THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
171 
passionate in their intercourse -with each other ; though when 
once their anger is roused, it is proportionally furious and 
lasting. Their hatred is indeed mortal, and they will fre- 
quently destroy themselves to obtain the destruction of the 
detested object. One instance will serve to shew the extent 
to which this passion is carried. If a Ceylonese cannot 
obtain money due to him by another, he goes to his 
debtor, and threatens to kill himself if he is not instantly 
paid.. This threat, which is sometimes put in execution, re- 
duces the debtor, if it be in his power, to immediate com- 
pliance with the demand; as by their law if any man causes 
the loss of another man’s life, his own is the forfeit. “ An 
eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” is a proverbial 
expression continually in their mouths. This is on other 
occasions a very common mode of revenge among them ; 
and a Ceylonese has often been known to contrive to kill 
himself in the company of his enemy, that the latter might 
suffer for it. 
This dreadful spirit of revenge, so inconsistent with the usual 
mild and humane sentiments of the Ceylonese, and much 
more congenial to the bloody temper of a Malay, still con- 
tinues to be fostered by the sacred customs of the Candians. 
Among the Cinglese however it has been greatly mitigated by 
their intercourse with Europeans. The desperate mode of 
obtaining revenge which I have just described lias been 
given up from having been disappointed of its object ; as in all 
those parts under our dominion the European modes of 
