THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
115 
island, you meet scattered all over the town almost every 
race of Asiatics : Moors of every class, Malabars, Travanco- 
rians, Malays, Hindoos, Gentoos, Chinese, Persians, Arabians, 
Turks, Maldivians, Javians, and natives of all the Asiatic 
isles ; Persees, or worshippers of fire, who would sooner have 
their houses burnt and themselves perish in the flames, than 
employ any means to extinguish it. There are also a number 
of Africans, Cafrees, Buganese a mixed race of Africans and 
Asiatics ; besides the half-casts, people of colour, and other 
races which proceed from a mixture of the original ones. 
Each of these different classes of people has its own man- 
ners, customs, and language. 
The language spoken most universally both by the Euro- 
peans and Asiatics who resort to Columbo, is the Portuguese 
of India, a base, corrupt dialect, altogether different from 
that spoken in Portugal. It may indeed be considered as a 
barbarous compound of a number of Indian languages com- 
bined with several European, among which the French is very 
distinguishable. Though this dialect be considered as the 
most vulgar of any, yet it is a very useful and even neces- 
sary acquisition, as in most of the settlements on the coast, 
particularly those which have been in the possession of the 
Dutch, it is common to meet with both Moors and Mala- 
bars who speak it. On Ceylon it is particularly useful to be 
understood; and indeed without it, a person finds it impossi- 
ble to maintain any conversation with the Dutch ladies, as 
they seldom address one in any other. This last circumstance 
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