PERCIVAL’S ACCOUNT OF CEYLON. 
ments were reduced, than their suffer- 
ing an enemy to advance unmolested in 
sich circumstances. “ It is only to the 
total extinction of public spirit, and of 
every sentiment of national honour,” 
observes Mr. Percival, “ that such con- 
duct can be attributed. A thirst of 
eain, and of private emolument, appears 
to have swallowed up every othér feeling 
in the breasts of the Dutchmen; and 
thisisa striking warning to all commer- 
cial nations, to be careful that those sen- 
timents which engage them to extend 
their dominions, do not obliterate those, 
by which alone they can be retained and 
defended.”’ Shocking instances of their 
treachery are recorded in pages 129, and 
161 et seq.: we could wish to forget 
them. 
The Dutch ladies are exactly such as 
we should expect the wives and daughters 
of Dutch husbands and Dutch fathers to 
be; their minds, their morals, and their 
manners, alike coarse and uncultivated. 
Dirty and indelicate, the elder ladies 
chew the betel-leaf and areka-nut, and 
spit into the same pan which is employ- 
ed for that purpose by the smoakers ! ! 
The present Portugueze of Ceylon 
are a mixture of the spurious descendants 
of the several European possessors of 
that island, by native women, joined to 
amnumiber of Moors and Malabars. What 
a delectable mixture! their religion is 
just what it should be—a compound of 
Paganism and Catholicism. “The com- 
plexions of this monerel breed, of course, 
vary according to circumstances; jet 
black, sickly yellow, and tawny. They 
combine all tlie vices of the Europeans 
and Indians, without any of their vir- 
tues, | eS 
*The Malays form a considerable pro- 
portion of the inhabitants of Ceylon ; ‘of 
this. vindictive and ferocious race, so 
widely scattered over the Eastern parts 
of lndia, Mr. Percival has given amore 
full and characteristic account than any 
we recollect having elsewhere met with. 
Those of them who are brought up in 
the European colonies, contract more of 
the habits of civilized society, than such 
as ¥emain in their original empire of 
Molucca, but they never become com- 
pletely tame; their natural ferocity is 
never entirely got rid of. ‘The men are 
jealous to an extreme, and the passions 
of both sexes are equally violent; if an 
_ European paramour offers the slightest 
neglect toa Malay woman, she will take 
2 sure and terrible revenge. The Ma- 
41 
lays universally proféss the Mahomes 
tanreligion, and observe its ceremonies 
strictly : they have a peculiar fondness 
for gardening, and a skill in medicinal 
herbs is general among them. ‘Their 
amusements are suited to their dispo- 
sitions, and are bold, vigorous, and fero- 
cious: they are fond of music ; and hav- 
ing lost their last stake at gaming, will 
often sacrifice themselves and their lucky 
antagonist to their despair. In their 
own country, their government resem- 
bles the ancient feudal institutions of 
Europe ; but the fierce temper arising 
from such institutions, which in Furope 
was softened by the Christian religion, 
has rather been exasperated by that 
which the Malays have embraced; they 
mingle no courtesy with their courage: 
all is ferocity, and revenge. The éreese, 
which every Malay carries about him 
and which descends with religious care 
from generation to generation, is 2 
poisoned dagger, the blade of which is 
of the best tempered steel, and often 
made of a serpentine form, so as to in- 
flict the more dreadful wound; the 
ivory handle, carved into the similitude 
of a man’s body, with a bird’s head, is 
their swanny or god, to which they make 
obeisance before they draw the kreese 
toexecute some atrocious purpose, and 
which is never sheathed again till it has 
been drenched in blood. Before they 
run-a-muck, in order to secure them- 
selves from the possibility of being di- 
verted from their bloody purpose, they 
intoxicate themselves, and produce a 
desperate delirium by taking opium pre- 
pared from an herb called dang. In this 
horrible frenzy, into which a Malay 
works himself in the thirst of revenge 
for some real, or perhaps imaginary 
grievance, he rushes headlong imto the 
street, and stabs indiscriminately every 
one who comes in his way, crying aloud 
Amok, Amok; kill, kill. The fury of 
the devoted wretch, says Mr. Percival, 
is indescribable, and the mischief he often 
does is very great, before a lucky shot 
brings him down. The cruelty and in- 
solence of the Dutch towards their 
Malay slaves occasioned very frequent 
mucks in their settlements. It is with 
the highest pride and pleasure we learn, 
that since the arrival of the English 
at Ceylon, this barbarous practice has 
almost been unknown. How honour. 
able a testimony to the humane and 
mild administration of the English 
government! The Malays are well dis- 
