CEYLON. 
311 
readily be conceived. Mr. North permitted the division, and es- 
tabUshed officers in each district for the registry of lands, under 
the conviction, that giving a man a clear and undisputed title to his 
estate, is the best way of attaching him to his country. 
The Dutch discouraged agriculture, and thereby increased the 
distress of the natives ai^ depopulated their territories. Their 
only object was the cinnamon, and they wished to keep the island 
in entire dependence. Mr. North, anxious to repair the mischief, 
made grants of land to any applicant, on condition that, after five 
years, he should pay to Government one-tenth of the produce of 
dry grain on high ground, which is as much as he can afford, and 
one-fourth of that on low. By diminishing the number of las- 
caryns, he also obliged many to become cultivators for a sub- 
sistence. 
By orders from home, all the pensions which had been granted 
to the landroosts, or persons who had held high offices in the Dutch 
service, were suspended, leaving those unfortunate men to beggary. 
This was done in the sweeping system of economy ; and was after- 
wards in some degree, but in an ungracious manner, mitigated, by 
permitting the Governor to grant pensions in his Majesty's name. 
Without such an indulgence, they must have absolutely perished 
for want of food ; for, under the Dutch, their salaries were so low, 
that even with peculation, it was but just possible to live. They are 
now reduced to insignificance, just vegetating on their pensions ; 
and their sense of the change induces many of them to drink to 
excess, so that they will soon be extinct. Some of" them were deeply 
implicated in the rebellion which succeeded the massacre. 
Concerning the great commercial staple of the island, the 
