264 
TIIE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
too refined for a Candian, I must at tlie same time inform 
him, that it always makes part of the punishment to carry 
t\ie earth and rubbish back to the spot from which they 
were taken and replace them in their original form. For 
more trivial offences the soldiers are curtailed of their pay 
and allowances. 
Distrust and jealousy, the constant attendants of arbitrary 
power, pervade the whole of the military system. The 
commanders and other officers of the forces are never al- 
lowed to correspond, or even to see each other, except 
when the public exigency requires them to be brought 
together; and it is the policy of the king to encourage 
them to watch and act as spies upon each other, to prevent 
combination among themselves or any intercourse with the 
Europeans. The last object seems indeed sufficiently guarded 
against by the continued chain of posts and watches esta- 
blished around the whole outskirts of his dominions. Every 
inhabitant of the borders is a sentinel ; and as many of 
them have their habitations placed on the tops of trees 
which overlook the whole country, it is altogether impos- 
sible to elude so many obstacles, and get either out of 
the country or into it by stealth or against their consent. 
Even in the interior of the Candian dominions the same 
jealous precautions are observed, and no one is permitted 
to pass from one district to another without first being 
examined and producing his passport. This passport consists 
4©f a piece of clay stamped with a seal or impression de- 
