some parts covered with water, so deep that it nearly entered my palanquin, and was very fatiguing to the poor bearers. In the afternoon we arrived at Galle, and resumed our former apartments at Mr. Sansoni's.

In the expectation of being able to sail to morrow, the Bishop set off immediately to visit Mrs. Gisborne's school. My poor little girl was still suffering under the effects of her recent attack at Baddagame, which prevented my accompanying him; this I very much regretted, when, on his return, he gave me an account of the establishment, which had pleased him very much, and which reflected great credit on Mrs. Gisborne's good sense and good management.

We were detained two days at Galle by unfavourable winds, for it is impossible to leave the harbour unless it blows from a particular quarter.

Early in the morning of the 29th we re-embarked, our party being augmented by a son of Mr. Layard's, and one of Captain Driburgh's (the Commandant at Galle) the latter of whom was on his way to Bishop's College, as one of the new students.

Our visit to Ceylon has afforded us very great pleasure and interest, from its agreeable society, the beauty of its scenery, its curiosities, and, far above all, from the religious state of the native inhabitants. I have heard it said, that the number of Christians on the coast, and amongst our settlements, do not fall far short of half a million; very many of these, undoubtedly, are merely nominally

such, who have no objection to attend our Church, and even would, if they were allowed, partake without scruple in her rites; and then, perhaps, the same evening, offer a propitiatory sacrifice to the devil! Still, the number of real Christians is very considerable; the congregations in the native Churches are good; and the numbers who came for confirmation, (none were, of course, admitted, of whose fitness their ministers were not well convinced,) was extremely gratifying. I think the Bishop confirmed above 300.

The Church Missionary Society has four stations,-Nellore, Baddagame, Cotta, and Candy, supplied at present with but six Missionaries: were its funds sufficient, there would, perhaps, be no limits to which its beneficial effects might not extend; but the island is too poor to do much for itself, and must mainly depend on its friends at home for assistance. Caste exists in considerable force, but it is, perhaps, more political than religious caste. That of the Chaliers I have already mentioned; there is another, yet lower, called "Rhoders," whose tribe was originally degraded for eating beef; their women are fortune-tellers; a large proportion of the Cingalese are, however, on an equality in this respect, and have no objection to following any liberal profession. At Candy the population is scrupulously divided into castes, which include all the different ranks and professions; but there is one caste quite excluded from all intercourse with their countrymen. The name I have forgotten, but I was told that they lived in the deepest misery,

from which no good behaviour on their part could raise them. On meeting a Candian of any rank they are forced to pay him the same reverence that this last would do to his king.

The worship of Buddh is the prevailing religion in Candy as well as in other parts of the island, and there are also among the Candians some nominal Christians, who use his doctrines as a charm against evil spirits; this province has, however, been for too short a time under Christian government, to expect any very considerable effects from our intercourse with its natives.

The Candians are a much handsomer and finer race than the Cingalese, the latter of whom are short and slightly made, with countenances a good deal resembling the images of Buddh. In our journey to Candy I was much pleased with the readiness and zeal with which the men used to push the carriages up the steep hills, or hold them back in their descent. On the coast there is a great mixture of inhabitants, descendants of the Dutch and Portuguese as well as Malays, and many others from the continent. There are Mussulmans and Hindoos in all parts, but no great proportion of the latter.

The climate on the south and south-west coast is particularly fine for a tropical country, the thermometer at Colombo ranges from 75° to 86° or 87°, seldom exceeding the latter, though so near the line. This is partly to be attributed to the constant sea-breezes, and partly to its sharing in the winds and rains of the two monsoons which blow

at different periods on the Malabar and Coromandel coasts. It is not generally injurious to European constitutions either there or to the north; and I have seen several individuals, apparently in the enjoyment of health, though without colour, who have never been out of the island. Last Ceylon suffered from sickness, in common with all India, very severely, which only ceased when the rains set in, they having been preceded by an unusual drought.

year

Sir Edward Barnes interests himself much in the improvement of the natives; the roads which he is making must contribute essentially to their prosperity and comfort, and he is attempting to introduce among them the system of entail; at present property is sub-divided into the minutest portions, even to the coco-tree, the 154th part of one of which I have seen advertised for sale. While this custom, with that of forced labour, lasts, the island must be poor; in fact, glorious as it is by nature, it has as yet had very few of the advantages of civilization.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

CALCUTTA TO SADRAS.

Voyage-Invalid Officers and Soldiers from Rangoon-Catamarans— Madras-Schools-Native Christians-Visit to Prince Azeem Khán -Sir Thomas Munro-St. Thomas's Mount—Maha-Balipoor— Sadras.

JANUARY 30, 1826.-I again left, with a heavy heart, my dear wife and children, for the visitation of Madras and the south of India. I was accompanied by my Chaplain, Mr. Robinson, and went down by boat to Fultah, a village about twentyfive miles from Calcutta, where is a good tavern kept by a Dutch native of Chinsurah. The village is large and populous, the greater part of the people are engaged either in rearing stock for the ships at Diamond Harbour, or in making straw hats, and other trifling articles, for strangers passing up and down the river. The surrounding country is like all the rest of lower Bengal, green, perfectly level, overflowed annually by the river, and distributed in rice-fields, scattered in patches amid almost interminable groves of fruit-trees and palms. We found it much cooler than Calcutta, and less infested with musquitos; but during the greater part of the year both this place and all the country round Diamond Harbour, and thence towards the sea, is intensely unwholesome. Were it otherwise,