48 
THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
ingly neat and well built. The Pettah, or Black Town without 
the walls, is larger and more populous than that of Trincomalee. 
Since Columbo was taken possession of by the English, several 
Dutch families have quitted it, and taken up their residence 
in the neighbourhood of Jaffna; as this latter place is much 
cheaper, and better supplied with all the necessaries of life, 
several of which are scarcely to be procured in the other parts 
of the island. 
The inhabitants of Jaffna consist of a collection of various 
races. The greatest number are of Moorish extraction, and 
are divided into several tribes, known by the names of Lub- 
bahs, Mopleys, Chittys, and Choliars : they are distinguished 
by wearing a little round cap on their close shaven heads. 
There is also a race of Malabars found here somewhat dif- 
fering in their appearance from those on the continent. These 
different tribes of foreign settlers greatly exceed in number the 
native Ceylonese in the district of Jaffna. Those I first men- 
tioned were induced many years ago by the encouragements 
held out to them by the Dutch, to pass over from the Coro- 
mandel coast, and carry on here a variety of manufactures, of 
coarse cloths, calicoes, handkerchiefs, shawls, stockings, &c. 
These articles were all made from the cotton growing on the 
island; and to this day the district of Jaffna continues to be the 
only part of Ceylon where manufactures of this sort continue 
to be carried on, with the exception of a very few about 
Columbo. 
At Jaffna there are also a number of handicraftsmen, such 
