Weddahs, or Aborigines Proper. 359 



alternative of death, or of withdrawing with the ministers 

 of his cruelty to roam for ever amid the solitudes of the forest. 

 The dethroned king chose the latter alternative, and thus 

 became the little-to-be-envied progenitor of this rude savage 

 race. At any rate it seems worthy of note, that these Weddahs, 

 destitute though they are of the remotest traces of civilization, 

 are still regarded as belonging to the privileged caste. 



Owing to the shortness of our stay, we unfortunately had no 

 opportunity of visiting the interior of the island, or of seeing 

 these Weddahs. With difficulty did we tear ourselves from 

 the zone of the cocoa-nut growth, and therefore only got 

 acquainted with two places on the island, Galle and Colombo, 

 the latter the seat of government. 



Galle is, from its position, as also from its configuration, 

 indisputably the best and most important harbour in the south 

 and west of the island, as Colombo can only be regarded as 

 an open, insecure roadstead. Founded in the sixteenth century 

 by the Portuguese, conquered at a later period by the Dutch, 

 and finally, at the peace of Amiens, transferred to the English, 

 Galle displays singularly few traces of its different masters. 

 The streets are narrow, but cleanly ; the houses are for the 

 most part constructed of earth, with verandahs, or airy 

 colonnades towards the street, and rooms within, plastered 

 to imitate stone, of spacious dimensions, as is desirable, con- 

 siderino- the heat of the climate. As one enters from the 

 roadway at once into the sitting apartment, and as the door 

 stands wide open all day to admit a free current of air, a sort 



