NO. '37— 1888.] INDUSTRIES OF CEYLON. 



349 



their flesh would be food for the Eastern army and the emi- 

 grant ! " This gentleman assured Lord John Russell that " in 

 a few years he could produce a surplus revenue of £ 1,450,000 

 sterling, after deducting expenditure." Still, extravagant as 

 is the picture drawn by this author and resident of the coun- 

 try, he is in one respect more just than most other writers ; 

 for he admits the need of capital for the execution of most 

 of his projects, whilst they expect the poverty-stricken 

 people to do everything by merely shaking off their sloth, 

 and harvesting the natural products of the country, amongst 

 which they include some that are neither indigenous nor 

 cultivable, things that never did nor ever will grow here. 



Such are some of the misapprehensions into which writers, 

 including some who have enjoyed the advantage of personal 

 observation during considerable periods of residence in the 

 country, have been led by judging from superficial appear- 

 ances and overlooking the conditions which determine the 

 nature and development of industry. A fair and reasonable 

 consideration of the subject with reference to those con- 

 ditions will be found to explain some apparent anomalies, to 

 account for the decline of some industries and the extinction 

 of others, and to place the character of the Sinhalese race in 

 a light which relieves them, to a great extent at least, of the 

 charges commonly laid against them, both as regards their 

 industry and their intelligence. As to the rest, they cannot 

 be expected to exhibit the characteristic virtues of Christianity > 

 which as yet are but little understood amongst them. 



