^S6 Voyage of the Novara. 



children of the eldest brothers are registered, as the entire 

 property belongs to him, while all the younger brothers serve 

 him as vassals, and can be driven by him out of the house), 

 the lawful, recognized heirs of the different fathers. In 

 order to guard against the rise of law-suits respecting birth 

 and heritage among the Cingalese, in consequence of their 

 local customs, the British courts of justice, singular to say, 

 find themselves constrained to recognize this disgraceful 

 custom, and to interpret the law with reference to it. 

 Although in the maritime provinces plurality of husbands 

 has been signally on the decrease, owing to foreign influences, 

 it still prevails to a great extent in the interior of the island. 

 The submissiveness of the Cingalese to their superiors and 

 their monarchs is assigned as the origin of this in other 

 respects very ancient custom, which seems to have been 

 universally in use among the various races of the mainland of 

 India from time immemorial. Constrained to apply their 

 own manual labour in cultivating the land of their tyrants, 

 and frequently to accompany them on distant journeys, they 

 thought they could, during their absence, most surely protect 

 their own fields and crops against utter ruin, by apportioning 

 wife and chattels among brothers and nearest relatives, and 

 thence the family tie was gradually converted into a socialist 

 community. 



The almost endless cocoa forests, which we were traversing 

 by splendid, broad, level roads, not alone provide the native 

 with, to him, the most important necessary for supporting 



