270 Civil and Military Establishments 
sist without employing such instruments as may every moment 
be converted to its own destruction. 
The Adigars are the supreme judges of the realm ; all causes 
may be brought before them, and it is they who give hnal 
judgment. An appeal indeed lies from their sentence to the 
King himself : but as they alone possess the royal ear, it is 
both difficult and dangerous to assert this privilege, and every 
one is more willing to acquiesce in their decision than to ha- 
zard an appeal which is likely to be attended with worse con- 
sequences than the grievance he complains of. 
The Adigars are possessed of all those privileges and immu- 
nities which may be supposed to accompany their unlimiled 
power ; and, in order to approach as near to royalty as pos- 
sible, they have also their particular badge which is allowed 
to no other person. Their peculiar distinction consists in a 
certain number of officers attached to their train, who carry 
a sort of staves of a particular shape, and a seal of hard clay, 
which are considered as tokens of the Adigar’s commission, 
and when presented along with any mandate never fail to pro- 
cure immediate obedience. 
The embassies to the European government at Columbo are 
entrusted to these prime ministers ; and they are also charged 
with the reception of our ambassadors. I have had frequent 
occasion to see both the Adigars at Columbo. They are portly 
good looking men. The one of them appeared much more at- 
tached to our government than the other. 
The officers next in rank to the Adigars are the Dissauvas, 
They are the governors of the corles or districts, and are be- 
sides the principal military commanders. Their business is to 
attend the king’s person when required, to collect the re- 
