140 
Expence of livmg at Columho. 
and the unsettled state of alfairs, that government could not 
procure a sufficient quantity of it to pay the troops. This we 
have often felt a great disadvantage when ships occasionally 
touched at Columbo, particularly the vessel from Macao, as 
those were the only times at which many necessary articles 
could be procured. The foreign merchants would not take the 
copper-money of the island in payment, as it passes no where 
else ; our only resource on such occasions therefore was to 
carry our copper-money to the shroffs or money-changers, and 
procure gold and silver from them for it on their own terms. 
The expence of living at Columbo is much more considerable 
than might be expected. Every thing in Ceylon in general is 
indeed dearer than on the continent of India, from whence most 
of the articles in use are imported, and the expence of car- 
riage has consequently to be added to their original cost. Horses 
and servants are particularly expensive. To keep one horse at 
Columbo will cost as much as to keep two at Madras. Ser- 
vants’ wages are also nearly double, as it is the custom to bring 
them from Bengal and Madras, and they, as well as their mas- 
ters, must pay dearer for their clothes and food than in their 
native countries where these articles are produced. The servants 
also stipulate for higher wages before they will come to Ceylon, 
as they are very much prejudiced against it on account of its 
dearness, and distance from their homes and places of religi- 
ous worship. There prevails also among the people of the con- 
tinent a rooted and unaccountable persuasion that Ceylon is the 
most unhealthy part of India. Europeans are universally con- 
vinced of the absurdity of this idea, as they have found by ex- 
perience, that it has in fact the best climate in that part of the 
world. 
5 
