144 e x p e d i t i o n t o j a p a n .
ana with water, and applying it to the external injury. Some wonderful
effeots have heen reported from the use of this simple means in various
cases, of not only bites from venomous serpents, but of stings by the scor-
pion and various poisonous fish.
The population of Ceylon is estimated at about 1,442,062, of whom
8,275 are whites, 1,413,486 colored persons, and 20,431 aliens and resident
strangers. The inhabitants are composed of the natives, termed Cingalese,
of a small proportion of Europeans, principally government officials, military
officers and merchants with their families, and of negroes, Malays, and
Chinese. The Cingalese were less ugly in appearance than was expected,
many of the men, in fact, (as for the women few were seen, and none of the
better class,) have expressive and even handsome faces, and their forms are
not without symmetry. They seem to be amiable in disposition, and are
remarkable for their effeminate habits. So similar is the costume of the
two sexes, that it is difficult often for the casual observer to distinguish the
man from the woman. The males allow their hair to grow to a great length,
which they foster with much care, and fasten to the tops of their heads with
large tortoise shell combs, such as our ladies at home might not be ashamed
to wear.
The common dress of the better class of the Cingalese is a jacket, worn
next to the skin, and from the waist downward a colored petticoat, wrapped
in graceful folds round the limbs and falling to the feet. The head, well
protected as it is with the superabundant hair, is generally bare of any artificial
covering. Some of the common people, however, wrap a cloth turban-
wise around their brows, which they shift to their body when mingling with
the crowds, and thus eke out their scanty drapery, which ordinarily consists
only of a petticoat. Some of the aborigines, who live in a rude condition
within the fastnesses of the great forests, confine themselves in dress to the
simple wardrobe of nature.
In addition to the Cingalese, who are doubtless descendants of the aborigines
of the island, there are the Malabars, whom tradition traces to the
neighboring shores of India, and whose religion and social characteristics
would seem to connect them with that country. They are Hindoos, and preserve
their religion and system of caste, together with the costumes of their
original country, as well as their language, somewhat modified, however, by
their relation with the Cingalese. The neighboring islands and continents
supply a population of Mahommedans or Moors to Ceylon, and they abound
in several parts of the country, where in the various orders into which their
law of caste divides them, they carry on a prosperous business as weavers,
fishermen, merchants, and bakers. They are among the most enterprising
and thriving of the population, and their well known skill and industry have
secured them much of the commercial wealth and influence of the island.
The native language of the aborigines is peculiar to themselves, but their