No. 4.-— 1848.] SINHALESE RURAL ECONOMY. 33 



feels deterred from increasing his cultivation, his fear of op- 

 pression preponderating over his desire to possess. My purpose 

 being to treat of the agriculture of the country, and not of the 

 system of its taxation, it is not for me to pursue this part of 

 the subject further. It may be said, however, that the mode in 

 which the taxes on grain are collected in the rural districts of 

 the country, as affecting the morals and retarding the civiliza- 

 tion of the inhabitants, is a subject worthy of the study of the 

 philanthropist and statesman. Until the present system is 

 abolished, and the taxes are collected directly from the payer 

 by the authorized and responsible servants of Government, 

 there is little room to expect any improvement whatever in 

 the moral and social condition of the people. The labourer is 

 worthy of his hire, says the proverb, and those means which 

 will ensure it to him, which will give to the agriculturist the 

 the fullest advantage of his industry, must precede any attempt 

 to ameliorate the modes of tillage at present practised. 



The natives of the interior for the most part subsist upon 

 vegetable and farinaceous diet. Dried fish and dried deer flesh 

 are used as a condiment in the seasoning of their dishes. Of 

 animal food, with the exception of the flesh of a few wild 

 animals, they consume but little. Rice is their staff of life. 

 Kurakkan, a seed which is ground into flour, they also use 

 in addition to coconuts, yams, sweet potatoes, and the fruit 

 of the jack-tree. These with a few green vegetables and chillies 

 for their curries, comprise the whole to which they give any 

 attention in the way of cultivation, unless we except the coffee 

 tree and the arekanut tree, which grow without any care 

 whatever bestowed upon them about their dwellings. 



The staple production of the Sinhalese is paddy, of which 

 11 different kinds are known. The Ratkunda, Ballanwani, 

 Marlawarige, Kallu Kombilli and Tattuwal, requiring about 

 four months to bring them to maturity, are sown generally 

 in March. The Hinnati, Sudu kinnati, Mudu-kiriel, and 



