . . . 579
Devil-dancers ?...... MR. A. NICHOLL . . . 581
The Palace at Pollanarrua . . . MR. A. NICHOLL . . . 587
The Sat-mohal-prasada . . ... . MR. A. NICHOLL . . . 588
The Round House at Pollanarrua . . . MR. A. NICHOLL . , .589
The Rankot Dagoba......MR. A. NICHOLL . . .591
The Jayta-wana-rama Temple . . . MR. A. NICIIOLL . . .593
Temple in Ava...... . YULES'S Ava &c.....594
The Gal-wihara at Pollanarrua . . .. By MR. A. NTCHOJ.L . . .596 Colossal Statue . . . . . . MR. A. NICHOLL . . . 604
Ascent to Mihintala......MR. A. NICHOLL . . .607
The Ambustella Dagoba, Mihintala . . . MR. A. NICHOLL . . , 608 Ruins of the Brazen Palace .... MR. A. NICHOLL . . .612
The sacred Bo-tree......MR. A. NICHOLL . « . 614"
Carved Stone at Anarajapoora .... MR. A. NICHOLL . . .619 Jayta-wana-rama Dagoba at Anarajapoora . MR. A. NICHOLL . . , 62.';\PART VI.
MODERN HISTORY.
VOL. H.CHAPTEE I
THE PORTUGUESE IN CEYLON.
THERE is no page in the story of European colonisation more gloomy and repulsive than that which recounts the proceedings of the Portuguese in Ceylon. Astonished at the magnitude of their enterprises, and the glory of their discoveries and conquests in India, the rapidity and success1 of which secured for Portugal an unprecedented renown, we are ill-prepared to hear of the rapacity, bigotry, and cruelty which characterised every stage of their progress in the East. They appeared in the Indian Seas in the threefold character of merchants, missionaries, and pirates. Their ostensible motto was, "amity, commerce, and religion."2 Their expeditions consisted of soldiers as well as adventurers, and included friars and a chaplain-major. Their instructions were, " to begin by preaching, but, that failing, to proceed to the decision of the sword."3 At once aggressive and timid, they combined the profession of arms with that of trade; and thus their factories became fortresses, from under
A.I).
1505.
1 The annexed sketch, of a Portuguese Discovery SMp of the fifteenth century is copied from a drawing" in LA PLACE'S Oircumnamffation deVAy-temise,, tom. i. p. 54.
2 FABIA Y SOTTZA, Asia Portuguesa, Lisbon, 1666?75 :" translated by Stevens, London^ 1695, vol. i, pt. i. ch. v. p. 54. DE COUTO says: " Os Keys Portugal sempre per tenderam nesta conqulsta do Oriente unir tanto os dous poderes espiritual e temporal, que em nenhuni tempo se exercitasse liuni sem o outro."?DQC, vi. lib. iv. ch. vii p. 323.
3 IMd.? p. 53.
PORTUGUESE DISCOVERY SHIP.
B 2MODERN" HISTOEY.
[PART VI.
whose guns their formidable galleons carried war and de-solation against all weaker commercial rivals. The remarkable fact is, that the picture of their policy, has been drawn by friendly hands, and the most faithful records of their mis-government are contained in the decades of their own historians. The atrocities attributed to the Portuguese in the Tohfut-ul-mujaliideen1., might be ascribed to the resentment of its Mahometan author, on witnessing the havoc inflicted on his co-religionists in wars undertaken by Europeans, in order to annihilate the commerce of the Moors in Hindustan ; but no similar suspicion can attach to the narratives of MAFFEUS2, DE BAEEOS and DE
COUTO3, CASTA1STHEDA4, FAEIA T SOTJZA5, and ElBEYEO6,
each descriptive of actions that consign their authors to
infamy.
1 The ToJifttt-id-mujaTiideen, "written by Sheikh Zeen-ud-deen,- gives
an account of the proceedings of the Portuguese against the Mahometans from the year 1498 to 1583 A.D.
2 MAJTEI, Histana Indicarum}A.'D. 1570, written under royal authority.
s Dd Axia dos Feitos que os Portugueses jizeram no descubrimento e c&nqui#ta das terras e mares do Ori-ente. 'For Jolo BE BAEROS e DIOG-O BE COUTO. Lisboa, 1778?88. De Barros, who is preeminently the historian of Portuguese India, never visited the East, hut held at Lisbon the office of Custodian of the Records of India, u Feitor da Casa da India/' in which capacity lie had access to all official documents and despatches, £mm the contents of which he compiled his prreat work, of which he lived to publish only the first three Decades, the fourth being posthumous. He died in 1570; so that he was co-temporary with Albuquerque, whose ai'hievcmenta lie celebrates, and to whom, &.«* CEAWPUED observes in his iJli'fmifin/ of tlw Indian Inlands, he stcMxl ** in the aamo relation that Ornie the hititoriun of India does to the Eii;/*i4i Hffif|si«nr dive." His im-fiialsli^ti jktJboitrs were taken up by numerous Portuguese* authors; but
his ablest continuator was DIEGO DE COUTO, (or more properly DIOGO DO COXJTO,) who died at Groa; in 1616. He brings down the narrative of Do BAEEOS to the yiceroyalty of the Count Admiral Don. Erancisco de Grama, A.D. 1596.
4 PEENAI^DO LOPES DE GASTAJST-HEDA; Historia do Desoubrimento e Conquista da India pelos Portugueses. Coimbra; 1551?61. It has been translated into English by Litchfield; London^ 1582.
5 MANTJEL DE FAETA T SOIJZA, Asia Portugitesa, fyc. Lisbon, 1666. This was a posthumous publication, written in Spanish, but inferior, both in authenticity and ability, to the works of DE BAEEOS and DE COUTO. It has been translated into English by Captain John Stevens: 3 vols.. London, 1695.
6 EIBEYEO, Hist, de Vlsle de Ceilan. It is doubtful if this work was ever published in the Original Portuguese, in which it was written and " presented to the King of Portugal in 1685." But from it the French version was prepared by the Abb? Le Grand, and printed at Trevoux in 1701. There is an English translation by Lee, Colombo, 1847. To the above list may be added the Historia (k la India Orwntaly written inCHAP. L]
INTERNAL CONDITION.
The Portuguese were nearly twenty years in India before they took steps to obtain a footing in Cey-
Spanish by SAN ROMANO Y RIYA-DENEYJRA, aBenedictine of Valladolid, A.D. 1603, which describes the proceedings of the Portuguese in India
down to the death of John HI.. A.D. 1557.
Note to 2nd Edition.?Since the publication of the first edition, I haye
PORTUGUESE MAP OF CEYILON, A.D, 1685,
1. Columbo.
2. Cotta.
3. Caliture.
4. Alicara.
5. Galle.
G. Beligam.
7. Mature.
8. Tanavare.
9. Grevavas.
10. Balave.
11. Batecaloti.
12. Capello de Frade.
13. Marinhas do Sal.
14. Trinquimal£.
15. Terra dos Bedas.
16. Ovany. j
17. Ponta das Fetras.
18. Jafanapatao.
19. Ilha de Cardiva.
20. Ilha das Cabras.
21. Ilha dos Forcados.
22. II ha das Vacas,
23. Rio Salgado.
24. Ilha de Manaar,
25. Mantota.
26. Praya de Aripo.
27. Serra de Grmlumale.
28. Fatalam.
29. Ilha de Cardiga.
30. Chilio.
31. Negumbo.
32. Verganpenin.
33. Malvana.
34. Grubebe.
35. Ruanella.
36. Manicavare.
37. Ceitavacca.
38. Safregam.
39. Dinavaca.
40. Ura.
41. Candia.
42. Matal?.
43. Serra de Balane.
44. Praja de Moroto.
45. Beletote.
46. Curaca.
47. Mapolegama.
48. Etkceadados Arcos.
49. Panatur?.
50. Acumena.
51. Picco de Adam.
52. Vilarem.
53. Pasdun Corla.
54. Reygam Corla.
55. Salpitl Corla.
56. Quatro Corlas.
57. Sete Corlas.
58. Cotlar.
ascertained that the work of EIBETEO (or, as he writes his name, RIBEIBO) has been printed in the original Por-tugnese; by the Academia Real das
Sciencias. It forms the fifth vol. of a series entitled, CoUecqQo de Naticuis para a IIMoria e Geografia das Noqw# qm mvem nos Dominion
B 3MODERN" HISTOEY.
[PART VI
AJ .
1505.
Ion.1 Vasco de Gama, after rounding the Cape, anchored at Calicut A.D. 1498, and Lorenzo de Almeyda visited Galle A.D. 1505 ; but it was not till A.D. 1517, that Lopez Soarez, the third viceroy of the Indies, bethought himself of sending an expedition to form a permanent trading settlement at Colombo2; and so httle importance did the Portuguese attach to the acquisition, that within a very few years, an order (which was not acted upon) was issued from Goa to abandon the fort, as not worth the cost of retention.3
Portuguems ou llies sao msinhas ; and was published at Lisbon in 1836, from the identical MS. presented by the author to King Pedro II. In this, RIBEYEO entitles his work, FataUdade Historica da Mha de Ceilao; and the editor, after alluding in strong terms to the discreditable neglect in which it had so long been permitted to remain in Portugal, points out that its French translator, Le Grand, had not only committed gross errors, but had omitted whole chapters from the 2nd and 3rd Bookstand altered the sense of numerous passages, owing to his imperfect acquaintance with the Portuguese language. Eibeyro illustrated his narrative by a map of Ceylon, which is a remarkable evidence of the very slight knowledge of geography possessed by his countrymen in the seventeenth century. A foe simile of it is given above.
1 DE BABEOS, dec, iii.' lib. ii. ch. 2. vol. iii. pt. i. p. 119.
3 This fact is not without significance in relation to the daim of Ceylon to a "natural monopoly " of the finest qualities of cinnamon. Its existence as a production of the island had been made known to Europe by Di CONTI, seventy years before; and IBK BATOTA asserts that Malabar had been supplied with cinnamon from Ceylon at a still earlier period. It may therefore be inferred, that there can have been nothing very remarkable in the quality or repute of the spice at the beginning of the sixteenth century j else the
Portuguese, who had been mainly attracted to the East by the fame ot its spices, would have made their earliest visit to the country which afterwards acquired its renown by producing the rarest of them.
" can ell a
Com que Ceilao he rica, illustre, e bella." CAMOENS, canto ix. st. 14.
On the contrary, their first inquiries were for peppery and their chief resort was to the Dekkan, north of Cape Comorin, which was celebrated for producing it. (Toh-fut-ul-Mujahidem,^ ch. iv. s. i. p. 77.) It was not till 1516 that BAHBOSA proclaimed the superiority of Ceylon cinnamon over all others, and there is reason to believe, whatever doubt there may be as to its early introduction into the island, that its high reputation is comparatively modern, and attributable to the attention bestowed upon its preparation for market by the Portuguese, and afterwards in its cultivation by the Dutch, DE BAREOS, however, goes so far as to describe Ceylon as the-Mother of Cinnamon, "canella de que ella he madre como dissemos." ?Dec. iii. lib. ii. ch. i.
3 FABIA T SOITZA, vol. i. ch. ix. p. 281. VALENTYN" says the order was actually carried into force, and the fort of Colombo demolished by the Portuguese in 1524, but shortly afterwards reconstructed. (Oud en nieuw Oost-Indien, $c.f vol. v. pt. i. ch. vii. p. 91.)CHAP. L] ARRIVAL OF THE PORTUGUESE. 7
The political condition of Ceylon at the time was de- A.D. plorable. The seaports on all parts of the coast were 1505* virtually in the hands of the Moors; the north was in the possession of the Malabars, whose seat of government was at Jaffna-patarn ; and the great central region (since known as the Wanny), and Neuerakalawa, were formed into petty fiefs, each governed by a Wanniya, calling himself a vassal, but virtually uncontrolled by any paramount authority. In the south, the nominal sovereign, Dharma Prakrama Balm IX., had his capital at Gotta, near Colombo, whilst minor kings held mimic courts at Badulla, Gampola, Peraclenia, Kandy, and Mahagarn, and -caused repeated commotions by their intrigues and insurrections. They ceased to busy themselves with the endowment of temples, and the construction of works for irrigation, so that already in the fourteenth century, Ceylon had become dependent upon India for supplies of food, and annually imported rice from, the Dekkan.1
The first appearance of the Portuguese flag in the waters of Ceylon, in the year 1505, was the result of an accident. The profitable trade previously conducted by the Moors, in carrying the spices of Malacca and Sumatra to Cambay andBassora, having been effectually cut off by the Portuguese cruisers, the Moorish ships were compelled to take a wide course through the Maldives, and pass south of Ceylon, to escape capture. Don Francisco de Ahneyda, the Viceroy of India, despatched Ms son, Lorenzo, with a fleet from Goa to intercept the Moors on their route, and wandering over unknown seas, he was unexpectedly carried by the current to the harbour of Galle2; where he found Moorish ships loading with cin-
1 BABTHEHA, Itiwrario9 &c,; p.
XX VII.
s DE BABROS, dec. I. lib. I, eh. v. 5 FARIA y SOTJZA, vol. I. pt. i. ch. x.;
discovery of Ceylon/' ?an expression
which must liave been merely conventional, as in addition to all earlier travellers, Ceylon had been described
RIBEYEO, b. i. ek v.; DE CODTO, by a Portuguese., THOME LOPEZ, in
dec. v. lib. i. ch. iii. DE BABBQS and A*B, 1502, Bee RAMUSIO, vol. i. p. 333. SAW ROHANO describe this ? as ?«the )
B 4MODERN" HISTORY.
[PART VI.
A.D.
namon and elephants. Their owners, alarmed for their 1505. OW]QL safefy5 attempted to deceive him by the assertion that Galle was the residence of Dharma Prakrama IX., the king of Ceylon, under whose protection they professed to be trading; and by whom, they further assured him, they were authorised to propose a treaty of peace and commerce with the Portuguese, and to compliment their Commander, by a royal gift of four hundred bahars of cinnamon. They even conducted Payo de Souza, the heutenant of Almeyda, to an interview with a native who personated the Singhalese monarch, and who promised him permission to erect a factory at Colombo. Don Lorenzo, though aware of the deception, found it prudent to dissemble; and again put to sea after erecting a stone-cross at Point de Galle, to record the event of his arrival.1
A.D. Twelve years elapsed before the Portuguese again visited Ceylon. In the interim, their ascendancy in India had been secured by the capture of Ormuz, the fortification of Goa, the erection of forts at various places in Malabar, and the conquest of the spice country of Malacca. Midway between their extreme settlements, the harbours of Ceylon rendered the island a place of importance2 ; and at length, in 1517, Lopo Soarez de Albergaria appeared in person before Colombo, with a flotilla of seventeen sail, and with materials and workmen for the erection of a factory in conformity with the promise alleged to have been made by the king to Don Lorenzo de Almeyda, in 1505, and afterwards
1 DE BAEROS, dec. i lib. x. ch. v. vol. i. pt. ii. p. 425 ; BE COTTTO, dec. v. lib. i. ch. v, vol. ii. pt. i. p. 58; SAF EoMAisTo3 lib. i. ch. xviii. p. 106. CAHOENS, in a passage in the Lu-siadj implies that the Portuguese canie provided with these columns^ "padraos/' to be erected in commemoration of their expected discoveries.
" Hum padrao nesta terra alevant amos Que para assigna ar luga^es taes Trazia alguns," &c. Canto v. st. 78.
2 The importance of Ceylon, both for the facility and security of Portuguese commerce in India; has been ably discussed by HATNAL in his Histoire des EstaUissemmtset du Commerce de$ Europ$ens dans Us Indes, v. i, ch» xv. voL i. p. 166.CHAP. I.] FIRST STEUGGLES. 9
repeated by letter to the Viceroy Alfonzo de Albu- f-D-querque.1 But the apprehensions of the Singhalese court ° * were aroused by the discovery that seven hundred soldiers were carried in the merchant ships of the Viceroy, and that the proposed factory was to be mounted with cannon. In justification of this proceeding, Soarez pleaded the open hostility of the Moors, and the insecurity of the new traders when exposed to their violence;?but the arguments by which he succeeded in removing the king's scruples were proffers of the military services upon which the latter might rely, in case of assault from his aspiring relatives, and assurances of the riches to be derived from the trade which the Portuguese proposed to establish. Dazzled by such promises and prospects, the king gave a reluctant assent, and the first European stronghold in Ceylon began to rise on the rocky beach at Colombo.2
The Moors, instinctively alive to the dangers which threatened their trade, soon succeeded in re-kindling the alarms of the king at the consequences of his precipitancy. He made another attempt to draw back from his recent engagements ; he encouraged the Moors to resistance, and the Portuguese were closely besieged for several months. But the effort was ineffectual; the garrison was relieved by the arrival of succour from India, and the only result of the demonstration was to render the Singhalese king more helplessly dependent upon the power of the Viceroy. He submitted to acknowledge himself a vassal of Portugal, and to pay an annual tribute of cinnamon, rubies, sapphires, and elephants, and with this important convention inscribed on plates of gold, Lopo Soarez took his departure from Ceylon, leaving Juan de Silveira in command of the new settlement.3
1 FABIA T SOUZA, vol. I ])t. III. 2; \ ii. vol. iii. pi iL p. 121; BAX.DJETJS, DB BAEKO% dec. iii. lib, ii ch. ii, I cli. xl vol. iii. pt, L p. 118, t } s BE BABRGS, dec. iii. voL iii. p.
g DB BA&BOS, dee. iii. lib. ii. ch. j 132 $ BE COUTO, dec. v. vol. iii, p.10
MODERN HISTORY.
[PART VI.
A.D. Owing to the difficulty of finding lime or even suitable 1517. stone on the spot, the first entrenchment of the Portuguese consisted of earth-work and stockades; and it was 1520. not till A.D. 1520, that Lopo de Brito was despatched with 400 soldiers, besides masons and carpenters, with orders to transport the shells of the pearl-oyster, which still form vast mounds along the sea-shore of Aripo, and to burn them for cement to complete the fortifications of Colombo.1 The Moors availed themselves of this undisguised attempt to convert a factory into a fortress, as an argument to rouse the indignation of the Singhalese ; and an army of 20,000 men was collected, which for upwards of five months held the Portuguese in utmost peril within the area of their entrenchments2, till the besiegers, alarmed by the arrival of reinforcements from India, suddenly dispersed, and left the garrison at liberty to complete their fortifications.
But hostilities were merely suspended, not abandoned, and a war now commenced which endured almost without intermission during the entire period the Portuguese held possession of the maritime provinces ; a war which, as DE ? COUTO observes, rendered Ceylon to Portugal what Carthage had proved to Borne?a source of unceasing and anxious expenditure, " gradually consuming her Indian revenues, wasting her forces and her artillery, and causing a greater outlay for the government of that single island than for all her other conquests in the East."3
445. CAMOENS, in the Lusiadj celebrates this incident of the tnbwte of Cinnamon as the crowning triumph, which signalised the planting of the " Lxisitanian standard on the towers of Colombo."
t( Delia dara tribute & Lusitana Bandeira, quando excelsa e gloriosa Vencendo se erguera na torre erguida Em Columbo, dos proprios ta5 temida." Canto x. st. 51.
1 DE BABEOS, dec. iii. lib. iy. ch. vi, vol. iii. pt. i. p. 445; EAEIA Y SQUZA, vol. i pt iii. ch. iv. p. 238 $ KIBEYBO, book i. ch. v.; SAN BOMAHO, lib. ii. ch. xxvi. p. 348.
2 SAN BOMANO, lib. ii. ch. xxvi. p. 349.
3 DE CODTO; dec. v. pt. i. ch. v. RODRIOTES IDE SAA, in his narrative of the rebellion in Ceylon, in which his father perished in 1630, records a similar opinion:?ft Varies y estranos casossuccedidos en nna conquista, qiie siendo a los Estados de la India conio otro Cartago a E-oma en la horribel y prolixo de la guerra^ igualo sin duda a los mas formidables de Eit-ropa; porque ha ciento y veinte siete anos c[ue dura con igtial obstinacionCHAP. I.]
THE KA3SfDTANS TAKE ARMS.
11
The king, Dharina Prakrama IX., the first with whom the Portuguese came in contact, is correctly described by RIBBYRO, as a weak and irresolute prince, who lacked the courage to refuse any request.1 The same may be said of his brother, Wijayo Bahu VIL, and of Bhuwaneka YH, son and successor of the latter. Though nominally the paramount sovereign of Ceylon, such was the minute subdivision of the island into petty fiefs, that the territory under the direct government of the king was not only insignificant in extent, but from its position, insusceptible of defence. On one side Gotta, his capital, lay almost within range of the Portuguese guns; and on all others he was overawed by his own vassals, who, from their strongholds in the hills, threatened him with revolt and invasion. The kings of Gotta thus exposed to demands from arrogant strangers which they were powerless to resist, and alarmed by the resentment of their own people, called forth by their concessions, were compelled, for security, to draw closer the ill-omened alliance with Portugal, in order to protect themselves from the indignation of their nominal subjects.
The first to organise an armed resistance to the encroachments of the new settlers, were the mountaineers of Kandy and the surrounding regions. Prom the earliest ages the inhabitants of these lofty ranges have been distinguished by their patriotism and ardent resistance to every foreign invader. The Same impatient spirit, which had stimulated their forefathers fifteen hundred years before, to avenge the first aggressions of the Malabars, now animated their descendants to repel the intrusion of European adventurers, whose mingled arrogance and duplicity served to inflame a
A.D.
1527,
de Zingalas y Portugueses, pug-nandoj estos per el Imperio y la ex-altacion de nuestra santa Fe Oato-liea; y aquellos por la libertad de
los cuerpos."?HODEIGTTES DE SAA, Rebelion de Ceylon, fyc., p. 2. 1 KIBEYEO, book I. cliap. v.12
MODBEMT HISTORY.
[PAET YL
A.D.
resistance which no blandishments could divert and no 1527. reverses allay, and which served to keep alive an internecine war, never relaxed nor suspended till the Portuguese were expelled from Ceylon, one hundred and fifty years after their first landing.
The effects of this long-sustained struggle left strongly marked impressions upon the national character of the Ekadyans. It not only called forth their patriotism and daring, but taught them the profession of arms, and, as an illustration of the maxim of Scipio, that a continual war against a single people teaches the aggressors in time to strengthen themselves by adopting the tactics of their enemies, DE COUTO instances the remarkable fact, that whereas on the arrival of Almeyda, in 1505, the Singhalese were ignorant of the use of gunpowder, and there was not a single firelock in the island, they soon excelled the Portuguese in the manufacture of muskets, -and before the war was concluded, they could bring twenty thousand stand of arms into the field1
1 The astonishment of the natives at the first discharge of a cannon by the Portuguese at Colombo/ is forcibly described in the JRqfavali: £f ma-Mug a noise like thunder when it breaks upon Jungara Parwata?and a ball from one of them, after flying some leagues, will break a castle of marble." (p. 278.) The passage in DE GOTJTO is as follows:?" neste tempo nem huma so" espingarda hayia em toda a Ilha \ e depois que nos entra-mos nella, com o continuo uso da guerra que Ihe fizemos^ se fizeram tSo dgfltroe como hoje estam; e a fondireia a melhor, e mais fomosa ardlheria do xaundo, e a fazeram as mais formosas esp!ng»das? e me-Ihores que as de que hoje ha
na Ilha de vantagem de Tint© mil," ?Dec. v. lib, L en. v.
PABU r SOVZJL mentions that the Singhalese at the close of the Portuguese dominion "made the best fireloeia of all the East" (Vol. ii
pt. iv. ch. xix. p. 510.) See also RODRKHTES DE SAA, Hebelion^ $c., ch. i. p. 29. LINSCHOTEN, the Dutch traveller, who visited Ceylon in 1805, says, "the natural born people or Chmgalas, make the fairest barrels for pieces that may be found in any place, which shine as bright as if they were silver." Lond. 1598. And PYKABD, the French traveller, who landed at Galle after having been wrecked on the Maldives, in 1605, expresses unqualified admiration of the Singhalese workmanship on metals 5 and especially in the fabrication sand ornamenting of arms, which he says were esteemed the finest in India,, and even superior to those of France. "le n'eusse iamais pens4 qlls eussent est4 si ezcellens a Men. rare des arquebuses et autres armes ouumgfe et fagonn&s, qui sent plus belles que celles que I'on fait icy.1'? PTBABD DE LAYAZ^ Voyage*^ $c.9 W7% ch, x, torn, ii* p. 88.CHAP. I.]
THE EOYAL FAMILY.
The original leader of the insurgent Singhalese was A.D. Maaya Dunnai1, youngest son of Wijayo Bahu VIL, and grandson of the king by whom the Portuguese had been originally suffered to establish themselves at Colombo. This prince, exasperated by the degrading policy of his family towards the Europeans, and alarmed by an attempt of his father to set aside his brothers and himself from the succession in favour of children by a1 second marriage, levied war against the king, procured his assassination, and succeeded in placing the heir apparent, Bhuwaneka Bahu VII.2, on the throne ; reserving the fief of Sitawacca for himself, and that of Bayagam 1534 for his second brother.
The new king, however, outvied his predecessor in
A D
1 Called by the Portuguese historians Madune;?Ms son and successor, Raja Singha I., is the Itaju of De Barros and Be Couto. I have prepared the genealogical table which
is subjoined with a view to facilitate reference to the complicated alliances of the sovereigns of Ceylon at this period.
I. Dharma Prakrama Bahu IX. 1505. Died 1527.
Eaja Singha. Dead.
II. WIJAYO BAHO VII. 1527. Murdered by his sons, 1531.
Raygara Banda. Dead.
ill. BHUWANEKA BAHU VII. 1534. .Killed accidentally, 1542.
A daughter,m.Tribula Banda.
IV. Don Juan DHARMAPALA, 1542. A Christian. His authority was confined to Colombo, his grand-uncles having possession of the rest of his dominions. He died, A.D. 1581; and by will left the King of Portugal heir to his kingdom*
Rayagam Banda. MAAYA DUNNAI, DewaRajaKumara. murdered by his Son by a 2nd mar-son, Raja Singha. riage.
2 sous, d. A daughter, V. RAJA SINGHA 1.1581 dTslJ-' Died.
SURIYA COMARA, 1592.
deposed by
i ............... *
VI. WIMALA DHARMA. 1592. King of Kandy, m. Donna Catharina.
VII. SENERAT. 1604. BroTher of late king, m. Donna Catharina, his wido^.
Vm. RAJA SINGHA II. 1635. ~~^
IX. WIMALA DHA»MA SUEIYA II.
'
X. SRI WIRA PRAKRAMA. 1707. Son. At his death, in 1736, the Singhalese line extinct.
XI. SRI WIJAVA RAJA SINGHA. 1739. A Malabar.
1,534, "This king is the Bao of De Couto, and JBoe
kll. KIRFI SRI. 1747. Brother^ in-law.
XIII. RAJADHI RAJA SINGHA. 1781.
XIV. SRI WJKRKMA RAJA SIKGHA.
1708, nephew. Deposed by
the English, IB 15.
Nega'ba Pandar of Eibeyro*14
MODEEJS" HDSTOBY.
[PART VI.
A.D.
1538,
A.D.
1540.
faitMessness to Ms country and his religion, and in subserviency to the rising power of the Portuguese; and before two years, Maaya Dunnai, assisted by the Moors, " the greatest enemies of the Portuguese in India,"1 and supported by two thousand troops sent by the Zamorin of Calicut, invested Gotta, which, after a siege of three months, was relieved by the timely arrival of Portuguese reinforcements from India.2 In 1538 he renewed the war with the co-operation of Paichi Marcar, a powerful Moor of Cochin3; but the forces sent by the latter having been intercepted and destroyed by the Portuguese fleet, Maaya Dunnai again found it prudent to temporise. The death of his brother, the chief of Eayagam, and the acquisition of his territory, having greatly enhanced his strength, he renewed his solicitations to the Zamorin and Paichi Marcar, and again laid siege to Cotta in 1540.4 Again the viceroy of India was forced to interpose, and a third time Maaya Dunnai was obliged to sue for peace, which he purchased by a treacherous surrender of Paichi Marcar, ancl the chiefs of his Moorish allies, whose heads raised on spears he presented to the Portuguese general.5
The king of Cotta, Bhuwaneka VII., was now so utterly estranged from the sympathies of his own countrymen, and so entirely at the mercy of his foreign allies, that he appealed to the Portuguese to ensure the succession to his grandchild, the only male representative of his falnily. To give solemnity to their acquiescence, lie adopted the strange expedient of despatching to Europe a statue of the boy cast in gold, together with a
1 FAWA T SOTTZA, Tol. L pt IV. Cll.
8. SAX ROJCIS-O, Kb.iv, eh. xx. p. 734. § BB COTJTO, dec. v. Mb. i. ch. vi.; IK lib, il ch. IT. ; FAEIA T SOITZA, vi !. i. pt. IT. ch. xvii.
3 A.I». 1538; FARIA T SQUZA, vol. I pt;J,v. ch. viii. j BE Conic, dec. v. lib. il, eli* ir.-v.
4 DE Co TOO, dec v, lib. I ch, x : Jib, v. clu vi,
^5 BE COUTO, dec. v. lib. ii. ch. viii.; FAKTA r SQTJZ&, vol. ii.pt. i. ch. ii. TTTENOTJB says he was christened in effigy at Lisbon (JEpitome, fyc., p. 49); but BE GotTTO; with more probability^ says the ceremony was a coronation. (Bee. v. lib. vii. ch. iv.; dec. vi. lib. iv. ch. vii.)CHAP. L] ,
DEATH OF THE
crown ornamented with jewels ;?his ambassadors were A;D. received with signal honours by John III, and the form 1541" of a coronation in effigy was performed at Lisbon in A.D.
1541 \ the name of Don Juan being conferred on the young prince in addition to his previous patronymic of Dharmapala2 Bahu.
In return for this condescension, the king of Portugal, true to the policy of extending religion conterminously with his dominions3, exacted a further concession from the Singhalese sovereign. A party of Franciscans were directed to accompany the ambassadors on their return from Lisbon to Ceylon; licence was claimed to preach the gospel of Christ in all parts of the island, and the first Christian communities were organised at various parts of the coast between Colombo and Galle.4
Fresh outbursts of hostility and rebellion ensued on this attempt to overturn the national faith. Maaya Dunnai and his followers again took up arms, and in AI)
1542 the pusillanimous king, whilst preparing to en- 1542, counter him, was accidentally shot by a Portuguese gentleman on the banks of the Kalany-ganga,5 His memory in the annals of the Singhalese occupies a place similar to that of Count Julian in the chronicles of Spain, as a traitor alike to his country and Ms Grod;
and the circumstances of his death are pointed to as a judgment to mark the indignation of heaven at the calamities which he entailed on his country.6
On his death, the young prince, his grandson, nominally succeeded to the throne; but throughout the entire period of his rule, his dominions can scarcely be
says, the first Boman Catholic converts were made A.D. 1542; at Pan-tura, Macu (Malwane?) Berberin, Galle, and fielligam.?l)ee. vi. lib. iv. ch. vii.
6DE CoTtTTO, dec. vi. lib. ix. ch. xvi. torn. iii. pt. iii. p. 339?341.
6 Rajavali{ p. 290?293 5 FAKIA Y A, vol. ii. pt. iii. p. 364; BAL-3; ch. xl.
T, Qud en Nieuw Oost-Indien, fyc., ch. vii, p. 92.
3 Called Drama JSolla Bao by De COUTO.
3 DE COTJTO, dec. vi lib. ii. ch. vii..; FARIA Y SOUZA, vol. ii. pt. ii. ch. vi. p. 121.
4 For an account of the proceedings of the Portuguese missions, see Sir J. EMEBSOH TBKNBNT'S (Jhrwti-anity m Ceylon, ch i, DE COUTOMODEEN HISTOBY.
[PART VI.
AJ)- said to have extended beyond tlie fortifications of Colombo. To conciliate Ms protectors, he eventually abjured the Buddhist religion and professed himself a convert to Christianity; many nobles of his court being baptized on the occasion, and, according to the Eajavali, the lower castes, as well as the higher, hastened to profess Christianity, "fo£ the sake of the Portuguese gold/51
His accession served to revive the animosity and energies of Maaya Dunnai and the national party, whilst his helplessness placed the Portuguese in the position of principals rather than auxiliaries in the long war which ensued. In this new relation, relieved from even the former semblance of restraint, their rapacity betrayed itself by wanton excesses. They put to the torture the subjects of the king they professed to succour 5 in order to extort the disclosure of the buried treasures of his family; and after the first conflict with Maaya Dunnai, in which the Portuguese were victorious, they not only exacted the full charges of the expedition from their young ally, but in violation of their compact, appropriated to themselves the entire of the plunder of Sita-wacca, " the wants of India," as PAULA T SOUZA observes, "not permitting the performance of promises."2
Por many years the maritime provinces were devastated by civil war in its most revolting form. Cotta was so frequently threatened as to be kept in a state of almost incessant siege. Every town on the coast where the Portuguese had formed trading establishments, Pan-
1 Rajmali, p. 291. Hence the frequent occurrence at the present day of Portuguese names, in addition to the Singhalese patronymics in families of the highest rank in the maritime provinces. They were assumed at "baptism three centuries back, and are still retained even where the hearers have abandoned Christianity.
2 FAKIA Y SOTTZA, vol. ii. pt. ii. ch, ix. p. 159; DE COTITO, dec. vi. lib. ix
ch. xviii. torn. iii. pt. ii. .p. 350 ; Raja/vaU, p. 292. Restitution was made at a later period, John III. having ordered the restoration of all the plunder j and this order came to Ceylon, says FABIA Y SOTJZA, in the same ship which carried the poet CAMOENS/A.D. 1553, "to try if he could advance "by his sword that fortune which lie had failed to win by his pen." (VoL iii p. 169.)CHAP. I.] COTTA DISMANTLED. 17
tura, Caltura, Barberin, Galle, and Belligara were ravaged A-D-by the partisans of Maaya Dunnai, their churches and buildings destroyed, and their Christian inhabitants butchered by the Singhalese.1
In these sanguinary forays, the renown of Maaya Dunnai himself was eclipsed by that of his youngest son; who, beginning his military career whilst yet a child, had accompanied the army of his father in an expedition against one of the refractory chieftains of the south, on which occasion the boy won the title of Eaja Singha, " the Lion King."2
This fiery leader had the audacity to besiege Colombo in 1563; and afterwards attacked Cotta with such 1563. vigour and perseverance, that the Portuguese ? officer, Ataide, alarmed at the failure of provisions during a protracted defence, caused the flesh of those killed in the assault to be salted as a resource against famine.3 Warned by this critical emergency of the impossibility of maintaining Cotta as a fortress, it was judged expedient, in 1564, to dismantle it4, and the humiliated 1564. king thenceforth resided within the walls of Colombo; where, says FARIA T SOUZA, " he was no less tormented by the covetousness of the Portuguese Commander than he had been before by the tyranny of Eaja Singha."5
During this wretched struggle, it was the policy of Portugal to induce the minor chiefs of Ceylon to detach themselves from the national party, by inflaming their apprehensions, and exciting their jealousy of the ascendancy and pretensions of Maaya Dunnai and his son; and the more firmly to consolidate an alliance, the strongest inducements were held out to them to profess Christia-
^ * A.B. 1555. FABIA Y SOTJZA, vol. ii. pt. ii. ck xii. p. 181; BE COTJTO, dec, vi. lib. x. ck xii. torn. iii. p.
Ai~tr\ ' ? ?*?
RajawiK, p. 29; BIBEYBO, b. i.
479.
eh. v.
3 FABiAYSouzA; vol. ii. pt. iii. ck ii. p. 249.
4 DE GDITTO, dec. viii, lib. vii. ck vii. torn. i. pt. i. p. 57.
5 Portuguese Asia. vol. ii. pt. iii. ck ii. p. 248.
YOL. II. C18
MODERN HISTOEY.
[PAET VI.
A.D. irity ; but too feeble to contribute any effectual aid to their 3546' new allies, their treason and apostacy drew down on
them the indignation of their rightful sovereign, and
served only to furnish pretexts for their overthrow and
his farther aggrandisement. It was thus that the territory of Kandy was seized by
BajaSingha, in 1582. Jaya-weira, its king, in 1547,
A.D.
1547' invited the Eoman Catholic fathers to Ms dominions, permitted a church to be erected at his capital, and intimated a wish, which was promptly complied with, that a military party should be stationed at Kandy, with the double object of extending the faith* and protecting the sovereign from the resentment of his own people, should he openly embrace Christianity.1 An officer, with one hundred and twenty men, was despatched on this service, in 1548, and. landed at Batticaloa, whence his party crossed the island westward to Kandy ; but a sudden change in the king's intentions led him to place an ambush to cut off the militant mission, which, with difficulty, effected its escape to Colombo.2 So intent were the Portuguese upon the extension of the faith that, untaught by this act of treachery, they subjected themselves to a still more disastrous repetition of it in A.D. 1550, when Kumara Banda, the son of Jaya-weira3, renewed the application of Ms father for spiritual and inilitary assistance. A force despatched at his request was permitted to march to within three miles of Eandy, when they were surrounded by the followers of t\ie prince, and lost upwards of seven hundred men (of whom one-half were Europeans) in a headlong retreat to the coast.4
1 The soldiers were despatched, according to DE GGUTO, at once to ?confirm Mm in " the faith and in his possessions/' "pera invenar e assistar com. aqucUe HMJ ate 6 segurarem na Fe e no jvywo." DE COTJTO, dee. vi. liv. iv. eh. vii p. 324
* DE Corro, dec. vi. lib, iii cli, ?vii viii. vol iii. pt. i p. 329.
3 He resided, according to the Hqjavali, at Coral Taddea, and is called by the Portuguese vmters, Caralea Pandur. DE COUTO^ dec. vi. lib. viii. cli. iv. tom, iii. pt. ii. p. 155. c. vi. p. 165.
* BE COTTTO; dec. vi. lib. viii. ch. vii. vol. iii. gt. ii. p. 178; FAEIA T SOTTZA, vol. ii. pt. ii. ch. viii. p, 148.CHAP. L] RAJA SI5GHA. 19
Meanwhile Eaja Singha who, though the youngest of A.D. his family, succeeded to the territories of his father on the death of Maaya Duiinai in 1571, proceeded to develope his designs for concentrating in his person supreme authority over the other petty kingdoms of Geylon. He put to death every troublesome aspirant of the royal line1, and directed his arms against every chief who had been hostile or neutral during his struggles with the king of Gotta. In the course of a very few years he made himself virtually master of the interior, and drove into exile the king of Kandy, who, with his queen and children, fled for safety to the Portuguese fort at Manaar, where he and his daughter became Christians., and were baptized, she as Donna Catharina, and he under the name of Don Philip, in honour of Philip H., who had just acquired the crown of Portugal with that of Spain. On her father's decease, Donna Catharina was left a ward of the Portuguese, and through their instrumentality was afterwards made queen of her ancestral dominions.
Unable, from the extent of the military operations in which he was engaged, to retain possession of the Kandyan country, Eaja Singha adopted the precaution of disarming the Kandyans, and was thus enabled to concentrate Ms attention on preparations for the siege of Colombo, which he at length invested with a formidable force. To this memorable assault he brought, according to the account of the Portuguese, fifty thousand fighting men, and an equal number of pioneers and camp followers, with upwards of two thousand elephants and innumerable baggage oxen.2 He even collected a naval force with which to threaten the fleet of the Viceroy. He took up his position before the fort in August, A.D. 1586, and
1 A.B. 1581. The Portuguese assert, that Eaja Singha L, to clear liis own wav to the throne, murdered
dee. x. eh. xiii. vol. vi. pt. li. p. 215; FARIA Y SOUZA, vol. iii. pt. 1. ch. iv. 2 FABIA r SOITZA, vol. iii. pt. i. ch.
.J . T^TT-. f~1.n.vM.,n J3 _ -.__ _"f- "____1__*
not only his brothers, but MB aged | vi.; DE Cotrro, dec. x. ch, iv. TO! vi. father, Maaya Dimnai BE COTJTO \ pt, ii. p. 410,
c 220
MODEEN HISTORY.
[PART VL
A.D. continued to harass it by repeated assaults till the end 1586' of May in the following year. The barbarities practised by the garrison are related without emotion by the Portuguese historians of the siege?the tortures inflicted on the living, and the orgies perpetrated over the remains of the dead1?and as the entire country beyond the walls of Colombo was in possession of the enemy, Portuguese galleons were despatched to destroy the villages along the southern coast. The expedition, according to the complacent narrative of De Couto, achieved its mission with circumstances of signal atrocity, especially towards the women and their little ones, whose hands and arms the soldiers hacked off in their eagerness to secure their pendants and bangles; and returned to Colombo in triumph, with their spoils and captives.2
In a second expedition these outrages were repeated on a still greater scale, Thome de Sousa d'Arronches, in February, 1587, sacked and burned the villages of Cosgodde, Madampe, and Gindura, surprised and ravaged Galle, BeUigain, and Matiira, and utterly destroyed the great temple of Tanaveram or Dondera, then the most sumptuous in Ceylon, built on vaulted arches on a promontory overlooking the sea, with towers elaborately carved and covered with plates of gilded brass. De Sousa gave it up to the plunder of his soldiers; overthrew more than a thousand statues and idols of stone and bronze, and slaughtered cows ?within its precincts in order indelibly to defile the sacred places. Carrying away quantities of ivory, precious ornaments, jewelry, and gems, he committed the
1 DE COUTO relates, that an arachy of singular bravery, who on a former occasion had killed with his own hand twenty-nine Singhalese las-caring, haying been brought prisoner into Colombo, a Portuguese soldier cut open his heart and drank the blood out of his hands; "hum delles chamado Maroto, a quern devia deter
bem escandalizado; Ihe deo huma cutilada sobre o corac o, que abrio todo; e por tres vezes Ihe tonaou o sangue com os maos; e bebeo por far-tar a sede do odio que Ihe tinha." ?Dec. x. ch. y. yol. vi. pt. ii. p. 562. 2 Hajauali, p. 308; FAEIAT SOTTZA, yol. iii. pt, L ch. yi.CHAP. L]
DEATH OF EAJA SITOHA.
21
1587,
ruins of the pagoda and the' surrounding buildings to A.D. the flames.1
Eaja Singha? stunned by the intelhgence of these disasters, disheartened by the utter failure of his repeated assaults on Colombo, and alarmed by the intelligence of the arrival of large reinforcements to the garrison from Goa, suddenly abandoned the siege, and drew off his forces to the interior.
He survived his discomfiture at Colombo but a very few years, and died at Sita-wacca, in 1592, at an extremely advanced age.2 Authority and success seem equally to have deserted him towards the close of his career; the Portuguese taking advantage of his involvements and anxieties during the siege, contrived to excite a formidable diversion by rousing the Kandyans to revolt; and Kunappoo Bandar of Peradenia, a Singhalese of royal blood who had embraced Christianity, taking at his baptism the name of Don Juan3, was despatched with an armed force to prepare the way for enthroning Donna Catharina, the daughter of the late fugitive king Jaya-weira, who had been educated at Manaar. The expedition was signally successful ; the Kandyans not only asserted their own independence, but descending to the territories of Eaja Singha, laid waste his country to the walls of his palace at Sita-wacca.4 Don Juan, intoxicated by his victories, and indignant that the Portuguese, whilst continuing him in his military command, should have conferred the sovereignty of the interior on Don Philip, a rival on whom they intended also to bestow the hand of Queen Catharina, turned his arms against Ms allies, and drove the Portuguese from Kandy, removed Don Philip by poison, and conducted on his own account hostilities
1 BE GoTiTO; dec. x, cli. xv. TO!, vi.
pt ii. p. GC5.
2 The Portuguese say Raj a Singha
was upwards of 120 years old wlien he died; bat this is an obvious exaggeration.
3 Rajavali, p. 310: HIBETRO, b. i
ch, v. VALEOTYN says he was christened Don Juan, to compliment Don John of Austria, the hero of Lepanto.
4 RIBEYHO., ch. v.
c 3MODERN HISTOKY.
[PART VI."
A.D.
1592
against Eaja Singha A few years were wasted in desultory warfare in the Kandyan highlands, and then followed a decisive action at'Kukul-bittra-welle, near the pass of Kadaganauwa2, in which Eaja Singha was unsuccessful, and died in 1592, refusing surgical assistance for a wound, and mimmiring at the departure in his old age of that good fortune which had signalised his career in his boyhood.3
Thus left undisputed master of the interior of Handy, Bon Juan seized on the supreme power, and assumed the Kandyan crown under the title of Wimala Dharma. To secure the support of the priesthood, he abjured Christianity, and, availing himself of the faith of the nation in the dalada, " the sacred tooth of Buddha," as a palladium, the possession of which was inseparable from royalty, he produced the tooth which is still preserved in the temple at Kandy as the original one; and, notwithstanding the destruction of the latter at Groa in 15604, he had no difficulty in persuading the Kandyans that the counterfeit was the genuine relic, which he assured them had been removed from Gotta on the arrival of the Portuguese, and preserved at Delgamrnoa in Saffragam.
The Portuguese attempted to depose Don Juan, and despatched a force to the mountains under the command of Pedro Lopez de Souza, to escort the young Queen Catharina to the capital, and to restore the crown to its legitimate possessor. Don Pedro succeeded in expelling the usurper; but, after a very short interval, Wirnala Dharma returned, effectually detached the Kandyan forces from their alliance, utterly routed the Portuguese gar-
1 The events of this period are |fwn with particularity in the De-
wrfjtftoft of Ctylon, bv PHILIP BAL-
iLirs, "Minister of tlie word of God In LVykra;" printed at Amsterdam, 1072, untl of which an English; trans-L'itluii will lit1 found In CHTECHULL'S Cvtfa'iittHi vol. ili. p. 501.
2 IfajtlMtii p. #12.
3 te Since my eleventh year, no king has made way against me till now 5 Tbut my migit is diminished j this king is more powerful than me.'7? RajawK, p. 313.
4 For an account of the Sacred Tooth and its destruction, see Vol. TL p. 20. 199.CHAP. I.] ATROCITIES. 23
risoii, slew tlieir leader, possessed himself of the person of A-I)-the queen, and seized the Kandyan throne, of which he held undisturbed possession till his decease, twelve years afterwards.1
Wimala Dliarma thus succeeded to the rank and position of Baja Singha as the paramount sovereign of the whole island, and chief of the national party opposed to the Portuguese. The latter, resenting at once his treason and tlieir own defeat, resorted to violent measures of retaliation, and a war of extermination ensued, unsurpassed in atrocity and bloodshed.2 Jerome Azavedo, a soldier less distinguished by his prowess than infamous for his cruelties, was despatched to Ceylon in 1594, to avenge the indignities endured by Ms fellow-countrymen at the hands of the Kandyan usurper. Faria y Souza, in a review of the career of this commander, which ended in a dungeon at Lisbon, says his reverses were a judgment from the Almighty for his barbarities in Ceylon. In the height of Ms success there, he beheaded mothers, after forcing them to cast their babes betwixt mill-stones. Punning on the name of the tribe of Grallas or Chalias, and its resemblance to the Portuguese word for cocks, gallos, " he caused Ms soldiers to take up children on the points of their spears, and bade them hark how the young cocks crow /" " He caused many men to be cast off the bridge at Malwan6 for the troops to see the crocodiles devour them, and these creatures grew so used to the food, that at a whistle they would lift their heads above the water."3
1 BALDIEUS, cli.vi. p. COS tells a story of a Singhalese mood-liar (whom BALILH us calls Janiere') ?who joined Lopo de Souza in this
expedition, bringing- a large force to Ins aid; "but whom Don Juan contrived to get rid of, Tby addressing* to lilm fictitious letters with allusions to
tion, passed his sword through his heart.?IIIBEYH.O, ch. Tii. p. 47.
2 YALEXTYX, who describes the savage conduct of the Portuguese during this war (Oud en Nieuw Oost-IndieHf ch. vi. p. 82), says his information was chiefly obtained from the reports of the Singhalese, who had a
a pretended plot to betray the Portu- I vivid recollection of these horrors, gtiese. I )e Souza, without giving the 3 FABIA. y SOTTSIA, Stevens' Tram-iiioodliar an opportunity for cxplaaa- lotion, vol. iii, pt. iii. ch. xv, p. 279,
c 424
MOBEKN HISTORY.
[PART VI.
1594,
An internecine war now raged for years in Ceylon, the Portugese in successive forays penetrating to Kancly, and even to Oovah and Saffragain, burning towns, uprooting fruit trees, driving away cattle, and making captives to be enslaved in the lowlands.
These conflicts were, however, of uncertain success. On some occasions the invaders, overpowered by the energy of the Kandyans, were defeated and put to flight, followed by the exasperated mountaineers to the gates of Colombo.1 The frontier which separates the maritime districts from the hill country, was the scene of sanguinary conflicts, and at length the low-country Singhalese, roused to desperation by the miseries drawn down on them in never-ending hostilities, and by the atrocities perpetrated by the Portuguese soldiery2, manifested a determined resistance to the common oppressors, who, alarmed in turn for their own safety, mutinously resisted the orders of their officers, and the Viceroy at Goa was appealed to to arrest the disorganisation and utter ruin of the new settlement.3
In the midst of these scenes of blood and disaster,
1 FABIA T SodZA, vol. iii. pt. iii. eh. viii. ix. xii &c.
2 "We liad not grown odious to the Clilngalas (Singhalese), had we not provofeed them by our infamous proceedings. Not only the poor soldiers "went out to rob, "but those Portuguese who were lords of villages added rapes and adulteries, which obliged the people to seek the company of "beasts in the mountains rather than be subject to the more beastly villanies of men."?FAKIA Y SOTJZA, vol. iii. pt. iii. ch. iii. p. 203. A thrill of horror has been imparted to all who have read the story of the atrocities perpetrated on the wife of Eheylapola, the minister of the king of *Kandy, who, on the occasion of her husband's revolt in 1815, compelled her to kill her own children by pounding them in a rice-mortar. But it ought to be known that this inhuman practice wm tfwffki to the J&tndyaiu by tke
Portuguese; according to the truth-fa! Robert Knox, Simon Correa, et when he got any victory over the Chingulays, he did exercise great cruelty. He would make the women beat their own children in their mortars wherein they used to beat their corn."?EJSTOX, Mist. Relat., pt. iv. ch. xiii. p. 177.
It is a curious illustration of the conviction left on the minds of the Kandyans of the cruelty of Europeans, that "in 1664, when Raja Singha wished to inflict the utmost possible punishment on one of his ministers, he sent Mm to Colombo to be executed, thinking that the Butch, like the Portuguese, were ingenious in the invention of tortures. They, however, restored him to liberty.?VALEOTTO, ch. xiv. p. 199 j ch. xv. p. 249.
8 BE COUTO, dec. xi. ch. xxxlii, torn. yii p. 178; FAKIA T SOTTZA, vol. iii. pt. i, eh, ix. p. 73.CHAP. I.] NEW ALLEGIANCE. 25
died the last legitimate emperor of Ceylon, Don Juan ±J -Dharmapala. He expired at Colombo in May, 1597, bequeathing his dominions by will to Philip II. By this deed the Portuguese acquired their title to the sovereignty of the island1, with the exception of Jaffna, the nominal king of which they still recognised, and Kandy, to the throne of which they had themselves asserted the right of Donna Catharina the Queen.
