CHAPTER III.

KURUNÉGALA.

Cinghalese views on Politics--Kornegalle--The Elephant-rock--The general landscape in Ceylon--Tanks and irrigation--The Paddy tax--Modern Commercial policy--Poverty of the people--The village bath--Decorum and passivity in manners--The bazaar and the shops--My friend the opium-seller--The policeman--The gaol and the prisoners--A Tamil official and his mode of life--The Bungalow--Mosquitos--Vegetable curries--The Hindu priest in the household--Native servants, their relation to British masters--The pariahs, and our slum-dwellers 40–59