A. D, 1795- 355 



wefl coaft of Ceylon are efteemed the beft in the world : and the Dutch 

 company drew a confiderable profit from the fifhery of them till the 

 year 1 77 1 , when they were deprived of it by the nabob of Arcot. Some 

 coffee and cardamums, together with the piece goods coUeded at the 

 fettlements on the oppofite continent dependent on the government of 

 Ceylon, completed the cargoes of the company's {hips for Europe *. 

 The ifland alio fumifhes elephants of luperior quality, which are export- 

 ed to the continent, rice, pepper, and coir (the fibres of the coco-nut), 

 ufed for making cables and other cordage, which have the property of 

 being elaftic and floating upon the water. 



Contrary to the fyftem obferved in all the other Britifli pofTefiions in 

 the Eaft, the Eaft-India company enjoy only the exclufive trade of Cey- 

 lon, the entire and immediate territorial fovereignty of this new acqui- 

 fition being veiled in the king. 



If any reverfe of fortune Ihall ever deprive us of our pofl'eflions on 

 the continent of Afia, the noble ifland of Ceylon, as long as we can pre- 

 ferve our maritime fuperiority, may be made (as it was in the fixth 

 century) the grand depofit of the commodities and manufactures of the 

 Eaft and the Weft, and the great band of commercial intercourfe with 

 all the rich countries bordering on the Indian ocean from the Cape of 

 Good Hope to the weft coaft of America. 



September 1 6'" — The Dutch fettlement at the Cape of Good Hope 

 was alfo taken by fome Britifli ftiips of war and Eaft-India fhips with a 

 body of land forces, under the command of General Clarke and Ad- 

 miral Keith Elphinftone. By the capitulation the property of the Dutch 

 Eaft-India company of every kind was delivered up to the conquerors. 

 But all property belonging to individuals, to churches, and public in- 

 ftitutions, was preferved to the owners. The paper money current in 

 the fettlement was guaranteed; and for that purpofe the lands and 

 houfes, part of the property of the company, which were the fecurity 

 for it, were continued under the obligation. 



The principal articles exported from the Cape were corn, and the ex- 

 cellent wine known by the name of Conftantia, or Cape, wine. Un- 

 doubtedly many other articles might, by due attention, be made objedls 

 of commerce ; but the chief ufe of the fettlement has hitherto been to 

 furnifli refreftiments to the Eaft-India fliips ; and the ftiips of all nations 



* In the year 1778 the fales in Europe of the Dutch Eaft-India company's imports from Ceylcn 

 were as follows. 



600,000 lb cinnamon, at about/. 6 (u/ sterling,) per lb. 

 4,000 lb cardamums - 33 stivers (3/) 



5,000 lb cotFee - 10« 



300,000 lb co\vries - 7f 



20,000 cotton yarn 

 and piece goods to the value of/. 200,000 (about «^ 18, 180). 



A particular account of the cinnamon, and the various fpecics of it, may be found in ProfeiTor Thun- 

 berg's Travsh in Europe, jifrica, and Afia. 



Yy 2 



