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History of Ceylon 
their cruelties had exasperated the natives to such a degree, 
that it was impossible ever again to conciliate their minds ; and 
tliis antipathy joined to tlie fair promises of the Dutch, and 
the hopes of a speedy deliverance, had awakened such a spirit 
among the Cc3donese, that they in their turn attacked their 
former tyrants even in their ov/n possessions, and laid waste 
those plantations from which the only resources of the Portuguese 
were derived. Such were the causes which led to the loss of 
this island by its first European possessors. 
The improvements made in the cultivation of Ceylon by the 
Portuguese were by no means considerable. Those people, 
when they first took possession of it, were rather warriors than 
merchants. Their continual wars with the natives contributed 
to keep up the same spirit; and their principal attention seems 
to have been directed to the fortification of a few stations on 
the coasts, and the erection of some military posts to awe the 
natives. But the Portuguese appear never to hav^ properly 
discovered the advantages to be derived from this island, either 
in a commercial or military point of view. Their dominions 
extended all around it; and no station could be pointed out 
more commodious for a depot either of merchandise or mili- 
tary stores. These advantages were overlooked by the Court of 
Lisbon ; and those individuals who were sent to command at 
Ceylon were more anxious to gratify their pride by conquest, 
and their avarice by extortion, than to pursue any plan of 
permanent advantage either to the mother country or the colony. 
The l^ortuguese, therefore, by their own misconduct, were de- 
prived of this valuable island, before they were aware of the 
benefits to be derived from it. 
The joy of the Ceylonese, on being delivered from the yoke 
