CEYLON COCOA ESTATE 189 



because no one of suitable caste and standing 

 could be found in this district. Poor little girl, 

 her marriage has had a sad beginning. The 

 highly respectable husband who was found for 

 her, is now in an Indian prison for stealing a 

 boat, and she has had to return to her parents 

 at Raneetotem till his sentence expires. 



It is only fair to say that there are many and 

 brilliant exceptions to the rule. I am sometimes 

 astonished at the honesty of the beef coolies, 

 and also of untrained servants, who, coming 

 into a bungalow, perhaps for the first time in their 

 lives, must see many articles to arouse both their 

 curiosity and cupidity, and yet refrain from 

 appropriating them. Only last week, before 

 spending the afternoon at a friend's house, I 

 carelessly left three diamond rings on my 

 dressing-table. I remembered what I had done 

 soon after I had started, and did not much 

 enjoy the party in consequence. I said nothing 

 and when I came home I found the rings 

 arranged in a little open box on my table, 

 so they had evidently not escaped observation, 

 but were perfectly safe. 



October 26th. — The cocoa stealing case is 

 over, the thieves having each been sentenced 

 to three months' imprisonment. A sentence, 

 we trust, sufficiently severe to act as a deterrent 

 amongst our native neighbours for some time 

 to come. 



