98 TUE r.VLllS OF ASIA. 



manufactured the cocoa nut oil by means of 

 granite crusliers and hydraulic presses worked 

 by steam power. This is only done in Columbo, 

 to which place, of course, the copperah has to 

 be conveyed. The refuse of the oil presses — 

 the dry cake, or 2^oonac, is very useful as food 

 for cattle and poultry, and not less so as a 

 manure for the palm trees, when moistened and 

 applied in a partially decomposed state. All 

 these operations are not carried on with ease 

 and regularity. The Cingalese are an idle race ; 

 like many better men, their chief pleasure is to 

 perform as little work as possible. This neces- 

 sitates a never-ending round of inspection by 

 the European manager, who, mounted on a 

 small pony, paper umbrella in hand, visits every 

 corner of the property at least once in the day, 

 often twice. Neither is it unusual for him to 

 make a round during the night. On the whole, 

 then, he enjoys no sinecure. The manufacture 

 of arrack is entirely in the hands of the natives, 

 ■who employ stills of the rudest construction; 

 the permission to retail arrack and toddy is 

 annually farmed out by the Cuylon government ; 

 the renters are natives, who frequently pay as 

 much as £G0,000 annually for the monopoly, 

 about one-eighth part of the entire revenues oi 

 the island. 



