48 
Hktory of Ceylon 
iiopoly of all the valuable productions of the island ; and 
scarcely any thing was left for the King and his subjects, but 
quietly to assist them in availing themselves of their acquisi- 
tions. But it was not to be expected that advantages ob- 
tained in such a manner could be permanent. Such harsh 
and degrading terms naturally shocked and exasperated the 
Candians, and fostered in their breasts the most rooted and 
inveterate hatred to their oppressors. They eagerly catched at 
every occasion to elude or infringe the terms of the treaty ; 
and the Dutch soon found that, in their sanguine hopes of sa- 
tiating their avarice, they had over-reached themselves, and ra- 
ther diminished than increased the little benefit they had former- 
ly derived from the interior of the island. Nor was even their 
tranquillity at all secured by this treaty ; the Candians fre- 
quently attempted by force of arms to procure better terms, 
although the Dutch constantly succeeded in repulsing them ; 
mot, however, without much bloodshed on both sides. About 
twenty years ago the Dutch again penetrated into the King’s 
country, but were attacked by the natives with so much spirit, that 
the present general de Meuron, then a colonel in the Dutch ser- 
vice, narrowly escaped being cut otf with a large detachment near 
Sittivacca, and, by accidentally taking a different road from that 
which the Candians expected he would, he got safe to Columbo. 
Both parties at last became wearied out with these constant, 
ineffectual struggles ; and hostilities, as well as all other inter- 
course, were discontinued as if by mutual consent. The 
Dutch were chiefly anxious to prevent any connection being 
formed between the natives and foreigners ; and the King of 
Candy was resolved to prevent any intercourse between his 
subjects and a nation, which he found ready on every occa- 
4 
