CEYLON BRANCH ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 183 



In the following Table (B.) the collected Revenue of the 

 Island during three years is shewn classified under three sepa- 

 rate heads. The largest of these amounts are derivable from 

 Licenses, Arrack Farms and such sources, the sums realized 

 from the Poll Tax and Tax on Land having been most incon- 

 siderable except in the Jaffnapatam Collectcrates. 



Of the amounts under the first head those produced by Stamps 

 appear to have been most inconsiderable : the Export and Im- 

 port duties made up the bulk of these. Of Export duties that 

 on Palmiras in the Collectorate of Jaffnapatam, and at Co- 

 lombo on Coir, Betel-nut and woods appear to have been the 

 most considerable. In the earlier days of the Dutch Govern- 

 ment the Export of Palmiras was prohibited except on the ex- 

 press permission in writing of the Commandant and Dissave of 

 the district. For this License a fee varying in amount with the 

 extent of the shipment and the caprice of the officials was in- 

 variably levied. It is easy to imagine that this in time grew 

 into a valuable source of emolument : indeed at a later period 

 (1787) the Government found this system worked so prejudi- 

 cially to commerce, that the duty was fixed and made payable 

 to the Public Treasury, the Civilian, of the Jaffnapatam district 

 being allowed Rds.5000 annually as a compensation. 



Coir was chiefly exported on account of Government, but it 

 was also an article of trade to private speculators, and in these 

 cases paid a duty of one dollar per thousand pounds for raw 

 Coir, and half a dollar per thousand on Cables and Cordage. 

 Betel-nuts paid a duty on Export of 60 per cent on the value, 

 of this amount one-fourth was the emolument of certain officials, 

 the remaining three-fourths going into the Treasury. The Paddy 

 Tax is not included in the Farmed Revenues because it was 

 put up to Auction in detached portions at stated intervals, 



The same may be said of the Rent of the several Arrack 

 and Fish Licenses, the proceeds of all of which were collected 

 in detail. 



