THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
13c) 
be expected among them. From their infancy they are en- 
tirely given up to the management of the female slaves, from 
whom they imbibe manners, habits, and superstitious notions, 
of which they can never afterwards divest themselves. Under 
this tuition they continue till they get married ; and even in 
this new state, from the description I have already given of 
the men, it will not be expected that they should make any 
considerable improvements. As they find such a cold recep- 
tion among the men, they are glad to return to the attentions 
and obeisance paid them in the society of their slaves, to 
which they have been most accustomed. Their morals being 
derived from the same source, are equally destitute of dig- 
nity or virtue as their manners are of politeness. They 
usually converse in that barbarous Portuguese, which is reck- 
oned extremely vulgar and only fit for slaves. They seldom 
or ever speak before an Englishman in any other dialect, 
but look upon Dutch as rather calculated for men, and too 
harsh for the mouth of a lady. 
Although the men would not apear very amiable in the 
eyes of our British ladies, yet their Dutch wives look upon 
them with the greatest veneration and affection. Conscious 
of their own defects, and always kept at a great distance by 
their husbands, they look upon their caresses as a high honour, 
and are therefore extremely jealous of their favours. And 
yet their own manners after marriage are the worst calcu- 
lated possible to conciliate the attachment of their husbands ; 
indeed, in men of any delicacy, they could only produce 
t 2 
