474 JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [YOL. XI. 



their families and children that when they die they leave 

 their money buried, which they had kept hidden with such 

 secrecy that it might be kept as a fund for their resurrection, 

 — a Pythogorean superstition they continually follow, but for 

 which they also accuse the covetousness of the princes who 

 had despoiled them of their inheritance. But neither this 

 nor greater tyrannies ever raffled the unswerving constancy, 

 esteem, and love they showed towards their native princes, 

 hating so much foreign yoke that they could not believe in any 

 generosity even when assisted (so miserable was their nature) : 

 for any rebel who pretended to free them from slavery, 

 they were always ready to lose both their lives and property 

 in order to recover their freedom. To the Portuguese 

 they were usually traitors in word and deed, and it is 

 very true what an historian remarks about them, that 

 they are a people full of lies, fraud, and treachery, consider- 

 ing they derived their origin from the Chinese, the most 

 treacherous nation on earth, and on the other hand from 

 the aborigines of the Island, whose evil life was well known 

 for its depravity. By this alliance it appears there came to be 

 mixed up in their flesh and blood all the vice and corruption 

 of their habits, preserving in their descendants the malice 

 and depravity of their forefathers ; yet, notwithstanding so 

 many vices, they had still some moral virtues which might 

 be set forth as an example to the Catholics, for they greatly 

 detest robbery and theft, and have such confidence that they 

 never put locks to the doors of their houses ; and it is told 

 of a Raja, wishing to put their confidence to the test, that he 

 ordered all the black cattle with gold bells to be left to wander 

 at large about the fields. It is marvellous the immutability 

 and self-possession with which they look upon death, without 

 changing countenance or uttering a word. They consider it 

 noble not to kill their enemies by poison, and to obey with 

 great submission and fidelity their superiors. They observe 

 with such nicety all gradations of rank, separating the nobles 

 from the common people, that in no way will they consent 

 to intermarry with any one of unequal station or of different 