Pdbeyro gives a remarkable account of the mutual arrangement under which the Singhalese chiefs now took the oath of allegiance to the new dynasty. It was at first proposed that the laws of Portugal should be introduced for all races alike, reserving to the native chiefs their ranks and privileges ; but after an interval asked for deliberation by the deputies, they returned a reply to the effect that, being by birth and education Singhalese, and earnestly attached to their own religion and customs, it would be difficult, if not perilous, to require them to abandon them on the instant for others which were utterly unknown to them. Such changes, they said, were often the precursors of revolutions, that swept away both institutions, the new as well as .the old, to the injury alike of the people and the king. On all other points they were ready to recognise Philip H. as their legitimate sovereign ; and so long as his majesty and his ministers respected the rights and usages of the nation, they would meet with the same loyalty and fidelity which the Singhalese had been accustomed to show to their own princes. On these con-* ditions they were ready to take the oath, the officers of the king being at the same time prepared to swear in the name of their master to respect and maintain the ancient privileges and laws of Ceylon.
The covenant was concluded and proclaimed, together with a solemn declaration that the priests and religious orders were to have full liberty to preach Christianity*
DE COTTTO, dec. xil cli* v, torn. viii. p. 39 j BIBEYRO/ bk* i. oh, l26 MODERN HISTORY. [PART VI.
A-D- neither parents restraining their children, nor children 1597" opposing the conformity of their parents, and that all offences against religion were to be punishable by the legal authorities.
The territory now under the direct government of the Portuguese embraced the maritime circuit of the island, with the exception of the peninsula of Jaffna, and a portion of the country to the south of it (which was not annexed till 1617), and extended inland to the base of the lofty zone which encircles the kingdom of Sandy.
It was from their strongholds in these mountains., protected on all sides by naturally fortified passes, that the Kandyans, who had become the scoiu-ge and terror of the Portuguese, were enabled to direct their forays into the lowlands. To watch them, and to protect their own territory in the plains, the Portuguese were obliged to keep up two camps, one at Manicavare in the Four Coiies, and a second at Saffragam, on the confines of Oovah. To garrison these and their forts at various points on the coast they were compelled to maintain an army of upwards of 20,000 men, of whom less than one thousand were Europeans.
The value of the trade carried on under such circumstances was incommensurate with the expenditure essential for its protection1; the products of the island were collected, it may almost be said, sword in hand, and shipped under the guns of the fortresses. Still tranquillity was so far preserved throughout the districts bordering on the coast from Matura to Chilaw, that the low country husbandmen pursued their ordinary avocations, and the patriarchal village system still regulated the organisation of agriculture. The military forces were recruited by the feudal service of the peasantry ; and the revenues in the same form in which they had by the kings of Gotta, were collected
, Oori-fadw, $c., ck rr. p. 282.CHAP. I.]
PORTUGUESE TRADE.
27
by the captain-general of Colombo, who governed with A.D. the local title of "King of Malwane."1 Trade was pro- 1597' hibited to all other nations, and even to the native Singhalese. Besides the royal monopolies of cinnamon, pepper, and musk, the chief articles of export were cardamoms, sapan-wood, areca-mits2, ebony, elephants, ivory, gems, and pearls, and along with these there were annually shipped small quantities of tobacco, silk, and tree-cotton.
In quest of these commodities, vessels came to Colombo and Galle from Persia, Arabia, the Eed Sea, China, Bengal, and Europe; and according to Eibeyro, the surplus of cinnamon beyond that required by these - traders was annually burned, lest any accumulation might occasion the price to be reduced, or the Chalias to relax their toil in searching the forests for the spice.3 The taxes were paid in kind. Trade was altogether conducted by barter, and money was almost unused in the island, except in the seaports and their immediate vicinity.
Colombo, as the seat of government and commerce, became a place of importance ; and its palisades and earthworks4 were replaced by fortifications of stone mounting upwards of two hundred guns. Convents, churches, monasteries., and hospitals were erected within the walls, and at the period of its capture by- the Dutch, in 1656, upwards of 900 noble families were residing within the town, besides 1500 families of those con-
1 A very minute detail of the military and revenue system of the Portuguese will be found in the First Book of BIBEYRO, eh. x. xi.
3 A passage in KIBEYEO'S account of the productions of Ceylon has puzzled both his translators and readers, as it describes the island as despatching "tous les ans, plus de mille bateaux, ehacun de soixante tonneauXj cFiw certain sable, dont on fait un tres-grand de*bitdans toutes lea lades."?eh. iii. Lee naively says
that "he cannot discover what this sand is." But as Le Grand nfade his French translation from the Portuguese MS. of the author, it is probable that by a clerical error the word arena may have been substituted for areca, the restoration of which solves the mystery.
3 RIBEYBO, b. i. ch. x.
4 "Les niurailles n'ont £te" long-tems que de taipasingetta" &c.?Ri-
, pt. i, ch. xii. p. 86.28 MODERN HISTORY. [PART VI.
A.D. nected with the Courts of Justice, merchants, and
1597' traders.
The value of Galle consisted chiefly in the facilities which its harbour afforded for commercial operations, and the Portuguese did not think it necessary to increase its natural strength by any considerable military defences. Caltura and Negombo were maintained chiefly as stations for the collection of cinnamon, and the ports on the opposite side of the island, Batticaloa and Trincomalie, were neither occupied nor fortified till shortly before the expulsion of the Portuguese from Ceylon.
A.D. It was not till the year 1617, that they took forcible
1617t possession of Jaffna, and having deposed the last sovereign of the Malabar dynasty, assumed the direct government of the country. Jaffna had long been coveted by them, less from any capabilities which it presented for extending their commerce than for the security it gave to their settlements in the richer districts of the south ; and apparently for the opportunity which it presented of displaying their missionary zeal in a region insusceptible of political resistance. Their first attempts to reduce this part of the island had been made in 1544, when an expedition, fitted out to plunder the Hindu temples on the south coast of the Dekkan, summoned the chief of the Peninsula either to submit and become tributary to Portugal, or to prepare to encounter the marauding fleet. He chose the former alternative, and agreed to pay 4000 ducats yearly.1 In the same year such numbers of the inhabitants of Manaar embraced Christianity at the hands of the Eoman Catholic missionaries under the direction of St. Francis Xavier, that the Eaja of Jaffnapatam sought to exterminate apostacy by the slaughter of six hundred of the new converts. The heresy, however, reached his own palace; his eldest son embraced the new faith, and was put to death in
1 FAEIA Y SOTJZA,, yol. ii. pt. 1 ch. xiii. p. 83.CHAP. I.]
JAFFKA TAKEN.
29
consequence; and the second fled to Goa to escape Ms A-D-father's resentment.
John III. directed the Viceroy of India "to take a slow and secure but severe revenge " for these excesses.1 In 1560, the Viceroy of India, Don Constantine de Bra-ganza, fitted out another armament against Jaffna on the double plea that the persecution of the Christians had been renewed at Manaar and that the reigning sovereign had usurped the rights of his elder brother the fugitive at Goa. De Couto has devoted the Seventh Decade of his History of India, to a pompous description of this sacred war, in which the bishop of Cochin accompanied the fleet along with the Viceroy, erected an altar on the shore, and in the presence of the invading army inaugurated the assault on the city by the celebration of a mass, the announcement of a plenary indulgence for all who should fight, and of a general absolution for all who might fall in the cause of the Cross.2 The assault was successful but disastrous; many fidalgos were slain f by the cannon of the enemy, the city was taken, the palace consumed, and the king in his extremity, being forced to make terms with the conquerors, was permitted to retain his sovereignty on condition of his disclosing the place of concealment of the treasures taken from Kandy and Cotta by Tribula Banda, son-in-law of Bhuwaneka VII. and father of Don Juan Dharma Pala.3 He was to pay in addition a sum of 80,000 cruzadoes4 and surrender the island of Manaar to the Portuguese, who forthwith occupied and fortified it
Amongst the incidents of the victory De Couto dwells on the seizure, by the Viceroy, of the dalada^ the "celebrated tooth of Buddha," wliich had been carried
1 BALDJEITS, In CHURCHILL'S Voyages, vol. iii. p. 647. 3 DE COXTTO, dec. viL lib. iv. ch. ii.
vol. iv. pt ii. p. 309,
8 DE COFIQ, dec. viL lib. iii. ch. v, vol. iv. pt. L p. 210,
4 A "crtizado/' so called "because bearing' a cross on the reverse, was worth two shillings and ninepence.30 MODERN HISTORY. [PART VI.
A-r - to-Jaffna during tlie corainotions in the Buddhist states.
i /»- ? o
The Portuguese insist that it was the tooth of an ape1, and worshipped in honour of Hanuman. It was mounted in gold, and had been deposited for security in one of the pagodas. On the intelligence of its capture by Don Con-stantine, the King of Pegu sent an embassy to Groa to tender as a ransom three or even four hundred thousand cimadoes, with offers of his alliance and services in many capacities, and an engagement to provision the Portuguese fort at Malacca as often as it should be required of him.2 The fidalgos and commanders were unanimous in their wish, to accept the offer as a means of replenishing the exhausted treasury of India. But the archbishop, Don Gaspar, was of a different mind. .He firmly resisted the offer, as an encouragement to idolatry, and was supported in his opposition by the inquisitors and clergy. The Viceroy, in consequence, rejected the proposal of the infidel king, the tooth was placed in a t mortar by the archbishop, in presence of the court, and reduced to powder and burned, its ashes being scattered over the sea." 3 " All men," says Paria y Souza, " then applauded the act; but not long after, two teeth being set up instead of that one, they as loudly condemned and railed at it"*
In 1591 and 1604, fresh expeditions were sent out from Goa, to punish the King of Jaffna for assisting the Singhalese chiefs in their opposition to the Portuguese, but on each occasion a ready submission on the part of the weaker power sufficed to avert the threatened danger.5 The determination, however, had been already
1 BE COTTTO. dec. v. lib. ix. ch. ii. TO! iv. pt ii. p. 316.
a BE COUTO, dec. vii lib. ix. eh. xvii. voL Iv. pt. ii. p. 428; FAHIA Y
ch. ii. p. 25L A detailed account of the destruction of the Sacred Tooth, as narrated by DE COUTO, will be found appended to the account of
8orzA, Tol. ii. pt ii eh* x*i p. Kandv in the present work, Vol. II.
200. | Pi TIL Ch. Y. ^
*( DE CQUTQ, dec. vii. lib, ix, ch. [ s FAEIA Y SOITZA, vol. iii. pt. i. ch.
Xv5i. I viii. p. 05 j pt ii. ch. v. p. 125.
13 FA MA Y SorzA. Tol ii. pt, iii, 1CHAP. I]
THE DUTCH APPEAU.
31
taken to assert the claim of Portugal to the Jaffna territories,, and the consummation was only postponed as a matter of convenience.1 In 1617, under the vice-royalty of Constantine de Saa y Norona, an expedition was directed against Jaffna; the city was captured with circumstances of singular barbarity. The king was carried captive to Groa, and there executed; his nephew, the last of the Malabar princes, having resigned his claim to the crown, and entered a convent of Franciscans, his inheritance was formally incorporated with the dominions of Portugal.2 True to their hereditary instincts, the Malabars, in 1622, fitted out an expedition to recover their ancient possession of Jaffna and the Peninsula ; but the vigour of the Portuguese governor, Oliveira, defeated the attempt.3
But a new and formidable rival now appeared to contend with Portugal for the possession of Ceylon. The Dutch had obtained a footing at the Kandyan court, and formed an alliance with the king, alike disastrous to the missionary zeal and the commercial enterprise of the Portuguese, who, after a struggle of nearly fifty years' cluration, were finally expelled from the island, which their kings had magniloquently declared that " they would rather lose all India than imperil"4
A.D.
1617.
1 FABIA Y SOTJZA, vol. iii. pt. iii. ch. xii. p. 259.
2 Urid., ch. xvi. p. 289; £c.
3 BALD^TTS, oh. xvii. p. 630.
4 Van Goens, the Dutch, governor of Ceylon in 1663, says that he had seen amongst the Portuguese records
at Colombo, the royal orders to the viceroys of India, containing this expression : u Dot men liever, geheel India soude laben verloren ffaan, dan
Ceylon in pn/kel van v&rlws brengen." ? VAiLEirror, Oif den Ntmw Oost-In~ .} ch. xrLL p. 174.MODERN HISTORY.
[PART VI.
CHAP. H.
BUTCH PERIOD.
A.B. 1617.
ABOUT the same time ? A.D. 1580, ? that Philip II. acquired the kingdom of Portugal in addition to his hereditary possessions, the United Provinces of the Netherlands, exasperated to revolt. by his unendurable tyranny, consummated their revolt by abjuring their allegiance to the Spanish Crown.1
During their struggles for independence, the Dutch organised with surprising rapidity not only a mercantile marine, but also a navy of surpassing gallantry for its protection; and engaging with energy in a branch of
1 The principal authorities for the history of the l)titch administration in Ceylon are the JBeschryvinff der Qostmdischm Landscapenj Malabar, Coromandelj Ceylon, $"c.,byBALi)JEirs, an English version of which will he found in CFTOCHILL'S Colkction, Yol. iii. p. 500 j under the title of A true and exact Description of Malabar, Coromandel, and also of the island of Ceylon, fyc., hy PHILIP BAX-pJETJS, Minister of the Word of (rod in Ceylon, Amsterdam, 1672; and VAXENTYN'S JBeschri/m'nff van Oud en Nleuw Qost-lndien, 5 vols. fol. Dor-diecht and Amsterdam, 1726. The great work of VALENTIN has never,, I Believe, been published in any other language than Dutch, in which it was written ; so that it is comparatively unknown in Europe, and is aptly described by PI^KEETON as aa treasure locked up in a chest, of which few have the key." Sir ALEXAJSDEK JOUKSION, wlien CMef
Justice of Ceylon, caused a very incorrect and imperfect translation to "be made of the part which refers to that island ; but it still remains in MS. amongst the collections of the Koyal Asiatic Society. Of the volumes which relate to continental India and the Eastern Archipelago, I am not competent to judge; bat the portion which treats of Ceylon seems to be scarcely worthy of the high reputation of the work. The official documents of which it is mainly composed are of unquestionable value, although it is more than doubtful that their statistics are falsified to conceal the frauds of the Dutch officials (see Lord VALENCIA'S Travek, vol. i. ch. vi. p. 310). As to the general information supplied by Valentyn himself, it is both meagre and incorrect. Some of the materials of his later chapters are taken from Knox's narrative of his own captivity.CHAP. II.] REVOLT OF THE LOW COUNTRIES. 33
commerce peculiarly suited to their position, their mer- A.D. chant ships successfully competed, as the carriers of 1617* Europe, with those of the Hanse Towns and Italy. In this department the Dutch maintained an intimate intercourse with Portugal, and their vessels resorted to Lisbon in search of the rich productions of India, which they transported to all the countries of the North.1 For some years a lucrative and prosperous trade, mutually advantageous to both countries, was permitted to flourish, uninterrupted even by the rupture'between the Low Countries and Spain; the Portuguese as an independent people having no other interest in the quarrel between Philip II. and his Dutch subjects, than that which arose from the accident of the two peninsular kingdoms being ruled by the same sovereign.
At length in 1694, Philip, impatient to strike a blow at the commerce of the Dutch, and regardless of the consequent injury to the trade of the Portuguese which the contemplated prohibition involved, forbade his new subjects to hold intercourse with his enemies, laid an embargo on the Dutch ships in the Tagus, imprisoned their supercargoes and masters, and, professing to treat them as heretics, subjected them to the discipline of the Inquisition.2
It admits of no question that this despotic effort to annihilate the commerce of Holland, acted as an immediate stimulus to its expansion; and suggested to the Dutch those enterprising expeditions to India, which led to the acquirement of large territory, the establishment of their own trade and the subversion of the Portuguese monopoly in the East.3
Within a year from the issue of the tyrannous veto to
Commerce des Indes, c., liv. ii. ch. i. vol. i. p. 305. 2 Mecueil des Voiages de la Com-des Indes Orientates, fyc.y vol. 1
5. 195.
3 "H sembloit que ces tirannies VOL. II. B
devoient miner le pais et falre pent la nation : mais au-contraire elles ont caus£ le salut et la prospe*iit£ de Tun et de Fautre!"?JRecueH, $c., vol. i, p. 9 j VALENTYN, ch. xv. p.34
MODERN HISTORY.
[PART VI.
1617
trade with Portugal, the Dutch had despatched their first convoy to India.1 A " Company for distant Lands " was speedily organised, and, in 1595, Cornelius Houtman, who shortly before had been released from a prison, conducted the first fleet of free merchantmen round the Cape of Good Hope.2
As the Dutch acquired a practical knowledge of the route, other expeditions followed in rapid succession. Java, the Moluccas, and China were first explored as being the most distant, and least likely to bring them into premature conflict with the Portuguese ; and at length on the 30th May, 1602, the first Dutch ship seen in Ceylon, " La Brebis," commanded by Admiral Spilberg, cast anchor in the Port of Batticaloa.3 So imperfectly were the Dutch informed regarding the island, that they expected to find cinnamon as abundant on the east coast as at Colombo, and announced that its purchase was the object of their visit4
Wirnala Dharrna, the successful usurper and the husband of Donna Catharina, was, at that time, the sovereign of Kancly, where he had assumed the style of Emperor of Ceylon, in order to mark his supremacy over the subordinate princes, who took the title of kings in their several localities.5 One of these, the petty prince of Batticaloa,
1 It Is a curious evidence of tlie prudence of tlie Dutch in taking this bold step in defiance of tlie inhibitions of Charles V, and PMlip H, by which, the rest of Europe was formally excluded from any share in the trade with India, that in forming their first navigation company for the East, they suppressed the name of India, and called it " La Compagnie des Pate J& wtoMi0."-r-"Het Maat-schappy van verre landes." It is also observable that, to avoid if possible any conflict with the Spanish cruisers," their earliest attempts to reach India were directed to the Arctic Ocean, in the hope to find a north-eastern passage to China.
2 EAYKALJ Commerce des # ?., liv. ii. ok i. vol. i. p, SOS,
3 Itecueily fyc., vol. ii. p. 417.
4 VAIBNTTN, ch. xv. p. 223, 224, says that in 1675 cinnamon was still found near, Batticaloa, and must have been exported thence prior to the arrival of the Butch. The latter point admits of doubt, but Mr. Thwaites, of the Royal Botanical Garden at Peradenia, writes to me that in 1857 he found cinnamon growing in that locality, and under circumstances which led him to doubt whether it had not at some former period been systematically cultivated there,
3 The style adopted was "Emperor of Ceylon,?King of Cotta, Kandy, Sitavacca and Jaffoapatam?Prince of Oovah, Bintenne, and Trincomalie ?Grand Duke of Matelle and Ma-CHAP. II.]
FIKST EMBASSY OF THE DUTCH.
though nominally tributary to Portugal, was attached by loyal sympathies to the cause of his native sovereign, between whom and the Portuguese hostilities were still actively carried on.
Suspecting the Dutch to be Portuguese in disguise, the chief of Batticaloa accorded to the, strangers a jealous and reluctant reception1; but, after detaining Spilberg a month, on pretence of delivering cinnamon, he eventually facilitated his journey to Kandy, to enable him to present to the king in person his credentials from the Prince of Orange, which contained the offer of an alliance offensive and defensive.2
The king received him with a guard of honour of a thdusand men, who bore arms and standards that had been captured from the Portuguese, and his cortege on the occasion was swelled by numbers of Portuguese prisoners, many of them deprived of their ears, "to denote that they had been permitted to enter the royal service."3 Spilberg, besides the banner of the United Provinces, caused a standard-bearer to lay at the feet of the king the flag of Portugal with the blazon reversed.
Wimala Dharrna, accustomed to be importuned for cinnamon, and eager to discourage the trade in that article, anticipated the expected demand by an offer of a small quantity at an extravagant cost; but on being assured in reply that the object of the mission was to seek not commerce but an alliance, and to offer his majesty the assistance of Holland against his enemies, the king folded the admiral in his arms, raised him from the ground in the ardour of his embrace, and accepted the proposal with
A.D.
1617.
naar, Marquis of Toompane and Yat-teneura?Earl of Cottiar and Batticaloa?Count of Matura and Galle, Lord of the ports of Colombo, Chi-law and Madampe, and Master of the Pisheries of Pearl." The places enumerated were occasionally varied. VALEHTYN, ch. xiv. p. 200.
1 Recueilj fyc., torn. ii. " Relation du Voyage de Greorge Spilberg en
qualite* d'Amiral aux Indes Orien-tales," p. 417; VALENTYN, Oud m Ni&uw Oost-Indien, vol. v, pt. i. ch. viii. p. 101.
2 et D'etre ami de ses amis et ennemi de ses ennemis."?SPILBEBO, Relation, fa, p. 423.
3 SpiLBEEe, Relation, $*c.? YOl. ii. p. 428; VALENriff, vol. v. p. i. ch. viii, p. 104,
2MODERN HISTORY.
[PABT VI.
A-D- alacrity. As to cinnamon, he said all in his dominions was at the service of the Prince of Orange without purchase, his only regret being that the quantity was small, as he had ordered the destruction of the trees, to put an end to the Portuguese trade.
The king detained Spilberg at Kandy till the approach of the monsoon warned Mm to return to his ship: and having presented him to Donna Oatharina and her children, and given unsolicited permission to the Dutch to erect a fort in any part of his domains, he added that, if necessary, the queen and her children would assist to collect the materials for its construction.1
The admiral, at the request of the king, left behind him his secretary, with two musicians of his band, and returned to Batticaloa loaded with honours and gifts.2 Here he captured, and presented to Wimala Dharma, a Portuguese galliot, laden with spices and manned by a crew of forty men; thus testifying at once his obligations to the Kandyans, and the hostility with which he regarded their enemies.
Pursuant to the agreement with the Dutch envoy, one of Spilberg's officers, Sibalt de Weert, left Batticaloa in 1603, with three ships, to cruise against the Portuguese, and undertake the siege of Galle; but the prizes which he took he set at liberty, contrary to the expectations of the emperor, who required one moiety to be given up to himself. An altercation ensued, in which the Dutch commander, excited by wine, repudiated his engagement to bombard Galle, and forgot himself so far as to make, an insulting allusion to the empress. Wimala Dharrna resented it by directing his" instant arrest; but
1 "Ziet, iky mya keizerin, Pi-ins, JPrinszes, zullen de steenen, kalk, en andre bouwstoffen, zoo de Heeren alg-euaeene Staaten en den Pras een vesting in myn lande begeeien te bouwen, op onze schouderen dragen." srraff, ch. viii. p. 105 j see also a, Relation, $c., vol. iL p. 433,
2 One luxury highly praised by the admiral in his narrative "was the wine, made from grapes grown at Kandy, which he pronounces excellent. ? SPIJJBEHG-, Relation, fyc., vol. ii. p. 451.CHAP. II.]
DEATH OF THE KING.
the attendants of the king, exceeding their orders, clove his head in the ante-room, and massacred his boat's crew-on the beach.1 The emperor returned to Xandy, and anticipating a breach with the Dutch, sent a pithy message to the ships of De Weert. " He who drinks wine, comes to mischief. God is just If you seek peace, let it be peace; if war, war be it"2 The Government of the Netherlands was too prudent to make even the murder of their officer the ground of a rupture with Kandy; no formal notice was taken of the event, and the decease of the emperor, in the following year, did away with the pretext for war.
On the death of Wimala Dharrna, in 1604, Donna Catharina, as Queen in her own right, assumed the sovereignty of Ceylon, her sons being children. But a contest ensued between the Prince of Oovah and a brother of the late king3, then a priest in a temple at Adam's Peak, relative to the guardianship of the minors, which ended in the murder of the prince and the marriage of the widowed empress with the assassin, who, on his coronation in 1604, assumed the title of Senaratena, or Senerat.
For a brief interval Ceylon enjoyed comparative tranquillity ; and although Donna Catharina declined to enter into any formal treaty of peace with the Portuguese, she formed an alliance oifensive and defensive with the Dutch in 1609. The opportunity for this convention arose out
A.D.
1617.
and BALDJETJS extenuate the conduct of Wimala Dhar-ma, by saying that the order which he gave, was to "bind that dog," mara isto can ! But te mara " is not Portiiguese ,??and it is possible that the king's order was atary" to bind," which may have been mistaken by the bystanders for matar, "to kill." VAIENTIN, ch. ix. p. 108, ch. xii. p. 141. BAXD^TJS, ch. vii. p. 611. FIBAED, the Erench traveller, who visited Ceylon shortly affcer, says the Portuguese avowed to him that De
Weert was killed at their instigation; but this seems untrue.? Voyage, fyc.} Paris, 1679, pt. ii. ch. il. | . 90.
2 The emperor, from his early education at Groa, spoke a little Portuguese. His words on the occasion were il Que "bebem Vinho nao he bon. Deos Tia faze juskida. Se quesieres pas, pas; se yuerra, guerra"?BAL-DJEUS, ch. vii. p. 612, VAiBNTnsr; ch. ix. 109.
3 Called by the Dutch historians, "Cenewierat"38
MODEKN HISTORY.
[PART VI.
A.D. of the conclusion of a truce for twelve years between the 1617' Low Countries and Spain1, one of the articles of which recognised the right of Holland to share in the commerce with India. But as this armistice did not extend to the hostilities still active in the East between the Dutch and the Portuguese, the States-General, prompt to avail themselves of the interval to re-establish their influence in Ceylon, despatched Marcellus de Boschouwer with overtures to Kandy. He was also the bearer of a letter from Prince Maurice of Nassau addressed to the emperor, tendering the friendship of the United Provinces, and offering, in the event of a renewal of Portuguese aggression by land or sea, to assist his majesty with ships, forces, and munitions of war.2 The result was a treaty, by which the Singhalese sovereign, in return for the promised military aid, gave permission to the Dutch to erect a fort at Cottiar, on the southern side of the bay of Trincornalie, and secured to them a monopoly of the trade in cinnamon, gems, and pearls. So eager was he to mature the alliance, that he prevailed upon Boschouwer to remain behind at Kandy, in the double capacity of representative of Holland and adviser of the emperor, who created him Prince of Migone3 and Ana-rajapoora, Knight of the Sun, and President of his Military Council, and High Admiral of the Fleet.4
Immediately on the erection of the new fort at Cottiar by the Dutch in 1612, it was surprised and destroyed by a Portuguese force, which was secretly inarched across the island; and Senerat, in turn, made preparations for a simultaneous attack on the forts of Galle and Colombo; with the resolution to give no quarter to any subject of Portugal, save women and
S, History of Holland^ vol. iii. p.436. 2 FS^ ck ix. p. 614.
8 MigoBe was tlie Mangel Coiie, north of the Deddroo oya. 4 VAi/Einro, ck ix. p. 112; BAL-
DJ3FS, Ck Xl p. 617., cli. xi. p. 618; VA-
LENTYfl, ell. X. p. 112.
2 VALENTOT, ck xii. p. 142.
3 VALENTYN, ck x. p. 116; ck xii. p. 142 j BALD-EUS, ck xvii. p. 629. "Being in want of refreshments,
they put into Tranquebar, on the Coromandel coast * and this circumstance gave rise to the first settlement
of the Danish colony, Tdiich has continued there eyer since." ? CIVAL'S Ceylon, fyc., p. 28*
CHAP. II.] DEATH OF BOSCHOUWER. 39
children.1 The plan was, however, disconcerted by the AJ
j. ' ' * ~
Portuguese taking the field, and compelling an engage-inent in the Seven Corles, in which the Kandyans were worsted, and his new principality of Migone wrested from Boschouwer.
At the same time, the eldest son of Donna Oatharina was taken off by poison, administered by his stepfather the Emperor, and the broken-hearted mother died within a few months of this calamity. Disasters quickly followed: the Portuguese troops on two occasions marched to within a few miles of Kandy, and were with difficulty repulsed, and in 1615 Boschouwer was despatched to Holland by Senerat to solicit reinforcements, pursuant to the recent convention. But, at the moment of his arrival, he found the people of Holland impressed with dislike to the character of the Kandyans2, and disinclined to active proceedings in Ceylon; whilst the States General, dissatisfied with the conduct and demeanour of the envoy, who approached them not as a subject of Holland but as a prince and ambassador from the sovereign of Kandy, declined to send the required forces. Boschouwer, thus repulsed, addressed himself to the Danes, who were eager to obtain a footing in India, and persuaded Christian IV. to fit out a squadron of five A.D. ships, with which lie sailed from Copenhagen, in 1618. Boschouwer died upon the voyage, and, on the arrival of the Danish commander at Cottiar in 1620, Senerat repu- A.D cliated the acts of his deceased agent, declined to receive the proffered assistance, and the vessels were sent back to Denmark.3
The Portuguese availed themselves of the perplexity of the Emperor, occasioned by these occurrences, to
D 440
MODERN" HISTOEY.
[PAET VI.
A.D. renew their solicitations for a truce, which they sue-
1624 ceeded in obtaining, in 1624 ; but, in violation of its
conditions, they commenced, in 1627, to fortify Batti-
caloa, having previously, in 1622, erected a fort at Trin-
comalie.1
A.D. The Emperor, alarmed by these proceedings, appa-1627. rently deserted by his Dutch allies, and seeing his kingdom encircled on all sides by Portuguese garrisons2, made a vigorous and successful effort to rouse the native Singhalese, and organise a national movement for the expulsion of the perfidious Europeans. The flame of war was simultaneously kindled at opposite points of the island; the most influential mooclliars of the low country entered earnestly into the conspiracy with the Kandyans, and the people of Colombo, exasperated by the treatment which they had experienced at the hands of the common enemy, expressed their readiness to revolt The Governor, Don Constantine de Saa y Norona, already stung by sarcastic despatches from the Viceroy of Goa, which insinuated inactivity and indifference to the interests of Portugal, was induced, by delusive representations from the chiefs of the high country, to concentrate all his forces for an expedition against Oovah, where he was falsely assured that the population were prepared to join his standard against their native dynasty.
In August, 1630, he advanced with fifteen hundred Europeans, about the same number of half-castes, and eight or ten thousand low-rcountry Singhalese, and was allowed without resistance to enter by the mountain passes and penetrate to the city of Badulla, which he plundered and burned. But on his return his Singhalese troops, at a point previously arranged with the Zandyans, deserted in a body to the enemy, and the Portuguese, thus caught in the toils, were mercilessly
A.B,
1630.
1 EIBETEO, lib. IL ck L p. 189. 3 TBe Portuguese iiad now eight fortified places around the coast:
Jaffna, Manaar, Ne^ombo, Colombo, Cultura, Galle, Belligam, Batticaloa, and Trincomalie,CHAP. II.]
CONSTANTINE DE SAA.
slaughtered, and the head of their commander carried on A-D-a drum, and presented to Eaja Singha, the son of the " emperor, who was bathing in a neighbouring brook.1 The Zandyans, flushed by their signal victory, followed it up by an immediate march on Colombo, which was only saved from their hands by the timely arrival of assistance from Goa.2."
"There was no native of Portugal in the island," says RIBEYBO, " who was unmoved to tears on hearing of the fate of the general; and the memory af Don Constantine de Saa will be venerated by posterity so long as men shall honour valour and worth, and the day of his death was the beginning of sorrows to my fellow-countrymen in Ceylon." 3 Both nations were, however, temporarily exhausted by the effort of the war, and a truce was agreed to, at the solicitation of the emperor \ who even agreed to pay a tribute of two elephants yearly, conformably to the former treaty with the Bangs of Cotta.
Senerat died shortly after5, leaving his son, Eaja Singha AJ . II., heir to his Kandyan dominions; the young king's 1632' brothers being at the same time invested with the principalities of Matelle and Oovak
, ch. XL p. 116, ell. xil
p. 142. The Itajavali says this massacre took place at the foot of the mountain of Welle-wawey, in the field called Rat-daneyia-welle, p. 323, KNOX says that Constantine de Saa, rather than fall by the enemy, "called his black "boy to give him water to drink, and snatching the knife from Ms side, stabbed himself."?Relation, # ?., pt. iv. ch. xiii. p. 177.
3 PABIA Y SOTJZA, pt. ii. ch. yiii. p. 377. The Portuguese were so unprepared for this assault, that during the siege FABIA Y SOUZA says that they ate the dead, and mothers their own children.?Oh. ii. p. 396. BAID^TTS, ch. vii. p. 631, mentions that amongst the forces sent at this time to the relief of Colombo were a company of
Cafires. This is probably their first appearance in Ceylon.
3 RIBEYKO, lib. ii. ch. ii. p. 207. The filial affection of Bon Rodri^ues de Saa, son. to the ill-fated Don Constantine, has left a touching vindication of his memory in a narrative of the expedition entitled " Jtebelion de Ceylm, y Us Progressos de m cm-guista en el gobierm de Constantino de Saa y Nororia. JBscribela sit Hijo Juan Hodrigues de Saa y Jklmezes y dedicala a la Virgen Nu^stra Senora Madre de Muerecordias." Lisbon, 1681.
4 FABIA T SOTTZA. pt. xiy. ch. ii. p. 401.
5 TTJENOUB, Epitome^ $c., p. 52, says that Senerat died in 1635; but Baldseus and Valentyn fix the date in 1632.42
MODERN HISTORY.
[PART VI.
A-D- It was in the reign of this gloomy tyrant, that the Portu-guese were eventually driven from Ceylon, and his Dutch allies installed in all their conquests. With their wonted bad faith, the Portuguese seized the opportunity of the emperor's death to renew their forays into the possessions of his successor, and Eaja Singha, forced to the conclusion that their presence in the island was incompatible with the hope of any permanent peace, addressed himself to the Dutch at Batavia, and solicited their active co-operation for the utter expulsion of the Portuguese.1
A.D. The invitation was promptly accepted, and Commodore 1638. j^oster was despatched to Ceylon in 1638, to concert the plan of a campaign preparatory to the arrival of the Admiral with the squadron designed for service against the Portuguese forts. In the meantime, the Portuguese Governor of Colombo, alarmed by the intelligence of this new alliance, and eager to defeat it, directed a sudden attack upon Kandy, which his troops entered and burned; but on retiring they were surrounded in the mountains, at Gronnarua, and with the exception of a few prisoners, the entire army was exterminated, and the skulls built in a pyramid by the Kandyans.2
At length, in May 1638, Admiral Westerwold appeared promised fleet in the waters of Ceylon, and the conflict was commenced between the Dutch and the Portuguese, which terminated twenty years after in the retirement of the latter from the island. The story of this conflict has been told by two historians who from opposite sides were eye-witnesses, of the strife ; ? by Bibeyro, who served as a soldier in the armies
1 The letters of Raja Singha II.,
enumerating the repeated acts of aggression and breaches of treaties by the Portuguese, will "be seen in liiLDJEtrs, ck'xix. p. C$2, 6S6. s lfajai?a?it p. 321; BALDJSFS, ch,
XX* p. 041; VALESTTN1, eh. XL p.
118 j ek xii p. 142 3- Ribeyro ascribes
the immediate cause of this ill-starred expedition to an act of perfidy and meanness on the part of the Portuguese Governor oi Colombo, which
led to a personal altercation with Ram Sing-ka II. It is amusingly tola in the 4th chap, of his 2nd book, p. 220.CHAP. II.]
DUTCH CONQUESTS.
of Portugal, and by Balds&us, who at a later period served as a chaplain to the forces of Holland1; but little interest comparatively attaches to the narrative of the strategy of the two European rivals, except so far as it involves the fortunes, or developes the character, of the Singhalese.
In 1638 the fort of Batticaloa was taken by Westerwold from the Portuguese after a very brief resistance, and a fresh treaty with the Emperor of Handy was forthwith concluded under its walls, by which the contracting parties bound themselves to carry on the war, the Dutch finding ammunition and forces, the emperor defraying all other charges, and both sharing the spoil.2
In 1639 Trincornalie was occupied and garrisoned by the Dutch, but they afterwards retired from the city. In 1640 they were equally successful at Negombo, Matura, and Galle3; and Colombo, which was invested by the army of Eaja Singha, might have been captured with facility, but the Kandyan sovereign, apparently alarmed by the rising power of the Dutch, not only permitted the fortress to be retained by the Portuguese, but afforded them the opportunity of recapturing Negombo4 in 1640.
This policy paralysed the proceedings of the Dutch; further operations were suspended ; and at length, on the
A.D.
1638.
1 Bibeyro landed in Ceylon in 1640 in the suite of the Count d'Aveiras, and remained till the capture of Colombo in 1658. Baldaeus arrived in 1656, and remained till 1665. YA-LENTYN", ch. xvii. p. 413. Another writer who was present at the final struggle between the Dutch and Portuguese, JOBAK JACOB SAABS, has given, in his Ost-Indianuche Funf-zehn Jabrige Srieffs-dtenst, or Fifteen, Years' Military Service, between 1644 em^l659, Nuremburg, 1662, an account of the campaign in which Colombo was captured, p. 122?128.
2 See a copy of the treaty in BAL-DJETFS, ch. xxii. p. 641.
3 Galle was reduced by Commodore Koster, who acted as envoy to the Court of Kandy. But the Dutch
A,D. 1639.
were singularly unfortunate in the selection of agents on these occasions. Koster, a rude sailor, insulted Eaja Singha II., as De Weert had previously outraged Wimala Dharma; he was dismissed without the usual diplomatic courtesies, and murdered on his return to Batticaloa.?BAL-DJEirs, ch. xlii p. 710 5 VAEEKTYST, ch. xii. p. 143.
4 KIBETBO, pt. ii. ch. viii. p. 102. The expressions of Valentvn are very cunous on the point of £he duplicity of Raja Singha:?"toen al considererende dat Jt beter was van twee natien gecaresseerd, als van een stoute wydberoemde overheerd te werden, liet hy de Portugeesen wear adem scheppen."?Ch. rti. p. 143.44
MODERN HISTORY1.
[PART VJ.
A.I . arrival of intelligence in India, that Portugal had finally 164:0' emancipated herself from the dominion of the Kings of Spain, and had expelled Philip IV. to enthrone John of Braganza in his stead ; peaceful overtures were made to the States General, and in 1646, an armistice was arranged between Portugal and Holland for ten years from 1640, the two countries retaining their respective conquests in Ceylon.1
A.D. During the pause, the emperor, whose confidence in the ^646 Dutch had by no means been confirmed by personal intercourse with their authorities, hopeless of ever liberating his country from both combatants, and seeing his best chance of safety in their mutual rivalry, not only persevered in infesting the territories of each by desultory attacks, but contrived with success to embroil them in hostilities by passing through the possessions of the one to attack the subjects of the other. Conformably to these tactics, he marched through the Portuguese territory to reach the fort of Negombo, made prisoners of the garrison, and sent the heads of their officers rolled in silk to the Dutch commandant at Galle.2
The patient endurance of these and similar outrages is one of the remarkable features of the policy of the Dutch. They contented themselves with supplications to be permitted to trade in cinnamon, and with oiFers to surrender some of the strong places in their keeping on being reimbursed the costs of the war; acquitting the emperor of deliberate bad faith and imputing his alienated feelings to the machinations of their rivals, who were irritated at the Westerwold treaty. Thus by blandishments and presents3, the Dutch governor succeeded
1 Holland had previously regained ISFe^ombo from the Portuguese in 1644. BiBErao,pt ii. eh. xiv. p. 123 ;-VALENTIN, eh. xii p. 148.
2 VALENTY^, ch. xii. p. 121, 142.
3 In the midst of this sullen correspondence, the Dutch Governor alludes to the arrival at Galle of "a Persian horse worth/ to be bestrode by a Ung" and asks permission .to for-
ward it to Kandy* together with a saddle from Holland. VA
ch. xi. p. .126.) Bed cloth, gold and silver lace, Spanish wine, and Dutch liqueurs, were also employed to heal the breaches between Kandy and Holland, (VALEIHOT, ch. xi. j). 125, clvxii. p, 136,) One injunction of Eaja Singha, however, the Dutch firmly resisted \ they declined eitherCHAP. II.]
DISSENSIONS.
45
A.B.
1646.
In allaying irritation, recovered the prisoners of war, and retained possession of the two important stations of Negombo and Galle, on the confines of * the cinnamon country, till the expiration of the truce with Portugal in AJX 1650, and the declaration of war by the Netherlands two 1650, years afterwards.
At that moment the Portuguese in Colombo were in a state of mutiny against the Governor Mascareiihas Ho-and Eaja Singha, no doubt influenced by this
mem.:
circumstance, signified his readiness to take the field along with the Dutch. Some time was spent in skirmishes whilst the latter were waiting for reinforcements from Batavia; but at length in October 1655, on the arrival of the Director-General Gerard Hulst, an advance was made from Galle which led to the surrender of Oaltura l, and Colombo, which was forthwith invested, capitulated on the 12th May, 1656.2
No sooner was the victory achieved, than hostilities broke out between the Kandyans and their new allies ; the Dutch persisting in retaining their conquests, which Eaja Singha contended they were bound to deliver over to him, by the terms of the Westerwold treaty.3 In an attempt to wrest Colombo from them, the emperor
to recognise or address him by the title of "God."?Ibid., p. 136, ch. xiii. p. 178. The Kandyans literally attach the idea of divinity to royalty j they style the King, Kiunara Devyo, which means "the Prince God" The palace had the same decorations as a temple, including the emblem of the sacred goose (see ante, Vol. I Pt. IT. ch. vii. p. 148), and the homage to the sovereijpf was called pinkama, "worship." See Rtfox, pt. ii. ch. ii. p. 38. Nor were the Dutch themselves consistent in their resistance to this profanity; for in 1665 they received in Colombo a fanatic who, under the name of "the Unknown. God" was engaged in fomenting revolt against Raja Singha.? VALENTYIT, Oud m Nieuw Cost-Indian, ch. xv. p. 261.
A.D.
1656.
1 BALDJSTJS, ch. xxiii. p. 647; VA-LENTYK, ch. xii. p. 143, 146.
2 Copious details of the long siege of Colombo are given by BALD-asus, ch, xxiv. to xxix.
3 BALD-ZETTS, ch. xxv. p. 633, 650. This alleged breach of the treaty is constantly referred to by all the recent historians of Ceylon, but certainly, on looking to the letter of the Westerwold convention as it is given in BALDJSTTS, ch. xxii. p. 641, there is nothing in the text which binds the Dutch to give up the captured fortresses to the King of Kandy. That such was the expectation of Raja Singha scarcely admits of a doubt, but in all probability the treaty was so worded by the Dutch, as to bear the construction which they afterwards gave it.46
MODERN HISTORY.
[PART VI.
was defeated1, but being enabled to occupy the sur-' rounding districts with his army, he cut off supplies from the fortress, and renewed friendly relations with the Portuguese,2 These occurrences necessarily retarded A.P. the further progress of the Dutch, but in 1658 they - were enabled, by means of their fleet, to possess themselves of the island of Manaar, and marching through the country of the Wanny3, they invested the fort of Jaffnapatam, which capitulated on terms; the garrison being transported to Europe, and the ecclesiastics to ?Coromandel.
Thus virtual masters of the whole seaborde and lowlands of Ceylon, their European rivals extruded, and their dangerous ally at Handy enclosed within the zone of his own impenetrable mountains, the Dutch applied themselves deliberately to extract the utmost possible amount of profit from their victory. Their career throughout the period of their dominion in the island, exhibits a marked contrast to that of the Portuguese; it was characterised by no lust for conquest, and unstained by acts of remorseless cruelty to the Singhalese.4
The fanatical zeal of the Boman Catholic sovereigns for the propagation of the faith, was replaced by the earnest toil of the Dutch traders to entrench their trading monopolies; and the almost chivalrous energy with
1 VALENTYN, ch. xii. p. 146,
2 RTBEYEO says that Raja Singha, to mark his quarrel with the Dutch, invited the Portuguese who remained in the island to establish themselves within his dominions, and they availed themselves of this encouragement to such an extent, that upwards of seven hundred families settled at Euanwelle with their priests and secular clergy,?Liv, iii. ch. ii. p. 351.
3 BALD-ZEUS, who accompanied the Dutch army to the assault on Jaffna, gives a personal narrative of this interesting inarch. (Oh, xliv. p. 716.)
4 When the English took Colombo in 1796, they found a rack and wheel, and other implements of torturej but these, it was explained, had been used only for criminals and slaves. (TEECIVAL'S Ceylon, p. 124*) WOLF, in his account of his residence in Ceylon, sayis, that "criminals were not broken on the wheel by the Dutch as in Germany 5 but instead of that, the practice was to break their thighs with an iron club. The generality of criminals were hanged on gallows, but sometimes they were put into a sack and thrown into the sea."?:Life, $c., p. 272.CHAP. II.] JTOAL EXPULSION OF THE POKTTOUESE.
47
which the soldiers of Portugal resented and resisted ^.D, the attacks of the native princes, was exchanged for the subdued humbleness with which the merchants of Holland endured the insults and outrages perpetrated by the tyrants of Kandy upon their envoys and officers. The maintenance of peace was so essential to the extension of commerce, that no provocation, however gross, was sufficient to rouse them to retaliation, provided the offence was individual or local, and did not interrupt the routine of business at their factories on the coast.1
The unworthiness of such a policy was perceptible even to the instincts of the barbarians with whom they had to deal; and Eaja Singha IL, by the arrogance and contempt of his demeanour and intercourse, attested the scorn with which he endured the presence of the faithless intruders, whom he was powerless to expel.
He disregarded all engagements, violated all treaties, laid waste the Dutch territory, and put their subjects
ch. xvii. p. 177, In tlie instructions which Herr Von Goens left for his successor on retiring from the Government of Ceylon in 1661, the leading injunction was to humour Raja Singha to the utmost; to do him all honour, and rather to endure offences committed by him than to resort to retaliation j at the same time to watch and distrust him. ''Men moet ook in alle nianieren betragten oni Hagu Singha geen redenen van misnoegen te geven; maar Teel liever hem caresseeren hem veel eerhied bewyzen, en liever wat ongelyk van hem lyden dan hern dat aandoen j dog ondertusschen hem ook nergens in betrouwen en op hem wel naeuwletten." (Ch. ix. p. 148.) See also ROGGEIHVEIN'S Voyage, Harris's Coll., vol. i. p. 290.
It is to be regretted that the postponement of national honour to commercial advantages was not confined to the subjects of Holland in the
East, and the observance of the same humiliating policy is to be found, on a still greater scale, in the early intercourse of the British East India Company with the Emperor of Delhi. There is nothing in the records of the Dutch more disgraceful than these official documents of the English in India, at the beginning of the last century, who, in the name of "God/' laid at the feet of the Great Mogul "the supplication of the Governor of Bengal, whose forehead is his footstool ;" setting out that "the Englishmen -trading to Bengal are his Majesty's slaves, always intent on doing his commands, and having readily obeyed his most sacred orders, have thereby fotmd favour" ? and they (f crave as his servants a finnan for trade and protection to follow their business without molestation." ? JLet-
ter of Governor JRusseU. 15th September, 1712.48
MODEEN HISTORY.
[PART VI.
A.D.
1658.
to the sword; yet, in spite of these atrocities, they addressed him with adulation *, whilst he replied with studied contumely; and they persisted in sending him embassies and presents, although he repelled their advances, and imprisoned, and even executed, their ambassadors.2
1 et The Dutch, knowing- Ms j roud spirit, make their advantage of it by nattering him with their ambassadors; telling him that they are his majesties humble subjects and servants, and that it is out of their loyalty to him that they build forts and keep watches round about his country to prevent foreign nations and enemies from coming 5 and that as they are thus employed in his majesties service, so it is for sustenance which they want that occasioned their coming up into his majesties country. And thus by flattering him and ascribing to him high and honorable titles, which are things he greatly delights in, sometimes they prevail to have the country and he to have the honor."?EJNTOX, pt. ii. ch. ii, p. 39. See also pt. iv. ch. xiii. p. 179.
2 YAL^NTTO, ch. xiii. p. 178; ch. xiv. p. 200, ch. xv. p. 283. The presents usually selected included some rather curious articles. Besides horses and their caparison of velvet and gold, the Dutch sent, in 1679, ten hawks, each attended .by a Malabar slave, six civets earned in cages, six game-cocks from Tuttocoryn, two Persian sheep, a stem of sandal wood, and a case of wine. The escort which delivered these with great pomp at Ruanwelle, were so beaten by the king's messengers who received them, that they Barely escaped with their lives. (VALENTIN, ch. xv. p. 302.) Two years before, the Dutch Governor had sent a present of a lion to Baja Singha, with some canting compliment on so suitable an offering; but the king refused the gift, and put the messenger under restraint. The officer, maddened by his long detention, attempted to approach the king to entreat his dismissal, but
the guards were ordered to detain him where he stood, and he was compelled to remain for three days upon the spot, ee and what became of him afterwards," says VALENTYN, "we never learned.'' (Oh. xv. p. 246.) He was still alive at Kandy when EJIOX fled in 1697. Eaja Singha had a passion for hawking, and turned the subserviency of the Hollanders to account in gratifying his taste. I have a curious MS. letter written by him. in Portuguese from Badulla, 6th August, 1652, and addressed To the Governor Jacob Von Kittenstein, residing in my Fortress of Galle as my loyal vassal. It alludes to the arrival of presents which he had not yet deigned to look at, and continues thus: ee I brought up a hawk with great love and tenderness, and taking him with me one day to the chase I gave him wing, and he disappeared for ever. I think it reasonable that I should write to you about these things that are to my taste, and when you are informed of them you are bound to give effect to my wishes. If it should be, therefore, in your power to procure for me some good hawks, as well as other birds of prey that hunt well, and other matters pertaining to the chase, please to send them as presents to me." Another of the king's weaknesses, was an extraordinary style of dress quite peculiar to himself, including mosquito drawers, and a cap - with a quantity of feathers. These caps were amongst the presents sent by the Dutch, and so decorated, VA-LENTTN" says, that he looked rather like a buffoon than a king: (e en zoo wonderlyk van kleederen en toetake-ling in zyn leven, dat hy veel "beter een ouden Portuguees met zynCHAP. II-l
EEVOLT AT
When, after twenty years of captivity, KJIOX made his escape from. Kandy in 1679, Eaja Singha held in detention, or imprisonment upwards of fifty subjects of the Netherlands; including five with the rank of ambassador, besides a number of French and English, whose liberation Sir Edward Winter had in vain solicited by a mission from Madras fifteen years before.1
Unable, from his defective military resources, to direct any decisive measures against his enemies in the low country, the fury of the tyrant expended itself in savage excesses against Ms own subjects in the hills,?putting to death with remorseless cruelty the families and connections of all whom he suspected of disaffection or of intercourse with the Dutch.2 At length, the limit of endurance being passed, the Kandyans attempted a revolt in 1664. Having forced the emperor to fly to the mountains, they proclaimed Ms son, a boy of twelve years old, his successor. But the child fled in terror to
A.D,
misldten-of muggen-broek, en een hof-nar, met zyn niuts vol plu.ym.en
HAJA SINGHA. ?FJROM EKOX.
dan wel een kelzer geleek."?Gh. xv. p. 200, eh. iii. p. 45. It is another coincidence (if anything were wanting) to attest the truthfulness of KNOX'S JR&Mim of Ceylm, that the portrait which he gives of the
VOL. II. .
A.D.
1664.
king includes the feathered cap spoken of by the Dutch Governor.
1 EJSTOX'S Relation, fyc., pt. iv. eh. xiii. p. 180. In 1680, two English sailors reached Colombo, who twenty-two years before had been seized at Calpentyn, where they had landed for fresh water,?VALENTTK, eh. xv. p. 302.
