ji'n Account of the IVar in 1803 * 425 
shew to be 231-J annnonams taken from division No. 1, and 63 ammonams from divi. 
sion No. 2. 
I dare say his Excellency, on reading the enclosed papers, will conclude as I do, that 
the seizing ot the areka nuts took place in consequence of the orders of the person called, 
in the depositions, Pelagam Adigar Dessave of the tour corles ; and I only beg leave 
to add on this point, that trom the description given to nte of the person of Pelagam by 
the people examined, I have no doubt but that the person here meant is the first Adigar 
of Candy, well known personally to his Excellency the Governor as well as to myself, 
I sh.all only further take the liberty of stating a circumstance which makes the seizure 
of the areka nuts in -question still more difficult to account for, which is, that the Can- 
dians themselves continue, as heretofore, to bring down the produce of their country, 
namely areka nuts, jaggher, and rice, to be exchanged here, at Putelang, for salt, salt- 
fish, and cloth, &c. and there Is now, within my view here, a division of about 50 
persons from the Candian country, and 250 head of cattle, peaceably occupied in this 
traffic. This circumstance will also tend to slrew how easy it would be to make reprisals 
for the injury sustained by the Putlanders, were the British government so disposed ,- a 
measure which I do not wish, however, to be understood as giving any opinion upon. 1 
have now only to say, that I have been greatly assisted in this investigation by the zeal 
and intelligence of Mr. Johnstone, the agent of the revenue for this district, and, 
I have the honour to be, &c. 
Putelangj July 2 1802. (Signed) William Boyd. 
Proclamation hy his Excellency the Governor in Council Frederick North, &c. 
Cohmiho, January 29, 1803, on the Entrance of the British Troops into the 
Territory of the King of Candy. 
The preservation of amity and concord with the court of Candy has been the unvaried 
object of our most earnest endeavours, when by com.mand of our most gracious master the 
King of Great Britain and Ireland, we assumed the government of his possessions in 
Ceylon. Frequent attempts, however, have been made by the emissaries of that power, to 
create disturbances in these settlements, and to weaken the attachment which the inhabi- 
tants bear and owe to our government ; but as we have been always fully sensible of the 
futility of such attempts, we trusted that their repeated failure would induce the court of 
Candy, without any interference on our part, to relinquish a conduct so directly con- 
trary to good faith and good neighbourhood ; we therefore took no notice of the many 
reasons which we had to complain, and uniformly persisted in our kind and friendly 
behaviour, taking every opportunity of proposing such terms of amity and alliance as 
might secure to both nations the full advantages which they can respectively derive 
from the peculiar situation of the countries they inhabit. Every proposition of a simi- 
lar nature has either been rejected with disdain by the court of Candy, or answered by 
counter proposals so absurd in their pretensions, as clearly proved the intention of that 
court to avoid any stable or reasonable arrangement. Still, however,, we continued 
in the same system of kindness and indulgence towards that power and its subjects ; 
when, in the month of March and April last, an open act of violence, committed 
3 I 
