THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
227 
a species of scrupulous honour ; and therefore it is easy, by 
paying a proper deference to those objects which they 
most value, to procure their sincere attachment and assist* 
ance. 
The natural dispositions of the Cinglese are, as I have 
already observed, mild and humane ; and their morals, ex- 
cept in the promiscuous intercourse of the sexes, far from 
being depraved. It is to be lamented however that their 
minds labour so dreadfully under the influence of supersti- 
tious fears, and that their morality is not founded on more 
rational principles. It is to be hoped that more attention 
will be paid to their cultivation and improvement by our 
countrymen than their former masters, the Dutch and 
the Portugueze ; w ho, [by their ow r n avaricious and short- 
sighted policy, precluded themselves from receiving that sup- 
port from the natives which might still have maintained 
them masters of Ceylon. Many of the Cinglese have in- 
deed been converted to the Christian faith ; and part profess 
to be Roman Catholics, while others attend the Calvinist 
and Lutheran worship: but scarcely one of them understands 
the fundamental principles of Christianity. It seemed suffi- 
cient to their former European masters, if they could be 
brought to practice the outward forms of the Christian wor- 
ship ; and their apparent conversion was therefore more 
frequently to be regarded as a badge of tame submission 
than a real improvement in religious and moral principles. 
A zealous effort on the part of * our government to intro- 
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