2 ^jjis cruelty appears both in the tortures and painful deaths he inflicts, and in the extent of his punishments, viz., upon whole families for the miscarriage of one of them. And this is done by cutting and pulling away their flesh by pincers, burning them with hot irons; sometimes he commands to hang their two hands about their necks, and to make them eat their own flesh, and mothers to eat of their own children j and so to lead them. through the city in public view, to terrify all, unto the place of execution, the dogs following to eat them. For the dogs are so accustomed to it that they, seeing a prisoner led awaj, follow after.?RNGX, yi. IL ch. iL p. SO.MODERN HISTOBY.
[PAET VI.
A.D. Bis father; and the rebels, unprepared for such a result, 1664. dispersed in confusion. Eaja Singha, to prevent a recurrence of the treason, caused his son to be poisoned1, and for some years after this abortive rebellion, the Dutch in the low country were comparatively free from Ms assaults and excesses.
During the period which followed their capture of Colombo,? a period neither of war nor of absolute peace, but involving the expenditure of the one without purchasing the security of the other,?the military policy of the Dutch had been purely precautionary and defensive. Ceylon was guarded as the gem of the country, "een Jcostelyk juweel van compagnies" 2 every maritime position was strengthened, and fortifications were either constructed or enlarged at Matura, Galle, Colombo, Ne-gombo, Chilaw, and Jaffna. Batticaloa and TrincomaEe were abandoned, not only from the want of troops to protect the east coast of the island, but from the equally prudential consideration that cinnamon was only to be had on the west. There every preparation was made for defence; ammunition was largely stored, each garrison was provisioned for a year, and, in addition to the command of the sea, the inland waters were rendered navigable at various points on the west coast between Bentotte and Negombo, and boats were placed on the Kalany Ganga to maintain a communication by the river from the confines of the Kkndyan kingdom.
Thus prepared for any sudden attack, trade at Galle and Colombo was carried on with confidence; and, in addition to shipments to Europe, vessels from all parts of the East, from Mocha, Persia, India, and the Moluccas, were laden with the produce of Ceylon; but only at the government stores; trade in private hands, either in or imports, being rigidly prohibited.3
1 pi ii. ek vL p, f S; VA-
ii, ady. n. 106.
s ck. nil p. 148,
3 Towards tlie close of tlie Dutch Government in Ceylon, tMs monopoly of trade was partially opened;CHAP. II.] DUTCH TEADE, 5
The kings of Cotta, in order to procure supplies of A.D cinnamon for the Portuguese, had organised the great establishment of the Mahabadde, under which the tribe of Chalias were bound, in consideration of their location in villages, and the protection of their lands, to go into the forest to cut and deliver at certain prices a given quantity of cinnamon, properly peeled and ready for exportation.1 This system remained unaltered so long-as Portugal was master of the country; and the Dutch, on obtaining possession of the ports, not only continued the collection in the hills by special permission of the Emperor of Kandy, but sought earnestly to encourage the growth of the spice in the lowlands surrounding their fortresses from Matura to Chilaw. In the latter district especially, the quality proved to be so fine, that in 1663, the cinnamon of Negombo was esteemed ".the very best in the universe, as well as the most abundant."2 But the woods in which it was found were exposed to perpetual incursions from the Kandyans, and the obstruction of the Chalias and peelers was a favourite device of the emperors to annoy and harass the Dutch. Hence the cost of maintaining an army to guard the cinnamon country was so great as to render it doubtful whether the trade so conducted was worth the expense of its protection. Towards the close of their career, the company were compelled to form enclosed plantations of their own, within range of their fortresses ; and here, so jealous and despotic was their policy, that the peeling
md foreign sMps were allowed to import rice and a few other unimportant articles.
1 Tlie term Mahaladde, "the trade or industry," which was
first applied in the time of the Portuguese, is expressive of the high value which they attached to the object. The "Captain of the Mahabadde^ & title invented by them, was originally a high caste Headman placed
officers and component body of which were low caste. The code of instructions under which the whole was managed in the time of the Dutch, will be found in VALE^TYJS, ch. xv. p. 316.
2 "Alwaar de allerbeste caneel groeid van den geheelen bekenden aardbodem; ooken zeer groote'qiian-titeit." ? Memoir of Van Goens,
-TT ?, *..'' -___
over the whole department, the
E 2
', ch. xiiL p. 166,MODERN PIISTOKY.
[PAKT VL
of cimiainon, the selhng or exporting of a single stick, except by the servants of the government, or even the wilM injury of a cinnamon plant, were crimes punishable with death.1
Elephants.?Next to cinnamon, elephants were, in the estimation of the Dutch, the most important of their exports. The chief hunting grounds were the Wanny in the north, and the forests around. Matura, in the south of the island. Those captured in the latter were shipped at Galle for the east coast of India, and those taken in the Wanny were embarked at Manaar for the west. But the trade in these animals does not appear to have been ever productive of any considerable gain, and latterly it involved an annual loss.2
Areca Nuts.?A third article of export which the Dutch guarded with marked attention was the fruit of the Ajreca palm, the nuts of which were shipped in large quantities to India, to be used by the natives in conjunction with the leaf of the betel vine ; and the story of the trade in this commodity is singularly illustrative of the policy adopted by the Dutch to crush their commercial rivals. On the capture of Ceylon a large portion of the active trade of the island was in the hands of the energetic Moors, who not only maintained a brisk intercourse by sea with the ports on the opposite coast, but also, by virtue of their neutrality, were enabled to
1 By the Dutch laws everj tree of cinnamon which grew by chance in the ground of an individual became et immediately the property of the state, and was put under the law of the Chalias; who may enter the garden to peel it. If the proprietor destroys the tree or otherwise disposes of it, the punishment is, I believe, capital."?Private letter of Mr. NOETH to the JSarl of Morning-ton, 22nd Oct. 1798; Wellesley MSS. Brit. Mus. No. 13,866, p. 57.
2 VALENTOT, ch. xv. p. 272. This was owing chiefly to the scarcity of ivory. The headmen of Matura
were under obligation to produce annually thirty-four elephants, of which four were to have tusks ? Ibid., ch. xii. p. 133 : and at a later period, A.D. 1707, one of the instructions of the Dissaves was to bribe the people of tlie emperor secretly to drive down tusked elephants across the Kandyan frontiers towards the company's hunting grounds. (Ibid., ch. xv. p. 310.) The total number exported in 1740 was about 100 elephants. (Seethe R&port of Baron Imhoff in the Appendix to LEE'S Itibeyro, p. 170; BroNAia JS Memoir, Asiat. Journ., vol. xii. p. 5.)CHAP. II.] DUTCH TRADE. $S
penetrate to the dominions of the emperor, carrying up commodities from the low country for the supply of the Kandyans. The Portuguese offered no opposition to this proceeding, and when freed from apprehension of the Moors as military allies of the enemy, they were utterly indifferent to their operations as dealers. Not so the Dutch, with whom commerce was more an object than conquest; and not content with having secured to themselves a rigid monopoly of all the great branches of trade, they evinced a narrow-minded impatience of the humble industry carried on by the enterprising Moors.
Among the principal articles protected, were the nuts of the areca, which, at the time when the Dutch took possession of Gralle, the Moors were in the habit of collecting in the interior of the island, to be exchanged 011 the coast for cotton cloths, to be sold at a profit to the Kandyans and Singhalese. This traffic the Dutch resolved to stop, not from any design to profit by it themselves, but with the determination, even with the anticipation of a loss, to extinguish the commerce of the Moors, whose name is seldom introduced into their official documents without epithets of abhorrence,1
1 Ryklof Van Goens, tlie Governor of Ceylon, in the Memoir which, lie left in 1675 for the guidance of Ms successor, describes the Moors as a detested race, the offspring of Malabar outcasts converted to Islam "by the Mahometans of Bassora and Mocha, and whose appearance in the Ceylon seas was first as pirates, and then as pedlars. (VALENTYN, eh. xv. p. 146.) Every expedient was adopted to crush themj their trade was discouraged ? they were forbidden to hold land in the country (Ibid.,
tailors. (Ibid., ch. xiii.p. 174) The
celebration of their worship was interdicted (Ibid., p. 128); they were
subjected to a poll tax; they were obliged once a year to sue out a licence for permission to live in the villages (Ibtd.f p. 174); and, at death, one third of their property was forfeited to the Government," (Ibid., p. 174.) But all these devices of tvranny were unsuccessful; the endurance and enterprise of the Moois were not to be exhausted, and at length the Butch were compelled to
ch. xii. p. 148), and prohibited from 1 admit that every effort to "extirpate establishing themselves in the forti- \ these weeds/' 4i onkruid te zuiveren,"
fied towns (Ibid., ch. xiii. p. 106), j had only tended to increase their a small number only "been per- j numbers and energy,? mitted to reside at" Colombo as j eh. xvi. p. 409.
E 3A.D.
, .MODEEJST HISTOEY. [PAST VL
To effect their object the Dutch conceived the plan of 1664; purchasing arrack, on Government account, sending it to Surat and Coromandel, and there exchanging it for cloth with which to imder-sell the Moors.1 But the scheme was not successful, and they adopted the bolder course of taking the arecas into their own hands as a Government monopoly, and prohibiting the import of cloths by the Moors except on condition that they disposed of them wholesale to the burghers, by whom alone they were to be afterwards retailed to the natives.2 Further to ensure their 'discouragement, the Government resorted to the singular expedient of imposing differential custom duties upon goods according to the religion of the importer. The tax on cloth entered by Mahometans was raised to double that imposed upon cloth imported by Christians, and other articles which Christians imported free, were taxed five per cent, if brought in by Moors.3 But, notwithstanding every device, this patient and intelligent class persevered in their pursuit, and continue to the present day, as they did throughout the entire period of the Dutch ascendency, to engross a large share of the internal trade of the island; bringing down to the coast the produce of the hills in exchange for manufactured articles, introduced from. the Indian continent. At first, the areca monopoly, under the management of the Government, was comparatively unprofitable, but by degrees it became lucrative, and, in 1664, it was described as "extremely productive."4
The other productions which constituted the exports of the island were sapan-wood5, to Persia; and choya-roots G5 a substitute for madder, collected at Manaar and
! ^w^rcra, eli. xiL p. 134. j -woods around Colombo and Galle :
s rri i *-?' P"1?1 ! tut ^ 16Mj 80 recMessl7 ^ad the
4 j,., r] x.m' P* ^^ ' trees ^een cut, that there was none
, ,, ?/r.-xlX* P* 31f5* I to be procured at the latter place.?
a ( MWIHHM % j wi. Tins dye- YAIEXTTN, ch, xiv. p, 194. rj. d wjw chiefly obtained in the 6 OldenlandiawnbelMa,IJw.*CHAP. II.]
DUTCH TEADE.
other places on the north-west coast of the island, for A.D. transmission to Surat.1 1664.
Cinnamon-oil, pepper and cardamoms were sent to Amsterdam; timber and arrack to Batavia; and jaggery (the black sugar extracted from the Palmyra and Kitool palm trees) to Malabar and Coromaridel.2 The cultivation of indigo was unsuccessfully attempted in the Seven Corles, in 1646 3; and some years later silk was tried, but with no satisfactory result, at Jaff-napatam.4
Very few of the articles which form at the present day the staple exports of Ceylon appear in the commercial reports of the Dutch Governors. As to coffee, although the plant had existed from time immemorial on the island (having probably been introduced from Mocha by the Arabs), the natives were ignorant of the value of its berries, and only used its leaves to flavour their curries, and its flowers to decorate their temples. It was not till nearly a century after the arrival of the Dutch that one of their Governors attempted to cultivate it as a commercial speculation; but, at the point when success was demonstrable, the project was discountenanced by the Government of Holland, with a view to sustain the monopoly of Java ; ?as the growth of pepper had been discouraged some years before, to avoid interference with its collection in Malabar.5 Cotton grew well in the Wanny, but as the
1 Clioya lias long since ceased to Tbe collected in Ceylon. It is too bulky an article to "be carried profitably to Europe, and there is no purpose to which it is applicable that cannot be more cheaply accomplished by madder. (BASTCRO^T on Permanent Colours, Yol. ii. p. 282.) The Dutch required the delivery of a given quantity of choya as a tribute from the Singhalese of the coast.
* VAiMrirNT, ch. xiii. p. 174. .j ch. xii. p. 134
4 In 1664; VAIETOEN-, ch, xiii. p. 173; ch, xiv. p. 194.
5 See the Report of Governor Schreud&r, Appendix to LEE'S Hi-beyro, p. 192-3. M. BHRKA^D; in Ms Memoiry says, " Coffee succeeded very well in the western parts of the island. It was superior in quality to the coffee of Java, and approached near to that of Arabia^ whence the first coffee plants came,77 ? Journ, vol. xii. p. 444.
E 4 ,MODEKJST HISTORY.
[PART VI.
1664.
people did not know how to spin it, the crop was neglected.1
In addition to their ordinary trading operations, the Dutch had certain monopolies which served to realise a revenue. They farmed the collection of salt at the leways and lagoons on both sides of the island; the fishery of chank shells 2 was conducted for them at a profit in the Gulf of Manaar; but the pearl-fishery at Aripo, though perseveringiy tended, was seldom productive of remunerative results.3 Gems being procurable only within the territories of the Kandyan emperor, contributed nothing to the trade or resources of Holland. Besides these sources of income, there were taxes suited to the habits of the native population: a poll tax payable in articles of various kinds, such as iron ore and jaggery ; a land tax assessed on produce ; a tithe on coco-nut gardens; a licence for fishermen's boats, besides a fish tax on the capture; the proceeds of ferries; and an infinity of minor items collected by the native headmen and their subordinates.
The intervention of the latter officers was indispensable in a state of things under which no European could Kve securely beyond the limits of the garrisoned towns. The policy of conciliating the native chiefs was therefore transmitted by each Governor to his successor, with injunctions to encourage and caress the headmen; they were to be " nourished with hopes," and their attachment secured by gratifying their ambition for titles
VALEXTYF, ek xiii. p. 178 j BTFR-em,. Asiat. Journ*, vol. xii. p. 445.
There is a very succinct but very unfavourable account of the Dutch system of trade and finance as it existed in Ceylon, given by Lord VALENTIA in his' Tramh9 vol. i. ch. vi. p. 309. It may "be regarded as pretty correct, as the information conveyel in it was furnished by Mr. North, the British Governor, in 1804 j who had previously examined the Dutch records with close attention.
2 Turbinella rapa.
3 "It is a matter for reflection," says Baron IMHOFF in 1740, " whether the Company derives any advantage whatever from the fishery of pearls, and whether the whole affair is not rather glitter than gold"?Appendix to LEE'S Hib&yro, p. 247. VALENTYBT tries to account for this by saying, that the pearls of the Gulf of Manaar were inferior both in lustre and whiteness to those of Ormus and Bahrein.;-? Oud en Nieuw Oosk~Indien} ch, ii, pi 34.CHAP. II.]
DUTCH POLICY.
57
and rank.1 The "Instructions" extant in 1661, de-fining the functions and the powers of the Dissave of the western province, include every function of Government, and show the absolute dependency of the Dutch on the personal influence of these exalted chiefs. To them was entrusted the charge of the thombo, or registry of crown lands, their sale and management; the assessment and levy of taxes ; the superintendence of education; the decision of civil cases, the arrest and punishment of criminals; and, in short, the detailed executive of the Civil government in peace, and the commissariat and clothing of the army in time of war.2
Throughout all the records which the Dutch have left us of their policy in Ceylon, it is painfully observable that no disinterested concern is manifested, and no measures directed for the elevation and happiness of the native population3; and even where care is shown to have been bestowed upon the spread of education and religion, motives are apparent, either latent or avowed, which detract from the grace and generosity of the act. Thus schools were freely established, but the avowed object was to wean the young Singhalese from their allegiance to the emperor, and the better to impress them with the power and ascendency of Holland.4 Churches were built because the extension of the Protestant faith was likely to counteract the influence of the Portuguese Eornan Catholics5, and the spread of
1 YALENTYN, cIi. xv. p. 151.
2 See tlie Code of Instructions for tlie Dissaves, A.D. 1661. VALENTYST, ch. xi. p. 151. A succinct account of the native headmen and their fimctions; civil and military, will be found in COBDINEE'S Ceylon, eh. i. p. 18.
3 An able memoir, on the policy of the Dutch in Ceylon, will be found in the Asiatic Journal for 1821, p. 444, written by M. BUEKAND, a Swiss who had been member of the last Land-raad or Provincial Council, and who remained in the island
after the Dutch had been expelled by the English. The great feature of their rule, he says, was the " utter neglect of the country and its interests, owing to the selfishness, egotism, folly, and want of energy, of the general government."? Vol. xL p. 442.
4 YAIOTTYNT, ch. xii. p. 130. Dutch soldiers were allowed to marry Singhalese women, but only on the condition of their wives becoming Christians. ? Ibid., ch. xiv. p. 195.
5 IUd.,p. 175,MODEBN HISTORY.
[PAET VL
A.D.- Christianity to discourage the Moors and Mahometan 1664.
In the promotion of agriculture the interests of the Government were identified with those of the peasants, and the time was eagerly expected, but never arrived, when the necessity woiild cease for the importation of rice for the troops from Batavia and the coast of Canara.2 But notwithstanding these partial efforts for the advancement of the people, successive governors were obliged to admit the fact of habitual oppression, by the headmen and officials 3 ; and to record their conviction that as the condition of the Singhalese was no better under the Dutch than it had been under the Portuguese, so would they one day turn on them, as they had before shaken themselves free of their predecessors.4
Nor was the discontent confined to the Singhalese alone ; disappointment was felt in Holland at the failure of those brilliant estimates which had been formed of the wealth to be drawn from Ceylon ; the hopes of the emigrants who had rushed to the island were crushed by the reality ; and the Company's officers and servants were loud in their complaints of the impossibility of subsisting on their salaries and perquisites. The former were absurdly small, the permission to trade formed the great supplementary inducement, and as trade was unproductive, discontent was inevitable.5 To this the condition of the Governors formed an exception ; for although their nominal income was but 30i per month 6 besides rations and allowances, yet, according to Va-lentyn, such were the secret opportunities for personal
2 VAXENTTN, ch. xii. p. 148.
3 Ibid., ch. xiii. p. 170.
4 This account will he found in the Report O/HENDEIC ADRIAN VAN
KHEEDE, 16/7; YALEOYK, ch. xv. p. 273.
5 VALENTTX, c. XT. p. 252. 0 BBBTOIACCI, p. £6.
eli. xii. p. 134. For a narrative of the exertions made "by the Dutch, for tlie extension of education and religion, see Sir J. EMERSON" TENNENT'S History of Christianity in Ceylon, ch. xi p. ti7. A detailed account of tlie churches and schools win "be found in the seventeenth chapter of VAXENTIT^ p. 409.CHAP. II.]
NEGLECT OF THE NATIVES.
59
gain, that in two or three years they became rich; a A.D, circumstance observable also in the case of the commandants of Jaffna and Gralle, provided they maintained a good private understanding with the governors of. Colombo, and knew how to take and give.1
In fact, from the commencement to the conclusion of the Dutch dominion in Ceylon, their possession of the island was a military tenure, not a civil colonisation in the ordinary sense of the term. Strategetically its occupation was of infinite moment for the defence of their factories on the continent of India; and for the interests of their commerce, its position (intermediate between Java and Malabar) rendered it of value as an entrepot. But all attempts to make it prodiictive as a settlement were neutralised by the cost of its defence and establishments. For a series of years, previous to its final abandonment, the excess of expenditure over income from all sources, involved an annual deficiency in the revenue 2; and Baron IMEOFF, in 1740, contrasting the renown of the conquest, and the magnitude of the anticipations with which it had been heralded, with the littleness of the
1 Tlie passage in VALENTYN is so curious tliat I give it in the original.
" Be onbekende en gekeime voor-deelen zyn niet wel na te rekenen, hoewel't zeker is, dat zy in twee of drie jaaren. schat-ryk zyn, hoedanig liet mede (hoewel met eenig onder-scheid, en na dat zy zich in de gunst van den Landvoogd weten te houden en met een ryp oordeel to geven en to nemen) met de Commandeurs van Galle en Jaifnapataux gelegen is."? Oud eti Meuw Ooti-buKen, ^c.. ch. i. p. 20.
a An exposure of this result is given in the official Report of VAN KEEEDE, A.B. 1607, which is printed in e.rtetm by VALENTYX, Oud m Nleuw Oogt-jf/ulim, eh. xv. p. 247.
Mr. LEE has appended to his Translation of RIBEYRO a Table prepared from the records in the chamber of Archives at Amsterdam which shows that "between the years 1739 and 1761 the annual deficit for the
administration, after deducting the necessary expenses from the profits of trade and the income from taxes, was 172,942 florins, equal to 14,410J. sterling. (Appendix, p. 201.) See also the Memoir of M. BITRKAOT, Astat. Journ.y vol. xi, p. 442. But it must be borne in niina that the civil servants of the Butch had no interest in the collection and disposal of the revenues, and that their peculation and corruption were matters of notoriety. To such an excess was this carried that it became necessary to vitiate the public documents for the concealment of frauds. Hence Lord VAIOTTIA, in accounting for the little value attaching to the Butch Records, says, " they cannot be relied on j they appear to have falsified all the accounts of Ceylon to deceive their masters at home, a measure necessary to cover their own peculations.1'-? Travel*. voL i. ch, vL p. 810.60
MODERN HISTORY.
[PART VI.
A.D. ascertained result, compared Ceylon to one of the costly tulips of Holland, which, bore a fabulous nominal price, without any intrinsic value.1
To such lengths did misgovermnent prevail, that Holland was at last threatened with the loss of the "jewel" altogether, by the treason of her own officers, and the rebellion of the Singhalese. Vuyst, the governor of Ceylon, in 1626 aspired to become sovereign of the island, and visited with forfeiture, torture, and death every chief who opposed him. For this he was broken on the wheel at Batavia, and his body burned and scattered on the sea.2 Versluys, who was sent to supersede him, was removed for extortion and cruelty ; and in the midst of the discontent and anarchy which ensued, a change in the reigning dynasty at Kandy gave encouragement to the lowlanders to attempt their own deliverance by revolt.
The forced tranquillity of Eaja Singha H., after the ominous insurrection of his own subjects in 1664, 1672. remained unbroken till 1672, when on the outbreak of war between Louis XIV. and the United Provinces, a French squadron made its appearance at Trincomalie, commanded by Admiral De la Haye. They were eagerly welcomed by the emperor as unexpected allies, likely to aid him in the expulsion of the pestilent Hollanders. The French took instant possession of Trincomalie, and the Dutch in their panic abandoned the forts of Cottiar and Batticaloa, but the inability of the former to maintain their position in Ceylon, and their sudden disappearance, sufficed to allay the apprehensions of the Dutch.3
A.D.
1 Appendix to LEE'S Uttm/ro, p. 182.
2 Narrative of RoeeirwzrBr's Voyage, Harris's Coll, vol. i. p. 288.
3 VALENTIN, clu xv. p. 266. On this occasion the French. Admiral De la Haye sent M. Nanclars de Laneiolle as ambassador to Kandy. But this
gentleman having violated the imperial etiquette by approaching the palace on horseback, and manifested disrespectful impatience on Being kep^t too long waiting for an audience, Raja Singha ordered Mm and his mite to befogged; a sentence which was executed on all but the envoy.CHAP. II.] FKBSH WAES. 61
Eaja Singha II. died in 1687l ; his son, Winiala A.D, Dharma EL, and his grandson Koondasala, followed I687i as successors to the throne; but being indifferent to A.D. everything except the revival of Buddhism, which had 1707* fallen into decay during the prevalence of war, they gladly accorded peace to the Dutch, who in return placed ships at their disposal to bring from Arracan priests of sufficiently high rank to restore the upasampada order in Ceylon.2
On the decease of Koondasala in 1739, the royal A.D. Singhalese line became extinct, and a Malabar prince3, 1739* brother of the late queen, was accepted as emperor under the title of Sri Wijayo Eaja or Hanguranketta. Two other sovereigns of the same foreign lineage followed, and during their reigns the utmost encouragement was given to the lowlanders to combine with the Kandyans for the deliverance of their country from the despotism of Holland.4
The alliance was, however, powerless from the decay of the native forces, and the want of munitions of war; the Dutch, by an exertion of unwonted vigour, conducted an army to Kandy 59 which they held for some months; and a protracted struggle terminated in 1766, under the A.D. judicious management of M. Falck, by a treaty which ' " secured to the Dutch a considerable accession of territory, and the adjustment of more favourable conditions for the conduct of the Company's trade.
The story of the dominion of Holland in Ceylon, is
whom lie detained in captivity for a [ spoken of under tiie generic name number of years. ? TALENTYX, ch. xv, | of Malabars, It is necessary to ob-p. 202. * ! serve that they were not of the Tamil
1 TnaNOUR, in his Epitome, fixes j race, who had been the ancient in-the date of Ms death 1085, but the j vaders and enemies of Ceylon, but Butch, who were not likely to be 1 Tchtgiuty of the royal family of Ma-mistaken, record., with minute par- j dura, with whom the Singhalese ticularity, that it occurred on the Oth kings had intermarried. December, 1687* ? TALENIYN, ch. XT. j 4 BEBTOLACCL, p. 28 ; Memoir of p. 34& j M. BURNAXD, Asuti. Journ, vol. xl.
2 YALENTYN, ch. XT. p. 344, p. 442.
Although the new dynasty are
A.D.f 2 MOBEEN HISTORY. [PART VI.
A.D. not altogether unrelieved by passages indicative of more 1766. generous impulses, but these were so transient and so uniformly succeeded by reversions to the former pusillanimous system, that the general character of their administration is unredeemed from the charge of meanness and tyranny. The presence of such Governors as Imhoff and Falck were but episodes in the wearisome tale of extortion and selfishness; and when at length towards the close of the last century the British troops made their appearance before Colombo, after occupying the other strongholds in the island, the surrender of the fortress without a struggle for its defence may be regarded as an evidence that the Dutch had become as indifferent to its retention as the Singhalese were rejoiced at its capture.63
CHAP. III.
BRITISH PERIOD.
THE first Englishman who ever visited Ceylon landed A-B-at Colombo on the 5th March, 1589. Tins was Ralph 1766" Fitch \ one of those pioneers of commerce, who, excited by the successes of the Portuguese in Asia, longed to secure for Great Britain a participation in the gorgeous trade of the East. Twenty years prior to the granting of the royal charter, that gave its first organisation to the germ which afterwards expanded to the imperial dimensions of the East India Company, four adventurous merchants, ? Leedes, Newbeny, Storey, and Fitch,? were commissioned by the Turkey Company to visit India and ascertain what openings for British enterprise existed there. They traversed Syria, descended the Tigris to Bassora, and thence took shipping to Ormus and Hindustan. One entered the service of the Emperor Akbar, another died in the Punjab, a third became a monk at Goa, and the fourth, after wandering to Siani and Malacca, halted at Ceylon on Ms return and was probably the first of his nation who ever beheld the island,2
1 POICHAS, in his Pttffrims, calls
him Ralph Fitz (vol. ii. p. 110). FITCH'S account of his voyage
be found in HAIXIIYT, vol. ii. p. 263. Eaja Sinprha I. was then in the midst of nobilities against the Portuguese, and FITCH describes the energy of his character and the strength of his army "with their j
Bays, "of the most unblushing volume
of lies ever offered to the world/'1 who professed to have visited Ceylon between 1382, when lie set out
for St. Albans, and 1300, when he returned to Liege? where lie died. He professes to have visited India
and China, but his "book bears inter* nal evidence that he had never wan-
pieces which be muskets." ? MILL'S I dered further east than Jerusalem. IIt«t. of IJntmk India, b. i, eh. i. p. j His pretended description of Ceylon lit I take no account of Sir John ! is borrowed from Marco Polo and * the author/1 m COOLEY ; Gdorie of Portenau.64
MODEEN HISTOEY.
[PAET VI.
A.D,
Although the passage by the Cape of Good Hope 1 had been in use for more than two hundred years, no vessel bearing the flag of England had yet been seen on the Indian Ocean. Portugal, in virtue of her priority of discovery and under pretext of a Bull granted by Martin V.1, claimed the exclusive navigation of those seas,?a right which she asserted by force of arms2, and in which the other powers of Europe at that time were not sufficiently interested to contest it with her; and it was not till after the return of Drake from his circumnavigation of the globe in 1579, that Queen Elizabeth proclaimed the right of her own subjects to navigate the Indian seas on an equality with those of Spain.3 In pursuance of this bold declaration, the first vessels that ever sailed direct from England to India were despatched in 1591, not, however, to trade with the natives, facilities for which had not yet been ascertained, but to " cruize upon the Portuguese."4 The expedition was unfortunate, the admiral perished, and Lancaster, the surviving officer, on Ms way home from Malacca touched at Ceylon, and " ankered at a place called Punta del Galle^ about the 3rd of December, 1592."5 Thus the " Edward Bonaventure " was the first British ship, as Ealph Fitch had been the first British subject, that had visited Ceylon.
Nearly two centuries elapsed after the appearance of the English on the continent of India before their
1 The Bull of Martin V. was renewed "by the succeeding- Popes Nicholas and Sextus.?PUBCHAS, vol. i. p. 6.
3 MILL'S M$t* Brit. India, b, i eh. I. p. 6.
3 MACPEEESON'S Annals of Commerce, vol. ii. p. 166. Long after the power of the Portuguese had declined^ the Dutch, as their successors,, maintained the same indefensible doctrine of the monopoly of Indian trade; and in Ceylon, next to the duty enjoined on successive
governors to secure peace with the King of Kandy, was the injunction to exclude all other European nations from the trade of the island, " weerm van alle and&re JEuropianen van Ceylon."?YMJEOTYN, ch. xv. p. 343. It was only at the conclusion of the war with Holland in 1784 that Great Britain insisted on a formal declaration of the free navigation of the Indian seas.
4 IlABMSj vol. 1. p. 875. PjftEVObT,
ito. Gen. dm Toy., t i. p. 3:37.
5 BAJKIUTT, vol. fi p. 107,1 From tlie necessities of their position, tlie Butch saw nothing of
the Interior of Ceylon themselves, and discouraged the travellers of other nations from visiting or describing it. Hence accounts of the island during their presence there are rare. The most curious is contained in the Life of Jo. Christian Wolfj -who was one of their officials at Jaffna. Tavernier, th$ French traveller, touched at GaUe in 1648 5 and Tliunberg, the Swedish naturalist, landed on the Maud in 1777? but his journeys extended no further than from Maturn, to Colombo, and
his information is confined to the | Tyre, who lived in the days of the collection of geiuw at the one place j j^reat Comttantine, had good 'authority and the preparation of cinnamon at j for reporting it.17 Sir Thomas men-the other. (TnuxBERO, Vuyu&Wi vol. | tious that ~" infamous ape's tooth iv.) Amount the few English tra- j which Constantine, a late Goaa veUerft who viaited Ceylon during1 the viceroy, forcibly toolc awayy and upou Duteh periiMl, was Sir Thomas tier- J their profFerinpf a raRSom burned it bert, a cndet jf tlie Pembroke fumily, j to aslie%" p. ? 8, who has given an erudite aeuount of j f KKOX himself! one of these $6-
VOL. II. F
CHAP. III.] EARLY INTERCOURSE. 65
attention was turned to the acquisition of Ceylon.1 A.D The vast seaborde of Hindustan afforded so wide a field for enterprise that it was unnecessary to contend with two European states for the trade of an island off its coast. Fully occupied in the establishment of their .successive settlements at Surat, Madras, Bombay, and Bengal, and with the quarrels regarding them, which arose with the Portuguese, the Dutch, and French, as well as in their conflicts with the native princes, the attention of the English was not directed to Ceylon till late in the eighteenth century, when the seizure of the Dutch possessions became essential to the protection of their own, as well as for the humiliation of the only formidable rival who then competed with Great Britain for the commerce of the Indian seas.
The only intercourse which the English had previously attempted with the Singhalese Emperor, arose out of the unaccountable passion of Eaja Singha IT. for the detention of "white men" as prisoners in his dominions.2 Hence Sir Edward Winter was led, in 1664,
the island in his Travels into Africa, the Great Asia, and some parts of the Oriental Indies and Isles adjacent, Lond. MDCXXXIV. He, however, records it as "the tradition of this place that Melee Perimal, king of that island (Ceylon), was one of the Magi that offered gold, frankincense, and myrrh unto our Blessed Saviour j and also that at his return he made known the history of God's incarnation^ and made many proselytes, of which some to this very day "retain the faith." "Oandace's Eunuch/* he says, "baptized by Philip, preached "Christ in Taprobane, if Dorotheus, Bishop ofGG
MODERN HISTOEY.
[FART VI.
A.r.
to make an attempt, though an ineffectual one, by means of a special mission to the king, to effect the deliverance of the English seamen held in captivity in Kandy.1
The first evidence of any desire to obtain a footing in Ceylon is to be traced to the act of the governor of Madras, who, in 1763, sent an envoy to Kandy to propose to the king Kirti Sri an amicable treaty. The overture was favourably received; but, owing to the subsequent indifference of the English Government, no steps were taken to mature an alliance.2
Twenty years later when war was levied against Hol-land by Great Britain in 1782, and Trincomalie occupied by a British force under Sir Hector Munro 3 ; Hugh Boyd was commissioned by Lord Macartney to proceed to the court of Kandy, and solicit the active co-operation of Bajadhi Baja Singha against the Dutch. But the recollection was still fresh in the minds of the
terms from 16o9 to 1679, states his inability to assign any adequate motive in explanation of this strange propensity of Raja Singha. His English captives all appear to have been kidnapped sailors, whom shipwrecks or other disasters had forced to land on his shores (Hist. Relation, pt. iv. ch. xiv.). Besides KNOX'S own companions^ there were at the same time sixteen other Englishmen confined at Kandy, the crew of a merchantman, wfiich had "been wrecked on the Maldives in 1656 (Ib. ch. iv.); Valentyn states that in 1672, two Englishmen made their escape to Colombo after twenty-two years' detention at Kandy, having been seized at Calpentvii when landing from a ship in search of fresh water. (VALEHTYN, ch. xv. p. 302.) AVe hare no evidence of this seizure and detention of stranprers being a national custom of the Singhalese kings, but it is curious that in the tract of Pal-ladius De Moribm BraehmtuwrwH) erroneously ascribed to St. Ambrose (see ante, Vol. I Ft. v. ch. i p. 5*59), theTheban scholar who describes Ceylon, says that lie was seized aid detained "there by the king? for no other
reason than that he had dared to set foot upon the island : we ro\fitjffaQ tlcrtX&tiv £ V Tt)i -)(t» pav TJJV £/e*7, &C. Knox says that it was the practice of Raja Singha II. to feed Ms European prisoners with rice and provisions sent daily for their use (pt. iv. ch. ii.) ; and in the same way the Theban throughout the six years of his forced residence in Taprobane received regularly a supply of grain at the expense of the ting? icaraax^'S °^1lf 7ra$ avToii* ^atriai'
(PSETOO-CALLISTHENES, iil. ell. IX.)
Be Foe lias availed himself of this habit of the Singhalese to seize the persons of foreigners, to introduce an incident in Ms story of ih&Adiwtim's awl Piracies of Captain Singleton ^ ch. xvii. The same propensity has been exhibited at times by the" people of Japan and other portions of the East.
1 VALEKXYK? ch. xiv. p. 200. The Dutch historian calls him Lord Winter.
fl Lord \rAiE?TTiA% Travel*, vol. i. ch. vi. p. 278.
s MILL, HwL Brit. India, book v. ch. v. vol. iv. p. 225. PEKCIVAL'S Ceylw, tyc.f p. 50.CHAP. III.] ATTEMPTED TREATY. 67
Kandyans of the slight endured in 1763, and the Em- A.D. peror declined to negotiate with the East India Company, 1782-or to enter into any treaty, except with the King of Great Britain direct.1 Mr. Boyd, on his return to Trincomalie, had the mortification to discover that, during his absence, the fort had been surprised by a French fleet under Admiral Suffrein, and the British garrison transported to Madras. Trincomalie on the occurrence of peace in the year following, was restored to the Dutch.
At length, in 1795, Holland, after being overrun and A-D; revolutionised by the armies of the French Republic, found herself helplessly involved in the great war which then agitated Europe ? and the time at last arrived when Ceylon was to be absorbed into the Eastern dominions of the British Crown.
This consummation was facilitated by the renewal of hostilities between the Dutch and the court of Kandy, the sovereign being now as willing to avail himself of the aid of the English to expel the forces of Holland, as his predecessor, one hundred and fifty years before, had been eager to accept the assistance of the Dutch to rid his country of the Portuguese.
On the 1st August, 1795, an expedition fitted out by Lord Hobart, the governor of Madras, and commanded by Colonel James Stuart, landed at Trincomalie, which capitulated, after a siege of three weeks; Jaffna surrendered within the following month, and Calpentyn was occupied on the 5th November. A Singhalese envoy2, with the high rank of Adigar, was now despatched to Madras by king Eajadhi Raja Singlia, to negotiate a treaty between Great Britain and Kandy; but before his return, Colonel Stuart, early in 179G,
1 An Interesting account of Mr. Boyd's Enibfuwy to Kandy will "be found In Ms Jfisceflaueotts TTork-itj
vol. il. p. 107; and in the volume of
the Asiatic Annual Register for 1709, 2 Migasthene, Diseaveof the Seven
*, wlio died in 1800.68
MODERN HISTOEY.
[PART VI.
AJ took possession of Negombo, and summoned the 1796. garrison of Colombo, which, on the 16th February, marched out without striking a blow. Van Angelbeck, the governor, had previously signed a convention by which Caltura, Point de Galle, Matura, and all the other fortified places, were simultaneously ceded to Great Britain.1
By this capitulation Ceylon, with all its fortresses, ammunition and artillery, its archives, and the contents of its treasury and stores, was ceded to the victorious English. Private property was declared inviolable, the funds of charitable foundations were held sacred, the garrison inarched out with the honours of war, piled arms on the esplanade, and returned again to their barracks. Night closed on. the descending standard of Holland, and at sunrise the British flag waved on the walls of Colombo.2
1 Annual Register, 1796, p. 194. Ibid. Appendix, p. 76.
2 PERCIYAL, who served in tMs campaign, gives a remarkable picture in his Account of the Island of Ceylon, of the degraded state to which the Dutch military establishments were reduced at this crisis. The march of the British from Negomboto Colombo was entirely unimpeded, although, it lay through'thick woods and jungle, from behind which an enemy might hare been destroyed whilst the as-saiknts were unseen. The English were allowed to cross the Kalany river at Miitwal without molestation, upon rafts of bamboo; a battery erected at Grand Pass was abandoned by the Dutch, who fled on the appear-
of the British. A few shots were aimed at them as they approached Colombo,, but the firing party were repulsed, and fled wit&ia the fortifications, whence, without waiting to be attacked, they instantly sent to pro-
iis of surrender. Van An-this governor, afterwards
, #u *h wiw the demoralisation and mutiny of the garrison, that 3b Ihvit in perpetual of assas-
sination, and although eager to defend the fortress to the last, he was unable to prevail on his officers to encounter the enemy. This state of things Percival ascribes to the thirst for gain and private emolument, which had overcome every other feeling, and produced a total extinction of every sentiment of public spirit and national honour. When the English entered the gates the Dutch "were found by us in a state of the most infamous disorder and drunkenness, in no discipline, no obedience, no spirit. The soldiers then awoke to a sense of their degradation, "but it was too late; they accused Van Angelbeck of betraying them, vented loud reproaches against their commanders, and recklessly insulted the British as they filed into the fortress, even spitting on them as they passed."? PEBCTVAL, p. 118, 150, 180.
The Butch tell a different story. They openly assert the treason of Van Angelbeck, and imply that as the Stadtholder in 1795 had thrown himself on the protection of the English, the Governor of Ceylon hadCHAP. III.]
EFFECTS OF DUTCH POLICY.
G9
The dominion of the Netherlands in Ceylon was A.D. nearly equal in duration with that of Portiigal, about 1796-one hundred and forty years; but the policies of the two countries have left a very different impress on the character and institutions of the people amongst whom they lived. The most important bequest left by the utilitarian genius of Holland is the code of Eoman Dutch law, which still prevails in the supreme courts of justice, whilst the fanatical propagandism of the Portuguese has reared for itself a monument in the abiding and expanding influence of the Eoman Catholic faith. This flourishes in every hamlet and province where it was implanted by the Franciscans, whilst the doctrines of the reformed church of Holland, never preached beyond the walls of the fortresses, are already
contrived the surrender of the island to gratify Ms new allies. M. THOMBE, an officer who had served in Batavia, published in 1811 his Voyage aux Andes Qrientciles, in the second volume of which he has inserted an apology for the capture of Colombo, from d'ata supplied to him by individuals at Java, who had served during the brief assault. He specifies vigorous and earnest preparations for the siege for months "before it actually took place; which were ostensibly continued up to the approach of the English. But he recalls many suspicious acts of the Governor prior to and during the advance of the British (vol. ii. p. 186, &c.). At length on their approach to Colombo, and the appearance of the English squadron in the roads, the Governor's conduct became unequivocal, lie held frequent conferences with Major Agnew, an English envoy, who landed from a frigate in the offing; and immediately after Ms departure,, the Swiss regiment of De Meuron announced their intention to transfer their services to the British. Tan Angellwck then commenced to conceal his plate and valuables; and awaited the enemy with a composure that, coupled with
a multitude of minor circumstances, awoke the garrison to consciousness that they had been betrayed: " Le 16 Fevrier toutes les troupes, pensant avec raison qu'elles etaient traliies, voulurent se revolter et jlu-sieurs coups de fusils Etaient dingus sur la maison du Gouverneur Van Angelbeek."?YoL ii. p. 214. Under these circumstances the doomed fortress surrendered; and such was the indignation of the soldiers, that nothing but the presence of the English saved the Governor from their vengeance.
It is certainly a remarkable circumstance that Van Angelbeck should have remained in Ceylon after the capture of Colombo. He lived there some years, and according to M. THOMBE, he eventually committed suicide under the influence of remorse for his treason. The English have made no mention of the latter fact, but COEDIXEE describes Ms funeral by torchlight in September 1799, when ef the body was deposited in the family vault by the side of that of his wife, whose skeleton was seen through, a glass in the cover of the coffin.n p. 36.
r 370
MODERN HISTORY.
[PAET VI.
almost forgotten throughout the island, with the excep-tion of an expiring community at Colombo. Already the language of the Dutch, which they sought to extend by penal enactmentsx; has ceased to be spoken even by their direct descendants, whilst a corrupted Portuguese is to the present day the vernacular of the middle classes in every town of importance.2 As the practical and sordid government of the Netherlands only recognised the interests of the native population in so far as they were essential to uphold their trading monopolies, their memory was recalled by no agreeable associations; whilst the Portuguese, who, in spite of their cruelties, were identified with the people by the bond of a common faith3, excited a feeling of admiration by the boldness of their conflicts with the Kandyans, and the chivalrous though ineffectual defence of their beleaguered fortresses. The Dutch and their proceedings have almost ceased to be remembered by the lowland Singhalese ; but the chiefs of the south and west perpetuate with.
1 In order £hat the children of the
Singhalese might be taught Dutch by their attendants,, the heads of all slaves who could not speak it were ordered to be shaved, and a fine for neglect was imposed upon their masters. Thus, as avowed in the proclamation, it was hoped "to destroy the language of the Portuguese, in order that the name of our enemies may perish, and our own flourish in its stead."?VAIJGNTYN, ch. xvii. p. 414.
3 Even amongst the English, the number of Portuguese terms in daily use is remarkable. The grounds attached to a house are its "compound," campmko; a wardrobe is called m. ^almirah," almarinJio; a tradesman is shown a " muster," mwiiirat or pattern; the official register of lands is the tombo; and elephants are captured in a "corral," t»r curra!, u an enclosed field."
3 The different effects of the Dutch and Portuguese policy in matters of religion is very forcibly put in an
able minute by Colonel de Meuron, a Swiss who commanded a regiment of mercenaries in the pay of Holland, and who, on the explosion of the Dutch, entered the service of the British East India Company: " When the Portuguese established themselves in Ceylon/' he says, "commerce was not their only object; they wished to convert the natives to Christianity. Persons of the highest rank became sponsors when Singhalese families were to be baptized, and gave their names to the converts. This is the origin of the numerous Portuguese names amongst the Singhalese. The Dutch occupied themselves less with conversion, but employed the more speedy means of making nominal Christians by giving certain offices to men of that religion only. But the instruction given to these official converts was too superficial to root out their prejudices in favour of the idolatry of their ancestors." ? ITe/fe% 3/&S1, Brit. Mus., No. 13,864, p. 96.THE NEW GOVERNMENT. 71
pride the honorific title of Don, accorded to them by A.D their first European conquerors, and still prefix to their 1796. ancient patronymics the sonorous Christian names of the Portuguese.1
On the surrender of Colombo, such of the civil inhabitants of the place as had means to establish themselves elsewhere took their departure from Ceylon; persons with capital transferred themselves to Batavia ; the clergy, and the judicial officers, continued in their position (the latter for a given time to decide pending suits), whilst the bulk of those employed in the public departments retained their occupations and emoluments. Their industry and abilities secured to them a continuance in the career to which they had attached themselves. Under the British dominion they became writers and practitioners in the Courts of Law; and in every public office in the colony, at the present time, the establishment of clerks is composed almost exclusively of burghers and gentlemen who trace their ancestry to Holland.
Ceylon having thus become an English possession by right of conquest, its future administration was a question of embarrassment. Mr. Pitt and Lord Melville were anxious to retain it under the direct control of the crown; but it had been formally ceded to the East India Company after being captured by their forces, and the Court of Directors were naturally eager to retain the government and patronage of so valuable an acquisition. Besides it was still doubtful whether, in the event of a general peace, the island might not be wholly
1 "WOLF, in liis autobiography, says j him to "rise Don So and so!" By this e title of " Don " was sold by the j contrivance the Portuguese got an
the
Portuguese for a u few hundred dollars," on the receipt of which, " the Governor took a thin silver plate, on
enormous sum, as every one that
could scrape together the amount required, got himself ennobled. The
which the name of the individual was | Dutch afterwards made still wirier written with the title of Don prefixed, j work of it, and sold the title of Boa and bound it with his own hand on j for fifty, twenty-five, and even so low the forehead of the individual,, he j as ten dollars."-?JLife kneeling at the same time j and ordered [ §' ?., p. 255.
v 472
MODERN IIJSTOEY.
[PART YI.
A.T . or in part restored to the Batavian Eepublic1; and in tlie meantime its management was confided to tlie Governor and Council of Madras.
No arrangement could have proved more unfortunate. Mr. Andrews, a Madras civilian, who, in response to tlie overtimes of the king of Kandy, in 1796, was sent to negotiate a treaty of alliance, was entrusted, in addition to his mission as ambassador, with extraordinary powers as superintendent of the Ceylon revenues, a capacity in which he was empowered to revise and re-adjust the financial system of the new colony. He was a rash and indolent man, utterly uninformed as to the character and customs of the Singhalese, and seemingly unconscious that great changes amongst a rude and semi-civilised people can only be effected, if suddenly, by force ? if gradually, by persiiasion and kindness. Ignorant of any fiscal arrangements, except those which prevailed in the Madras Presidency, Mr. Andrews, by a rude exertion of power, swept away the previously existing imposts and agencies for their collection in Ceylon; and substituted, in all its severity, the revenue system of the Carnatic, introducing simultaneously a host of Malabar subordinates to enforce it, The service tenures by which the people held their otherwise untaxed lands were abolished, and a proportion of the estimated produce demanded in substitution, together with a tax upon their coco-nut gardens. The customs duties, and other sources of income, were farmed out to Moors, Paxsees, and Chetties from the coast; and the Mood-liars and native officers who had formerly managed matters involving taxation, were superseded by Malabar dubashes, men aptly described " as enemies to the religion of the Singhalese, strangers to their habits, and animated by no impulse but extortion."2 Unhap-
1 Ceylon was not finally incorporated with the British possessions till tlie Peace of Amiens, 27th March, 1802.
2 Letter of the Hon. R North to the Earl of Mornington, 27th October, 1798. (Wdled&f M&S., Brit Mm, No. 18/585, p. 52.)CHAP, in.]
REBELLION.
73
pily, under the belief that their functions were but A.D temporary, and that Ceylon would shortly be given back to the Dutch1, Mr. Andrews and his European colleagues exerted no adequate influence to control the excesses of these men, and the atrocities and cruelties perpetrated by them were such as almost defy belief.2 The result may be anticipated; the Singhalese population were exasperated beyond endurance, their chiefs and headmen, insulted by the siiperces-sion of their authority, and outraged by the rapacity of low caste dubashes, encouraged the resistance of the people; the Dutch civilians inspired them with the assurance ? of assistance from the French3; and under these combined influences the population, in 1797, rose in violent revolt, and occupied intrenched positions on the line leading from the low country towards the Kandyan hills. The moment was in every respect critical; three military governors of Colombo had died within the five months that the English had been in possession of the island4 ; a force of Sepoys was sent against the rebels, severe conflicts ensued, but it was not till after considerable loss on both sides that the insurgents were subdued. In the meantime, Colonel de Meuron 5 was despatched by Lord Hobart from Madras, and placed at the head of a commission directed to inquire into the causes of discontent, and the means of allaying it.
This calamity in Ceylon had the instant effect of deciding the policy of Mr. Pitt, and of the Government at home, as to the future disposal of the island. It was
1 During tlie abortive negotiations of tlie Earl of Malmesbury with the French Directory for peace in 1797, the restoration of Ceylon to the Batavian Republic was one of the conditions required and refused.? MAiMESBtntT's Diary, $c., TO! iii
3 Facts regarding the proceedings of the Madras officials "will he found in a passage in the Travels of Lord
VALBKTIA, vol. i. ch. vi p. 315. The statement bears internal evidence of having been supplied by Mr. North.
3 Mimite of "Lord BtoBAUT/ 15th March, 1798.
4 PEECIVAL'S Ceylon, $ ?., p. 132; BTTRNAND'S Mtmoire, A.sia$.
vol. xi. p. 444.
5 See Note % p. 68,74
MODEKJS1 HISTORY.
[PART VI.
A.D. resolved to administer the colony direct from the crown, I798- and in October, 1798, the Honourable Frederick North, afterwards Earl.of Guildford, landed as the first British governor. His appointment, and that of all the civil officers, were made by the king; but in the conduct of affairs, he was placed under the orders of the Governor-General of India1, an arrangement which endured till Ceylon was incorporated with the British dominions by the treaty of Amiens, in 1802.
Mr. Forth arrived in time to carry into effect the. recommendations of De Meuron, that the Oar-natic revenue system should be forthwith suspended, and the Malabar dubashes sent back to the continent; that the native -Moodliars should be reinstated in their offices and dignities ; the obnoxious taxes abolished, and till a preferable arrangement could be introduced by degrees, that the Dutch system should be resorted to for the moment. " I have no scruple," said Mr. North, in his first executive minute, " in declaring that as it was established and administered under the Dutch and their predecessors, no system, could be imagined more directly hostile to property, to the industrial improvement, and felicity of the people. But the inveteracy of habit prohibits all but gradual change, and the experience.of what has passed since our conquest of the island must have convinced every one, that abrupt and total revolutions in laws and civil polity are not the means by which an enlightened government can improve the understanding, stimulate the industry, and encourage the prosperity of
1 In describing the administration of Mr. North; I have had the advantage of access to a collection of -his private letters addressed, during the period of his government, to the Marquis of Wellesley, and deposited, after the death of the latter, by his representatives in the British Museum, where they form Nos. 13,864, 5,6,7 in the Catalogue of Additional MSS. These important documents
throw a light altogether new over the leading events of the period, especially upon the excesses and corruptions of the Madras officials, and the more than questionable negotiations "between Mr. North and the prime minister of the King of Kandy, which were the prelude to the lamentable massacre of the British troops in 1803.CHAP. III.] NEW SYSTEM. 75
a people long accustomed to poverty, and slothful sub- A.D. mission to vexatious and undefined authority." l 1798.
