this island might afford an extensive and grand asylum, where th« British name and commerce might be perpetuated. Manners Ann Customs. The natives of Ceylon, called Singalese, either from a native or Portuguese term, are not so black as those of Malabar, and have few manners and customs distinct from other Hindoos. It is said that several brothers may have one wife in common, as in Tibet; but the polygamy of males is also allowed*. In general chastity is little esteemed in the oriental countries; and the morality of many nations is so lax in this respect that the intercourse of the sexes is considered as far more indifferent than the use of certain foods. The language is rather peculiar; but some of the natives understand both the Tamulic and that of Malabar. Towns. The native town Kandi, in the centre of the isle, seems to be of small size and consequence, and probably only distinguished by a palisade and a few templesf. It was taken by the Portuguese in 1590; but no recent traveller appears to have visited this deep recess of sovereign power. Colombo. The chief town of the Portuguese, Dutch, and English possessions, is Colombo, a handsome place, and well fortified, the residence of the governor is elegant, but only consists of one floor with a balcony to receive the cool air.t Ceylon being exposed on all sides to the sea breezes the climate is not so hot as that of Hindos, tan; far less pestiferous, like the marshy exhalations of Batavia. At Colombo there is a printing press, where the Dutch published religious books in the Tamulic, Malabar, and Singalese languages. The name of Colombo seems indigenous, as well as that of Nigombo, a fortress a few miles to the north of this capital. The northern parts of Ceylon are cheifly left to the natives, but tho town of Jafnapatam, or Jafna, was a Dutch settlement in a detached isle. The grand pearl fishery is conducted in the gulf of Manar, near Condatchey, a miserable place in a sandy district, to which water is brought from Aripoo, a village four miles to the south: the shoals near Rama's bridge supply inexhaustible stores of this valued production.|| Trincomali. On pursuing the shore towards the east it is mostly guarded by sand-banks, or rocks; but the noble harbour of Trincomali opens at the mouth of the Mowil Ganga, the Ganges of Ptolemy's large map of Taprobana; and was defended by a strong fortress. Batacola is an inferior haven, on the same side of the island. Matura. But the southern side of Ceylon has been chiefly visited, abounding with gems and other rich productions. Matura was a Dutch factory near the most southern promontory called Dondra, where excellent kinds of cinnamon were collected; and varieties of precious stones abound in the vicinity.** Not far to the west of Matura is Gale, or Galle, near a point so called, a handsome town strongly fortified, on the projecting angle of a rock.ft Manufactures. There is little mention of any manufactures conducted in this island; but the natives seem not unskilled in the • Wesdin, 435. Mandelslo, 279, who gives a list of the other towns. Thunberg, iv. 175. Thunberg, iv. 175. 231. As. Res. v. 397. tt Ib. 194. common works in gold and iron. The Dutch ships used to sail from Galle, laden with cinnamon, pepper, and other spices; nor must pearls and precious stones be forgotten among the articles of export. The Colombo wood, a bitter in recent use, receives its name from the capital; but its native country or district seems still unknown. Climate. The climate and seasons correspond in some degree with the adjacent continent; yet the exposure on all sides to the Sea renders the air more cool and salubrious. The general aspect of the country somewhat resembles that of southern Hindostan; a high table land, in the centre, being surrounded with low shores, about six or eight leagues in breadth. High mountains, prodigious forests, full ef aromatic trees and plants, and many pleasant rivers and streams diversify this country, which by the Hindoos is esteemed a second paradise. The vales are of a rich fat soil; and, when cleared, amazingly fertile in rice, and other useful vegetables. Rivers. There are five considerable rivers described by Ptolemy; of which the chief is the Mowil Ganga, on which stood Maagramum, the capital in his time, and modern Kandi stands on the same stream, one of the royal palaces being on an isle in that river, where the monarch keeps a treasure of gems; and his officers, like those of exterior India, are decorated with slight chains of gold. The Phasis of Ptolemy running north is perhaps the stream which passes to the north-west by Ackpol. His western stream of Soana is perhaps that which enters the sea in that direction, near the centre of the isle. The Azanus south-west seems that near the point of Galle; while his Baracus east is the Barokan. Mountains. The chain, or chains of mountains run north and south the southern part being called Malea by the Greek geographer; a mere native term for a mountain, as Ganga for a river. The northern part is by Ptolemy called Galibe. These mountains seem granitic; and are peculiarly rich in precious stones imbedded in primitive quartz. What the Mahometans have termed Adam's Peak is esteemed the highest; and is in Sanscret called Salmala, Boodh being fabled to have ascended from it to heaven. Forests. The forests are numerous and large, the haunts of innumerable elephants, like the Gauts of southern Hindostan. An ample account of the botany of this island is given by the skilful Thunberg; one of the most peculiar and precious trees is that producing the best cinnamon, about the thickness of stout paper, of a brownish yellow, and a flavour inclining to sweetness. Zoology. The elephants of Ceylon are supposed only to yield in beauty to those of Siam, and chiefly frequent the southern part of the island. Buffaloes are also found in a wild state, while the tame are used in rural economy. The wild boars are numerous and extremely fierce: nor is the tiger unknown, but probably not equal in size to those of Bengal. Bears, chacals, and many tribes of deer and monkies, are also natives of Ceylon. The alligator, frequent in the Hindoo rivers, here sometimes reaches the length of eighteen feet. Among a vast variety of elegant birds, the peacock, that rich ornament of the Hindoo forests, swarms in this beautiful island. For more ample information the ingenious labours of Pennant may be consulted.