4 - 
THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
ni cations of several friends have rendered me essential service in? 
completing my accounts of Ceylon. Still, however, I have been> 
careful not to advance any fact of which I was not either an eye- 
witness, or which was not derived from information which no one 
could hesitate to believe. The manners and customs of the inha- 
bitants, I have endeavoured to describe in the manner they 
impressed my mind at the time I observed them. I have 
followed the same plan in giving an account of the natural pro- 
ductions of the island ; and hence my observations may be 
thought more calculated for the general reader, than the man of 
science. But I hope the public will make some allowance for the 
habits of my profession ; and if I succeed in affording either 
amusement or instruction, I trust they will excuse a little defici- 
ency in systematic knowledge. 
Before proceeding to the principal object of this work, a 
description of the present state of the Island of Ceylon, it will 
probably gratify curiosity to give a short account of its history, 
and the successive changes it lias undergone, since it came into 
the possession of Europeans. Such a sketch is even necessary to 
throw light on its present state, and to point out the way to its 
farther improvement, by shewing the errors committed by its 
former possessors. 
Previous to the arrival of the Portuguese, little is known of 
the history of Ceylon. It is said to have been celebrated for its 
spices even in the earliest ages ; and it is hence that Solomon is 
said to have brought the spiceries and precious stones, for the use 
and embellishment of his temple. Such vague traditions, how- 