The Augean task of reforming such a state of fiscal affairs was rendered infinitely more difficult by the intrigues, inefficiency, and corruption of the Madras civil servants, the majority of whom he was compelled to get rid of by suspension, dismissal, and forced resignations.2
Another source of annoyance was the lapse of the period allowed by the capitulation of Colombo for the duration of the Dutch tribunals, whilst there still remained suits to be decided; and although the island was thus left without any legal courts, the Dutch officials, who were still subjects of Holland, and looked forward to an early restoration of her authority, firmly refused to take the oath of allegiance, and accept judicial appointments under the British crown. This embarrassment Mr. North met by obtaining legal assistance from Bengal, and organising circuits round the island for the administration of justice.3
The attention of the governor was now attracted to the strange occurrences which were passing at Kandy. The king, Eajadhi Eaja Singha, was deposed, and died in 1798, two years after the arrival of the British4, and, leaving no issue, the Adigar or prime minister, PiMme
1 Mr. NORTH to the Earl of MOKNT-IXGION (afterwards Marquis of WBL-LESLEY), Nov. 1798. ( WetledeyM&&,
Brit. Miw., No. 13,805, p. 212.)
a Mr. North writes to the Earl of Mornington, of "the infamous faction of Madras civilians/' and Ms letters
13,867., p. 28. See also Mr. North's Letter' to the Secret Committee, 5th October, 1799 (Hid., p. 35).
s Mr. NOKTH to the Earl of MOEST-IWGTOK, 27th October, 1798 (Wd-
, No. lSj866, p. 52; 3rd
November). /&¥., p. llil; 30th Oe-
contain the details of the plunder of j tober, 1709, No. 1&.867, p. 60. The the Government to the extent of first head of the judicial establish-00,000 pagodas by one gentleman nient was Sir Edmund Carrington, who Lad charge of the Pearl Fish ery; a friend and fellow-student oi* Sir and of another, under whose corrupt William Jones. judicial management in the Eastern Province, "more than 4000 inhabitants from the single district of the
4 TotNOi'fi, in his Epitome^ gives BO particulars of his fate; but Mr. North, writing to Lord Moroington
Wanny had been driven away since i the year in which he
GUT occupation of the Hand."-?FfVf- ' 1708, RUTS " the deposition of (lit* late
Jlf&£, No. lfy»00, f» 173; No. i king, and the elevation of tlte boy76
MODERN HISTOEY.
[PART VI.
A.D. Talawe, in virtue of a Kandyan usage, proceeded to nomi-
1798* nate, as Ms successor, a nephew of tlie queen, a boy
eighteen years old, who ascended the throne as Wikreina
Eaja Singha ; the last in the long list of kings who reigned
over Ceylon.
Although the late king had died without ratifying the treaty negotiated in 1796, the most amicable relations subsisted between his successor and the English, and Mr. Forth was preparing to do honour to the new sovereign by an embassy of unusual magnificence, when communications of a most confidential nature were opened with him by the Adigar. In the course of numerous interviews with the governor, and his secretary, Pilame Talawe avowed unreservedly his hatred of the reigning Malabar family, his desire to procure the death or dethronement of the king, and his ambition to restore in his own person a national dynasty to the kingdom.1 Mi1. North, while he disclaimed participation in projects so treasonable, discerned in the designs of the Adigar an opportunity for establishing a military protectorate at Kandy with a subsidised British force, on the model, of the mediatised provinces of India; and it must be regretted that in the too eager pursuit of this object, Mr. North not only forbore to denounce the treason of the minister, but lent himself to intrigues inconsistent with the dignity and honour of his high office.
In the development of the Governor's plans the Adigar was encouraged to disclose his designs for the ruin of the young king, whom it was his intention to stimulate to acts of atrocity such as would make him at once odious to his own nation and hostile to the English, thus provoking a war in which the Adigar was to profit by his overthrow.2 Mr. North did not consider it unbecom-
A.D.
1799.
wlio now reigns, was the work of Pilanie, first minister,?a great friend of ours."?Letter, 27th Oct., 1798, WeUedey MSS., No. 13,866, p. 55.
1 Pildme' Talawe "boasted "his descent from the royal line of Ceylon.
2 There are two works wliieli may be regarded as containing Mr. North'sCHAP. III.]
MR. NORTH.
ing Ms high position to discuss with him the terms of Ar a compromise in a matter so revolting; and stipulating 1799. only for the personal safely and nominal rank of the king, he -caine to an agreement by which the Kandyan sovereign was to be reduced to a. nonentity, and the Adigar to be "virtually invested with regal authority. It was even contemplated that the king should be induced to retire altogether from the capital, to take up his residence at Jaffna within the British dominions, and that Pilame Talawe was to become regent of the kingdom, within which a British force was to be maintained at the cost of the Kandyan people.1
The project was to be carried into execution by means of an embassy, which was forthwith to be despatched, ostensibly to negotiate a treaty with the king, but it was privately arranged that the ambassador was to be the General commanding in the island; and the intended subsidiary force was to be introduced under the name and guise of Ms " escort."
It is impossible to read without pain the letters in which Mr. North communicates confidentially, for the information and approval of the Governor-General of India, the progress of this discreditable intrigue. He labours to persuade himself that in taking a disingenuous course he was adopting the only line open to him at
apology for Ms share in these transactions, and Ms defence of his general administration. Viscount VA-LENTIA, in 1804; spent three weeks in Ceylon as the guest of the Governor, and in the Trawk which he afterwards published, he has embodied an elaborate review of Mr. North's policy. But being, as he says; confined by indisposition, the particulars which he supplies concerning the island were f( derived from the most authentic sources"?and, in fact, on comparing his statement with the private letters of Mr. North to the Marquis of Wellesley, we find that they exhibit internal evidence of being, in part at least, the work of one hand (travels,
vol. i. p. 277-279). About the same time, the Rev. J. COBDOTER, who had been chaplain in the island from 1799 to 1804, wrote Ms Description of Ceylon, and in pt. ii. eh. i. vol. ii. p. 155, he gives a narrative of the Kandyan campaign in 1803, and the causes which led to it; and this, too, evidently emanated from the same source as the account given by Lord Valentia. Reading these two manifestoes by the light of Mr. North's confidential correspondence with the Governor-General, the events they record assume an aspect greatly to be regretted. 1 Lord VALEHTIA, ek vL p. 282.MODERN HISTORY.
[PART YI.
A.D.
once to save the life of the king of Kandy1, and to pro 1799 mote the political interest of Great Britain.
The reception of an "armed British force in the central capital" he regards as so " highly essential to British interests, that he will not endanger the success of the negotiation by any over-strictness in the terms on which it is to be obtained."2 His principal object now is, he says, to collect such a military force in the island, as would enable him to despatch to Kandy "a body of troops capable of effectuating all the objects of the intended treaty, and of subduing by its own strength any opposition which it may experience."3 " As to the king's dignity," he adds, " I shall never conspire to take it away, but if he loses it I shall give myself as little concern as when he usurped it ? and should the Adigar succeed without any concurrence of mine in dethroning him, I suppose you would make no objection to having the said Adigar as a vassal." It is obvious that the sentiments thus privately expressed to the Marquis of Wellesley are at variance with the simultaneous declarations of Mr. North to the Adigar, as stated on. his authority by Lord Valentia.4
In 1800 the programme already sketched out was agreed on, and the Adigar took his departure for Kandy, to obtain the formal assent of the king to the entrance of so unprecedented a body of troops in the suite of an ambassador.5 He was to be asked to allow 1000 men
1 " I am certain that if the troops are not sent, and if they; are not put into possession of the capital, the poor king "would he deposed, if not murdered; or that he would he driven into aggression against us, which I hope will excuse me in your eyes and in those of the world for not heing so delicate as I otherwise should about forcing his inclination or abridging his power,"?Mr. 'NoBTH to the Earl of MoRNEsraTOff, 4th Feb. 1800. ? Welleslw/ Jb&S&, No. 18 887, p. 75.
2 Mr. NoKTHto the Earl of
IN-GT02T, 25th Dec. 1799.?WeRedey MSS., No. 13,867, p. 65.
3 Ibid.
4 See Lord VALENTIA'S Travels, ch. vi p. 294.
5 "Writing to Lord Mornington, 3rd February, 1800, Mr. North avows that one object he had in view for despatching the Adigar on this errand was to text AM influence over the king. " If he has it," he continues, "I own I shall have little scruple in taking this the only measure which can preserve the long's life and prevent aCHAP. III.]
TREASON OF THE ADIGAR,
79
to " escort" General MacDowall, but Mr. North intimates A.D. that there would in reality be 1,800, and that they might 1800. eventually be raised to 2,500.1
Still anxious for self-justification on the plea that the presence of the English army would save the life of the king, Mr. North persuaded himself that the step he had resolved on was the only one to avert an invasion of the British territory by the Kandyans. So frank had the Adigar been in discussing this step, as an expedient to precipitate hostilities, that he had asked, " What would be considered as a sufficient aggression ? and with how many men he was to invade the low country, to compel the British governor to take up arms ? I therefore cannot 4 but think," says Mr. Forth, "that a very minute attention to diplomatic forms would be sacrificing the reality of justice for the sake of its appearance ; and as the troops will only interfere for securing the government established by the existing power, I do not imagine that the most rigid publicist could find fault with what I am about to do. It is, however, impossible that I should not feel anxious and uneasy in conducting so singular a business." *2
The influence of the Adigar was sufficiently powerful to overcome the scruples of the king, and permission was granted for the advance of the ambassador with his formidable escort.3 But the scheme so elaborately con-
civil war, as well as an aggression against us, into wliieh it is the intention of this Lord Sunderland to hurry his poor master, that lie may
overturn him."?Welledey MSS.} No. 13,807, p. 72.
1 Lord VALEOTIA, eh. vi. p. 280.
2 Mr. NOKTH to the Earl of MOBN-INGTOX, 7th Feb. 1800 (J^k/., p. 76).
3 This was announced to the Marquis of Wellesley in the following terms Ly Mr. Sibrth, 16th March, 1800: ? "The decision is made, and General MaePowall set out with his escort on Wednesday last. The Adigar, Ibtyorum faw/e
is to meet him at Sitavaca. Only fancy if one of our ministers were to behave so about King George, and oblige the Abb£ Sie*yes to stipulate for his life! I hope that I have not done wrong, but I am not yet certain whether I have acted like a good politician or like a great nincompoop."? Welksley MSS,} No. 13,807. The march of this embassy has been described with great minuteness by PKBOIVAL, p. 376. and by CORDIFEE^ vol. ii. ch. vi. p. 287. There is also an interesting account of it in the MSS. of M. JDISTILLS, who accompanied the expedition in the capacity80
MODERN HISTORY.
[PART VI.
A.D. cocted, and launched with so much enterprise, was 1800. Roomed to an early failure. The alarm of the king was at length excited by the nobles; a large portion of the English troops was ordered to remain at the frontier, the inarch of the others was impeded by leading them through impracticable passes, where the heavy guns were left behind, and on his arrival at Eandy, the General was received with only a small part of his intended " army." Here the patience of the embassy was exhausted by long delays, the reception of a subsidised British force was firmly declined, even the negotiation of a treaty was indefinitely postponed, and the General returned to Colombo with his diminished escort, unsuccessful and disappointed.
But the abortive attempt was speedily productive of disastrous results. Mr. North had sown the teeth of
of Naturalist and Draughtsman; and in it he has introduced the following
characteristic sketch of the Ambassador and the Adigar.
INTERVIEW BBIWuEN GENERAL UACDUWALL AND THE ADIGAR,
1. General MacBowall. 2. Pil&m^ Tal&wS. 3. The Moodliar Interpreter.CHAP, in.] KANDY TAKEN. 81
the dragon, and they germinated into an early and fear- A.D. ful harvest of blood. 180L
The Adigar, foiled in Ms endeavours to reduce his sovereign to a pageant, turned to his remaining device of provoking a war by aggression on British territory and subjects. Nearly two years were spent in efforts to this end; first his agents excited insurrections,' which were speedily quelled, at If egombo and Manaar \ and next he himself sought alternately to embroil the governor by secret charges against the king, and to infuriate the king by insinuations against the governor.2 Overtures for a treaty were made from Kandy, but on conditions so inadmissible as to ensure their rejection. At length, in April 1802, armed parties began to disturb the A.D. frontier; and a rich tavalain or caravan of Moors, British 1802. subjects, returning from Kandy to Putlam, were forcibly deprived of their property by officers of the king.
This was the " sufficient aggression " which the Adigar had so long meditated. Compensation was evaded, war ensued, and in February, 1803, a British force of A.D. 3000 men under General MacDowall took possession of 1803" Kandy, which they found evacuated by the inhabitants.
The king fled to Hanguran-ketty, after firing the palace and temples; and the English general, in concert with the perfidious Adigar, placed Mootoo Saamy, a compliant member of the royal family, on the throne. The first act of the new sovereign was to realise the desired policy
Mr. NOETH to the Earl of MOB-, 15th June, 1800 ( WettesZei/
JUSJS1, g.125). The pretext was the
imposition of a tax on the wear-Ing of jewels. Mr. NORTH says,, he **'Had evidence on oath that the Adigar had at the same time attempted to organise a revolt at Colombo, with assurances of co-operation from Kandy."
3 Amongst other imputations by which he alarmed the king; was the
VOL. IL G
insinuation that the 5000 British troops assembled at Trincomalie in 1801, under the command of Colonel Wellesley, afterwards Duke of "Wellington, and intended for the reduction of Batayia, were in reality designed for the invasion of Kandy. ?Mr. NOETH to the M. of WEILBS-LET; 13th June, 1801, This force was subsequently conducted to Egypt by Sir David Baird,MODERN" HISTORY.
[PART VI.
A.D.
1803,
of Mr. North, by accepting a subsidiary force, and conceding extensive territory to the British Crown. The Adigar, who, in the midst of the turmoil, contrived to retain his influence with all parties, entered into a separate convention with the general, by which the grand object of his ambition was at last to be realised : ? The fugitive king was to be delivered up to the English, the king de facto was to be relegated with a suitable appanage to Jaffna, and " the illustrious Lord PiMrne Talawe," with the title of Grand Prince (Ootoon Kumarayen\ was to wield the supreme authority at Eandy. On the faith of this convention with an undisguised traitor, the British general retired to Colombo on an ominous anniversary, the 1st April, 1803; leaving behind him 300 English and 700 Malays as the subsidised British contingent.
But it was soon ascertained that the new king was despised by his own countryinen; he had undergone public punishment at ^ former period for convicted fraud, " he met with no adherents, and remained in- the palace surrounded only by domestics, and supported by no other power than the British army," 1 who were speedily decimated by disease.
The Adigar, apparently hurried beyond his usual discretion by the rapid success of Ms treason, saw but another step between him and the throne. Of the two kings, one was an outlaw, the other an imbecile faineant; the British troops were prostrated by sickness, and the moment appeared propitious to grasp the crown he had so long coveted. He formed the bold design to seize the person of the English governor; to exterminate the attenuated English garrison; to destroy the rival sovereigns', and found a new dynasty in Sandy. The first plot was defeated by an accident \ but the massacre of the forces was fearfully realised.
The hospitals at the moment were surcharged with
1 Lord VAIOTTIA, eh. vi TO! i p. 21*8; CtmitxxEB, vul ii. p. IStt*
3 The of Mr* North was
to kave an inter-CHAP, in.]
MASSACRE.
83
sick, and the available strength of the British was reduced A.D. to a handful of European convalescents and about four 1805 hundred Malays and gun-lascars, under an incompetent and inexperienced commandant, Major Davie.
On the morning of the 24th June, Kancly was surrounded by thousands of armed natives; who assailed the British garrison from the hills which overhang the ancient palace; numbers were killed, and the residue, exhausted and helpless, were compelled to capitulate. The Adigar guaranteed their safety and that of the royal protege, Mootoo Saamy, with whom they were permitted to march about three miles, to the banks of the MahaweUi-ganga, on their way to Trineoinalie. But they were detained for two days, unable to pass the river, which was swollen by the recent rains ; and here they were forced to surrender the person of the prince, who was instantly slain. Major Davie was led back to Handy, his soldiers were persuaded to give up their arms, the Malays were made prisoners, and the British officers and men, led two by two into a hollow out of sight of their comrades, were felled by blows from behind, inflicted by the Caffres, and despatched by the knives of the Kandyans.
One soldier alone escaped from the carnage and survived to tell the fate of his companions.1 An officer 2 who commanded at Fort MacDowall, about eighteen miles eastward of Kandy, spiked his gun, abandoned his
view which the Adigar solicited at Dambedenia, in the Seven Corles; but the attempt was rendered abortive by the unforeseen arrival of an officer with a detachment of 300 Malays, who came to pay their respects to the Governor.?COKDHTEB,, vol. il. p. 201.
1 This was Corporal Barnsley, whose singular story will be found in the Historical Sketch of the Conquest of Ceylon % the JBritish, written by HENBY MARSHALL, Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals; a book which contains by far the best ac-
count of the military operations of the British from 1803 to 1804 Dr. DAVY, in his work on the Interior of Ceylon (ch. x. p. 313), has given a
number of curious particulars of these occurrences, gleaned by personal inquiry from the Kandyans ??
from which it would appear that the actual massacre was the work of the king, and not of the Adigar. COEDI-
KEE'S Narrative of the same events will be found in his 2nd voL ch. iiL p. 203. % Captain Madge,
G 284
MODERN" HISTORY.
[PART VI.
A-IX sick, and with difficulty succeeded in bringing off his
" men to Trincomalie ? another held Ms position at
Dambedenia till brought off by a relief from Colombo;
but within the briefest possible space, ? not one British
soldier was left within the dominions of Eandy.1
Years were allowed to elapse before any adequate retribution was inflicted .on the authors of this massacre. CORDINER, who was at Colombo when the intelligence arrived, describes the effect as " universal consternation; it was like a burst of thunder portended by a dark and gloomy sky and followed by an awful and overpowering calm." 2 The first impulse .of the English was for general and indiscriminate vengeance on the Kandyan people ; but death and disease had so reduced the British force, that even this was impracticable for want of troops, and the few that remained serviceable had soon ample occupation in defending their own territory from the dangers with which it was threatened from Kaady.
The bloody triumph he had achieved seemed to have suddenly inflamed the savage king with a sense of his own strength and a consciousness of the impregnability of his natural defences. By a strenuous exertion of his authority and influence over the low-country Singhalese, he succeeded in exciting a spirit of revolt, and in a very few weeks there was not a point throughout the entire circuit of the island, from. Ham-bangtotte and Tangalle to Jaffna and Trinconialie, at which the native population were not preparing to take up arms for the expulsion of the British ; whilst the Kandyans themselves, descending in hordes from the hills, made simultaneous attacks upon Matura on the south, CMkw and Putlam on the west, Moeletivoe and
1 Jfajor Davie "wm detained in captivity at 'Randy till 1810, when he died without having any opportunity to communicate with Ms country
or to leavfe a defence of Ms memory frcwm the serious imputations that rest upon it. 9 CoE&nngR, ek lil vol. ii. p, 319.CHAP. .III.]
WITH
Jaffna on the north,, and Batticaloa and Cbttiar on the eastern coast. The king in person led an army to lay siege to Colombo, and advanced to Hangwelle within eighteen miles of the Eort; but he was driven back by the garrison, who recovered from his discomfited followers a number of the guns and rmiskets which had belonged to the ill-fated force of Major Davie. Equally foiled at, all other points, the king went up into his mountaia fastnesses, leaving the English in the low country so exhausted by the campaign that the last available soldiers were withdrawn from, Colombo and. the duty of the garrison entrusted to pensioners and invalids.1
Mr. North apphed to the Governor-General of India for at least 3000 troops 2, to enable him to take vengeance on the Eandyans ; but the. renewal of hostilities between England and France in 1803 rendered it impossible to send such reinforcements to Ceylon as would have enabled the Governor to take effectual measures for the recapture of Kandy3;?and for the two following years he was forced to confine his operations to the chastisement of the Singhalese districts, which had
A.D.
1 CoED-iNEB;,YoL li. ch. ilL p. 236.
a Mr. NOETBC to the Marquis of WELLESIEY, 29th July, 1804 (Wei-fe%Jf#&, p. 264).
3 One effort -was contemplated in 1804 for an assault upon Kandy by j a simultaneous advance of British, i troops from six different points of \ the coast; all concentrating- at the | capital. Orders were issued to some j of the intended commanders, but on further inquiry the attempt was found impracticable, and abandoned. Amongst others, Captain Johnston had been directed to march from Batticaloa, and make his appearance at Kandy on a given day ? and this order, by some strange accident, it was omitted to countermand. Captain Johnston, in consequence, advanced with about SOO men, of whom 82 were Europeans, on the 20th September? fought his way to Kandy, which he occupied for three days, and retracing1
his perilous course, Brought off his m^n to Trincomalie on the 20th, October, 1804, with only the loss of 10- British soldiers, and 6 wounded* This heroic adventure came opportunely to retrieve the character of the British army from the disgrace into which it had sunk in the minds of the Kandyans. Forbes was in-fowaed by one of the* chiefs who had harassed Captain Johnston's retreat, that an impression left on the- natives was that jbe "must have been in alliance with supernatural powers, as his judgment and energy, superior as they were, were insufficient to account for his escape through one continued ambush." ? FOBBES'S Meven Years in Ceylon, vol. i, p. 41. Captain Johnston has left an account of his Expedition to J£andy, London, 1810, which is one of the most thrilling military narratives on re-* cord.
G 3B6
MOBEEIST HISTORY. [PAKT VI.
A.D. displayed disaffection, and to laying waste the out--1808* lying territories of Sandy, burning the villages and temples, and destroying the harvests and fruit trees. The private correspondence of. Mr. North at this period with the Governor-General of India evinces the intensity of his anxiety for peace. Messages were sent secretly to the king, through the high priest of Kandy, to entreat him to ask for pardon, as all the Governor required was not treasure or territories., "but satisfaction for the horrid crime he had perpetrated;" but the only reply was a refusal on the ground that the butchery had been committed without his orders by the Adigar, from whom he had since withdrawn his confidence.1 A sullen peace ensued from the exhaustion of the enemy; and the long-deferred, retribution for the atrocities of 1803 was not exacted till 1815, when a renewal of similar aggressions and cruelties by the Kandyan sovereign led to the final and effectual overthrow of his authority.
The administration of Mr. North, although dimmed by these diplomatic errors and the sanguinary results by which they were followed, was characterised by signal success in the organisation of the civil government; the promotion of religion, education, and commerce; the establishment of courts of justice; the reform of the revenue; and the advancement of native agriculture and industry. The three military governors who succeeded him between 1805 and 18202, devoted to the civil improvement of the colony all the attention compatible with the inadequate income of the settlement, and the vigilance and precautions indispensable for its protection
foreign, as well as internal enemies. During this interval, the career of the Ekndyan king
1 Mr, NORTH "to the Marquis of
17th Jtauarr, 1804
2 18Q5j Lieutenant-General the wy;LUiL«i.Kr, ma January, AOU* Right Honourable Sir Thomas Mait-
( 3/&SI, p. 287). CoBDiNm land, G.C.B. 1811, Major-General
Ntat** itfk ill, voL ii. p. 250), that | Wilson, Lieutenant-Governor. 1812. th^* ad\ime*w for peace were "njade ! General Sir Eobert " If tli^j Kandyarw," but the letter Bart,G.OJB.
f|iit t*fii ii,l^ove ;4i«ws that they ema-tliy Governor.CHAP. III.] THE TYRANT. 87
presents a picture of tyrannous atrocity unsurpassed, A.D. if it be even paralleled, in its savage excesses, by any 1803-recorded example of human depravity. Distracted between the sense of possessing regal power and. the consciousness of inability to wield it, he was at once tyrannous and timid, suspicious and revengeful. Insurrections were excited by his cruelties, and the chiefs who remained loyal became odious from possessing the influence to suppress them. The forced labour of the people was expended on works of caprice and imitility1; and the courtiers who ventured to remonstrate were dismissed and exiled to their estates. At length, the often-baffled traitor, Pilame Talawe, was detected in an attempt to assassinate the king, and beheaded in 1812, A.D, and his nephew, Eheylapola, raised to the office .of 1812« Adigar.
But Eheylapola inherited with the power all the ambitious duplicity of his predecessor; and availing A.D. himself of the universal horror with which the king 1814" was regarded, he secretly solicited the connivance of the Governor, Sir Eobert Brownrigg, to the organisation of a general revolt. The conspiracy was discovered and extinguished with indiscriminate bloodshed; whilst the discomfited Adigar was forced to fly to Colombo, and supplicate the protection of the British.2 And now followed an awful tragedy, which cannot be more vividly described than in the language of Davy, who collected the particulars from eye-witnesses of the scene* " Hurried along by the flood of his revenge, the tyrant, lost to every tender feeling, resolved to punish Eheylapola who had escaped, through his family, who still remained in his power: he sentenced his wife and children, and his brother and his wife, to death ; the brother and children to be beheaded, and the females to be drowned. In front of the queen's palace, and between the Nata and Maha
1 The ornamental lake at Kandy was formed about the year 1809, by order of the Mug, 2 In May, 1814^
488 MODERN HISTORY. [PART VL
^v- Vishnu Dewales, as if to shock and insult the gods as 1814 we]] as the sex, the wife of Eheylapola and his children were brought from prison, where they had been in charge of female gaolers, and delivered over to their executioners. The lady, with great resolution, maintained hers and her children's innocence and her lord's ; at the same time, submitting to the king's pleasure, and offering up her own and her offsprings' .lives, with the fervent hope that her husband would be benefited by the sacrifice. Having uttered these sentiments aloud, she desired her eldest child to stibmit to his fate; the poor boy, who was eleven years old, clung to his mother terrified and crying; her second son, of nine years, heroically stepped forward: and bade his brother not to be afraid?he would show him the way to die! By the blow of a sword the head of this noble child was severed from his body; streaming with blood, and hardly inanimate, it was thrown into a rice mortar, the pestle was put into the mother's hands, and she was ordered to pound it, or be disgracefully tortured. To avoid the infamy, the wretched woman did lift up the pestle and let it fall. One by one the heads of her children were cut off; and one by one the .poor mother . . . but the circumstance is too dreadful to be dwelt on. One of the children was an infant, and it was plucked from its mother's breast to be beheaded: when the head was severed from the body, the milk it had just drawn ran out mingled with its blood. During this tragical scene, the crowd who had assembled to witness it wept and sobbed aloud, unable to suppress their feelings of grief and horror. Palihapane Dissave was so affected that he fainted, and was expelled his office for showing such sensibility. During two days, the whole of Kandy, with the exception of the tyrant's court, was as one house of mourning and lamentation, and so deep was the grief that not a fire, it is said, was kindled, no food was dressed, and a general fast was held. After the execution of her children, the sufferings of the mother were speedily re-CHAP. III.]
CONQUEST OF KAJSTDY.
lieved. She and h£r sister-in-law were led to the little tank in the immediate neighbourhood of Kandy, called Bogambara, and drowned." l
This awful occurrence in all its hideous particulars, I have had verified by individuals still hving, who were spectators of a scene that, after the lapse of forty years^ is still spoken of with a shudder.
But the limit of human endurance had been passed: revolt became rife throughout the kingdom : promiscuous executions followed, and the terrified nation anxiously watched for the approach of a British force to rescue them from the monster on the throne. At length, the insensate savage ventured to challenge the descent of the vengeance that awaited him. A party of native merchants, British subjects, who had gone up to Kandy to trade, were seized and mutilated by the tyrant; they were deprived of their ears, their noses, and hands, and those who survived were driven towards Colombo, with the severed members tied to their necks.2
An avenging army was instantly on its march. War was declared in January 1815 3, and within a few weeks A.D the Kandyan capital was once more in possession of the English 45 and the despot a captive at Colombo, whence he was eventually transferred to the Indian
* DAVY, ch. x. p. 321.
2 It cannot extenuate so wanton an atrocity to mention that in the Hahawanao, the exploit is related with complacency of Mogallana, who, on the deposition of his parricidal brother, Kaasyapa, A.D. 495, "cttt off tJte ears and noses of the late king's ministers before driving them into exile."?MafimoansOj eh. xxxix.
3 The declaration of war sets out that it was undertaken in compliance with *'f the prayers of more than one half the Kandyan kingdom," and with the sympathies of the rest, for the vindication of British subjects outraged by the king, and the security of his majesty's possessions, which
had already been violated by the irruptions and depredations of Kandyan forces across the border. ff War," it* announced, "was not directed against the people but their tyrant, who had become an object of abhorrence to mankind," and protection was offered to every Kandyan subject who was prepared to welcome their deliverers.
4 14th February, 1815. "From this day we date the extinction of Singhalese independence ? an independence which had continued without material interruption for 2,357 years." ? KNIGHTON. ch. xvii gx 325,90
MODEEN HISTOEY.
[PART VI.
A3).
fortress of Vellore.1 The proclamation of the Viceroy
1815. reca]iec[ the massacre of 1803 as one of the many causes of the war, and on the 2nd March, 1815, a solemn convention of the chiefs assembled in the audience hall of the palace of Kandy, at which a treaty was con-
" eluded formally deposing the king and vesting his dominions in the British Crown; on condition that the national religion should be maintained and protected, justice impartially administered to the people, and the chiefs guaranteed in their ancient privileges and powers. Eheylapola, who had cherished the expectation that the crown would have descended to his own head, bore the disappointment with dignity, declined the offers of high office, and retired with the declaration that his ambition was satisfied by being recognised as " the Friend of the British Government." AJ) Happy as this consummation appeared, the tranquillity
1816. which ensued was but transient; before two years the same people who had invited the English as deliverers rose in rebellion to expel them as intruders. Nor is this anomaly, strange as it may seem, without explanation. With the mass of the population the king was less odious than the chiefs who were " the real tyrants of the country;" 2 and as these were still to be maintained in all their dangerous powers, the people, even whilst the cannon were thundering salutes in honour of the victory, exhi-
1 A curious account of the capture of tlie king, and Ms demeanour after his deposition, is contained in a pamphlet published in 1815; under the title of "A Narrative of Event* wMcfo Mm r&omtly occurred m Cey-lmy written "by a Gentleman on the root; London^ Egexton, 1815." From the identity of the materials with those^ in the xxrtih ch. of the History of Ceylon, "by PHIIAI*BTB:ES; the two statements appear to have "been written by the person^ and evidently by on© who was present in Colombo whilst the occurrences he
describes were in progress. One remark which the king made is worth recording: "Your English governors/' he said, " have one advantage over us Mugs of Kandy ? they have councillors near them who never allow them to do anything- in a passion ; but, unfortunately lor us, the offender is dead before our resentment has subsided." ? P. 180. The kins' died at Vellore. 30th January,
BAWTEE'S MS. Notes m the Can-MARSHALL, p. 70.CHAP. III.]
FBJBSH REVOLT.
91
A.D,
AJX
bited a sullen indifference to the change.1 The remoteness of Britain rendered its abstract authority unin-telligible, and the Zandya^s were unable to realise the myth for which they had exchanged a visible king. The chiefs themselves soon discovered that their rank failed to command Its accustomed homage and obedience ; 1817. the nice distinctions of caste were unappreciable by the English soldiers, and its prejudices and peculiarities were unconsciously subjected to incessant violations.2 Two years of the experiment were sufficient to ripen the universal disappointment into an appetite for change.3 So impatient had all classes become, that uniformity of feeling supplied the place of organisation4; and without combination or concert, nearly the whole kingdom rose simultaneously in arms in the autumn of 1817. An aspirant to the crown was duly adopted and obeyed; the dissave of Oovah, who had been sent to tranquillise the disturbed districts, placed himself at the head of the insurgents, and Eheylapola, the ardent " friend of the British Government," was seized and expatriated for fomenting the rebellion.5 A guerilla war ensued, In which regular troops, traversing damp forests by jungle tracks and mountain passes, were less distressed by the enemy than by exposure, privations, and disease. For more than ten months discomfiture seemed imminent, and so universal was the conspiracy of the inhabitants, that not a Eandyan leader of any
1 MABSHALL, -who was present during tlie conference in Kandy, says, " they
did not leave their ordinary occupations even to look at the troops which were assembled in review order in the great square before the Audience Hall. Apparently,, they regarded the transfer of the Government from an Oriental to a European dvnasty with perfect unconcern."?P. 108.
2 DAVY,, ch. x. p. 326; MABSHALL, p. 174.
31 The Kandyans used to inquire when the English meant to leave the
maritime provinces ""You have deposed the Mug/' said one, "and nothing more is required, you may leave us now." &t They showed no dislike to us individually, "but as a nation, they abhorred us ; they made no complaint of oppression or misrule, simply wishing that we should leave the country.*1?MARSHALL, p. 175.
4 MARSHALL, p. 179.
5 Eheylapola was transported to the Mauritius, where lie died in exile in 1829.92 MODERN HISTOKY. [PART VL
A.D. consequence was taken, and not a district was either 1817- pacified or subdued.1 So great was the apprehension of the Government, and such the horrors of the species of warfare in which they, were involved, that the expediency had already been discussed of abandoning the contest and withdrawing the British forces to the coast2, when towards the close of 1818, the Eanclyans, harassed by the destruction of their villages and cattle, rendered destitute by the devastation of their country, and disheartened by the loss of upwards of ten thousand persons, either fallen in the field or destroyed by famine and fever3, began to throw out signals of submission. The rebellious chiefs were captured ; the pretender fled ; the great palladium, "the sacrecl tooth" of Buddha, which had been stolen and paraded to" arouse the fanatical enthusiasm of the people, was recovered and restored to its depository in Kandy ; and before the close of the year, the whole country returned to tranquillity and order.
The rebellion of 1817 was the last great occasion on which the English forces were arrayed in hostility against the natives of any portion of Ceylon. Amongst the Singhalese of the maritime districts, there has never prevailed any long-sustained feeling of discontent with the British rule, and the insurrectionary disturbances around the coast, which followed the massacre of 1803, were excited by the influence, and carried on by the direct instrumentality, of the Acligar and the King of Kandy. But a very few years' experience of the beneficence of English government sufficed to eradicate any tendency to disaffection, and in our subsequent struggles with the people of the hill country, the inhabitants of the lowlands exhibited neither sympathy nor co-operation with the enemy. The case was, however, different with the Kandyan
1 DATY? ck x. p. 327.
2 MARSHALL; p. 191.CHAP. III.]
THE CHIEF.
chiefs, and the measures essential to conciliate the mass A.D. of the' population were calculated to increase the irrita- 1817-tion of their feudal masters.
The relation of clans-men to a Kandyan chief had always been one of stolid bondage; their lands, their labour, and almost their lives, they held dependent on Ms will; and their priests, although the doctrines of the Buddhist faith repudiate distinctions of caste, taught them to yield a superstitious homage to the exaltation of rank.1 Sir Eobert Brownrigg, on the suppression of the revolt, availed himself of the rupture of the previous treaty by the chiefs to commence the emancipation of the people from their thraldom, by limiting the application of compulsory labour to the construction of works of public utility ; imposing a tithe on cultivated lands, in lieu of personal services; transferring the administration of justice from the native headmen to European civilians, reserving to the governor the appointment of the headmen employed in collecting revenue ; and substituting official salaries, instead of local assessment, for the remuneration of the chiefs. This was the commencement of a policy, afterwards consistently developed by further changes, all tending to narrow the range of feudal power, and expand the influence and protection of law. The resentment provoked by these salutary measures, led to frequent displays of impotent disloyalty: treasonable plots were
1 See the Report of the Committee
of the House of Commons on the Affairs of Ceylon in 1850. Evidence of Sir J. EMEESOX TENOTNT, No. 2,786, 2,787? &c. As the priests of Buddha had been from the first opposed to the substitution of British rule for a native sovereignty, and as they were the main instigators and abettors of the last rebellion; Sir Robert Brownrigjy took this opportunity to alter very materially the terms of the obligations contracted in 1813, as regards the Buddhist
worship. "By the Convention of 1815, the religion of Buddha is declared inviolable, and its rites and places of worship were to be main-
tained and protected." But by the proclamation issued in 1818, the only engagement undertaken by the English Government was, that **the priests as well as the ceremonies of the Buddhist religion, shall ika reject which in former times was shown to them;n but by the document equal protection wto be given to all otaer religions,"94
MODERN" HISTORY.
[PART VL
A.D. concocted by the chiefs, and rebellion again threatened 1817' to disturb the ancient Kandyan kingdom. But civil authority had become consolidated and supreme; the pretenders and conspirators were in every instance arrested and punished, and the island was saved the calamity of renewed civil war.1
One event, in the meantime, had for ever altered the aspect of Xandyan warfare. The indomitable mountains which encircled their dominions., had long inspired the kings of Kandy with an audacious confidence in their own security.2 From the summits of these towering bulwarks they had been accustomed to look down with scorn and defiance on their enemies in the lowlands. The power that crouched behind them was regarded by the Europeans on the coast with a feeling of mystery and alarm ; and mindful of the many calamities that had overtaken those who had made the attempt, the undertaking to scale them, should it ever become unavoidable, was regarded with gloomy apprehension. The captor of Kandy in 1815 conceived the bold idea of giving permanence to his conquest, by breaching this gigantic rampart, and forming a highway from the lofty fastness in the hills to the level plains below. The realisation of the project was impeded by the outburst of rebellion in 1817 ; but no sooner was it quelled than Sir Edward Barnes, who succeeded Sir Eobert Brownrigg as Governor in 1820,
OO '
applied with energy all the resources of the Grovern-
1820.
1 Sucli was the impatience of the Kandyan chiefs and the Buddhist priests to restore the Kandyan monarchy, that, in addition to the formidable rebellion of 1817, a pretender agitated Welasse in 1820 j a Buddhist priest made a similar attempt at Matelle in 1823: a plot was discovered at Bintenne in 1824; arrests for treason took place in 1830 j and in 1835 six chiefs of the highest rank were tried for a conspiracy to levy war against the king, and seduce the army from its allegiance in support of a native aspirant to the crown.
In 1843, Chandrayotte, a priest, was convicted of high treason at BaduHa, and in 1848, the most formidable rising of the Kandyans since 1817 was crushed and defeated by the promptness and vigour of Viscount Torrington.
2 "He (Raja Singha) hath no forts or castles, but nature hath supplied the want of them. For his whole country standing upon such high hills, and these so difficult to pass, is all an impregnable fort."' ?
44.
OZ, Itelation} fyo.} pt. ii. ch. vl p,CHAP. Ill] THE ENGLISH POLICY. 95
ment, and succeeded in carrying a military road, unsur- A.D. passed in excellence, into the heart of the Kandyan coun-try, reaching an altitude of more than six thousand feet above the sea. Bocks were pierced, precipices scarped, and torrents bridged, to effect the passage; and the Kandyans, when the task was accomplished, recalled the warning of ancient prophecy, and felt that now the conquest of their country was complete.1
When the English landed in Ceylon in 1796, there was not in the whole island a single practicable road, and troops, on their toilsome marches between the fortresses on the coast, dragged their cannon through deep sands along the shore.2 Before Sir Edward Barnes resigned his government, every town of importance was approached by a carriage road; and the long desired highway from sea to sea, to connect Colombo and Trinconialie, was commenced. Civil organisation has since been matured with equal success, domestic slavery has been abolished, religious disqualifications removed, compulsory labour abandoned, a charter of justice promulgated, a legislative council established, trading monopolies extinguished, commerce encouraged in its utmost freedom, and the mountain forests felled to make way for plantations of coffee, whose exuberant produce is already more than sufficient for the consumption of the British empire.
By the Singhalese of the maritime provinces, long familiar with the energy and enterprise of Europeans, these results are regarded with satisfaction. But the Kandyans, brought into more recent contact with civilisation, look on with uneasy surprise at the effect it is producing. The silence of their mountain solitudes has been broken by the din of industry, and the seclusion of their villages invaded by bands of hired labourers from the Indian coast. Their ancient habits have been interrupted and their prejudices startled;
1 See the description of this road j 2 COBDINBB, cli. i. p. 15.
and its passes. Vol. II. Ft, TII, ch, iv.96 MODERN' HISTORt. [PART VI.
A.D. and a generation may pass away before the people 1850. ^ecome familiar or their headmen reconciled to the change. But the blessings of peaceful order, the rnild influence of education, and the gradual influx of wealth, will not fail to produce their accustomed results; and the mountaineers of Ceylon will, at no distant day, share with the lowlanders in the consciousness of repose and prosperity under the protection of the British Crown,PART VII.
SOUTHERN AND CENTRAI PROVINCES.
VOL, II.90
CHAPTEE I.
POINT DE GALLE.
WE landed at Galle on Saturday the 29th of November 1845. No traveller fresh from Europe will ever part with the impression left by his first gaze upon tropical scenery, as it is displayed in the bay and the wooded hills that encircle it; for, although Galle is surpassed both in grandeur and beauty by places afterwards seen in the island, still the feeling of admiration and wonder called forth by its loveliness remains vivid and unimpaired. If, as is frequently the case, the ship approaches the land at daybreak, the view recalls, but in an intensified degree, the emotions excited in childhood by the slow rising of the curtain in a darkened theatre to disclose some magical triumph of the painter's fancy, in all the luxury of colouring and all the glory of light. The sea, blue as sapphire, breaks upon the fortified rocks which form the entrance to the harbour ; the headlands are bright with verdure; and the yellow strand is shaded by palm-trees that incline towards the sea, and bend their crowns above the water. The shore is gemmed with flowers, the hills behind are draped with forests of perennial green; and far in the distance rises the zone of purple hills, above which towers the sacred mountain of Adam's Peak, with its summit enveloped in clouds.
But the interest of the place is not confined to the mere loveliness of its scenery. Galle is by far the most venerable emporium of foreign trade, now existing in the universe ; it was the resort of merchant ships at the earliest dawn of commerce1, and it is destined to be the
1 For more copious details of the early commerce of Galle, see ante,
Vol. I. Ft. y. ch. ii. p. 565, A condensed view of the trade of Ceylon
H 2100
SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL PROVINCES. [PART VIL
centre to which will hereafter converge all the rays of navigation, intersecting the Indian Ocean, and connecting the races of Europe and Asia.
In modern times, Galle was the mart of Portugal, and afterwards of Holland ; and long before the flags of either nation had appeared in its waters, it was one of the entrepots whence the Moorish traders of Malabar drew the productions of the remoter East, with which they supplied the Genoese and Venetians, who distributed them over the countries of the West.1 Galle was the " Kalah " at which the Arabians in the reign of liaroun Alraschid met the junks of the Chinese 2, and brought back gems, silks, and spices from Serendib to Bassora.8 The Sabseans, centuries before, included Ceylon in the rich trade which they prosecuted with India, and Galle was probably the furthest point eastward ever reached by the Persians4, by the Greeks of the Lower Empire, by the Romans5, and by the Egyptian mariners of Berenice, under the Ptolemies.6 But an interest, deeper still, attaches to this portion of Ceylon, inasmuch as it seems more than probable that the long-sought locality of Tarshish may be found to be identical with that of Point cle Galle.
in the early ages, and its importance as the great emporium "between the Eastern and Western World, will be found in the Essay of KEEKER De Ceijlone Insuld per mgmti fere see-cula commvni Terrarum Marumque Australium Emporio: Gottingen, 1831.
1 BE BAKR.OS, Asia, §~c., torn. i. pt. ii. p. 428 j BABBOSA in Jtamusio, vol.i. p. 313; YAB.THEMA, Itinerario, fyc., p. xxviL-
2 FA HIAN, Foe-Ernie Ki, cli. xl. p. 357: EDBISI, Trad. Jaulert. torn. i.-p. 73.
3 REIKATTD, Voyages Arabes vt Persons, $ ?,, torn, i. p. xxxix. Ixii.
4 Robertson in his Disquisition on India, thinks the Persians took no part in this trade, hilt Cosmos Indico-pleustes found them established in Ceylon early in the sixth century. Christ. Topoc/r. Mont-faucon, Coll. vol. ii. p. 178; andliamza of Ispahan says, Cosroes-NusMrvan,.
who reigned at that period, conquered the cities of Ceylon. Annal. p. 43.
5 Pliny expressly says that he learned from the embassy sent to the Emperor Claudius from Ceylon, that the great port of the island fronted the south, "ex iis cognitimi portuni contra meridiem;" lib. vi. eh. xxiv.; a description which applies only to the harbour of Galle.
6 Periplus Mar. jEryUir.^ HUDSON, vol. i. p. 35 ; YIN CENT, Commerce of India, $x?., vol. ii. p. 22: "Ceylan fut depuis un temps immemorial 1'entre-pot ou les Pheniciens, les peuples de 1'Arabie rneridionale, les Grecs, les Komains, et les Arabes devenus Musulnians venaient s'approvisionner des denr^es de 1'Inde, de 1'Archipel d'Asie, de la Chine et de celles non rnoins riches que le sol y fait naitre." ? DuLAimEEE, Asiat. Jour., torn, xlix. p. 174.CHAP. L]
POINT DB GALLE.
101
A careful perusal of the Scripture narrative suggests the conclusion, that there were two places at least to which the Phoenicians traded, each of which bore the name of Tarshish: one to the north-west, whence they brought tin, iron, and lead; and another to the east, which supplied them with ivory and gold. Bochart was not the first who rejected the idea of the latter being situated at the mouth of the Ghiadalquiver ; and intimated that it must be sought for in the direction of India ; but he was the first who conjectured that Ophir was Koudra-malie, on the north-west of Ceylon, and that the Eastern Tarshish must have been somewhere in the vicinity of Cape Comorin.1 His general inference was correct and irresistible from the tenor of the sacred writings; but from want of topographical knowledge, Bochart was in error as to the actual localities. Gold is not to be found at Koudrainalie 2; and Comorin being neither an island nor a place of trade, does not correspond to the requirements of Tarshish. Subsequent investigation has served to establish the claim of Malacca to be the golden land of Solomon3, and Tarshish, which lay in the track between the Arabian Gulf and Ophir, is recognisable in the great emporium of Ceylon.
The ships intended for the voyage were built by Solomon at " Ezion-geber on the shores of the Bed Sea,"4 the rowers5 coasted along the shores of Arabia and the Persian Gulf6, headed by an east wind.7 Tarshish, the
Geogr. Sacr. Plialeg. lib. ii. cli. 27, "forte ad prornonto-riuni Cory." Ibid., Canaan, lib. i. ch. xlvi
2 No inference bearing on this inquiry is to be drawn from the circumstance that the Tamil names for Ceylon are "Ham" which, signifies gold, and ee Ila-nadu " the island of Ham, which the Portuguese corrupted into ""Ilanare." (De Couto, dec, v. ch. v. torn. i. pt. ii. p. 49.) It was called Ham in conformity with a legend, which says that the island was formed by three peaks, from the mythical mountain of the golden Meru; which were flung into
the sea in a conflict between Sesha, the great serpent which encompasses the earth, and Vasu Deva, the god of the winds. See CASIE CHITXY'S Gazetteer, vol. i. p. 50.
3 Malacca is the Aurea Chersone-sus of the later Greek Geographers, and ££ ophir " in the language of the Malays, is the generic term for any "gold mine."?1 Kings x. 11, and 2 Chron. is. 21.
4 1 Kings ix. 26.
5 Ezekiel xxvii. 20.
6 By Sheba in Arabia Felix and Dedan at the entrance of the Persian Gulf.?EzeMel xxxviii. 13.
7 Ezekiel xxvii. 20 $ BO. xlyiii. 7,
H 3102
SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL PROVINCES. OAKT VII.
port for which they were bound, would appear to have been situated in an island1, governed by kings2, and carrying on an extensive foreign trade.3 The voyage occupied three years in going and returning from the Eed Sea4, and the cargoes brought home to Ezion-geber consisted of gold and silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.5 Gold could have .been shipped at Galle from the vessels which brought it from Ophir6, "silver spread into plates," which is particularised by Jeremiah7 as an export of Tarshish, is one of the substances on which the sacred books of the Singhalese are even now inscribed ; ivory is found in Ceylon, and must have been both abundant and full grown there before the discovery of gunpowder led to the wanton destruction of elephants ; apes are indigenous to the island, and peafowl are found there in numbers. It is very remarkable too, that the terms by which these articles are designated in the Hebrew Scriptures, are identical with the Tamil names, by which some of them are called in Ceylon to the present day: thus tukeyim, which is rendered."peacocks" in one version, may be recognised in tokei, the modern name for these birds; " kapi" apes is the same in both languages, and the Sanskrit " ibha" ivory, is identical with the Tamil " ibam"8
Thus by geographical position, by indigenous productions, and by the fact of its having been from time immemorial the resort of,merchant ships from Egypt,
i Isaiah xxiii. 1, 3; 6, It must be o"bseryed; however, that tlae early geographers did not sufficiently discriminate between a peninsula and an island: Tyre itself was termed an island by them.
3 PsL IxxiL 10; Isaiah associates Tarshish with "Pul and Lud that draw the bow," Ixvi. 19 j a characteristic which is maintained by the "Veddahs (the remnant of the aboriginal inhabitants) to the present day.
3 Isaiah xxiii. 2: Ezekiel xxvii. 10; 25. ^
4 1 Kings x. 22. It is curious that in the Garshasp Nameh,& Per-
sian poem of the tenth century, which professes to describe an expedition from Jerusalem for the conquest of Ceylon, the time occupied in the outward "voyage was eighteen, months, being one half the " three years " occupied by the ships of Solomon in going to and returning from Tarshish.
5 Ibid.
6 1 Kings x. 11.
7 Jerem. x. 9.
8 Note on the Tamil Language, by the Kev. Mr. HOISINGKTO:^. ' Further information on this point will be found in the Notice to the third edition, vol. i. p. xix., etc.CHAP. I.]
SINGHALESE CANOES.
103
Arabia, and Persia on the one side, and India, Java, and China on the other, Galle seems to present a combination of every particular essential to determine the problem so long undecided in biblical dialectics, and thus to present data for inferring its identity with the Tarshish of the sacred historians, the great eastern mart so long frequented by the ships of Tyre and Judea.1
Every object that meets the eye on entering the bay is new and strange. Amongst the vessels at anchor he the dows of the Arabs, the petarnars of Malabar, the dhoneys of Corornandel, and the grotesque seaboats of the Maldive and Laccadive islanders. But the most remarkable of all are the double canoes of the Singhalese, which dart with surprising velocity amongst the shipping, managed by half-clad natives, who offer for sale beautiful but unfamiliar fruits, and fishes of extraordinary colours and fantastic forms.
