MARTIAL LAW. 
that Presidency. At last the report came, that the 
rioters had “taken the field,’’ near the town of 
Matale, that they had actually got hold of some, 
pretended or otherwise, scion of the late royal family, 
and proclaimed him king. 
Martial law was now proclaimed, and detachments 
of European and Malay troops were marched out 
from Kandy to Matale, a distance of sixteen miles, 
to meet the enemy. It was only on the north side 
of Kandy that any public outbreak took place. How- 
ever, there can be no manner of doubt at ^all that, 
to the south, the villagers were biding their 
time, and, if any measure of success had attended 
the rising in the north, they would not have beeii 
slow in following it up. The writer had occasion 
to send some coolies down to the village of Kot- 
male, or rather district, for a few bushels of paddy. 
The coolies returned without any, and reported that 
there seemed no coolies there but women and child- 
ren. Where were the men, or what were they 
doing ? Probably holding some meeting in some of 
the glens deliberating what course to adopt. It was 
quite 2 )ossible we might be all massacred during 
tiie night, for, if the solitary secluded life of the 
pi liter is considered, it is perfectly evident that, if 
there had been any well-laid preconcerted plans at 
a given hour or given night, not a white man wmuld 
have been left to tell the tale. The Tamil coolies 
dislike the Sinhalese. We were quite safe in trust- 
ing them, and so at many a bungalow a dozen or 
so of coolies kept watch in the verandah during 
the night. Lieutenant W., with a detachment of 
military, was stationed at the Pussellawa bazar, but 
there never was any necessity for their services, for, 
on the 29th of July 1848, the detachment of troops 
sent out from Kandy came upon the rebels at Wuriya- 
pola near Matale. They were merely a mass, a mob, 
with not the slightest pretension to military discipline, 
display, or armament ; the bulk were armed with 
old flint guns, rude spears, knives ; and probably 
hooks and scythes. The only source of danger was 
in their numbers ; but even that, without a trained 
military leader, was of very little use. The military 
gentleman who had noticed the want of salt was 
in command of the troops, and lost no time in charg- 
ing the enemy, he himself leading them on pistol 
in hand. Before a mere handful of disciplined 
troops, the masses gave way, and the object now 
was, not to disperse the enemy, but to prevent a 
general massacre. The blood of the Malay soldiers 
being up, report said there w'as 'some “sticking” 
in cold blood. The king was, ere long, captured 
