438 JOURNAL R A. S. (CEYLON). [Vol. III. 



Estate near Jaffna ; after having been about four years in 

 the Northern Province, he called upon me about a year ago, 

 when on his way to take charge of an estate near Colombo. 

 His appearance was such, that I remarked at the time, and 

 the remark was confirmed by others who saw him, that had 

 he just arrived by steamer at Galle, he would not be 

 regarded as a bad specimen of a healthy European. 



Another lad, the son of a European father by a half-caste 

 mother, who, according to the record that we have of him 

 in the Asylum, cannot now be more than nineteen, was 

 apprenticed by me a few years ago to an Apothecary in 

 Kandy. Not liking his employment, he ran away. After 

 fruitless inquiries in several quarters, and getting one or two 

 vessels searched, I gave him up as one of whom I was not 

 likely to hear again. A short time ago, however, I received 

 a letter from him, giving me some account of his adventures, 

 and informing me that he was, when he wrote, a Serjeant in 

 H. M. 24th Regiment, at present stationed in the Mauritius. 



These facts seem to shew that the children of European 

 parents can be reared in this country without any greater 

 mortality than is usual in more favoured climates, and that 

 those so reared are not inferior in spirit and energy to others 

 of the same race. Why is it that we find the result so 

 different with our own children ? I believe the true answer 

 to this question to be, that we do not follow a judicious 

 system in our treament of them. We pamper their appetites 

 — we indulge them with improper food at improper times — 

 we coax them to eat when their stomachs reject the food that 

 we press upon them, under the mistaken notion that the 

 exhausting character of the climate renders necessary a larger 

 supply of food than would suffice under a lower temperature. 



Every thing at the Orphan School, on the other hand, is 

 done by rule— no food of any kind is given, except at 

 appointed hours. Unwholesome food is at all times carefully 

 excluded. No indulgencies, in the way of a more delicate 



