56 



MODERN HISTORY. 



[Part YI. 



A.D. 



1GG4. 



people did not know how to spin it, the crop w^as 

 neglected.^ 



In adchtion to their ordinary trading operations, the 

 Dutch had certain monopohes which served to reahse 

 a revenue. They farmed the collection of salt at the 

 leways and lagoons on both sides of the island; the 

 fishery of chank shells ^ Avas conducted for them at a 

 profit in the Gulf of Manaar ; but the pearl-fishery at 

 Aripo, though perseveringly tended, was seldom produc- 

 tive of remunerative results.^ Gems being prociurable 

 only within the territories of the Kandyan emperor, 

 contributed nothing to the trade or resom^ces of Hol- 

 land. Besides these sources of income, there were 

 taxes suited to the habits of the native population : a 

 poll tax payable in articles of various kinds, such as 

 iron ore and jaggery ; a land tax assessed on produce ; a 

 tithe on coco-nut gardens ; a hcence for fishermen's 

 boats, besides a fish tax on the capture ; the proceeds 

 of ferries ; and an infinity of minor items collected by 

 the native headmen and theii subordinates. 



The intervention of the latter officers was indispens- 

 able in a state of things under which no European could 

 five secm^ely beyond the hmits of the garrisoned towns. 

 The pohcy of concihating the native chiefs was there- 

 fore transmitted by each Governor to his successor, with 

 injmictions to encoiurage and caress the headmen ; they 

 were to be " nom^ished with hopes," and their attach- 

 ment secured by gratifying their ambition for titles 



1 Valextyn, cli. xiii. p. 173; Bxje- 

 nand's Mem., Asiat. Journ., vol. xii. 

 p. 445. 



There is a very succinct but veiy 

 unfavourable account of the Dutch 

 system of trade and finance as it 

 e'xisted in Ceylon, given by Lord 

 Valentia in his Travels, vol. i. ch. 

 vi. p. 309. It may be regarded 

 as prettv' coii-ect, as the infonnation 

 conveyed in it was furnished by Mr. 

 Noi-tli, the British Governor, in 1804 ; 

 ■who had previously examined the 

 Dutch records witli close attention. 



2 Turhinella rapa. 



^ " It is a matter for reflection," 

 says Baron Imhoff in 1740, ''whe- 

 ther the Company derives any ad- 

 vantage whatever from the fisheiy of 

 pearls, and whether tlie whole affair 

 is not rather (/lifter than ;/olcl." — Ap- 

 pemlix to Lee's Hibci/ro, p. 247. 

 Valextyn tries to account for this 

 by saying, that the pearls of the 

 Gulf of Manaar were inferior both in 

 lustre and whiteness to those of 

 Ormus and Bahrein. — Oticl en Nieuio 

 Ood-Lulien, ch. ii. p. 34. 



