THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
197 
Not so the poor wretched peasants who inhabit the more 
mountainous parts of the country, and live at a distance 
from our settlements. These unhappy people have never 
for a moment their minds free from the terror of those 
demons who seem perpetually to hover around them. Their 
imaginations are so disturbed by such ideas, that it is not 
uncommon to see many driven to madness from this cause. 
Several Cinglese lunaticks have fallen under my own ob- 
servation; and upon enquiring into the circumstances which 
had deprived them of their reason, I universally found 
that their wretched state was to be traced solely to the 
excess of their superstitious fears. 
The spirits of the wicked subordinate demons are the 
chief object of fear among the Ceylonese ; and impress 
their minds with much more awe than the more powerful 
divinities who disperse blessings among them. They indeed 
think that their country is in a particular manner deli- 
vered over to the dominion of evil spirits ; nor is this idea 
confined to themselves alone; the Malabars and other Indians 
are also possessed with it, probably from the uncommon 
frequency of thunder storms there; and the same cause 
has made this idea current even among the Dutch in- 
habitants. 
There is a curious proof of superstitious opinions in the 
narrative of our countryman, Mr. Knox, who himself 
believed that he had heard in Ceylon the devil crying 
