THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
195 
good or bad success for that day. 1, as an European, was 
always a glad sight to them. 
The excess of trembling superstition which unhinges the 
minds of the Ceylonese is in a great measure to be attri- 
buted to the climate in which they live. One might 
imagine from the frequency of thunder storms in Ceylon 
that the natives would become gradually accustomed to 
it. But the noise of the thunder is too terrible, and 
the unseen effects of the lightning too dreadful, for the 
minds of any but these who know something of the causes 
of those natural phenomena, ever to get completely rid 
of their apprehensions of them. The poor Ceylonese looks 
upon these storms as a judgment from heaven, and as 
directed by the souls of bad men who are sent to torment 
and punish him for his sins. The frequency of thunder 
storms with them, they consider as a proof that their 
island is abandoned to the dominion of devils ; and recollect 
with melancholy regret that this fated spot was once inha- 
bited by Adam, and the seat of Paradise. The fiends 
which they conceive to be hovering around them are with- 
out number. Every disease or trouble that assails them 
is produced by the immediate agency of the demons sent 
to punish them : while on the other hand every bless- 
ing or success comes directly from the hands of the 
beneficent and supreme God. To screen themselves from 
the power of the inferior deities, who are all represented 
as wicked spirits, and whose power is by no means irresist- 
c c 2 
