EXPEEIENCES OF ME. STALE. 
had hundreds of men and scores of women been all packed 
in and huddled together as they were, in the old bothie’* 
system, on the estates ? Our readers must at once admit, 
the state of morality, would have been as bad, or even worse, 
than even the coolie lines, or “bot hies.” Again, the drunken- 
ness that prevails to a great extent amongst the Scotch 
labourers, in the same proportion, is unknown amongst the 
coolies. We have sometimes thought, if a few Tamil 
coolies were to be taken into the Cowgate, Canongate, or 
Grassmarket of Edinburgh, which are the abodes and haunts 
of the lower classes of working people, at ten or eleven 
o'clock on a Saturday night, when the ‘‘public houses” 
are shutting up, and sending forth their inmates, men and 
women, in all stages of intoxication, into the streets, what 
they would think of “master’s countrymen and women”? 
We are actually ashamed at the very idea, when we re- 
collect the crowds of Tamils thronging the bazars of 
Kandy on Saturdays and Sundays, and a drunken man rarely 
seen, never a drunker woman. But what would the coolie 
say, if told what may frequently be seen in the localities 
above mentioned, on Sunday forenoons, when a congrega- 
tion is dispersing from church, they might see, reeling, 
in the very front of the door, drunken men and women, 
using oaths and language rather calculated to upset one’s> 
serenity of mind on coming out of a place for divine 
worship! And to prove this is no exaggeration, herewith 
are extracts from statistics, on this subject:— “ The number 
of persons apprehended by the police, in a state of intoxica- 
tion, in Scotland, during the year ending 30^th June last, 
was 54,000, of whom 21,000 were drnnk and incapable, and 
23,000 drunk and disorderly. A careful examination showed 
that 85 per cent of all classes of offences was directly and 
clearly the result of drunkenness, 10 per cent more might 
be added as due to drunkenness, although not directly, and 
taking 95 per cent, they had 1186 out of 1238 cases due to 
drunkenness and only 52 that were not. If drunkenness 
was driven from the country, they would have the best 
behaved people in the wotld. To cope with this crime- 
they had in Ayrshire, besides constables in the town, 120 
men, lock-np houses over all the country, warders, go- 
vernors, and a whole host of people. The cost of their 
maintenance was enormous, and all for the purpose of keep- 
ing those persons in order, who had rendered themselves 
insensible to dutv, and disposed themselves to commit 
crime. From a table, just published, in Edinburgh, during 
the past year, 7,627 persons were apprehended for crimes^ 
Of men, there were drunk when the offences were com- 
mitted 2187 and of women 1554, making a total of 3741. 
Over Scotland, there were no less than 60,000 people who 
died yearly from the effects of drink. There were 111,10(1 
paupers in Scotland, and of these 74,000 had become so 
through drink, while one half of the suicides arose from 
the same cause,” &c. 
Then, if you were to tell the cooly, that very stringent 
laws were in force, in “ master’s country,” and very suc- 
cessfully carried out, in order to prevent profligate women 
from assaulting you in the streets ; and if it were not that 
these laws are strictly enforced by the police it would 
