256 
THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
help expecting every moment to come in for my share of 
chastisement. 
The civil and military establishment of Candy is adjusted 
to the despotic form of its government, and promotion and 
appointment of all sorts depend wholly on the pleasure of 
the prince. The institution of casts, however, is preserved 
inviolable, and officers of a certain rank must always be 
chosen out of a certain class. White men rank with the 
highest. The regular troops, or standing army, do duty 
in the interior, and are kept near the person of the king, 
while the defence of the frontiers is entrusted to the adjoining 
inhabitants, who compose a sort of militia, and are obliged 
to keep constant watch over the entrances into the country. 
The various officers under the king have various privileges 
according to their rank. 
The highest officers of state are the Adi gars, or Prime 
Ministers. They are two in number, and may be said to ? 
share all the power of the court between them. I have 
already mentioned the causes which render the power of the 
present Chief Adigar so formidable ; but even at other times 
these officers have afforded much cause of fear and jealousy 
to the monarch. To counteract any dangerous designs which 
their too preponderating influence might inspire, it is the 
policy of the king to appoint the two Adigars of different 
dispositions and opposite factions, and thus prevent an union 
which might overwhelm him. The distractions which these 
arring interests must always produce, and the constant and 