These canoes are dissimilar in build, some consisting of two trees lashed together, but the most common and by
DOUBLE CANOE OF CEYLON
far the most graceful are hollowed out of a single stem from eighteen to thirty feet long, and about two feet in depth, exclusive of the wash-board, which adds about a
1 The articles "brought by the navies of Hiram and Solomon to Ezion-geber, were carried across the isthmus of Suez to Khinocoluraj the
modem El-Arish, and thence transferred into Mediterranean vessels to be carried to Joppa (Jaffa) and Tyre.?B0BEETS02TS India, sec. 1.
a 4104
SOUIEEENT AND CENTRAL PROVINCES. [PART VII.
foot to the height. This is sewed to the gunwale by coir yarn, so that no iron or any other inetal enters into the construction of a canoe. But their characteristic peculiarity is the balance-log, of very biioyant wood, upwards of twenty feet in length, carried at the extremity of two elastic outriggers each eighteen feet long. By this arrangement not only is the boat steadied, but mast, yard and sail are bound securely together.1
The outrigger must of necessity be always kept to windward, and as it would not be possible to remove it from side to side, the canoe is so constructed as to proceed with either end foremost, thus elucidating an observation made by Pliny eighteen hundred years ago, that the ships which navigated the seas to the west of Taprobane had prows at either end, to avoid the necessity of tacking.2
These peculiar craft venture twenty miles to sea in a strong wind; they sail upwards of ten miles an hour, and nothing can be more picturesque than the sight at daybreak, of the numerous fleets of fishing boats, which cruise along the coast whilst the morning is still misty and cool, and hasten to shore after sunrise with their captures, consisting not only of ordinary fish, whose scales are flaked with silver or " bedropped with gold," but also including those of unusual shapes, displaying the brightest colours of the rainbow.
Passing the grim old Portuguese batteries8, and
1 It is remarkable that this form of canoe is found only where the Malays hare extended themselves throughout Polynesia and the coral islands of the Pacific; and it seems so peculiar to that race that it is to be traced in Madagascar and the Comoros, where a Malayan colony was settled at some remote period of antiquity. The outrigger is unknown amongst the Arabs, and is little seen on the coawt of India.
3 "Ob id mtibm ninnqm prora anjnurtias alvei eireurnagi sit
necesse."?PUNY, Nat. Hist., lib. vi. ch. XXIY. Strabo mentions the same fact; lib. xv. ch. xv.
3 The most conspicuous outwork bears the name of the ((Portuguese battery/' but the Portuguese, not anticipating the approach of an enemy from sea, never effectually fortified Galle, except on the land side; and the batteries which now command the harbour were constructed by the Dutch in 1663. ?VA-
LENTYN, C*h. XIV, p. 177.CHAP. I.]
QUEEN'S HOUSE, G-ALLE.
105
landing at the pier constructed to replace the one erected by the Dutch for embarking their cinnamon1., we passed under the gateway of the fortress, and ascended by a steep and shady street to the Queen's House, the official residence of the Governor, which Sir Colin Campbell had placed at our disposal2 The mansion, like all those built by the Dutch in Ceylon, is adapted to the heat, and other peculiarities of the climate; with spacious rooms, latticed windows, tiled floors, and lofty roofs, imperfectly concealed by ceilings, which are generally left unclosed lest the white ants should destroy the timbers undetected The neglected garden, with its decaying terraces and ruined " lusthof," contains Indian fruit trees and plants almost returned to their primitive wildness. Oranges, custard apples, bread-fruits, bilimbis, and bananas are mingled with the crimson hibiscus and innumerable other flowering shrubs, whose branches were covered with exquisite climbing plants, clitoris and convolvuli; and beneath their moist shade grew innumerable balsams in all their endless varieties of colour.
The groups collected about the landing place, and lounging in the streets and bazaars of Galle, exhibit the most picturesque combinations of costumes and races ; Europeans in their white morning undress, shaded by japanned umbrellas ; Moors, Malabars, and Malays, Chinese, Caffres, Parsees, and Chetties from the Coromandel coast, the latter with their singular head-dresses and prodigious earrings, Buddhist priests in yellow robes, and
1 The landing wharf, with its covered way, is described "by YA-LENTYN as the favourite promenade in 1663. It was called the Wambay^ oh. i. p. m.
2 Above the entrance of this building, there is a stone let into the wall bearing the date A.D. 1687, under the carved figure of a cock. If it was a mistake of the Dutch to believe that the name of Galle was de-
rived, not from the Singhalese word galla, "a rock/' but from f/allm, they inherited the misconception from the Portuguese, one of whose generals, Azevedo, Faria y Souza describes as hoisting the children of the CJmlia or Galla caste on the spears, of his soldiers, and shouting, " How these young cocks (f/allos) crow!"?Pwiu-(/ueseAsia. $c.9 vol. iii. eh, xiv. p. 277. (See ante, Yol. II. Ft. 71. ch. i. p. 23.)106
SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL PROVINCES. [PART VII.
Moodliars, .Mohandirams, and other native chiefs, in their rich official uniforms, with jewelled buttons, embroidered belts, and swords of ceremony.
One peculiar custom of the Singhalese in this district not only attracts the eye of every stranger by its singularity, but presents the most remarkable instance, with which I am acquainted, of the unchanging habits of an eastern race. Seventeen hundred years ago, PTOLEMY, speaking of the people of Taprobane, alluded to the length of their hair; and AG-ATHEMERUS, who, if not a contemporary, lived immediately after Ptolemy, describes with minuteness their mode of dressing it. " The men," he says, " who inhabit Ceylon, allow their hair an unlimited growth, and bind it on the crown of their heads after the manner of women"l AGATHEMEBUS had doubtless been told of the custom by some Grecian seamen returning from Galle, for this fashion of. dressing the hair is confined to the south-west coast of the island, and prevails neither in the interior nor amongst the people of the north and east. So closely clo the low-country Singhalese follow the manners of women in their toilet that their back-hair is first rolled into a coil, called a Jconde; this is fixed at the top of the head by a large tortoise-shell comb, whilst the hair is drawn back from the forehead, a timperatrice, and secured by another circular comb.
A SINGHALESE WITH HIS COMBS.
1 ** Toti£ KCLTOiKQvvraG avrijv avdpctc; yvvaiKtac; dvaftuaQai rag m-ag"?A&ATHEJOSfflEJS, Geogr., lib.
1. ch. vi; HUDSON, vol. ii. p. 45. It Is strange that among the multitude of ancient writers who have treated of Ceylon, Agathemerus and Ptolemy should "be the only two who have told of this peculiarity of the low-country Singhalese. I have found it noticed
nowhere else except in the Epitome of Geography, compiled in the fifth century by Moses of Chorene, who evidently copied it from Agathemerus, " viri regionis istius capillis muliebribus sua capita redimiunt." -? Mosis CHOBENENSiSj Hist. Armenia etEpit. Geogr.. edit. WMston, 1726; p. 367.CHAP. I.] INHABITANTS. 107
Albyrouni is doubtless correct, when lie says that the practice of the Indian natives, before the birth of Mahomet, to wear their hah unshorn, was an intuitive precaution against the excessive heat of the sun1, but that the fashion in Ceylon should have assumed an essentially feminine form, and have preserved it through so many centuries, presents one of the most remarkable evidences with which I am acquainted, of the enduring tenacity of oriental habit.
With their delicate features and slender limbs, their frequent want of beards 2, their use of earrings and their practice of wearing a cloth round the waist called a corn-boy *, which has all the appearance of a petticoat, the men have an air of effeminacy very striking to the eye of a
stranger4
----D----
The Singhalese women dress with less grace than simplicity, their principal garment being a white muslin jacket, which loosely covers the figure, and a coraboy or waist cloth, similar to that worn by the men. But their aim is the display of their jewelry, necklaces, bangles and rings, the gems of which are often of intrinsic value, though defective both in cutting and mounting. The children .are beautiful, their hair
1 ee Ce qui convient au corps c'est | 3 For tlie origin of this word, see line temperature a pen pres con- j the chapter on the intercourse of the stante; et rien n'est plus propre a ! Chinese with Ceylon, Vol. I. p. 588. produire cet effet, qu'une espece | So tenaciously So the Singhalese d'enyelope naturelle qu'on est libre j cling to ancient habits, that even when de rendre plus ou rnoins puissante." i a man has partially adopted European ?REINATTD, Mem. sur FInde, p. 238. costumes, he will still wear a comboy
a Their slender limbs and the j over his trousers, absence of beards among the Singha- 4 It is said that the Spaniards gave lese is noticed in the story of Jam- \ the name of ee Amazon "to the river of bulus as recorded by DIQDORTJS, lib. I South America, from finding on it a ii. ch. xxxvi. The Chinese in the i tribe of Indians of delicate configii-seventh century, accustomed to the ration, the men of which parted their flat features of the Mogul races, were : hair in front, and winding it round surprised at, the prominent noses of their head, secured it with a comb the Singhalese,* and HIOTJEN THSANG j made from the homy fibres of a palm describes the natives of Ceylon, as } tree, and surmounted by feathers.? having the ie beak of a bird with the | WALLACE'S Travels on the Amazon 9 body of a man,"? wi corps tfhomme \ p. 277,493; KIDDEE and FLETCHER'S et un lee tfoiseau; torn. ii. p. 140. I Mrazil, Philad. 1857, p. 4o8; 507.I OS
SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL PROVINCES. [PART VII.
wavy and shining, and as they wear no covering of any kind till four or five years old, a group of these little creatures at play suggests the idea of living bronzes.
Galle has a large population of Moors, who are mostly lapidaries, or dealers in gems \ and one of the earliest visits received by a stranger on his arrival, is from these persevering jewellers, with whom it requires both experience and judgment to negotiate with safety. It ought to be borne in mind, that it is the custom among Oriental races for the buyer, and not the seller, to place the value on any article he requires. An Eastern in the bazaar, makes an offer for what he wants, and waits for the owner to take or refuse it. Long contact with Europeans has so far modified this practice in Ceylon, that a buyer expects the seller to name a price for his commodities ; and when a traveller adduces, as an evidence of fraud or rapacity, that a dealer may have asked double what he has eventually accepted, it would be well to remember, that it is contrary to custom for the owner to be the appraiser, and that " caveat emptor" is the rule amongst Orientals, from whom the Eomans borrowed the maxim.2
Tortoise-shell is another article in which the workmen of Galle have employed themselves since the time of the Eomans8, and of which they still make- bracelets, hair pins, and ornaments of great taste and beauty. But the principal handicrafts-men are cabinet-makers, carpenters, and carvers in Calarnander-wood, ebony, and. ivory. Their skill in this work is quite remarkable, considering the simplicity of their implements and tools; but owing to their deficiency in design, and the want of
1 An amount of the pursuits of ill-** f»rfil« will be found wte, Vol. L Pt, v. t'k iv, p. iJ05.
* I 111 t-mni jinllidiiin eraptoraest v»'ntliti iiu fjiui"1 esseP'
W Ik Of, ill 14
3 SIBABO, il. i. 14 , Ceylon formerly exported tortoise-shell, but tlie demand lias become so great for home manufacture, that it is now
imported from Penang and the Mai-dive Islands,CHAP. I-] TRADE. 109
proper models, their unaided productions are by no means in accordance with European tastes.1
The share of the commerce of Ceylon which at present belongs to the port of Galle is small compared with that of Colombo. The latter, from its nearer vicinity to the coffee estates and the cinnamon districts, exports the largest proportion of these, as well as of other articles, from the interior and the north, whilst the chief trade of Galle consists in the productions of the coco-nut tree with which the southern province is so densely covered that the country in every direction for some distance from the sea, appears a continuous forest of palms.2 The oil expressed from the nut; coir and cordage manufactured from its fibre ; and arrack distilled from the sap of the tree, are shipped in large quantities for Europe and India.
But the local prosperity of Galle is mainly dependent on the merchant vessels and steam packets which make it their rendezvous; and on the travellers from all parts of the East who are carried there in consequence. These are sufficient to support its numerous hotels, lodging houses, and bazaars ; but private residents complain, and with justice, of the increase of prices, and the excessive cost of living, which has been entailed upon them in consequence.
The Dutch carried to their Eastern settlements two of their home propensities, which distinguish and embellish the towns of the Low Countries; they indulged in the excavation of canals, and they planted long lines of trees to diffuse shade over the sultry passages in their Indian fortresses. For the latter purpose they
1 At Galle and elsewhere, I found the cabinet-makers and carvers using1 as a substitute for sand-paper to polish their work, the rough leaves of a species of fig-tree, called by them sewana .wediyaj and of a creeper known as the korossa-mael I am unable to identify them scientifically.
2 It is a curious illustration of the innumerable uses of the coco-nut palm, that some years ago a ship from the Mai dive Islands touched at Galle, which was entirely built, riprpred, provisioned, and laden with the produce
of that tree. ? PEHervAt^ p. 320.110 SOUTHERN" AND CENTBAL PKOVINCES. [PART YII
employed the Suriya (Hibiscus populneus), whose broad umbrageous leaves and delicate yellow flowers impart a delicious coolness, and give to the streets of Galle and Colombo the fresh and enlivening aspect of walks in a garden.
In the towns, however, the suriya is productive of one serious inconvenience. It is the resort of a hairy greenish caterpillar 1? longitudinally striped, which frequents it in great numbers, and at a certain stage of its growth descends by a silken thread to the ground and hurries away, probably in search of a suitable spot in which to pass through -its metamorphosis. Should it happen to alight, as it often does, upon some lounger below, and find its way to his unprotected skin, it inflicts, if molested, a sting as pungent, but far more lasting, than that of a nettle or a star-fish.
Attention being thus directed to the quarter whence the assailant has lowered himself down, the caterpillars above will be found in clusters, sometimes amounting to hundreds dinging to the branches and the bark, with a few straggling over the leaves or suspended from them by lines. These pests are so annoying to children as well as destructive to the foliage, that it is often necessary to singe them off the trees by a flambeau raised on the extremity of a pole; and as they fall to the ground they are eagerly devoured by the crows and domestic fowls.2
With the exception of the old church built by the Netherlands East India Company, the town of Galle
1 The species of moth. with, which | "with fleshy spines on the upper sur-it is identified has not yet been de- | faee? each of which seems to Tbe temiinedj but it most probably be- charged with the venom that occa-
longs to a section of BoisduvaFs genus Bombyx near Cnethocampa Stephens.
£ Another caterpillar which feeds
sions this acute suffering. The moth which this caterpillar produces; Re&ra lepida, Cramer; Limacodes gmtiosa,
Westw.j has dark brown wings, the
on the jasmine-flowering Carissa, j primary traversed by a broad" green stings with such fury tliat I have band. It is common in the Western known a gentleman to shed tears j side of Ceylon. The larvsa of the while the pain was at its height. It j genus Adolia are also hairy? and sting-is short and broad, of a pale green., | with virulence.CHAP. I.]
NATIVE TOWN.
Ill
contains no remarkable buildings, and the streets at the present clay differ little* in their aspect from that which they presented during the presence of the Dutch. The houses are spacious, but seldom higher than a single story, and each has, along the entire line of the front, a deep verandah supported on pillars to create shade for the rooms within.
At the close of the day we drove with the principal government officer, Mr. Cripps, through the native town, which extends beyond the walls of the fort, and thence through some native villages along the margin of the bay, in the direction of Matura, the road being-one continuous avenue of coco-nut trees. The enjoyment of the scene was indescribable ; the cool shade of the palm groves, the fresh verdure of the grass, the bright tint of the flowers that twined over every tree, the rich copper hue of the soil, and the occasional glimpse of the sea through the openings in the dense wood; all combined to form a landscape unsurpassed in novelty and beauty.
The suburbs consist chiefly of native huts, interspersed here and there with the decaying villas of the old Dutch burghers, distinguished by quaint doorways and fantastic entrances to the compounds and gardens. The latter contained abundance of fruit-trees, oranges, limes, pap-paws, bread-fruits, and plantains, and a plentiful undergrowth of pine-apples, yams, and sweet potatoes. Of these by far the most remarkable tree is the jak, with broad glossy leaves and enormous yellow fruit, not growing on the branches, but supported by powerful stalks from the trunk of the tree.1
I was struck with the extraordinary numbers of the
1 Tlie jak; Artocarpu® inteyrifolia, would seein to "be the tree which Pliny says the Indians called Pala and lariena, putting forth fruit from its bark, one of which was sufficient to furnish a meal for four persons;
ct fnictum cortice mittit ut uno qua-temos satiet." ? xii. 12. Sprengel and Bauhin supposed Pliny to mean the plantain; but the description quoted applies to the jak.112
SOUTHERN" AND CENTRAL PROVINCES. [PABT VII.
beautiful striped shells of the Helix hcemastoma, on the stems of the coco-nut palms on the road as we drove towards Matura, and stopping frequently to collect them, I was led to observe that each separate garden seemed to possess a variety almost peculiar to itself; in one the mouth of every individual shell was red, in another separated from the first only by a wall, black, and in others (but less frequently) pure white; whilst the varieties of external colouring were equally local; in one enclosure they were nearly all red, and in an adjoining one all brown.1
The southern coast, from 'Gralle to Hambangtotte (which I visited at a later period), is one of the most interesting and remarkable portions of Ceylon. Its inhabitants are the most purely Singhalese section of, the population. It formed an important part of the ancient division of Eohuna, which was colonised at an early period by the followers of Wijayo2, and their descendants were so far removed from Anarajapoora and the north, that they had neither intercourse nor commixture with the Malabars. Their temples were asylums for the studious and learned, and to the present day, some of the priests of Matura and Mulgirigalle are accomplished scholars in Sanskrit and Pali, and possess rich collections of Buddhist manuscripts and books.
The scenery of the coast as far as Dondera, is singularly lovely, the currents having scooped the line of the shore into coves and bays of exquisite beauty, separated by precipitous headlands covered with forests and crowned by groves of coco-nut palms.
Close by Belhgam the road passes a rock, a niche
in Ms Naturalises Voyage^ mentions a parallel instance of the localised propagation of colours
amongst the cattle which range the pasturage of East Falkland Island; *'round" Mount Qsborne about half
of some of the herds were mouse-
coloured, a tint not common anywhere else, ? near Mount Pleasant dark-brown prevailed; whereas south of Choiseul Sound white beasts with black heads and feet were common." ? Ch. ix. p. 192.
* See ante, Vol. I. Pt. i. ch. iii. p. 3S7.CHAP. I] DONDEBA. 113
in which contains the statue of the " Kustia Eaja" an Indian prince, in whose honour it was erected, because, according to the legend, he was the first to teach the Singhalese the culture of the coco-nut.1
Every building throughout this favourite district is a memorial of the Dutch. The rest-houses on the roadside, the villas in the suburbs, and the fortifications of the towns were erected by them ; and Matura, with its little star-fort of coral, remains as perfect at the present day, as when it was a seat of the spice trade, and a sanitary retreat for the garrison of Galle.2
Dondera Head, the Suniuin of Ceylon, and the southern extremity of the island, is covered with the ruins of a temple, which was once one of the most celebrated in Ceylon. The headland itself has been the resort of devotees and pilgrims, from the most remote ages; ? Ptolemy describes it as Dagana, " sacred to the Moon," and the Buddhists constructed there one of their earliest dagobas, the restoration of which was the care of successive sovereigns.3 But the most important temple was a shrine which in very early times had been erected by the Hindus in honour of Vishnu. It was in. the height of its splendour, when, in 1587, the place was devastated in the course of the marauding expedition by which De Souza d'Arronches sought to create a diversion, during the siege of Colombo by Eaja Singha II.4 The historians of the period state that at that time Dondera was the most renowned place of pilgrimage in Ceylon; Adam's Peak scarcely excepted.
1 See ante, Vol. I. Pt. IT. ch. xi. p. 437. The legend will be found in POWER'S Ceylon Miscellany, vol. i. p. 250; Gotta; 1842. An engraving of the statue is given in the Asiatic Researches, vol. vi. p. 432.
2 Matura was fortified in A.D. 1550; by King- Dharma-pala, with the aid of the Portuguese (VALENTIN, Oud en Nieuio Oost-Indien, ch. vi. p. 8) j "but the fort still exist-
YOL. II.
ing was erected by the Dutch in A.D.
1645.?Ibid., ch. xi. p. 130.
3 Query,?Does Ptolemy's name Dagana refer to the dagobaf The latter was repaired, A.D. 686; by King Dapoolu, who held his court at Mahagam, to the east of Dondera (Rajamli, p. 248) ; and again, A.D. 1180,, by Prakrama Bahu I.?FOSSES'
" wen Years in Ceylon, vol. ii. p. 178. See ante, Vol. II. Pi vi. ch. i114 SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL PROVINCES. [PART TIL
The temple, they say, was so vast, that from the sea it had the appearance of a city. The pagoda was raised on vaulted arches, richly decorated, and roofed with plates of gilded copper. It was encompassed by a quadrangular cloister, opening under verandahs, upon a terrace and gardens with odoriferous shrubs and trees, whose flowers were gathered by the priests for processions. De Souza entered the gates without resistance; and his soldiers tore down the statues, which were more than a thousand in number. The temple and its buildings were overthrown, its arches and its colonnades were demolished, and its gates and towers levelled with the ground. The plunder was immense, in ivory, gems, jewels, sandal-wood, and ornaments of gold. As the last indignity that could be offered to the sacred place, cows were slaughtered in the courts, and the cars of the idol, with other combustible materials, being fired, the shrine was reduced to ashes.1 A stone doorway exquisitely carved, and a small building, whose extraordinary strength resisted the violence of the destroyers, are all that now remain standing; but the ground for a considerable distance is strewn with ruins, conspicuous among which are numbers of finely cut columns of granite. The dagoba which stood on the crown of the hill, is a mound of shapeless debris.
Still farther to the east are the towns of Tangalle and Hambangtotte, in the vicinity of which lie the vast marshes or leways^ whence the island derives its principal supplies of salt.
The fire-flies and glow-worms were kindling their emerald lamps as we returned after sunset, from our evesDing drive, to the fort of Gafle. We had our first Singhalese dinner at the Queen's House, with and poultry (for which ktter the adjoining district of Matura is famous), followed by a dessert
^ FAEU v$tiV%.\)Pwtox$iMieAm, | DECOTJTO, Am, $* ?,_, dec. x. eh, xv
4'^, TCI!, ill, pi i. cL vi. p. 53 5 [ ToLvi.pt.ii. p. 648*CHAP. I.]
MOSQUITOES.
115
in which, rambutans \ custard apples2, and country almonds3, were the most agreeable novelties. The only drawbacks to enjoyment were the heat and the mosquitoes; and from either it was hopeless to escape. Next to the torture and apprehension it inflicts, the most annoying peculiarities of the mosquito are the booming hum of its approach, its cunning, its audacity, and the perseverance with which it renews its attacks however frequently repulsed; and these characteristics are so remarkable as fully to justify the conjecture that the mosquito, and not the ordinary fly, constituted the plague inflicted upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians.4
1 This delicious fruit, which is a species of Nephelium, takes its name from the Malay word ramout, u the hair of the head/' which describes the villose covering that envelopes it.
2 Anona reticulata.
3 From the Terminalia Catappa; called JZath-badam in Bengal. The tree is exotic; and was probably introduced into Ceylon from Java.? See BUCHANAN'S Survey of ~Behar, vol. i. p. 233.
4 The precise species of insect by means of which the Almighty signalised the plague of flies, remains uncertain, as the Hebrew term arob or orotjy which has been rendered in one place, "Divers sorts of flies/' Ps. cy. 31; and in another, lt swarms of flies/' Exod. viii. 21, &c., means merely " anassemblage/' a "mixture/' or a " swarm," and the expletive " of
film " is an interpolation of the translators. This, however, serves to show that the fly implied was one easily recognisable by its habit of swarming; and the farther fact that it bites, or rather stings, is elicited from the expression of the Psalmist, Ps. Ixxviii. 45, that the insects by which the Egyptians were tormented (t devoured them," so that here are two peculiarities inapplicable to the domestic fly, but strongly characteristic of gnats and mosquitoes.
Bruce thought that the fly of the fourth plague was the "zimb" of Abyssinia which he so graphically describes j and WESTWOOD, in an ingenious passage in his Entomologist's Text-book, p. 17, combats the strange idea of one of the bishops, that it was a cockroach ! and argues in favour of the mosquito. This view he sustains by a reference to the habits of the creature, the swarms in which it invades a locality, and the audacity with which it enters the houses; and he accounts for the exemption of "the land of Goshen in which the Israelites dwelt/' by the fact of its being sandy pasture above the level of the river.j whilst the mosquitoes were produced freely in the rest of Egypt, the soil of which was submerged Iby the rising of the Nile.
In all the passages in the Old Testament in which flies are alluded to, otherwise than in connection with the Egyptian infliction, the word used in the Hebrew is sevov, which the Septuagint renders by the ordinary generic term, for flies in general, i'ivia9 "musca" (Eccles. x. 1, Isaiah vii 10); but in every instance in which mention is made of the miracle of Moses, the Septuagint says that the fly produced was the jawo/jnTa, the "dog-fly." "What insect was
j 2116
SOUTHEKN" AM) CENTRAL PROVINCES. [PART TIL
The great problem which must occupy the attention of those interested in the future destiny of Point de Galle, involves the means of rendering the harbour sufficiently commodious and secure for the reception of the great and increasing number of steam-vessels, which now make it their resort. The magnitude of the interests concerned expands the question to imperial dimensions; and if Galle is to become the great civil arsenal of the East; the rendezvous for the packets and passenger ships from India, Australia, and China; as well as for the merchantmen* which touch there for telegraphic orders by which their further course is to be guided; the enlargement of the area of the harbour, as well as its protection from the swell of the monsoon, must be speedily secured by the construction of the necessary works. And, in the consideration of this, the further question arises of the comparative advantages of Trinco-malie, and the practicability of adapting the unrivalled bay of the latter to all the requirements of commerce by a system of railways connecting the eastern and western coasts of Ceylon.
Elsewhere I have alluded very briefly to the pheno mena of the tides around the island1, and I have given the particulars of the " establishment" at a few of the ports most frequented by seamen. In noticing this subject in connection with Galle, there are two peculiarities which cannot fail to excite attention; the very slight variation in altitude between high and low water at all
rowrat by this it h not now easy to tlt'tcrminc, but /Elian intimates that th«x di £-lly both inflicts a wound itti'I *"iuit» a b joining waind, in both « f which jttirtu'tthm* It accords with tlit1 nn »*qmt » f lib, IT. 51 ) ; PHILO-Jno;i% In hi* r/to lib. iek
xsiii., tlisiiiutiBtf on the plague of CH% mid ;j.*ujjr the term of the
it as of
*, the ily gr the courage
and the cunning of both; and fastening on its victim with, the noise and
rapidity of an arrow'7?pera poi£ov Katfdvtp fiiXog. This seems to Identify the dog-fly of the Septuagint with the description of the Psalmist, Ps. Ixxviii. 45, and to vindicate the conjecture that the tormenting mosquito, and not the harmless house-fly, was commissioned by the Lord to humble the obstinacy of the Egyptian tyrant, 1 Vol. 1. tfc. i. ch. I. p. 52,CHAP. L] PHENOMENA. OF THE TIDES. 117
points round the coast, and the discrepant hours at which the former occurs on the east and west coasts respectively. The difficulties which arose in my own mind on the subject, and the doubts I entertained as to the accuracy of the ordinary authorities, have' been so satisfactorily removed by a communication from Admiral Fitzroy, that I regret my inability to incorporate at length the valuable information with which he has supplied me.
? His opinion is, that - Ceylon as a prolongation of the great Indian peninsula, projects so far into the Indian Ocean as to oppose an effectual barrier to the free and simultaneous action of its waters, under the attraction of the moon. Hence they may be considered as broken into two independent sections or zones, each with a time peculiar to itself, and a tide-wave moving from east to west; ? and each more or less influenced by superaddecl phenomena, differing essentially according to the local features of the respective shores. Thus the most easterly tide impinges on the coast of Ceylon., reaching Batticaloa about four o'clock in the afternoon, Trincomalie about two hours later, and thence passing towards Coromandel and Madras. Whilst this wave is pursuing its course, the moon has been already acting on the opposite side of India, and forming another tide-wave already in motion towards the coast of Arabia and Africa; consequently withdrawing the waters, and depressing their level in the Gulf of Mannar. But before they can be much reduced on the west they are overtaken by the wave from the east, which their fall, and
limits the change of level to less thirty
inches.
Aprain on the moon ceasing to influence the western section of the sea, the tendency of tlie tide-wave wlion released from her is to return towards, and
(because of acquired momentum) even fic^mil^ its position of equilibrium, while reeefliri^ toward** the* of 'Malabar and Ceylon, Haire a of
i S118 SOUTHERN AKD CENTRAL PKOVINCES. [PABT YII.
tion, of advance and retrogression, must be presumed until the earth's attraction and the effects of friction shall have quite checked the movement.1 Thus the periods within which the principal tide-waves succeed one another, and the oscillations to which they give rise, originate derivative tide-waves of form and character so peculiar as to call for a more attentive investigation than has hitherto been devoted to them.2
It must not, however, be forgotten, that the tidal phenomena which affect the limited zones of waters, on either side of the Indian peninsula (waters, which, if left to themselves, would have a tendency, when unaffected by the attraction of the moon, to be restored to a condition of normal equilibrium), receive still further complication from the marginal efflux of the tide-wave of the great Indian Ocean. This tide-wave itself is not free, but modified in its turn by impingement against the African continent, and by the deportment of that continuous swell, " immensely broad and excessively flat,"3 which sweeps comparatively unchecked round the world between the parallels of 40° and 60° south. In our present limited knowledge of facts, we are not in a position to determine what changes of level or of " stream" (not necessarily co-existent phenomena) may result from these various sources of disturbance.
In the harbour of Gafle, the daily period of high-water
is so materially modified by the phase of the monsoon,
and the strength and direction of the currents, as well as
of the off and on shore winds, that the very moderate
ascent and depression of level (somewhat less than two
feet) produced by luni-solar influences, laave hitherto
attracted but little attention from any except the more
seamen, who may have made sustained observa-
in order to eliminate these accidental variations
1 Tide to the J%tf$e of \ s BABBA.GE, Nmfh
tM vol if, p, 277. I Treatise, Appendix, p.
3 Owklmes, $c., p. 497.CHAP. I.]
TIDES IN" THE INDIAN OCEAN.
119
from the general results, and establish a correct theory of the movement of the waters in the Indian Ocean. It is now nearly a quarter of a century, since Dr. "Whewell laid the foundation of the inquiry and endeavoured to elicit the co-operation of practical men in its solution; and though much has been done to accumulate facts, still observations have not yet been made in sufficient number to lead to an inference as to the probable truth of any hypothesis based upon those already recorded.1
1 That tlie question is not unworthy of the attention of intelligent officers in Ceylon, hampered as the coast-canying trade of the island is by those singular sand-barriers, to which I have referred in a former passage (see Vol. I. Pt. i. ch. i. p. 45), is shown by a recent report, an extract from which has fallen into my hands while this volume is passing through the press. Lieut. TAYLOB, of the Indian Navy, in remarking on similar accumulations of sand which obstruct the navigation at Cochin, observes, " that a minute knowledge both of the set of the tides and of the prevailing ocean currents, as also of the heaviest swell of the south-west monsoon, is indispensable to a right
judgment" in regard to any projected improvements at the former port, He enters into a minute examination of the question, supporting his view by reference to facts respecting the tides on the west side of India. That the materials derived from other authority than his own were meagre and inadequate, would be seen by a perusal of his Eeport ?- nor can much be done to assist in arriving at more mature conclusions, until the authorities recognise the importance of the inquiry, or enterprising officers, with adequate means at their disposal, go to the very moderate expense of fitting up self-registering tide-gauges at points along the coast.
i 4120 SOUTHERN- AND CENTRAL PROVINCES. [PAET VII.
CHAP. II GALLE TO COLOMBO.?ADAM'S PEAK.
AT sunrise on the 30th November, as the morning gun was firing, we passed under the fort-gate, and crossed the drawbridge of Galle, en route for Colombo; having secured for our party the two primitive vehicles which carry the government mails, and which then performed the journey in less than twelve hours1; crossing the broad estuaries of three rivers in ferry boats, the Gindura, the Bentotte, and the Kalu-ganga; besides an arm of the Pantura-lake.
When the British took possession of Ceylon, and for many years afterwards, no road deserving the name was in existence, to unite these important positions.2 Travellers were borne along the shore in palankins, by paths under the trees; troops on the march, dragged their guns with infinite toil over the sand; and stores, supplies and ammunition were earned on men's shoulders through the jungle. Since then, not only has a highway unsurpassed in construction been completed to Colombo, but continued through the mountains to the central capital at Kandy, and thence higher still to Neuera-ellia, at an elevation of six thousand feet above the sea. Xor is this all: every town of importance in the island
1 Since then all these rivers have ' starting on a tour round the island;
bridged. ^ one hundred .and sixty palanMn
3 PEECITH, p. 145. An idea of bearers, four hundred coolies to carry
the toil of travelling this road in the the baggage, two elephants, six
Tear 1*00 may be collected from the horses, and fifty lasears to take care
number of attendants which the Go- of the tents.?COBDINER. ch. ri. p.
waw forced to take on his 168. from Colombo to Galle whenCHAP. II.] KOADS. 121
is now connected with, the two principle cities, by roads either wholly or partially macadamised. One continuous line, seven hundred and sixty-nine miles in length, has been formed round the entire circuit of the coast, adapted for carriages where it approaches the principal places, and nearly everywhere available for horsemen and wayfarers. Of upwards of three hundred miles of roads in all directions, nearly two-thirds may be considered as open and traversable at all seasons, but the others, during the rains which accompany the monsoons, are impassable from want of drainage and bridges.
No portion of British India can bear comparison with Ceylon, either in the extent or the excellence of its means of communication; and for this enviable preeminence the colony is mainly indebted to the genius of one eminent man, and the energy and perseverance of another. Sir Edward Barnes, on assuming the government in 1820, had the penetration to perceive that the sums annually wasted on hill-forts and garrisons in the midst of wild forests, might, with judicious expenditure, be made to open the whole country by military roads, at once securing and enriching it. Before the close of his administration, he had the happiness of witnessing the realisation of his policy; and of leaving every radius of the diverging lines, which he had planned, either wholly or partially completed. One officer who had been associated with the enterprise from its origin, and with every stage of its progress, remained behind him to consummate Ms plans. That officer was Major Skinner, the present Commissioner of Eoads in Ceylon. To Mm more than to any living man, the colony is indebted for its present prosperity; and in after years, when the interior shall have attained the full development of its productive resources, and derived all the advantages of facile communications with the coast, the name of this meritorious public servant will be122
SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL PROVINCES. [PART VII.
gratefully honoured, in close association with that of his illustrious chief.1
In its peculiar style of beauty, nothing in the world can exceed in loveliness the road from Point cle Galle to Colombo; it is literally an avenue of palms, nearly seventy miles long, with a rich under-growtli of tropical trees, many of them crimson with flowers, and overrun with orchids and climbing plants2, whose tendrils descend in luxuriant festoons. Birds of gaudy plumage dart amidst the branches, gay butterflies hover over the shady foliage, and insects of metallic lustre glitter on the leaves. Bright-green lizards clash over the banks and ascend the trees, and the hideous but harmless iguano3, half familiar with man, moves slowly across the high-road out of the way of the traveller's carriage, and hisses as it retreats to allow him to pass. Where a view of the landscape can be caught through an opening in the thick woods, it is equally grand and impressive on every side. On one hand is seen the range of purple hills, which form the mountain-zone of Kandy, and stretch far as the eye can reach, till they are crowned by the mysterious summit of Adam's Peak.
e( Olha em Ceilao, qiie o monte se alevanta Tanto que as nuvens passa, on a vista engana: Os naturaes o tern por cousa santa, Por a pedra em que esta a pe*gada hiunana." 4
To the left glitters the blue sea, studded with rocky islets, over which, even during sunny calms, the swell from the Indian Ocean rolls volumes of snowy
1 Since tlie albove was written, her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, on the recommendation of the governor, Sir Henry G-. Ward, has conferred on Major Skinner an appropriate recognition of his great services hy raising him to the rank of a Member of Council, with the important appointment of Auditor-Cjeneral of the colony j an office for which Ms previous experience invested him with paramount qualifications.
2 One of the most wonderful of these, thegloriosa superla, is abundant near G-aUe, and such is the splendour of its red and amber flowers, that even the most listless stranger cannot resist the temptation to stop and wonder.
3 Monitor dractma, Gray. For an account of this large lizard, see Vol. I. Ft. rr. ch. iii. p. m
4 CAJMCOEHS, Lusiad, canto x. st« 136.CHAP. II.]
INHABITANTS.
123
foam. The beach is carpeted with verdure down the line of the yellow sand ; and occasionally the level sweeps of the coast are diversified by bold headlands which advance abruptly till they overhang the waves, and form sheltering bays for the boats of the fishermen, which, all day long, are in motion within sight of the shore.
Arbouxed in the shades of these luxuriant groves, nestle the white cottages of the natives, each with its garden of coco-nuts and plantains, and in the suburbs of the numerous villages, some of the more ambitious dwellings, built on the model of the old Dutch villas, are situated in tiny compounds1, enclosed by dwarf walls and lines of arecas.
In this particular, the taste of the low-country Sin-o-halese, who like to place their houses in open and airy situations, contrasts with that of the Kanclyans, who are fond of seclusion, and build their villages in glens and recesses where their existence would be unsuspected, were it not indicated by the coco-nut palms which are planted beside them.
Towards Gralle, the majority of this rural population are of the Chalia caste2, whose members, though low in conventional rank, are amongst the most useful of the Singhalese population. They appear to have arrived originally from the coast of India, as embroiderers and weavers, and to have settled at Barberyn in the thirteenth century.
1 From campinhO) a little field (Portuguese).
2 PTOLEMY gives to tlie inhabitants of Taprobane the name of Salos, "SdXai, and to the island itself Salice, 2aXt/c?7 (lib. yii. iv,), which WZLFOKD says is a derivative from the Sanskrit Sala. (JEssaij on the Sacred Isles of tlie West, As. Res., vol. x. p. 124.) An ancient name of Adam's Peak is Salmala, or the " Mountain of Sala." FKA BAKCOLEMEO traces the origin of all these names to the Saleyas, an Indian tribe, called in the Puranas " Salavas," and it is a curious coincidence, that the Chalia caste, who
still inhabit the district surrounding Galle, and extending thence to Ne-gomboj claim to call themselves Salias, and say that their ancestors came originally from Hindustan. The legend is set out at length in an historical sketch of the Ohalias, written by ADBIAW RAJAPAKSA, a chief of the caste, and embodied in a memoir (t On the Religion and Habits of tlie People of Ceylon" by M. JOIKVILLE. As, Res., vol. vii. p. 399.
The most satisfactory account of this singular yace that I have seen, is in the Asiatic Jo'^rnal for 1833, vol. xl. p. 269.124
SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL PROVINCES. P?ABT YIL
At a much' later period they betook themselves to the trade of peeling cinnamon; an art of which they soon secured the virtual monopoly. The Portuguese, alive to the importance of the duties in which this hardy class was engaged, of penetrating the hills in search of the coveted spice, induced the kings of Gotta to institute a regular organisation of the caste, and to assign certain villages for their residence, at various points along the coast from Negombo to Matura. The Dutch, though treating the Chalias with the most heartless severity, preserved the system as they inherited it from their predecessors1; and to the present day, they thrive on the southern coast, engaging in every branch of industry that gives activity and prosperity to the district.
There is no quarter of the world in which the coconut flourishes in such rich luxuriance as in this corner of Ceylon. Here it enjoys a rare combination of every advantage essential to its growth,?a loose and friable soil, a free and genial air, unobstructed solar heat, and an atmosphere damp with the spray and moisture from the sea, towards which the crown of the tree is always more or less inclined.2
Of late years, its cultivation has been vastly increased. Some idea may be formed of its importance, from the fact that, at the time when the English took possession of Colombo, it was estimated that the single district lying between Dondera Head and Calpentyn contained ten millions of coco-nut trees3; and such has been the in-
1 VALENTYN, Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien, fyc.} eh. six. p. 135; ch. xv. p. 316.
2 A. writer in the Journal of tJie Jhdicm ArcMpdago for 1850 observes, that tMs tendency to bend above the sea, causing its fruit to drop into the water, appears to account for its extension to the numerous islands and atolls "to which the nut is floated by the winds and tide,"?Vol. iv. p. 103. A curious illustration of the passion of the coco-nut for the sea is mentioned by DAMPIEB, in connec-
tion with the little island of Pulo-Mega, off the coast of Sumatra, which he says, t( is not a rnile round, and so low that the tide flows over it. It is of a sandy soil, and full of coco-nut trees, notwithstanding that at every spring-tide the salt-water goes clear over the island.77?Voyage, fyc.} vol. L p. 474, quoted by CBAW-* FTJEB, in his Dictionary of the Indian
3 BEBTOLACCI, pt. iv. p. 324. The Ceylon Observer of the 25th. December 1858, contains the followingCHAP. II j
COCO-NUT PALMS.
crease since, that the total number in the island cannot be less than twenty millions.
All that has ever been told of the bread fruit or any other plant contributing to the welfare of man, is as nothing compared with the blessings conferred on Ceylon by this inestimable palm. The Singhalese, in the warmth of their affection for their favourite tree, avow their belief that it pines when beyond the reach of the human voicel; and recount with animation" the "hundred uses " for which its products are made available,2
summary of the extent of coco-nut cultivation in the island:?" In the quinquennial period ending 1841, the average export of coco-nut oil did not greatly exceed 400,000 gallons, the value being under 26,000£ In 1857, the export rose to the enormous figure of 1,767,413 gallons, valued at 212,1S4Z. At 40 nuts to a gallon of oil, the above export represents no fewer than 70,696,520 coco-nuts. We should think that at least as much oil is consumed in the colony as is sent out of it. If so, we get 141,393,040 mttSy converted 'into 3,534,826 gallons of oil, besides poonack or oil-cake, which is valuable as food for animals and as manure. Say that there are 20,000,000 of coco-nut trees in Ceylon, oil would seem to be made from the product of one-sixth of them, say 3,500,000. We should think that not less than 5,000,000 more of the trees are devoted to i Toddy' drawing, the liquor being drunk fermented, distilled into arrack or converted into sugar. We should then have 11,500,000 of trees, yielding 460,000,000 of nuts to meet the food requirements of the people, besides the quantity exported in their natural state or as copperali."
1 That the coco-nut grows more luxuriantly in the vicinity of human dwellings "is certain ; "but then it finds a soil artificially enriched there: and it is equally certain that the tree is never found wild in the jungles; but this may be owing to the destruction of the "young plants by elephants^
which are fond of the tender leaves. The same reason serves to account for its rarity in the Kandyan country, which cannot be ascribed solely to remoteness from the sea, since the coco-nut palm grows a hundred leagues from the coast in Venezuela, and it is even said to have been seen at Timbuctoo.
2 The list is, of course, extended to the full hundred; but to eke out this complement requires some ingenious subdivision. Thus, the trunk furnishes fourteen appliances for building, furniture, firewood, ships, fences, and farming implements; the leaves, twenty-seven for thatch., matting, fodder-baskets, and minor utensils j the web sustaining the footstalks serves for strainers and flambeaux; the blossom, for preserves and pickles; the fruit-sap, for spirits, sugar, and vinegar; the nut and its juices, for food and for drinking-, for oil, curries, cakes, and cosmetics j the sJieU, for cups, lamps, spoons, bottles, and tooth-powder; and the fibre which surrounds it, for beds, cushions, and carpets, brushes, nets, ropes, cordage, and cables.?See ante, "V ol. I. Pi I. ch. iii. p. 110. One jre-eminent use of the coco-nut palm is omitted in all these popular enumerations: it acts as a conductor m protecting their homes from lightning. As many as 500 of these trees were struck in a siegle j patw near Putl&n. during a SUCOBSSBQB I of thunder-storms in April 185&? I Cofombo- Qfyerwr.126
SOUTHERN AND CENTEAL PROVINCES. [PART VII.
There is hardly one of these multifarious uses that may not be seen in active illustration during the drive between Galle and Colombo. Houses are timbered with its wood, and roofed with its plaited fronds, which, under the name of cajans, are likewise employed for constructing partitions and fences. The fruit, in all its varieties of form and colour1, is ripened around the native dwellings, and the women may be seen at their doors rasping its white flesh to powder, in order to extract from it the milky emulsion which constitutes the essential excellence of a Singhalese curry.2 In pits by
1 Though unfamiliar to the eve of a stranger, the Singhalese distinguish five varieties of the nut. One, "bright orange in the colour of the outer husk, known as the "King coconut/' is generally planted near the temples: it contains a fluid so delicate that a draught of it is offered hy the priests to visitors of distinction as an honour. The other four vary from light yellow to dark green, and are also distinguished "by shape and size. The wonderful double coconut from the Seychelles, Lodoicea Seychellarum} has been introduced into Ceylon, but I am not aware that it has yet fruited there. In size it exceeds the ordinary coco-nut many fold, with the added peculiarity *of presenting a double form. One specimen which I obtained in Ceylon exhibits a triple formation. In the subjoined sketch an orange is introduced to exhibit the extraordinary size of these singular coco-nuts, even after being deprived of the outward husk.
Drifted by the waves from some unknown shore, this mysterious fruit ,
was at one time believed to grow beneath the'sea, and was thence called the Coco de Her. Medicinal virtues were then ascribed to it, and so much as 4000 florins were offered by^ the Emperor Rodolf II. for a single specimen (MALTHE BRITF, vol. iv. p. 420). It is to this singular plant that Camoens alludes in the Lusiad:?
** Nas ilhas de Maldiva nasce a planta No profundo das aguas, soberana, Cujo porno contra o veneno urgente He tido por antidote excellente."
Canto x. st. 136.
2 In a note to Vol. I. Pt. rv. ch. ii. p. 436, I have shown the error of the belief prevalent amongst Europeans, that the use of curry was introduced by the Portuguese, and that the word itself is derived from that language. In addition to the evidence there stated, it may be mentioned that IBK BATTJTA, two hundred years before the Portuguese had appeared in the Indian Seas, describes the natives of Ceylon eating curry, which he calls in Arabic couehan, off the leaves of the plantains, precisely as they do at the present day: "Ils apportaient aussi des feuilles de ban-auier sur lesquelles ils placaient le riz quiforme leur noumture. Us re"-pandaient sur ce riz du couehtln, qui sert d'assai-gonnement * * * * qui eat compose* de poulets, de viande, de poissoB, et de legumes."
COCO DE 2J1LBCHAP. II.]
COCO-NUT PALMS.
127
the roadside the husks of the nut are steeped to convert the fibre into coir\ by decomposing the interstitial pith;?its flesh is dried in the sun preparatory to expressing the oil2 ; vessels are attached to collect the juice of the unexpancled flowers to be converted into sugar and from early morn the toddy drawers are to be seen ascending the trees in quest of the sap drawn from the spathes of the unopened flowers to be distilled into arrack the only pernicious purpose to which the gifts of the bounteous tree are perverted.
The most precious inheritance of a Singhalese is his ancestral garden of coco-nuts ; the attempt to impose a tax on them in 1797, roused the populace to rebellion ; and it is curiously illustrative of the minute subdivision of property in Ceylon, that in a case which was decided in the district court of Galle, within a very recent period the subject in dispute was a claim to the 2,520th part of ten coco-nut trees 1
At Hiccode3, twelve miles from Gafle, where our horses were changed, the Moodliar and his suite, in full costume, were waiting to offer us early coffee ; and at the rest-house 4 of Amblangodde, seven miles farther on, we were gratified with a present of freshly gathered oranges and pines. As we approached the latter village, a rock-snake, python reticulatus, the first we had seen^ a beautiful specimen at least ten feet long, was disturbed by our approach as he basked on a sunny bank, and gracefully uncoiling his folds he passed across the fence into the neighbouring enclosure.
1 The term coir is a corruption of the Maldive term kanbar, by which. ABOTJTELDA says the natives of those islands designated the cords made from the coeo-nut; with which they sewed together the planks of their shipping. The "best coir is made from the unripe nuts. Gayer is also the Tamil name for " rope " of any kind.
2 The coco-nut when thus dried is called copera, from the Tamil term colrL
3 Spelled Hiccadowe.
4 The choultries erected for the accommodation of travellers in Ceylon are styled rest-homes, and afford all the essential requirements for refreshment and sleep on a very moderate scale, and for a proportionately moderate cost. They are always under the control of the chief civil officer of the district, who sanctions the tariff of charges.128 SOUTHERN AM) CENTEAL PROVINCES. [PART VII.
On lifting the sand from the sea-shore, at the back of the rest-house, I was surprised to find amongst it numerous fragments of red coral, similar to that brought by the fishermen of Naples from the straits of Messina. The Mahawanso alludes to the finding of such coral in the Gulf of Manaar in the second century \ but it has never in modern times been sought for systematically. The ordinary white coral is found in such quantities on this part of the coast that an active trade exists in shipping it to Colombo and Galle, where, when calcined, it serves as the only species of lime used for buildings of all kinds.
During the course of the memorable siege of Colombo, by Eaja Singha I, in 1587, the Portuguese, hoping to effect a diversion, directed numerous expeditions against the unprotected villages on this part of the coast, destroying the gardens, firing the dwellings, and carrying away the peasantry to be sent into slavery in India. FAEIA y SOUZA relates a touching incident which occurred on this occasion at Cosgodde, a hamlet a few miles south of Bentotte: ?" Among the prisoners taken at Cosgore, was a bride; and as the ships were ready to weigh anchor, there ran suddenly into that in which she was5 a young man, and embracing her, and she him, they said many words not understood. By the help of an interpreter, it was known that that man was the bridegroom, who being abroad when the bride was taken, he came to be a slave with her rather than live without her. And she said that since he, by that demonstration of love, had made her happier than all the Chingala women (for they were of those people), she esteemed her slavery rather a blessing than a misfortune. Souza da Arronches,
1 MaJmwamo, eh, xxviii. p. 168, The Portuguese were aware of the existence of red coral on the coast:
Quand la mer est grosse, elle en I ch, xxii, p. 172. pousse sur les bords tme quantite I
prodigieuse de corail, et en plusleurs endroits, ce corail noir est plus es-timd que le rouge."?RIBEYBO, lib. i.. II.]
THE FISH-TAX.
129
hearing 'hereof, resolved not to part them, and taking hold of both their hands, said, fi God forbid two such lovers, for my private interest, should be made unhappy. I freely give you your liberties.' Then he ordered them to be set ashore; but they two, seeing his unexpected bounty, requited it by despising their liberties, and replied, ' they only desired to be his, and die in his service.' They lived afterwards in Colombo, where the man., on sundry occasions, faithfully served the Portuguese." l
The rest-house at Bentotte is one of the coolest and most agreeable in Ceylon. It is situated within a little park, deeply shaded by lofty tamarind-trees on the point of the beach where the river forms its junction with the sea. Its attractions were enhanced by a breakfast for which we were indebted to the hospitable attention of the civil officer, Mr. T. L. Gibson, whose table was covered with all the luxuries of the province; fruits in great variety, curries, fish fresh from the sea, and the delicacy for which Bentotte has a local renown, oysters taken off the rocks in the adjoining estuary2, which, though small and somewhat bitter, were welcome from their cool associations.
After leaving Bentotte, as the coast approaches Colombo the numbers of the fishing-boats perceptibly increase, and the kardwe^ or fisher caste, form the most numerous section of the village population. Like other castes, they are divided into classes4, distinguished by the implements they employ, and the department of the
1 Asia Portug. STEVEN'S trans, vol. iii. pt. i. ch.'vi. p. 53.
2 COSHAS INDICO-PLETJSTES, describing a place on the west coast of Ceylon, which he calls Marallo, says it produced RoyXlovc, which TBDEVEFOT translates ee oysters ; " in which case Marallo might '"be conjectured to be Bentotte. But the shell in question was most probably the chank (twlmella rapci)^ and Marallo, Mantotte, off which it is
VOL. II. K
found in great numbers. vol. i. p. 21.
