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"I have already observed, that the Ceylonese are much more conscientious in their dealings than the natives of the continent. This remark applies particularly to the Cinglese, who, besides being naturally abstemious, frugal, and free from covetousness, are not tempted by want to purloin the property of their neighbours. The Candians, though endued with much more pride and spirit, are by no means so conscientious or honest. Those in deed among them, who are guilty of stealing or lying, are exposed to public reproach, while just and honourable actions never fail to meet with applause; but when they expect to escape detection, they are seldom deterred from trespassing by scruples of conscience. The rapacity of their governors, and their frequent inroads into the European settlements, seem to have depraved their originally good dispositions.

"Their burials are not attended with any particular religious solemnity. Mr. Knox states, that in his time it was customary to burn the dead, particularly the bodies of persons of distinction. If this practice still subsists in any part of Ceyton, it has entirely escaped my re

searches, and must be both rare and confined to the remotest parts of the interior. The analogy of several of the casts on the Coro mandel and Malabar coasts, among whom the practice of burning the dead is general, may be alleged as a proof of its once having been customary among the Ceylonese. At present, as far as I have been able to discover, the funeral ceremony is very simple, and nearly resembles what takes place among ourselves. The body is wrapped in a mat or piece of cloth, and carried to some unfrequented spot where it is deposited.

"Such are the circumstances I have been able to collect, which apply to the native Ceylonese in general. There are some particu lar shades of difference which arise between the Candians and Cinglese, both from the nature of the coun try they inhabit, and from the more frequent intercourse of the latter with foreigners. These chiefly relate to their political situation, and their forms of administering justice, which among the Cinglese are of course considerably assimilated to those of the people which holds them in subjection."

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vernment. With this view, so many ceremonies attended each introduction into the royal presence, that little business could be transacted; and such a space was allowed to elapse between each interview, that the general was only admitted to three during his stay here, which was from the 10th of April to the 3d of May.

"But previous to any interview, it was found no easy matter to adjust the ceremonies of introduction. It had been customary for the kings of Candy to demand prostration, and several other degrading tokens of submission from the ambassadors introduced to them. The Dutch ambassadors had always submitted to be introduced into the capital blindfold, and to prostrate themselves before the monarch. In a former war, when Trincomalee was taken by us from the Dutch, proposals were sent to the king to assist him in expelling his enemies out of the island, and to form a treaty of alliance with him. After the envoy entrusted with this business had arrived at Candy, the king would not receive him standing; and the envoy, not having instructions how to act in such a case, declined the interview till he could hear from Madrass; by which means so much time elapsed, that the object of the embassy was by intervening circumstances entirely defeated, and the envoy returned without being presented. Even after the British had shown their power by the capture of Columbo and the expulsion of the Dutch, the Candian monarch would not recede from his lofty pretensions; and Mr. Andrews, the British East-India Company's chief civil servant, who was sent upon a mission to Candy shortly after we had taken possession of the island, was obliged to kneel on 1803.

being admitted to the royal presence. Nay, to such an extrava gant pitch do the natives carry their ideas of the indispensable nature of this royal prerogative, that when Trincomalee was in the last war taken by our troops under general Stewart; and when the king was in consequence prevailed upon to send ambassadors to Madrass these persons very modestly desired lord Hobart to prostrate himself before them, and to receive the king's letter on his knees. This request, however, his lordship declined to comply with; but returned for answer, that as they were so much in the habit of kneeling, and so fond of prostration, a custom which his countrymen never adopted, their best plan to prevent the omission of this essential ceremony, would be to prostrate themselves before him who held the supreme authority there: and this alternative, after they found his lordship would not submit to the other, they actually assented to.

