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Language of the Ceylonese* 
while I was stationed at Columbo ; it being a custom with the 
King of the Maidive Islands to send an ambassador yearly with 
presents to our governor at Ceylon, in order to maintain a 
friendly understanding with us. The Maldivians of his retinue 
both in shape, complexion, and habit, approached much nearer 
to the Ceylonese than to any of the Malabar race ; and their 
language appeared to me to follow the same rule. 
There are in fact two dialects of the Ceylonese language, 
differing very considerably from each ‘other, and having each a 
separate grammar. The poetic or court language is also styled 
the Candian Sanscrit, or more properly the Paiilee, or Mangada. 
This dialect, which is retained in those parts of the interior 
where the language may be supposed to be preserved in its 
greatest purity, contains a considerable mixture of Arabic, and 
is accounted the most elegant as well as the most smooth and 
sonorous. The learned will judge of the inference to be drawn 
from the Arabic forming so considerable a portion of the 
Ceylonese language in those parts where it is spoken in its 
original purity. The current opinion among the natives is, that 
Arabic is their original language, and that some mixture of the 
Sanscrit was introduced by a colony who came over by Adames 
bridge from the continent of India. Among the Cinglese on the 
coasts, the vulgar dialect, distinguished by the name of the 
Cinglese, is spoken; it has been greatly corrupted by the intro- 
duction of foreign words, and that melody and force, which are 
attributed to the language of the interior, are here no longer 
discernible. If I may judge from the impression made upon me 
during my residence on the island the Cinglese spoken on the 
coasts is much inferior to any of the other Indian languages 
which I have heard. 
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