3 The parawas, a section of the fisher caste, in the north and northwest of the island, are of Tamil descent, and came originally from Tut-tacorin.
* For an account of caste as it manifests itself in Ceylon, its introduction, and influence, see VoL L Pt. iv. ch. i. p. 425.130 SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL PROVINCES. [PART YIL
craft to which they addict themselves. Thus there are the Madell Karawe and the Baroodell, who cast nets; the Dandu, who carry the rod; the Kisbai^ who catch turtle; the Oroo, who fish in boats; and the Gode Jcawoolo, who fish from the rocks; with others of inferior rank. The conventional distinction socially respected between these different classes is as marked and imperative as between different castes; so much so that intermarriages are not permitted except between individuals of the five first named divisions. Their means of living, however, are not restricted to fishing alone; many engage in agriculture and trade, and numbers are employed in everything connected with the building and management of boats, catamarans, and coasting vessels. To the "fisher caste also belong the carpenters and cabinet-makers inhabiting the villages and towns on the southern coast, from Matura to Colombo, who produce the carved ebony furniture, so highly prized by Europeans.
So abundant was the capture of fish along the shores of Ceylon, that the Portuguese, when in possession of the island, converted it into a source of revenue by levying a tax of one-fourth on the quantity caught. This was collected by special officers who in return for the payment, undertook to protect the fishermen, to assist them in cases of emergency and in times of distress, K regulate all the affairs of the caste, and to fix the periods of fishing. The Dutch perpetuated the fish-tax in the form in which it had been levied by the Portuguese, but the British on gaining possession of the island sought to commute it by substituting a licence for the boat The change, however, proved most distasteful to the men for whose benefit it was designed; they disliked the direct payment in money, and preferred their ancient system of payment in kind. They grew indolent and indifferent, and the market ceased to be supplied, owing to the reluctance of the fishermen to lake out a licence for their boats. The prejudices ofCHAP. II.]
THE FISH-TAX.
131
the native in favour of his ancestral custom having been found insurmountable, the experiment, attempted1 in three instances, was in each unsuccessful; and the fish-tax with all its inquisitorial and vexatious incidents, was restored amidst the acclamations of the fishermen.
Notwithstanding these repeated disappointments,, the tax was eventually reduced from a fourth to a sixth in 1834, from a sixth to a tenth in 1837, and finally abolished in 1840. But it is a singular fact, illustrative of the unchanging habits of an Eastern people, that every diminution of the duty, instead of leading to an increase of -the trade, or adding to the Colonial Exchequer, had in each successive instance the directly contrary effect; ? the fishermen having 110 longer their accustomed stimulus to exertion, the number of fishing-boats became annually reduced, the quantity of fish taken diminished, and the price rose to more than double what it had been during the existence of the fish-tax.2 But though abandoned by the government, the tax was not allowed to be altogether abolished; those of the fishers who were Eoman Catholics3 trans-
* In 1812, 1820, and 1827.
3 A note in elucidation of a result so contrary to the principles of political economy, will be found, Note A, in. the appendix to this chapter.
3 I have elsewhere alluded to the singular fact, that the fisher caste have been in every country in India the earliest converts to the Eoman Catholic Church ;?so much so as to render it worthy of inquiry whether it be only a coincidence or the result of some permanent and predisposing cause. The Parawas of Cape Como-rin were the earliest converts of St. Francis Xavier. It was by the "fisher caste" of Manaar that he was invited to Ceylon in 1544 A.D. ; and notwithstanding the martyrdom inflicted on his converts by the Raja of Jafma, and the continued persecu-
tion of the Dutch, that district is to the present day one of the strongholds of the Roman Catholic Church in Ceylon, and the fishermen along the whole of the south-western coast as far south as Barberyn, are in the proportion of one half Roman Catholics. Is it that there is an habitual tendency to veneration of the Supreme Being amongst those " who go down to the sea in ships, and see his power in the great deep ? " Is it that "being a low caste themselves, the fishers of India and Ceylon acquire a higher status by espousing Christianity? or have they some sympathy with a religion whoss first apostles and teachers were the fishermen of Galilee ? "?Sir J. EMERSON TEXNENT'S History of Christianity in Ceylon, ch. i. p. 20.
K 2132 SOUTHED AND CENTRAL PEOVINCES. [PART YII.
«&
ferred tlie payment, not only unaltered in form, but in some instances increased in amount, to the Eoman Catholic Church, and the privilege of its collection is to the present day farmed out by the clergy, and yearly put up to auction at the several churches along the coast.
Approaching Caltura from Barberyn, the country becomes less level, and from openings in the woods magnificent views are obtained of Adam's Peak1, and the hills which surround it, which here make their closest approach to the sea. The veneration with which this majestic mountain has been regarded for ages, took its rise in all probability amongst the aborigines of Ceylon, whom the sublimities of nature, awaking the instinct of worship, impelled to do homage to the mountains and the sun.2 Under the influence of such feelings the aspect of this solitary alp, towering-above the loftiest ranges of the hills, and often shrouded in storms and thunder-clouds, was calculated to convert awe into adoration.
In a later age the religious interest became concentrated on a single spot to commemorate some individual identified with the national faith, and thus the hollow in the lofty rock that crowns the summit, was said by the Brahmans to be the footstep of Siva3, by the
1 Tliis name was given by tlie the names of the Peak, he says,
Portuguese, who called the mountain, the " Pico de Adam."
2 PTOLEMY places the Soils Portus
on the east of Ceylon, and "Dargana,
Luiue sacra/' on the south; and
et this, without any change, is Hani-al-eel, Ham the sun." But Ham-al-eel is merely an European corruption of the Singhalese name Saman-Jtela. BRYANT "seems to have found
r, lib. vi. eh. xxiv., says, the i it in VALBNTYN, Owl en Nieuw Oost-ambassador to Claudius described | Lidien, ch. xvi. p. 378, who quotes the Island of the sun,te soils insiila," from !)E Cotrro, but the latter spells as lying to the west of It JACOB it Hamanelle, which does not harnio-BitYANT, in his J\ w Sytfom of My- \ nlse with BEIANT'S conjecture. tfurfoffy, Camb. 1707, traces the vene- I s HAEBY'S Buddhism, ^T., p. 212. ration for Adam's Peak to the j MABSDEN, In Ms notes to Marco Polo, worship of Annin (the sun), in ' p. 671, quotes a passage from a E rypt, and availing himself of the \ Malay version of the Mamayana^ in word " Hamulel," said to be one of ' which the mountain of Serendib isCHAP. IL]
ADAM'S PEAK.
133
Buddliists of Buddha1, by the Chinese, of Foe2, by the Gnostics, of leu3, by the Mahometans, of Adam4, whilst the Portuguese authorities were divided between the conflicting claims of St. Thomas5, and the Eunuch of Candace, Queen of Ethiopia.
The phases of this local superstition can be traced with curious accuracy through its successive transmitters. In the Buddhist annals, the sojourn of Buddha in Ceylon, and the impression of the " sri-pada? his sacred foot-mark left on departing, are recorded in that portion of the Mahawanso which was written by Malia-naama prior to B.C. 3016, and the story is repeated in the other sacred books of the Singhalese. The Raja-
spoken of as containing the footstep of Adam; but tHs is an interpolation of the Mahometan translator, and the Hamayana makes no mention of Adam. The Hindus describe Adam's Peak by the term Sivan-garrhanam, "the ascent to heaven." 1 Mahawamo, ch. i. p. 7. ch. xv. p. 92, ch. xxxii. p. 197. Hajaratna-carij p. 9. See also the Sadharma-ratnakari.
. 2 FA HiAisr, Foe-Koue J£i, ch. xxxviii. p. 332.
3 Pistis Sophia, MS. Brit. Mus. No. 5114, fol. 148. Trans. Schwartze, p. 221.
4 SOLEYMAN, A.D. 851. R-EmAUD,
Voyages Arabes, fyc.} t. i. p. 5.
5 "Hand absimile videtur, in eo vestigio coli Eunachum Candaces ^Ethiopum Reginae quern Dorotheus Tyri Episcopus in Taprobana Christi Evangelium pronmlgasse testator." MAFFEI, Histor. Indie, lib. iii. p. 61. But DE COTJTO pleads more earnestly in favour of St Thomas, " nos parece que podera ser do beniaventurado Apostolo S. Thorns'," because it appears that in the time of the Portuguese, there was a stone in a quarry at Colombo deeply impressed with the mark of the knees of this saint, and closely resembling a similar indentation on a rock at Melia-pore, and believed to be equally the physical result of his devotions. The
rock at Meliapore is described by ANDHEA COESALI in his letter to Julian de Medicis, 5th January, 1515: what stone at Colombo DE COFTO means, it is not easy to conj eetiire, as no such relic is to be found there at present j but possibly he may allude to the alleged existence of a footstep at Ilalany, which however is supposed to be covered by the waters of the river. DE CQUTO "fortifies his own theory by appeals to the many similar phenomena in Christendom, such as the hollows worn in the steps of the Santa Casa of Jerusalem on the spot covered by the church of the Ascension at the Mount of Olives, and on the rock on which the three disciples reclined in the garden of Gethsemane. DE COUTO, Asia, $c.9 dec. v. lib. vi. ch. ii.
6 In the work edited by WAGEN"-PELDT in 1837, professing* to be the Phoenician History of Sanchoniathon in the Greek version of Philo, allusion is made to the footstep of Bauth (Buddha) still extant in Ceylon, icai IXV°G Itrriv fv roTg opoif." CHOifiATHOK, lib. vii. ch. 12, p. 1CS. Moses of Chorene disposes of the pretensions of all other claimants, by pronouncing it to be the footstep of the devil, " ibidem $atmi ^ lapeuizi narrant."?JSKst, Armmia & Geogr., p. 367.
K 3134 SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL PROVINCES. [PART YU.
Tarangini states that in the first century of the Christian era, a king of Kashmir, about the year 24, resorted to Ceylon to adore the relic on Adam's Peak.1 The Chinese traveller, Fa Hian, who visited Ceylon A. D. 413, says that two foot-marks of Foe were then venerated in the island, one on the sacred mountain, and the second towards the north of the island.2 On the continent of India both Fa Hian and Hiouen Thsang examined many other sri-padas3; and Wang Ta-youen4 adheres to the story of their Buddhist origin, although later Chinese "writers, probably from intercourse with Mahometans, borrow the idea that it was the footprint of Pwan-koo, " the first man," in their system of mythology.5 In the twelfth century, the patriot King Prakrama Bahu I. " made a journey on foot to worship the shrine on Samanhela, and caused a temple to be erected on its summit,"6 and the mountain was visited by the King Kirti Nissanga, for the same devout purpose, in A. D. 12017, and by Prakrama HI. A.D. 1267.8 Nor was the faith of the Singhalese in its sanctity shaken even by the temporary apostasy and persecution of the tyrant Baja Singha I., who, at the close of the sixteenth century, abjured Buddhism, adopted the worship of Brahma, and installed some Aandee fakirs in the desecrated shrine upon the Peak.9
Strange to say, the origin of the Mahometan tradition as to its being the footstep of Adam, is to be traced to
1 Hqja-TarangmL book iii. si. 71
?79%
55 No second original footstep of Bu.dd.lm Is now preserved in Ceylon, although models of the great one are shown at the Aiu Wihara, at Cotta, and at other temples on the island; "but a sri-pada Is said in the sacred "book to l)e concealed by the waters of the Kalany-ganga. Reinand conjectures, from the great distance at which Fa Hian places it to the north, that the second one alluded to by him must have "been situated in Madura.?
3 Foe-SJoue Ki, eh. xxxviii. p.
382. For accounts of other sacred
footsteps In Behar? see Tram. IRoy.
Asiat. Soc.j vol. i p. 523 j and in
Nates to Fa Bum, p. 342, s TUKNOCK'S Epitome, $c.9 p. 51,
Siam, lUd.j vol. iii. p. 57.
4 Taou-e Chb 7#J, or "Account of
Island Foreigners/' A.D. 1350.
5 Po-wouh yaou-lant or the * l Philo-
sophical Examiner," written during the Myng Dynasty, about the vear
1400, A.B.
6 Ibrjarali, p. 254.
7 Maluncamo, eli. Ixxix.
8 lbuln eh. Ixxxiii.CHAP. IL]
ADAM'S PEAK.
135
a Christian source. In framing their theological system, the Gnostics, who, even during the lifetime of the Apostles, corrupted Christianity by an admixture of the mysticism of Platol ; assigned a position of singular preeminence to Adam, who, as " leu, the primal man" next to the " Noos" and " Logos" was made to rank as the third emanation from the Deity. Amongst the details of their worship they cultivated the .veneration for monumental relics; and in the precious manuscript of the fourth century, which contains the Coptic version of the discourse on "Faithful Wisdom"** attributed by Ter-tullian to the great gnostic heresiarch Valentinus, there occurs the earliest recorded mention of the sacred footprint of Adam. The Saviour is there represented as informing the Virgin Mary that he has appointed the spirit Kalapataraoth as guardian over the footstep (skenimut) "impressed by the foot of Ie&, and placed him in charge of the books of leu, written by Enoch in paradise."3
The Gnostics in their subsequent dispersion under the persecution of the emperors, appear to have communicated to the Arabs this mystical veneration for Adam4 as the great protoplast of the human race; and in the religious code of Mahomet, Adam, as the pure creation of the Lord's breath, takes precedence as the Ewet ul-enbiya, " the greatest of all patriarchs and prophets,"
1 GIBBON", Decline and Folly ch. xv. xxi. xlvii.
. 2 'H IIt rr ) Sotfftf. MS8. JZrit.
Mus. No. 5114. A Latin translation by Schwartze, of tliis unique manuscript (probably one of the most ancient in existence) was published at Berlin, 1851, under the title of Pistis Sophia. The passage adverted to above is as follows: " Et posui Ka\a7rarapavit)9 apyovra super skeni-mut m quo est pes leu, et iste circum-dat atiitvag omnes et Ei^a^fieimc. Ilium posui custodientem libros Jeu," &c., p. 221, In previous passages leu is described as " primus homo."
3 Schwartze has left the Coptic ?word e skemmut" untranslated; out DTJLAUIHEII, in the Journal Asiatiqm for September, 1846, p. 176, renders it the " footstep/7 trace.
4 Adam was not the only scriptural character whose footsteps were venerated by the Mahometans. Ibn Batuta, early in the 14th century, saw at Damascus "the Mosque of tlie Foot, on which there is a stone, having upon it the print of the foot of Moses."?IBN BATXTTA, ch. v. p. 30, LEE'S Traml.
K 4136
SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL PROVINCES. [PART VIT.
and the Kalife y-Ekber, " the first of God's vicegerents upon earth."1 The Mahometans believe that on his expulsion from Paradise, Adam, passed many years in expiatory exile upon a mountain in India2 before his re-union with Eve on Mount Arafath, which overhangs Mecca. As the Koran,3, in the passages in which is recorded the fall of Adam, makes no mention of the spot at which he took up his abode on earth, it may be inferred that in the age of Mahomet, his followers had not adopted Ceylon as the locality of the sacred footstep4; but when the Arab seamen, returning from India, brought home accounts of the mysterious relic on the summit of Al-rahowi^ as they termed Adam's Peak, it appears to have fixed in the minds of their countrymen the precise locality of Adam's penitence. The most ancient Arabian records of travel that have come down to us mention the scene with solemnity6; but it was not till the tenth century that Ceylon became the established resort of Mahometan pilgrims, and Ibn Batuta, about the year 1340, relates that at Shiraz he visited the tomb of the Imam Abu-Abel-Allah, who first taught the way to Serendib.7
1 D'OESSON, vol. i. p. 68.
2 FABBICITJS, Codex Pseudqyigra-pJius, vol. ii. p. 20.
3 SALE'S Al-koran} ch, li. p. 5 5 cli. vii. p. 117.
4 Yet Mr. DUNCAN, in a paper in j the Asiatic Researches, containing1 £( Historical JKemarks on the Coast of Malabar" mentions a native chronicle in which it is stated, that a Pandyan who wasee contemporary icith Mahomet" was converted to Islam "by a party of dervishes on their pilgrimage to Adam?s Peak, vol. v. p. 9.
5 Jtohuna or Rohana was the ancient division of the island in which Galle is situated, and from which Adam's Peak is seen. Hence the name Al Rahoun; given by them to the mountain.
0 SOLEYMAN and ABOTT-ZEYD. See REINATJD, Voyage* Amies et Persons dans le ix. Sii'de, vol. i. p. 5. TA-
BABI, "the Livy of Arabia/' who lived in the ninth century, describes the descent of Adam on Serendib. See Sir "W. OUSELEY'S Travels^voL i.p.35.
7 a C'est lui qui enseigna le chemin de la montagne de Serendib dans 1'ile de Ceylan."?IBN ? BATTJTA, torn. ii. p. 79. * GILDEMEISTEE, in the commentary prefixed to his $eriptores Arabi, says Abu Abdallah ben khalif, " doctor 'inter Cufios clarissimus," died anno Ilej. 331, 14th Sept., 942 A.D. (p. 54j. IBN BATUTA tells a marvellous tale of this Iniam and a party of thirty fakirs, his first companions, who being in want of provisions in the forest at the foot of Adam's Peak, killed and ate a young elephant, the Imam refusing to partake of the unclean food. In" the night the herd surprised and destroyed the fakii'8, but the leader, raising the Imam on his hack bv means of hisCHAP. II.]
ADAM'S PEAK.
137
At the present day, the Buddhists are the guardians of the sri-pada, but around the object of common adoration the devotees of all races meet, not in furious contention like the Latins and Greeks at the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, but in pious appreciation of the one solitary object on which they can unite in peaceful worship.
The route taken to the mountain from the western side of the island, is generally from Colombo to Eatna-poora by land, and thence by jungle paths to the Peak; and on the return, visitors usually descend the Kaluganga in boats to Caltura. The distance from the sea to the summit is about sixty-five miles, for two-thirds of which the road lies across the lowlands of the coast, traversing rice lands and coco-nut groves, a.nd passing by numerous villages with their gardens of jak-trees, arecas, and plantains.1 After leaving .Eatnapoora, the traveller proceeds by bridle-roads to climb the labyrinth of hills which cluster round the base of the sacred mountain. These form what is called the "wilderness of the Peak," and are covered with forests frequented by elephants, wild boars, and leopards. There the track winds under overarching trees, whose shade excludes the sun; across brawling rivers; through ravines so deep, that nothing but the sky is seen above, and thence the road reascends to heights from which views of surpassing grandeur are obtained over the hills and plains below. In these moist regions the tormenting land-leeches swarm on the clamp grass, and almost defy every precaution, however vigilant, against insidious attacks.2
. Anibelains and rest-houses for travellers have been piously erected at various points along the weary journey, where the green sward presents a suitable locality, and
trunk carried liini safely to a village on the banks of a river called Khai-zoran? or the river of " "bamboos,"? Tom. ii. p. 81.
1 LASSEN says that the early Christian travellers^ believed that Adam
lived on the plantain, and clothed himself with its broad leaves.?In-discJie AUerthumskunde, vol. i. p. 261. 2 For a detailed account of the land-leech of Ceylon, see ante, Yol. I, Pt. ii. ch. vii. p. 311.138 SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL PROVINCES. [PART VII.
temples in sohtary spots invite the devotion of pilgrims. In one of these, at Palabaddula, a model is preserved, exliibiting in brass a faosimile of the golden cover which once protected the sacred footstep, and which VALENTYN says was shown to some subjects of Holland who ascended the Peak in 16541, but it has long since disappeared.
The country rises so rapidly, that between Gillemale and the Peak, the entire ascent, upwards of 7000 feet, is made in less than nine miles. As the path ascends it skirts round scarped acclivities, so steep that a stone allowed to drop is heard bounding from rock to rock long after it has been hidden from sight by the trees that clothe the face of the precipice below.2
During the greater part of this upward journey, the summit of the mountain, the object of so much solicitude and toil, is seldom visible, being hidden by the overhanging cliffs; but, at last, on reaching a little patch of table-land at Diebetne, with its ruinous rest-house, the majestic cone is discerned towering in unsurpassed sublimity, but with an intervening space of three miles of such acclivity that the Singhalese have conferred on it the appropriate name of aukanagaou, literally, " the sky league." Here descending into one of the many ravines, and crossing an enormous mass of rounded rock overflowed by perpetual streams, the ascent recommences by passages so steep as to be accessible only by means of steps hewn in the smooth stone. On approaching the highest altitude, vegetation suddenly ceases; and, at last, on reaching the base of the stupendous cone which forms the pinnacle of the
1 Ottd en JVtenw Oori-Ihdien, oh. j around it, bend their crowns in the di~ xvi. p. 376. reef ion of the relic ; a homage which
2 DE Couro, in confirmation of the could only Tbe offered to the footstep pious conjecture that the footstep on of an Apostle: u todas por todas as the summit wa« that of St. Thomas, partes fazem com suas eopas hum asserts that all the trees on the Peak, | mclinacoo pera a serra," &c.?Asiat
and for half a league on all sides ! $?&, dec, v. lib. vi. eh. ii.CHAP. II.]
ADAM'S PEAK.
139
peak, further progress is effected by the aid of chains securely riveted in the living rock.1 As the pillar-like crag rounds away at either side, the eye, if turned downwards, peers into a chasm of unseen depth; and so dizzy is the elevation, that the guides discourage a pause, lest a sudden gust of wind should sweep the adventurous climber from his giddy footing, into the unfathomable gulfs below.2 An iron ladder, let into the face of a perpendicular cliff upwards of forty feet in height lands the pilgrim on the tiny terrace which forms the apex of the mountain; and in the centre of this, on the crown of a mass of gneiss and hornblende, the sacred footstep is discovered under a pagoda-like canopy, supported on slender columns, and open on all sides to the winds.
1 The iron cliains at Adam's Peak are relics of so great antiquity, that in the legends of the Mahometans they are associated with the name of Alexander the Great. IBN BATDTA, in his account of. his ascent of the Peak in the fourteenth century, speaks of coming " to a place called the ' Seven Caves/ and after this to the (Bidge of Alexander/ at which place is the entrance to the mountain. The mountain of Serendib is one of the highest in the world j we saw it from sea, at the distance of nine days. When we ascended it, we saw the clouds passing between us and its foot. On it is a great number of trees, the leaves of which never fall. There are also flowers of various colours, with the red rose (Khododen-dron ?). There are two roads on the mountain leading to the Footprint; the one is known as 'the way of Baba/ the other as 'the way of Mama/ by which they mean Adam and Eve, At the foot of the mountain there is a minaret named after Alexander, and a fountain of water. The ancients have cut something like steps, upon which one may ascend, and have fixed in iron pins, to which chains are appended, and upon these those who ascend take hold. Of these chains
there are ten in number, the last of which is termed 'the chain of witness/ becaiise when one has arrived at this and looks down, the frightful notion seizes him that he will fall."-? LEE'S Translation, ch. xx. p. 189.
ASIEREF, a Persian writer of the fifteenth century, in a poem, quoted by Sir William Ouseley, in which he celebrates the exploits of Alexander the Great, "Zaffer Namah Sekanderi" introduces an episode, in which the conqueror and his companion Bolinus (by whom is supposed to be meant Apollonius of Tyana) devise means whereby they may ascend the mountain of Serendib, "fixing thereto chains with rings and rivets made of-iron and brass, the remains of which exist even at this day, so that travellers, by their assistance, are enabled to climb the mountain and obtain glory by finding the sepulchre of Adam, on whom be the blessing of God."? Travels, vol. i. p. 57.
2 Incredible as it may seem, elephants make their way to this frightful elevation; and Major Skinner assures me that on one occasion, in 1840, the unmistakeable traces of one were found on the neck of the fearful rock which sustains the sacred Footstep.140
SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL PROVINCES. [PABT YIT.
The indentation in the rock is a natural hollow artificially enlarged, exhibiting the rude outline of a foot
about five feet long, and of proportionate breadth; but it is a test of credulity, too gross even for fanaticism to believe that the footstep is either human or divine. The worship addressed to it consists of offerings, chiefly flowers of the rhododendron, presented with genuflexions, invocations, and shouts of Saadoo !l The ceremony concludes by the striking of an ancient bell2, and
1 Amen!
2 Bells are mentioned in Ceylon in the second century B.C. (see ante, Vol. I. Ft. iv. ch. v. p. 458), so that it is unnecessary to conjecture that the original bell on Adam's Peak may have been a gift from the deyout Bncldhists of China. The custom of striking it has prevailed from time immemorial, and was described by the Portuguese, " los passageros dan golpes."?RODBIGUES BE SAA, Rebellion de Ceylon, Lisbon^ 1681, p. 17. For the subjoined plan of the summit, made in 1841,, I am indebted to Mr. Ferguson, of the Surveyor-General's Department, Colombo. He makes the area of the terrace 64 feet by 45.
«. a, a. Level spare,
#. The Pagoda.
c. Belfry.
d.d.d. Wall 5 feet high.
e. Shed for offerings.
/. House of the priest.
g. g. The rock.
/. Th*f Foot-print.
o. Opening towards Ralnapoora.
«. Opening towards Kandj.
m. Opening to the well.
JO 40 SOCHAP. II.]
ADAM'S PEAK.
141
a draught from the sacred spring., which runs within a few feet of the summit.
The panorama from the summit of Adam's Peak is, perhaps, the grandest in the world, as no other mountain, although surpassing it in altitude, presents the same unobstructed view over land and sea.1 Around it, to the north and east, the traveller looks down on the zone of lofty hills that encircle the Kandyan kingdom, whilst to the westward the eye is carried far over undulating plains, threaded by rivers like cords of silver, till in the purple distance the glitter of the sunbeams on the sea marks the line of the Indian Ocean.2
The descent of the Kalu-ganga from Ratnapoora to Caltura is effected with great ease in the boats which brin0* down rice and areca nuts to the coast, and the scenery includes everything that is characteristic of the western lowlands ; temples, reached by ghauts, rising from the edge of the river; and villages surrounded by groves of tamarind and jak-trees, talipats, coco-nuts, and kitools. Along the banks, the yellow stemmed bamboo waves its feathery leaves, and on approaching the sea the screw pines and mangroves grow in dense clusters, and over-arch the margin of the stream.
Caltura has always been regarded as one of the sanitaria of Ceylon, and as it faces the sea breeze from the south-west, the freshness of its position, combined with the beauty and grandeur of the surrounding scenery, rendered it the favourite resort of the Dutch, and afterwards of the British. A fort, built on a green eminence, commanded the entrance of the river, but this is now dismantled, and forms a residence for one of the civil officers. Game is abundant; and within a very few miles the in-
1 ee Adam's Peak is not higher than the mountains which travellers ascend in Switzerland j but nowhere in that land can the eye measure the height by comparison with a surrounding plain nearly on the level of the sea."? HOFFMEISTEK, Travels, tyc., p. 181. -
2 The first Englishman who ascended Adam's Peak was Lieut. Malcolm, of the 1st Ceylon Regiment; who reached the summit on the 27th April, 1827.?Asiatic Journ.} vol. i. p. 442.142 SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL PROVINCES. [PART VII.
land lake of Bolgodde is the resort of prodigious numbers of wild fowl, which breed in the luxuriant woods that encircle it. Caltura was one of the most promising localities in which the cultivation of the sugar-cane was attempted, but hitherto the success of the experiment has not been such as to render it commercially remunerative.
Erorn the great extent of the coco-nut groves which surround it, Caltura is one of the principal places for the distillation of arrack. The trees, during the process of drawing the toddy, are frequented by the great bats (pteropus), called by the Europeans, " flying foxes."l They are attracted^ in numbers by the fermenting juice, and drink from the earthen chalices which are suspended to collect it. A friend of mine, who was at Caltura in 1852, had his attention frequently drawn to the unusual noises occasioned in some of the topes by the revels of these creatures. It assumed at the beginning the appearance of an ordinary quarrel, but grew by degrees so " fast and furious," as to become manifestly a drunken riot. The natives are well aware of this propensity of the bats, and attributed these demonstrations to their inebriety.
At Pantura, after being ferried across the arm of the lake, which here debouches on the sea, we found the carriages of the governor, which his excellency had been good enough to send to convey us to Colombo. The road lay along a broad embankment of sand, which runs for several miles between the sea and the lake of Pantura, one of those estuaries described by the Arab navigators under the name of the " gobbs of Serendib," into which, wlieia the south-west monsoon was rolling a surf upon the coast, their seamen were accustomed to withdraw their frail vessels and spend " two months or more in the shade of forests and gardens, and in the enjoyment of a tern-
1 See Vol. I Pt. H. cli. i p. 135.CHAP. II-]
CINNAMON REGION.
143
perate coolness."1 Tlie Dutch, took advantage of this
calm sheet of water to facilitate the
system of canals by which they opened
a continuous line of navigation from
Caltura to Negombo. The works still
exist, but their utility, however it may
have been appreciated two centuries ago,
when the country was as yet unopened
by roads, is less demonstrable at the
present day, when metalled highways
have been constructed in their immediate
vicinity.
At Morottu, a few miles from Pan-tura, the region of cultivated cinnamon begins; and thence to Colombo, for a distance of eight or ten miles, the road passes between almost continuous gardens of this renowned laurel, once guarded among the treasures of the Indies, but now comparatively neglected for the homely, but more profitable, coconut palm. The village of Morottu, which contains a population of 12,000, is chiefly inhabited by carpenters of the fisher caste, who devote themselves to the making of furniture from the jak-tree, the wood of which, though yellow when first cut, acquires in time the dark tint and markings of mahogany.
Another source of the prosperity of this thriving community is the recent adoption of barrels instead of gunny-bags for the export of coffee. The making of these, as well as of casks for the shipment of coco-nut oil, has afforded a new source of industrial employment and wealth. One eminent native of the village, Jeronis de Soyza, has built,
" GOBER," ON THE WEST COAST.
1 IBIS" WAHAB, in the Voyages Arabes et Persans, torn. i. p. 129; ALBYBOOTY, in REmAUD's Frar/mens Arabes, fyc., p. 119. For a full ac-
count of these u gobbs," as they exist in Ceylon, see the present work, VoL I. Ft," i. ch. i. p. 44.144 SOUTHEKN AND CENTEAL PEOVINCEB. [PAST VII;
adjoining to it, a dwelling-house, which may be regarded as the model of a Singhalese mansion, with its gardens and oriental grounds. The entire district has benefited by the generosity of this public-spirited man, and in recognition of his patriotism in opening roads and promoting the welfare of the inhabitants, he has recently had conferred upon him the rank of Moodliar of the Governor's Gate.
On a rocky headland, which projects into the sea a few miles from Morottu, are the remains of what was once the marine palace of the governors of Ceylon ; an edifice in every way worthy of the great man by whom it was erected?Sir Edward Barnes. But in one of those paroxysms of economy which are sometimes not less successful than the ambition of the Sultan in the fable, in providing haunts for those birds that philosophise amidst ruins, the edifice at Mount Lavinia had scarcely been completed at an expense which has been estimated at 30,000?., when it was ordered to be dismantled, and the buildings were disposed of for less than the cost of the window frames.
At Galkisse the traveller has the opportunity of seeing a temple which may serve as an example of modern Buddhist buildings of this class in Ceylon. It is situated on a gentle eminence close by the high roacl, surrounded by groves of iron wood1, murutas2, champacs3, and other trees, offerings of whose flowers form so remarkable a feature in the worship of the Singhalese. The modest pansela in which the priests and their attendants' reside4 is built in the hollow, and the ascent to the Wihara above it is by steps excavated in the hill The latter is protected by a low wall decorated with mythological symbols, and the edifice itself is of the humblest dimensions, with whitened walls and a projecting tiled
1 iwgaha. \ 4 For an account of a Buddhist
s Istf/er#tr«pmia rctjma. ! temple and Its buildings, see antc%
n Jltckelia champactk \ Vol. I* Pt. in. ch. IT. p. 349.CHAP. II.] A BUDDHIST TEMPLE. 145
roof. In an inner apartment dimly lighted by lamps where the air is heavy with the perfume of the yellow champac flowers, are the pilamas or statues of the god. One huge recumbent figure, twenty feet in length, represents Buddha, in that state of blissful repose which constitutes the elysium of his devotees ; a second shows him seated under the sacred bo-tree in Uruwela ; and a third erect, and with the right hand raised and the two forefingers extended (as is the custom of the popes in conferring their benediction), exhibits him in the act of exhorting his earliest disciples. One quadrangular apartment which surrounds the enclosed adytus is lighted by windows, so as to exhibit a series of paintings on the inner wall, illustrative of the narratives contained in the jatakasl, or legends of the successive births of Buddha; the whole executed in the barbarous and conventional style which from time immemorial has marked this peculiar school of ecclesiastical art.2
As usual, within the outer enclosure there is a small Hindu dewale (which in this instance is dedicated to the worship of the Kattragam cleviyo), and near to it grows one of the sacred bo-trees, that, like every other in Ceylon, is said to have been raised from a seed of the patriarchal tree planted by Mahindo, at Anarajapoora, more than two thousand years ago.3 The whole establishment is on the most unpretending scale4; for nine months of the year the priests visit the houses of the villagers in search of alms, and during the other three, when the violence of the rains prevents their perambulations, their food is brought to them in the pansela; or else they reside with some of
1 For an account of the Pansiya-pauas-jataka-pota; with the 550 births of Buddha, see ante, Vol. I. Pt. IT. ch. x. p. 514.
2 On the subject of the early paintings of the Singhalese temples, see ante, Vol. I Pt. IT. ch. TO. p. 472.
3 B.C. 289. For an account of its VOL. IL
planting, see Vol. I. Pt. m. ch. iii. p. 341; and for a description of the tree, as it exists at the present d Vol. n. Pt. x ch. ii.
4 In a Buddhist temple, original temple of the J vessels thereof are of 1 xxyii. 19,146
SOUTHERN. AND CENTRAL PROVINCES. [PART VII.
?their wealthier parishioners, who provide them once a year with a set of yellow robes.1
Towards sunset we had evidences of our approach to the capital by the increased number of vehicles on the road: bullock bandies covered with cajans met us; coolies, heavily laden with burdens of fish fresh from the sea, hurried towards the great town, native gentlemen, driving fast-trotting oxen in little hackery cars, hastened home from it2; and as we passed through the long line of villas, each in its compound of flowers, which forms the beautiful suburb of Colpetty, the European population of the Fort were pouring forth to enjoy their evening promenade, on horseback and in carriages, each horse attended by a Malabar groom in picturesque costume. Our way lay across the Galle-face3, an open plain to the south of the fortifications, which at this hour is the favourite lounge of the inhabitants; the band of the regiments of the garrison adding to its afternoon attractions. When we crossed it the sward was already green after the shower of the north-west monsoon, and the tendrils of the goafs-foot convolvulus, with which the surface is closely matted, were beginning to be covered with buds. A month afterwards we were amazed to see it crimsoned by myriads of the fall-blown flowers, which had expanded in the interim and covered it as closely as if it had been powdered with carmine. It realised the beauty of the scene which Darwin describes on the La Plata, where the tracts around Maldonado are so thickly overrun by verbena melindres as to appear a gaudy scarlet.4
Crossing the drawbridge and entering the Fort of Co-
1 The ceremonies connected with the robes of the priesthood are described, Vol. I. Pt. IT. ch. iv. p. 452.
2 The hackery is a light conveyance, with or without springs, in which a well-trained bullock will draw two
persons at the rate of eight miles an hour.
s Galle-faceor Gaflerfaas (Dutch), the famf or front, of the fortification facing the direction of GaHe.
4 Naturalist's Voyage, $c., ch. iiiCHAP. II.] PORTICO OF THE OLD QUEEN'S HOUSE.
147
lombo by the old Dutch gate beneath the Middelburg bastion, we drove along the main street, shaded by rows of luxuriant hibiscus; and were received by Sir Colin Campbell under the hospitable portico of the old Government House.
PORTICO OF TEE OLD QUEEN'S HOUSE, COLOMBO.148 NOTE TO CHAPTER. [PART VII.
NOTE TO CHAPTEK.
THE FISH-TAX IN CEYLON.
IN a report which I framed in 1846, on the finances and revenue of Ceylon, I adverted to the characteristic incident alluded to at p. 131, in connection with the fish-tax, to illustrate the caution which it behoves us to exercise in relying on European theories when dealing with the habits and customs of an Oriental people, whose energies seldom respond to encouragement, and whose apathy prevents the realisation of our most familiar maxims of political economy. In the instance above alluded to. the abolition of the fish-tax had failed to supply a motive for increased activity on the part of the fishermen ; it secured* no advantage to the public, whose supply offish diminished, whilst the cost ivas more than doubled; and it failed to benefit the revenue, since the receipts from the tax fell off nearly one-third* In proof of this I showed, that on an average of four years from
1830 to 1833, whilst the tax was one-fourth per cent., the average amount of duty was 7389Z. From 1834 to 1837, when it was reduced to one-siseth, the average was 6694L, and from
1831 to 1840, whilst the duty was but a tenth, the receipts fell off to 482II.
My report, when laid before Parliament in 1847, was accompanied by the comment of a Committee, to whom it had been referred by Earl Grey, consisting of Sir Benjamin Hawes, the Eight Honourable EL Tufnell, Mr. J. Shaw Lefevre, and Mr* Bird. On this passage they remarked that my inference was " an obvious mistake," the amounts of revenue as given above, 66 proving not that there is anything peculiar in the Ceylon fishermen; but that their trade follows the usual course of all other trades, since with a duty of 25 per cent., the value of the fish taken was -.-..- ^29,556
With a duty of 16f per cent do. - 40,164
do. 10 do. - - - - 48,210
The " obvious error" is, however, in the criticism, and not in my statement, which is strictly correct. Had " the usual course of all other trades" followed the several reductions of the fish-tax, the result would have been an increased demand, creating an in-CHAP. If.] THE FISH-TAX, 149
creased supply; the price would have fallen to the consumer at least in proportion to the fail of the duty; and the revenue would have benefited by the greater quantity brought to sale. But the Committee overlooked the several passages in which I had stated that the very reverse had occurred in each particular, and that the price of the article had doubled after the reduction of the tax.
In 1833, under the old system, the duty of 25 per cent, yielded an income of 7389?. on a gross value of 29,556L, which " at one penny per pound showed a quantity equal to 7,093,440 pounds weight of fish as the ordinary supply under the fish-tax. But in 1837, when the duty was reduced to,16f per cent, the price rose 50 per cent., so that the duty then received (1 694J.) represented a gross value of 40,164L, which at three halfpence per pound, then the price in the market, shows that the quantity caught had fallen to 6,426,240 pounds. Again, in the last stage, in which the tax was reduced to 10 per cent, in 1840, the price had risen to two pence and upwards, and the duty therefore (4821L) represents, on a gross value of 48,210Z., only 5,785,200 pounds of fish taken. In other words, had not the price risen after the first reduction of the tax in 1833, the sum expended by the public in 1837 ought to have given 9,639,360 pounds instead of 6,426,240 pounds, and in 1840, 11,570,400 pounds instead of 5,785,200 pounds. (See PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS 1848^ Report on the Finance and Commerce of Ceylon, p. 15,51.)
In the early part of the last century, a tax on the fishermen at Lisbon produced a considerable annual sum to the Portuguese treasury; and it is a curious coincidence that the effect of its abolition was in every respect similar to that produced by the repeal of the fish-tax in Ceylon. The Eegency issued a decree in November, 1830, abolishing all dues on fishing. It came into operation in 1833, and continued in force for ten yeaxa By this measure a tax equivalent to 30 per cent, was taken off fish, but so far from increasing, the supply diminished, and the price rose in consequence. A duty of 6 per cent, was restored in 1843, together with the former regulations established for protecting and aiding the fishermen; and I ascertained at Lisbon, that since the last change the improvement in the market has been striking, the supply has become regular and abundant, and the price has fallen in consequence.
L 3ISO
COLOMBO.
[PART VII.
w
I151
CHAP. III.
COLOMBO.
COLOMBO, as a town, presents little to attract a stranger. It possesses neither tlie romance of antiquity nor the interest of novelty. The rocky headland near which it stands, was the " Cape of Jupiter," the " Jovis Ex-tremum" of Ptolemy1, remarkable only as one of the great landmarks by which the early navigators in their coasting voyages directed their course towards the " Promontory of Birds,"2 which marked the entrance to the harbour of Galle,
The modern fortifications are Dutch; said to have been constructed after a plan of Cohorn, and so designed as to turn to the utmost advantage the natural strength of the position, lying as it does between the lake at one side, and the rocks, which form the harbour, on the other. The works include a four bastions 011 the land side, with counter-scarps and ravelins, and seven batteries towards the sea, adapted to the rock line of the coast."3 The modern buildings within the Fort are a clumsy application of European architecture to tropical requirements; outside the walls are the modest dwellings of the Dutch and Portuguese Eur-Asians, and the houses of the Singhalese, Tamils, Moors, and Malays, constructed of white-washed mud, and either covered with red tiles or thatched with the plaited fronds of the coco-mit palm.
The only ancient quarter is the pettah or "Black town," inhabited by the native races, and extending
1 Aide «cp«v. The coincidence of i 2 "OpriMv lirpov9 £ jiciwn
Colombo with the Jam Eftremum \ tort urn," PTOL,
of Ptolemy has been already com- , 3 From tlie A pp. to PBITHIAH'S
on,flee Vol. I. Pt. v, eh. i, p.5$ . ! Ceyfwt, p. WJ.
x. 4152
COLOMBO.
[PAET VII,
to the banks of the Kalany-ganga. Hence from its contiguity to the river, the city obtained the early name of Kalan-totta, the " Kalany Ferry," by which it is mentioned in the Rajavali. To the Singhalese, always uninterested in shipping, the roadstead, and the headland which protects it, were matters of indifference; but in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Moors appear to have. taken possession of the beach and harbour, and converted the name to Kalambu, under which it is described by IBN BATUTA about the year A.D. 1340, "as the finest and largest city in Serendib."1 They built the tomb of one of their Santons on the rocks at the Galle-baak2, and its desecration by the Portuguese when they erected their fortified factory near the spot in 15173, served to exasperate the already jealous Mahometans. The designation of the city had then been further changed to Kolamba or Columbu, and the Portuguese, probably pleased to discover that the name of their new settlement so nearly approached that of Columbus4, rendered the resemblance still more close by writing it Colombo^ whence is derived the name borne by the fortress at the present day.5
The houses in the Pettah were formerly- clustered close under the fortifications; but on the outbreak of hostilities with the English in 1795, the last Dutch
1 "Urbs quam Ibn Batuta maximam invenit IZalanibu nomen huc-itsque servavit." ? Script. Arab. p. 54.
3 Galle-baak or (Dutch)jthe "beacon:? on the "rocks" close by the present light-house.
3 Query. Did the stone with the Cufic inscription of the tenth century, which in 1827 formed a door-step in the Pettah. at Colombo, fonn any portion of the Moorish building's at the Galle-baak ? See Trans. Roy. Asiat.
Sac., VOl. i. p. 545. GlLBEMETSTER,
Script. Arab., p. 59.
4 Knox, part i. p. .'1
5 This explanation is more simple than that of Valentyn and the Dutch writers,, who imagined that Colombo was derived from Col-amba,, the leaf of the mango-tree, " Gennamd Col Amba oft Mangaas-blad a£nanien.?' ?Chid m NieutD Oost-Jbidien, eh. xv. p. 275. But this fanciful derivation is unsound? as the place bears no resemblance to a leaf; and the mango tree was then unknown in the locality. Perhaps a better derivation than either is that in the Sidath Sctm/am, where one of the meanings of the word Kofaniba is said to be a ** har-honr."?BE ALWIH, p. 4.CHAP. III.] DWELLINGS. 153
governor caused a space to be cleared between the cemetery and the walls, and this wise precaution was afterwards maintained by the British commanders.1
"With the exception of the military officers, whose duties require their presence within the fort the English in general have fixed their residences either in the environs, in villas overlooking the bay; in the cinnamon gardens ; or under the cool shade of the coco-nut groves by the shore in the hamlet of Colpetty. The site of this beautiful suburb is on the sandy embankment which forms the natural bund of the lake of Colombo, one of the " gobbs of Serendib," formed by an ancient arm of the Kalany-ganga, which at one period must have had its opening to the sea, at the point now occupied by the Galle-face.2 Outside the walls, every building of importance is modern, as the Dutch, owing to the precarious nature of their relations with the people of Kandy, were careful not to erect their dwellings beyond the guns of the fortress. In the suburbs the better houses seldom rise to a second story, but the area which each of them covers is large. Their broad verandahs are supported on columns; their apartments are lofty, and cooled by Indian punkahs; their floors are tiled, and the doors and windows formed of Venetian jalousies3, opening to the ground for the sake of freshness and air. The only inconvenience arising from the latter arrangement is the rather too free entrance afforded to reptiles, snakes4,
1 TOMBE; Voyage aux Indes} t. ii.
p. 184.
° The G-alle-fsice lias still such attractions for the marine Crustacea that it is infested by myriads of the little crabs (ocypode), which employ
1796, they found the Dutch houses at Colomtx) suffocatingly hot7 in consequence of the windows being all closed with c/lass. COBDES~EB, p, 32. The substitution of lattice-work was a recent improvement.
themselves in hollowing- out deep | 4 The Ceylon boa (python retic-u-
burrows seriously injurious to the \ latws) is found of great size in the
safety of the horsemen who make it cinnamon gardens. A specimen was
their promenade. From these hole* the j brought to me nineteen feet long,
crabs emerge each with an armful of which some coolies had secured By
sand? scatter it in a circle by a jerk, 1 fastening it to a bambooj in which
look round on all sides,, and hurry j condition they carried it into the
down for another burthen. " ! Fort. It had swallowed one of the
3 On the arrival of the English, in j small rawninna deer.154 COLOMBO. [PART V1L
lizards and scorpions, which occasionally resort to the rooms, and take up their abode in the ceilings; ? whilst the monkeys, in their mischievous curiosity, lift the tiles to discover what they conceal.1 Spiders of enormous size haunt the wine cellars and other darkened store-rooms, and ants in myriads beset every crevice and corner in the exercise of their useful vocation as domestic scavengers.
But the chief inconvenience of a mansion in Ceylon, both on the coast and. in the mountains, is the prevalence of clamp, and the difficulty of protecting articles liable to injury from this source. Books, papers, and manuscripts rapidly decay; especially during the southwest monsoon, when the atmosphere is laden with moisture. Unless great precautions are taken, the binding fades and yields, the leaves grow mouldy and stained, and letter-paper, in an incredibly short time, becomes so spotted and spongy as to be unfit for use. After a very few seasons of neglect, a book fells to pieces, and its decomposition attracts hordes of minute insects, that swarm to assist in the work of destruction. The concealment of these tiny creatures during daylight renders it difficult to watch their proceedings, or to discriminate the precise species most actively engaged; but there is every reason to believe that the larvse of the death-watch and numerous acari are amongst those most active. As nature seldom peoples a region supplied with abundance of suitable food, without, at the same time, taking measures of precaution against ' the disproportionate increase of individuals; so have these vegetable depredators been provided with foes who pursue and feed greedily upon them. These are of widely different genera; but instead of their ser-_ vices being gratefully recognised, they are popularly branded as accomplices in the work of destruction. One
1 A malicious device of the natives, ; search for which the monkeys will in order to annoy a neighbour, is to ' so displace the tiles as to let in tliQ scatter rice over his roof, hi the , rain.CHAP, III.]
MOSQUITOES.
?155
of these ill-used creatures is a tiny, tail-less scorpion (chelifer\ and another is the pretty little silvery creature (lepisma), called by Europeans the " fish insect" 1
The latter, which is a familiar genus, comprises several species, of which only two have as yet been described2; one, of large size, is most graceful in its movements, and singularly beautiful in appearance, owing to the whiteness of the pearly scales from which its name is derived. These, contrasted with the dark hue of the other parts, and its tri-partite tail, attract the eye as the insect darts rapidly along. Like the chelifer, it shuns the light, hiding in chinks till sunset, but is actively engaged throughout the night feasting on the acari and soft-bodied insects which assail books and papers.
The close proximity of the lake to Colombo is productive of other inconveniences"; the nightly serenade of frogs (some of which are of gigantic dimensions), the tormenting profusion of mosquitoes, and the incredible swarms of more ignoble flies, cause a nuisance sometimes intolerable. So multitudinous are these insects at certain seasons, that in some of the mansions on Slave Island and its vicinity, the flies invade the apartments in such numbers as literally to extinguish the lights. On the occasion of dinner parties in these situations it is the custom to light fires on the lawn to draw away the flies from the
1 Of tlie first of these, three species have "been noticed in Ceylon, all with the common characteristics of being nocturnal, very active, very minute, of a pale chesnut colour, and each armed with, a crab-like claw. They are
CJielifer Libromm} Temp. ? OblonffMS, Temp. ? Acaroides, Hermann.
Dr. Templeton appears to have been puzzled to account for the appearance of the latter species in Ceylon so far from its native country, but it has most certainly been introduced from Europe, in Dutch or Portuguese books.
* Lepmna m'veo-fasciata, Temple-
ton, and L. nig&r, Temp. It was called u Lepisma" by Fabrieiiis, from its fish-like scales. It lias six legs, filiform antennae, and the abdomen terminated by three elongated setae, two of which are placed nearly at right angles to the central one. LINNAEUS states that the European species, with which book collectors are familiar, was first brought in sugar ships from America. Hence, possibly, these are more common in seaport towns in the South of England and elsewhere, and it is almost certain that, like the chelifer, one of the species found on book-shelves in Ceylon has been brought thither from Europe.156
COLOMBO,
[PART VII.
reception rooms, which are kept darkened and with closed windows till the arrival of the guests.
Great pains have been taken with the gardens of these bungalows: the rarest and most beautiful flowering plants of the island have been planted around them, along with fruit trees of every variety; and exotics from the Eastern Archipelago, Australia, and India have been introduced in such numbers as to justify the exclamation of Prince Soltykoff that Colombo was " un jardin botanique sur une echelle gigantesque."l
Of the various races which inhabit Colombo, the bulk of the Singhalese are handicraftsmen2 and servants ; the Parsees are exclusively merchants ; the Moors retail dealers; the Malays soldiers and valets; the Tamils labourers and coolies; and the Caffres excavators and pioneers. The majority of the Portuguese descendants consist of impoverished artisans and domestics, and some few of them are successfully engaged in trades and professions. But the Dutch Burghers, and the offspring of the English by intermarriages with the natives, form essentially the middle class in all the towns in Ceylon. They have risen to eminence at the Bar, and occupied the highest positions on the Bench. They are largely engaged, in mercantile pursuits, and as writers and clerks they fill places of trust in every administrative establishment from the department of the Colonial Secretary to the humblest police court. It is not possible to speak too highly of the services of this meritorious body of men, by whom the whole machinery of government is put into action under the orders of the civil officers. They may fairly be described in the lan-
PRINCE SQLXTKOFP, Voyage dans
3 It is a curious trait, not unfre-quent amongst the Singhalese of a rank above artisans^ to encourage the growth of a nail on one of their ringers ; which denotes "by its extra-
ordinary length that the individual is
not addicted to labour. A similar practice is observable amongst certain claa^es in China and the Philippines. In Borneo the nail selected is that of the rijrht thumb.CHAP. III.J
CASTE.