"General Macdowal, understanding that this ceremony was expected at his introduction, previously informed his majesty, by means of the adigar, that he could not on any account submit to it. The king made many objections to receiving him into his presence, unless he would consent first to prostrate himself, and then to remain kneeling during the royal audience. The general, however, positively refused compliance, and informed the minister that his sovereign acknowledged the superiority of no potentate upon earth; and that sooner than degrade his sovereign in the person of his representative, he would return to Columbo without being presented. The king, not daring to come to an open breach with us, upon this waved his prerogative

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prerogative; but in order to reconcile this derogation from his dignity to his own feelings, he informed the general that it was his royal will to dispense in his case with the usual ceremonies required of ambassadors at their introduction, as the general came from his brother the king of Great-Britain, whose great power and strength he acknowledged to be far above that of the Dutch or the East-India Company.

"This important matter having been adjusted in this manner, and the time appointed for the first audience being come, the adigar, with a numerous attendance, lighted by a great blaze of torches (for audience is always given here by night), came to the edge of the river to conduct the general to the royal presence. The general on his part crossed the river in the boats which were in readiness, attended by his staff and the gentlemen belonging to the embassy, with an escort consisting of a subaltern and fifty sepoys. He was then conducted by the adigar about a mile and a half to the king's palace. The road thither was up a steep hill, with narrow crooked paths. The capital was surrounded by thick thorny hedges, with gates of the same, called by the natives caravetties. The caravetty nearest Candy has a rampart and breast-work, on which some of their artillery was occasionally mounted. The resistance which it could make to the approach of a regular army is, however, very trifling: Candy is indebted for its principal fortifications to nature.

"The way up to the city was very fatiguing, and the escort was not a little incommoded by the crowd of natives who eagerly pressed to gaze at them. This cir

cumstance and the glare of the torches prevented the general's retinue from having an accurate view of the city. The embassy on entering it passed through one long broad street to the palace. The houses, though low huts of themselves, appeared greatly elevated from being built upon high banks on each side of the street, which forms a kind of area below. At the further end of this street is a high wall enclosing the gardens which belong to the palace. After a short turn here to the left, the palace appeared standing on the right. In front of it was a flight of stone steps, and a viranda or balcony, in which a number of the king's guards and several of the chief men in waiting were stationed. After passing this, and descending by another flight of steps, a large square surrounded by a high wall afforded a station for some more of the guards. At the opposite side stood a large arched gate-way, leading into an inner court where the king and his principal officers of state have their residence. In this inner division the king kept his own body guards, who were composed of Malays and Malabars. These troops are armed with swords, spears, and shields; and on them the king seems to place his chief dependence in the event of any sudden commotion or alarm.

"On the right hand of this inner court stood an open arch, through which was the entrance to the hall of audience. This state room was a long viranda with alternate arches and pillars along its sides. From this structure, as well as from the appearance of the roof and ceiling, it bore a considerable resemblance to the aisle of a church. The pillars and arches were adorn

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ed with muslin flowers, and ornaments made of the plantain leaf, which had a very pretty effect. At the further end of the hall, and under one of the larger arches, was placed a kind of platform or throne, covered with a carpet, and surrounded with steps. Here the king sat in state. A small partition raised in front concealed his feet and the lower part of his body from view. Below the arches on each side of the hall the courtiers were seen, some prostrate, others sitting in silence and cross-legged like a parcel of tailors on a shop-board. The general was led up with much ceremony and gravity by the adigar, and the next chief officer present, and placed along with the adigar on the uppermost step of the throne.

