THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
•269 
the constant dread of Europeans, and the superstitious fears 
arising from the nature of their climate, which continually 
haunt them, deprive this isolated people of all the enjoyments 
which seem congenial to their situation*. It is to be hoped 
that our countrymen, by a generous and well-regulated policy, 
will speedily diminish their sources of unhappiness. Much of 
the gloom which overhangs the minds of the Candians, took 
its rise from the oppressive exactions and destructive inroads 
of the Dutch. After the last and most severe blow which 
the natives sustained, on being deprived of Portallom, which 
supplied them with fish, and the still more indispensable arti- 
cle of salt, they formed a resolution to abandon for ever a 
country which could not even supply them with the necessa- 
ries of life, but as the price of slavery. They were not, 
however, permitted to put this last effort of despair into 
execution : the Dutch were possessed of every outlet of tlie 
island ; and the passage to the island of Ramiseram, where 
they had determined to seek for refuge, was guarded by a 
strong post which the Europeans had established at Manaar. 
This post proved an insuperable bar, both to their plan of 
deserting their native country, and to their receiving any 
assistance from their friends on the opposite continent. 
But although strong posts and guards may prevent the 
escape of the natives from the island, it is evident that such 
plans can never render them efficacious agents in its im- 
provement. It will require many years of perseverance in a 
mild and steady policy to obliterate those prejudices with. 
6 
