CuAP. yiii.] 



FORM OF GOVEEXMEXT. 



497 



use at tlie same early period, and ivory was largely 

 employed in iulapng the more sumptuous articles.^ 

 Coco-nut shells were used for cups and ladles^ ; earthen- 

 ware for jugs and drinking cups^ ; copper for water- 

 pots, oil-cans, and other utensils; and iron for razors, 

 needles, and nail-cutters.* The pingo, formed of a lath 

 cut from the stem of the areca, or the young coco-nut 

 palm, and still used as a yoke in carrying burdens, 

 existed at an early period^, in the same form in which 

 it is borne at the present day. It is identical with the 

 asilla, an instrument for the same purpose depicted on 

 works of Grecian art^ and on the monuments of Egypt. 



EGYPTIAN TOEE. 



SINGHALESE PINGO. 



Form of Government — The form of government was 

 at all times an unmitigated despotism ; the king had mi- 

 nisters, but only to reheve him of personal toil, and the 

 institution of Gam-sabes, or village municipahties, which 

 existed in every hamlet, however small, was merely a 

 miniatm^e council of the peasants, in wliich they settled 

 all disputes about descent and proprietorship, and main- 

 tahied the organisation essential to their pecuhar tillage ; 

 facilitating at the same time the payment of dues to tlie 

 croAvn, both m taxes and labour. 



Revenue. — The main sources of revenue were taxes, 



1 Mahmvanso, ch. xxvii. p. 103. 



2 Ibid., ch. xxvii. p. 164. 

 s Ibid, ch. XV. p. 85. 



4 Rdjnratnavari, p. 134. 



5 Ibid., p. 103. This implement is 

 identical with the " yoke " so often 

 mentioned in the Old and New Tes- 



VOL. I. K J£ 



tament as an emblem of bondage and 

 labour ; and figured, with the same 

 significance, on Grecian sculpture and 

 gems. See ante, Vol. I. Pt. i. ch. iii. 

 p. 114. 



6 Akistotle, Rhet. 1. 7. 



