Manners and Customs of the Ceylonese. 19^ 
ried or unmarried to the slightest reproach, unless indeed they 
happen to have connexion with one of a lower cast ; an act 
which is looked upon as the very excess of infamy. Among 
the Candians in particular, this only distinction of moral tur- 
pitude, which is so worthy of a barbarous nation, is carried 
to the highest pitch. Even a man will scarcely venture to 
marry a woman of an inferior rank, nor would the King allow of 
it without exacting a large fine ; but a woman is never known 
to form a connexion below her own sphere, as it would dis- 
grace her in the eyes of the world for ever. With people of 
their own rank, on the contrary, the most unbounded commerce 
is carried on in private ; and it is by no means uncommon, 
nor attended with any disgrace, for the nearest relations to 
have connexion with each other. 
Amono; the Cinolese, the distinction of rank has indeed be- 
gun to be less strictly attended to ; but without any better 
boundary being established in its place. A mother makes no 
scruple of disposing of her daughter’s favours for a small sum 
to any one that desires them. They are particularly fond of 
forming such connections with Europeans ; and, instead of ac- 
counting it any reproach, a mother in quarrelling with any of 
her neiofhbours, will silence them at once on the score of her 
superior dignity, by telling them that her daughter has had the 
honour to lie with an European. Even women of the highest 
rank do not think themselves degraded by having connexion 
with Europeans, and are not ashamed to be seen by them in 
public. This forms a remarkable contrast with the Mahometan 
women of the continent, who would think themselves disgraced 
and polluted if any of their features were even by accident dis- 
covered to a stranger. 
O 
c c 2 
