THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
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tom-toms, or drums of various sizes, shrill and squalling 
clarionets, pipes, flagelets, a sort of bagpipes, and pieces 
of brass and iron jingled by way of triangles. The dis- 
cordant noise produced by all these, sounded and clashed 
at once, without the smallest attention to time or harmony, 
is extremly disagreeable to the ears of a European. 
But the most remarkable attendants of the monarch are a 
set of people furnished with long whips of a peculiar 
kind, who keep running before the procession with strange 
gestures like madmen, to clear the way, and announce the 
approach of the king. The whips are made of hemp, coya, 
grass, or hair, and consist of a thong or lash from eight 
to twelve feet long without any handle. The loud noise 
which the forerunners produce with their whips, as well as 
the dexterity with which they avoid touching those who come 
in their way, is truly astonishing ; although an European, 
from the indiscriminate manner in which they appear to 
deal their lashes, cannot help feeling alarmed for his safety. 
In all the interviews which the embassy I attended had 
at the court of Candy, the ceremony of the whip-crackers 
was never omitted, to the great annoyance of our troops, 
who were very sulky and displeased on the occasion. In- 
deed it was impossible for the men under arms to attend 
to what they were about while these long whips were kept 
continually brandishing and cracking about their ears ; and 
for my own part, although I was well convinced of the 
dexterity of chose who wielded them, yet I could not 
