THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
143 
the men when they smoke. The women are in general very neat 
and exact in the arrangement of their sitting-rooms and where 
they receive company; these are kept remarkably clean, and 
the tiled floors are highly polished. But I cannot say so 
much for their inner apartments and the other parts of their 
houses, which are quite the reverse. I do not mean to insi- 
nuate that I have particularly examined their sanctoriums, 
which indeed few Europeans are tempted to do, but all the 
houses in India are so open and exposed, that thus much 
may be observed by a passing glance of the eye. Their fur- 
niture is remarkably heavy and clumsy, and of a shape which 
was perhaps in fashion some centuries ago. Their carriages 
and other pleasure vehicles in particular present the most 
grotesque and ludicrous appearance imaginable, and often 
afford a subject of much diversion and laughter to our coun- 
trymen, who have been accustomed to more recent modes. 
A race known by the name of Portuguese, forms an- 
other part of the inhabitants of Ceylon. From their name, 
it might be supposed that they were the descendants of that 
European nation whose appellation they bear; but this in 
fact is by no means the case. The name is indeed derived 
from the spurious descendants of that people by native 
women, who were scattered in great numbers over tliis 
island and all their other settlements in India. But both the 
manners and colour of these original Indian Portuguese, are 
now equally lost among that race which now bears their 
name. The present Portuguese of Ceylon are a mixture of 
