154 
THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
and it is from among them that the European gentlemen are 
anxious to procure their gardeners. 
They are uncommonly ingenious in all sorts of cane-work, 
and u\ rataiming couches and chairs ; and are accounted capital 
builders of bimgaloes , or houses of the cocoa- tree. 
In other respects, such as the manner of eating their vic- 
tuals, and their modes of salutation, they very much resemble 
the natives of the Malabar and Coromandel coasts. They 
are, however, sufficiently distinguished from them, and indeed 
from all the other natives of India, by the difference of their 
institutions, and the peculiar ferocity of their dispositions. 
The government, under which the Malays live in their own 
country, in some degree resembles the ancient feudal institu- 
tions of Europe ; and war is consequently the business of the 
nation. The manners and disposition which naturally proceed 
from these institutions are found among them. They are all 
bold, warlike, and prepared for the most desperate enter- 
prizes; they hear the commands of their superiors with the 
most profound reverence, and yield implicit obedience to their 
most rigorous orders. But the fierce temper arising from 
these military institutions, which in Europe has been softened 
by the Christian religion, has rather been exasperated by the 
religion which the Malays have embraced. None of that ro- 
mantic spirit of chivalry, which produced the courtesy of 
civilized society amidst the ferocity of perpetual bloodshed, 
is to be found among the Malay followers of a prophet, who 
