THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
263 
Besides this corps of foreign guards, who do perpetual 
duty at the palace, about eight thousand of his regular 
troops and a number of the nobles are kept quartered in 
the neighbourhood ready to be assembled at a moments 
notice. These troops, though called regulars, have neither 
arms nor cloaths to entitle them to that appellation. They 
wear what dress they chuse, and arm themselves with any 
sort of weapons they can procure ; so that when assembled, 
they present merely a grotesque groupe of tatterdemalions. 
Their armour is altogether of a motley nature ; spears, 
pikes, swords, targets, bows and arrows, matchlocks, with, 
perhaps, a thousand fusees or muskets and bayonets : ali 
these pieces of armour which I saw were in very bad 
order, and their whole accoutrements and appearance ri- 
diculous. 
The rest of the military force, except on particular 
occasions, lie scattered throughout the country. Their pay 
and subsistence consists in a small allowance of rice and. 
salt, a piece of cloth annually given them for dress, an 
exemption from taxes and all other services, and a small 
piece of ground to cultivate for their maintenance. When 
any of the soldiers are guilty of a neglect of duty, or 
any other criminal offence, his usual punishment is to be 
compelled to level a piece of hill, or clear the channel 
of a river. This might seem a very reasonable mode of 
punishment, and well adapted to the improvement of a 
country ; but lest my readers might think this idea rather 
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