76 CEYLON BRANCH— ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



It thus appears, that there has been a decrease in the number 

 of cases on the calendars, in the number of persons accused^ 

 and in the numbers tried, and convicted ; and this diminution 

 is observable generally throughout the Island, except in 

 Colombo and the interior districts, where the number of cases 

 and the numbers accused, have maintained themselves at their 

 former amount. On the other hand we perceive, that the 

 ratio of prisoners to each case is on the increase, the propor- 

 tion in 1834-5 being in the ratio of about 2 persons to each 

 case, whereas in 1841-2 it was about 2 J, and both the 

 Northern and Southern portions of the Island are above 

 that average; and though the numbers found guilty of the 

 crimes of theft, embezzlement, and receiving stolen property, 

 as also of assault and offences against the person generally, 

 have diminished, yet the numbers found guilty of murder 

 and homicide, and of robbery, burglary, and other offences 

 against property with violence, have increased, particularly 

 in Colombo and the Southern districts: — so that while crime 

 is thus less indeed in the gross amount, it has increased in 

 violence or atrocity, and the peculiar character of crime in 

 this country, that of being committed not by single solitary 

 individuals, but in companies or bands, has become more 

 strongly displayed. 



It further appears, that the proportion of persons found 

 guilty of offences against property, as compared with the num- 

 bers found guilty of offences against the person, has consider- 

 ably increased — except in the interior. Such progress may 

 and perhaps commonly does, co-exist with advancing civiliza- 

 tion ; and so we find that in England, offences against property 

 are nine times more numerous than offences against person, 

 and in Scotland about 2J, while in Ireland generally, the 

 proportion is nearly equal ; and in Tipperary, which may be 

 regarded as at the bottom of the series, the odds are quite 

 the other way : but in itself it can denote only an increasing 



