2()0 Terms of address in use 



slippers at the gates of gentlemen whom they visited ; and 

 we know of instances in Colombo, where natives of the highest 

 families were refused admission into European houses, because 

 they departed from the ancient custom of leaving their 

 slippers at the door. But, happily, the times are changed ! 

 We perceive a great social change in the conduct of Eu- 

 ropeans towards natives. From the adoption of English 

 customs we auger happy results, amongst which (although 

 the remark may excite a smile in certain quarters) I may 

 almost predict, the abolition of caste-distinctions and class- 

 prejudices. To proceed :— However stringent was the 

 original custom in regard to going barefooted in the presence 

 of the nobility, there seems to have been but little distinc- 

 tion in the forms of salutation. According to these forms 

 one is entitled to be saluted (except he be a very low- 

 caste person) in the same manner that he salutes his 

 host ; for, in the modes of saluting, by clasping the hands, 

 there is no distinction between the noble aristocrat and the 

 humble plebeian. The etiquette amongst the Singhalese is, 

 that a female ought to raise her hands to the forehead, whilst it 

 suffices if a male should only lift them up so high as the 

 tip of her fingers might reach his lips. In the Galle Dis- 

 trict, it is a serious offence not to return the salutation of a 

 person ; and so scrupulous are they in this respect, that 

 the late first Maha Modliar, Illangekoon of Matura, never 

 failed to return the compliment to all the Singhalese who 



writer) in respect to what has been called ' the shoe question.' Taking off the 

 shoe or slipper, was no custom introduced by the English. It was, and has been, 

 the established custom of India for ages. If the natives of India claim a conformity 

 to our customs, let them have it by all means on equal terms. Let them have 

 their purgris or turbans in the ante-chamber. A native of whatever degree is 

 perfectly well aware that he cannot call upon a native of high rank, without 

 submitting to his country's etiquette ; and he will conform to it without a demur, 

 though he grudges to do so to an European of equal rank. The Bengalis are the 

 only natives (and only a small section of them) who object to it. Why they do 

 so object we never could comprehend. The Greeks, a far more independent, 

 polished, and intellectual people, always left their slippers in the lobby." 