* Mineralogy. Ceylon, opulent in every department of natural history, presents many minerals of uncommon beauty. Not to mention iron, gold, plumbago, &c. Thunberg has given a list of the precious stones, among which are the genuine ruby, sapphire, and topaz; nor are garnets or even rock crystals neglected by the Singalese. The finest rock crystal is that of a violet colour, called amethyst, a trivial stone, but when extremely pure not a little valued from the singularity of the tint. The water sapphire is only a harder kind of the colourless crystal: the yellow and brown are the Scottish Cairngorm stones, here cut for buttons, for which purpose black schorl is also used on mourning apparel. The jacint is of a yellowish brown, somewhat resembling the cinnamon stone; but the last is sometimes of a bright orange. The tourmalins, or transparent schorls, are also numerous in Ceylon; but some are falsely so called, as the red and bluer which are quartz; the green are chrysolite; while the yellow and white, or what are called Muturese diamonds, are pale topazes. Thunberg informs us that the Hindoo term Tourmalin is thus applied to stones of different descriptions; but he does not describe the genuine tourmalin of mineralogists which in Ceylon is generally dark brown or yellowish, while those of other colours come from Brazil and Tyrol. The peridot of the French, which is a bright green stone of rather a soft nature, is found in Arabia, Persia, and India; but it is asserted that Ceylon produces the genuine emerald, which is esteemed peculiar to Peru, while the emerald of the ancients is probably the peridot. That hard spar, called Corundon, used by the Singalese in polishing their precious stones, is found in the Gauts near Cape Comorin. The cat's eye, a kind of girasol, seems peculiar to Ceylon, as the noble or genuine opal is to Hungary. Pearl Fisrery. Nor must the pearl fishery be forgotten which commonly begins on the north-west shore, about the middle of February and continues till about the middle of April, when the southwest monsoon commences.f The village of Condatchey is then crowded with a mixture of thousands of people, of different colours, countries, casts, and occupations; with numerous tents, and huts, and bazars, or shops; while the sea presents many boats hastening to the banks, or returning with the expected riches. The divers are chiefly christians, or moslems, who descend from five to ten fathoms, and remain under water about two minutes, each bringing up about a hundred oysters in his net. The species is minutely described in the paper quoted, which seems to confute the opinion of M. De St. Fond that pearls are produced by the perforation of some insect. These precious pearls are on the contrary always formed like the coats of an onion, around a grain of sand, or some other extraneous particle, which serves as a nucleus, the animal covering it with glutinous matter to prevent disagreeable friction; and even those formed in the shell seem produced by similar exertion to cover some rough part, but these are darker and bluer than genuine pearls. The yellow, or gold-coloured * View of Hindostan, vol. i. †As- R*8- v- 394. pearl is most esteemed by the natives; and some are of a bright red lustre but the dull grey, or blackish are of no value. Otrer Isles. There are no other isles of any consequence near the coasts of Hindostan. Those called Lacadives and Maldives scarcely merit a particular description, in a work of this general nature, which ought only to embrace the most interesting topics: and the Andaman and Nicobar isles properly belong to exterior India, where a short account of them may be found, after the peninsula of Malacca, to which coast they are the most approximated. It may here suffice to observe that in the Hindoo language dive implies an isle; and Ptolemy computes those which mariners saw before they reached Ceylon, that is the Maldives, at more than thirteen hundred. Malnives. They form as it were an oblong inclosure of small low regular isles, around a clear space of sea, with very shallow water between each. They are governed by a chief called Atoll, and the trade is in cowrie shells, with cocoa nuts and fish. The language is Singalese; and there are some Mahometans. Lacanives The Lacadive islands form a more extended group, though only thirty in number. They also trade in cocoa nuts, and fish; and ambergris is often found floating in the vicinity. Pennant, i. 51. PERSIA. CHAPTER I. HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY. DIVISIONS. NAME. EXTENT. POPULATION. PROGRESSIVE DIVISIONS. THE ancient and powerful monarchy of Persia has, during the greater part of last century, been in a most distracted and divided condition; and the inhabitants, formerly renowned for wisdom and benignity, have been degraded, by civil discord, and mutual enmity and distrust, into a temporary debasement, both moral and political. This great empire seems at length, in some degree, to have settled into two divisions, the Eastern and the Western; while the provinces near the Caspian, secured by mountains and fastnesses, have asserted a kind of independence. These circumstances are unfavourable to a just and exact delineation of the present state of the country; but the chief limits, and many of the most important geographical topics, have been inviolably fixed by the hand of nature; and the following description shall embrace modern Persia in general, as it was in the time of Chardin, combined with the most recent and authentic information. Name The name of Persia spread from the province of Pars or Pars throughout this mighty empire, in like manner as, among other instances, the appellation of England originated from a small tribe. This name has, however, been little known to the natives, who, in ancient and modern times, have termed their country Iran; under which denomination were included all the wide regions to the south and west of the river Oxus, or Gihon, the Amu of the Russians and Tatars; while the countries subject to Persia beyond that celebrated |