THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
1 11 
glese, and all the accounts which I could obtain of the 
Candians, I am convinced that he has in very few instances 
exaggerated their licentiousness. 
A Cinglese husband is not in the smallest degree jealous of 
his wife, and is rather ambitious to display her to the pub- 
lic eye. Nor is he particularly offended at her infidelity to 
him, unless she be caught in the fact ; in which case he 
thinks himself entitled to exercise the rights of an Asiatic 
husband. The infringement of chastity scarcely subjects a 
woman either married or unmarried to the slightest reproach, 
unless indeed they happen to have connexion with one of a 
lower cast ; an act which is looked upon as the very excess 
of infamy. Among the Candians, in particular, this only 
distinction of moral turpitude, which is so worthy of a bar- 
barous nation, is carried to the highest pitch. Even a man 
will scarcely venture to marry a woman of an inferior rank, 
nor would the King allow of it without exacting a large fine; 
but a woman is never known to form a connexion below 
her own sphere, as it would disgrace her in the eyes of the 
world for ever. With people of their own rank, on the con- 
trary, the most unbounded commerce is carried on in pri- 
vate ; and it is by no means uncommon, nor attended with 
any disgrace, for the nearest relations to have connexion 
with each other. 
Among the Cinglese, the distinction of rank has indeed 
begun to be less strictly attended to ; but without any better 
boundary being established in its place. A mother makes no 
A A 