157
guage of Sir Kobert Peel as the " brazen wheels of the executive which keep the golden hands in motion."
Amongst the piire Singhalese, the ascendency of caste still exercises a baneful influence over the intellectual as well as the material prosperity of the nation. Its origin has been elsewhere alluded tol as directly traceable to the Brahmanical conquerors of Ceylon under Wijayo, by whom the system was introduced from the continent of India. It was unknown amongst the aborigines of the island, and although condemned by the precepts of Buddha2, and the example of Ms priesthood, so attractive were the distinctions of civil rank which it conferred, that in later times, in spite of religious injunction, and in defiance of the efforts of every European government, Portuguese, Dutch, and British, to discountenance and extinguish it, no appreciable progress has yet been made towards its modification or abandonment.
A reluctant conformity is exhibited on the part of high-caste persons placed officially under the orders of low-caste headmen; but their obedience is constrained, with no effort to conceal impatience; and in the relations of private life the impassable barrier is still" maintained. There is no familiar intercourse between individuals of incongruous castes, no friendly domestic meetings, and no association even in the formal festivities of wed-
1 See Part IT. ch. i. p. 425.
3 A paper by TUEKOHR in tlie AMO&. Sue. Joum* Beng., vol. ii. p. 693, contains a translation of the discourse in which Buddha^ exposes and denounces the folly and evils of caste. It is taken from the A.gganna SuUan in the Dighanikaya section of the P&takaa; and enforces the eligibility of all castes^ however low, to the office of the priesthood, which commands the homage of the highest. The same doctrine is repeated in the HadJmra Button; and the Wamla contains the stanza^ "beginning
with "Majachcha wasalo hoti;" which runs
*' A man does not become low caste by birth, Hor by birth does one become high caste ; High caste is the result of high actions? And by actions does a man degrade himself to caste that is low."
Still Buddhism, even when in the zenith of its power,, had not the influence, or perhaps the inclination,
to extinguish these distinctions j and caste continued to be tolerated under the Singhalese kings as a social institution, In other Buddhist countries Bimnahj Siain, and Thi"bet; caste does not exist in anv similar form158 COLOMBO. [PART VII
dings, or the solemnities that do honour to the dead. The social segregation is carried to such an extreme, that members of the several classes into which each caste is subdivided, with a distinctive rank for each, refuse to associate together; and a Vellale of the first class would shrink from the communication with a Vellale of a lower order, with as much sensitiveness as he would avoid contact with a washer or a Chalia,
Doubtless in time education and civilisation will manifest their power; but in opposition to their progress no obstacle has yet been interposed so powerful as caste. It interferes with the discipline of schools, it mars the harmonising efforts of Christianity, it discountenances social improvement, and deprives the civil authority of its most efficient agents, who, however endowed with the essentials of usefulness, would be paralysed in their functions by the disqiiahfication of conventional rank. The only great measure likely to be productive of effect in equalising the pretensions of caste is the establishment of trial by jury, on which all are entitled to serve on a footing of perfect equality. But the inference from past experiments of the government, suggests the propriety of abstaining from direct interference, and leaving the abatement of the evil to the operation of time and the gradual growth of intelligence.
Of a thing so fluctuating as European society in a colony, it almost partakes of injustice to place on record'any expression of opinion, the result of limited experience. It is unhappily the tendency of small sections of society to decompose., when separated from the great vital mass, as pools stagnate and putrify when cut off from, the invigorating flow of the sea. But the process is variable, both in its agents and its manifestations. What repulsive in colonial society to-day, may become attractive to-morrow, by a few timely departures ; and on the other hand, experience has unhappily demonstrated that one ungenial arrival may be sufficientCHAP. in.]*
COST OF LIVING.
159
to convert peace into pandemonium.1 Nothing can be more charming than the accounts which have reached us of the social harmony of the first British community, after the capture of the island2 ; but at that period, the purity of English feeling was still untainted., and the unity of Christian fellowship had. not yet been rent in sunder by ecclesiastical jarring. It is to be hoped that some future narrator will find a moment more propitious than I did to delineate the aspect of society at Colombo.
The high cost of living has been a subject of complaint ever since our occupation of the island, and the grievance is as severely felt at the present day as when Percival lamented it in 1803. The scarcity of pasture, and the injury to which cattle are exposed from leeches, render meat scarce and dear ; milk is difficult to procure3, fresh butter is almost unknown, and poultry ex-
1 "Frequent scarifications render most colonial skins so impenetrably thick, that the utmost vituperation makes hardly any impression. He-course therefore is had to something" sharper than Billingsgate. It is a general custom in colonies, when your antagonist withstands abusej to hurt him seriously if you can, and even to do him a mortal injury; either in order to carry your point or to punish him for having earned his. In every walk of colonial life, every "body strikes at his opponent's heart. If a governor or high officer refuses to comply with the wish of some leading parties, they instantly try to ruin him by getting him recalled with disgrace. *If two officials disagree, one of them is very likely to be tripped up and destroyed by the other. If an official or a colonist offends the official body, the latter hunt him into jail or out of the colony. If two settlers disagree about a road or a watercourse, they will attack each other's credit at the bank, rake up ugly old stories, get two newspapers to be the instruments of their bitter animosity, and perhaps ruin each other in despe-
rate litigation. Disagreement and rivalry are more tiger-like in a colony than disagreement and rivalry at home.77?^VAKEFIDELD on Colonization. Letter xxix., p. 188.
2 COBDISTEH'S Ceylon, &c., p. 76.
3 Linnaeus has described the peculiar effects produced on the milk of the reindeer and the cow by the leaves of the Pinguicula mdgaris, a small plant common in marshes in Britain. In many parts of the coast of Ceylon there is a thorny fruited plant, with dark orange-coloured roots and primrose-like flowers, which has equally wonderful effects on milk and on water, though of a different nature. It is known to the Singhalese as the bakatoo (Pedalium murex), and if bits of the stem, le*ives, ana roots be mixed for a few seconds in milk or water, the liquid turns thick and mucilaginous, so much so, that water in this state can be raised by the hand several feet out of a basin and will fall back without noise; and this without imparting any colour, taste, or smell to the fluid, which returns to its natural state in about ten or fifteen minutes afterwards. The360
COLOMBO.
' [PART VII.
pensive.1 The wages of servants are increased, owing to the necessity of importing rice from the coast of India, and the cost of keeping horses at Colombo (as-cribable to the same cause) is nearly double the outlay required at Madras. Fruit alone is abundant; a pineapple of two or three pounds' weight costs but a penny; and freshly-gathered oranges sell at a similarly cheap rate. Excellent stores within the Fort supply articles imported from Europe ; and those who bring outfits from England, generally find they could have obtained the same articles on the spot, if not more economically, at least more judiciously chosen, as regards adaptation to the climate. Besides, the Moors in the Pettah have shops which are certainly amongst the " wonders of Serendib," from the habits of their owners and the multiform variety of their contents. Here everything is procurable that industry can collect from the looms of Asia and the manufactories of Europe ; but the stocks have accumulated so long, that an antiquary estimating the date by the fashion, might fix the period of their importation in the early times of the Dutch.2
The domestic economy of the great body of the Sinhalese, who inhabit Colombo and the other towns of the island, is of the simplest and most inexpensive character. In a climate, whose chief requirement is protection from heat, their dwellings are as little encumbered with furniture as their persons with dress; and the coolness of the earthen floor renders it preferable to a bed. Two
Singhalese, take advantage of this peculiarity of the baJwtoo to thicken the milk sent round for sale to Europeans.
1 The Malabar poultry is common
at Colombo ; in which the colour of the bones and skin is a disagreeable black. In other respects they are excellent.
2 " The Moormen shopkeepers have such unpronounceable names,,
that by common consent their English customers designate them by the numbers of their shops. In this way one, a small portion of whose name consists of Meera Lebbe Hema Lebbe Tamby Ahamadoc Lebbe Marcair, is cut down to * Xumber Forty-eight,7 while his rival in trade is similarly symbolized asl Number Forty-two/?J Words, vol. viii. p. 19,CHAT . III.] NATIVE' DIOTEK. 161
articles furnish the basis of their cookery,?rice and the flesh of the coco-nut;?appas1 (cakes made of the former) supply their morning repast, with a scanty allowance of coffee; and curries, in all their endless variety, furnish their afternoon meal. The use of metal of any kind scarcely enters into their arrangements; their houses are framed without iron, their implements fashioned in wood, and their cooking utensils are clay. The broad leaves of the plantain serve as a substitute for plates; and in further illustration of their vegetable economy, the nuts of the penela tree2 furnish them with a substitute for soap, and possess all its detergent qualities,3
But the residences of the headmen are of a very different class, and exhibit European taste engrafted on Singhalese customs. A dinner at which my family were received by the Maha Moodhar de Sarern, the Chief of highest rank in the maritime provinces, was one of the most refined entertainments at which it was our good fortune to be present in Ceylon; the furniture of his reception-rooms was of ebony richly carved, and his plate, chiefly made by native artists, was a model of superior chasing on silver. The repast, besides pastry and dessert, consisted of upwards of forty dishes; and, amongst other triumphs of the native cuisine, were some singular, but by no means inelegant, chefs-d'oeuvre,?brinjals boiled, and stuffed with savoury meats, but exhibiting ripe and undressed fruit, growing on the same branch^ and bread-fruit, baked and seasoned with the green leaves and/lowers^ fresh and uninjured by the fire.
The present aspect of the " cinnamon gardens," which
1 Called "hoppers" by tlie En-
glish.
Sapindus emaryinatuSj "Wall. It
Is generally preferred by the horse-
keepers, who say that soap renders dark horses grey.
s Another useful seed in Ceylon Is the marking-nut, the produce of the |
VOL. II, M
Kiri-'baduUa tree (S&necarpas Ana-
cardium, Linn.), "between the kernel
and the pericarp of which is contained a semi-fluid varnish, as black
and as durable as the nitrate of silver, It is plentiful in the bazaars of Co-loinbo.162 COLOMBO. [PART VIT.
surround-Colombo on the land-side, exhibits the effects of a quarter of a century of neglect, and produces a feeling of disappointment and melancholy. The beautiful shrubs which furnish the renowned spice have been allowed to grow wild, and in some places are scarcely visible, owing to undergrowth of jungle, and the thick envelopment of climbing plants, bignonias, ipornoeas, the quadrangular vine, and the marvellous pitcher-plant, (Nepenthes distillatoria), whose eccentric organisation is still a scientific enigma. One most interesting flower, which encumbers the cinnamon trees, is a night-blowing convolvuhis, the moon-flower of Europeans, called by the natives alanga1, which never blooms in the day, but opens its exquisite petals when darkness comes on, and attracts the eye through the gloom, by its pure and snowy whiteness.
Less than a century has elapsed since these famous gardens were formed by the Dutch, and already they are relapsing into wilderness. Every recent writer on Ceylon has dwelt on their beauty and luxuriance, but henceforward it will remain to speak only of their decay. The history of the cinnamon laurel has been exhausted by Nees Von Esenbach and his brother; who, in the erudite disquisition2 which they contributed to the Amoenitates Botanicce, condensed all the learning of ancients and moderns regarding this celebrated tree.3
1 Colony ctfan spcciosum^ Choisy (Iponma hou(mo.t', L.). It is the
Miinda-valli of Tan Rheede. Hortus Malabar, j vol. ii. tab. 50.
2 De Cinnamomo Ditgntfatfo, by C. Gr, and T. F. L. NEBS vox ESENBACH. Bonne, 1823.
3 Relative to the growth and cultivation of cinnamon and the method pursued by the chaliae for *' peeling-" and preparing it for market, little could be added to the copious details
of TALENTTN, during the tone of the j mm Trade of Ceylon, its f.. Dutch, and of PEKCIVAL (ciiap. xvi. j awl by JOHK CAPPEH
- Q *^jf and COKBI^TEE (chap, xiiL p. f ^-^
405), under the early government of the British. A very able and accurate essay on the same subject was contributed in 1817, to the Annals of Philosophy, vol. IviiL, by HEFEY MARSHALL, *F. R. S. E.; who served on the medical staff in CVy-lon, and communicated the results of personal observation and inquiry. There is an interesting' paper in the Jottrnal of the Mm/al jtmatie Sttftrtt/ (London), for 184(1 »A (M theCHAP. III.] CINNAMON, 163
The trade in its products was at its height1 when Esenbach wrote; but opinion was already arraying itself against the rigidly exclusive system under which it was conducted. This was looked on as the more unjustifiable, owing to the popular belief that the monopoly was one" created by nature; and that prohibitions became vexatious where competition was impossible. Accordingly, in 1832, the odious monopoly was abandoned; the Government ceased to be the sole exporters of cinnamon, and thenceforward the merchants of Colombo and Galle were permitted to take a share in the trade, on paying to the crown an export duty of three shillings a pound, which was afterwards reduced to one. But the revolution came too late to benefit those for whose advantage it was designed. The delusion of a "natural monopoly" of the spice was demonstrated by the fact, that not alone India, Java, and China, but also Guiana, Martinique, and Mauritius were found capable of producing it; and such was the stimulus to rivalry engendered by exorbitant prices, that supplies from these quarters were already supplanting the cinnamon of Ceylon in the markets of the world. Cassia, a still more formidable competitor, was arriving in Europe in large quantities; and thus the great experiment of free trade in this precious article led at first to disappointment and loss ; the prices undergoing a decline as the quantity exported was suddenly increased.
The adoption of the first step inevitably necessitated a second. The merchants felt, and with justice, that the struggle was unequal so long as the Government, with its great estates and large capital, was their opposing competitor; and hence, in 1840, the final expedient was adopted by the crown of divesting itself altogether of its property in the plantations.* The cinnamon gardens were offered for sale ; and Ekelle
1 The extent of the trade may be inferred from the fact, that the*n've principal cinnamon gardens around
Xegoiubo, Colombo,, Barberyn, Galle,
and Matura, were each from fifteen to twenty miles in circumference.
M 2164
COLOMBO.
[PAET VII.
Kaderani and Morottu passed at once into private hands. But so depressing was the prospect, that Ma-' randhan, from its vicinity to the capital, was felt to be more profitable as a speculation for building villas than for cultivating cinnamon. It was disposed of in lots; but not before neglect and decay had so depreciated its value that the price for which it sold was almost nominal.
One only source of income from cinnamon still remained in the hands of the Government?the one shilling duty on its export. But even this, as it was equivalent to 100 per cent, on the value, became in a very few years intolerable; and such was the peril which menaced the trade on my arrival in Ceylon, in 1845, that one of my earliest acts was to recommend to Her Majesty's Government an instant reduction of the tax, preparatory to its early and total abolition1?a measure which was afterwards consummated by Viscount Tor-rington.
But, like every previous reform, in relation to this ill-fated article, the relief came too late to be effectual. Had no export duty upon cinnamon been imposed when the monopoly of the growth was surrendered, in 1833, it may admit of a doubt whether Java would have been enabled to compete with the produce of Ceylon; which, in fineness and quality, was unsurpassed; but the time for the trial was past; the European consumers had become satisfied with the cheaper substitute of cassia, and Singhalese cinnamon could no longer be cultivated with advantage as of old. Under these circumstances, less care has been given of late years to the production of the finest qualities for the European market, and the coarser and less valuable shoots have been cut and peeled in larger proportion than formerly. Hence the gross quantity exported has been increasing,
1 Sir J. EMEKSON TEXSTSNT'S Jfo-
port on the Fmmcmand
Ceylon. Presented to Parliament
I8487 pp, 76; 78. . . ,CHAP. HI.]
CINNAMON CULTURE.
165
although the general character has deteriorated, and the price has proportionally declined. Excellence has ceased to be appreciated as of old; the cheaper substitute is received with sufficient favour, and the ancient staple of Ceylon is threatened with the loss of emolument, as it has already parted with its old renown. l
The adoption of Colombo, as the site for the Capital and the seat of Government, is altogether anomalous. The locality presents no single advantage to recommend it. Compared with other parts of the island, the country surrounding it is unproductive, the coast is low and unsheltered, and the port is less a harbour than a roadstead. None but light native craft venture close to the wharves and the fort, and ships waiting for cargo are forced to anchor in the offing where disasters have frequently occurred during the violence of the monsoons.
It was the vicinity of the cinnamon country,, and the accidental residence of the Singhalese sovereign at Gotta, that induced the Portuguese in the sixteenth century to establish themselves at this point, and the decision became irreversible when the Dutch had completed their
1 The export of cinnamon from Ceylon in 1857 was nearly double that of 1841, but the gross value, instead of bearing the same ratio^ exhibits a relative decrease of marly me third. One explanation of this is referable to the fact of the shipment of coarse cinnamon in greatly increased proportion to fine, and the
consequent reduction of the average price of the whole. Hence the phenomenon, that whilst fine cinnamon was formerly displaced by cassia,
cassia is being now driven out of the market by the coarser qualities and reduced prices of cinnamon! This curious result will be discerned from the following return :?
CINNAMON. CASSIA.
Year?. Quantity imported from "Cej Ion* Average price in. London. Quantity exported from the United Kingdom. Average price in London.
9. d. 3. d.
1841 452,039 Ibs. 5 I pcrlb. 1,262,164 Ibs. 0 10a ? per Ib,
1846 408,211 ? 2 9 ? 950,255 ? 0 63 »
1850 733,781 ? 2 10 ? 753,915 ? o 10] * ??»
1855 784,284 ? 1 3£ n 454,925 ? 1 Ij r »»
1856 877,547 ?, ! 6" ? 615,703 ? 0 III y
1857 887,959 ? 1 6 ? 766,691 ? 0 ll| »?»
M 3166
COLOMBO.
[PART VIL
fortifications" and surrounded them on all sides with valuable plantations of the spice. Now that cinnamon has become secondary in importance ; and the great central mountains adapted for the culture of coffee may be rendered equally accessible from the harbours of Galle or Tiincomalie; the question will at no distant day demand solution, whether the vastly Increased commerce of Ceylon can be adequately accommodated at Colombo ; and whether the interests of the island may not necessitate the transfer of the capital to some more suitable and commodious seaport.
The most picturesque spots in the environs of the town lie to the north of the fort on the angle between it and the embouchure of the river Ealany; and here, after a visit of a few weeks to the Governor, we took up our residence at Elie House, a mansion built by Mr. Anstru-ther, my predecessor in office. It stands on the ridge of a projecting headland, commanding a wide prospect over the Gulf of Manaar ; and in the midst of a garden containing the rarest and most beautiful trees of the tropics, tamarinds, jainbus, nutmegs, guavas, mangoes, and oranges, the graceful casuarinas of Australia, and the beautiful traveller's palm1 of Madagascar.
.167
CHAP. IV.
COLOMBO TO KAJSTDY.
THE day after my arrival in Colombo, I took the oaths as a member of the executive council, the body which acts as the cabinet of the Governor; consisting of the Queen's Advocate, the three principal officers of the colony \ and (when the head of the administration is a civilian) the General in command of the forces.
In a Crown colony such as Ceylon (the official term for possessions obtained by conquest or cession), the powers of the Governor constitute a " paternal despotism," modified only by the distant authority of the Queen. The functions of his councils are consultative, but the adoption or rejection of their recommendations rests exclusively with himself. The Executive Council is the body, by whose advice his measures are originally framed preparatory to their submission to the Legislative Council, by whom they are finally discussed with all the forms of parliamentary debate. But, although the latter assembly, in addition to official members, contains representative men, selected by the Crown with becoming regard to the various races and interests in the island2, still the paramount authority of the
1 The Colonial Secretary, tlie Treasurer, and Auditor-G-eneral.
2 The Legislative Council of Ceylon, in addition to the members of the executive, includes the two principal civil officers of the "Western and Central Provinces, the Surveyor-General, and the Collector of Cus-
toms. Three unofficial members are nominated from the planting- and commercial interests, and three may "be held to represent the principal native races ? Mr. Lorenz, the Eur-' Asians; Mr. Diaz, the Singhalese; and Mr. S. Ederemenesingam, the Tamils,
ai 4168
COLOMBO.
[PART VII.
Governor can over-rule their deliberations, and their labours may be nullified by the interposition of his veto.
The most important duties of the Legislative Council are necessarily those which involve the expenditure of an annual revenue, which of late years has exceeded half a million sterling. So far as that income is drawn from land and its produce, although much that was unjust and vexatious in the mode of its collection has been modified or removed since the establishment of the British authority, the system in its main features is still identifiable with that which was organised by the Portuguese and perpetuated by the Dutch.1
By the policy of both these nations, one legitimate source of income was stifled; since by ignoring foreign trade they deprived themselves of customs' duties2 and port charges which, owing to the judicious reforms of Viscount Torrington in 1847, yield at the present day nearly one-third of the whole receipts of the colony.
The rents and proceeds from the sales of land cleared for coffee cultivation and other purposes, form another resource altogether unknown to the Dutch, and even to
1 The results of an examination into the various sources of revenue in Ceylon, and their influence upon the industry and trade of the island^ will
"be found in the Report of Sir J. EMERSON TENNENT, on the Finances and Commerce of Ceylotij presented to
Parliament in 1848,
2 The following table exhibits the several sources of Ceylon Keyenue for the year ending Slat December, 1857:?
Customs* port and harbour dues
Land sales and renta
Pearl fishery -
Chunks --«,-,
Salt ?--..,
Distillation and sale of arrack and spirits
Tax on rice, fee grain, and gardens -
Tolls at bridges femes -
Stamps .--,-.
Postage -
Taxes'on
Royalties and miscellaneous receipts -
Police tax -
Sale of stores, stoppages, and reimbursements 47,550 2
£ 9. d.
164,126 15 0
30,708 0 8j.
20,550 15 6
188 9 0
53,542 16 7*
70,811 0 5
60,449 10 Of
44,705 10 0
30,755 15 1
5,700 19 81
3,454 10 0
16,420 9 8
5,075 13 1
CHAP. IV.] TAXATION". 169
the British before 1812, when the rule was relaxed which, forbade the tenure of land by Europeans.
Monopolies are to the present day a prominent feature of the Ceylon revenue. The fishery of pearls and chanks has been from time immemorial in the hands of the sovereign, as well as. the right to collect salt; and to these in later times has been added the privilege of distilling arrack from the juice of the coco-nut palm.
Odious as the name of monopoly sounds, its reality could scarcely be less offensive than in the instances in which it prevails in Ceylon. The supposed injustice of keeping guard over the pearl banks has been the theme of a political romance1, and adduced as an illustration of the wrong assumed to be inflicted on those whom it apparently excludes from legitimate labour. But the employment it affords does not extend beyond a few weeks at uncertain periods, and generally with intervals of many years interposed. Besides, when a pearl fishery is proclaimed, although every individual is enabled to participate to the extent of his capital, so indifferent are the Singhalese, that few ever engage in it, and the divers and boatmen employed come chiefly from the opposite coast of India, The monopoly of salt as it prevails in Ceylon is common to every country of the East, and seems the only expedient by which oriental sovereigns have ever succeeded in obtaining a minimum of taxation from classes incapable of bearing in any other shape an equitable share of the public burthens;?and the restrictions on distillation, if properly administered, are susceptible of being used as an effectual check on the ruinous abuse of arrack.
But a tax more objectionable than these ancient monopolies, is the heavy impost laid by the Ceylon government, not only on the import of rice and grain, but on its home cultivation. The duty on foreign
Cinnamon and Pearls, by Miss MAKCINEATFJ lUmtratwm of Political j TO!, vii. p, 149.170
COLOMBO;
[PART VII.
lice1 was originally instituted as an encouragement to native agriculture, but with strange inconsistency the tax
1 In an island so peculiarly circumstanced as Ceylon, owing to its dependence on India for supplies of immigrant labour, the policy seems almost suicidal of raising revenue by a dutjr of fifty per cent, on the importation of food. But when it is Borne in mind that for upwards of three centuries since Barthema and Barbosa visited ? Ceylon in the 16th century, there has been a sustained complaint of the deficiency of home cultivation, and the dependency of the population on foreign countries for rice j the error is glaring and indefensible of so loading native agriculture with vexatious taxes as to discourage and virtually check its extension. In a case so peculiar and anomalous, it might be questionable whether in any general scheme of a land-tax for the whole colony, it might not be judicious to encourage the growth of corn by exempting from its operation such lands as had been brought under cultivation for rice, or at least by subjecting them to tlie payment of only a modified amount; but in strong contrast to such a policy, the lands employed in the production of rice are not only the only ones which have been made subservient to the purpose of revenue, but a special legal provision made public in 1824, for exempting from assessment the produce of all other lands throughout the island which might be brought into cultivation for coffee, cotton, orpepper? pertinaciously re-enacts the assessment upon the cultivation of grain!
The mocle of collecting the tax: on rice is even more mischievous than the impost itself. With some slight modi4Lc»tioBS in different districts, it is this: " When the crop is sufficiently advanced to enable an estimate to Be formed of its possible ! produce, the Government Assessors proceed to calculate its probable value, and a return is to the
Government Agent of tht amount liable upon every field. The of
the tax of each district is then sold by public auction; and as the harvest approaches the cultivator is obliged to give five days' notice to the purchaser of his intention to cut \ two days' notice if he finds it necessary to postpone; if the crop be not threshed immediately the renter is entitled to a further notice of the day fixed for that purpose j and for any omission or irregouarity he has a remedy, by suing for a penalty in the District Court.
( It would be difficult to devise a system more pregnant with oppression, extortion, and demoralisation than the one here detailed. The cultivator is handed over helplessly to two successive sets of inquisitorial officers, the assessors and the renters; whose acts are so uncontrolled that abuses are inevitable, and the intercourse of the two parties is characterised by rigour and extortion on the one side, and cunning and subterfuges of every description on the other. Every artifice and disingenuous device is put in practice to deceive the headmen and assessors as to the extent and fertility of the land and the actual value of the crop; and they, in return, resort to the most inquisitorial and vexatious interference, either to protect the interest of the Government, or privately to further their own. Between these demoralising influences, the character and industry of the rural population are deteriorated and destroyed. The extension of cultivation by reclaiming a portion of waste land only exposes the harassed proprietor to fresh visits from the headmen, and a new valuation by the Government Assessor, and where annoyance IB not the leading object, recotirw is had to corruption, in order to keep down the valuation,
** But no sooner has the cultivator pot rid of the assessor than he falls into the hands of the renter, who, under the authority with which tho law invests Mni;fintb himself possessedCHAP. IV.]
TAXATION.
171
on the latter has been enforced with such rigour as effectually to check cultivation. The evils of this anomalous system are so obvious that it is difficult to justify the policy which has so long postponed the application of a remedy.
Another questionable means of raising a revenue is the toll on bridges and ferries ; a tax which, however justifiable so far as the proceeds are applicable to the improvement of communication, is not defensible as a means of profit to the discouragement of traffic. From the love of litigation which characterises the Singhalese, the duty on stamps has been singularly productive, and these, with sundry receipts from a variety of minor subjects, postage, carriage duties, royalties, licenses for arms and other items of less importance, are the sources of colonial income.1 In addition to these, certain sums are enumerated in the public accounts as apparent receipts which are in reality reimbursements for previous expenditure incurred in advances for the use of the military and public departments. But exclusive of these, the realised income of
of unusual powers of vexation and annoyance. He may be designedly out of the way when tlie cultivator sends notice of Ms intention to cut 5 and if the latter, to save his harvest from perishing on the stalk, ventures to reap it in his absence^ the penalties of the law are instantly enforced against him. Under the pressure of this formidable control, the agricultural proprietor^ rather than lose Ms time or his crop in dancing attendance on the renter, or submitting to the multiform annoyances of his subordinates, is driven to purchase forbearance by additional payments; and it is generally understood that the share of the tax which eventually reaches the Treasury does not form ott?~half of the amount which is thus extorted by oppressive devices from the helpless proprietors."
The same process which is here described for ttie collection of the tax
upon rice lands in the valleys is resorted to for realising that upon dry grain in the uplands and hills; and it is a striking confirmation of the discouragement to the extension of agriculture, which is inseparable from a system so vexatious and so oppressive, that by a return of the produce of the paddi tax and that on dry grain for the years prior to 1846, during which the cultivation of every other description of produce had been making extensive advances, it was shown that the production of corn had "been for some time stationary in Ceylon; and the increase has been very inconsiderable since. See Sir J. BICEBSON TENNENT'S Report, fyc., 1847, p. 68.
1 There is a tax on immovable property in towns amounting to upwards of §,000/. per annuni? but it is applicable only to the maintenance of local police.172
COLOMBO,.
[PART VII.
Ceylon Is upwards of 500,OQO£ per annum, and is annually augmenting.
As to expenditure, one half of this sum is absorbed by the salaries and contingent expenses, and the pensions of the civil departments.1 This amount is sufficient to cover the costs for the collection of revenue, the administration of justice, the preservation of peace and health, the maintenance of public worship, and the extension of education, unbiassed by sectarian influences. The balance of the colonial income is more than sufficient for the construction of roads, the erection of public buildings, the repair of fortifications, and the pay and allowances of the military employed in the island.
The civil service of the colony, properly so called, was organised on the model of the great institution by which India had so long been governed, and all the superior offices comprised within its functions are reserved exclusively for the members of the privileged body.2 But the result was unsatisfactory, chiefly owing to the cir-
1 In 1857; the proportions were as follows : ?
establishments; including that of the
Governor and principal officer Judicial; Chief Justice, Puisne Judges,
Queen's Advocate, &c. -Ecclesiastical; Episcopal and Presbyterian
Churches - - - -* -
JZdwati&nal -
Medical - -
Police -
Fiscars Establishment -
Pensions -
£ s. d.
119,740 17 9*
30,731 11 0
9,021 10 0
8,054 10 0
8,034 3 0
9,504 A 0
8,453 0 9
25,880 8 2
£228,820 4 8k
a The advocates of Administrative Reform f when their labours shall have been successfully dowel at home, will find an inviting field for exertion in reconstructing the on which
colonial business is conciliated in Ceylon. So far as I am no
change of any effected since "the following1
, tion written la 1847: i( Taken us ' a whole, the machinery of the exe-i cutive Government is at once cumbrous and embarrassed, complicated in ( its slow and HBHtitis-
1 factory in Its performance. It is in ; reality a relic of the old Dutch sys-! tt*m, patch etl and altered by wiceea-! lire government* to meet enaergen-CHAP. IVJ
THE EXECUTIVE.
173
cumscribed area within which the experiment was tried. Like the miniature oak which the Chinese can raise in a flower-pot, the dwarfed plant had every characteristic of the great tree, except its strength and solidity.
cies j but requiring, at the present day, fundamental changes to adapt it to the transition through which the colony is passing.
" The grand error appears to be this,,?that as the business of each department increased beyond its strength, the difficulty was met, not by simplifying the system, but by adding clerk after clerk to the establishment, to try to grapple with the details ; forgetful that the same arrangement which may have been found effectual at some early period in controlling a small annual expenditure, can only lead to confusion and insecurity, when applied to the disbursement of half a million per annum.
" Two defects in the present system are so palpable as to be sufficient in themselves to account in a great degree both for its imperfection and expense. In the first place, all the payments in the colony, from the salary of the Governor to the wages of a pioneer, are issued monthly, instead of quarterly, from the Treasury, on monthly applications for the same sums from" the various heads of departments sustained by monthly vouchers and accounts, and authorised by monthly warrants elaborately prepared, and signed formally by the Governor. It is impossible to" conceive the multiplication of forms, documents, and securities, to which this monthly excitement gives rise; and as every instrument has to be prepared in triplicate and sometimes in quadruplicate, as these monthly applications ascend in the same monotonous succession to the Audit Office and the Treasury through the local department, the" Government Agent, the Colonial Secretary, and the Governor, it is easy to imagine
the multitude of writers and clerks who become indispensable in every department for the mere copying, comparing, and recording these superfluous documents. On the occasion of a visit which I made to the province of Oovah, I found all the clerks in the Badulla cutchery engaged, without pause, in making eight thousand copies of pay lists in quadruplicate, in order to close the road accounts of an officer who had just died.
" As to the contingent expense of the various departments, the system is even more cumbrous and" annoying. For every one of these, even the most trivial in amount, the responsible officer must apjjly formally for the previous and special authority of the Governor, conveyed through the Colonial Secretary. The practice has now become so * oppressive in the quantity of details which are brought under the Secretary's notice, that it is absurd to require that officer to devote time to such matters to the prejudice of grave and important business. Within the last twelve months I have had despatches from the remotest parts of the island, asking permission to expend Is. for a gallon of oil, or 2*. 6d. for the repair of a table. I have had applications, requiring formal and recorded answers, for a flat ruler for the assistant agent at an out-station, and for two skeins of thread to sew the records of a district court ; and within the last few months I had a correspondence, extending to 13 despatches, in regard to a pewter inkstand for a police-office, which could not be got at the Commissariat Store, and had to be bought by private contract at the "?
"? Sir J. EUEBSOK Report, |T,, p. 85.174 COLOMBO. [PART VIL
Ceylon has trained "but few civil servants of distinguished ability; and the failure has been aggravated by the pernicious system of promotion by mere seniority. Exertion was felt to. be ineffectual when advancement was guaranteed to mediocrity, without an effort; and aspiring ability was chilled by the consciousness that no services, however zealous, were sufficient to achieve distinction when opposed to the claims of ante-dated incompetence. On more than on occasion, when offices had fallen vacant requiring talents of a higher order than those developed by routine, the Governor was unable to recommend the advancement of any one of the Individuals then serving in the island; and the duty devolved on the Secretary of State of nominating persons duly qualified from home.
Impressed with the necessity for a remedy, the Earl of Derby, in 1845, directed merit Instead of seniority to be the basis of promotion; and in order to extend the area of selection, he increased the number of the civil servants to upwards of seventy. The experiment is still in progress; but coupled with the higher test of preliminary qualification which has since been required from candidates for office, there is no reason to doubt its ultimate success; especially since the recent revision of salaries has to some extent removed a just cause of complaint on the part of the civil service, as to the inadequacy of their emoluments, still singularly disproportionate to those awarded to corresponding functionaries in India.
Once in each year, shortly after the setting in of the south-west monsoon, a fleet of small vessels arrives at Galle from the Maldive Islands, the commander of winch Is Invested for the occasion with the dignity of ambassador. He Is the bearer of presents and a letter from the Sultan to the Governor of Ceylon, soliciting the continued protection of England, and giving assurances In return of his lliglniess's anxiety to afford every succour to vessels in tlie event of shipwreck.CHAP. IV.]
THE MALBIVE AMBASSADOR.
175
This custom has continued from time immemorial; at least from the remote period when the Chinese, in right of their supremacy over Ceylon \ claimed the sovereignty of the Maldives.2 The Portuguese asserted a similar right, and erected a fort in an island on one of the atolls.3 Unfaltering in their adherence to their ancestral pursuits, the commodities which the islanders produce at the present day consist of precisely the same articles which they exported a thousand years ago, when, according to the Persian author of the Modjmel-alte-varyke (a History of the kings of India, written in the year of the Hejira 417), one group of the Maldives was called Diva-Kouzah, from the abundance of cowries; and another Diva-Kan-bar, from the coco-nut coir, which the islanders spun into cordage.4
The boats, in addition to these, are laden with dried fish and tortoise-shell. The white cowries (Cyprcea mo~ neta\ which they bring, are sent to Africa, where they still take the place of coin, and along with them the Maldives supply quantities of the great shell, the Cassis rii/a, which is exported to Italy for the manufacture of cameos.
The Maldive ambassador is received by the Governor with every mark of respect; he is preceded by a guard
1 See ante. Vol. I. Pt. v. ch. iii. p. 601.
3 DE BABEOS, Asia, fyc., dec. iii. torn. iii. pt. ii. ch. i. p. 3.
3 J&.jtom. i. pt. ii. p. 423; torn. iii.
pt. L p. 306.?PYRAED DE LAVAL? Voyage^ # ?., p. 170. ? VALENTYN, Owl en Nieuw Oost-Zndien. ch. xii.
p. 101.
4 Tlie Modjmel is a Persian version of an Arabic translation from Sanskrit, -written in the year 1026 A.D. by Abul-Hassan, of Djordjan, near the Caspian. The only portion of it which has been rendered into a European language is the chapter from which the following extract is taken, contained in the Fraymens Arabas et
of lleinaud':?" Ces lies se
divisent en deux classes, suivant la nature de leur principal produit. Les tines sont nominees J)wa-Kouzahy c'est-a-dire lies des cauris, a cause des cauris qu'on ramasse sur lea branches des cocotiers plantes dans la mer. Les airfares portent le nom de DiiM^JKanbar, du niot Jtanbar (coir)7 qui designe le fil que Ton tresse avec les fibres du cocotier et avec lequel on coud les iiavires."?Fragni. Arab, et Pers. pp. 93?124 See also DTJ-LATrRiEE, Journ. Asiat. vol. xlix. p. 171. DE BAEEOS describes the mode of fishing for cowries at the Maldives in the time of the Portuguese as identical with that narrated in the M&djtneL?Asia* §x** torn, iii, pt. i. p. 312.176 COLOMBO TO.. KANDY, [PAET VIL
of honour, and introduced with his interpreters; his presents are accepted and reciprocated by suitable equivalents (one of which is a piece of scarlet cloth for the Sultan); and on the conclusion of the ceremonial he re-embarks with Ms little fleet, arid proceeds on his voyage to the Coromandel coast.
To avoid the hot season in the low country, official residences have been provided at Kandy for the Governor and the Colonial Secretary; and early in March, 1846, we left Colombo for the hills.1 Already the luxuriant verdure of the plains, which the south-west monsoon had so recently called forth, was converted to yellow stubble; the lake was evaporated to partial dryness, arid the motionless leaves of the trees were powdered with red dust from the cleft and arid earth.
In driving through the native town to Grand Pass, on the way to the bridge of boats, which there connects the opposite banks of the Kalany-ganga, many of the houses will be seen to have an earthen vase, painted white, placed in a conspicuous position on the roof. These are evidences of the prevalence in Ceylon of that most ancient of all superstitions, the belief in the evil eye^ which exists in every country in the universe, from China to Peru. The Greeks of the present day entertain the same horror of the xaxo 'pan as their ancestors did of the fZd&xavQg o$5atyio£, and the mal occMo of modern Italy is the traditional fasdnatio of the Eo-rnans. The Malabars and Hindus, like the Arabians and Turks, apologise for the profusion of jewels with which they decorate their children, on the plea that
1 It in to "be hoped that the journey j the coffee districts. But the line that from Colombo to Kimdv, fetill per- | 1 -would gladly have seen adopted is formed OB tlie noblg xoa i iiiaclt? by j one which, skirting the Kandyan Sir Edward Burner, will shortly bt» J ZQM, with a branch to communicate fkdlltjitwl by I lie mil way now in "pro- 1 with the coffee regions, would have cf-*&«i of fonuiitiitn, iindtfr tht* direction ] opt-n«l a communication from sea to of Mr* I) JYAT, itntl wliifli, if ifo eon- ] SHI, frum Colombo to Trittcomalie, rfnit'tloii b*» ri)inp!et*4t! through- | tlnsn extending the advantages of so out th** **ntiiv dif+tttutw for & infuiftftttft j a work to the native rac?*s as
um, will b«.* it "i^rtinl to i w**]l ?& tlieCHAP. IV.] CEUELTY TO ANIMALS. 177
they are intended to draw aside the evil eye; the Mahometans suspend objects from the ceilings of their apartments for the same purpose; and the object of the Singhalese in placing these whitened chatties on their gables, is to divert the mysterious influence from their dwellings.1
It is chiefly from the country north of the Kalany that supplies of provisions are brought to the bazaars of Colombo ; and however scrupulously the disciples of Buddha may observe his injunction to abstain, from taking life, a stranger in travelling this road is shocked at the callous indifference to the infliction of pain which characterises their treatment of animals intended for market. Pigs are suspended from a pole, passed between the fore and hind legs, and evince by incessant cries the torture which they endure from the cords; fowls are brought from long distances hanging by their feet; and ducks are carried by the head, their necks bent over the bearers' fingers to stifle their noise.
But the.most repulsive exhibition of all, is the mode in which the flesh of the turtle is sold piece-meal whilst it is still alive, by the families of the Tamil fishermen at Jaffna. The creatures are to be seen in the market-place undergoing this frightful mutilation ; the plastron and its integuments having been previously removed, and the animal thrown on its back, so as to display all the motions of the heart, viscera, and lungs. A broad knife, from twelve to eighteen inches in length, is first inserted at the left side, and the women, who are generally the operators, introduce one hand to scoop out the blood, which oozes slowly. The blade is next passed round, till the lower shell
1 Amongst the Tamils at Jafiha
the same belief prevails as amongst the Irish and Scotch, that their cattle are liable to injury from the blight of an evil eye, thus recalling- the exclamation of Virgil's Shepherd, "Nescio quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos!" Query. Is there
VOL. ii. ;
any mysterious connection "between the prohibition to covet contained in the tenth commandment, and the horror of the evil eye., so often alluded
to in the Old and New Testaments,
especially Proverbs xxviiL 229 and Mark vii. 22 ?178 COLOMBO TO KANDY. [pART yJL
is detached and placed to one side, and the internal organs exposed in full action. Each customer, as he applies, is served with any part selected, which is cut off as ordered, and sold by weight. Each of the fins is thus successively removed, with portions of the fat and flesh, the turtle showing, by its contortions, that each act of severance is productive of agony. In this state it hes for hours, writhing in the sun, the heart1 and head being usually the last pieces selected, and till the latter is cut off the snapping of the mouth, and the opening and closing of the eyes, show that life is still inherent, even when the shell has been nearly divested of its contents.
The woods on the right bank of the river, in passing the picturesque Bridge of Boats, conceal the remains of Kalany and its temple, a place so ancient that it confers its own name on the river which flows by its ruins. The MaJiawanso refers to it as contemporary with Bucldha2, and connects its history with the partial submersion of the western shore of Ceylon, in the reign of Devenipiatissa, A.D. 164. The original dagoba was built five hundred years before the Christian era, and enlarged three centuries later. But the one which is now standing was constructed between the years 1240 and 1267, and rebuilt about A.D. 1301.3
Kalany is remarkable as the only Buddhist temple of importance in the vicinity of Colombo. So inveterate was the religious intolerance of the Dutch, that they abolished every idolatrous establishment within the range of their guns, and not content with this, they prollibited, in 1692, the celebration of the Buddhist worship at Kalany, and ordered the priests to withdraw from the temple.4 At the present day, so sacred is the spot, that it is the resort of pilgrims from distant
1 ARISTOTLE was aware of the fact that the turtle will live after the removal of the heart. ?De Vita et
\ til. ii.
p. 06; eh. xxii. p. 130 ; ch. Ixxx. p, 20. UPHAM.
3 JRtgavaK, pp. 257?259.
' Sir J. EMEESON TENNBNT'S Hist.
, ch. ii. p. f); ch. XT. i of Christianity m Ceylon, ch. ii. p. 66CHAP. IV.]
BEAUTY OF THE ROAD.
179
places, who annually pay their devotions before the great statue during the festival in July, when the ceremonies are solemnised by torchlight.1
For some miles the road crosses the marshy plains that lie between the river and the sea, on an embankment, whose sides are shaded by long lines of teak, a tree which it has been attempted to naturalise in the island. So long as it runs within a moderate distance of the sea, the groves of coco-nut trees continue to surround every hamlet; but on turning more inland, these gradually disappear, and are succeeded by the graceful arecas, mixed with the kitool or jaggery palm.2 But what most excites the wonder of a stranger, are the flowering trees which adorn the landscape: the murutu3, with its profusion of lilac blossoms, and the gorgeous imbul4, whose crimson petals thickly strew the ground, when making way for the oblong pods that contain the silky cotton, for which the tree is prized.
In the numerous streams which are passed on this route, the Singhalese are to be seen at all hours of the day, indulging in their passion for $ie bath, in which they imitate the Hindus; and such is the discipline to which their skins are subjected, that it is not unusual to have
1 About thirty miles further eastward, on a tributary of the Kalany, are situated the remains of the old city of Sita-wacca, one of the most ancient in Ceylon, if we are to accept the tradition that it owes its appellation to Sita, the Helen of the Hamayma. Whilst the Portuguese were at war in defence of their ally the King of Cotta, Sita-wacca was the stronghold of their daring opponents, Maaya Dunnai and Raja Sin-pha; and it was eventually destroyed by their relentless general Azave&o, at the close of the 16th century. The vestiges of the palace and temple are still traceable; they are constructed of hewn granite,*1 and in one place a deep moat IB crossed by a bridge composed of five slabs four-lc*en feet long and more than pro-
portionate thickness. A striking account of the ruins, as they appeared in the year 1675, will be found in VALENTIN'S Oiid en, Niemo Oost-Indien, pp. 207?229. The little fort of Kuanwelle (Hang- WeHi, the "Golden sand"), which was once so important on the frontier of the kings of Kandy, stands on an eminence above the Kalany, a few miles east of Sita-wacca. ft is now the residence of the civil officer in charge of the district. The country around it is magnificent; commanding noble views of the mountains near Adam's Peak and the cataracts which descend from them.
2 Caryota ttrens.
8 Lager&r&mia Ifaffivu?.180
COLOMBO TO KANDY.
[PART VII.
them rubbed with a porous stone, in the same way that the mahouts scrub the hide of the elephant, previous to anointing them with oil,?not the precious spikenard of antiquity, but the more homely produce of the coconut palm.
The number of bullock-carts encountered between Colombo and Kancly, laden with coffee from the interior, or carrying up rice and stores for the supply of the plantations in the hill-country, is quite surprising. The oxen thus employed on this single road, are estimated at upwards of twenty thousand. The bandy to which they are yoked is a barbarous two-wheeled waggon, with a covering of plaited coco-nut leaves, in which a pair of strong bullocks will draw from five to ten hundred weight, according to the nature of the country; and with this they will perform a journey of twenty miles a day on a level.
A few of the large humped cattle of India are annually imported for draught; but the vast majority of those in use are small and dark-coloured, with a graceful head and neck, and, elevated hump, a deep silky dewlap, and limbs as slender as a deer. They have neither the strength nor weight requisite for this service; and yet the entire coffee crop of Ceylon, amounting annually to upwards of half a million hundred weight, is year after year brought down from the mountains to the coast by these indefatigable little creatures, which, on returning, carry up proportionally heavy loads of rice ancl implements for the estates.1 There are two varieties of the native bullock; one a somewhat coarser animal, of a deep red colour, the other, the high-bred black one I have just described. So rare was a white one of this'species, under the native kings, that the Kandyans were compelled to set them apart for the royal herd,2 . ? ..
1 A pair of these little bullocks turn* up about twenty "bushels of
net**to the Lilts, ancl bring down from
fifty to sixty bushels of coffee to Colombo.
3 WOLF says that, in the year 1763,CHAP. IV.]
CAEAVAJSTS AND BANDIES.
181
Although bullocks may be said to be the only animals of draught and burden in Ceylon (horses being rarely used except in spring carriages), no attempt has been made to improve the breed, or even to better the condition and treatment of those in use. Their food is indifferent, pasture in all parts of the island being rare, and cattle are seldom housed under any vicissitudes of weather.
The labour to which they are best adapted, and in which, before the opening of roads, these cattle were formerly employed, is in traversing the jungle paths of the interior, carrying light loads as pack-oxen in what is called a " tavalam" ? a term which, substituting bullocks for camels, is equivalent to a " caravan."l The class of persons engaged in this traffic in Ceylon resemble in their occupations the " Banjarees " of Hindustan, who bring down to the coast corn, cotton, and oil, and take back cloths and iron and copper utensils to the interior. In the unopened parts of the island, and especially in the eastern provinces, this primitive practice still continues; and. when travelling in these districts we have often encountered long files of pack-bullocks toiling along the mountain paths, their bells tinkling musically as they moved; or halting during the noonday heat beside some stream in the forests, their burdens piled in heaps near the drivers, who had lighted their cooking fires, whilst the bullocks were permitted to bathe and browse.
The persons engaged in this wandering trade are chiefly Moors, and the business carried on by them consists in bringing up salt from the government depots
lie saw In Ceylon two white oxen? each of which measured upwards of *ight feet high. Tiiey were sent as u jnvsent from the King of Atchin.-? Ufe A.dwtttHre&, p. 172.
1 Attempts have been made to domesticate the camel in Ceylon; but, I am told, thov Ami of ulcera in the feet, to the too yrwtf
ture of the roads at certain seasons. This explanation seems insufficient if taken in connection with" the fact of the camel living in perfect health in
climates equally, if not more, exposed to mm, I apprehend that silmcient justice was not done to the experiment.182
COLOMBO TO KANDY.
[PART VFL.
on the coast to' be bartered with the Kandyans in the hills for " native coffee," which is grown in small quantities round every house, but without systematic cultivation. This they carry down to the maritime towns, and the proceeds are invested in cotton cloths and brass utensils, dried fish, and other commodities, with which the tavalams supply the secluded villages of the interior.
The mode of life both of the conductors of these caravans and of the Singhalese drivers of bandies, is a succession of travel and adventure resembling that of the mule-drivers of Spain. like the " arrieros" of Andalusia, they move by night, or in the dusk, and rest during the day in the cool shade of the trees, passing their time in games of chance, to which they are passionately devoted, and resuming their journey at night-fall. At Veangodde, twenty-five miles from Colombo, the residence of Don Solomon Dias Bandarnayeke, one of
the Moodliars of the Governor's Gate, affords the most agreeable example of the dwelling of a low-country headman, with its broad verandahs, spacious rooms, and extensive offices, shaded by palm-groves and fruit trees. The chief himself, now upwards of eighty yearsl of age, is a noble specimen of the native race, and in his official costume, decorated with the gold chains and medals by which his services have been recognised by the British Government, his tall and venerable figure makes a striking picture.
PON SOLOMON DLiS
1 Don Solomon died in 1859, whilst the first edition of this work was in press.CHAP. IV.] BEST-HOUSE. 183
On the occasion of our visit, we were received by him with the honours of the white cloth, the approach to Ms house being covered with long pieces of cotton to the porch. Tom-tom beaters and musiciansx were stationed along the avenue, groups of boys exhibited national dances, and beat time by clashing together sticks of hard wood, and after them a band of devil dancers from an adjacent temple, with masks and grotesque dresses, went through a performance which, in contortion and enthusiasm, resembled the fury of the Corybantes.
Half way between Colombo and Kandy is the picturesque rest-house of Anabepusse, one of those treacherously beautiful spots which have acquired a bad renown from the attractions of the scenery and the pestilent fevers by which the locality is infested.
TBTt tiOJL-latJLsij. AT ALIBEICSSS.
After leaving the village, the road crosses the spurs of the hills which descend from the mountain zone, and
the aspect of the country gradually changes from maritime plains to the ruder and less cultivated Kandyan highlands. Instead of broad inundated paddi-fields,
rice is grown in the moist crannies of the hills, and dry
grain is cultivated on their slopes. The majestic crowns
1 Two of these muaeians, who ) minutes without intermission, by in-played on a rude pipe like a !a«^w !et, \ haling through the nostrils whilst fiatf tht* farulty ot Keeping tip a sup- j they blew with the lip*. anil nioimtrmouft not*1 for manv 1184
COLOMBO TO KANDT.
[PART VII,
of the Talipat palm begin to appear near the villages, and graceful bamboos wave their feathery plumes in every hollow.
