1Q0 
THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
There is also a sort of paper, made of the bark of a tree, 
sometimes used. 
I have seen several of those talipot books or files, called 
by the natives olioes, richly ornamented and bound in thin 
lacquered boards of ivory, or even silver and gold. They 
are particularly dexterous and accurate in their mode of 
writing. In those letters or dispatches which were sent by 
the king to the Dutch government, the monarch seemed 
particularly anxious to display his magnificence in the richness 
and splendour with which they were executed. The writing 
was enclosed in leaves of beaten gold in the shape of a 
cocoa-tree leaf. This was rolled up in a cover richly orna- 
mented and almost hid in a profusion of pearls and other 
precious stones. The whole was enclosed in a box of silver 
or ivory, which was scaled with the Emperors great seal. 
The same splendour has been observed in the letters sent to 
our Governor since we have had possession of the island. 
The progress of the Ceylonese in the other arts of life 
is proportionate to their literature. Their agriculture is still 
in the rudest state ; and perhaps there is no other part of 
India where the lands are cultivated with more negligence. 
Tiie Ceylonese are naturally, like other tribes who inhabit a 
mountainous country, and have been accustomed to the 
habits of pastoral life, indolent in the extreme. Their soil, 
where it can be watered, yields them a sufficient quantity of 
rice to maintain their existence, and this seems almost as 
much as they desire. The example of the Europeans in the 
