358 
Minerals of Ceylon. 
These black merchants swarm in great mimbers about Co- 
iumbo. They are a mixture of the different casts and nations 
of India; few of them are Ciiiglese or natives of the island. 
They are constantly seen in numbers havvdving about their 
stones, and besieging the doors of the European officers and 
other gentlemen, whom they always find to be their most libe- 
ral customers. They present the stones for sale in all different 
states, both jwlished and unpolished; but most usually they 
have them set in rings of various , shapes, in breast pins, 
crosses, and other ornaments of the same description. At par- 
ticular seasons of the year, the Europeans are obliged to be on 
their guard against these troublesome fellows, who are almost 
all perfect vagabonds, and infest the houses with the double 
purpose of disposing of their wares, and carrying off any loose 
article that comes in their way. 
These fellows are often at a loss for purchasers, and at times 
a very valuable stone may be got from them for a trifle. 
But a person requires to be very cautious in dealing rvith 
them, as they are apt to impose upon him with pieces of glass 
or inferior stones, which they cut and assimilate to the more 
valuable ones with such dexterity, that it requires considerable 
skill to distinguish the one from the other. 
The black merchants often encounter much labour and many 
dangers in procuring the stones. It is not unusual for them 
under various pretences to go into the Candian territories, and 
carry them off privately from the natives at the risk of their 
lives. 
With regard to the pearls, which form so considerable an 
article of revenue and traffic in Ceylon, I have already given 
so full an account of them in describing that part of the coast 