The forests become so dense that troops of monkeys venture in sight, and flocks of plumb-headed paroquets romp and scream amongst the branches.1 Buddhist temples appear in secluded spots, and picturesque maduas for preaching bana, built with pagoda-like roofs rising tier above tier. Shaven priests in yellow robes, and carrying ivory fans, plod on their errand of poverty, ? to collect food in the villages. The houses, instead of groves of coco-nuts, are surrounded by a fence of coffee-bushes, with their polished green leaves and wreaths of jasmine-like flowers, and everything indicates the change from the low-country and its habits to the hills and their hardier peasantry.
As this was one of the idle seasons of the year, during which labour is suspended, whilst waiting for the rains of the monsoon, ere recommencing the sowing of rice, the Kandyans were lounging about their villages or gathered in groups by the roadside, engaged in listless and sedentary amusements. In one place a crowd was collected to watch the feats of a juggler, who, to our surprise, commenced his performances by jumping up on to a pole, and placing his feet upon a cross bar six feet from the ground. On this he coursed along the road by prodigious leaps, and returning to the audience, steadied himself, on his
1 A white monkey, taken between Ambepusse and Kornegalle, where they are said to be numerous, was brought to me to Colombo. Except in colour, it had all the characteristics of Presbytes cepfaalopterus. So striking1 was its whiteness that it might have been conjectured to be an albino, but for the circumstance that its eyes and face were black. I never saw another specimen; but the natives say they are not uncommon, and KNOX, who alludes to the fact, adds, that they are u milk-whit*3 both in body and
face; but of this sort there is not such plenty."?-Pt. i. eh. vi p. 25. The
Rev. *R. SPEJSTCE HABDT mentions, in his learned work on Eastern Mono-chism, that on the occasion of his visit to the great temple of Dambool, he encountered a troop of white monkeys on the rock in which it is situated ?which were doubtless a variety of the Wandemo. (Eastern MonacJusm^ ch. xix. p. 204.) PLINY was aware of the fact that white monkeys are occasionally found in India. (Nat. lib. viii, eh, xxxii.)CHAP. IV.] NATIVE JUGGLER. 185
perch, and then opened his exhibition. This consisted of endless efforts of legerdemain: catching pebbles thrown up to him by his confederate below, which, upon opening his closed hand, flew away as birds ; breaking an egg-shell, and allowing a small serpent to escape from it and keeping a series of brass balls in motion by striking them with his elbows, as well as his hands. Balancing on his nose a small stick with an inverted cup at top, from which twelve perforated balls were suspended by silken cords, he placed twelve ivory rods in his mouth, and so guided them by his lips and tongue, as to insert the end of each in a corresponding aperture in the ball, till the whole twelve were sustained by the rods, and the central support taken away. This and endless other tricks he performed, balancing himself all the while on the single pole on which he stood. He took a ball of granite, six or seven inches in diameter, and probably fourteen pounds' weight, and standing with his arms extended in line, he rolled it from the wrist of one hand across his shoulders to the wrist of the other backwards and forwards repeatedly, apparently less by raising his arms than by a vigorous effort of the muscles of his back; then seizing it in both hands, he flung it repeatedly twenty feet high, and watching it in its descent till within a few inches of his skull, he bent forward his head, and caught the ball each time between his shoulders; then bounding along the road, still mounted on his pole, he closed his performance amidst the smiles of the audience.1
1 The artists on these occasions i performers in the island, described "by are always Tamils; and it may be j Jambulus; says^ the flexibility of their regarded as a further evidence of : limbs was such? that they seemed to the error already adverted to (ante, | consist of muscle rather than bone; Vol. I. Pt. V. ch. L p. 532) in sup- ] Ta & oaraa rov ff^parog l^tiv fat votrojr posing- that the story of Jambulus, KafiirTopsva teal wdXtv ayroKaQiGrfyuva as told by Diodorus, relates to Ceylon jrapav'Xijffi^ rolg vtvptl&tai. The pas-?that the Singhalese have never j sage is further remarkable, as it evi-been noted for their skill in jugglery } dentlv- describes an exhibition of and legerdemain, although these arts j v&tiruoqwsm, and Is probably the are brought to high perfection in j earliest mention of that *rt upon Hindustan and other countries around | record. Such to have Wn
them, PiODORTTfl, in speaking of the ! tli«% skill, that Jaitibulus w&& im-186
COLOMBO TO KAXDV.
tP,U*T VI f.
The last thirty miles of this wonderful mac through scenery which combines the grandeur with the splendour of tropical vegetation. It is an Oriental Sim-plon, climbing hills, crossing torrents ; and following the windings of ravines, till it readies its extreme altitude at the pass of Kaduganawa, one of those romantic glens which the former kings of Kandy jealously guarded as an entrance from the low country.
Some prophet had foretold that the "Kandyan kingdom would perish when a bullock should be driven through a certain hill, and a horseman' ride through a rock.". Sir Edw. Barnes carried a tun-
passes 1 Alps
pressed with the belief that they had each two tongues, and were enabled to conduct two distinct discourses simultaneously : "IStov £s n Kat wpl y\&TTav avrovg £%etv, TO u'
voiag 0tX(
Xtiv
^ t .? vruv XaX-
.U C, aTTOKplVOfJlSVOVG T£ KCtl rdl£
ctig irfpi(Tra(re riv oiictiwg out- ^CHAP. IV.]
THE ? RODIYAS.
187
nel under the hill, and the Kandy mail drives through an archway in the rock.1
A little beyond the top of the pass, where the road begins to descend towards the Mahawelli-ganga, a colony of the degraded tribe, the Eodiyas, have established one of their hamlets or Tcuppiyames, njeaning literally a " collection of huts;" for, as one of the incidents of their infamy, they were not permitted to call their places of residence, villages. The condition of the Pariahs, the Niadis, Porleahs, and other debased races in India, presents nothing more dreadful than the unresisting degradation of this abhorred community.
Their expulsion from the pale of society took place in an age so remote, that even the traditions as to its cause are confused or forgotten.2 One legend describes them as "a branch of the Yeddahs, condemned to never-ending degradation for having supplied a king's table with human flesh instead of venison3; but a difference in their height and figure suggests the more probable idea that they may have been immigrants from the coast of India, of the Chandala blood4, a people so degraded, that water over which their shadows had passed was held to be defiled till purified by sunlight.
The- language of the Eodiyas, mingled with corrupted Singhalese, contains unintelligible words indicative of a foreign descent. They are found only in the Kandyan districts; at Saflfragam, Doombera, and Wallepane and a few other places in the interior; their numbers do not probably exceed a thousand, and are said to be decreasing.
Xovvrag' ry (JLIV yap Irspq, TTTVXI 7rpb(; rweWjTj/ o' d\\y TraXiv Ofioicog TTfio^r^r ETfpm &a\tyttrPat.?DlOB. SlC. lib. ii. 1 More than ten years were occupied In the construction of the Kandy road, which was begun in 1820, and not thoroughly completed till 3831. A column, erected on the face of the cliff, commemorates the services of the officer under whose immediate care the road was formed, and whose premature death was accelerated by exposure during its progress. The pedestal bears the inscription:
CAPTAIN DA\YSON, During the government of Sir Edward Barnes,
K..C.B. «&c.
Commanding Koynl Engineers, Ceylon, whose science and skill planned and executed
this Road,
and other works of public utility,
Died at Colombo, 28th March, 1829.
By subscription this Monument was erected
to his memory by his friends and admirers.
2 The JRajavali mentions Eodiyas 204 B.C. (p. 188); and the Maha-wansOy A..D. 589 (eh. xlii.)
s KHOX, pt. iii. eh. II. p. 70.
?t The MahawanBQ mentions a village of outcasts in Ceylon, A,D. 437, of "Hindu origin (eh, £ p. 66),188 COLOMBO TO KA3STDY. [PART VII.
Under the Kandyan kings their humiliation was utter and complete. The designation Eodiya, or rodda, means, literally, "filth." They were not permitted to cross a ferry, to draw water at a well, to enter a village, to till land, or learn a trade, as no recognised caste could deal or hold intercourse with a Eodiya. Formerly they were not allowed to build houses with two walls or a double roof, but hovels in which a hurdle leaned against a single wall and rested on the ground.1 They were forced to subsist on alms or such gifts as they might receive for protecting the fields from wild beasts or burying the carcases of dead cattle; but they were not allowed to come within a fenced field even to beg. They converted the hides of .animals into ropes, and prepared monkey-skins for covering tom-toms and drums, which they bartered for food and other necessaries. They were prohibited from wearing a cloth on their heads, and neither men nor women were allowed to cover their bodies above the waist or below the knee. If benighted they dare not he down in a shed appropriated to other travellers, but hid themselves in caves or deserted watch-huts. They could not enter a court of justice, and if wronged had to utter their complaints from a distance. Though nominally Buddhists (but conjointly demon-worshippers), they were not allowed to go into a temple, and could only pray "standing afar off."
Although they were permitted to have a headman, who was styled their hollo-walhia, his nomination was stigmatised by requiring the sanction of the common jailor, who was likewise the sole medium of communication between the Eodiyas and the rest of the human race. So vile and valueless were they in the eyes of the community, that, under the Kandyan rule, when it was represented to the king that the Eodiyas had so multiplied as to be a nuisance to the villagers, an order was given, to reduce their numbers by shooting a certain proportion in each
1 YALENTYST, Ou d en Nieuw Oo*t~Indien, Introd, p. 7.CHAP. IV.] THE KODIYAS AND OTHEB OUTCASTS.
189
kuppiyame.1 The most dreaded of all punishments under the Kandyan dynasty was to hand over the lady of a high caste offender to the Eodiyas; and the mode of her adoption was by the Eodiya taking betel from his own mouth and placing it in hers, after which till death her degradation was indelible.2
Under the rule of the British, which recognises no distinction of caste, the status of the Eodiyas lias been nominally, and even materially, improved. Their disqualification for labour no longer exists; but after centuries of mendicancy and idleness they evince no inclination for work. Their pursuits and habits are still the same, but their bearing is a shade less servile, and they pay a profounder homage to a high than a low caste Kandyan, and manifest some desire to shake off the opprobrious epithet of Eodiyas. Their houses are better built, and contain a few articles of furniture, and in some places they have acquired patches of land and possess cattle. Even the cattle share the odium of their owners, and to distinguish them from the herds of the Kandyans, their masters are obliged to suspend a coco-nut shell from their necks by a leathern cord.3
Socially their hereditary stigma remains unaltered; their contact is still shunned by the Kandyans as pollution, and instinctively the Eodiyas crouch to their own degradation. In carrying a burden they still load the pingo (yoke) at one end only, instead of both, like other natives. They fall on their knees with uplifted hands to address a man of the lowest recognised caste; and they shout on the approach of a traveller, to warn him to stop till they can get off the road and allow Mm to pass without the risk of too close a proximity to their persons.
1 From a MS. Memorandum on the Hodiyas by Mr. MITFO&D, C.C.S., DAVY relates that shortly after the British prot possession of Kandy, some police Yidanns, who were ordered to arrest certain Kodiyas for murder, refused to pollute themselves by lay-
ing hands on them, but offered to shoot t7tem down from a disfaxpice. (Oh. iv. p. 181.)
3 Rev, R. SPENCE HAEDY,, T7w Friend^ vol. ii. p. 15.
8 CASIE CHITTT, Ceylon MiscdL 1853, p. 240.190
COLOMBO TO KANDY.
[FART VII.
Their habits are filthy, and their appetites omnivo-Carrion is as acceptable to them as the flesh of monkeys, squirrels, the civet-cat, mongoos, and ,tor-toises1"; and they hover near ceremonies and feasts in hope of obtaining the fragments. The men are employed occasionally on the coffee estates, and in making roads, but they are generally stigmatised as imbecile, and shunned as reputed thieves. The character of the women is still more disreputable; they wander as jugglers, and at feasts perform dances, during which they keep two polished brass plates rotating, one on the top of each fore-finger.
^ The Ri«ltyas who have established themselves in the village nf Kuiliigaiitiwa, are remarkable for the beauty and line ti-iitvs of the females, which are displayed to ad-vuiiiaire by the lightness of their conventional costume.
r\w». rmnv in fty?? JtfiV*//., p, 238.CHAP. IV.] THE EODIYAS. AND OTHEE OUTCASTS. 191
As if to demonstrate that within the lowest depths of degradation there may exist a lower still, there are two races of outcasts in Ceylon, who are abhorred and avoided even by the Eodiyas. These are the Ambette-yos, or barbers, and the Hanomoreyos, or betel-box makers, of Oovah, who are looked on as so vile that no human being would touch rice that had been cooked in their houses ; and the Eodiyas, on the occasion of festivals, tie up their dogs to prevent them prowling in search of food to the dwellings of these wretches.
In contemplating the position and treatment of the Eodiyas of Ceylon,- one is struck with its similarity to that of the Cagots and Caqueux, " the Pariahs of the "West," who, from time immemorial, have been held in abhorrence in the valleys of the Pyrenees, and the plains of Bretagne, Poitou, and Guienne. The origin of either race is alike obscure, and it remains uncertain whether the Cagots were extruded from human sympathy and association as the descendants of Gothic or Moorish oppressors ; or whether they were shunned from religious hatred, as the offspring of Arians, Jews, or Mahometans. For more than a thousand years, there are records of their social proscription, with every accompaniment of infamy and abhorrence. Their persons were believed to be contaminating, and their smell an abomination. Like the Eodiyas, they were compelled to stand aside on the highway to allow travellers to pass ; they were punished for coming between the wind and a free citizen ; they durst not draw water from a public fountain, or touch the parapet of a bridge with their uncovered hand. To protect the earth from the pollution of their feet, they were forced to wear shoes, and to enable all comers to avoid them, the law ordered them to carry a red mark (pied d'oye) upon their shoulders,, They were forbidden to touch an article of food in the marketplace before it had been sold and delivered to them. Their dwellings were huts and hovels in spots avoided by the rest of mankind; and though permitted to embrace192 COLOMBO TO KANDY. [PART VII.
Christianity, they had to enter stooping through a separate porch into the churches, to touch the holy water in a separate bemtier, to pray in a separate recess, and after death* their dishonoured remains were interred in a separate cemetery; in one of which, as if to taunt them with the perpetual remembrance that death was their only escape from an existence in which enjoyment was unknown, a column still remains with the inscription, "absitgloriari, nisi in cruce Domini"
But the most curious coincidence between the case of the Bodiyas and that of the outcasts of Prance was, that both tribes were doomed to the revolting employment of skinning dead cattle, and steeping hemp to be made into ropes and cordage. Hence the Caqueux were known as the rope-makers (" cordiers") of Basse-Bretagne, and their villages were called " corderies," whilst the Cagots were almost universally carpenters; ? the two trades being alike infamous at an early period, because those who pursued the one were expected to furnish gibbets and instruments of torture, whilst the other provided the halters for the executioner.1
From the Eodiya village at Kaduganawa, there is a gentle descent, for eight or nine miles, towards the banks of the Mahawelli-ganga; a bend of which flows around Kaudy, suiYOipiding the city, as the Singhalese say, "like a necklace of pearls."2 The road still passes through rich and romantic scenery; mountains forest-clad to their summits; valleys brightened by fertilising streams, and villages and hamlets embosomed
^1 MICHEL, in his Ifixtwy of the
0f JFhwtff Mid
instruments de supplice? les cordiers
fournissaient les harts destines & niet-tre un terme a la vie des criminels condumnls a pendus."?Histolre Raws MmtfKti^ de la France et de xigw, ch. v. torn. i. p. 310, &c. And, moreover, by the side of
...............- .?? , the M&hawelli-gangft, which is like
. ^ . r-v-Ia ap|iaiwiiiit«it par j o iwcldaw of pearl* "nxmd t7te neck of 3,i ».»?:»v 'KiUiffi? 4'itr .4 les eharp'-n- ft qnem vf Ctyfattt the Kiag?" &c.~ !hVH ibx^'itl'i'iit Ir/^H^i* ft k«autie# l^imfmcanf p. 130,
9
thiw for popular pre-
* Oaqueux tie taBretegny cFaiitn* 4tat qua
U* ittrtfor; II iiiftlint*
tj^ ;, * npjK*«i» fae eeliti de ehar-liT IVtait iiia« le wisd-ouwt cl«CHAP. IV.] ENTRANCE TO KANDY. 193
amidst trees. A bridge of satin-wood crosses the river at Peradenia, and a drive of a few miles through a continuous line of - cottages and bazaars, leads to the entrance of the Demesne, in which stands the Pavilion, the stately residence of the Governor at the central capital.
YOU JL194 KANDY AND PBEADBNIA. [PART VII.
CHAP. V. KANDY AND PERADEN1A.
KANDY presents no architectural monument with any pretension to antiquity. Its singularly secure position, iu a peninsula formed by a sweep of the great river and surrounded by a double circurnvallatioii of mountains, may, at a very early period, have rendered it a stronghold of the princes of Maya ; but the first mention of it as a city is at the beginning of the fourteenth century !, when a temple was built there to contain the dalada and other relics. From possessing these it became an important seat of the Buddhist hierarchy, and eventually the residence of branches of the royal family. But it was not till the close of the sixteenth century that it was adopted as the capital of the island, after the destruction of Cotta and the defeat of Raja Siugha XL, by Winiala Dliarma, A.I). 1592. The town at that time probably occupied in part the valley afterwards submerged by the construction of the Kandy Lake, which was formed by the last king, in 1807. During the wars with the Portuguese and the Dutch, Kandy was so repeatedly burned and otherwise destroyed that scarcely any part of the ancient buildings, except the temples and the royal residence, was remaining when the English obtained possession of the city in 1815.2
1 In the rt*ijini of Pimdittt Prak-
Xteiiu Hi,, "between ]lMI7 and ttw9 ck. Ixxxiii. ;
rfi p. 104, " Th * Portion*"**1' rtiptiir*v«I Knntly
ill i,li» ir»l*t!, uiul tta'V bunn*d it in
,i». 1 »1*7 Ui»KVit«N*i*t IL cli. X. i the
p. If to); tt«d ujuruiu In A.B. KI.17 (F.vuiA Y S«»r2A, pt, iv. i*li, viii. p.
:;7f '|, TJi^'Diitdi wjipinl it itft^r itrt if'.4Tii44tI»"*n by ii« owritiuhnbitwitrt in A.I . 17*t4:-~ am! it wa^ partially bunttbvthc kiitir on tin? utmn^iL'h ofCHAP. V.]
THE OLD PALACE.
195
The palace, a wing of which is still occupied by the chief civil officer of the province, is popularly believed to be much older than it really is. It was built by Wimala Dharma, about the year 1600, and Spilberg, the Dutch admiral, who visited Kancly in 1602, says that the king employed the services of his Portuguese prisoners in its erection; ? a circumstance which may serve to account for the European character which pervades the architecture of some portions still remaining1; such as the tower adjoining the Malagawa temple, in which the sacred tooth is deposited.
TEMPLE OF THE DALADA, K^KTJY.
As to the streets and the dwellings of the natives, they were wretched at all times; the barbarous etiquette of the Kandyan kings reserving the luxury of windows, whitened walls, and tiles for the members of the royal family, and prohibiting their use to subjects.2 One quarter of the town, leading from the Lake to the Mahawelli-ganga, contained houses of this privileged construction; and Boyd, on the occasion of his embassy
1 " Don Juan a fait "batir un inagniiique palais a Candy, et jjlu-sleurs tours et pagodes a cjuoi il a emploie lea Portugais cjii1!! avait fait prisonniers." ? SPILBERG, Voyayc, torn. ii. p. 44$. There is no. reason to believe tliat any vestige now re-
mains of the original temple biiilt for the reception or the Tooth Tby Pan-dita Prakraina Bahu IIL, A.D. 1707. ?JUjfihawatttio,, dbu Ixxxiv. 2 YALENTYX, Oud m , i,; ch. iii. p, 4^)*!96 KANDY, AND PEEADENIA. [PART VII.
in 1782, found the principal street so broad, that it afforded space for elephant-fights, which were held there to amuse the king. To avoid mischief from the enraged animals, the houses were approached by flights of steps, which gave them the appearance of two stories, although they" consisted of but one.1 The British, on their entrance into the city in 1815, were astonished at the misery of the place2; ?but the wretched buildings have since been replaced by others more indicative of the improved civilisation and increasing prosperity of the inhabitants.
The Palace originally covered a- considerable area, but its buildings were mean, its passages intricate and dark, and its chambers gloomy, confined, and filthy in the extreme. Of the rooms which still remain, the principal have been altered and adapted to European tastes, but their style of decoration, and the frequent recurrence of the sacred goose amongst, the ornaments on the walls, bespeak their Buddhistical origin. Externally, the fa9ade is rather imposing; the space which it occupies is screened by a crenellated wall, connecting it with the temple and its octagonal tower. In front is a moat, which has been recently levelled, but was formerly filled with water; ? this was crossed by a bridge, that led to the grand gate; it was flanked by elephants sculptured in granite, and communicated with the palace by a broad flight of stone steps.
The only existing structure which seems worthy of its original destination, is the Audience HaU, at present used as. the district court-house; a spacious apartment supported on richly carved columns of teak-wood, the bracketed capitals being admirable specimens of florid Hindu architecture. Public receptions were held by night3, when the hall was lighted with wax, the colonnades on each side crowded with crouching courtiers;CHAP. V.]
THE DALADA.
197
and in a dim, and studiously darkened alcove, the king, reclining on a throne, was approached by his ministers, "on all fours, with their faces close to the floor, and almost literally licking the dust."1
The temples of Kandy, both Buddhist and Hindu, are dilapidated edifices, apparently perishing from unarrested decay. They are situated in enclosed court-yards, and, under the shade of the groves that surround them, crumble the neglected monuments of the later sovereigns of Kandy.2 All the Buddhist priests in Ceylon belong ostensibly to one or other of the two great establishments at Eandy, the Asgiri and Malwatte. In doctrines and discipline they are identical, but they differ somewhat in territorial authority, the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Asgiri being understood to extend over the northern parts of the island, and that of the Malwatte chiefly over the temples to the south. With the extinction of the national dynasty, the status and influence of the priesthood have undergone a rapid decline;?not that their possessions have diminished, nor that the protection of the chiefs has been less generous than before; but in the eyes and estimation of the people they have endured a diminution of dignity from the loss of the royal presence, in which it was their privilege to bask. Even their ritual pomp and ceremonials no longer command the same homage from the populace, and the great annual procession of the Pera-hara, with its torchlights, its solemn music, and eapari-
1 BOYD'S Embassy, fyc. Miscett. Works, vol. ii. p. 214.
2 After burning the "bodies of tlie deceased kings, their ashes were earned by a man in a black mask, to the Mahawelli~ganga; where he embarked in a canoe. At the deepest part of the river he clove the vase with a sword, scattered the ashes on the stream, and plunging headlong after them, dived and rose near the
opposite bank, whence he fled to the forest and was presumed to be never more seen. The canoe was allowed to drift away; the horses and elephants that accompanied the procession were set at liberty in the woods j and the females who strewed rice over the coffin, were transported across the river and forbidden ever to return.?-DAVY'S Ceylon, p. 162.
o 3198
KANDT AND PERADENIA.
[PART VII.
soned elephants, is spiritless and unimpressive, if contrasted with occasions within memory, when it was hallowed by the divine presence of a king.1
At the present day-nothing can be less obtrusive than the Buddhist worship, or less ostentatious than the demeanour of its priesthood. One is only reminded of their vicinity when, at sunset or in the early morning, the silence is broken by the noise of tom-toms and the plaintive notes of the flute, mingled with the discordant blare of the chank shells, which are sounded as an accompaniment to the melancholy chaunting of their choir.
But the most remarkable object at Kandy is unquestionably the dalada, asserted to be the " sacred tooth" of Buddha, which for so many centuries has commanded the unreasoning homage of millions of devotees. An allusion has been elsewhere made to the. traditional history of this relic2, its rescue from the flames after the cremation of the mortal remains of Gotama Buddha at Kusinara, B.C. 543, and its preservation for eight hundred years at Dantapura in Kalinga, whence it was brought to Ceylon in the fourth century after Christ.3 It was afterwards captured by the Malabars about the year 1315, and again carried to India, but recovered by the prowess of Prakrama Bahu III. During the troublous times which followed, the original tooth was hidden in different parts of the island, at Eancly, at Delgamoa in Saffragam, and at
1 An account of the Pera-hara, and the historical event which it commemorates, will be found in TJm Friend, published at Colombo in 1839, vol. iii. p. 41. A description of the procession as it was celebrated two centimes ago, is contained in the truthful narrative of Ktfox, pt. iii. ch. iv. p. 78.
2 See Vol. I. Pt. ni. ch. ix. p. 388.
3 A. D. 3117 MahawansOf ch, xxxvii. p. 241; RqjamU, p. 240. MAHANAMO, who wrote his portion of the MaJia-
o. between A.T . 450 and 477,
quotes as his authority for the history of the tooth, a work which is extant to the present day, called the Dakidrt-wanso} or Chronicle of the Dalada, and from it and ' other sources TTTKN"0"orR drew the materials for a memoir, which he communicated in 1837 to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, on «TJie Tooth-relic of Ceylon" Asiat. Soc. Journ. JXenr/., vol. vi. p. 856,' Forbes published a paper on the history of the tooth, in the Ceylon Calendar for 1835.CHAP. V.]
STORY OF THE TOOTH.
199
Kotmahe ; but at last in 1560 it was discovered by the Portuguese 1, taken to Goa by Don Constantine de Bra-' ganza, and burned by the Archbishop in the presence of the Viceroy of India and his court.
The fate of this renowned relic is so remarkable, and its destruction is related with so much particularity by the Portuguese annalists of the periocf, and their European contemporaries, that no historical doubt can be entertained, even were internal evidence wanting, that the tooth now exhibited at Kandy is a spurious and modern substitute for the original, destroyed in 1560.
The story as told by De Couto2 is curiously illustrative of the genius and faith of the Buddhist races. No sooner was it ascertained that the relic had been seized by Don Constantine, than the sovereign... ,of Pegu, who had previously despatched annual embassies to offer homage at its shrine, sent in anxious haste to redeem it by an exchange of treasure and political services. The fidalgos of Goa were eager to replenish their exhausted treasury on the generous terms which he offered; but the piety of the Roman Catholic prelates was triumphant, the idolatrous object was consumed, and its ashes scattered on the sea.3
But a very few years elapsed before the delusion was
1 For the particulars of the siege and capture of Jaifha in 1560, see Vol. II. Pt, vi. ch. i. p. 28.
2 The account of ttie capture and subsequent fate of the Dalada Is so important an incident in the religious annals of Ceylon, and at the same time has so significant a "bearing on the veneration still paid to the supposed relic at Kandy, that I have thought it necessary to translate the passage as it is given by DE COTJTO, in his History of the Conquest of India % the Portuguese. It will "be found in the Appendix to this chapter.
s The narrative of DB COTTTO is circumstantial and minute as to the
mode of its destruction: " Assentado isto; man don o Viso-Rey ao Thesou-reiro que trouxesse o dente: e o entregou ao Arcebispo? que alii presentes todos o lancou em hum ahiiofariz, e com sua propria mao o pizou, e desfez em poz? e os deitou em hum brazeiro, que pera isso mandou trazer, e as cinzas, e carvues mandou lancar no meio do rio a vista de todos, que assomaram as va-randas, e janellas que cahiam sobre o mar."?DE COTJTO, Dec, vii. lib. ix. ch. xvii.; see also RQBBIOTW J B SAA, jR^Mwn, $c. p. IS?09; VA-, ch. xvi. p. t!
o 4200 KANDY AND PBEADBNIA. [PART VIL
revived, and not only a duplicate, but a triplicate of the desecrated relic were regarded with undiminished adoration both in Pegu and Ceylon. The story of the resuscitated imposture is related by De Couto. The king of Pegu, in 1566, having been told by the astrologers that he was to wed a Singhalese princess, sent to demand her'in marriage; but the reigning sovereign, Don Juan Dharma Pala, having unfortunately no child, the prophecy was on the point of discomfiture ; when his chamberlain, a nobleman of the blood royal, suggested the substitution of his own daughter, and added impiety to fraud by feigning to the Peguan envoys that he still held in secret the genuine dalada^ falsely supposed to have been destroyed by the Christians at Goa. The device was successful, the supposititious princess was received in Pegu with all the nuptial honours of royalty; and ambassadors were despatched to Ceylon, to obtain possession of the sacred tooth, which was forthwith transferred to Arracan.
The king of Kandy, Wikrama Bahu, on learning the deception which had been perpetrated by his cousin of Cotta, apprised the Peguan sovereign of the imposture which had been practised upon him; and to redress it he offered him his own daughter in marriage, and proposed as her dowry to send the veritable tooth, affirming that both the one recently obtained from Colombo, and the other formerly pulverised at Goa, were counterfeit, his alone being the genuine relic of Buddha.1 But the prince of Pegu was too devout to confess himself a dupe; " he gave ear to the ambassadors," says Faria y Sauza, " but not to their information, and thus had Don Gon&tantane de Braganza sold the tooth, as he was
1 The mv& to
tboiit muLti-For Xaxeo
Polo sa?s the Khufcla
on* la 1281
"and obtained from the king (of Ceylon) two large back teeth^ together with some of his hair and a handsome
res*! of porpk^%'f~~MARCO POLO, Trawl^ 4V. to, iii. ch. xxili p. 671.CHAP. V.]
THE SACRED TOOTH.
201
advised, there had not been two set up to be adored by so many people." l
The incidents of this narrative are too minute, and their credibility is established by too many contemporary and concurrent authorities2, to admit of'any doubt that the authenticity of the tooth now preserved in the Mala-gawa at Eandy is no higher than its antiquity, and that the supposed relic is a clumsy substitute, manufactured by Wikrama Bahu in 1566, to replace the original dalada destroyed by the Portuguese in 1560.3 The dimensions and form of the present dalada are fatal to any belief in its identity with the one originally worshipped, which was probably human 4, whereas the object now shown is a piece of discoloured ivory, about two inches in length, and less than one in diameter, resembling the tooth of a crocodile rather than that of a man.
THE TOOTH.
1 FABIA Y SOTTZA, vol. ii. pt. iii. eh. ii. p. 251; DE COTTTO, Dec. viii. vol. v. pt. i. ch. xii., xiii. p. 74.
2 The fact of the destruction of the tooth in 1561 "by Don Constan-tine de Braganza is confirmed by the authority of RODBIGHTES DE SAA Y MEKEZES, who in 1678 wrote Ms "Rebelion de C&ylan" to commemorate the exploits and death of his father Constantine de Saa y Norona, who perished in the expedition to reduce the Kandyans at Badulla, A.D. 1630.?HebeMm, $c., ch. L 5. 18: ch, vii. p. 99. The story, which must have created a sensation throughout India, is related by Sir THOMAS HER-BEET, whose travels were published in 1634, and by FKANCOIS PYRAKD DE LAVAL, who visited Ceylon about 1608 A.D. Voyage, $- ?., torn. ii. eh. x. p. 89. VALEOTCYN" records the fate of the tooth, and says it had been kept near Adam's Peak till 1554. Owd en JSfwuw Qosti-lndien, ch. xvi. p. 382. In the Narrative of the Mmimi sm£ by ike Governor-
of India to the Court of Ava m 1855, by Captain Yule, the envoy and his suite pointed out to him near the palace at Amarapoora " a square edifice, representing the depository of the tooth of Gotama, which, in ancient times, was preserved within the royal precincts," p. 136. In descending the river to Rangoon on the return of the Mission, they were shown at Nyoungoo, the Zeegoong pagoda, which " enshrines & facsimile of one of Gotama's teeth/'?Pp. 33, 196.
3 The powers of the tooth as a national palladium, and the exemption of Ceylon from foreign domination, so long as it possessed the relic and the sacred tree at Anarajapoora, are propounded in the Hajaratnacari^ UPECAM'S version, ch. i. p. 2.
4 FARIA Y SOTJZA says it was said to be the tooth of an ape, but this arises from confounding Buddha and manuniaa the Sacred Monkey, vol., ii pt. iL ch. xvi. p. 207,KANDY ANT) PERADENIA.
[PART VII.
Its popular acceptance, notwithstanding this anomalous shape, may probably be accounted for by the familiarity of the Kandyans, under their later kings, with the fonns of some of the Hindu deities, amongst whom Vishnu and Kali are occasionally depicted with similarly projecting canines.1
The apartment in which it is deposited is in the inmost recess of the Wihara, a small chamber without windows, in which the air is stifiingly hot, and heavy with the perfume of flowers. The frames of the doors are inlaid with carved ivory, and on a massive silver table stands the bell-shaped carandua^ the shrine, which encloses the relic, encrusted with gems, and festooned with jewelled chains. The outer case contains a number
SHRINE OF THE SACRED TOOTH.
of others, similarly wrought, but diminishing in size, till on removing the inner one a golden lotus is disclosed, in the centre of which reposes the mysterious tooth-
1 See MOOR'S Hindu Pantheon, pi. xxviii. L.CHAP. V.] KANDY. 203
The antiquity of these caranduas is doubtful, but their fashion and form appear to be identical with those described in the Rajaratnacari' as having been made for the relic by successive sovereigns between 1267 and 1464 A.D.1
Nothing can be more picturesque than the situation and aspect of Kandy, on the banks of a miniature lake, overhung on all sides by hills, which command charming views of the city, with its temples, and monuments below. In the lake, a tiny island is covered by a picturesque building, now a powder magazine, btit in former times a harem of the king. A road, which bears the name of " Lady Hortoris Walk" winds round one of those hills; and on the eastern side, which is steep and almost precipitous, it looks down into the valley of Doombera, through which the Mahawelli-ganga rolls over a channel of rocks, presenting a scene which nothing in the tropics can exceed in majestic beauty.
In a park at-the foot of this acclivity is the pavilion of the governor, one of the most agreeable edifices in India, not less for the beauty of its architecture than for its judicious adaptation to the climate. The walls and columns are covered with chunam, prepared from calcined shells, which in whiteness and polish rivals the purity of marble. The high ground immediately behind is included in the demesne, and so successfully have the elegancies of landscape gardening been combined with the wildness of nature, that during my last residence at Kandy a leopard from the forest above came down nightly, to drink at the fountain in the parterre.
My own official residence, from its vicinity to the same jungle, was occasionally entered by equally unexpected visitors. Serpents are numerous on the hills, and as the house stood on a terrace formed out of one of its steepest sides, the cobra de capello and the green
1 JUgawtoacari, pp. 103,1
EA2SIDT FEOM THS WESTEBN KEDOUBT.CHAP. V.]
SNAKES.
205
wella frequently glided through the rooms on their way towards the grounds. During the residence of one of my predecessors in office, an invalid, who lay for some days on a sofa in the verandah, imagined niore than once that she felt something move under the pillow; and on rising to have it examined, a snake was discovered with a brood of young, which from their /; being born alive were most probably venomous. A lady residing in the old palace adjoining, going to open her piano was about to remove what she thought to be an ebony walking-stick that lay upon it, but was startled on finding that she had laid hold of a snake.
One day when the carriage had come to the door, and I was about to hand a lady in, a rat-snake uncoiled itself on the cushion, and glided leisurely down the steps. These creatures, however, are perfectly harmless, and are encouraged by the horse-keepers to take up their abode about the offices and stable-yard, which they keep free of vermin. In colour they are brown; with a tinge of iridescent blue.
Another less formidable intruder was the great black scorpion \ as large as a little cray-fish, which sometimes when distiirbed in the daylight made its way across the floor with its venomed tail arched forward, prepared to encounter any assailant. Its habits are crepuscular, lurking by day under stones and in ruined walls and cellars, and issuing at dusk in search of orthopterous larvas and succulent insects. Exaggerated apprehensions prevail as to the effects of its wound, which, w neither dangerous nor very painful, but' some inflammation, yields to the free use of hartshorn and cooling lotions.2
A small yellow scorpion3 is cx 0u&ozi in all of
the island, flat, narrow, and about' two in length.
1 JButhu* Afer, Linn.
2 Dr. Davy says, that in , Ceylon
the poison of the scorpion is little if at all more than
of the bee or wasp. He add*, that , in two or three instances, when fee :
of the
on fowlft, It to
BO (l 4TTf« th
101.) 5 ' Temp*206
KAJTOY AND PERADENIA.
[PART VII-
It frequents the sleeping apartments and wardrobes, and conceals itself in the folds of loose dresses. It is regarded as noxious, but I believe unjustly, as I never heard of any injury arising from its sting.
The temperature of Kandy is believed to have increased in warmth since the surfaces of the surrounding mountains have been dried by the felling of the trees, to convert the forests into plantations of coffee1; ? and it is certainly remarkable that although grapes will not ripen there now, as the vine requires a winter repose2, wine from grapes grown on the spot was produced in the time of the Dutch. Spilberg, who drank of it in 1602, describes its quality as excellent; and Valentyn at a later period speaks of it in similar terms.3
KANDYAN CHIEFS.
Tlie eostames of the groups of Kandyans who, on oc-caakms of ceremony, present themselves to the governor
of the climate . see Vo3L L Pi i. ek ii.
p. , ' ' "
s Sea Y dL I, Pt L dk iE/f. 8%
amd VoL II p. W. : ' ,
* £i Tout 06 file I'd* T^citfllte lei mit
via, y peut froltwi ,et, pttMniw
y
awn* fa -de trte bom nns du cnl clu e, torn ii, p. 452. tae wiBe of Ejmdy
was e |tttl to any ia Portugal : die ia zieh zelre zoo goad wife, als eeaigfe vya in Fortu^ai gew&sscihen." *-* 0«l m Oott-jfodfatt, eh, viii
, 104,CHAP. V.] BOTANIC GARDENS. 207
at the Pavilion, or lounge in front of the chief civil officer's cutcherry, are even more curious than those of the low-country Singhalese at Galle and Colombo. The priests of Buddha, moody and abstracted, draw "their yellow robes around them, and walk with downcast eyes, their ears appearing unnaturally large, from then* heads being closely shaven. The coralles and other petty headmen are distinguished only by a flattened cap of white calico, but the great chiefs, the Kate-mahatmeyas1, and the nearly extinct rank of Dissave, wear. a singularly ungraceful dress of stiffened white muslin, with gigot sleeves, a goffred Vandyck, and their waist girt by an embroidered belt. Each is .accompanied by an attendant bearing an umbrella of state, or an ornamented fan of the talipat-leaf inlaid with talc, as an emblem of his dignity.
From Kandy to the BoyaT Botanic Grarden at Pe« radenia, the road for nearly four miles passes through a continuous suburb, in which almost every house is surrounded by a little garden of coco-nut palms, bread-fruit, and coffee-trees. The Eajaratnacari records that in the year 1371 "the king, Wikrama Balm HL, ascended the throne, and kept his court at Pira-deniya, situated near the river MahawelH-ganga," 2 but no traces now remain of the buildings of that period.
A large tract by the banks of the river has been converted into a sugar plantation, originally stocked with canes from Mauritius; but the experiment has not been attended with the anticipated success, the produce barely sufficing for the supply of the central province. The mediocrity of the soil, and the necessity of frequently changing the plants, coupled with a superabundance of merely watery fluid in the canes, and disproportionate yield of saccharine, have hitherto contributed to discourage the extension of the enterprise. The same unsatisfactory result has unfortunately characterised aB similar attempts in other parts of the island.
1 Literally, "country gentlemen/' £ Sqjaratiiwxrit f- HI.208 KAITOY AND PERADENIA. [PART VII.
The cultivation of sugar was introduced by the Dutch, and has been attempted by the English1, at various places in the vicinity of Negombo, Caltura, and Galle. Of these almost the only estates on which the effort has been energetically persevered in, are a few in the southern province, one especially on the Matura river; but the series of previous disappointments deadens the hope of any very decided ultimate success.
The entrance to the Peradenia Garden is through a noble avenue of India-rubber trees (Ficus elastica), and the first object that arrests the admiration of a stranger on entering is a group of palms, which is, I apprehend, unsurpassed both in variety and grandeur. It includes nearly all those indigenous to the island,?? the towering talipat, the palmyra, the slender areca, and the kitool, with its formidable thorny congener, the Caryota horrida, and numerous others less remarkable. Amongst the exotic species are the date-palm, the Livistona chinensis, some species of Calamus, and the wonderful Coco-de-mer of the Seychelles.2 Close beside these are marvellous specimens of the symmetrical traveller's tree of Madagascar3, upwards of fifty feet high, surrounded by Yuccce and Scitaminiaz. Nothing in Ceylon so forcibly impresses a traveller with the glory of tropical vegetation, as this luxuriant and unrivalled display.
The garden, covering an area of nearly one hundred and fifty acres, overlooks the noble river that encircles it on three sides ; and, surrounding the cultivated parterres, the tall natural woods afford a favourable opportunity for exhibiting some of the wonders of the Ceylon flora, ? orchideas, festoons of flowering creepers (ipomceas and bignonias), the guilandina bonduc, with
1 Sir Edward Barnes, with Ms j 2 See ante, Vol. II. Pt. vn. cli. ii. characteristic vigilance, formed one p. 176.
of the first sugar plantations at Veangodde, "between Colombo and Kandv.
3 Mavenala speciosa.CUAF. V.] BOTANIC GARDENS, 209
its silicioiis seeds, the powerful jungle-rope (Bauliinia scandens), and the extraordinary climber1, whose strong stays, resembling in form and dimensions the chain-cable of a man of war, lash together the tall trees of the forest.
The nurseries, the spice ground, the orchards and experimental garden, are all in high vigour; and since the formation of this admirable institution, about thirty2 years ago, the benefits which it has conferred on the colony have more than realised the anticipations of its founders. European and other exotic plants have been largely introduced; the-valuable products of the eastern Archipelago, cloves, nutmegs, vanilla, and other spices, have been acclimatised; foreign fruits without number, mangoes, dmians, lichees, loquats, granadillas, and the avocado pear, have been propagated, and their culti* vation extended throughout the island; and the tea shrub, the chocolate, arrow-root, tapioca, West Indian ginger, and many others have been domesticated. The present able and accomplished director has already commenced the publication of a Singhalese Elora, the completion of which will place the savans of Europe in possession of accurate information as to the botany of the island. But in any allusion to the gardens of Peradenia, the name and services of Dr. Gardner, to whose memory a modest monument has been eiiected in the grounds, will always be associated with agreeable recollections of one whose genius was as remarkable in acquiring as his gentle manners were successful in popularising science in Ceylon.
At times there has been the murmur of in-informed utihtarianism against the expenditure bestowed upon
1 BauMnia racemosa f
2 The first "botanic garden in Ceylon was established by Mr. North, in 1799, at Ortafola, on the banks of the Kalany, at Colombo, and M. Joinville was named its curator. In 1810 it was transferred to a portion of Slave Island, which thence
VOL. ii. :
acquired the name of "Kew/ and in 1813 it was ag^ain removed to Caltura, where Moon, the author of the first English Catalogue of Ceylon Plants, was superintendent^ and under him the present gardens were eventually laid out at Peradenia.210
AND PEEADENIA
[PAET VII.
the botanic garden of Peradenia. But the object of such institutions, and the functions of their curators, are still imperfectly appreciated even in the localities to whose welfare they are most conducive; owing chiefly to an ignorant impatience for results which in their very nature must be prospective. The fact is overlooked, that such foundations are designed not for individual benefit, but for the collective advantage of communities by the gradual application of science to material development.
Objects at first despised and insignificant, become sources of colonial wealth under the auspices of the botanist ; and, on the other hand, productions upon which the prosperity of a region may be dependent, are liable to destruction and decay in the absence of his experience and counsels.1 It is wise policy in the government of a country, and most of all of a new and unexplored one, to encourage the cultivation of science for its own sake, confident that its labours, if not remunerative at the moment, will prove infallibly productive hi the future.
The colonial botani&t, in addition to the care and nomenclature of plants, useful, rare, and ornamental, and
1 Witness tlie wholesale destruction of the forests of India for immediate profit 5 the expenditure on un-remunerative cultivation j the waste of money and labour in useless draining and planting; the neglect of invaluable products, and the substitution of those that are worthless; all aseribable to the want of scientific knowledge and guidance. Dr. HOOKER remarks (preface to the Flora of New Zealand): " During a residence of some years in our colonies and foreign possessions, I have observed that the inhabitants are invariably anxious to acquire the names of the plants around them; they regret not having learnt the rudiments of botany in their youth,, and are most desirous that their children should be instructed in them, feeling that their '
practical information, however accurate and extensive, is useless beyond their own sphere. On my return to England, I was no less struck with the fact (which as a juror was prominently* brought before me) that, for want of a little botanical knowledge on the part of the exhibitors, large collections of vegetable produce, sent to the Great Exhibition, were rendered all but valueless." In these instances, had the scientific names been attached, it would have been easy to have given such a popular and accurate account of the articles in question, that they might have been recognised by any one acquainted with the rudiments of botany, and thus direct benefit would have accrued to the colonies producing them.CHAP. V.J BOTANIC -GAEDENS. 211
the collection of fruits and products of all kinds, for an oeconomic museum of botany, should take upon himself the selection of a library and the formation of a hortus siccus for consultation and reference. These duties, together with his foreign correspondence and exchanges, the reception of scientific strangers, the journeys of himself and his assistants to explore the country and collect botanical specimens, and occasional publications to excite and sustain popular interest in his pursuits, cmght to constitute the functions of a botanical officer, and no colony can fail to reap the benefit of such labours if judiciously discharged.
But the dissatisfaction which has occasionally manifested itself in Ceylon, arises not alone from a want of due appreciation of the legitimate duties of a superintendent, but also from an unreasonable expectation of services not legitimately within his province. A knowledge of agriculture, horticulture, forestry, pharmacy, and toxicology have each been demanded, as well as the philosophy of climates, the geologic nature of rocks and soils, the chemistry of manures, and the cecoiiomic habits of animals, birds, and insects; and it is within my own knowledge that from the coffee planters, there have been remonstrances to the local government as to the propriety of applying public funds for the maintenance of an institution from which, in regard to their own estates, they had failed individually to obtain assistance in connection with these and similar subjects.1 A man of generous education may, no doubt, be more or less familiar with such studies, but even if a scientific botanist felt diffident in propounding opinions or offering directions in relation to them, his peculiar attainments must be of signal advantage in modifying the views or facilitating the operations of others. So charming is the sphere of Ms duties, that those who cannot estimate their importance
1 In some colonies, by a still more unreasonable requirement, the curator of the botanic garden lias been
expected to grow vegetables for the table of the governor, Ms officers; and staff.
p 2212 KANDY AND PERADEJSTIA. [PAKT VIL
except by the value of their ostensible results, are liable to ignore their latent utility in the contemplation of their ornamental attractions. But observation and experience cannot fail to dissipate false expectations; and looking to the present transitional aspect of Ceylon, and the future which is already dawning for the island, my conviction is strong that no establishment in the colony is so essential to its interest as the Koyal Botanic Gardens ofPeradenia.213
NOTE TO CHAPTEK V.
STORY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE SACRED TOOTH.
Translated from the Portuguese of DIEGO DE COTTTO, Asia, §* ?. Decade vii. lib. ix. ch. 2, &c.
AFTEE describing the siege and reduction of Jaffna, in 1560, by the viceroy Don Constantine de Braganza, in the 2nd chapter of the vii. decade, book ix., the narrative proceeds as
follows:?
*******
"Amongst the spoils of the principal temple they brought to the viceroy a tooth mounted in gold, which was generally said to be the tooth of an ape, but which these idolaters regarded as the most sacred of all objects of adoration. The Viceroy was immediately made aware that its value was inestimable, as the natives would be sure to offer vast sums to redeem it. They believed it to be the tooth of their great saint Buddha. This Buddha, so runs their legend, after visiting Ceylon, travelled over Pegu and the adjacent countries, converting the heathen and working miracles; and, death approaching, he wrenched this tooth from its socket, and sent it to Ceylon as the greatest of relics. So highly was it venerated, by the Singhalese and by all the people of Pegu, that they esteemed it above all other treasures." *****
CHAP, rra-
How the King of Pegu sent to offer a sum of gold to the Viceroy Don Constantine for the ape's toothy which was taken atJaff-na-patam, and of the decision of the divines thereupon, and how it was resolved to destroy it by fire.
" Martin Alfonso de Mello happened to be in Pegu with his ship on business, when the Viceroy, Don Constantine, returned (to G-oa) from Jaffna-patarn, and the king, hearing that the ' tooth' which was so profoundly revered by all Buddhists had been carried off, summoned Martin Alfonso to his presence, and besought him, on his return to India, to entreat the Viceroy to surrender it, offering to give in exchange whatever might be
p 3214 KAFDY AND PERADENIA. [PART VII.
demanded for it. And those who know the Peguans, and the devotion with which they regard this relic of the devil, affirmed that the king would have given three or even four hundred thousand cruzadoes to obtain possession of it. By advice of Martin Alfonso, the king despatched ambassadors to accompany him to the Viceroy on this affair, and empowered them to signify his readiness to ratify any agreement to which they might assent on his behalf.
"Martin Alfonso, on reaching Groa, in April 1561, apprised the Viceroy of the arrival of the envoys, who, after their reception, opened the business for which they were accredited, making a request for the tooth on behalf of their sovereign; offering in return any terms that might be required, with a proposal for a perpetual alliance with Portugal, and an undertaking to provision the fortress of Malacca at all times when called upon; together with many other conditions and promises. The Viceroy promised an early reply, and, in the meantime, communicated with his veteran captains and fidalgos, all of whom were in favour of accepting an offer which woiild recruit the exhausted treasury; and so eager were they, that the question seemed to be decided.
" But the matter having reached the ear of the Archbishop, Don Graspar, he repaired instantly to the Viceroy, and warned him that he was not to permit this tooth to be ransomed for all the treasures of the universe; since it would be dishonouring to the Lord, and would afford an opportunity to these idolaters to pay to that bone the worship which belonged to God alone. The Archbishop wrote memorials on the subject, and preached against it from the pulpit, in the presence of the Viceroy and his court so that Don Constantine, who as a conscientious Catholic feared God and obeyed the Church, hesitated to proceed with the affair, or to take any step that was not unanimously approved. He thereupon convened an assembly of the Archbishop, the prelates, and heads of the religious orders, together with the captains and senior fidalgos, and other officers of the Government: he laid the matter before them, the large offers of money that had been made for the tooth, and the pressing wants of the service, all of which could be provided for out of so great a ransom. After mature deliberation, a resolution was come to that it was not competent to part with the tooth, since its surrender would be an incitement to idolatry, itucl an insult to the Almighty; crimes which could not be contemplated, though the state, or even the world itself, mightCHAP. V.] STOEY OF THE TOOTH. 215
be imperilled. Of this opinion were the prelates, the inquisitors, the vicar-general of the Dominicans, Fra Manuel de Serra of the same order, the prior of Groa, the Father Custodian of the Franciscans, Padre Antonio de Quadras of the Company of Jesus, the Provincial of India, and others of the Society of the Jesuits.
"This resolution having been come to and committed to writing, to which all attached their signatures (and a copy of which is now in our possession in the Eecord Office), the Viceroy called on the treasurer to produce the tooth. He handed it to the Archbishop, who, in their presence, placed it in a mortar, and with his own hand reducing it to powder, cast the pieces into a brazier, which stood ready for the purpose ; after which, the ashes and the charcoal together were cast into the river, in sight of all, they crowding to the verandahs and windows which looked upon the water.
" Many protested against this measure of the Viceroy, since there was nothing to prevent the Buddhists from making other idols ; and out of a piece of bone they could shape another tooth in resem