Former and Present State of Ceylon. 
363 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
General Observations — Present State of the Islandr—Improve^ 
ments — Revenue — Civil and Military Establishments — ’Advaii- 
tas!:es. 
I HAVE now laid before my readers every thing worth no-' 
tice whicli fell under my observation during my residence in 
Ceylon ; and if my researches on some topics appear to them 
too limited, it will, I hope, be recollected at the same time 
that all my other pursuits were of course considered as subor- 
dinate to my military duties. I shall conclude my account with 
a few general observations on the state and value of this new 
acquisition to the British crown. 
The cultivation of Ceylon, as I have observed iti a former 
part of this work, was extremely neglected under the govern- 
ment of the Dutch. For some years previous to our taking 
possession of it, the unfortunate situation of afiairs in the mother 
country, as it precluded any supplies from being sent from 
thence, or indeed any attention being paid to the management 
of distant colonies, may serve as some excuse for this neglect. 
But even before this period, when the Dutch republic was in 
its highest degree of prosperity, the little progress made in 
the cultivation of Ceylon is a proof that the system pursued 
with regard to it was fundamentally wrong. In the Collecting 
and cultivation of the cinnamon, the staple produce of the is- 
.3 A 2 
