THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
213 
red from trespassing by scruples of conscience. The rapacity 
of their governors, and their frequent inroads into the Euro- 
pean settlements seem to have depraved their originally good 
dispositions. 
Their burials are not attended with any particular religious 
solemnity. Mr. Knox states, that in his time it was custo- 
mer y to burn the dead, particularly the bodies of persons of 
distinction. If this practice still subsists in any part of Cey- 
lon, it has entirely escaped my researches, and must be both 
rare and confined to the remotest parts of the interior. The 
analogy of several of the casts on the Coromandel and Mala- 
bar coasts, among whom the practice of burning the dead is 
general, may be alledged as a proof of its once having been 
customary among the Ceylonese. At present, as far as I 
have been able to discover, the funeral ceremony is very 
simple, and nearly resembles what takes place among our- 
selves. The body is wrapped in a mat or piece of cloth, and 
carried to some unfrequented spot where it is deposited. 
Such are the circumstances I have been able to collect, 
which apply to the native Ceylonese in general. There are 
some particular shades of difference which arise between the 
Candians and Cinglese, both from the nature of the country 
they inhabit, and from the more frequent intercourse of the 
latter with foreigners. These chiefly relate to their political 
situation, and their forms of administering justice, which 
among the Cirudese are of course considerablv assimilated 
DO J 