"Although the rest of the hall was well lighted, that part where the king sat was contrived to be made more obscure than the rest, with a view of impressing a greater awe on those who approached him. He was in appearance a young man, very black, with a light beard. He was by no means so portly or well-looking as the adigar and several other of the officers around him. He was dressed in a robe of very fine muslin embroidered with gold, fitted close at the breast with several folds drawn round the waist, and flowing down from thence like a lady's gown. His arms were bare from the elbows downwards. On his fingers he wore a number of very broad rings set with precious stones of different sorts, while a number of gold chains were suspended round his neck over a stiff frilled piece of muslin resembling queen Elizabeth's ruff. His head was covered with a turban of muslin spangled with gold, and surmounted by a crown of gold (an

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ornament by which he is distin guished from all the other Asiatic princes, who are prohibited by their religion from wearing this badge of royalty, and whose ornaments, when they use any, consist simply of a sprig or feather of precious stones). His waist was encircled with a rich sash, to which was sus pended a short curved dagger or sabre, the handle richly ornamented, and the scabbard of gold filiagree-work. In appearance his majesty much resembled the figures we are accustomed to see of king. Henry VIII. The adigar, from his superior size, might indeed be said to do so still more: very little difference in dress was discernible between him and his sovereign, except that the minister did not carry a crown; although his turban also was surmounted by something like a ducal coronet.

"After general Macdowal had been presented in form to his majesty, and a numerous string of ceremonies had been gone through, the king proceeded to inquire about the health of his Britannic majesty, and the state of our affairs; to all which questions the general returned such answers as propriety dictated. The conversation was carried on with the most profound gravity and reserve. Even the most trifling circumstances were mentioned in whispers, with as much ceremony and importance as if the fate of kingdoms depended upon them. The king directed his speech to the adigar, who stood on the step below the throne, and who repeated his majesty's words to the maha moodelier, who had come up with the embassy as Cinglese interpreter. The latter in his turn gave it in Portuguese to monsieur Joinville, who had also been sent up by governor North to interpret from

that language, and who repeated it in French to general Macdowal. Thus the conversation was carried on by five different persons, and in three different languages; the ge. neral's answers returning by the same channel which had conveyed his majesty's questions.

"The tedious length to which such a conference must have been protracted, may be easily conceived; and though it lasted near three hours, this first interview was entirely occupied with complimentary matters. During the conference, rose-water was frequently sprinkled around from curiously-wroughtvessels of gold; and perfumes were handed about on salvers of gold and silver filagree-work. The oppressive heat of the room how ever, joined to the powerful exhala. tions of the scented oils burned in the lamps, and the rank smell of cocoa-nut oil with which the natives present were universally anointed, overcame the effects of all these precautions, and almost stifled the European gentlemen who were allowed to remain at one end of the hall where the general's guard was stationed. During the audience, the rain poured down in torrents without intermission; and continued to do so until the general was on his march back to the camp, where he arrived about five in the morning, quite exhausted with fatigue.

"After this audience, some days were permitted to elapse before another could be obtained; as it is a standing maxim with the Candians never to hurry forward affairs, or to betray any symptom of anxiety for their being brought to a conclusion. I am convinced that their adherence to this principle on the present occasion cost them no mall share of uneasiness; as their

suspicions of us were too violent to allow their minds to enjoy any rest while we continued in their coun try.

"At the second audience the general introduced the business of the embassy, and made those demands which he was authorised to do on behalf of Great Britain. Concerning the nature of those demands, and the answers returned to them, I do not consider myself at liberty to give any statement, as they were matters of private negotiation. One circumstance however was publicly talked of as hav ing been laid before his Candian majesty by the general on this occasion. It was a request made on the part of our government, that that prince would allow a road to be made and a communication to be opened from Trincomalee to Columbo, through his territories, a little to the north of Candy. This would have been a matter of vast convenience and importance to our government, as hitherto the tapals or letter-bags had to be conveyed by a circuitous route along the seacoast by Manaar and Jafnapatam, and double the distance of that proposed through the Candian territories. The king however would on no account accede to this proposal; but expressed his decided aversion to any intercourse or connexion existing between his sub jects and the Europeans. At the same time, however, he expressed a desire to live on amicable terms with the British, whose power he acknowledged to be far superior to that of the Dutch. Whatever further transpired with regard to the objects of the embassy was too much the result of conjecture to be set down in an authentic narrative.

“Between this audience and the

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