108 



SOUTIIERX AXD CEXTRAL TEOVIXCES. [Pakt Til. 



wa\T and sliining, and as they wear no covering of 

 any kind till four or five years old, a group of these 

 httle creatures at play suggests the idea of living 

 bronzes. 



Galle has a large population of Moors, who are mostly 

 lapidaries, or dealers in gems ^, and one of the earliest 

 visits received by a stranger on his arrival, is from 

 these persevering jewellers, -sdth whom it requires both 

 experience and judgment to negotiate ^^'ith safety. It 

 ought to be borne in mind, that it is the custom among 

 Oriental races for the buyer, and not the seller, to place 

 the value on any article he requires. An Eastern in the 

 bazaar, makes an offer for what he wants, and waits for 

 the owner to take or refuse it. Long contact with Em^o- 

 peans has so far modified tliis practice in Ceylon, that a 

 buyer expects the seller to name a price for his com- 

 modities ; and when a traveller adduces, as an evidence 

 of fi\aud or rapacity, that a dealer may have asked double 

 what he has eventually accepted, it would be well to 

 remember, that it is contrary to custom for the OAvner to 

 be the appraiser, and that '•'caveat emptor'''' is the rule 

 amono'st Orientals, from whom the Eomans borrowed the 

 maxim.^ 



Tortoise-shell is another article in Avhicli the workmen 

 of Galle have emploj^ed themselves since the tune of 

 the Eomans^, and of which they still make bracelets, 

 hair pins, and ornaments of great taste and beauty. 

 But the principal handicrafts-men are cabinet-makers, 

 carpenters, and carvers in Calamander-wood, ebony, and 

 ivory. Their skill in this work is quite remarkable, 

 considering the simplicity of their implements and tools ; 

 but owing to their deficiency in design, and the want of 



^ Au account of the pursuits of 

 those people -will be found ante, Vol. 

 I. Pt. V. eh. iv. p. 005. 



2 "Ubi enim judicium emptorisest 

 ibi fraus venditoris qufc potest esse ? " 

 — Cicero De Of., iii. 14. 



2 SxRABO, ii. i. 14. Ceylon for- 

 merly exported tortoise-shell, but the 

 demand has become so gi-eat for 

 home mauuiiicture, that it is now 

 imported from Penang and the Mal- 

 dive Islands. 



