i GO 
TIIE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
Good Hope. Since the arrival of the English at Ceylon* 
the barbarous practice has almost been unknown; and a few 
private murders committed on the Sepoys and black people 
in the Pettah, were the only crimes of this nature attributed 
to Malays during my stay at Columbo. No other cause can 
be assigned for this difference in the conduct of these people, 
but the superior mildness of the English government. So 
dreadful indeed is the frantic mode of revenge adopted by 
the Malays, that as long as their feelings continue to be 
exasperated by bad usage, it is necessary to impress their 
minds with fear by the severest punishments. But it is con- 
sistent with the nature of man to suppose that mild treat- 
ment, and the example of human manners, would by degrees 
soften their minds and restrain their passions within the 
bounds of civilized society, without these dreadful punish- 
ments which are too shocking ever to reform. The Malays, 
indeed, in their present state are, from their ideas of mo- 
rality, almost incapable of being admitted into social life. 
They have no idea of revenge being a crime, and they tri- 
umph in shedding blood on such an occasion. Nothing indeed 
seems to prevent them from putting the most atrocious pur- 
pose into execution, when they have once resolved upon it. 
The introduction of Christianity among them, is the only 
means by which this unprincipled ferocity can be radically 
reformed; and it would certainly in a political view be of 
infinite service to us, that those Malays in our settlements 
should embrace this religion. It would be the firmest link 
