CEYLON COCOA ESTATE 187 



him. In spite of their being two to one, 

 happily the Appu managed to hold his own, 

 and to hold on to the men until one of our 

 coolies appeared on the scene. Between them 

 they secured the Moormen and likewise the 

 stolen cocoa and knife. 



Rob sent for the Arachi (village headman) 

 and they were marched off to the nearest 

 police station, but before the arrival of the 

 Arachi one of them offered Rob a bribe of thirty 

 rupees (,£2) to let them off. Needless to say, 

 it was indignantly refused. My son is rather 

 glad to have such a clear case of stealing to 

 bring forward, and hopes the thieves will have 

 a sufficiently severe sentence to deter others 

 from the same practice, for cocoa stealing is a 

 source of great loss to the proprietors of this 

 and the neighbouring Estates. Though armed 

 watchmen patrol all night, the extent of ground 

 to be covered is so great that thieves have 

 always a good chance of evading detection. 

 It is, I fear, not a very difficult matter for any- 

 one knowing the place to steal cocoa, and also 

 to dispose of it profitably. A single full-sized 

 cocoa pod fetches ten cents at the village caddies. 

 As they can get enough fermented toddy 

 to make them drunk for five cents, coolies 

 have thus a great temptation to steal. 



A reformer is much needed in Ceylon to 

 wage war against native dishonesty and 



