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T7ie Dutch of Ceylon. 
CHAPTER VII, 
Description of the Ceylonese Dutch — Portuguese — Malays. 
The inhabitants of the sea coasts of Ceylon are composed 
of a variety of dift'erent races. At Columbo in particular, the 
natives of every country in India appear to have their repre- 
sentatives. The manners and customs of these tribes, however, 
fall more properly under the description of their several native 
countries : it is only necessary in this work to describe those 
which are stationary in Ceylon, and which form a considerable 
proportion of its population. Besides the native Ceylonese who 
live under the dominion of the Europeans, and are distinguished 
by the name of the Cinglese, the coasts are chiefly inhabited 
by Dutch, Portuguese, and Malays. All these differ so much 
from each other both in their customs and appearance, that I 
hope a separate description of each tribe will afford amusement 
to the public. 
The Dutch, and indeed the Europeans of every other nation 
but our own who are born and reside in India, dift'er much in 
their habits and modes of life from those of Europe. Our own 
countrymen alone, in whatever climate or situation they are 
placed, still remain steady to the manners and customs of Great 
Britain ; and though the prejudices of the people among whom 
they live, and tlie nature of the climate, may force them to 
make occasional deviations, yet they never altogether lose sight 
of their native habits. The chief trait of the original Dutch 
