237 
the Cmglese from the Candiam. 
minutes. The number of persons who are employed in all 
sorts of handicraft work, renders furniture, and other articles 
of that description, both good and cheap. 
The Cinglese supply our garrisons plentifully with beef, fowls, 
eggs, and other articles of the same sort, at a very moderate 
rate, as they seldom make use of them for their own con- 
sumption : beef in particular they never taste, as the cow is an 
object of their worship. A few of them, particularly those 
most conversant with Europeans, venture to drink arrack ; and 
all ranks use toddy, as well for medicine as for the sake of 
the liquor itself. The vessels which they employ to hold the 
juice of the palmyra and cocoa-tree is a rind of the betel- 
tree, which forms a coating over the leaves ; in colour and tex- 
ture it resembles bleached sheep-skin, and is fully as strong, 
and much better adapted for retaining liquor. Fowls are brought 
to market in great abundance: a good fowl sells at from four- 
pence to eight-pence ; eggs at two-pence a dozen ; and a good 
dish of fish may be bought at from one penny to two-pence, 
according to the slate of the market. 
As the Cinglese live under the protection of the British go- 
vernment, they are also subjected to our laws and forms of 
administering justice, except in a very few points, in which 
their ancient customs, as they do not materially interfere with 
our modes, are permitted to be retained. The same laws of 
inheritance remain in force among all the Ceylonese: the lands 
descend to the eldest son, if the father makes no will ; but a 
certain proportion of the property must always go to the main^ 
tenance of the widow and the younger children. 
The Cinglese under our dominion are governed by the na- 
tive magistrates, only the supreme controlling power always re- 
