THE ISLAND OF CEYLON, 
7 « 
have inspired into the natives of India, that a black man is 
scarcely ever known to meet a white man hand to hand, either 
in private conflict or in battle. 
There is no scene at which the native Indians can have a 
finer opportunity of turning their dexterity to account, than 
the bay of Condatchy, at the season of the pearl fishery. 
For this reason, rogues flock thither from all parts of India, 
and no precaution is sufficient to prevent their depredations. 
Their practice of picking out the pearls from the oysters and 
secreting them is, in particular, carried to a great height, and 
it has been found impossible to put a stop to it. In this 
general censure of the natives of India, I do not include the 
native Ceylonese ; for, although the pearl fishery be carried on 
in their island, yet few of them attend it, in comparison of 
the numbers who flock from other parts of India. Nor arc 
they at all so much addicted to roguery, nor equal in slight 
of hand, to the Indians of the continent, who seem to have 
these accomplishments by inheritance, and are very proud of 
them, it being a common proverb with them, “ The greater 
<f rogue the greater man” I speak of this disposition among 
them from my own experience, as I and my brother officers 
were repeatedly sufferers by it. Indeed there are few who 
visit India, who will not soon have occasion to acquire per- 
sonal knowledge of it. 
At Condatchy their depredations are reduced to a system, 
and no precautions can entirely guard against them. The 
boat-owners and merchants dealing in the oysters, are obliged 
