54 



MODERN HISTORY. 



[Part VI. 



A.D. 



1G64. 



To effect their object the Dutch conceived the plan of 

 purchasing arrack, on Government account, sending it to 

 Sui^at and Coromandel, and there exchanging it for cloth 

 with which to under-scU the Moors. ^ But the scheme 

 was not successful, and they adopted the bolder com'se 

 of taking; the arecas into their own hands as a Govern- 

 ment monopoly, and prohibiting the import of cloths 

 by the Moors except on condition that they disposed of 

 them wholesale to the bm'ghers, by whom alone they 

 were to be afterwards retailed to the natives.^ Further 

 to ensure their discom^agement, 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.^ But, notwithstanding every device, this 

 patient and intelhgent class persevered in their pursuit, 

 and continue to the present day, as they did tlirough- 

 out the entu'e period of the Dutch ascendency, to en- 

 gross a large share of the internal trade of the island ; 

 bringing down to the coast the produce of the hills in 

 exchange for manufactm^ed articles, introduced from 

 the Indian continent. At first, the areca monopoly, 

 under the management of the Government, u^as com- 

 paratively unprofitable, but by degrees it became lucra- 

 tive, and, in 1CG4, it was described as "extremely 

 productive." ^ 



The other productions which constituted the exports 

 of the island were sapan-wood ^, to Persia ; and clioya- 

 roots ^, a substitute for madder, collected at Manaar and 



^ Valextyn, ell. xii. p. 134. 

 ^ lJ)id., eh. xiii. p. 173. 

 3 11)1(1, ch. xiii. p. 174. 

 * Ihid., ch. xiv. p. 105. 

 ^ Casidpinia Sappan. This dye- 

 wood was chiefly obtained in the 



woods around Colombo and Galle ; 

 but in 1G(j4, so recklessly had the 

 trees been cut, tliat there was none 

 to be procured at the latter place. — 

 Yalenttn, ch. xiv. p. 194. 

 ^ Oldenlandia umbellata, Lin. 



